Flynn and his Clearances

Driving the dog to the vet today and listening to what passes for journalism on MSNBC I heard the woman anchor (blond news babe) insist that Mike Flynn's continued possession of a high level of clearance for access to US classified information was merely a formality and a courtesy.  Well, pilgrims, that ain't so.

Vetting a person for a high level job is one thing...

• That involves a special investigation into the person's finances, associations, writings, possible criminal activity, political loyalties, etc.  The FBI, the IRS, word of mouth, are all possibilities to be involved in this.  The judgements involved about the person are essentially political.
  

On the other hand ...

• The process of granting clearance for access to classified information is quite different.  Normally an agency that wishes to employ a person whether military or civilian who will need access to US classified information will request that such a person be investigated by counter-intelligence  agencies.  Depending on the level of access to be granted an investigation of varying scope is done.  This investigation results in an adjudication of whether or not to grant the clearance.  That decision is made by mysterious creatures in the counter-intelligence agencies called adjudicators and the decision is made on the basis of soundness of character and demonstrated reliability from a security point of view,  The politics of the subject person in this process is irrelevant.  Once granted the security clearance resides IN THE INDIVIDUAL and is to some extent portable between agencies.  In the course of his official life Flynn would have had clearances granted seriatim from the US Army, DIA, The Office  of the Director of National Intelligence (where he was Clapper's Deputy for a while) and then after he was retired from the US Army from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in a program that maintains security clearances in a special register for cleared contractors.  That register is referred to by any group that wants to give temporary employment to Defense Department contractors.

So, the answer to the WH statement concerning the renewal of Flynn's clearance last year is quite simple.  The chance that the Obama WH was aware of the renewal of Flynn's security clearances is really quite small.   On the other hand it was altogether the responsibility of the Trump transition team to vett Flynn thoroughly before appointing him National Security Adviser.  On another hand, statements made this afternoon on CNN by various people that the renewal of Flynn's clearances in 2016 was a meaningless formality given by DIA to a retired officer (who had been fired from the job) are just inane and these statements display a total lack of understanding of how the clearance process actually works.  pl 

Comments

[ked]

I'll fwd your inquiry to the FBI director.

[Stumpy]

Thank you, Colonel. As the news of Comey's dismissal came over the air today, I would like to refine my comment. Much as the opposition would like to frame the firing as a move to get out from under the Russian election meddling story, the central theme seemed to be the lack of action on the mishandling of classified information by Hillary Clinton and her staff. To possibly answer my own question, is it fair to say that the elected officials, by virtue of their public trust, are held to a much more lenient standard that cleared personnel who are subject to a stricter surveillance protocol? Thus Huma Abedin skates while Flynn gets the hook?

[William R. Cumming]

Granting of a personnel security clearance does not the game end. You must then be able to meet the NEED TO KNOW test.