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Politics & ReligionWell Since every damn forum has one. Might as well leave it out there. This place is loosely moderated and should not be entered if you're weak of heart.
Elected Federal Officials Do Not Need Security Clearances
I was at a DoD security workshop on Wednesday, and the presenter told us that elected federal officials, up to and including the President, do not need security clearances to access classified information. The fact that they were voted in by the American public gives them the implicit trust to protect classified information.
Generally speaking, the public scrutiny which comes about when someone is elected tends to result in a far better investigation than the one typically done for a TS.
The only difference is that if something is found which would normally result in a rejection, it may not be forthcoming (depending on how serious the secret and whether it was illegal and will be prosecuted.)
Its the formality (or lack thereof) that bothers me. No reason to not have a formal clearance, subject to the same regulations as the rest of us.
Are you implying that the POTUS shouldn't have security clearance? Cause it's been stated on here before that Obama would be unable to get it, were it not part of the job.
If you are going to have access to national security information, information that may have endangered or cost lives to obtain and protect, you should have a formal clearance. If you can't obtain a clearance, you can't have the job. My opinion, obviously not going to occur anytime soon.
Please note this is not a dig at Obama, I believe this should apply to all.
Depending on the level; the clearance process can be a breeze, or a royal PITA. For access at the POTUS level (IE probably a TS/SCI with SSBI and FS), it would realistically take anywhere from 6 - 18+ months.
That news actually doesn't surprise me; take the POTUS for example. The PDB obviously contains informaton that may be sensitive, if not classified in nature; were a president-elect to fail his clearance investigation, would that mean that the new POTUS wouldn't be able to access a portion of the documents / reports prepared just for him?
It does sound like the clearance process for elected officials is more of a formality than anything else; otherwise, it could be a nifty way for some d-nozzle background investigator who "voted for the other guy" to 'fix' the election results.
Hmm, interesting food for thought though; definitely not something I had really given any thought to before just now.
Depending on the level; the clearance process can be a breeze, or a royal PITA. For access at the POTUS level (IE probably a TS/SCI with SSBI and FS), it would realistically take anywhere from 6 - 18+ months.
That news actually doesn't surprise me; take the POTUS for example. The PDB obviously contains informaton that may be sensitive, if not classified in nature; were a president-elect to fail his clearance investigation, would that mean that the new POTUS wouldn't be able to access a portion of the documents / reports prepared just for him?
It does sound like the clearance process for elected officials is more of a formality than anything else; otherwise, it could be a nifty way for some d-nozzle background investigator who "voted for the other guy" to 'fix' the election results.
Hmm, interesting food for thought though; definitely not something I had really given any thought to before just now.
**removes tinfoil hat, returns to daily life***
ahh hell, just PIITB and be done with it.
Interim clearances happen pretty quick, and for an elected official, I could see expediting the investigation/adjudication process, but they should still have to go through it.
I was at a DoD security workshop on Wednesday, and the presenter told us that elected federal officials, up to and including the President, do not need security clearances to access classified information. The fact that they were voted in by the American public gives them the implicit trust to protect classified information.
I found this disturbing.
Elected officials don't need a clearance per se, but that doesn't mean we don't have a system in place to restrict access of information.
Every elected official, with the single exception of POTUS, is on a need-to-know basis. Members of the House agriculture committee do not see classified intelligence information unless they have a need to know. This applies all the way up to the leadership in both chambers. The House and Senate leaders are briefed when the President wants them briefed.
The only elected officials other than the President who have a wide range of access to classified intelligence are the members of the House and Senate intelligence committees. The members of these committees don't have clearances, but the leadership in both parties works closely with the FBI in making sure that any prospective new members of the committee meet the equivalent standards of a TS/SCI clearance. (The intel committees are one of the few that no one gets on until they've been in Congress for several years.) Congressional staff that works with the elected official on intel matters do have to be cleared, and the FBI runs constant counter-intel operations on the members of the committee and the staff to make sure it's not compromised.
But even then, the members only get the information the President has cleared them to receive, unless a law mandates otherwise. Not even the chairman of an intel committee can see everything he wants, or has to be briefed on everything that is happening. This happened during the run up to the Iraq war, where President Bush withheld analysis that went against his claims of WMD programs and connections to al Qaeda.
Elected officials don't need a clearance per se, but that doesn't mean we don't have a system in place to restrict access of information.
Every elected official, with the single exception of POTUS, is on a need-to-know basis. Members of the House agriculture committee do not see classified intelligence information unless they have a need to know. This applies all the way up to the leadership in both chambers. The House and Senate leaders are briefed when the President wants them briefed.
Not according to the presenter, a former Air Force/NSA employee who also performed background investigations and administered polygraphs. Need to know does not apply (although, I highly doubt that any elected official can just demand any classified information).
I don't know how much your presenter dealt with Congress, but that doesn't jibe with what I've heard from several sources both in Congress and on the intel side.
There are many black world programs to which even Congress has no access. They simply throw money to them without being allowed (normally) to know what they are.
I don't know how much your presenter dealt with Congress, but that doesn't jibe with what I've heard from several sources both in Congress and on the intel side.
He had to testify a couple of times in front of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I believe it was.
He just made it sound as if the information was accessible if one wanted it bad enough, maybe he was embellishing a bit for the class.
Elected Federal Officials Do Not Need Security Clearances
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