IIRC most of the US AI research came from DARPA grants.
That would be the (Department of) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Now, wheather you needed actual security clearance to work on them is another matter.
Blackboard systems. Speech recognition, driverless vehicles, message understanding (note that word "understanding," as in what does it mean, not what does it say). Even optimizing freight packaging on board ships (which save more money for the USG than all DARPA AI programmes for the last 40 years cost)
My view is after you've got the SC you'll be shocked at what a clusterf**k their systems are.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
