In the flurry of President Donald Trump’s first two weeks in office, the new administration ordered that an unknown number of people be granted immediate access to top secret classified information. Democrats and other critics are now demanding that the White House disclose the list and details of the people Trump allowed to skip background checks and gain access to the country's most sensitive secrets.
On Jan. 20, Trump ordered White House Counsel David Warrington to provide the White House Security Office a list of personnel to grant immediate Top Secret (TS) and Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (SCI) clearances, proclaiming it “necessary to perform the duties of the office to which they have been hired." That list, he added, could expand "as necessary."
That's an alarming way to go about protecting the nation's secrets, according to Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. In a letter sent Thursday to Warrington and the White House Counsel’s office, Connolly is demanding a list of who exactly the administration is giving clearance to and all records related to what if any background investigations were carried out.
Specifically, with respect to those granted fast-tracked clearances, Connolly is asking for any records of “foreign contacts, conflicts of interest, history of financial impropriety, or have attempted the violent overthrow of the U.S. government."
In the letter, Connolly cites the Trump administration’s historic “disdain for the security clearance process,” noting Trump’s decision to give his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a security clearance despite myriad concerns from the CIA. He also notes Trump's decision to give 25 individuals security clearance despite “concerns about ties to foreign influence, conflicts of interest, questionable or criminal conduct, financial problems, or drug abuse.”
The letter also includes accounts of past embarrassments for the Trump White House, such as when Trump fired Michael Flynn, a former general, “after news reports revealed that he had lied to then-Vice President Mike Pence about conversations Flynn had with the Russian Ambassador.”
“Then-Oversight Chairman Elijah E. Cummings revealed that Flynn had also lied on his security clearance renewal forms about receiving trips from Russian firms and forcing Flynn to invoke his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid disclosing further wrongdoing,” the letter reads.
Connolly also recounts how Trump “had to fire a personal assistant because he failed to gain a security clearance because of his financial troubles and gambling habit that exposed him to blackmail and coercion.”
“The White House only discovered the issue when then-Chief of Staff John Kelly implemented a more stringent security clearance policy after discovering ‘a couple of spreadsheets worth of people’ working at the White House on interim clearances and at least 35 people who inappropriately held top secret clearances,” Connolly wrote.
While Trump used the backlog of background investigations as justification for his order, Connolly noted that there are already provisions for fast tracking background inventions and even beginning background investigations before the presidential election in the name of a speedy transition.
“However, the Trump-Vance Transition Team’s decision to forego requiring nominees to submit to FBI background checks thus delaying further investigations,” Connolly notes. “A backlog is not a license to compromise our national security now that the Trump Administration is in place.”
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some have questioned whether Trump will be granting a full security clearance to billionaire Elon Musk, who currently enjoys a TS clearance but not an SCI. Musk has also been given access to swaths of government data despite despite his connection with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign entanglements.
While The Guardian reported last December that Musk would not receive a security clearance due to some of those entanglements and his reported drug use, Musk's closeness to the president and the potential risks it poses has led to lingering concerns that he will be provided access to top-secret information.
Bradley Moss, an attorney who specializes on national security issues, told Salon that Trump has “made clear that he has no intention of complying with the security clearance vetting process wherever and whenever he deems it a bureaucratic annoyance.”
“His January 20, 2025, order made clear his intention to grant interim security clearances encompassing some of our nation’s most closely guarded secrets to a yet-to-be-identified group of individuals without any vetting beyond President Trump’s personal assessment,” Moss said.
While Moss noted that the Constitution “arguably” grants Trump the authority to bypass background checks, doing so “is a serious risk to national security in that it potentially exposes classified secrets to individuals with all manner of disqualifying personal or professional backgrounds.”
“The security clearance vetting process exists for that very reason, to identify potential risks, determine if they can be mitigated, and if not place the individual into the administrative appeals process by which they can make their case for their eligibility. Tossing the process aside on a whim is foolish, risky, and a national security crisis just waiting to happen,” Moss said.
