Lieu, Cummings, and Nadler Push White House CLEARANCES Act

On Wednesday, Congressmen Ted Lieu (D-CA), Elijah Cummings (D-MD), andJerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced the Commonsense Legislation Ensuring Accountability by Reporting Access of Non-Cleared Employees to Secrets (CLEARANCES) Act, which would require the White House to regularly report the status of security clearance holders working in the Executive Office of the President. Under existing law, the president can choose to keep employees on staff with interim security clearances indefinitely without notifying Congress. The CLEARANCES Act would create more accountability and oversight of who has access to classified information. “As we’ve seen, transparency hasn’t come so easy to the Trump White House ... Members of Congress have no mechanism to figure out who in the White House has access to classified information and whether they are doing so under an interim clearances (sic),” Lieu said. “I’ve asked, time and again, why people like Jared Kushner have security clearances despite repeatedly failing to properly disclose information on clearance forms. By using interim security clearances, the White House is circumventing an essential process that ensures government officials handling classified information are not vulnerable to blackmail or manipulation.” Cummings added, “Congress needs answers about the White House’s dysfunctional security clearance process, but the Trump Administration refuses to turn over information. This legislation will hold the White House accountable and ensure at least some transparency for how the President is handling our nation’s most closely guarded secrets.” The bill would require the White House to report a series of informational guidelines to Congress every three months. More here.