Some 30 to 40 White House officials and Trump administration political appointees are operating more than a year into the Trump regime without full security clearances. One of them is Jared Kushner. Until recently, another was noted wife-basher Rob Porter.
The White House claims that the backlog of interim security clearances is a procedural consequence of the review process carried out by the FBI and White House Office of Security, which can take time to complete.
But several sources, including intelligence officials who have served previous Democratic and GOP administrations, describe the backlog as very unusual and make clear that the process should have been completed after a year in office.Asked on Thursday why so many White House officials were still operating on interim clearances, White House spokesman Raj Shah said he wasn't able to discuss specifics of the clearance process.
One current and one former US official said the backlog could indicate that there are remaining questions or obstacles from the intelligence community and law enforcement conducting the review.
We reported this last night. https://t.co/AJihNU3lXB https://t.co/andF6o7PkQ
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 9, 2018
[via. PHOTO: White House senior adviser Jared Kushner welcomes technology company leaders to a summit of the American Technology Council at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, U.S. June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst]