I don't get this.
Ex- convicts and addicts may get DoD clearance
By Elana Schor and Roxana Tiron
July 10, 2007
At the Pentagon’s request, Senate defense authorizers tucked deep within a defense bill a repeal of the department’s restriction on granting security clearances to ex-convicts, drug addicts and the mentally incompetent.
(snip)
Removing the restriction opens the door to security clearances for high-profile felons, such as I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the senior White House aide whose prison sentence was commuted by President Bush last week.
“Could a Scooter Libby be hired by DoD?” Aftergood said. “The answer is, he wouldn’t be automatically disqualified.”
There is alot more in the article that you should read, including that some of our fav Senators are backing repealing the restriction. The ex-con and drug addict part kind of make sense to me in that they are things that can be overcome, but being declared mentally incompetent? That's not like just taking Prozac or whatever.
The last bit is the kicker.
posted by Paddy @ 10:30 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Today is the parade of the gutter people. Wonder if they will be any more reliable than the roofers?
perhaps mental incompetents with a particularly nasty streak would be helpful to the DoD if they can't find any sane people to do their bidding...
I'm getting paranoid in my old age.
We already have several mental incompetents in the White House, the Pentagon, DoD, etc., with security clearances.
Maybe an influx of new ones will raise the standards a little.
The mentally incompetent clause was included so they could give security clearances to Republicans.
Because heroin addicts make good choices...
Mensch that he is, Feingold got this one wrong. I spend a lot of time giving my Republican Senator (Bond) hell, but on this one, he was exactly, perfectly right, and I told him so.
Corpus Juris at Watching Those We Chose has a very good deconstruction of the whole thing.
I say this as someone who until recently held a clearance - they should absolutely not be made easier to get. Especially in this climate!
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