Critics of the country's national security apparatus say Washington is addicted to secrecy. Judging by the ballooning number of Americans with government security clearances, they might have a point.
About 5.1 million people — or more than 1.5 percent of the population — held security clearances last year, up from 4.9 million people with clearances the year before. The new figure comes via a report commissioned by President Obama and released by theOffice of Management and Budget, which estimates that 60 percent of those security clearances had immediate access to confidential data.
5.1 million Americans have security clearances. That’s more than the entire population of Norway..
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