President Donald Trump revoked the security clearances of former CISA Director Chris Krebs and former DHS official Miles Taylor, while also ordering investigations into their work during his first term.
As part of a series of executive orders and directives signed in the Oval Office, Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum concerning Krebs, stating that it “addresses his access to existing government clearances.”
White House staff secretary Will Scharf explained that the memorandum instructs the Department of Justice (DOJ) and “other aspects” of the federal government “to investigate some of the malign acts” Krebs may have participated in while serving as CISA director.
“This is a man who weaponized his position against free speech in the election context, in the context of COVID-19,” Scharf said. “This is another, similar Presidential Memorandum to the one you just signed. It addresses his access to government existing clearances he might have, and further instructs your Department of Justice, other aspects of your government, to investigate some of the malign acts that he participated in while he was still head of CISA.”
Krebs became a controversial figure after the 2020 presidential election when he dismissed allegations of fraud and irregularities, insisting that the election was “the most secure in American history,” despite widespread calls for a thorough investigation after a number of anomalies were identified.
Ultimately, Trump fired him for publicly downplaying the concerns surrounding the election. The president described the dismissal as a critical step toward restoring accountability in the federal government, denouncing Krebs as a “fraud” and a “disgrace.”
“I don’t know that I met him. I’m sure I met him, but I didn’t know him, and he came out right after the election — which was a rigged election, a badly rigged election. We did phenomenally in that election,” the president said.
A fact sheet issued by the White House explained that the Presidential Memorandum “directs the head of every federal agency to immediately revoke any active security clearance held by Krebs.” In addition, agencies were also directed to suspend “any active security clearance held by individuals and entities associated with Krebs, including SentinelOne, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with national interest.”
The order also directs the DOJ to investigate Krebs and Taylor, the latter of whom had publicly boasted about leading “the resistance” during the president’s first term.
For Taylor, the order specifically mentions any security clearances granted to individuals at the University of Pennsylvania, where Taylor is a lecturer, “pending a review of whether such clearances align with the national interest.”
In 2018, a New York Times op-ed by an “anonymous” “senior administration official” accused the Trump administration of misconduct and claimed to be actively working to undermine the president’s agenda from within. The author was later revealed in 2020 to be Taylor, who became a political analyst for CNN after leaving the administration.
“I think he’s guilty of treason if you want to know the truth,” Trump said as he signed the order pertaining to Taylor.
Regarding election security, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revealed during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday that U.S. intelligence agencies have “evidence” that electronic voting systems are not secure and can be hacked to “manipulate” the results.
“We’ve got a long list of things that we’re investigating. We have the best of the best going after this. Election integrity being one of them. We have evidence of how these electronic voting systems have been vulnerable to hackers for a very long time and vulnerable to exploitation to manipulate the results of the votes being cast,” Gabbard said.
