Reports: More Than 100 WH Aides Had Interim Security Clearances In November

Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner (L) and Ivanka Trump arrive for the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas Kamm (Photo credit... Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner (L) and Ivanka Trump arrive for the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas Kamm (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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More than 100 White House staffers, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were working on interim security clearances as of November of last year, according to reports from CNN and NBC News.

It’s not clear how many of those aides received a full security clearance in the few months since the information on interim security clearances was generated.

Since it was revealed last week that Rob Porter continued in his position as staff secretary on a temporary security clearance, even as the background check process turned up accusations of domestic violence, security clearances in the White House have come under greater scrutiny. House Oversight Committee Chair Trey Gowdy (R-SC) said Wednesday that his committee would investigate the process used to assess whether Porter should have obtained a security clearance.

Of the scores of White House staffers operating without full security clearances in November, about two dozen started working in the administration in January 2017, according to CNN. Those without a full security clearance include a special assistant to the president for national security affairs and the National Security Council’s senior director for international cybersecurity, per CNN.

According to NBC News, 47 of the aides without full security clearances in November report director to President Donald Trump.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner had temporary clearance to access top secret information and information classified as “top secret, sensitive compartmented information,” which means it comes from sensitive intelligence sources, according to NBC News.

White House Counsel Don McGahn, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah obtained permanent security clearances to access top secret information but were still operating on temporary clearances for the “top secret, sensitive compartmented information” as of November, according to NBC News.

Several staffers continued to work on interim security clearances even as some of Trump’s top aides have received their full security clearance. Counselor Kellyanne Conway, chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, Communications Director Hope Hicks, and policy adviser Stephen Miller all received a full security clearances by November, according to CNN.

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Notable Replies

  1. Trump has been found tweeting within 5 minutes of his supposedly receiving the PDB. If he had an electronic device in the room, wouldn’t that violate security protocol?

  2. How long does it normally take to finish the security clearance process? Without that information we are just flying blind. The son of a friend of mine was on the secret service detail assigned to W. It took him a fair amount of time to be cleared. I would imagine the process can take a while at change of administrations.

  3. LOCK THEM UP!
    LOCK THEM UP!

    whatever their side accuses you of doing, I assure you they’re guilty of it themselves.

  4. they had the initial screens done within 90 - 120 days. It doesn’t take a year+.

  5. I’m shocked! Shocked I say!

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