by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
This week committees of the U.S. House of Representatives sent out a total of eighty-one letters to individuals, government agencies, and other groups (such as the NRA) requesting documents relating to dealings with and by the Trump administration. Donald Trump roared back in his typical bellicose and grandiose fashion that the House was conducting a "witch hunt" and that responses would not be forthcoming. And while Trump does not have the power or authority to speak for all of the letter recipients, many were addressed to agencies within the executive branch of government, and he presumably can control the responses of those recipients - at least until subpoenas start replacing the initial requests.
The House, which has conducted almost no oversight of the current administration for the past two years while it was under control of Trump's own Republican Party, now is being run by Democrats - and they seem to be eager to make up for lost time. The House is currently seeking information dealing with a wide range of topics, with one of the more interesting - to me at least - being how Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka and Jared Kushner, managed to acquire "top secret" security clearances.
Having been on the federal payroll myself for a number of years, and also having spent a lot of time working for the military, I have had to apply for the lower "secret" security clearance on several occasions, and even getting that lower-level clearance was time-consuming and invasive of my privacy. There were existing reasons why the government needed to know that I could safely handle information that were related to the jobs which I was doing, and there were established procedures for checking out my background and issuing the necessary clearance. It was a routine and well-defined process.
But that "routine" process did not work so well for Jared and Ivanka.
Jared Kushner is a New York businessman who was in serious financial difficulty with one especially troublesome property that he owns in New York City - and he had been trying to find ways to refinance that risky business. Even though Kushner lacked any political or diplomatic experience, Trump made Jared one of his advisers and put him in charge of sorting out the Middle East - a working platform that would put him in contact with many of the world's most powerful countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia. Kushner's direct relationship with the Trump family as well as his business empire that was teetering on the verge of collapse made him at least seem to be exploitable by foreign powers.
Kushner's security clearance was at first denied, and he made himself look bad by reworking his initial application many times. Donald Trump, who had the authority all along to issue the security clearance himself, instead tried to bully his Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn into granting Top Secret clearances to both Jared and Ivanka through the White House personnel security office, but Kelly and McGahn both stood up to Trump and refused to do his bidding. Trump then issued the order himself.
Since Jared Kushner has been tasked with untangling the geopolitics of the Middle East, there is at least some justification for his being granted a clearance. It is far less clear why Ivanka needs a clearance. She, like her husband, has an Achilles heel when it comes to international diplomacy because she has been a trading partner with China for years as a part of her clothing business.
Now Jared and Ivanka each have enough clearance to view any papers that come across Trump's desk - and some committee chairmen in the Democratic House want to know why. What the Trump administration may see as a convenience, or perhaps even a necessity in certain cases, others view as nepotism and a national security threat.
The way in which Jared and Ivanka got their security clearances, their need for having those clearances, and the ultimate security of top secret information, are all being called into question. Congress thinks those are necessary questions, and Trump thinks Congress is hunting witches.
And there are dozens of other areas that Congress is chomping at the bit to explore.
Buckle up, Butter Burger, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
Citizen Journalist
This week committees of the U.S. House of Representatives sent out a total of eighty-one letters to individuals, government agencies, and other groups (such as the NRA) requesting documents relating to dealings with and by the Trump administration. Donald Trump roared back in his typical bellicose and grandiose fashion that the House was conducting a "witch hunt" and that responses would not be forthcoming. And while Trump does not have the power or authority to speak for all of the letter recipients, many were addressed to agencies within the executive branch of government, and he presumably can control the responses of those recipients - at least until subpoenas start replacing the initial requests.
The House, which has conducted almost no oversight of the current administration for the past two years while it was under control of Trump's own Republican Party, now is being run by Democrats - and they seem to be eager to make up for lost time. The House is currently seeking information dealing with a wide range of topics, with one of the more interesting - to me at least - being how Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka and Jared Kushner, managed to acquire "top secret" security clearances.
Having been on the federal payroll myself for a number of years, and also having spent a lot of time working for the military, I have had to apply for the lower "secret" security clearance on several occasions, and even getting that lower-level clearance was time-consuming and invasive of my privacy. There were existing reasons why the government needed to know that I could safely handle information that were related to the jobs which I was doing, and there were established procedures for checking out my background and issuing the necessary clearance. It was a routine and well-defined process.
But that "routine" process did not work so well for Jared and Ivanka.
Jared Kushner is a New York businessman who was in serious financial difficulty with one especially troublesome property that he owns in New York City - and he had been trying to find ways to refinance that risky business. Even though Kushner lacked any political or diplomatic experience, Trump made Jared one of his advisers and put him in charge of sorting out the Middle East - a working platform that would put him in contact with many of the world's most powerful countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia. Kushner's direct relationship with the Trump family as well as his business empire that was teetering on the verge of collapse made him at least seem to be exploitable by foreign powers.
Kushner's security clearance was at first denied, and he made himself look bad by reworking his initial application many times. Donald Trump, who had the authority all along to issue the security clearance himself, instead tried to bully his Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn into granting Top Secret clearances to both Jared and Ivanka through the White House personnel security office, but Kelly and McGahn both stood up to Trump and refused to do his bidding. Trump then issued the order himself.
Since Jared Kushner has been tasked with untangling the geopolitics of the Middle East, there is at least some justification for his being granted a clearance. It is far less clear why Ivanka needs a clearance. She, like her husband, has an Achilles heel when it comes to international diplomacy because she has been a trading partner with China for years as a part of her clothing business.
Now Jared and Ivanka each have enough clearance to view any papers that come across Trump's desk - and some committee chairmen in the Democratic House want to know why. What the Trump administration may see as a convenience, or perhaps even a necessity in certain cases, others view as nepotism and a national security threat.
The way in which Jared and Ivanka got their security clearances, their need for having those clearances, and the ultimate security of top secret information, are all being called into question. Congress thinks those are necessary questions, and Trump thinks Congress is hunting witches.
And there are dozens of other areas that Congress is chomping at the bit to explore.
Buckle up, Butter Burger, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
No comments:
Post a Comment