As President, Donald Trump has the Constitutional right to revoke the security clearance of anyone he chooses for whatever reason he chooses. The Supreme Court has been clear: No one has a right to a security clearance and the presidential revocation is not usually even judicially reviewable (“even those based on policies normally repugnant to the Constitution.” The only possible exception is a “colorable [ie, plausible] constitutional claim.” One might consider Ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s right to free speech as a “colorable” claim although it has never successfully been used in court.
The more important question for this post, however, is: What is the impact on our democracy? Revoking a security clearance is in itself unprecedented, to say nothing of Trump’s use of raw presidential power to take revenge upon a political enemy.
It is undeniable that cutting off Brennan’s security clearance is a political move provoked by Brennan’s blistering criticisms of the President; for instance, Brennan tweeted that Trump’s actions at the Helsinki Summit were “treasonous.” The President’s press secretary said that the revocation was due to “increasingly frenzied commentary [that] is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation’s most closely held secrets and facilities.” Almost the entire intelligence community disagreed, however, condemning Trump’s action.
Trump has gone on to threaten the clearances of almost a dozen other members of the intelligence community, including Bruce Ohr, a current employee of the Justice Department, whose only “sin” appears to be his connection to Christopher Steele, the author of a dossier highly critical of Trump. Trump has publically acknowledged that the revocations are, at least in part, due to their connection to the “sham” Russian investigation. Trump has already drafted these further revocations and is apparently waiting to dribble them out as politically needed.
The most immediate impact of Trump’s action is to move media and public attention from Omarose Manigault Newman’s recently published inflammatory bestseller.
Another important impact, however, will be upon the willingness of other Trump critics to use their right to free speech. For instance, there are other intelligence officers who require security clearances when they leave public service to go into the much-higher-paying private sector. Losing their security clearances would have enormous impact on their lives. One could hardly blame them for withholding many criticisms of Trump.
By far the most important impact of Trump’s action, however, will be the specter of the President’s use of naked power to punish a critic, a personal enemy. Constitutional or not, this is the move of autocrats everywhere to silence dissent.
Disgracefully, Republican political leaders have either defended Trump’s actions or stayed silent about them, another symbol of the Republican leadership’s abdication of their constitutional responsibilities.
One of the most hallowed commitments of our Constitution is the right to free speech. It is obvious that President Trump is doing his best to abrogate that right. It’s likely, however, that this instance, like so many others, will simply be added to the long list of the President’s transgressions and forgotten amidst the chaos. This use of presidential power is not, however, “one more crazy thing” from our President. It’s a direct attack upon our democracy.
We must remember it.
