NBC News reveals two White House security specialists recommended Jared Kushner not receive top secret security clearance but a supervisor overruled their expert opinions and pushed through his approval anyway.
The official, Carl Kline, is a former Pentagon employee who was installed as director of the personnel security office in the Executive Office of the President in May 2017. Kushner's was one of at least 30 cases in which Kline overruled career security experts and approved a top secret clearance for incoming Trump officials despite unfavorable information, the two sources said. They said the number of rejections that were overruled was unprecedented — it had happened only once in the three years preceding Kline's arrival.
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Kushner's FBI background check identified questions about his family's business, his foreign contacts, his foreign travel and meetings he had during the campaign, the sources said, declining to be more specific.
The White House office only determines eligibility for secret and top secret clearances. As a very senior official, Kushner was seeking an even higher designation that would grant him access to what is known as "sensitive compartmented information," or SCI. That material makes up the government's most sensitive secrets, including transcripts of intercepted foreign communications, CIA source reporting and other intelligence seemingly important for Kushner, whose job portfolio covers the Mideast and Mexico.
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After Kline overruled the White House security specialists and recommended Kushner for a top secret clearance, Kushner's file then went to the CIA for a ruling on SCI.
After reviewing the file, CIA officers who make clearance decisions balked, two of the people familiar with the matter said. One called over to the White House security division, wondering how Kushner got even a top secret clearance, the sources said ...
The sources say the CIA has not granted Kushner clearance to review SCI material. That would mean Kushner lacks access to key intelligence unless President Trump decides to override the rules, which is the president's' prerogative ...
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The sources said they did not know whether Kline was in communication with senior political White House officials. They say he overruled career bureaucrats at least 30 times, granting top secret clearances to officials in the Executive Office of the President or the White House after adjudicators working for him recommended against doing so.
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Kushner's application followed the normal path for security clearance. It passed a "suitability review" in the White House and then went to the FBI for a background investigation.
Following the FBI investigation, the case went back to the White House office of personnel security, where a career adjudicator reviewed the FBI information, including questions about foreign influence and foreign business entanglements, the sources said.
The Washington Post, citing current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter, reported last February that officials in at least four countries had privately discussed ways they could manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.
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On the basis of potential foreign influence, the adjudicator deemed Kushner's application "unfavorable" and handed it to a supervisor.
The supervisor agreed with the "unfavorable" determination and gave it to Kline, the head of the office at the time, who overruled the "unfavorable" determination and approved Kushner for "top secret" security clearance, the sources said.
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The House Oversight Committee, now run by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D.-Md., announced yesterday that it is digging into how Kushner obtained his security clearance.
Officials rejected Jared Kushner for top secret security clearance, but were overruled (NBC News)