Recently, former President Donald Trump released a new memorandum. It retroactively removes the security clearances of a number of recent high-level White House staff, up to and including Joe Biden, his immediate predecessor. The memorandum, released to the public last Friday, has gone after Hillary Clinton, Fiona Hill, and Alexander Vindman. We see this move as a further extension of Trump’s administration’s harassment of political enemies.
The White House Office of Communications then followed up with a strong memorandum to agency heads. It made it unambiguously clear that the named officials are no longer permitted to access classified material. Trump argued that Biden and other former officials traditionally retained their security clearances as a courtesy, but decided to revoke them. The administration specified that any new memorandum focused on terminating unescorted access to secure government facilities for all of these individuals.
"I hereby direct every executive department and agency head … to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals," stated Donald Trump.
Revoking Access as a Political Reprisal
Trump’s recent executive action is nothing new — it fits a larger pattern of reprisal against political opponents. Before this, Biden had already revoked Trump’s security clearance back in 2021 after he left the office. Now, Trump gets investigated for violating security protocols when switching between his administrations. He took special care to stash classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago resort. This research came to an end when Trump reentered office.
Fiona Hill is a long-time intelligence analyst who has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations. Although she acted as an adviser during Trump’s Wild West presidency, her access has now been stripped. Another official affected is Alexander Vindman, a retired US Army officer who raised concerns about Trump's interactions with Russia during his tenure.
The Impact on Former Officials
The list of people removed from their authorisation goes on to include Biden’s political allies and family members. This has been the tradition – that former senior officials keep their security clearances, as a sign of decorum and continuity. Trump's actions suggest a shift in this practice, sparking debates about the underlying motives and implications for future administrations.
"I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals," Trump added in his directive.
Hill and Vindman Among Those Targeted
In making this decision the revocation of these clearances impinges on people such as Fiona Hill and Alexander Vindman. Both have shone as public intellectuals in the last few years as big players on the political stage due to their roles in the Arab Spring. Hill was a senior adviser to Trump. At the same time, Vindman was raising alarms about the White House’s overtures to Russia, which put their relationship under tremendous pressure.
