The White House Personnel Security Office had apparently decided last fall that there were too many people working at the White House with interim security clearances because new hires can’t get them any more. Politico:
The Nov. 7 internal email to senior leaders at the Office of Management and Budget said the White House personnel security office had advised that it would no longer grant interim security clearances. Pending requests for interim clearances were expected to be denied, though exceptions could be requested, according to the email.
Staffers who had already been granted interim security clearances — like former staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned last week amid allegations of domestic abuse — could continue to hold them while their background investigations were finished, the email said.
But the email nonetheless indicates that officials in the personnel security office — and perhaps others in the White House — were aware as far back as last year of the potential pitfalls of overreliance on interim security clearances, which allow staffers to handle classified material while their full clearance applications are under review.
The White House did not comment on the email or the policy changes it described.
It goes without saying that this issue would not have been worthy of much publicity at all but for the fact of Rob Porter having had a protective order issued against him, which prevented him from getting a permanent security clearance, and of course Jared Kusher not having one either — and it’s unclear at this time exactly why that is. Of the 34 White House employees with interim clearances, Kushner’s has had his the longest, 15 months.