Intelligentsia Elite bromance: Comey, Brennan and Clapper. Isn’t it somehow fitting and appropriate that Brennan wears the red tie that day?

Those threatened include John Brennan, James Comey, James Clapper, Susan Rice, and a host of individuals — some of whom, in retrospect, possibly shouldn’t have been issued a security clearance in the first place: think Communist John Brennan.

That said, the Intelligentsia Elites are up in arms at the impertinence of President Donald Trump! Fie, they say! How can the guy with the dead orange cat on his head determine who keeps a security clearance? The temerity of this interloper! They are the DC Intel cognoscenti, the highbrows, the literati.

First, the predicating August 15th event as covered by the WashingtonTimes.com:

Brennan first to fall as Trump kicks off review of Obama officials’ access

by Dave Boyer

President Trump on Wednesday personally revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John O. Brennan, a bitter and vocal Trump critic, citing his “erratic conduct and behavior” as their clashes escalated over the special counsel’s Russia investigation.

It was the first move in a White House review of access of top Obama-era intelligence and law enforcement officials, and it is believed to be the first time a president has taken such a direct and public role in shutting off a security clearance.

In a statement, Mr. Trump declared that Mr. Brennan has “a history that calls into question his objectivity and credibility.”

Agreed.

However: time to fight back! they say. Let’s watch one of these Hoovering IEs try to justify their clearance as the lunatic silver threads of liquid spittle are flung all about the CNN studio. Even the Floor Director was disgusted, and the janitor was certainly less than pleased upon cleanup later that night. Those camera lenses are expensive.

Good old Phil Mudd. A liar then and a liar now. We’ll get back to him. Trust me.

In the meantime, from the PatriotChronicles.com:

THE TRUTH COMES OUT ABOUT HOW PROFITABLE THE SECURITY CLEARANCES ARE

by Simon Daly

It has become more and more apparent that it was a good move to take away the security clearances. Hannity talked about the book “Compromised,” on his radio show.  Peter Schweizer, President of The Government Accountability and Institute, gave the forward for the book by Seamus Bruner. In the Forward Schweizer clued us all into how intelligence agents, like Comey and Mueller, were working the system. But this was not meager connections. They made millions.

But wait. Isn’t it Phil Mudd who insisted, at the highest decibel levels possible, that he receives no remuneration from the government? And wasn’t it Paris Dennard who continued to insist that wasn’t necessarily the case? With, ahem, private contracts?

Yes to both. Private contracts.

“James Comey’s net worth has skyrocketed 4000 percent. By the time he left [the Department of Justice] in 2005 and came back in 2013, Comey made 6.1 million dollars after [Robert] Mueller granted his employer, Lockheed Martin — the largest contractor in history — a billion-dollar boondoggle. Under Mueller’s direction, the FBI granted multiple spy contracts to Lockheed Martin while Comey was advising them on the legality of their operations. Comey also received another six million dollars working for one of the world’s largest hedge funds and an additional $500,000 for unused vacation time.”

“Mueller cashed in, as well. In 2013, when Comey took over the FBI while Mueller left to start consulting at a consulting firm, he made more than $3.5 million dollars in about a year, giving speeches and representing clients who had previously enriched his FBI director; clients like the world’s most profitable spy corporation.”

But wait. Let’s visit Hypocrisy Central for a moment.

“Two of Mueller’s former clients are cooperating with the special counsel, Facebook [and] Apple. Mueller’s former client, the paragon of privacy Apple Inc. provided the special counsel with access to Paul Manafort’s iCloud despite making a public spectacle protecting the San Bernardino terrorist’s privacy.

Doesn’t one hand wash another’s back once government service is concluded? Of course. It’s the Gravy Train. “The spice must flow.”

“Jim Comey and Robert Mueller are very close friends,” said Schweizer. “They met each other in the 1990s at the Justice Department and have really been sort of this tag team from the beginning. When one of them is in the private sector and one is in government, they steer contracts in the direction of people they’re affiliated with and vice-versa. It’s a very troubling story that shows the revolving door applies every bit as much to these gentlemen, and crony capitalism applies every bit as much as it does to other people in Washington.”

Security clearances are under the gun like never before. Thank God. Were you aware that roughly 5 million people have various federal security clearances in the US? And mustn’t you ask: just how many of those are totally unwarranted?

Trump, intelligence officials clash over ‘golden ticket’ security clearances

by Ben Wolfgang and Guy Taylor

They’re prestigious, fiercely held and often highly valuable — and they’re under the microscope like never before.

Led by President Trump, critics have zeroed in on the proliferation of security clearances and cast them as “golden tickets” to high-paying jobs and positions of power and influence, holding them up as shining examples of the Washington carousel that allows the most exclusive establishment insiders to benefit from their status long after they have left public service.

Mr. Trump’s defenders say past administrations have gone far beyond the pale in their broadsides against his policies and have leveraged their security clearances to make partisan critiques seem more authoritative.

The offended IEs fire back.

Former officials say that any effort to systematically revoke the clearances of such political opponents could undermine the continuity of defense and national security contacts by upending an institutional memory pipeline.

But some concede that those who hang on to their clearances can gain “vast sums of money,” and there is a growing push in the White House and on Capitol Hill to overhaul the system.

“I think there’s no doubt that security clearances are a golden ticket in D.C.,” said Rick Manning, president of the conservative nonprofit group Americans for Limited Government, who argued in favor of revoking Mr. Brennan’s security clearance.

“But it’s not necessarily a bad thing,” he said. “People who get security clearances have earned them. The challenge we have right now, however, is that there are some former Obama administration officials, including Brennan, who seem to be using information they have access to for partisan political purposes and to carry out score-settling.”

D’ya think? And I would ask, what happened to ol’ BZ the microsecond he left the embracing arms of the FBI or the US Marshal? That’s right. His security clearances were de-rezzed right out of the system along with every password or access point he once possessed. AND RIGHTLY SO. It’s a need to know vs a need to share. My needs had ceased. Properly. Rightfully. Logically.

White House National Security Adviser John R. Bolton suggested recently that he offers a personal example of how a clearance can benefit an individual and a company.

“In my case, my clearance was active at the time when I was a member of a board of directors of a company that did classified work for the government and it was felt important that some of the directors be able to access that information,” he told ABC News on Sunday. “There were other times when I was a civilian that my classification was dormant, my security clearance was dormant, and I think that’s appropriate, too.”

Mr. Bolton suggested a review of the entire system of deciding who has access to sensitive information. High-level officials also have said the approval and review processes take entirely too long.

There’s another serious problem.

“When John Brennan makes unsubstantiated allegations like Vladimir Putin could blackmail the president of the United States, and he says those things while he’s still holding a top-secret clearance, foreign spies upon whom the U.S. intelligence community relies to steal secrets on our behalf … might assume Brennan knows something the rest of us do not,” said Daniel Hoffman, a retired CIA senior clandestine services officer. “In my view, Brennan has been wildly irresponsible, but it would be [up to] the security experts to determine whether he, in fact, mishandled classified [information] or should no longer be trusted with classified information.”

Senator Richard Burr asked Brennan to put up or shut up.

Sen. Richard Burr, who leads the Senate Selective Committee on Intelligence, issued a sharp rebuke of former CIA Director John Brennan, saying that if he has evidence of Russian collusion he should have presented it to his panel.

The North Carolina Republican’s statement was remarkable in that he has adhered to a strict nonpartisan approach as the committee pursues a more than yearlong investigation into Russia’s hacking Democratic Party computers and other interference.

After President Trump revoked Mr. Brennan’s security clearance Thursday, the ex-top spy claimed there is no doubt candidate Trump colluded with the Kremlin. On Twitter, Mr. Brennan has accused the president of committing felonies, such as treason. He has asserted Mr. Trump is being blackmailed by Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Burr suggested Mr. Brennan has become a partisan ex-director whose statements are “purely political and based on conjecture.”

Even James Clapper wasn’t a lockstep friend of Brennan. From TheHill.com:

Clapper: Brennan’s rhetoric is becoming an issue

by Megan Keller

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Sunday that he thinks former CIA Director John Brennan‘s rhetoric is becoming an issue “in and of itself.”

“John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself,” Clapper said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “John is subtle like a freight train and he’s gonna say what’s on his mind.” 

Clapper’s comments came in response to an op-ed penned by Brennan in The New York Times this week, in which he wrote that President Trumpcolluded with Russia during the 2016 election. 

Clapper said he empathized with Brennan, but voiced concerns for Brennan’s fiery rhetoric toward Trump and his administration.

“I think that the common denominator among all of us [in the intelligence community] that have been speaking up … is genuine concern about the jeopardy and threats to our institutions,” Clapper said.

But isn’t it odd how the “17 intelligence agencies” that came out against Trump tried to brand themselves as “apolitical” and “unbiased” when, in fact, they were the most politically biased? To the point where even Clapper is having misgivings?

Then we have the issue of James Clapper himself leaking material to CNN, his “new” host network upon retirement. From the WashingtonTimes.com:

Obama DNI Clapper leaked dossier story on Trump: House intel report

by Rowan Scarborough, 4-28-18

James Clapper, while the nation’s highest ranking intelligence officer, leaked to CNN sleazy anti-Trump information contained in the Christoper Steele dossier that was privately briefed to the president-elect, according to a new House intelligence report.

Now a paid CNN analyst, Mr. Clapper had denied he was the leaker. He is an ardent Trump critic and has predicted his downfall.

President Barack Obama’s director of national intelligence, Mr. Clapper admitted to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in private testimony that he briefed CNN’s Jake Tapper in early January 2017.

He had pressed FBI Director James Comey to present to Mr. Trump at Trump Tower on Jan. 6, 2017 the dossier’s salacious parts, according to Mr. Comey’s own memos.

CNN then ran a story on Jan. 10, 2017 about the briefing which said the Russians own compromising material on the new president concerning prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room.

The report gave the dossier instant legitimacy. Its unverified charges have dogged the Trump White House ever since.

Here is more from the Federalist.com:

Declassified Congressional Report: James Clapper Lied About Dossier Leaks To CNN

by Sean Davis, 4-27-18

A newly declassified report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections reveals that former intelligence chief James Clapper lied to Congress about information he shared with CNN on the infamous Steele dossier.

Buried within a newly declassified congressional report on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections is a shocking revelation: former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper not only leaked information about the infamous Steele dossier and high-level government briefings about it to CNN, he also may have lied to Congress about the matter.

In one of the findings within the 253-page report, the House intelligence committee wrote that Clapper leaked details of a dossier briefing given to then-President-elect Donald Trump to CNN’s Jake Tapper, lied to Congress about the leak, and was rewarded with a CNN contract a few months later.

Back to John Brennan. Remember the Brennan v Feinstein wars? Where Brennan insisted his CIA didn’t spy on Congress? Except that, uh, it did?

Inquiry by C.I.A. Affirms It Spied on Senate Panel

by Mark Mazzetti & Carl Hulse

WASHINGTON — An internal investigation by the C.I.A. has found that its officers penetrated a computer network used by the Senate Intelligence Committee in preparing its damning report on the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation program.

The report by the agency’s inspector general also found that C.I.A. officers read the emails of the Senate investigators and sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department based on false information, according to a summary of findings made public on Thursday. One official with knowledge of the report’s conclusions said the investigation also discovered that the officers created a false online identity to gain access on more than one occasion to computers used by the committee staff.

The inspector general’s account of how the C.I.A. secretly monitored a congressional committee charged with supervising its activities touched off angry criticism from members of the Senate and amounted to vindication for Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee’s Democratic chairwoman, who excoriated the C.I.A. in March when the agency’s monitoring of committee investigators became public.

Demorats lost confidence in Brennan way back in 2014? What happened since then? Oh yeah: Trump.

But anger among lawmakers grew throughout the day. Leaving a nearly three-hour briefing about the report in a Senate conference room, members of both parties called for the C.I.A. officers to be held accountable, and some said they had lost confidence in Mr. Brennan’s leadership. “This is a serious situation and there are serious violations,” said Mr. Chambliss, generally a staunch ally of the intelligence community. He called for the C.I.A. employees to be “dealt with very harshly.”

How soon we forget. What happened to Brennan? Nothing.

Back to James Clapper. I’m going to be honest and clear, the two things I value most. James Clapper lied baldly, nakedly, abjectly, to the American public and to Congress. Does anyone remember:

By the way, this is classic, textbook body language displayed by Clapper to indicate lying. His right hand is on top of his head. He refuses to look Ron Wyden in the face as he answers, glances down and up, and rubs his head as an affectation. You could — and instructors do — utilize this video in classes on interview and interrogation. As in: here’s the quintessential example of public lying.

Here is another example of James Clapper lying in March of 2017 because, in retrospect, we know this to be false because of Flynn, Stephanopoulos, Manafort and Cohen prosecutions, as in: how’d they get the information otherwise?

Anyone besides me starting to see something of a thread or a pattern or a trend here? Perhaps why I presented the old “contrast and compare” back-and-forth method used by my various professors in college?

Now let’s go back to Phil Mudd. Remember when Paris Dennard said “it’s profitable for them after they leave government because if you have a security clearance your contracts and your consulting pay you more money because of the access you have.”

Mudd then testalies and says he has no contracts with the government that pay him anything. Really? Mudd completely deflects and fails to answer Dennard’s question. I began to think: here we have the meat of the matter. Mudd’s meal tickets are being threatened: his power, connections and cash.

A few facts. Mudd joined the CIA in 1985. He was an analyst, and then worked for the CTC in 1992. In 2005, Mudd was appointed by then-FBI Director Robert Mueller to the FBI’s newly-created National Security Branch as Deputy Director. See the connection?

Mueller and Mudd worked together a little over four years. He was later promoted to the office of Senior Intelligence Adviser at the FBI. He served in that position until he retired from government service in March of 2010. All due his good friend Robert Mueller.

So I did a little digging. Remember when Phil Mudd says he doesn’t get a government dime for anything? Number one, I don’t really believe that for a moment, and number two? I wonder what he does now after retirement?

What if I were to tell you that Phil Mudd created his own security consulting firm called — wait for it — Mudd Management, and that he is its president, would you be shocked? From his Mudd Management bio page at PhilMudd.com:

Mr. Mudd is the President of Mudd Management, a company specializing in security consulting; analytic training; and public speaking about security issues.

Mudd also sells T-shirts. Sort of like the bodega/segunda of retired intelligence officers. You can get your security consulting as well as T-shirts that say:

So did Phil Mudd lie? How can I count the ways? His very checkbook depends desperately on holding onto his security clearance. His security clearance is monetized. He loses cash, power and prestige if its ripped from his cloying little hands.

Finally, there’s this from Lee Smith at RealClearInvestigations.com:

Privately, Intel Officials Back Shutting Out Brennan, Clapper

President Trump has been criticized for politicizing the intelligence community by threatening to strip the security clearances of former top officials including John Brennan and James Clapper. But numerous past and present senior intelligence officials say that the Obama administration started the politicization — and that revoking the clearances of those who abuse the privilege for partisan purposes may help right the ship.

“As is often the case with the Trump administration, the rollout of the policy is bad, but the idea driving the policy is sound,” said one senior intelligence official who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke to RealClearInvestigations only on condition of anonymity. “Under some Obama-era intelligence chiefs, intelligence was used as a political weapon. We need to root that out, not reward it.”

Thank you very much.

But: shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone that most of the intelligence community secretly thinks that Comey, Brennan and Clapper are outright boobs that are tarnishing the profession.

Take away security clearances from those who retired and/or fired or resign? Hell yes. All of them. Make everyone prove that they have a need to know again.

Who’s next up to bid for removal? Read this.

BZ