Clearances can take time and become burdensome if it's an absolute requirement. When I was in school one of my teachers said his dad's company had to repair air conditioning equipment at a special forces training base, and what he described was similar (except this is prior to cellphones, so no electronics destruction). The alternative is costly and time intensive security clearances for every conceivable profession and to share it across the country. It makes sense for janitors and common forms of maintenance, but for less common things this is a viable workaround.
Not all clearances are created equal. I have heard of people being blindfolded at certain facilities, when they had vital work to do at a lower clearance level than would normally be allowed in that facility.
Also there's nothing like having different accesses than your boss, so when you go to certain meetings or do certain things, you can't tell him exactly what you're doing.
What I've experience whenngoing into an area I wasn't cleared for was the escort first turning on a bright flashing red light and then constantly shouting "uncleared" as I was led to the office in which I was needed.
Basically everyone had to turn off their monitors while I walked past.
Not as bad as a blindfold, but a bit embarrassing the times I've had to do it. That and being escorted to the bathroom while they wait outside.
> Basically everyone had to turn off their monitors while I walked past.
So essentially they had to interrupt a couple dozen people just to get you through a corridor. I can see why a blindfold may seem like a more pragmatic approach.
Clearance does not mean you can now see everything. There will be compartmentalisation and you will only see what you need to know.
I remember reading about sites in WW2 where people didn't know what the people in the next building did, or often what the project was. Bletchley Park is one example but I also saw a programme about a female chemist working in Cheshire ( I think ) who didn't know she was a key part of the atomic bomb project.
My assumption that was based on nothing but my own interpretation of the rules was that the facility in its entirety was a sort of need to know type situation. I personally might not have seen anything for all I know if I was given the chance, but the facility itself was part of some blanket policy.
Honestly.... that could be a good policy rather than have a dude leave something out or wrongly classify a building or something.
Blindfolds just seem unnecessarily humiliating, and not all that secure. Blindfolds can come loose. If it's really that important something stay secret, put it behind a wall.
Humiliation would be if they mocked you for being blindfolded or once you were blindfold stripped you naked and paraded you through the canteen. It's just part of the process, everyone in your position goes through it and no one there would see any humiliation in that.
No matter where you put that wall, there's a chance something on the other side of it will need servicing.
I'm sure the facility that makes nuclear warheads has an electronics inspection x-ray. If they need maintenance on that, you'd expect him/her to have a detailed background check, and to be shown as little of the facility as possible, and not to be allowed to leave with USB memory sticks or suchlike.
Of course, who knows how many facilities really need that level of security, and how often it's paranoia or theatre?
