How the White House Gamed the Security-Clearance System
Even when the FBI recommends against granting a clearance, there’s nothing to prevent a president from simply overriding the system.
The Rob Porter fiasco has exposed the White House’s duplicity, disorganization, and disregard for domestic violence, but it has also exposed some of the issues with the system for granting security clearance to federal employees.
Until his abrupt resignation last week amid allegations of physical and verbal, Porter had served as staff secretary, handling classified material under an interim security clearance. The question is when the White House learned about the allegations against Porter, when it learned that he would not be recommended for a permanent security clearance, and whether he would have been allowed to continue working barring the press reports about the allegations.
