Washington – White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on Friday admitted theTrump administration’s early handling of classified information andgatekeeping of sensitive secrets was not up to snuff.
Kelly told journalists that he had his “eyes opened,” after joining theWhite House in July last year, by the way people were treating documentsand the number of staff who had access to secrets.
Painting a picture of a neophyte staff of outsiders, unfamiliar withWashington and learning how to run the world’s preeminent superpower, Kellysaid he moved to bring habits in line with the Pentagon and military, wherehe served for decades.
“In terms of the handling of classified material” he said the White House”wasn’t up to the standards that I’d been used to.”
“Nothing illegal,” he added. “But it wasn’t quite up to the standards.”
“Most of the people here in the White House had never worked in governmentbefore,” he explained.
On Donald Trump’s path to the White House he repeatedly pilloried hisDemocratic rival, Hillary Clinton, for storing government emails on aprivate server, suggesting that was a national security risk.
Kelly also admitted that his initial concerns sparked a further crackdown,when he noticed that around 35-40 White House staffers had top secretclearance and did not need it.
That top level of clearance is often used in the Situation Room and for thenation’s most closely guarded secrets.
Kelly also noticed that many staff did not have final clearance and wereworking as FBI background checks were ongoing.
“I’m having my eyes opened here” he said.
“Of the people who are here, what is the percentage that are still oninterim clearances?” he asked, “and the answer to that was a fair number.It was a lot.”
“A couple of spreadsheets worth of people,” he added. “More people than Iwas comfortable with.”
The issue of clearances would ultimately engulf the White House, leading to– according to other sources — Jared Kushner having his clearancedowngraded.
That downgrade raised questions about what may be holding up his backgroundcheck and whether he can continue to lead Trump’s efforts to negotiateMiddle East peace with only “secret” not “top secret” clearance.
Kelly also admitted that the White House’s handling of staff-secretary RobPorter’s departure amid allegations of domestic abuse was not ideal.
“We didn’t cover ourselves in glory in how we handled that.” -APP/AFP