"For good measure, the Ohio Republican wants Secretary of State Antony Blinken to look into whether Kagan’s wife, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, should have her security clearance revoked because her “close relationship with her husband might compromise her judgment about the best interests of the United States."
"For good measure, the Ohio Republican wants Secretary of State Antony Blinken to look into whether Kagan’s wife, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, should have her security clearance revoked because her “close relationship with her husband might compromise her judgment about the best interests of the United States."
Oh, really? Fine, let's go down that road.
How about we change the law so that every senator and every member of the House has to fill out a SF86 like Nuland did and undergo the same vigorous background check that Nuland did. And should the findings in the background check reveal them to be a threat to the national security of the United States, they a) don't get a clearance, and b) don't get to be an elected official. I guarantee you that the majority of these GOP officials have enough skeletons in their closet to disqualify them from holding a confidential clearance.
This is, in my not so humble opinion, the single biggest failing in our government system.
To work in the State department, or at the lowest levels of the IC, or in almost any aspect of the military, you have to pass a background check.
To exercise control over those functions as a legislator or the President, no standard exists. Somewhere, right now, intelligence assets are risking their lives to gather information that highly trained and dedicated individuals labor to distill into thoughtful situation assessments that then get briefed to...Gymbag Jordan and Louie Gohmert? Talk about pearls before swine...
I'm not saying the State, the IC, the military don't make mistakes, are never biased, can always be trusted. But at least we have made an effort to screen them. Congress? The President? I think we have seen what kind of idiots can get in those postions...think about a Lauren Boebert, MTG, or George Santos getting a clearance. It's laughable.
Well, POTUS is a bit different than members of Congress. POTUS by law has original classification authority. But those laws have a perhaps fatal assumption built into them: that POTUS will be a responsible person who will not damage the national security of the United States. We clearly didn't see Trump coming.
All cleared employees are now subject to reinvestigation every 5 years and are slowly being enrolled in what's been called "constant monitoring". My understanding is the monitoring includes credit monitoring, flagging large purchases, foreign travel, etc. If Vance wanted to put his money where his mouth is, he should introduce what I suggested in my post and subject himself and his colleagues to that process.
As a previous Personnel Reliability Program certifier, I applaud the extension of constant monitoring to the classified information sphere. I felt like that was a missing piece when I was in both worlds
But we've never elected such a patently unqualified POTUS before, have we? How can we make the POTUS the original classification authority when he has such a complete lack of grasp of even the broad outlines of the program?
I don't know what the right answer is, beyond "the law needs to change," but allowing this kind of situation is a threat to national security. POTUS is not a god or a king; they have to be subject to some regulation too. And when they flaunt them, there have to be real consequences. Or we have to stop electing jackwagons. I figure the law would be easier to change...
I agree with the constant monitoring as well. Cleared personnel know they have to live their lives above board. This is just one way to ensure that happens.
I do believe, however, the median American voter doesn't comprehend the risk of someone holding a clearance who's utterly unfit to have one. Can you imagine Trump trying to get a clearance the old fashioned way? Drug use? Check. Multiple bankruptcies? Check. Unrepentant adultery? Check. Shady foreign sympathies? Check. Trying to overthrown the government of the United States? Check.
There's no reality where this person would be cleared, but when you bring up that very fact -- and it is a fact -- the median MAGA either doesn't get it or doesn't care. And that's because these people don't understand risk. They only understand that Trump is *their* guy, and they will, like good little mindless sycophants, support him whatever he does. So I don't trust the people to make responsible decisions on national security. You'd have a better chance teaching one of Sykes' dogs how to code a method of moments algorithm. So I support a change in the law. I'm not sure how it would work. To be POTUS, all the Constitution requires is to be a natural born citizen and 35 or older. At the same time, the Constitution isn't a suicide pact, and it's clear that unscrupulous men can gain power and access to information they shouldn't have access to. Maybe a Mark Zaid or a Bradley Moss can think of something?
I like a "probationary period" for a newly elected president...if they can't pass a security test and earn a PRP cert in the first six months, then we toss them out and run another election... ;-)
Seriously, I don't think a constitutional amendment to establish a somewhat more comprehensive set of requirements for president is unreasonable. If you don't meet the standards, you don't go on the ballot.
The rules were written for an age when stuff wasn't quite so complicated and (good, bad, or indifferent) being a "gentleman" meant something. We're leaving a lot to chance, and to the grievances of folks who, frankly, may not have made good decisions for themselves. Now they're making bad decisions for me...
Oh, I agree. I forget how old the modern classification system is, but it is absurd that a man of Trump's character can be elected POTUS and become by law the original classification authority. We've seen the consequences of that. Of course, if there were requirements in place back in 2016 and Trump didn't meet them, he'd say it was rigged against him and 35% of the voters would believe him. What really needs to happen is someone telling that 35% of the voters to shut the fuck up, grow up, and make better decisions.
"National security" is just words. That makes JD a disciple of Humpty Dumpty who said "Words mean what I pay them to mean, nothing more and nothing less." For JD, they mean nothing period.
I think Vlad, as a trained KGB guy, understood we had pressure points that could be exploited, particularly on race and anti-Semitism. It would have been negligence on his part if he didn't take advantage of it. So, yes, he's been horrible for Russia, and he's led his country into a debacle in Ukraine, but the GOP might just save his ass, and that happens to be the most cost effective way to win that war.
... and was honored with a $2 billion deal for it. Wonder if TFG ever got a piece of that action? (No, I don't really wonder, I just want some investigative reporter to find the smoking gun.)
Starting with TFF*G. I guess it's a good thing he never bothered with intelligence briefings. I don't think we'll be that lucky in a 2nd administration. The intelligent monsters are just waiting to be part of his "government".
I'm not sure. Someone who says he's a "stable genius" or "I alone can fix it" means he's not and doesn't know it. I think he really does think he's smart, and people like Putin and Kim can see him coming. I find myself wondering who is the actual brain behind his scheming and money. Dark vision coming: Trump wins, and real power behind him takes over using drugs, etc. to make certain he's a human puppet.
Good point...I was being mostly facetious. I'm sure he sees the way he ignored/misinterpreted intel briefings as very serious and his grasp of the salient points almost miraculously encyclopedic. Of course, he's never opened an encyclopedia.... He's gotta be an intel officer's worst freaking nightmare to brief.
A. Agree, He is certainly convinced he's a "very stable genius." Heck, for that matter, I'm convinced I'm a very stable genius...Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. See?
B. Agree that the master conmen/authoritarians had his number from day one. He's a conman himself, but an amazingly soft mark for anyone with a half semester of psychology.
C. Half agree...drugs would be absolutely unnecessary. He's an adulation addict, and just some Gríma Wormtongue whispering in his ear about how much "the people" love him would be enough.
Like the Grima reference. :-) But Grima comes to a bad end in the book and the movie. I actually think the movie did a better job at getting rid of both Grima and Saruman (extended version of movie). Also Grima wasn't the top man - that was Saruman. :-)
"For good measure, the Ohio Republican wants Secretary of State Antony Blinken to look into whether Kagan’s wife, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, should have her security clearance revoked because her “close relationship with her husband might compromise her judgment about the best interests of the United States."
Oh, really? Fine, let's go down that road.
How about we change the law so that every senator and every member of the House has to fill out a SF86 like Nuland did and undergo the same vigorous background check that Nuland did. And should the findings in the background check reveal them to be a threat to the national security of the United States, they a) don't get a clearance, and b) don't get to be an elected official. I guarantee you that the majority of these GOP officials have enough skeletons in their closet to disqualify them from holding a confidential clearance.
This is, in my not so humble opinion, the single biggest failing in our government system.
To work in the State department, or at the lowest levels of the IC, or in almost any aspect of the military, you have to pass a background check.
To exercise control over those functions as a legislator or the President, no standard exists. Somewhere, right now, intelligence assets are risking their lives to gather information that highly trained and dedicated individuals labor to distill into thoughtful situation assessments that then get briefed to...Gymbag Jordan and Louie Gohmert? Talk about pearls before swine...
I'm not saying the State, the IC, the military don't make mistakes, are never biased, can always be trusted. But at least we have made an effort to screen them. Congress? The President? I think we have seen what kind of idiots can get in those postions...think about a Lauren Boebert, MTG, or George Santos getting a clearance. It's laughable.
Well, POTUS is a bit different than members of Congress. POTUS by law has original classification authority. But those laws have a perhaps fatal assumption built into them: that POTUS will be a responsible person who will not damage the national security of the United States. We clearly didn't see Trump coming.
All cleared employees are now subject to reinvestigation every 5 years and are slowly being enrolled in what's been called "constant monitoring". My understanding is the monitoring includes credit monitoring, flagging large purchases, foreign travel, etc. If Vance wanted to put his money where his mouth is, he should introduce what I suggested in my post and subject himself and his colleagues to that process.
As a previous Personnel Reliability Program certifier, I applaud the extension of constant monitoring to the classified information sphere. I felt like that was a missing piece when I was in both worlds
But we've never elected such a patently unqualified POTUS before, have we? How can we make the POTUS the original classification authority when he has such a complete lack of grasp of even the broad outlines of the program?
I don't know what the right answer is, beyond "the law needs to change," but allowing this kind of situation is a threat to national security. POTUS is not a god or a king; they have to be subject to some regulation too. And when they flaunt them, there have to be real consequences. Or we have to stop electing jackwagons. I figure the law would be easier to change...
I agree with the constant monitoring as well. Cleared personnel know they have to live their lives above board. This is just one way to ensure that happens.
I do believe, however, the median American voter doesn't comprehend the risk of someone holding a clearance who's utterly unfit to have one. Can you imagine Trump trying to get a clearance the old fashioned way? Drug use? Check. Multiple bankruptcies? Check. Unrepentant adultery? Check. Shady foreign sympathies? Check. Trying to overthrown the government of the United States? Check.
There's no reality where this person would be cleared, but when you bring up that very fact -- and it is a fact -- the median MAGA either doesn't get it or doesn't care. And that's because these people don't understand risk. They only understand that Trump is *their* guy, and they will, like good little mindless sycophants, support him whatever he does. So I don't trust the people to make responsible decisions on national security. You'd have a better chance teaching one of Sykes' dogs how to code a method of moments algorithm. So I support a change in the law. I'm not sure how it would work. To be POTUS, all the Constitution requires is to be a natural born citizen and 35 or older. At the same time, the Constitution isn't a suicide pact, and it's clear that unscrupulous men can gain power and access to information they shouldn't have access to. Maybe a Mark Zaid or a Bradley Moss can think of something?
I like a "probationary period" for a newly elected president...if they can't pass a security test and earn a PRP cert in the first six months, then we toss them out and run another election... ;-)
Seriously, I don't think a constitutional amendment to establish a somewhat more comprehensive set of requirements for president is unreasonable. If you don't meet the standards, you don't go on the ballot.
The rules were written for an age when stuff wasn't quite so complicated and (good, bad, or indifferent) being a "gentleman" meant something. We're leaving a lot to chance, and to the grievances of folks who, frankly, may not have made good decisions for themselves. Now they're making bad decisions for me...
Oh, I agree. I forget how old the modern classification system is, but it is absurd that a man of Trump's character can be elected POTUS and become by law the original classification authority. We've seen the consequences of that. Of course, if there were requirements in place back in 2016 and Trump didn't meet them, he'd say it was rigged against him and 35% of the voters would believe him. What really needs to happen is someone telling that 35% of the voters to shut the fuck up, grow up, and make better decisions.
Don’t forget SCOTUS spouses . . .
But Jared got one....
Yeah, and ol' JD doesn't have an issue with that. Apparently Republicans can endanger national security without fear of reprisal.
"National security" is just words. That makes JD a disciple of Humpty Dumpty who said "Words mean what I pay them to mean, nothing more and nothing less." For JD, they mean nothing period.
Yup. And it makes me wonder how our country has managed to generate such a group of amoral, self-interested officials.
Well, it did take more than two centuries and a lot of help from Vlad the Bad.
I think Vlad, as a trained KGB guy, understood we had pressure points that could be exploited, particularly on race and anti-Semitism. It would have been negligence on his part if he didn't take advantage of it. So, yes, he's been horrible for Russia, and he's led his country into a debacle in Ukraine, but the GOP might just save his ass, and that happens to be the most cost effective way to win that war.
Yep, Trump gave him a waiver because Jared is so brilliant. He brought peace to the Middle East, ya know.
... and was honored with a $2 billion deal for it. Wonder if TFG ever got a piece of that action? (No, I don't really wonder, I just want some investigative reporter to find the smoking gun.)
Starting with TFF*G. I guess it's a good thing he never bothered with intelligence briefings. I don't think we'll be that lucky in a 2nd administration. The intelligent monsters are just waiting to be part of his "government".
I think "intelligence" briefings only work when there's an "intelligence" for them to work on.
Trump wisely recognised that the oxymoron of him actually taking an intelligence briefing was too much for even his crowd... ;-)
I'm not sure. Someone who says he's a "stable genius" or "I alone can fix it" means he's not and doesn't know it. I think he really does think he's smart, and people like Putin and Kim can see him coming. I find myself wondering who is the actual brain behind his scheming and money. Dark vision coming: Trump wins, and real power behind him takes over using drugs, etc. to make certain he's a human puppet.
They don't even have to use drugs. Just sit him the oval office with the TV constantly replaying scenes from his life. He'll be mesmerized.
Good point...I was being mostly facetious. I'm sure he sees the way he ignored/misinterpreted intel briefings as very serious and his grasp of the salient points almost miraculously encyclopedic. Of course, he's never opened an encyclopedia.... He's gotta be an intel officer's worst freaking nightmare to brief.
A. Agree, He is certainly convinced he's a "very stable genius." Heck, for that matter, I'm convinced I'm a very stable genius...Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. See?
B. Agree that the master conmen/authoritarians had his number from day one. He's a conman himself, but an amazingly soft mark for anyone with a half semester of psychology.
C. Half agree...drugs would be absolutely unnecessary. He's an adulation addict, and just some Gríma Wormtongue whispering in his ear about how much "the people" love him would be enough.
Like the Grima reference. :-) But Grima comes to a bad end in the book and the movie. I actually think the movie did a better job at getting rid of both Grima and Saruman (extended version of movie). Also Grima wasn't the top man - that was Saruman. :-)
I'm not at all opposed to the various Grimas and other enablers from the last administration coming to bad ends...