Could Trump get a security clearance?

February 27, 2018 5:46 PM

Did he have to? How was he vetted?
posted by Gnella to Law & Government (8 answers total)

No, the president is the ultimate source of classification authority, & automatically has clearance for everything.
posted by kickingtheground at 5:49 PM on February 27, 2018 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Preet Bharara addressed this question on his latest podcast. His answer was (1) the president has automatic access to everything (what WCityMike said), but hypothetically if Trump were to go through the normal clearance process, it's highly unlikely he would pass. Not only because he has all sorts of debt and international financial entanglements, but also because the man's prolific and well-documented mendacity would be a major strike against him.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 6:41 PM on February 27, 2018 [7 favorites]

He didn't have to, as others have said.

He likely could not have gotten one, given his extensive foreign debts and his penchant for affairs making him extremely blackmailable and compromisable.
posted by dis_integration at 7:11 PM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Members of congress also do not require security clearances. They automatically have clearance as a result of their election. Congress has their own rules as to which committees have access to top secret information, but there is no vetting of congress persons required for top secret access.

Then again, the president can control which information he is willing to release. Congress may have to beg for access.

The president also has full control over who he approves for access. Even if Jared is not approved for a security clearance, there is nothing preventing Trump from handing over the daily brief to him at his own discretion.
posted by JackFlash at 7:25 PM on February 27, 2018

Yes, US law is generally extremely deferential to the will of the people in choosing their elected officials. It's not unusual to have a situation where a city councilmember (for example) keeps releasing protected personnel information, creating massive liability for the city, and there's not a damn thing the city or the rest of the council can do about it because he has access to the information to do his job, and can't be removed from his job without losing an election (or, rarely, being impeached). Frequently even criminal conviction doesn't suffice to remove the individual from his position and whatever access comes with it.

The rationale is the electorate chose that guy, presumably with the knowledge that he was a jackass, and the law defers to the electorate's choice of leader. So Trump gets access to everything, even though no sane person would give him clearance if he had to go through the normal process.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:45 PM on February 27, 2018 [5 favorites]

yep^^^ *no way* he couldn't even pass a poly on basic personal information. forget about identifying *all foreign contacts*.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:51 PM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: He doesn't have one; he just gets access to everything. However, if a department wanted to keep information hidden from him, all they have to do is publish it in multi-page reports in small fonts with big words.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:28 PM on February 27, 2018 [29 favorites]

You can't run for Sheriff in a lot of counties without some sort of certification as a peace officer, but you can run for federal office without having a security clearance. This would be a game-changing requirement, but there's probably some sort of unintended consequences it would entail. Worth experimenting with something inconsequential, like the Senate.
posted by randomkeystrike at 7:45 AM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]