I do not want to get political here but I have a question.

In my time in the military I was given a Top Secret security clearance with various accesses. This was back in the 1970's. I recall that I when I was discharged I signed several documents stating the punishments that I could be issued and my final days in the military I was denied access to my workplace because I no longer had a need to know.

If someone no longer has a need to know, is the process different today? Why would someone be allowed to have access?

Again, I am not getting political. I am just curious.

Thanks for the response. I assumed that once your job was completed you no longer had access to information.

Did not know that you could continue to have that access. If I remember correctly a background investigation was done every 5 years for a Top Secret, 10 years for a Secret.

My DD 214 has my clearance and date of award.

Probably old data.

Exactly. It's not like Brennan was walking into the CIA everyday and going through files. Any access to classified material he would have currently would be extremely specific and finite. As stated, he may be asked to come in and discuss events he has specific knowledge of or consult old files prior to testifying before Congress. But that's about it.

It's also quite possible that the people who were fired for cause like McCabe and Strozk may have already lost it.

Many former clearance holders maintain their clearance for a different job after they leave, like a contract employee at agency that requires one. But at that point, the new employer sponsors the clearance.

I'm just glad the SF86 is all online and they keep track of all your old entries. Now I don't have to go track down my neighbors info from two assignments ago

China loves it too.

Meh they've had all my info for years, I'm sure the OPM breach wasn't the first time they got it

My DD-214 has the same and mine is long past being active. When I left active duty I was read out and signed my life away with threats that if I revealed or anything here were the penalties.

have a friend who is now an author and because of his clearances he has to have DOD sign off on all his books even though he is writing fiction.

My wife has her clearance for work and it is every 5 years for TS.

Revoking the clearance is an unusual step, but really meaningless.

As was noted, just having a clearance doesn't give you access unless you're in a job that allows you to get access. A clearance is not the keys to the kingdom. If you are not employed in a job that gives you access, you're not effectively using the clearance.

What it does give you is lets you start on day one when you're hired in a new job, and can be a discriminator in hiring if you don't have it. That being said, if you've been in a high position like this guy and a new administration comes in and wants to hire you, they can give you a new interim clearance and get you in on day one. What Trump has done could be undone very easily. And since there's no job in the Trump administration that this guy's going to get anyway, his lack of a clearance isn't really an issue until there's a new president, so revoking it now does nothing but remove a resume bullet from him.

I think the post-govt service employment limitations caused by loss of clearance are the slap here. No clearance is definitely a hiring discriminator at times with DoD contractors. When I was doing contract work in Southwest Asia, many locations required at least a Secret level clearance to even be considered for assignment.

In 2014, the location I was at dropped the formal Secret clearance requirement and my employer rightly inactivated my clearance. I will say that I was not informed that this had happened. I didn't find out that my clearance had been inactivated until two years later when I was trying to go back over. It wasn't just a matter of "turning the clearance back on". Since two years had passed since my clearance was last active, it was going to take a whole new "re-look" investigation to get my Secret active again. Maybe things are moving faster these days, but when I did my original DISCO clearance in 2011, it was taking several months to process a clearance if you didn't get an Interim.

Granted, these folks are at a whole different level and "special rules" may apply--but many employers will simply move on to the next person if the clearance process becomes even a slight hassle?