Remember when the left went nuts after White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders started out her press conference by reading a statement by President Trump informing the rabid press pool that the security clearance of Obama’s former CIA director and self-appointed leader of the #ResistTrump movement, would be revoked?

As one would expect, the Left lost their minds, tweeting about “abuse of power” and retribution” for a political opponent.

Meanwhile, it’s worth reminding Trump’s critics that Obama appointed officials stripped a Trump-supporting Pentagon analyst of his security clearances in 2016. 

WFB – The Pentagon this week suspended the security clearance of a White House National Security Council analyst that U.S. officials say was the target of political retribution by government bureaucrats opposed to President Trump’s appointees.

Adam S. Lovinger, a 12-year strategic affairs analyst with the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment (ONA), has been on loan to the NSC since January when he was picked for the position by then-National Security Adviser Michael T. Flynn.

Lovinger was notified in a letter from the Pentagon on Monday that his Top-Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS-SCI) clearance had been suspended and that he had to return to the Pentagon.

The letter cited unspecified outside activities by Lovinger. The notice said the suspension was approved by Kevin Sweeney, chief of staff for Defense Secretary James Mattis.

One official said Lovinger was targeted by Trump opponents because of his conservative views and ties to Flynn, specifically his past association with the Flynn Intel Group, Inc., a consulting business.

Flynn was forced out as national security adviser in February after top-secret intelligence communications intercepts were disclosed to the press revealing he had discussed U.S. sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.

Disclosure of the clearance suspension followed a report in the Washington Free Beacon Monday stating the security clearance process at the White House has been politicized by government officials opposed to Trump and his advisers.

Suspending or revoking clearances is a frequent tactic used by government officials to sideline officials whose views and policies they oppose.

According to the Washington Times,  Mr. Lovinger filed a whistleblower reprisal complaint in May with the Defense Department inspector general against James Baker, director of the Office of Net Assessment. The complaint also singles out Washington Headquarters Services, a Pentagon support agency that awarded the Halper contracts totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Bigley filed a complaint July 18 with the Pentagon’s senior ethics official, charging that Mr. Lovinger’s superiors misused the security clearance process to punish him. He said his client complained about excessive “sweetheart” deals for Mr. Halper and for a “best friend” of Chelsea Clinton.

“As it turns out, one of the two contractors Mr. Lovinger explicitly warned his ONA superiors about misusing in 2016 was none other than Mr. Halper,” Mr. Bigley wrote in his ethics complaint, which called the contracts “cronyism and corruption.”

Stefan Halper

During President Obama’s administration, the FBI took the momentous step of recruiting a national security academic, Stefan Halper, to spy on Trump associates by striking up what seemed to be innocent professional contacts.

Mr. Halper was a “confidential human source,” an official category of spy that is regulated by the FBI’s domestic investigations directive.

 

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.