Trump yanks ex-CIA chief’s security clearance
Accuses critic of ‘erratic conduct’; Democrats say president is behaving like a dictator
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly revoked the security clearance of ex-CIA director John Brennan on Wednesday, an unprecedented act of retribution against a former top U.S. official.
Trump also threatened to yank the clearances of eight former officials and a current one, mostly top intelligence and law enforcement officials from the Obama and previous administrations.
Trump denounced Brennan’s criticism and spoke of “the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behaviour.” The president described his action as fulfilling his ”constitutional responsibility to protect the nation’s classified information.“
Democratic congressmen said it smacked of an “enemies list” among fellow Americans and the behaviour of leaders in “dictatorships, not democracies.” Brennan tweeted: “My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.”
Trump’s action, critics and nonpartisan experts said, marked an unprecedented politicization of the federal government’s security clearance process. It also was a clear escalation in Trump’s battle with members of the U.S. intelligence community he has attempted to reorient since he took office.
And it came in the middle of the president’s latest controversy — accusations of racism by former assistant Omarosa Manigault Newman and his bitter reaction to them. Trump’s statement, distributed to reporters, was dated July 26, 2018, suggesting it could have been held and then released when needed to change a damaging subject.
Trump, in a statement read by his press secretary and distributed by the White House, accused Brennan of having “leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations, wild outbursts on the internet and television about this administration.”
“Mr. Brennan’s lying and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nations’ most closely held secrets,” the statement said.
Brennan has been critical of Trump’s conduct, calling his performance at a press conference last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland “nothing short of treasonous.”
He said of Trump’s order on Wednesday: “This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech and punish critics. It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out.” Brennan said he learned of Trump’s action only when the White House announced it.
Former intelligence officials are wondering how far Trump will go, according to a former senior intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity to share private conversations he’s had with people who have worked in the field.
They said Trump has moved from threatening to revoke security clearances of former intelligence officials who have not been involved in the Russia investigation to former officials who did work on the probe.
Trump’s statement said the Brennan issue raises larger questions about the practice of allowing former officials to maintain their security clearances, and said that others officials’ were under review.