Musings about security clearance revocations.

I once knew a Federal employee that had worked in an office job for several years. He WANTED to be fired. He wasn't willing to just quit. His wife would be mad at him for quitting, being lazy, and wanting to just take naps on the couch. He HAD to be fired, so that he could draw unemployment, and snooze on his couch for the rest of the year.

So, he had a mission. Do everything that he could think of to get fired from his government job. He would take two hour lunches. He would arrive late to work. While at work, he would read paperback novels with his feet propped up on his desk. Whatever his job assignment was, he didn't do it. He told everyone, including his boss, that he WANTED to be FIRED.

His boss, and his boss's boss, and his co-workers enthusiastically supported his desire to leave. They wanted him to be fired, too.

It took three years to finish the paperwork, and fire him.

Firing these cabal government employees is very, very difficult, and takes years of proof, paperwork, and waiting periods.

Canceling their security clearance is a much quicker way to get rid of them. They may physically still be occupying the desk chair, and getting a paycheck, but will have no job duties of significance. Suppose that a he/she is in charge of making decisions about secret missions. He/she won't be able to make those decisions, if he/she doesn't have the clearance to read the secret reports. So, he/she will still have a job, for awhile, and will just fill out mundane paperwork, hiring the bug man to spray for cockroaches, instead.

Eventually, they will lose their job. Most of the job descriptions for federal jobs of any importance require the employee to be able to acquire, and keep, a security clearance. It is a nice, clean and provable, clause that can be used as grounds for firing.

When he/she leaves federal employment, there will be no similar job waiting in the private sector, since most of those jobs also require a security clearance. Sure, he/she could always land a fake news job, but would the news media want them? He/she no longer has access to insider information which can be leaked.