Trump administration revokes security clearances of 37 current and former government officials
A memo posted by Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, accuses the targeted officials of having engaged in the 'politicization or weaponization of intelligence' to advance partisan goals, as well as a failure to safeguard classified information and a 'failure to adhere to professional analytic tradecraft standards.'
The action, coming months after an even broader clearance suspension on his first day in office, is part of a broader campaign by President Donald Trump's administration to scrutinize the judgments of intelligence officials he personally disagrees with. Critics of his approach have said it risks chilling dissenting voices within the government.
''These are unlawful and unconstitutional decisions that deviate from well-settled, decades-old laws and policies that sought to protect against just this type of action," Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer whose own clearance was revoked by the Trump administration, said in a statement.
Many of the officials who were singled out left the government years ago. Some worked on matters that have long provoked Trump's ire, including the intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election on Trump's behalf, or have openly criticized him.
Gabbard in the last month has declassified a series of years-old documents meant to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the assessment on Russian election interference.
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As partisan redistricting battles flare, Maine constitutional officers weigh in
Voters cast their ballots at the Quimby School gymnasium in Bingham, Maine on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. (Photo by Michael G. Seamans/ Maine Morning Star) Since President Donald Trump asked Texas to redraw its congressional maps to find five more Republican seats ahead of next year's elections, some Democratic states are considering redistricting to counter the effort. Maine is not, at least according to Gov. Janet Mills, though an anonymous group tried to encourage the Pine Tree State to intervene earlier this month by flying planes over Augusta with banners that read 'Mess with Texas.' The state's constitutional officers, Attorney General Aaron Frey and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, both Democrats, condemned Texas' move, and Trump instigating it, as a blatant abuse of power. But, they said Democratic states exploring the avenues legally available to them to redistrict outside the regular schedule is understandable. 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