In a bold move, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum Friday night directing the heads of all executive departments and agencies to rescind security clearances for a list of prominent individuals no longer in government, many of them Democrats.
The directive includes names such as Antony Blinken, Jacob Sullivan, Hillary Clinton, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, and even Joe Biden and his family, among others.
“I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals,” Trump said in the memo. “This action includes, but is not limited to, receipt of classified briefings, such as the President's Daily Brief, and access to classified information held by any member of the Intelligence Community by virtue of the named individuals' previous tenure in the Congress.”
Trump made it clear that these individuals no longer have a valid reason to access classified information, signaling a major shift in how security clearances should be managed after public office.
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Back in January, Trump revoked the security clearances of the 51 former intelligence officials who had signed a letter during the 2020 election campaign falsely claiming that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation. This action was long overdue, and serves as a stark reminder that security clearances shouldn’t be treated as parting gifts for those with no legitimate national security role. While there may be legitimate reasons for certain people to maintain clearances after leaving government, there is still the undeniable danger of allowing such clearances to remain in the hands of individuals who may use them for partisan gain.
At the heart of Trump’s latest memorandum is a simple but critical question: why should former government officials and their allies retain access to classified information once they leave office?
It’s a question that has been raised time and again, especially as the list of individuals with high-level security clearances has ballooned over the years. The mainstream media will frame this as an act of political vengeance, but I challenge anyone to give me an ironclad explanation as to why anyone named by Trump should maintain his or her security clearance.
Obviously, the need for security clearances is clear when individuals hold positions of power that impact national security. However, once they leave those roles, there should be significant scrutiny over who retains access to sensitive information, and for how long. It’s absurd that someone such as Hillary Clinton, years removed from government, still has access to top-secret briefings. This not only risks national security, but also raises serious questions about accountability. If these individuals no longer hold positions that justify clearance, why should they keep such privileges?
And then there’s Joe Biden, who kept classified documents in his garage and was mentally unfit to stay on the Democratic ticket last year. There’s no reason he should retain security clearance, either. And, let’s not forget, Biden did the same thing to Trump back in 2021. For all we know, Biden would use such information to further enrich his family.
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John Berry, an attorney who specializes in security clearances, told Fox News back in 2018, “It’s not so much a benefit to the person. It’s more of a benefit to the particular government officials that would need some insight from times prior to them."
Again, I point to Hillary Clinton. She left the State Department in February 2013. Do the math. It’s been over 12 years since she’s been in government. What does she need security clearance for?
Perhaps most importantly, this action aligns with the broader idea that national security is too important to be left to individuals whose role in protecting it has ended. It’s a matter of maintaining trust in the system and ensuring that the flow of classified information is strictly controlled and transparent.
