Badmedic wrote:

US security clearances are hard to get.

thats not at all true..

in fact, the standard for obtaining a DOD secret is much lower than most countries require for an equivalent clearance..

minor financial trouble wont cause you to be deined a clearance... severe financial trouble and/or a bankruptcy can.. and SHOULD..

minor criminal activity wont get you denied.. non violent misdemeanors.. rarely have any effect.. violent misdemeanors and felonies will get you denied in a heartbeat.. and SHOULD..

travel to foreign countries.. unless they are considered hostile to the US.. rarely causes problems.. travel to countries considered hostile to the US will at least get you interviewed.. and possibly denied.. and SHOULD (I have traveled to almost 80 countries.. some of them less than friendly to the US.. and had no problem obtaining a clearance)..

poor driving history outside of multiple DUI's wont get you denied.. multiple DUI's may effect you.. and SHOULD..

our standards for clearances are extremely low.. in fact, one of the major debates going on in the DOD right now is how many clearance holders do we actually need.. there a couple of million of secret clearances out there.. hundreds of thousands of TS clearance holders..

the number of applicants that are denied secret clearances by the DOD is less than 5% (the last number I heard was less than 4%.. but that was about 2 years ago.. so it may of changed slightly)..