Security clearances: What you should know
What are they and why all the fuss about Trump’s threat to revoke them?
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has threatened to revoke security clearances for several former top intelligence and law enforcement officials who made “baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia or being influenced by Russia against the president,” according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.
Here’s what you need to know
What is a security clearance?
It allows a person to view classified national security information. There are three levels: confidential, secret and top secret, the highest level. People with top-secret clearances are reinvestigated every five years; secret clearances last 10. A program known as continuous evaluation conducts is being phased in and makes periodic checks of public records to supplement the investigations and flag potential problems.
The unauthorized release of top-secret information could be expected to cause “exceptionally grave damage” to national security.
Employers seeking to hire retiring government officials can request that their security clearances be transferred to their new job. In addition, retired admirals and generals may be called on by active-duty senior officers to access classified information for advice on specific missions or projects.
Whose clearance is threatened?
Trump has targeted six officials from the Obama administration who have criticized his handling of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and his dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those officials are ex-CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former national security adviser Susan Rice and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Comey and McCabe reportedly have said they no longer have clearances, while the others have dismissed the threat and pledged to keep speaking out.
Can Trump yank clearances?
Yes.
“As the commander in chief, he is the arbiter of all things related to classified information,” Mark Zaid, a Washington- based national security attorney, said Tuesday. “I’m not aware of any presidents who have gotten involved in security-clearance matters. That authority is usually delegated to the heads of agencies.”
The wisdom of such a move is being debated.
Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who headed the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election, backed Trump’s call to pull security clearances.
“They didn’t pay for that security clearance; it’s not a vested interest that they get for the rest of their lives,” Conaway said. “They’ve got a responsibility – all of us have a responsibly – to act properly, and if the president sees that they have not, then it’s his or her responsibility to yank it.”
Revoking one for political purposes puts the government on a “slippery slope,” Zaid said. He estimated that during any administration, one-third to one-half of the national security force belongs to the opposing party. Will a person overheard making a derogatory comment risk losing their clearance?
“That’s scary,” he said.
How many people hold them and who has lost them in the past?
About 4.2 million people, including civil servants, troops and contractors held security clearances in 2015, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued late last year. Occasionally, the loss of a security clearance becomes public. That has been the case for senior military officers whose misconduct in uniform has prompted revocation of their clearances.
Trump could conceivably revoke the security clearance of former FBI director Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation into Russian meddling, Zaid said.
Why is it important in retirement?
A valid clearance doesn’t guarantee access to secret information, said a retired senior military official whose employer does not allow him to speak publicly. It means that you have been approved to see it if your duties demand it.
Clearances also are valued in retirement because many contractors working in the national-security realm require them for lucrative jobs.
“It is the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket,” said Zaid.