pResident Donald Trump has made his promise to cancel former President Joe Biden’s security clearance. The memo issued late Friday night, “Revoking access to security clearance and classification information from certain individuals,” laid out Trump’s instructions to retract security clearances for Biden, several members of the Biden administration, and other political rivals.
Trump has determined that still maintaining “active security clearance” or “unlimited” access to government facilities “is no longer in national interest.” “This action includes, but is not limited to, receipt of classified briefings such as the President’s daily briefs and access to sensitive information held by members of the Intelligence Reports Community due to the previous tenure of the appointed individual in Congress,” the memo reads.
The action was applied to Biden and “other members of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s family.” Joining the former president on the list was his former vice president and Trump’s former enemy in the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris. Trump’s 2016 opposition and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have also been listed along with former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former national security adviser Jacob Sullivan and former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
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Additionally, New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, both of whom have indicted Trump, have added attacks on Lepolisiccan and Adam Kinzinger, as well as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, as well as former representatives from the committee on January 6, 2021.
The memo also includes whistleblower lawyers Mark Zaid and Fiona Hill, former Trump Russian analysts who testified at Trump’s first blast-each hearing. Norman Eisen, the lawyer leading various lawsuits against the Trump administration, has also joined the National Security Council’s former Director of European Affairs, attorney Andrew Weissman and Alexander Vindman.
In an emailed statement sent on time, Zaid said:
“Attention is the primary line of defense against authoritarianism, which is why Shakespeare’s “butcher” (character) wants to kill us in Henry VI (part 2),” he says. “It appears President Trump has found a more effective way to eliminate people who fear he will challenge him.”
Meanwhile, Vindman responded to a note via social media, saying, “I’m not a weak billionaire, but a large, barbless law firm, so I don’t care what Donald Trump does about security clearances that he hasn’t been active in five years.”
Some of the names included in Trump’s memo appeared to have had their security clearance revoked earlier this month by Tarsi Gabbard, director of newly discovered national intelligence.
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What does “security clearance” mean?
According to the State Department, security clearance is determining whether an individual has access to “classified national security information.” For some government officials, the level of access to this information is determined by the employment function through formal security clearance processes and review measures.
For the president, vice president and members of Congress, their elections alone give them a great security clearance privilege, not a review.
According to Congress, there are three different levels of security clearance. “Confidential”, “Secret”, “Top Secret”.
Former presidents and other former officials who served will still be given access to information classified as courtesy after their inauguration. However, in 2021, Biden stolen Trump’s security clearance. What he said was Trump’s “unsteady behavior” regarding the January 6 Capitol riots.
Trump previously announced his intention to cancel Biden’s security clearance on February 7th, posting his decision to Truth Social, his social media platform. “We don’t need Joe Biden to continue access to the classified information. So we’re quickly revoking Joe Biden’s security clearance and stopping his daily intelligence briefing,” Trump said. “I will always protect our national security – Joe, you will be fired.”
Meanwhile, on March 17, Trump announced he would revoke Biden’s Secret Service protections for adult children, and earlier this year the administration reportedly robbed security details for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former national security adviser John Bolton.
For some governments, losing security clearance means “losing your livelihood,” says Professor Heidi Gilchrist of Brooklyn Law School, a former CIA analyst and national security expert. Government officials may begin to think about the potential political fallout of action with the president.
She points out that Trump has “broad powers” as president to revoke clearances, but believes there is a “strong argument” that the initial amendment is being violated by revoking clearances of his political opponents. In fact, she believes that the court may even “open” for involvement.
“The courts generally do not consider a security clearance decision as they simply postpone it to the administrative department on national security issues,” says Gilchrist. “However, this (instance) is not based on any kind of national security expertise or basis. This could be a clear start for the court to confirm past clearance decisions.”
