Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates held a top-tier "Q" security clearance at the Department of Energy from 2014 to 2021 - though the DOE didn't grant it. Another federal agency vetted him first, and the letter confirming the clearance doesn't say which one. The detail comes from a DOE letter entered into the Congressional record by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). A nuclear executive holding a nuclear clearance is not, on its own, a scandal. Once a Q clearance expires, getting it back isn't automatic.