I was interviewed for a friend’s Q clearance once. The last question I was asked was a generic, “Can you think of any reason ________ might be considered an unloyal commie?” Or words to that effect.

I said, “Besides knowing me I can’t think of a single bad thing about ________.”

She did not find me amusing at all. Perhaps she was in the circle at the CIA in which another friend of mine passed around an essay of mine praising the (original) Kennedy assassination and implicitly favoring more such political action. Somehow, ________ managed to get the clearance anyway.