About a decade ago there was a huge Chinese hack into one of the security clearance contractors, who then lost the contract, so the final remaining contractor has been playing catch up ever since.

I had a top secret clearance in my old job. The whole process usually takes less than 9 months and anything outside a year usually means there’s something fishy with your background. It boggles my mind that members of Congress aren’t required to have security clearances and waiving background checks is completely insane. They’re clearly hiding a lot of nefarious and dodgy crap that would otherwise disqualify them from office