Trump revokes former CIA chief’s security clearance
Critics call it an effort to suppress free speech
WASHINGTON – Striking at one of his fiercest critics over Russia, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, and continues to review the clearances of other Barack Obama administration officials.
Brennan has used his status “to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations” and “wild outbursts on the internet and television about this administration,” Trump said in a statement read by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
As critics accused Trump of seeking to silence opponents, the president added names to his list of other Obama-era officials whose security clearances are under review: FBI and Justice Department officials involved in the investigation of Russian interfer-
ence in the 2016 presidential election.
Brennan, like many of his supporters, called the decision part of a broader effort by 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 tweeted. “My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.”
Some of Brennan’s supporters described the security review as the compilation of a Trump blacklist.
“This has zero to do with national security,” tweeted Michael Bromwich, an attorney for former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, whose security clearance is one of those under review. “This is an Official Enemies List. The offense: exercising 1st Amendment rights.”
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called it “a stunning abuse of power” and an attempt to distract from Trump’s many scandals. U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump again demonstrated “how deeply insecure and vindictive he is — two character flaws dangerous in any President.”
The Brennan decision came quickly, less than a month after the White House announced the security clearance review on July 23.
Maybe less: The written version of Trump’s statement was dated July 26; the White House later re-issued the statement without any date at all.
Trump announced last month he was reviewing the security clearances of a number of ex-Obama officials, including Brennan as well as former FBI Director James Comey, former national intelligence Director James Clapper, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former national security adviser Susan Rice and McCabe.
Clapper, in an interview on CNN, said he would continue to speak out even if he loses his security clearance.
Claiming a threat to free speech, Clapper said that Trump’s actions amount to an “infringement of our right to speak, and apparently the appropriateness of being critical of this president.” Clapper also noted that some of Trump’s targets, including Comey, gave up their security clearances after leaving office.
In making his announcement about Brennan, Trump added names to the list that included former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Strzok is the FBI official fired within the past week in part because of antiTrump text messages he sent to Page, who left the FBI earlier this year.
Also on the list: Current Justice Department official Bruce Ohr. Supporters of Trump said Ohr was in contact with retired British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a dossier alleging a relationship between Trump and Russians involved in election interference.
Asked if Trump believes Ohr should be fired, Sanders said: “I don’t have any personnel announcements on that front. I can just tell you we’re looking into that specific matter.”
Russian efforts to favor Trump by hacking the emails of Democratic officials and pushing fake news about presidential nominee Hillary Clinton are currently under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Trump has denounced the Mueller investigation as a “hoax” concocted by Democrats upset at their election loss.
Security clearances for ex-government employees are not that unusual, and those who have them do not always exercise them.
Former leaders of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been allowed to maintain access to classified information, both as a professional courtesy and so that they can consult with successors on certain national security issues.
“Neither of these justifications supports Mr. Brennan’s continued access to classified information,” Sanders said in reading Trump’s statement.
Any benefit of consultations with Brennan is “outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior,” the Trump statement said, and that behavior “has tested and far exceeded the limits of any professional courtesy that may have been due to him.”
Brennan has been among Trump’s most acerbic critics.
In an appearance Tuesday on MSNBC, Brennan called Trump “dangerous to our nation.”