Reading about how Trump is revoking security clearances left and right I am struck with something:
Why did they still retain them?
I remember having a clearance and once I left the job I needed it for, it expired.
Most of the people he's been naming have long since left positions were they needed a clearance for their government job.
The nation doesn't need for them to have access to secret material any longer, so why did they get to keep it?
The cynical answer is so they could get a job feeding those secrets to the private sector and be paid for it.
I'm OK with his decision.
Lots of former high level officials have "courtesy" clearances, which conveniently makes it easier for them to get consulting gigs later. This is what Trump is revoking - as you point out, he is putting high level people in the same situation as the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteIt is also a way to punish those he can't charge because of Biden's pardons: instead, he cuts off the post government employment they were counting on.
Jonathan