John Brennan’s security clearance revoked: is Donald Trump silencing his critics?

Donald Trump has revoked the security clearance of a former director of the CIA, in an unusual move that appears to be politically motivated.

The White House announced yesterday that former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance would be pulled, which CNN says is an “unprecedented use of a president’s authority over the classification system to strike back at one of his prominent critics”.

Why has Brennan’s security clearance been revoked?

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

CNBC has described the withdrawal of Brennan’s security credentials as “more of a political than practical move”.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, reading from a statement by Trump, said: “Mr Brennan’s lying and recent conduct characterised by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation's most closely held secrets.”

How did Brennan react?

Brennan responded to the announcement on Twitter, saying: “This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech & punish critics. It should gravely worry all Americans… My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.”

Who could be next?

Trump foreshadowed his latest move at the end of July, when he announced he was exploring the option of revoking security clearances for a number of former intelligence officials, including Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and former Director of the National Security Agency Michael Hayden, among others.

Time reports that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that while Trump “has the authority to revoke the clearances”, doing so in response to criticism would be “a very, very petty thing to do” and an “abuse of the system.”

According to CNN, “Singling out dissenting former public servants in this way is a norm-busting power play that might seem tame in political systems ruled with an iron grip by Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping, who Trump admires. But it would be fueled by a strongman's instinct that both those leaders might recognise.”