President Donald Trump has revoked the Secret Defense clearance of former CIA director John Brennan (photo).

Former CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia and then cabinet director of George Tenet (under presidents Clinton and Bush Jr.), he became the first director of the National Anti-Terrorism Center after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Favorable to the use of torture, he was appointed by Barack Obama director of the CIA. Since the Trump-Putin agreement in Helsinki (July 16), he has accused President Trump of "treason".

President Trump also asked to revise the Secret-Defense Clearances of James Clapper, James Comey, Michael Hayden, Sally Yates, Susan Rice, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr.

In the United States, where senior officials are all removed upon the election of each new president, the credentials are retained by those who dispose of them when they leave office. They thus participate in the creation of a ruling class that knows, cut off from the people, who don’t.

Challenging this principle is regarded by the Puritans as an infringement of the 1st Amendment (freedom of expression), insofar as it deprives opponents who are withdrawn from their ability to participate in the public debate on an equal footing with those who exercise power. This question did not arise at the time of the adoption of the 1st Amendment, since senior officials were not necessarily on the same political side as the President. The Jacksonians, on the contrary, believe that Secret-Defense Clearances should not be used as a privilege that constitutes a break in the civic equality of citizens.

Translation
Roger Lagassé