There are good reasons not to trust Brennan and Clapper with their security clearance

Joe Concha:

Big question of the week: Should former U.S. intelligence officials who have since jumped into media positions as paid political analysts still have access to classified information?

In light of former CIA director and current MSNBC analyst Jonn Brennan's highly critical, often vitriolic comments about the current commander in chief — along with similar sentiment coming from James Clapper, former director of national intelligence and current CNN analyst — the answer is no.

The reasons are obvious. For starters, although we keep getting told that the Brennans and Clappers of the world were totally apolitical and unbiased in running their agencies, the rhetoric from both men since retiring makes that prospect difficult to believe.


Senior government officials like Brennan and Clapper typically keep their clearances for the sake of continuity and consultation between administrations. But neither Brennan nor Clapper appear to use their access for this purpose.

Brennan, who signed with MSNBC in February, leads in this regard. Here's a few of his greatest hits from his Twitter account, including accusations of treason and a warning to "Stay tuned, Mr. Trump" regarding special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation....
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Remember, this kind of rhetoric comes from the former head of the CIA to a sitting president. Who's to say, given ominous threats like these, that Brennan won't leak classified information, to which he's still privy, to his current employer at NBC/MSNBC?

The same goes for Clapper, who was featured in Wired magazine in May under the headline, "How a former U.S. spy chief became Trump's fiercest critic."
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Brennan has been accused of leaking the contents of the Steele dossier to Harry Reid who in effect made it public by repeating the bogus charges in a letter that looks like it was intended to hurt the Trump campaign.  Reid has a history of making unsubstantiated allegations including ones he made against Romney.

Both Brennan and Clapper come across as emotional in their opposition to Trump.  They do not look like dispassionate analysts.  Neither of them provides the kind of advise to the incoming administration that the continued clearance is intended to facilitate.