From 'Secret' which is the lowest all the way up.
I worked for a while for Hughes Aircraft, which, back in the day, was a big government contractor. Technically my job required only a 'secret' clearance, but due to the fact that I would the the System Manager of a large computer installation and would have unlimited access to everything on all of the computers, I was put through a 'Top Secret' clearance investigation.
I remember getting phone calls from previous bosses asking me what was going on and why was the FBI asking about me. And I remember all the Security briefings we had to go to and being lectured about what was reportable and about how they would try and get you to compromise security. It was not an easy road.
Of course, after all that, the only piece of 'Secret' information I was privy to in the whole time I was at Hughes was the combination to the cypher lock on the door to the computer room.
My wife was an army wife in her previous marriage and at one point ended up in Germany, working a Civil Service job for the Army. She had a Top Secret clearance with Code Word clearance as well. She recalls when a new hire nearly got fired. He was in his late 20's when he was hired and needed a Secret clearance. Back when he was 13 he was arrested for sitting on the back of a park bench in a small town down south somewhere. Since he was told that if he stayed out of trouble until he was 18 his records would be sealed. That was the only 'blot on his copybook'. He assumed that since he was a minor and his records had been sealed, he didn't need to declare it on his clearance application.
Turns out that sealed records are no hindrance to a clearance investigation there was a huge dust up about his failure to include the incident. It was touch and go for a bit until the Army/Civil Service finally decided that it was an honest misunderstanding and not an attempt to falsify his record.
These guys take their jobs/investigations really, really seriously.
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