President Donald Trump is said to be considering revoking security clearance for ex-CIA boss John Brennan and other Obama-era critics of him.The rationale offered by his spokesghoul* is bullshit. The only reason that their clearances would be revoked is that they are being too critical of Owwr Deer Leedur.
That's the sort of petty action that one would expect from a tinpot dictator in some shithole country where everyone is required to have an official portrait of El Grande Stupido.
Which should give you an idea of where Trump wants to take this country.
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* aka Josephine Goebbels
5 comments:
My only question is why they need a clearance when they are retired ??
Richard, the idea is they can be called on as consultants when their experience might be of value. It's good to have depth of field in intelligence work.
Yet another facet of the dismantling of the government and our first lines of defense.
Generally speaking, their clearance is in a suspended state after they leave government service. Reinstating it is a relatively simple process which doesn’t require the deep dive a new issuance clearance does...they simply look into changes. If the clearance is revoked, they would need an entirely new clearance to consult or be used as a sounding board by a current official on a security matter.
It is a truly sickish move, kinda like if Trump revoked Obama’s clearance...wait, didnI just give him an idea?
I've had my security clearance revoked twice: when I separated from the military and when I retired from govt. service. Seemed like the logical thing to do since I no longer had the need to know. It was also made clear that I still had the responsibility not to divulge any classified or sensitive info. It is a simple matter to be "read back in" if the need arises.
In addition, the background knowledge, ie why this rule is written or what is the reason for something is called institutional knowledge. Those that came before can be consulted to ask why things are done a certain way, what are the consequences if done differently, and the basic history of the organization. By allowing those to keep their security clearance it speeds the process of information gathering.
Dale
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