As Wikipedia writes, to obtain a Top Secret clearance in the US an extensive background investigation (SSBI) must be conducted.
In the course of it, officials interview people like direct supervisor(s), coworker(s) from previous job(s), as well as subject's neighbors.
Does the fact of an interview pose a sort of information leak? Any of the persons interviewed (and there can be many of them depending on subject's past) get a signal that he/she may get access to Top Secret information. They could, in theory, either:
- be a foreign intelligence agent
- or sell such information opportunistically
Did the US legislators/government/military think about this case and deem it too low a risk?