Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

So reportedly, these individuals couldn't qualify for a top secret clearance due to disqualifiers in their background, yet they were granted the clearances anyway.

By the way, the whistleblower in this case is only 18 years old and they showed her home on the evening news. I hope they haven't compromised her safety even more than her merely speaking out about government misconduct.

Politics
Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances

White House adviser Jared Kushner (left) is among those whose security clearances are being questioned by Democrats.

Susan Walsh/AP
Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET

An 18-year White House employee told congressional investigators that she and other career staffers denied security clearances for 25 Trump administration officials, including three "very senior" officials, only to see most of those recommendations overturned.

The employee, Tricia Newbold, was interviewed by staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Democrats on the panel released a summary of her interview, conducted over the weekend, raising new questions about how and why the White House issued security clearances to, among others, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.

Republicans argued in response that Democrats on the committee released "cherry-picked excerpts" of the interview with Newbold to "manufacture a misleading narrative that the Trump White House is reckless with our national security."

According to Democrats, Newbold said that security clearance applications "were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security" and that staff denials were frequently overturned by senior officials to grant the employees access to classified information.

Newbold said that in the case of one official, named only as Senior White House Official 1, staff denied the security clearance request after a background investigation revealed "significant disqualifying factors, including foreign influence, outside activities ... and personal conduct."

But Newbold said the denial was overturned by the director of the White House Personnel Security Office, Carl Kline. Staff also recommended denying a clearance to a second "very senior" official based on "foreign influence and outside activities," but Newbold said Kline told her "do not touch" the case. That clearance was also granted.

Newbold also said Kline told her to change the recommendation against a third senior official, but she refused. That denial was ultimately upheld, the committee says, and the individual is no longer at the White House.

Newbold said that in addition to the two current senior officials, security clearances were also granted to contractors and other individuals in the executive office of the president, despite their having "a wide range of serious disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct."

She said that when she raised concerns to her superiors, they ignored those concerns. She said she is coming forward because she believes "that right now this is my last hope to really bring the integrity back into our office."

Newbold also told the oversight committee staff that the White House security office stopped conducting credit checks on applicants to work in the White House during their initial suitability reviews. This, she said, prevents the White House from being able to assess whether applicants "could be susceptible to blackmail, depending on their debts."

Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances​

 

[Billy_Bob]

Rinse, Lather, Rinse.. Repeat....

story is over 2 years old..

 

[BULLDOG]

Rinse, Lather, Rinse.. Repeat....

story is over 2 years old..

And still relevant.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

​

So reportedly, these individuals couldn't qualify for a top secret clearance due to disqualifiers in their background, yet they were granted the clearances anyway.

By the way, the whistleblower in this case is only 18 years old and they showed her home on the evening news. I hope they haven't compromised her safety even more than her merely speaking out about government misconduct.

Politics
Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances

White House adviser Jared Kushner (left) is among those whose security clearances are being questioned by Democrats.

Susan Walsh/AP
Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET

An 18-year White House employee told congressional investigators that she and other career staffers denied security clearances for 25 Trump administration officials, including three "very senior" officials, only to see most of those recommendations overturned.

The employee, Tricia Newbold, was interviewed by staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Democrats on the panel released a summary of her interview, conducted over the weekend, raising new questions about how and why the White House issued security clearances to, among others, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.

Republicans argued in response that Democrats on the committee released "cherry-picked excerpts" of the interview with Newbold to "manufacture a misleading narrative that the Trump White House is reckless with our national security."

According to Democrats, Newbold said that security clearance applications "were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security" and that staff denials were frequently overturned by senior officials to grant the employees access to classified information.

Newbold said that in the case of one official, named only as Senior White House Official 1, staff denied the security clearance request after a background investigation revealed "significant disqualifying factors, including foreign influence, outside activities ... and personal conduct."

But Newbold said the denial was overturned by the director of the White House Personnel Security Office, Carl Kline. Staff also recommended denying a clearance to a second "very senior" official based on "foreign influence and outside activities," but Newbold said Kline told her "do not touch" the case. That clearance was also granted.

Newbold also said Kline told her to change the recommendation against a third senior official, but she refused. That denial was ultimately upheld, the committee says, and the individual is no longer at the White House.

Newbold said that in addition to the two current senior officials, security clearances were also granted to contractors and other individuals in the executive office of the president, despite their having "a wide range of serious disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct."

She said that when she raised concerns to her superiors, they ignored those concerns. She said she is coming forward because she believes "that right now this is my last hope to really bring the integrity back into our office."

Newbold also told the oversight committee staff that the White House security office stopped conducting credit checks on applicants to work in the White House during their initial suitability reviews. This, she said, prevents the White House from being able to assess whether applicants "could be susceptible to blackmail, depending on their debts."

Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances​

You said, "By the way, the whistleblower in this case is only 18 years old..."

Your article said, "An 18-year White House employee..."

I think is time for you to seek out some remedial reading classes!

 

[deannalw]

I don't know how common this is, but I remember reading it was a huge problem during the Clinton stay in the white house.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

You said, "By the way, the whistleblower in this case is only 18 years old..."

Your article said, "An 18-year White House employee..."

I think is time for you to seek out some remedial reading classes!

It's a vision problem, not a reading problem.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

You said, "By the way, the whistleblower in this case is only 18 years old..."

Your article said, "An 18-year White House employee..."

I think is time for you to seek out some remedial reading classes!

It's a vision problem, not a reading problem.

Those usually go hand in hand. Common sense would have told you that no 18 year-old works in handling security clearances in the White House. Most 18 year-olds haven't graduated from high school.

 

[keepitreal]

So reportedly, these individuals couldn't qualify for a top secret clearance due to disqualifiers in their background, yet they were granted the clearances anyway.

By the way, the whistleblower in this case is only 18 years old and they showed her home on the evening news. I hope they haven't compromised her safety even more than her merely speaking out about government misconduct.

Politics
Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances

White House adviser Jared Kushner (left) is among those whose security clearances are being questioned by Democrats.

Susan Walsh/AP
Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET

An 18-year White House employee told congressional investigators that she and other career staffers denied security clearances for 25 Trump administration officials, including three "very senior" officials, only to see most of those recommendations overturned.

The employee, Tricia Newbold, was interviewed by staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Democrats on the panel released a summary of her interview, conducted over the weekend, raising new questions about how and why the White House issued security clearances to, among others, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.

Republicans argued in response that Democrats on the committee released "cherry-picked excerpts" of the interview with Newbold to "manufacture a misleading narrative that the Trump White House is reckless with our national security."

According to Democrats, Newbold said that security clearance applications "were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security" and that staff denials were frequently overturned by senior officials to grant the employees access to classified information.

Newbold said that in the case of one official, named only as Senior White House Official 1, staff denied the security clearance request after a background investigation revealed "significant disqualifying factors, including foreign influence, outside activities ... and personal conduct."

But Newbold said the denial was overturned by the director of the White House Personnel Security Office, Carl Kline. Staff also recommended denying a clearance to a second "very senior" official based on "foreign influence and outside activities," but Newbold said Kline told her "do not touch" the case. That clearance was also granted.

Newbold also said Kline told her to change the recommendation against a third senior official, but she refused. That denial was ultimately upheld, the committee says, and the individual is no longer at the White House.

Newbold said that in addition to the two current senior officials, security clearances were also granted to contractors and other individuals in the executive office of the president, despite their having "a wide range of serious disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct."

She said that when she raised concerns to her superiors, they ignored those concerns. She said she is coming forward because she believes "that right now this is my last hope to really bring the integrity back into our office."

Newbold also told the oversight committee staff that the White House security office stopped conducting credit checks on applicants to work in the White House during their initial suitability reviews. This, she said, prevents the White House from being able to assess whether applicants "could be susceptible to blackmail, depending on their debts."

Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances​

An 18-year White House employee told congressional investigators that she and other career staffers denied security clearances for 25 Trump administration officials

Why is an 18 year old, in a position
to grant or deny, security clearances?

 

[EvilCat Breath]

So reportedly, these individuals couldn't qualify for a top secret clearance due to disqualifiers in their background, yet they were granted the clearances anyway.

By the way, the whistleblower in this case is only 18 years old and they showed her home on the evening news. I hope they haven't compromised her safety even more than her merely speaking out about government misconduct.

Politics
Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances

White House adviser Jared Kushner (left) is among those whose security clearances are being questioned by Democrats.

Susan Walsh/AP
Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET

An 18-year White House employee told congressional investigators that she and other career staffers denied security clearances for 25 Trump administration officials, including three "very senior" officials, only to see most of those recommendations overturned.

The employee, Tricia Newbold, was interviewed by staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Democrats on the panel released a summary of her interview, conducted over the weekend, raising new questions about how and why the White House issued security clearances to, among others, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.

Republicans argued in response that Democrats on the committee released "cherry-picked excerpts" of the interview with Newbold to "manufacture a misleading narrative that the Trump White House is reckless with our national security."

According to Democrats, Newbold said that security clearance applications "were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security" and that staff denials were frequently overturned by senior officials to grant the employees access to classified information.

Newbold said that in the case of one official, named only as Senior White House Official 1, staff denied the security clearance request after a background investigation revealed "significant disqualifying factors, including foreign influence, outside activities ... and personal conduct."

But Newbold said the denial was overturned by the director of the White House Personnel Security Office, Carl Kline. Staff also recommended denying a clearance to a second "very senior" official based on "foreign influence and outside activities," but Newbold said Kline told her "do not touch" the case. That clearance was also granted.

Newbold also said Kline told her to change the recommendation against a third senior official, but she refused. That denial was ultimately upheld, the committee says, and the individual is no longer at the White House.

Newbold said that in addition to the two current senior officials, security clearances were also granted to contractors and other individuals in the executive office of the president, despite their having "a wide range of serious disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct."

She said that when she raised concerns to her superiors, they ignored those concerns. She said she is coming forward because she believes "that right now this is my last hope to really bring the integrity back into our office."

Newbold also told the oversight committee staff that the White House security office stopped conducting credit checks on applicants to work in the White House during their initial suitability reviews. This, she said, prevents the White House from being able to assess whether applicants "could be susceptible to blackmail, depending on their debts."

Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances​

An 18-year White House employee told congressional investigators that she and other career staffers denied security clearances for 25 Trump administration officials

Why is an 18 year old, in a position
to grant or deny, security clearances?

A democrat operative.

 

[Silent Warrior]

Why is an 18 year old, in a position
to grant or deny, security clearances?

Excellent question. It must be due to her vast experience in the intelligence field. She must have been on the job at least 5 minutes.

 

[Meathead]

Rinse, Lather, Rinse.. Repeat....

story is over 2 years old..

And still relevant.

Sure, like Russian collusion.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Yet conservatives continue to defend this reckless and irresponsible misadminastration.

 

[BULLDOG]

I don't know how common this is, but I remember reading it was a huge problem during the Clinton stay in the white house.

Yes, there was still a backlog after the first year of the Clinton administration, as there had been in previous administrations. The process was sped up. None of the clearances that were denied were overruled to allow access to the denied people like Trump has done.

Bill Clinton White House had security clearance backlog
Mr. Clinton addressed the problem at a press conference.

“I learned, when I read about this, that apparently previous Administrations have had some of the same problems,” he said. That is they’d been lax, because of the cumbersome nature of the process. We, now, basically put in rules that say that anybody comes to work here now has to get all this done in 30 days or is immediately on leave without pay. They can’t get paid unless they do it.”

Mr. Clinton said he asked his chief of staff and White House counsel to “fix this and make sure it never happens again, so I feel confident that we have.”

 

[Silent Warrior]

I don't know how common this is, but I remember reading it was a huge problem during the Clinton stay in the white house.

Yes, there was still a backlog after the first year of the Clinton administration, as there had been in previous administrations. The process was sped up. None of the clearances that were denied were overruled to allow access to the denied people like Trump has done.

Bill Clinton White House had security clearance backlog
Mr. Clinton addressed the problem at a press conference.

“I learned, when I read about this, that apparently previous Administrations have had some of the same problems,” he said. That is they’d been lax, because of the cumbersome nature of the process. We, now, basically put in rules that say that anybody comes to work here now has to get all this done in 30 days or is immediately on leave without pay. They can’t get paid unless they do it.”

Mr. Clinton said he asked his chief of staff and White House counsel to “fix this and make sure it never happens again, so I feel confident that we have.”

Overriding clearance denials made by an inexperienced 18 year old seems about right.

 

[BULLDOG]

I don't know how common this is, but I remember reading it was a huge problem during the Clinton stay in the white house.

Yes, there was still a backlog after the first year of the Clinton administration, as there had been in previous administrations. The process was sped up. None of the clearances that were denied were overruled to allow access to the denied people like Trump has done.

Bill Clinton White House had security clearance backlog
Mr. Clinton addressed the problem at a press conference.

“I learned, when I read about this, that apparently previous Administrations have had some of the same problems,” he said. That is they’d been lax, because of the cumbersome nature of the process. We, now, basically put in rules that say that anybody comes to work here now has to get all this done in 30 days or is immediately on leave without pay. They can’t get paid unless they do it.”

Mr. Clinton said he asked his chief of staff and White House counsel to “fix this and make sure it never happens again, so I feel confident that we have.”

Overriding clearance denials made by an inexperienced 18 year old seems about right.

Was that an 18 year old, or someone who had worked there for 18 years?

 

[BULLDOG]

I don't know how common this is, but I remember reading it was a huge problem during the Clinton stay in the white house.

Yes, there was still a backlog after the first year of the Clinton administration, as there had been in previous administrations. The process was sped up. None of the clearances that were denied were overruled to allow access to the denied people like Trump has done.

Bill Clinton White House had security clearance backlog
Mr. Clinton addressed the problem at a press conference.

“I learned, when I read about this, that apparently previous Administrations have had some of the same problems,” he said. That is they’d been lax, because of the cumbersome nature of the process. We, now, basically put in rules that say that anybody comes to work here now has to get all this done in 30 days or is immediately on leave without pay. They can’t get paid unless they do it.”

Mr. Clinton said he asked his chief of staff and White House counsel to “fix this and make sure it never happens again, so I feel confident that we have.”

Overriding clearance denials made by an inexperienced 18 year old seems about right.

You think she was hired the year she was born?

According to her LinkedIn, Newbold has worked as a “security specialist for the federal government” since 2000. In the early 2000s, she acted as security clerk, according to the Office of Personnel Management, and was promoted to be a member of the executive branch security administration in 2006. She earns around $120,000 a year and began with the government earning less than $30,000.

 

[EGR one]

I don't know how common this is, but I remember reading it was a huge problem during the Clinton stay in the white house.

Yes, there was still a backlog after the first year of the Clinton administration, as there had been in previous administrations. The process was sped up. None of the clearances that were denied were overruled to allow access to the denied people like Trump has done.

Bill Clinton White House had security clearance backlog
Mr. Clinton addressed the problem at a press conference.

“I learned, when I read about this, that apparently previous Administrations have had some of the same problems,” he said. That is they’d been lax, because of the cumbersome nature of the process. We, now, basically put in rules that say that anybody comes to work here now has to get all this done in 30 days or is immediately on leave without pay. They can’t get paid unless they do it.”

Mr. Clinton said he asked his chief of staff and White House counsel to “fix this and make sure it never happens again, so I feel confident that we have.”

Overriding clearance denials made by an inexperienced 18 year old seems about right.

Was that an 18 year old, or someone who had worked there for 18 years?

It doesn't matter whether they had worked there 18 days or 18 years, they make RECOMMENDATIONS for clearances, they do not have the authority to DENY a clearance to anyone. Usually the ultimate decision is made by a department head, or in the case of the cabinet, by the President.

 

[martybegan]

Rinse, Lather, Rinse.. Repeat....

story is over 2 years old..

And still relevant.

A misleading article is still misleading. The people in question don't get to deny anything. they get to make recommendations only.

 

[MAGAman]

So reportedly, these individuals couldn't qualify for a top secret clearance due to disqualifiers in their background, yet they were granted the clearances anyway.

By the way, the whistleblower in this case is only 18 years old and they showed her home on the evening news. I hope they haven't compromised her safety even more than her merely speaking out about government misconduct.

Politics
Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances

White House adviser Jared Kushner (left) is among those whose security clearances are being questioned by Democrats.

Susan Walsh/AP
Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET

An 18-year White House employee told congressional investigators that she and other career staffers denied security clearances for 25 Trump administration officials, including three "very senior" officials, only to see most of those recommendations overturned.

The employee, Tricia Newbold, was interviewed by staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Democrats on the panel released a summary of her interview, conducted over the weekend, raising new questions about how and why the White House issued security clearances to, among others, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.

Republicans argued in response that Democrats on the committee released "cherry-picked excerpts" of the interview with Newbold to "manufacture a misleading narrative that the Trump White House is reckless with our national security."

According to Democrats, Newbold said that security clearance applications "were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security" and that staff denials were frequently overturned by senior officials to grant the employees access to classified information.

Newbold said that in the case of one official, named only as Senior White House Official 1, staff denied the security clearance request after a background investigation revealed "significant disqualifying factors, including foreign influence, outside activities ... and personal conduct."

But Newbold said the denial was overturned by the director of the White House Personnel Security Office, Carl Kline. Staff also recommended denying a clearance to a second "very senior" official based on "foreign influence and outside activities," but Newbold said Kline told her "do not touch" the case. That clearance was also granted.

Newbold also said Kline told her to change the recommendation against a third senior official, but she refused. That denial was ultimately upheld, the committee says, and the individual is no longer at the White House.

Newbold said that in addition to the two current senior officials, security clearances were also granted to contractors and other individuals in the executive office of the president, despite their having "a wide range of serious disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct."

She said that when she raised concerns to her superiors, they ignored those concerns. She said she is coming forward because she believes "that right now this is my last hope to really bring the integrity back into our office."

Newbold also told the oversight committee staff that the White House security office stopped conducting credit checks on applicants to work in the White House during their initial suitability reviews. This, she said, prevents the White House from being able to assess whether applicants "could be susceptible to blackmail, depending on their debts."

Whistleblower Says White House Overturned 25 Denied Security Clearances​

You mean they got their Security Clearances the same way Obama and the Clintons got theirs?

 

[BULLDOG]

Rinse, Lather, Rinse.. Repeat....

story is over 2 years old..

And still relevant.

A misleading article is still misleading. The people in question don't get to deny anything. they get to make recommendations only.

We know Trump has the power to overrule their decisions. Dumb ass. That's the problem. Every other president could have done the same thing, but they let the experts make that decision instead of giving their family members clearance they don't deserve.