August 25, 2022 By Chet Richards
I am someone who has held a TS/SCI (Top Secret — Special Comparted Information) security clearance. Moreover, I have had a facility clearance for my home so that I could handle classified information there. Having had that experience, I get more than a little annoyed at the speculative misinformation that all parties in the Mar-a-Lago affair are spreading around. Granted, my security experience was before my retirement a decade ago, but I doubt much has changed since then.
I make three points. The first is that the Justice Department is blowing smoke. They are either completely incompetent or deliberately abusing their authority by lying to the court. The second point is that the investigative media (including Fox News) have not done their homework and have not found out how the security system actually works. The third point illustrates the first. In no legal sense is Donald Trump guilty of anything. This is because, as a former president, he has both a TS/SCI personal clearance and the same level of facility clearances for his various locations.
To complete the circle, the first two points follow from the third: the Justice Department has charged Donald Trump with violating security regulations by having inappropriate classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Well, as president, Trump's home, and probably everywhere he may reside or work, automatically has a TS/SCI facility clearance. And so his home is appropriate for the safekeeping of classified documents.
I note that Mar-a-Lago is under 24/7 protection by the Secret Service. This automatically meets the requirements for the safety of a very high-level facility clearance. Moreover, an extra degree of protection was installed, at the government's request, when a lock was put on the door where the documents were stored. The government cannot then legitimately claim that those documents were improperly secured............To Read More....
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