I’m looking for any documentation that has a number near 100k. That’s multiple times any number I can find.
the gov't charges very little for the clearance, but the number I heard when I was in the service was $60k and a friend with an active TS gave me the $100k number when he had his renewed.
I know that in my case, 2 FBI agents went to Iowa, Arizona, and Nebraska tracking down everyone I socialized with. You give them a list of references, they interview those references, and then they ask "and who else did he associate with while he lived here?" and then they go interview those people until the only answers they get are people they already interviewed.
then there was a afternoon of psychological tests and an interview, followed by a lie detector test.
but the gov't does it at a huge loss because there's a national security interest in having the person vetted. If I wanted to perform the same investigation without a national security interest, it's not getting done for whatever the line cost is...$500-$5000, depending on level?