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Since I will be working on information hazards this summer, I am
curious about the world of security clearances. How do they
*actually* work?<br>
<br>
Practically, it seems to be a combination of (1) getting people to
acknowledge that they will deal with Important Stuff and are
responsible (a psychological effect), (2) creating a cultural
environment where information flow is shaped (a social effect), (3)
creating penalties for doing things wrong (an incentive effect). I
assume there is also an assumed (4): that cleared people are less
likely to leak or mishandle information (a selection effect). Does
anybody know if there have been any proper studies of how well 1-4
actually work?<br>
<br>
Bringing this into the transhuman world, we may consider what
happens if we get really good at these things. <br>
<br>
On 2016-05-10 22:49, spike wrote:<br>
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<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p>Ja.
When the security people hear a credible rumor, they can
call the clearance holder in for an interview, without even
telling why. If the holder refuses, clearance is
suspended. If the holder accepts and confesses everything,
then the holder is in trouble for not coming forth earlier
before he was caught, but might hold on to the clearance if
the investigation decides national security was not
compromised. If they find the holder intentionally tried to
cover his tracks, or if the other participant wasn’t cleared
at the same level, or they want to make an example of the
guy, or if the ranking official is in a bad mood that day,
or any number of other factors, the holder gets his
clearance suspended or revoked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Any
big aerospace company is populated with straight-arrow
law-abiding types, which is how they qualified for those
clearances to start with. If any high-up leader has a
clearance suspended, word quickly gets around why it
happened, and that guy can no longer effectively lead that
crowd: they have no respect for him. This is what happened
to the LM second in command a few years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Funny
aside: a long time ago, I was in a proposal group where we
were trying to find civilian uses for a whole bunch of
surplus military stuff we could buy for about a nickel on
the dollar, stuff that was idled by a treaty that took
effect right at the tail end of Bush41’s term. It included
rocket motors, guidance systems, not the nukes of course but
all kinds of cool rocket stuff, originally designed to carry
nukes but now all of it surplus and ready to haul rich
people to space, that kinda thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">In
that building where we were generating proposals, we had a
soundproof meeting room. It was seldom used for anything:
it was a pain in the ass to even get there, since it was a
structure within a structure, kinda like a massive
refrigerator inside a building, and you had to code in, etc,
so they could archive who went in and when. We decided to
find out if it really was sound proof. We had exactly one
woman in that group, mid thirties, fun sense of humor type.
We said “Hey Lurleen, go in there and close up, then scream
like you are being murdered or something.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Leave
it to her to respond, “Or something, OK.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">{8^D<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Took
us several minutes to stop laughing. Then, she went in
there, closed up, screamed. We couldn’t hear it. The
structure worked as advertised.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">We
didn’t need Lurleen to point out to us what that facility
enabled. I don’t know if anyone ever used it for that
purpose, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. If they did
that and self-reported, the security people probably
wouldn’t tell the company (I wouldn’t think (they would have
nothing to gain by telling.))<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">In
any case, the security people make it clear during initial
training and all subsequent periodic updates: they get it
that people are not saints. They understand. They are not
your priest. But they do need to know what you did, so they
can watch out for negative consequences. If you cross them,
they can hurt you. If you lie to them, this is a bad thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">spike<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University</pre>
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