Jared Kushner Security Clearance: Trump Overruled CIA, NSA, FBI Concerns

Overview

The security clearance system exists because not everyone should have access to the nation's most sensitive intelligence. The system's integrity depends on the ability of career professionals to make independent determinations based on professional judgment.

Trump overruled that system to give his son-in-law access to classified information over the explicit objections of the CIA, FBI, and career adjudicators.

What Kushner Failed to Disclose

The initial SF-86 omitted more than 100 contacts with foreign nationals. Kushner submitted three amended versions. The contacts he failed to disclose included meetings with Russian officials, Saudi officials, and Chinese officials — people whose governments had interests directly implicated by the policies Kushner was advising on.

The omissions were not minor paperwork errors. They were the pattern of contact that career security officials were most concerned about.

The Denial

Trump told the New York Times in February 2019 that he had not intervened. Ivanka told NBC the same thing. The New York Times had reported that he had ordered the clearance approved. Both denials and the contradicting reporting appeared on the same day.

The $2 Billion

In 2022, after Kushner had left government service, his private equity firm received a $2 billion investment from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Kushner had been Trump's primary Middle East advisor, handling the Abraham Accords and the administration's relationship with MBS. Intelligence agencies had raised concerns about his Saudi contacts during the clearance process.