First the candidate fills out a form, typically the SF86 which lists everything you've done, everywhere you've lived, and references THE CANDIDATE provides for a recent time period, usually the past 7-10 years. The investigator goes to every place the candidate has worked and interviews their direct supervisor and any references that the candidate lists.
Then the investigator goes to the neighborhoods from the candidates' past 10 years and interviews neighbors that the candidate has listed.
IF any issues arise from the interviews of the people that the candidate directs the investigator to, then and only then will the investigator expand the scope of the investigation to include witnesses and other involved parties.
Financials are checked for illegality and credit is checked, other than that, a thing like gambling debts remain off the radar (unless one of the candidate's references mentions it).
Most high profile candidates are rushed through, many times leaving investigators only time enough to have brief chats with those references that the candidates provide.
A LOT OF STUFF GETS MISSED. It's a terribly flawed system.
Signed, a guy who did these investigations for several years.
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