So now that there’s talk about Michael Flynn violating federal law by not disclosing his payments from foreign governments, the White House decided to following their standard playbook: Deflect, Distract and Blame President Obama.
“His clearance was last reissued by the Obama administration in 2016 with full knowledge of his activities in 2015,” Spicer said. “All of that clearance was made by the Obama administration.”
Acosta later asked Spicer to clarify if he was saying Flynn came in with just the Obama administration vetting. “Because that’s the impression you’re giving,” Acosta said as Spicer insisted that’s exactly the impression he intends.
“General Flynn came in and he walked through the door with just the clearance that was conducted by the Obama administration?” A shocked Acosta replied. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Sure it does,” Spicer said, insisting security clearance for the Trump administration works in the same way journalists applied to be credentialed press at the White House briefing room. Acosta tried to clarify Spicer’s remarks, prompting the press secretary to snap back.
“Hold on, let me explain the answer to you, Jim. Calm down, the kids are gone,” Spicer said, referring to a mock briefing held earlier today during the White House “Take Your Kids to Work” day.
“It’s a serious question,” CBS News’ Major Garrett said.
“And I’m trying to answer it Major!” Spicer exclaimed. “This is the answer—hold on, listen!”
No, he didn’t answer the question. He just wrapped ham and bull sandwich spread around it because that actually doesn’t make any sense at all... None.
Yes, there is a common process for handling security clearances, and no, it’s not something that the White House has direct control of, neither Obama nor Trump. They can only ask for a clearance, but that’s almost besides the point when you think about this deeply.
First of all — Flynn wasn’t an employee of the Obama Administration, of a government agency or contractor in 2016 that would have required or allowed his clearance to be renewed that year. So exactly how did he renew it then?
Additionally the Obama administration fired Gen. Flynn in 2014.
Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, is being pushed out after a series of clashes over his leadership style, report Greg Miller and Adam Goldman at The Washington Post citing current and former U.S. officials.
Flynn, who was a former intelligence adviser to retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Iraq and Afghanistan, took over the agency in July 2012.
One former official told The Washington Post that Flynn attempted to push DIA analyses and operators into the field and other high-intensity operations. This ran counter to how the DIA saw itself, leading many to believe that Flynn's vision for the agency was disruptive.
So it’s not like they were a fan who would do him that solid while he was not employed by the government, and it could be argued — although this White House is so far refusing to provide any documents about it — that although a current clearance can remain active for several years after one completes a particular job function Flynn’s clearance at this time was probably revoked, because he didn’t just leave he was FIRED.
Why exactly would you let the fired, erratic, disruptive guy keep his clearance?
Third the Defense Dept. had warned Flynn not to accept foreign money after he retired from the Military, but still, he persisted.
"These documents raise grave questions about why General Flynn concealed the payments he received from foreign sources after he was warned explicitly by the Pentagon," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, in a statement. "Our next step is to get the documents we are seeking from the White House so we can complete our investigation. I thank the Department of Defense for providing us with unclassified versions of these documents."
None of which explains why he didn’t disclose this Kremlin money when Trump hired him to become National Security Advisor. I mean when you’re in a campaign where it’s alleged you’re being helped in your campaign by the Kremlin, why would you hire a guy as your top National Security Advisor who took $45,000 — from the Kremlin?
Here’s the thing, hiring Flynn as an employee for the government is one type of vetting process and his being able to legally renew his security clearance is another. The former generally precedes the latter, but the latter is also dependent on the former. No job. No clearance. Period.
When it comes to renewing a clearance this is how it normally goes.
A government security clearance requires a periodic reinvestigation every 15 years for a “confidential” clearance, every 10 years for “secret,” and every 5 years for “top secret.” When a clearance is inactivated (because of switching jobs or leaving the military), it can be fairly easy to reinstate within the first 24 months, as long as that falls within the periodic reinvestigation window. After that, it becomes significantly more difficult. In other words, if your clearance is going to lapse, it is important for you to consider some options to reactivate it within the first two years.
The easiest way to maintain security clearance is to take “cleared” positions with companies or government agencies.
…
There are specialty staffing companies that assist defense contractors and government agencies to fill temporary and full-time positions with cleared individuals. “We provide our employees the opportunity to work on tremendously important client projects. In addition to allowing flexible work schedules, we work actively to ensure our employees are able to maintain their security clearances,” said Bob Merkl, president of Secure IT Services, a staffing firm specializing in connecting cleared people with public- and private-sector opportunities. Companies seeking cleared candidates, he said, often pay a 5-20% salary premium.
Also clearances are not free.
“The average cost to process a TOP SECRET clearance is between $3,000 and about $15,000, depending upon individual factors. . . . The law requires that contractors pay most of the costs of obtaining clearances for their employees.”1
“. . . civilian companies who do classified work for the Dept. of Defense (DoD), or a national security related contract, must bear the cost of security clearances for their employees and clearance investigations can cost several thousands of dollars.”2
The point here is that for Flynn’s previous clearance to have been renewed, particularly if he had been formally revoked, he would have needed to have a current position with the White House, DoD or a government contractor at that specific time, because it would have been their responsibility to pay for the cost of renewing his clearance.
Assuming Flynn’s clearance was Top Secret that would have been renewed every 5 years and since his Military career began in 1981 one might assume that 2016 might have been his renewal year except for two things, 1) He wasn’t working for a contractor, the White House or the DoD in 2016, he’s was working for the Trump campaign and an active lobbyist for Turkey with his own consulting firm and 2) it usually takes 18-24 months to obtain a clearance in the first place, so his most likely renewal year would probably have been 2017 or 2018. It may not even be due for renewal until 2019 (up to five years after he left the DIA) if his personal clearance process didn’t begin immediately when he first entered the military in 1981.
If that were the case then he wouldn’t have filled out any new clearance renewal forms yet, but according to reports he apparently did. I would surmise this was in order to shift his previous clearance status from “inactive” back to “active.”
And If he actually did renew/reactivate his clearance in 2016 — how?
Who or what specific agency or contractor is Spicer claiming made the request for a renewed clearance for Flynn in 2016 and exactly when did they pay for it?
I’ll tell you one thing, it sure as FUCK wasn’t the Obama White House or DoD who had fired this guy just two years before. Based on my experience having held a TS/SCI clearance for 12 years while I worked for defense contractor Northrop Grumman, the timing of renewal that Spicer is describing is quite literally impossible. It simply couldn’t have happened that way, unless of course the people who requested and paid for his clearance renewal in 2016 — was the Trump transition team.
It’s possible Obama may have still technically been in office if the renewal request came through before January 20th, 2017, but it's just nuts to suggest they filed the paperwork themselves.
And secondly the point isn’t that his clearance was renewed, the issue is whether he properly disclosed his foreign travel to Russia in 2015, the $45,000 he received from RT as well as the $530,000 he took from Turkey at that time of filing out his renewal forms because if he didn’t — and that seems to be the case — of course his renewal was approved because HE HAD THEN COMMITTED PERJURY BY OMITTING REQUIRED INFORMATION ON THE FORMS.
He submitted a false document to them. Yes, based on that document they would have to say “Yes, here’s your clearance, Sir” — but that’s not when things end. Usually if there are no giant red flags on their forms people are granted an “Interim Clearance” until the FBI has finished their full investigation (which they did continue with as shown by Sally Yates warning Trump about Flynn’s being potentially “compromised by Russia”), and if they’ve lied on the forms — wooh doggie, they are in serious trouble.
If that’s what occurred it’s not the Obama or Trump Administrations fault, or the fault of the Defense Security Service and the FBI who actually handle the clearance applications and background checks for security vetting, that’s Flynn’s fault.
That’s on top of the fact that Flynn taking foreign money as a former member of the U.S. Military without “advance approval” from the Pentagon is a completely separate issue from his clearance status, as he was warned that that’s illegal all on it’s own whether it was disclosed or not. That was a point that was made recently by House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz on Greta Van Sustren’s “On The Record” even if he did manage to try and again provide cover for the Trump White House for this by again #BlamingObama.
“It was the Obama White House that this would have fallen under,” Chaffetz claimed. “I don’t think what happened here is really the fault of Donald Trump.”
Chaffetz was actually talking about Flynn not getting prior permission from DoD for taking money from Russia in 2015 and Turkey in 2016. Again, that’s all on Flynn to seek prior approval, not on the DoD or Obama to preemptively act before something has happened yet. I mean, they did warn him, his ignoring that warning is totally on Flynn. No, his doing that isn’t Trump’s fault, particularly for what happened in 2015, but then I don’t see how’s it Obama’s fault either.
None of that, not one bit of it, explains or justifies Trump’s decision to hire this guy in the first place, a guy who had been specifically fired for being erratic and then failing not just to check if he’d filled out his security renewal forms accurately, but simply realizing through open source reporting which was commonly available that he’d taken a trip to Russia in 2015, accepted $45,000 from the Kremlin for the trip which was public knowledge when it happened. I mean, it was so not secret It was even tweeted back in 2015.
Or that he had been paid another $530,000 from Turkey during 2016 which was also known before he became the National Security Advisor.
By Isaac Arnsdorf 11/14/16 10:00 PM EST
Donald Trump wants to forbid his officials from lobbying for foreign governments, but one of his top national security advisers is being paid by a close ally of Turkey's president.
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a vice chair of the Trump transition who is in the running for a top national security post in the new administration, runs a consulting firm that is lobbying for Turkish interests, an associate told POLITICO. Asked if Flynn's firm was hired because of the general's closeness to Trump, the associate, Robert Kelley, said, "I hope so."
None of that was a secret. Well, it wasn’t a secret to people who weren’t in the Trump campaign.
Oh wait, my bad, they did know.
(CNN)The White House acknowledged Friday that President Donald Trump's transition team was aware that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn engaged in work that would likely require him to register his consulting firm as a foreign agent before Flynn was tapped to serve as national security adviser.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that Flynn's attorney contacted a Trump transition attorney to notify the transition of the potential filing, but said Trump was not made aware. Separately, Vice President Mike Pence, who headed up the transition, was notified in a November letter from the top Democrat on the House oversight committee that Flynn's firm had lobbied on behalf of a foreign power.
So their argument is that the Obama White House — clearly when they weren’t busy using GCHQ to “Wiretap Trump Tower” — did what exactly? Two years after they fired this guy while he was working as a major advisor for the Trump campaign and a foreign agent for Turkey they then mysteriously helped him get his clearance renewed — letting him lie on the forms about things that were publicly known about his taking money from Russia and from Turkey that he specifically told the Trump campaign about — and at the time the Trumpers were JUST FINE WITH IT?
Until now.
I call Bullshit on that, ALL THAT.
Friday, Apr 28, 2017 · 10:49:15 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
Newsweek has a piece up on how Flynn’s lack of disclosure likely helped him slip through the cracks.
The simple parts: “The background investigation is basically a credit check,” says Aaron Arnold, an FBI counterintelligence analyst from 2008 to 2013. That is, a person can be “cleared” for top-secret documents in less time than it takes an ordinary person to get a mortgage, he and other specialists say. “With your Social Security number, they check the banks and so forth,” says Joe Navarro, a retired special agent who conducted so-called Special Presidential Investigations, or SPINs, of Cabinet appointees during the Reagan administration.
“The biggest thing, I have to tell you, that we look for is not the financial stuff, but it's in the interviews that we do from the people that the person has put down as relatives or acquaintances or recommendations,” Navarro says. “We usually only check what the person has put down.” Since Flynn never “put down” his payments from foreign income, the DIA informed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on April 7, FBI vetters would not have seen them.
…
“In any case,” says Gomez, now a senior fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber & Homeland Security, “presidential appointments are different in that the bureau will only report facts and leave the vetting decision to the White House staff.
So even though Trump is scheduled to go on Fox tonight to repeat Spicer’s bogus claims that Flynn’s vetting was somehow the Obama’s fault — the fact is that the primary blame for this debacle sits in his own lap. He and his people didn’t do due diligence, period.
Sunday, Apr 30, 2017 · 7:07:55 PM +00:00
·
Frank Vyan Walton
It takes her some time to get to it, but in this report Rachel Maddow reveals that in additional to being repeatedly informed that Flynn had been paid by Turkey the Trump White House actually did do a background check on Michael Flynn before hiring him as National Security Advisor.
The White House and President Trump's transition team reportedly did a background check on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in addition to his already approved security clearance, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reported Friday evening.
"NBC News has learned from sources close to the Trump-Russia investigation that both the Trump transition and the White House did do a background check on Flynn," Maddow said on her program, citing reporting from NBC's Andrea Mitchell.
"This is in addition to his already approved security clearance. They did a background check on Flynn specifically for him to become national security adviser." [...]
So how in the world is this all Obama’s fault?
