WASHINGTON (AP) – Trump administration announcement this week Cancel security clearance Of the 37 current and former national security authorities, few acts were isolated.
President Donald Trump cancelled the clearance Favourite retaliation tactics He was exercised or at least attempted to be exercised against a well-known politician, lawyer, or intelligence reporting official.
The latest goals include officials who served in government between various agencies and positions, including former President Joe Biden’s national security team and the National Security Agency. Some are critics of Trump’s voice, while others are directly addressing the issues that infuriated him. Intelligence Community Review It says Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 presidential election.
Security clearance is an important tool not only for current national security workers, but also for the previous tools needed to maintain access to sensitive information as contractors.
It is unknown how many of the 37 people were newly selected, so the practical impact is unknown. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard There is still security clearance. However, critics denounced the move as an act of retaliation intended to make the Intelligence Reporter think twice before angering the president, before chilling the objections or making the Intelligence Reporter think.
Look at some of the other people and industries affected by Trump’s security clearance action.
Hunter Biden’s letter signer about laptop
Trump on his first day in office Moved to cancel clearance In 2020, Hunter Biden Laptop Saga It gave birth to the characteristic of “Russian Information Operations.”
The list includes notable officials like James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence under the former president. Barack Obama;John Brennan and Leon Panetta are both CIA directors at Obama, while John Bolton is He was fired as Trump’s national security adviser During his first term.
The laptop story surfaced after the 2020 New York Post reported that Hunter Biden had acquired a computer hard drive that fell at a repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware. The newspaper has published communications related to young Biden’s business deals in Ukraine.
Subsequent letters from 51 former intelligence officers raised warnings regarding the source of emails reported by the post. The signatories didn’t know if the email was authentic, but wrote that their appearance had “all classic ear marks of Russian information operations.”
John Ratcliffe, Trump’s then-national intelligence agency and current CIA director, contradicted his assessment by saying he had no intelligence to support the idea that Russia had something to do with Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The FBI, which had its own criminal investigation into the young Biden, appeared to support Ratcliffe’s statement by telling Congress with a letter that there was nothing to add to what he said.
Hunter Biden He was later convicted of both tax and guns However, his father forgives him.
Former President Joe Biden and his key officials
Trump continued Strip Biden another order Of his clearance, he said he didn’t need to receive access to the information he was classified in February. He also finished Biden’s intelligence briefing with Biden’s recall. I’m doing the same thing To him in 2021.
Biden administration officials saw security clearances suspended in the March order. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and Former Secretary of State Antony Brinken.
Other Trump Enemies
Many of Trump’s perceived enemies were also targeted in the same March order, such as:
– Andrew Weissmana top prosecutor on the Department of Justice’s special advisory team who investigated Russia’s relationship with his 2016 presidential election during Trump’s first term.
-Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney The office that indicted Trump last year in connection with his 2016 hash money payments.
– Mark Zaid, a prominent national security attorney in Washington, includes whistleblowers from the Intelligence Reports community whose client launched the first case of two perpetrators against Trump.
Zaid later sued.calling it an act of “inappropriate political retaliation,” putting his ability to continue to represent his clients in sensitive national security cases.
Law office
Trump has also made the suspension of clearance a key provision In the middle of an executive order This year, he targeted prominent law firms around legal work he disliked, or his relationship with lawyers he didn’t like.
The action also banned company lawyers from accessing federal buildings and threatened to cancel federal contracts.
Four companies, Perkins Coie, Wilmerhale, Susman Godfrey, and Jenner & Block, have been sued in federal court to block the execution of the order I won to hit themleaving the clearance intact.