Security Clearances and Democrat Hypocrisy

As a former Naval Intelligence Officer who held a TS/SCI clearance for a decade – Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information – allow me an observation. Senate Democrats are participating in a shameless act of political hypocrisy. Their latest antics take the cake.

Last week, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) – and other Democrats – literally yelled at the Director of National Intelligence, Tuli Gabbard, and CIA Director John Ratliff for sharing unclassified thoughts on US military operations involving Yemen over an end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) app, “Signal.”

Democrats then proceeded to demand Mike Walz, the President’s National Security Advisor, also on the encrypted chain, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth be fired. Then, they demanded to know “on what authority” the President granted these high-ranking officials their clearances.

This meltdown, on national television, tells you a lot about modern politics, the desperation and duplicity now taking hold – boldly showcased – by a new, if deeply conflicted, Democrat Party.

Why?  Four basic facts make the point. Democrats have lost their way and do not care.

First, while classified information is typically shared inside a SCIF – or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility – digitally on a classified, closed-loop, “high side” network, or with high-level security protocols, paper, unclassified information is not subject to these same precautions.

Second, the Signal app used by these officials, either on government or non-government devices, is highly encrypted. If hacked or intercepted, decrypting is virtually impossible, although “key compromise” and human error – inclusion of someone not intended – is always possible.

While Signal is not meant for digitally communicating classified information - that is, things at the Confidential, Secret, TS, or SCI levels - it is viewed as “one of the most secure” means for confidential communication “in the world,” according to “leading digital security experts.”

So secure is Signal that some US agencies, such as USAID, actually include Signal in their “secure communication protocols.” Since 2023, the US government has, in fact, relied on Signal for sensitive, unclassified communications. To assert or infer the opposite is not true.

To be more specific, US agencies have authorized two off-the-shelf “third party messaging platforms,” Signal and "Telegram,” as part of “Automated Directives Systems.” (ADS). Whether they should or not is an operational, perhaps also policy, question – but they do and have.

Far from illegal, some agencies expressly authorize these “approved non-official” systems. Similar systems exist, such as “Threema,” “Wire,” “Viber,” and “Wickr,” with “military grade encryption.” No system, of course, is without risk.

Third, Congress is itself notorious for leaking sensitive, sometimes classified information to the press – on occasion deliberately, often recklessly. Congress has not only exempted itself from many laws, including individual privacy protections, but has sometimes been briefed on classified operations, only to turn around and share them with the press.

In that category, countless news stories – domestic and international – come to mind, an egregious one when then-Senator Patrick Lahey (D-VT) and three others were prebriefed by President Reagan on a raid of Libyan targets following a terror attack, swearing all to secrecy. Lahey promptly held a press conference and told the world ahead of time. As a result, two US F-111 pilots were shot down.

Fourth, and here’s the real hypocrisy: Not only does President Trump possess Article II power to grant clearances, but his inner circle – and every intelligence officer – must be vetted. They go through a long, up to 18-month, “full field investigation” – must account for every three-week period in their lives, all foreign travel, foreigners met, and other extensive data – for a TS/SCI clearance.

Congress? No vetting at all. Nothing. Nada, and full access to whatever they ask. So, left-leaning Senators like Wyden, Schumer, Schiff, Murphy, Gillibrand, Blumenthal, Baldwin? Left-leaning members of Congress, like Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, Talib, Jayapal, Raskin, Nadler, and Pingree? They are not required to face ANY investigation to assure intentions, they just get full access.

So, how hypocritical is it … for Senator Wyden, and his high minded Democrat colleagues, to attack President Trump’s power to grant clearances to those facing “full field” investigations, people like NSA Mike Waltz, DNI Tulsa Gabbard, SECDEF Pete Hegseth, and Vice President JD Vance, all combat veterans, or John Ratliff, a former federal prosecutor and head of the CIA?

Hypocrisy is seldom so shameless. Modern Democrats are all about it. But this one takes the cake.