White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes has become the subject of a congressional probe into whether FBI officials declined to grant him an interim security clearance for use during President Obama’s transition.
In a letter sent to FBI Director James Comey in mid-December, Republican Congressmen Trent Franks, Ariz., and Jim Bridenstine, Okla., pressed the agency for details about Obama’s top national security aide and his clearance investigation. The letter, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, questions about whether Rhodes’ access to classified information is inappropriate considering FBI officials may have been perturbed by his past.
“Recent reports indicate the FBI denied, or was going to deny, Ben Rhodes an interim security clearance during President Obama’s transition. This previously unknown fact is extremely troubling and calls into question the integrity of the FBI’s protocols and the wisdom of Mr. Rhodes’ continued government employment,” the lawmakers wrote.
Franks and Bridenstine noted that individuals are typically denied security clearances due to professional misconduct, drug or alcohol abuse, psychological instability, or “questionable foreign ties or relationships.” An individual can also be flagged if they have a criminal record or history of financial recklessness.
Rhodes has been with the Obama administration since 2008 and was a key architect of the nuclear deal with Iran. He stirred controversy last May for admitting in a story for the New York Times Magazine that the administration created an “echo chamber” to sell its foreign policy, especially as it related to Iran.
“The way in which most Americans have heard the story of the Iran deal presented … was largely manufactured for the purpose for selling the deal,” Times reporter David Samuels had concluded based on his candid interview with Rhodes.
Questions surrounding Rhodes’ security clearance status, particularly why he would have been granted a senior position in the White House after potentially being denied access to sensitive materials, “shake the entire clearance process to the core,” the lawmakers wrote.
“The position that [Rhodes] held makes it impossible that he did not interact with information that did not require that level of clearance,” a source familiar with the lawmakers’ request told the Washington Examiner, adding that the White House has dodged multiple requests for information about Rhodes’ access to state secrets.
“We can only hope the FBI was ultimately satisfied with its ability to investigate Mr. Rhodes and felt that it had sufficient freedom to decide whether or not to grant Mr. Rhodes a security clearance,” Franks and Bridenstine wrote.
The FBI was asked to respond to a series of questions included in the letter by Jan. 25. An aide to Bridenstine told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that the congressman has yet to hear from any officials within the agency.
A separate source said the next step could be a congressional hearing if lawmakers the agency fails to adequately explain the situation in its response.
“I don’t know if Congress would have the stomach for it, but I know a lot of people who work in the defense world were kind of sickened by Ben Rhodes’ attitude and the fact that somebody like that might not be qualified or doesn’t have a security clearance might be frightening enough” to trigger a hearing, the source said.
Hacked emails belonging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta first revealed last summer that Rhodes had failed to pass an FBI background check ahead of Obama’s inauguration in 2008.
“For your information, out of the approximately 187 people who we have moved through the process, Benjamin was the only person declined interim status,” transition officials had written in an email to Podesta.
Nevertheless, an unnamed government official told the Free Beacon that Rhodes was ultimately granted the relevant security clearances he needed to serve on Obama’s national security team.
A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment.
