October 11th 2008
Could Obama Get A Security Clearance?
Welcome, Doug Ross readers! Links to several recent posts follow this post. Relax. Enjoy!
S
ome radio-wonk (probably the ubiquitous Dick Morris) said yesterday that if Obama were being appointed to office instead of running for election, he’d face a big problem - he wouldn’t be able to get a security clearance. True? Very probably.
Let’s focus on the Defense Department clearance Obama would need, knowing, however, that each federal department is responsible for conducting its own security clearances, so he’d have to go through multiple security vetting processes. At DoD, anyone who requires access to classified information to perform their duties requires a security clearance, with different levels which the military, in its wisdom, always capitalizes: CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, and on up.
Obama would start by filling out Standard Form 86, a 13-page application form that would require Obama to provide a lot of personal identifying data, as well as information regarding where he’s lived and worked, the status of his finances, his bad habits, and to some degree, who he associates with.
Were Obama to fudge on his answers … maybe say he had no association with ACORN, or that Bill Ayres was just a guy in the neighborhood, the consequences could be pretty unpleasant - like being jailed for his entire first term in office, and being fired from his second:
The U.S. Criminal Code (title 18, section 1001) provides that knowingly falsifying or concealing a material fact is a felony which may result in fines of up to $10,000, and/or 5 years imprisonment, or both. In addition, Federal agencies generally fire, do not grant a security clearance, or disqualify individuals who have materially and deliberately falsified these forms, and this remains a part of the permanent record for future placements. Because the position for which you are being considered is a sensitive one, your trustworthiness is a very important consideration in deciding your eligibility for a security clearance.
The application is just the start. It would lead to an investigation and a follow-up interview.
He would have to make sure he’s got his birthplace right. He says it’s Honolulu, but not everyone agrees. If it’s not Honolulu, he’ll have to provide State Department Form 240 - Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States.
Then he’d have to list all his other names, like Soetoro. Spaces are provided for four separate names, so he’ll be fine.
For his employment history, he’d have to go back to 2001- lucky for him because most of the controversial stuff (the community organizing, the Ayres years with the Annenberg Challenge) came before that. Also, luckily, there’s a 7-year term for the friends listing where he’ll have to provide this:
They should be good friends, peers, colleagues, college roommates, etc., whose combined
association with you covers as well as possible the last 7 years. Do not list your spouse, former spouses, or other relatives, and try not to list anyone who is listed elsewhere on this form.
So again, he’s off the Ayres hook - but not the Raile Odinga friendship. Given his association with Kenya’s genocidal maniac, he may have trouble with this instruction from the “friends and associates” section of the form:
Code 17 (Other Relative) - include only foreign national relatives not listed in 1 - 16 with whom you or your spouse are bound by affection, obligation, or close and continuing contact. Code 18 (Associates) - include only foreign national associates with whom you or your spouse are bound by affection, obligation, or close and continuing contact.
I wonder of campaigning actively for the election of Odinga count as “affection, obligation, or close and continuing contact?”
He’ll be able to breeze by section 16, military history, but 17 might give him pause: Foreign activities. It asks about foreign financial interests - does that include illegal foreign contributions?
Section 24a will require a full inventory of certain things Obama might not want to disclose:
Since the age of 16 or in the last 7 years, whichever is shorter, have you illegally used any controlled substance, for example, marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, hashish, narcotics (opium, morphine, codeine, heroin, etc.), amphetamines, depressants (barbiturates, methaqualone, tranquilizers, etc.), hallucinogenics (LSD, PCP, etc.), or prescription drugs?
He’ll have to parse his words pretty carefully on 39a:
Have you ever been an officer or a member or made a contribution to an organization dedicated to the violent overthrow of the United States Government and which engages in illegal activities to that end, knowing that the organization engages in such activities with the specific intent to further such activities?
He’ll squeak by on this. He knew Ayres and Dohrn, but was never a member of the Weather Underground, and they were gone before he could give them money. ACORN is most certainly guilty of working to destroy free and fair elections, but that’s not quite the same as working for the violent overthrow of the US governnent, right? He should be able to wiggle out of that one.
The big problem is that the form only provides 16 lines in the “Continuation Space,” where he’s directed to:
Use the space below to continue answers to all other items and any information you would like to add. If more space is needed than is provided below, use a blank sheet(s) of paper. Start each sheet with your name and Social Security Number. Before each answer, identify the number of the item.
It’ll take more space than that … short, direct answers from Obama?
All in all, it’s a form Obama could get through, primarily because the US gov doesn’t appear interested in questionable activities from more than seven years ago. Of course, the form is just the start of the process - the investigation and interview that follow would lead to big problems.
How is it that we’ve come to the point that I can write a post like this just a few weeks before the election?
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Posted in 2008, Obama, Uncategorized | 19 Comments » | 
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October 21st, 2008 at 10:02 am
October 21st, 2008 at 10:58 am
October 21st, 2008 at 11:04 am
October 21st, 2008 at 6:49 pm
October 21st, 2008 at 8:08 pm
October 25th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
November 11th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
January 26th, 2010 at 12:34 am
Comments
October 12th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Now this IS interesting… What level of clearance does the POTUS (or a Senator or Congressman for that matter) need?One would think that POTUS would/should require TS, SCI/EBI for sure, but apparently NOT!Back in another life, when I was a headhunter, I remember having a search that required TS, SCI/EBI (Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information / Extended Background Investigation*).If I recall correctly, back at that time, that level cost around $100,000 and took up to several years to complete.My search required a Masters Degree in Electronic Engineering (MSEE) and my candidate had his Masters in Mechanical Engineering instead.However, because he had his TS, SCI/EBI clearance, they hired him and put him on the payroll while they sent him, full time, back to get his degree in EE… It was cheaper and far quicker than trying to get another applicant cleared.*For the EBI portion, agents went WAY back… Determining not just that you were who you said you were, but that your parents and life long friends were who you said THEY were… I don’t think that I could have placed Senator Obama.
October 12th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Thanks for that - very illuminating.
October 18th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
My question is, how did he get the clearance to be a US Senator, do they need one? Something is really wrong here and I can’t seem to find out why. When I got a clearance in the mid sixties, they interviewed school teachers, neighbors and who else I don’t know. Do they by pass this for elected officials or what?
Does he get the keys to area 51 if elected?
October 19th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
People - By law if you are elected you are GIVEN clearances because you are an elected official… NO BACKGROUND IS REQUIRED….
Having said that….. This lowers the standard of everyone else he chooses to give a clearance to in his administration… By law he can not have different standards for his employees vs. those with clearances..
So assume everyone can now smoke crack and travel to Pakistan without any reprecussion…
October 20th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I was in the nuclear weapons support world which has a special program for anyone involved in the building, maintenance, operation, support or launch of nuclear assets - any drug use disqualified you. If you were in a car that was used to transport drugs and you did nothing about it then you were ineligible. Depending on the clearance they can go back much further. The 5 year background check is for SECRET level clearances.If you don’t trust, or don’t believe the material will be safe guarded then you don’t share that information with an indiviual. There are too many questions in his background … I would not even give him directions to the nearest command post.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:29 am
If you click on the not everyone agrees link, it takes you to an unhinged neo-Nazi hate site. Can’t say I’m surprised. [I was; thanks for pointing it out. I replaced it with a very mainstream link. -Laer]Reply - Quote
October 21st, 2008 at 11:18 am
Try this for Obama’s birth certificate issues. By the way, the site is run by a Democrat.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Lear - great post.
There is no government agency responsible for examining birth certificates, driver’s licenses, or any other form of identification for candidates for public office. This is a huge oversight in our political system.
I contacted my congressman’s office and the New York State Board of Electors to confirm the above. The NY Board told me they only investigate if there is a formal challenge filed.
This information was shocking to me as it is to anyone who hears it. That is why there is still an issue regarding Obama’s citizenship.
We should have a proper vetting process that is not politicized before candidates are allowed on ballots. I don’t know if this is possible.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Actually, it’s not 7 years, it’s 10 years for most of those. Bush extended them by another 3 years not long after 9-11 based on what some guys I know had to put down when applying for their jobs in metro DC.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Can you give a link for the alias “Soetero”? Most of the ones I can find are questionable.
He does have a sister, Maya Soetero-Ng
http://glenniacampbell.typepad.com/silenti/2008/06/maya-soetero-ng.html
“Maya and Barack share the same mother, but not the same father. Maya’s father was Indonesian, and she is considerably younger than her brother. She started her remarks by saying that when she learned that she would be speaking in front of a group comprised of LGBTs for Obama, Asian-Pacific Islanders for Obama, Latinos for Obama, and South Asians for Obama, she realized that should could not possibly cover all the issues important to these groups. ”
One thing Obama’s campaign does much better than McCain’s and it is very big thing - is their use of the Web:
http://my.barackobama.com
One of the links is to “Groups with the most members”. Groups at the top have 35,000 - 36,000 members. The group called “1,000,000 Americans for Obama” has 9400 members.
One of the groups in my ZIP code is “California Hairstylist and Barbers for Obama”. Four members.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Sorry; I typoed “Soetero” instead of “Soetoro.” Here’s a link to Soetoro; it’s on the jump page. The passage:
“According to “TexasDarlin,” the school registration document photo proves that: