lol, I think there may be a mis-understanding in what I typed. the program I mentioned was one that I participated in while in high school about 3 years ago, there were no checks of any kind (and I credit this to knowing a few people including the director that matched me with a mentor in a couple labs).

What Nick mentioned to beware giving information for security checks for defense industry directly, and what I wonder is about other labs that are not the defense industry but may have them as clients and do research for them or in collaboration with them, with their money as sources of funding, as its very commonly the case in university labs.

I have yet to complete the paperwork, and mostly due to worrying about what kind of checks they may do, today is the first day i read this thread and its giving me new hope towards actually applying for internships as i had originally hoped.