Eli Lake, Columnist

Playing Politics With Security Clearances Is Not New

The process for granting, suspending and revoking them is deeply flawed.

August 22, 2018 at 4:34 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

He’s not alone.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images North America

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Since President Donald Trump’s decision last week to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, nearly 200 former senior national security officials have rushed to his defense.

In open letters and statements, their message is clear: Trump short-circuited an apolitical process for revoking access to state secrets. As one such letter, signed by 15 retired directors and deputy directors at the CIA, puts it: “We have never before seen the approval or removal of security clearances used as a political tool, as was done in this case.”