A security clearance is official permission to see secret material. Hold a security clearance, lose your security clearance.
It comes in levels, and each one is granted for a need to know rather than for rank. A security clearance takes months to obtain and can be withdrawn in an afternoon.
1nounsecurity clearanceOfficial permission to see secret material.
“The job required a security clearance that took nine months to arrive.”
security clearance is a permission.
Practised in Spying & Secrecy