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Anti-Trump bureaucrats accused of weaponizing security clearance process

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bubbabgone

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The security clearance process has tied the Trump administration in knots — and that is exactly what the bureaucrats running the White House personnel security office intended, said a lawyer who has been battling the office.

The problem is a small group of career bureaucrats holed up in the Old Executive Office Building who turned security reviews into quicksand to ensnare President Trump’s team, said Sean M. Bigley, a federal security clearance lawyer who represents several senior administration officials caught up in the process.

“The security clearance process is being weaponized by anti-Trump bureaucrats who are using it as a tool to not only thwart the president’s agenda but to prevent him from installing appointees who will execute it,” Mr. Bigley told The Washington Times.​

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/4/trump-team-security-clearance-process-weaponized-b/

Yeah ... Bigley ... that's his name.
Anyway, he offers an explanation for Kushner's and other's year long interim security clearance and eventual security downgrade.
Kelly doesn't like it one bit.
Holdovers with an agenda would be one reason for the situation.
 
sounds like a 'bigley' conspiracy theory ............... could be in the wrong sub-forum ..............
 
bubbabgone said:
The security clearance process has tied the Trump administration in knots — and that is exactly what the bureaucrats running the White House personnel security office intended, said a lawyer who has been battling the office.

The problem is a small group of career bureaucrats holed up in the Old Executive Office Building who turned security reviews into quicksand to ensnare President Trump’s team, said Sean M. Bigley, a federal security clearance lawyer who represents several senior administration officials caught up in the process.

“The security clearance process is being weaponized by anti-Trump bureaucrats who are using it as a tool to not only thwart the president’s agenda but to prevent him from installing appointees who will execute it,” Mr. Bigley told The Washington Times.​

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/4/trump-team-security-clearance-process-weaponized-b/

Yeah ... Bigley ... that's his name.
Anyway, he offers an explanation for Kushner's and other's year long interim security clearance and eventual security downgrade.
Kelly doesn't like it one bit.
Holdovers with an agenda would be one reason for the situation.
Click to expand...

I love it when lawyers get creative.
 
bubbabgone said:
Could be that. Could also be holdovers gumming up the works. Kelly appears to think so.
Click to expand...

The problem with the clearances was that the FBI was unable to clear these people for various reasons. The lawyers don't want the FBI to bring in actual facts about the issues that concerned them. Much better to throw out innuendos about "holdovers". Oddly, no other administration has had this problem.
 
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bubbabgone said:
The security clearance process has tied the Trump administration in knots — and that is exactly what the bureaucrats running the White House personnel security office intended, said a lawyer who has been battling the office.

The problem is a small group of career bureaucrats holed up in the Old Executive Office Building who turned security reviews into quicksand to ensnare President Trump’s team, said Sean M. Bigley, a federal security clearance lawyer who represents several senior administration officials caught up in the process.

“The security clearance process is being weaponized by anti-Trump bureaucrats who are using it as a tool to not only thwart the president’s agenda but to prevent him from installing appointees who will execute it,” Mr. Bigley told The Washington Times.​

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/4/trump-team-security-clearance-process-weaponized-b/

Yeah ... Bigley ... that's his name.
Anyway, he offers an explanation for Kushner's and other's year long interim security clearance and eventual security downgrade.
Kelly doesn't like it one bit.
Holdovers with an agenda would be one reason for the situation.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's not Trump appointees have serious blackmail risk, due to their abusive behavior to women; shady financial entanglements or other risks that career security professionals have identified in order to clear someone to receive top secret clearance. No, it's "Ma, the deep state bureaucrats are being mean to me."

The reality is that Trump appointees have to meet the same clearance requirements every other appointee of every other president had to meet. The problem is that, Trump really didn't hire the best people. Many of them have skeletons in their closet that make they a national security risk -- and they didn't even need an email server to be a risk.

The second reality is that these are career civil servants that have worked under both Democratic and Republican administrations. The fact that Trump appointees have unique clearance issues says more about the candidates than the process.
 
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bearpoker said:
The problem with the clearances was that the FBI was unable to clear these people for various reasons. The lawyers don't want the FBI to bring in actual facts about the issues that concerned them. Much better to throw out innuendos about "holdovers". Oddly, no other administration has had this problem.
Click to expand...

According to the story ...
"The completed FBI background checks routinely get snagged by the office, also known as EOP Security, that is manned by fewer than a dozen career officials. The office has a reputation for bureaucratic inefficiency stretching back several administrations, but it now has adopted an adversarial stance toward Mr. Trump."
So, if true, it wouldn't be the FBI causing the delay.
 
MTAtech said:
Yeah, it's not Trump appointees have serious blackmail risk, due to their abusive behavior to women; shady financial entanglements or other risks that career security professionals have identified in order to clear someone to receive top secret clearance. No, it's "Ma, the deep state bureaucrats are being mean to me."

The reality is that Trump appointees have to meet the same clearance requirements every other appointee of every other president had to meet. The problem is that, Trump really didn't hire the best people. Many of them have skeletons in their closet that make they a national security risk -- and they didn't even need an email server to be a risk.

The second reality is that these are career civil servants that have worked under both Democratic and Republican administrations. The fact that Trump appointees have unique clearance issues says more about the candidates than the process.
Click to expand...

You could be right.
Yes they are career civil servants
But as we've seen, even senior Intel officials can sometimes let their actions be influenced by something other than duty.
 
bubbabgone said:
According to the story ...
"The completed FBI background checks routinely get snagged by the office, also known as EOP Security, that is manned by fewer than a dozen career officials. The office has a reputation for bureaucratic inefficiency stretching back several administrations, but it now has adopted an adversarial stance toward Mr. Trump."
So, if true, it wouldn't be the FBI causing the delay.
Click to expand...

In the cases that we know about, Porter and Kushner, it was indeed the FBI that could not clear them. If in the other cases the holdup in the White House security office, why not point out that they passed the FBI investigation? Strange that they haven't done so. Remember, "When the facts are against you, argue the law. When the law is against you, argue the facts. When both are against you, yell and pound the table."
 
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