8/15/2018

CIA/INTELLIGENCE/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump announced Wednesday [8-15-18] he has revoked former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance, marking an unprecedented use of a president’s authority over the classification system to strike back at one of his prominent critics…Brennan is the first former national security official to see his security clearance revoked since the White House announced last month that Trump was considering taking that action against several of his most vocal critics in the national security world. The decision comes as the White House is looking to turn the page on a news cycle that for several days has been dominated by startling allegations leveled against Trump by Omarosa Manigault-Newman, a former senior White House official and longtime Trump adviser. The White House provided no evidence that Brennan has misused his security clearance since leaving government. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, the top Trump-appointed intelligence official, was not consulted on revoking Brennan’s clearance, an official with knowledge of the matter told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.”

Jeremy Diamond and Betsy Klein, “Trump revokes ex-CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 15, 2018 4:53 pm