Voters have decided that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have a right to receive classified information, according to the nation’s top intelligence chief, adding that neither he nor the administration have a right to contradict that decision.
“This is a longstanding tradition,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in Thursday remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “Our system goes back to Harry Truman, this process of briefing candidates before the presidency started.
“Both camps will be reached out to and offer briefings, and it will be up to them … whether to accept them, and the location and all that, we’ll have to work out the logistics. We have a team prepared, and have had, for some time, to do that,” Clapper explained. “There is no stipulation anywhere that a candidate needs to have a security clearance. The fact they’re a candidate qualifies them.
“It’s not up to the administration, and certainly not up to me, to decide on the suitability of a presidential candidate,” he added. “What’s going on here is the American electorate is in the process of deciding the suitability of these two candidates to serve as commander in chief.
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“They will make that decision to pick someone who will be cleared for everything,” Clapper said. “Neither I as the DNI or anyone else in the administration makes that determination. That’s a determination for the electorate. So we will brief both candidates if they want it.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan had requested Clinton be barred from receiving the briefings after the FBI determined she mishandled classified intelligence as secretary of state, but Clapper this month denied the request. Democrats have said in response that Trump should not receive classified briefings either, under the suspicion that he can’t be trusted to keep secrets.
