First son-in-law Jared Kushner has famously struggled to get permanent security clearance to do whatever it is he does in the Trump White House these days. Kushner’s tangle of questionable business relationships and host of ill-conceived political meetings with foreign governments has made him a bit of a liability to the country, if not Trump himself. Now, midway through year two of the Trump presidency, the Washington Post reports Kushner still has not received permanent clearance to view America’s most sensitive secrets or “sensitive compartmented information” (SCI), which often involves information about intelligence sources and methods and requires CIA approval to view.
From the Post:
Kushner’s lack of SCI access suggests that the CIA has not signed off on his receiving that level of intelligence, security experts said. The White House security office has authority to independently grant a “top secret” clearance after reviewing a staffer’s FBI background investigation… When White House security officials granted him a permanent clearance in late May, he was granted only “top secret” status—a level that does not allow him to see some of the country’s most closely guarded intelligence, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss security issues.
After initially working for months and months on a temporary SCI clearance, chief-of-staff John Kelly downgraded Kushner’s clearance to “top secret” along with dozens of others in the White House who were working for an extended period with provisional clearance, before he was granted permanent clearance in May.
