Rejection of Kushner’s security clearance application was overruled — report
NBC News says career officials raised questions over foreign influence on US president’s son-in-law, but their concerns were brushed aside
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner had his application for a top secret security clearance rejected by two officials, but they were overruled on the matter, NBC News reported Thursday.
Kushner, who is also US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has had issues with his security clearance since joining the administration, and last year had his access to sensitive information temporarily downgraded.
According to NBC, a pair of career officials rejected Kushner’s application after a FBI background check raised red flags over the potential for Kushner to be influenced by foreign considerations, but they were overruled by Carl Kline, the director of the personnel security office in the Executive Office of the President.
Citing unnamed sources, NBC said the background check raised questions regarding Kushner’s family business, his contacts with people from foreign countries, his travel overseas and meetings he held during the 2016 US presidential campaign. No specific details were provided.
The report said though Kline approved Kushner’s request for access to top secret information, the Central Intelligence Agency later denied his application to receive “sensitive compartmented information,” a higher classification of intelligence which requires clearance from the CIA.
Including Kushner, Kline overruled rejections for security clearances on at least 30 occasions, according to NBC, something it reported happened only once in the three years before he joined the administration in May 2017.
While the White House can’t grant the topmost security clearances, the president has the power to declassify any information he may want to share with Kushner.
Kushner’s security clearance has been beset by concerns among CIA and FBI officials over foreign contacts, and by the simple fact that he is a subject of a criminal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, a status that in itself can lead to the withholding of top-level clearance.
Last February, The Washington Post reported that officials in Israel and three other countries discussed ways they could manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.
Current and former US officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter told the Post that officials in Israel, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Mexico saw opportunities to leverage Kushner, who like Trump comes to government with little policy experience and a wide web of business interests around the world.
The paper did not say what business interests or leverage Israel might try to gain with Kushner, who is heading up the Trump administration’s efforts to put together a peace plan.
Agencies contributed to this report.
