A group of Democratic senators want the FBI to disclose all the people in the White House who don't have a full security clearance

Christopher Wray.
(Image credit: Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday inquiring which White House staffers are operating under temporary security clearances. Citing the recent resignation of former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter, who was reportedly working without a full security clearance after the FBI learned of accusations of physical and mental abuse against him by his two ex-wives, the senators expressed their concern that the White House was allowing the "mishandling of classified information."

"We write out of concern regarding the White House's troubling reliance on the use of interim security clearances," the senators wrote, asking for the names of all staffers who are working on temporary credentials. The letter cites a recent CNN article that claims there are 30 to 40 people in the White House who the lawmakers say have "full access to highly sensitive classified information" even though they are without full security clearances. This is troubling, the lawmakers write, as Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress on Tuesday that people with partial security clearances should usually only have "limited access" to classified documents.

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Kelly O'Meara Morales

Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.