I just asked someone from a previous administration who negotiated MidEast peace for thoughts on Jared Kushner continuing in his role after having his security clearance downgraded from Top Secret/SCI to Secret...
“Some parts of the job would be impossible. If I was denied a TS/SCI clearance I would have had to quit. You can't even go into meetings in the Sit room w/ a “secret” clearance -- they literally give that to anyone without a criminal record on day one...”
“... so there's nothing remotely sensitive at that level. In fact, it's hard to imagine having any substantive high level policy conversations that don't include at least Top Secret info...”
“...Plus it's sometimes hard to keep track of what's classified at which level, so if folks are responsible they won't talk about anything classified when he's around...”
“...He also can't read the useful intelligence, which is a pretty major...and all of the most helpful intelligence on that whole file is strictly compartmented -- meaning he won’t have access to any of it. He’s basically flying blind in a snowstorm.”
(Losing TS/SCI clearance means no access to Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information)
