200k/yr isn't that high for an IT person with a serious classification. A decent TS/SCI sys admin can be make +300k working for companies that want secret government contracts. It does make them more difficult to bribe though.
There was no real access and audit control with Bradley Manning, just unprotected SAMBA shares that contained sensitive data but not Secret data. Top Secret systems do tend to have an audit trail (I think it is required along with encryption) but I would expect that such systems can be accessed at a lower level by IT. For instance pulling a backup drive and associated keys to recover lost data from a "malfunctioning server". IT often has to work at a level below the level that you places security safe guards at. I'd bet 1000 dollars that the foreign intelligence agencies have friendly IT workers at the NSA that give them full spectrum access.
tl;dr Either you have IT that can do their job or you have systems which are secure against IT, you can't have both.
Its not that hard to get (>1 million US citizens have TS), but not all clearances of the same name are treated the same by three letter agencies. The NSA does not, by default accept, a clearance that you received elsewhere. The biggest cost to getting a clearance is time, energy and risk. The easiest path to a respectable TS/SCI is to join a TLA, pass all your background checks, pass all your lie detector tests, work there for a few years making sure not to do anything that could get your clearance taken away and then switch to the private sector. During that time you work at TLA you get moved to a project that uses technology that has little to no value in the private sector making it more difficult to make the switch.
Disclaimer: I know this stuff from reading books and informal chats with people at tech companies, please apply salt to taste.
There was no real access and audit control with Bradley Manning, just unprotected SAMBA shares that contained sensitive data but not Secret data. Top Secret systems do tend to have an audit trail (I think it is required along with encryption) but I would expect that such systems can be accessed at a lower level by IT. For instance pulling a backup drive and associated keys to recover lost data from a "malfunctioning server". IT often has to work at a level below the level that you places security safe guards at. I'd bet 1000 dollars that the foreign intelligence agencies have friendly IT workers at the NSA that give them full spectrum access.
tl;dr Either you have IT that can do their job or you have systems which are secure against IT, you can't have both.