Critics could lose their clearances

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is considering revoking the security clearances of six former Obama-era officials who have been critical of his administration, a move that opponents say would be an unprecedented politicization of the clearance process.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Monday that the president is “exploring the mechanisms” to strip clearance from former CIA Director John Brennan as well as five other former top national security officials: former FBI Director Jim Comey, James Clapper, Michael Hayden, Susan Rice and Andrew Mccabe.

Former CIA directors and other top national security officials are typically allowed to keep their clearances, at least for a period, so they can be in a position to advise their successors. At least one of the former officials, EX-FBI Deputy Director Mccabe, does not currently have security clearance, his spokeswoman said.

Sanders accused the officials of having “politicized and in some cases monetized their public service and security clearances” by “making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia or being influenced by Russia.”

Hayden tweeted Monday that a revocation of his security clearance wouldn’t “have any effect on what I say or write.”

Experts appeared split on whether the president has the authority to terminate a security clearance unilaterally. But they agreed that a president asking to revoke the clearance of a political critic would be unprecedented.

John V. Berry, an attorney who represents federal intelligence agency employees, said such a move would “be terrible for America” and “totally defeat the process of defending national security.”

“It would be horrendous. I just can’t imagine that you want to go down that road,” he said. “If we start interjecting politics into this, our country’s going to be significantly weakened.”