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Exactly this. Top Secret clearance typically extends out to three degrees of separation. They’ll check on you, your friends/family, and their friends/family. Because when national security is concerned, they don’t want to risk a leak due to something like a cousin being a spy and going drinking after work with the employee.
I know a dude who introduced himself with “hey, my name’s Mike but call me Spike.” I think it was one of those “I just changed schools and want to reinvent myself as someone cooler” scenarios.
That was like 15 years ago. To this day, we still call him Spmike (pronounced “SPUH-mike”).