USA TODAY International Edition
Kelly orders overhaul of security clearance process
Says he’s limiting access under temporary status
More than a week after spousal abuse allegations against a senior aide to President Trump sparked a controversy over White House security clearances, chief of staff John Kelly ordered several changes to the process, including limiting access to certain classified information for people with temporary clearances.
Per the memo — sent Friday to White House Counsel Don McGahn, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and deputy chief of staff Joseph Hagin — White House employees with interim clearances would only be allowed to review certain information if they received approval from the chief of staff’s office. And even in that case, it would only be granted “in the most compelling of circumstances.”
Kelly also ordered that any temporary clearances with access to certain levels of classified information would be revoked if the background investigations into the holders had been pending since June. Those clearances will be revoked next Friday.
Additionally, future interim clearances would last for 180 days, with an option of extending them for another 90 days — but only if “no significant derogatory information” had been discovered by the FBI. Kelly said he wanted the derogatory information reported within 48 hours of its discovery.
The changes come after the security clearance process was called into question during the fallout over spousal abuse allegations against Rob Porter, who resigned as White House staff secretary last week, following reports on his ex-wives’ accusations.
As staff secretary, Porter had direct access to President Trump and likely handled documents with classified information. But despite working for the administration for more than a year, Porter was never able to obtain a permanent security clearance, due to the allegations reported to the FBI.
Kelly has come under fire for his response to the Porter scandal, which raised questions about when Kelly and the White House found out about the allegations against Porter. FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency had submitted information to the White House about the problem multiple times last year, but the White House has declined to say when the domestic abuse allegations were revealed.
But the issue goes beyond Porter. According to NBC News, more than 130 people were working in the White House with interim clearances as of November, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
In the memo, Kelly said he plans to create a working group to work on streamlining the clearance process across the executive branch. The group would include McGahn, McMaster, Hagin, Wray, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats.
“As you know, when I started as Chief of Staff, several of the systems in the White House needed attention,” he wrote. “Security clearances were one of my earliest and most immediate concerns, and we have made significant progress since the first days of the administration.”