Brad Moss on Presidential Power and Security Clearances
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2018
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The President of the United States this week stripped the former CIA Director John Brennan of his security clearance in a dramatic White House statement by Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The White House is threatening more adverse security clearance actions against presidential critics, and former senior security officials are outraged. Benjamin Wittes sat down Friday afternoon with Bradley Moss, who represents people in security clearance revocation processes, to discuss the president's move, how different it is, and what we can expect if a lawsuit develops.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
| 0:04.0 | To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast, |
| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:30.0 | The problem with proceeding along the lines of what the president has done here |
| 0:38.0 | is that it takes this impartial and objective assessment that's supposed to be done |
| 0:43.0 | largely by civil servants and turned it into a political tool for the president to |
| 0:49.0 | reward or punish people who would either be favorable to him or who are dissenting from him. |
| 0:56.0 | It's a concern given that these types of national security determinations are supposed to be above party |
| 1:02.0 | and it's supposed to be not about the particular president in charge or the particular party |
| 1:07.0 | running the country at the time, but the country itself and the national security interests of the country. |
| 1:12.0 | There's certainly plenty people in the current government who are favorable to the president |
| 1:17.0 | and there's plenty of them who hold security cleanses as well, who absolutely despise the president. |
| 1:21.0 | But they continue to do their job on the basis that it is the country that is more important |
| 1:27.0 | than their personal political view. |
| 1:29.0 | I'm Benjamin Wittis and this is the LawFair Podcast August 18, 2018. |
| 1:36.0 | The president of the United States this week stripped the former CIA director, |
| 1:42.0 | John Brennan of his security clearance in a dramatic White House statement |
| 1:48.0 | by the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. |
| 1:51.0 | The White House is threatening more adverse security clearance actions against presidential critics |
... |
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