WASHINGTON, D.C. (Associated Press) — President Donald Trump says his administration will move to revoke the security clearances of the more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a “Russian information operation.”
The action is an early indication of the president’s determination to exact retribution on perceived adversaries and is the latest point of tension between Trump and an intelligence community of which he has been openly disdainful. The sweeping move, announced via executive order Monday, also sets up a potential court challenge from ex-officials seeking to maintain access to sensitive government information.
“The president has a lot of authority when it comes to security clearances. The problem the White House will run into is, if they depart from their existing procedures, they could set up a judicial appeal for these 51 people — and it will probably be a class-action suit since they’re all in alike or similar circumstances,” said Dan Meyer, a Washington lawyer who specializes in the security clearance and background check process.
The executive order targets the clearances of 50 people in all, including the 49 surviving signatories of the letter. The list includes prominent officials like James Clapper, the director of national intelligence under former President Barack Obama, and John Brennan and Leon Panetta, who both served as Obama’s CIA director.
Also targeted is John Bolton, who was fired as Trump’s national security adviser during his first term and later wrote a book whose publication the White House unsuccessfully sought to block on grounds that it disclosed national security information. Separately this week, Trump abruptly ended the U.S. Secret Service detail assigned to Bolton, who has been the subject of assassination plots by Iran. Bolton said in a statement that he was disappointed but not surprised by the decision.
The order directs the CIA to work with the office of the Director of National Intelligence to begin the process of revoking the clearances.
