On Monday, Democratic Congressional candidate Abigail Spanberger shared that a complete, unredacted copy of her federal security clearance application, known as an SF-86, was released to a Republican opposition research group America Rising through FOIA. Here’s some background on what that means, how it might have happened, and the potential fallout.

Among the many fans the child star earned as the Curly Top cutie was one of the most notoriously tough G-Men in the whole law enforcement apparatus: Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover, himself.