How a 'sham vetting process' could 'vaporize' security for top-secret intelligence: ex-FBI official

On October 27, New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Charlie Savage reported that a memo circulating among Donald Trump advisers recommended that he "bypass traditional background checks by law enforcement officials" and "immediately grant security clearances to a large number of his appointees" if the GOP nominee wins the presidential election in November.

The plan, according to the Times reporters, "would allow" Trump "to quickly install loyalists in major positions without subjecting them to the risk of long-running and intrusive FBI background checks, potentially increasing the risks of people with problematic histories or ties to other nations being given influential White House roles."

Frank Figliuzzi, who spent 25 years as an FBI special agent and is now a national security analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, discusses the Times' reporting in an MSNBC column published on October 30. And Figliuzzi warns that the United States' "national security guardrails could vaporize if Trump wins."

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This "plot," according to Figliuzzi, would "let Trump grant security clearances to people who may not be qualified to hold them."

"Bypassing government background checks would be a direct contravention of established protocol that was updated in a White House and Justice Department document last year," Figliuzzi writes. "That document tasks the FBI with conducting the background checks and investigations for White House appointees and employees and others who will perform services for, or be recognized with awards by, the president."

The former FBI special agent warns that a "sham vetting process" could "allow people who pose threats to our country's security to regularly access secret or top-secret intelligence."

"Given that this dangerous proposal wouldn't serve our national security and that it is fraught with the potential for partisan abuse and fraud, what's behind it?" Figliuzzi argues. "Self-interest…. Concerns over criminal records, honesty, foreign influence, character, reputation, finances, loyalty to the U.S. and their known associates would disqualify many Trump favorites."

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Frank Figliuzzi's full MSNBC column is available at this link.