Security clearance debacle

THE IDEA that more than 100 White House employees now have access to highly classified information under a so-called “interim” security clearance — some long after investigations have shown that they will not qualify for a permanent clearance — is shocking. Security clearances are a major part of the effort to prevent our nation’s most sensitive information from being revealed to those who would use it against us.

I worked for Sandia National Laboratories for more than 40 years, as an employee and as a contractor. The ability to obtain a security clearance was not a technicality; it was a condition of employment. People without a clearance were generally not even permitted access to the area and, for much of my tenure, all employees, including custodians and grounds workers, were required to obtain a clearance for the highest level of classified material that they might encounter — even accidentally.

It may be true that members of a new presidential administration may need to be allowed access under an interim clearance, and that the president has the power to grant a clearance to anyone. However, if an FBI investigation has documented reasons that a person does not qualify for a permanent clearance, there is a severe risk in continuing to allow him or her access to classified information. In several cases, the president has apparently decided that such a person should continue to have access despite this. He should therefore “take ownership” of the situation through the positive step of formally granting those clearances, and accept the resulting criticism. If he is unwilling to do so, I believe that he is unfit to hold the office.

RANDALL K. COLE JR. Albuquerque