Security Clearance - why is it worth anything?

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by robkelk

All social advantages are setting-dependent.

Yes, but the point cost of those social advantages are not inherently so.

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

Yes, but the point cost of those social advantages are not inherently so.

I'm given to understand that point costs are based on demand in a sense. Some things like Combat Reflexes are vastly underpriced because they will be obtained by everyone in that niche.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Also, my salary has increased since I got my real-world security clearance. I can legally do more, thus I'm worth more to my employer.

In game terms, is that an improved job with clearance as a pre-req?

[Kraydak]

I'm having a very hard time coming up with a RL example of someone with GURPS Security Clearance. You don't need SC if your job qualifies as need-to-know, so it doesn't represent people getting the information through normal channels. It doesn't require Legal Immunity to avoid getting persecuting for having the information, and it is reliable, so it can't involve getting information through illicit channels. That doesn't leave much else…

The best I can come up with is something like a very high Status character (maybe the spouse of a high Rank character who does have need-to-know) who browbeats their spouses' subordinates both through and while being protected by their Status. Maybe someone like Alys Vorpatril. On the other hand, while she most certainly could brow-beat poor ImpSec goons, her social heirarchy position is too real and upper level Barrayaran government too informal (not to mention her actual ImpSec ties) for her to actually need SC.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by Kraydak

I'm having a very hard time coming up with a RL example of someone with GURPS Security Clearance. You don't need SC if your job qualifies as need-to-know, so it doesn't represent people getting the information through normal channels.

You only get SC for free if it is standard for a particular Rank in that society - for example, in the US, enlisted military personnel do not normally have any SC above Confidential (if that!), and officers do not normally have any SC above Secret, so levels above those would need to be purchased. So a SEAL or a Chelsea Manning would need to pay for the additional and unusual access they have beyond their Rank, and a civilian weapons engineer would need SC to account for the fact that they have access to technical specifications and tactical information not generally available to civilians at all (i.e. no Rank at all).

Also, need to know is not sufficient unless the need is extreme - if Joe Schmoe and Jack Secretagent are both going into the same peril, Joe Schmoe will get vague generalities (if anything) while Jack Secretagent will get the full details up to his clearance.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Kraydak

I'm having a very hard time coming up with a RL example of someone with GURPS Security Clearance. You don't need SC if your job qualifies as need-to-know,

Sure you do. Security Clearance is a prerequisite for that kind of job if you don't actually have Rank, like say, an outside contractor for the military or an intelligence service. It's also something any random retired spy has.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

In game terms, is that an improved job with clearance as a pre-req?

I can't give specifics (of course), but I'd say yes.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

It's also something any random retired spy has.

I would say that the retired spy probably has Hidden Lore (Intelligence Agency) and Contact Group (Intelligence Agency), because his SC ended when he retired. He is dependent on his past knowledge (Hidden Lore) and on what trusted confidants will break the rules to tell him (Contacts) because he can no longer request the info through normal channels.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

I would say that the retired spy probably has Hidden Lore (Intelligence Agency) and Contact Group (Intelligence Agency), because his SC ended when he retired. He is dependent on his past knowledge (Hidden Lore) and on what trusted confidants will break the rules to tell him (Contacts) because he can no longer request the info through normal channels.

Hidden Lore post-dates Security Clearance and is a different approach to doing the same thing.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Hidden Lore post-dates Security Clearance and is a different approach to doing the same thing.

But it isn't the same thing - Security Clearance gives you the ability to obtain special knowledge in the future, while Hidden Lore represents special knowledge you already have. Depending on the stage of the career, a given individual could have both or only one.