Okay, research done! Here is what I found.
The troubling thing isn't so much in the fact that people are working in the white house without the necessary clearances. However, it is NUMBER OF PEOPLE that do not have the clearances that are highly unusual. There is not an easy explanation for this. Granted, this is a unique administration in that most times these people are the best and the brightest who are just transferring their credentials from another government entity. This would be a reasonable explanation for the Trump administration if you consider that he decided to go with so many people without experience in government. The troubling thing comes back to the same thing. The number of people without key experience in government.
The other troubling thing I have found is there are red flags with so many people that are delaying the clearances. Granted, one thing that is not made clear is actually there is no such thing as a "permanent" clearance anyway. It is always reviewed. However, there are a lot of people upon these reviews that are red flagged. Again, that part isn't unusual. It's the number of people that are the concern.
I have confirmed the FBI gives higher priority to Senior white house staff. The interesting thing I found out is that it is the White House who ultimately decides who has these clearances and temporary clearances give the same access as any other. The president could approve anything ultimately even if there is a failed background check....but if congress found out it is grounds for impeachment.
So, really the problem is more the number of people that aren't passing more than anything else. It is a very big number by comparison to other administrations. The problem is so many don't have the government experience to pass the clearances over to the job so they are starting from scratch. So it isn't so much the clearance as it is why so many people that aren't qualified for the job when you consider lack of experience?