Get a security clearance if not president?
Could Trump
Would President Donald Trump be able to obtain security clearance today if he were not the president? Can he tell our nation’s secrets to anyone he chooses? Can his access to all our nation’s secrets be revoked? Who determines which of our nation’s secrets are classified? Here are the answers according to ClearanceJobs.com:
“Election to the nation’s highest office is the ultimate conferral of trust upon an American citizen by the body politic. Moreover, classification policy largely stems from executive orders, which originate from the president’s pen. He or she makes the rules for classification and the treatment of classified material. As commander-in-chief, all military secrets and secret-keepers serve at the whim of the president. If a president so chooses, he or she can more or less learn everything there is to know about anything there is to know. ... If a president wants to declassify something, he or she can more or less declassify it by fiat. … The lives of our undercover intelligence officers abroad often hang in the balance, and a well-kept secret is the difference between an officer coming home and going to a gulag. Likewise, spy operations can take years, if not decades, to put into action.”
The State Department requires those applying for security clearance to complete an SF-86 Questionnaire, to undergo an extensive background check of their personal and professional history, including a criminal history check and the examination of applicants’ financial records and foreign contacts. It must be determined that the applicant have a history that indicates loyalty to the United States; has strength of character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and sound judgment; is free from conflicting allegiances and potential for coercion and demonstrates “a willingness and ability to abide by regulations governing the use, handling, and protection of classified information.”
Would Mr. Trump be able to obtain top-secret security clearance if he were not the president and needed to apply for clearance with the State Department?
Call Congress to demand that the secretary of state, the director of national intelligence or the congressional intelligence committees have access to the transcripts of the Trump-Putin summit meeting. The president and members of Congress work for us.