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[Tovarisc]

Legal experts say Stephen Bannon may face a challenge in his security clearance as President Trump's now-former chief strategist returns to his pre-White House career as executive chairman at the media company Breitbart.

“People with Top Secret clearances are bound by a non-disclosure agreement for life,” said Bradley Moss, a partner at the Law Office of Mark Zaid specializing in national security and security clearance law.

“Any time Breitbart now prints classified information they might now be required to clear it with the government," according to Moss.

Bannon almost immediately resumed his role at Breitbart, a publication Bannon once described as a platform for the alt-right.

News outlets frequently report on classified information they believe to be in the public interest. Historically important stories, including Pulitzer Prize winning work on the Vietnam war and NSA bulk surveillance, have been entirely dependent on classified files.

On Twitter, Susan Hennessey, a former attorney in the Office of General Counsel of the National Security Agency and current managing editor at the commentary website Lawfare, noted Bannon’s obligations go beyond simply not revealing classified data he would have been privy to.

“Bannon not only has prepublication obligations, he also has a legal duty to report if he ever learns of a classified leak. I'm able to work @lawfareblog because, unlike media outlets, we do not & will not publish classified info. Will Breitbart have same policy?” she wrote on Twitter.

“If Breitbart suddenly gets a few scoops, it will be interesting to see how the Department of Justice will reply,” said Moss.

Moss suggested that Breitbart might create an organization structure sequestering Bannon from stories that could potentially expose him to trouble.

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecu...e-a-challenge-outside-the-white-house-experts

Can someone explain to me why people are allowed to maintain their Top Secret clearance no questions asked and matter of their importance or position after government work exit? Even Wonder Boy (Kush) still having his clearance is mind fucking me.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Pretty sure it's saying he has an obligation not to disclose anything he knew of, he's not keeping it.

 

[kess]

Trump will pardon him anyway.

 

[Tovarisc]

Pretty sure it's saying he has an obligation not to disclose anything he knew of, he's not keeping it.

I understood it that he has clearance and has NDA for life to keep stuff silent. Very possible my context understanding skills failed me.

 

[Slo]

He doesn't have to disclose a thing himself, he just has to put his journalists on the right scent and say 'hotter' or 'colder'.

 

[ascii42]

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecu...e-a-challenge-outside-the-white-house-experts

Can someone explain to me why people are allowed to maintain their Top Secret clearance no questions asked and matter of their importance or position after government work exit? Even Wonder Boy (Kush) still having his clearance is mind fucking me.

They last for a specific time before needing to get renewed. In the case of top secret, it's 5 years. Actually getting classified information requires need to know, anyway.

Granted, the president is the ultimate authority on need to know. He could tell Bannon anything he wanted to, even if Bannon didn't have a security clearance.

 

[tuxfool]

He doesn't have to disclose a thing himself, he just has to put his journalists on the right scent and say 'hotter' or 'colder'.

Journalists...

 

[Ogodei]

He doesn't have to disclose a thing himself, he just has to put his journalists on the right scent and say 'hotter' or 'colder'.

It's not so much about stuff he may know now, it's about anything the organization might learn in the future. He's *required* to prevent leaks of classified material to his knowledge in perpetuity, else he faces criminal penalties.

 

[cubicle47b]

Getting top secret clearance is an expensive and time-consuming process. It's not limited to members of the government or military. It's also required by a lot of defense contractor employees who aren't necessarily tied to one job or company. The problem isn't that he has a security clearance and can use that to acquire more information, it's that it puts him at legal risk if he shares secrets he deems newsworthy even if they weren't acquired during his time in the white house.

 

[The Dink]

Heck if anything this will only give him "legitimacy" in the eyes of his readers.

"Now we know jews run the world. Because he was there!"

 

[KingV]

I understood it that he has clearance and has NDA for life to keep stuff silent. Very possible my context understanding skills failed me.

You can have clearance but it can be "inactive", so you are technically still cleared but you don't have need to know, so you can't legally look at any classified material. This is mostly to make life easier for everyone so you don't need to have a new background check every time you change jobs.

 

[Tovarisc]

You can have clearance but it can be "inactive", so you are technically still cleared but you don't have need to know, so you can't legally look at any classified material. This is mostly to make life easier for everyone so you don't need to have a new background check every time you change jobs.

Good thing then that he has personal cell number of POTUS so he can call up man with ultimate power to give need to know rights and info.

 

[noquarter]

Yeah, he probabl6 doesn't 'have' a TS clearance anymore, as he doesn't have the need to know, but when you get a clearance, the government has you sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing you from spreading classifies information for life. As such, he is supposed to have anything he publishes pass pre-publication review to ensure there is no classifies information there, as anything that is classified and linked to him could be considered leaking classifies information and he would be responsible.

Hopefully someone at the government is paying attention and ready to get him on divulging classified information, fuck Bannon.

 

[Hagi]

Surely they could just go the whole "anonymous source" thing that every other news agency does. Going to be funny to see a real fake news website actually called fake news for once by the Trumpeter.

 

[Mivey]

Heck if anything this will only give him "legitimacy" in the eyes of his readers.

"Now we know jews run the world. Because he was there!"

Wouldn't that make him a collaborator ? I mean, conspiracy theories are one thing, but you should be consistent about it.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

The amount of legislation that Democrats are going to have to write specifically because of the Trump administration is pretty insane.

"President must put America before foreign enemies"
"Cant hire people in the white house because they're related to you"
"Cant accuse former presidents of crimes without proof"
"Cant have top secret security clearance and then go work for a news outlet"

A bunch of stupid shit that nobody ever thought about because....who the fuck would be dumb enough to do this shit.

 

[Living the Dream]

The amount of legislation that Democrats are going to have to write specifically because of the Trump administration is pretty insane.

"President must put America before foreign enemies"
"Cant hire people in the white house because they're related to you"
"Cant accuse former presidents of crimes without proof"
"Cant have top secret security clearance and then go work for a news outlet"

And then reverse all Trump's reversals of Obama's

 

[Wag]

That didn't stop him before...

 

[Tovarisc]

The amount of legislation that Democrats are going to have to write specifically because of the Trump administration is pretty insane.

"President must put America before foreign enemies"
"Cant hire people in the white house because they're related to you"
"Cant accuse former presidents of crimes without proof"
"Cant have top secret security clearance and then go work for a news outlet"

A bunch of stupid shit that nobody ever thought about because....who the fuck would be dumb enough to do this shit.

I doubt they will because they also want POTUS to have a lot unrestricted power so when they are in power again they can wield it for their agenda.

 

[sangreal]

Acting like Breitbart does any actual journalism. Have these people read Breitbart?

 

[Patryn]

Surely they could just go the whole "anonymous source" thing that every other news agency does. Going to be funny to see a real fake news website actually called fake news for once by the Trumpeter.

Doesn't matter if it's a source. He's bound to prevent the release of any classified information, as I understand things. That includes not letting others leak.

 

[Trey]

I doubt they will because they also want POTUS to have a lot unrestricted power so when they are in power again they can wield it for their agenda.

i think the executive will see a fair amount of legislation to limit its power, especially when a democrat takes back the seat. and much of the trump administration's bullshit will be used as justification.

 

[Tovarisc]

i think the executive will see a fair amount of legislation to limit its power, especially when a democrat takes back the seat. and much of the trump administration's bullshit will be used as justification.

I don't believe Democrats have any actual will or want to limit powers of POTUS before I see them actually go for it. Little bit like how gerrymandering is always blasted as being very bad thing, but no one never has actual will and want do shit about it because "in near future" it's their turn to try and abuse it to their advantage.

Why to limit and/or remove power when you are bound to get turn on wielding it?

 

[Ourobolus]

Yeah, he probabl6 doesn't 'have' a TS clearance anymore, as he doesn't have the need to know, but when you get a clearance, the government has you sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing you from spreading classifies information for life. As such, he is supposed to have anything he publishes pass pre-publication review to ensure there is no classifies information there, as anything that is classified and linked to him could be considered leaking classifies information and he would be responsible.

Hopefully someone at the government is paying attention and ready to get him on divulging classified information, fuck Bannon.

TS clearances are good for 5 years so he still technically "has" one, it's just not "active" since his clearance isn't being held by a government sponsor (e.g. The WH).

Now he no longer has a need-to-know though so he should have been read out before he left and he does have the NDA.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

And then reverse all Trump's reversals of Obama's

So we'll just back and forth this stuff till the end of the world, huh?

Acting like Breitbart does any actual journalism. Have these people read Breitbart?

They can now. Top secret clearance.

The question is, will Sessions do anything.

 

[sangreal]

They can now. Top secret clearance.

The question is, will Sessions do anything.

This isn't about Bannon using his clearance for nefarious purposes, it's about the obligations Bannon holds as someone with clearance. That Bannon needs to report anyone who leaks classified info to Breitbart, and he can't publish any classified info. These are not serious concerns for Breitbart because they aren't doing the investigative stories that would revolve around classified info.