In one of his first decisions in office, President Donald Trump has effectively revoked the security clearances of 51 former US top spies, including directors and deputy directors of the 18 “Alphabet Agencies” such as the CIA, DIA, NSA, FBI, and more. This decision has severely impacted their income, prestige, and political influence.
Trump had previously announced that this decision would be one of the first of over 200 executive actions he would sign immediately after taking office. Many believed it was just a bluff, that Trump would never dare to take on the top echelons of the Deep State, namely the influential and cunning intelligence community officials. But to the surprise of many, Trump proved to be a man of his word, and he has now done so with a better team around him.
Fox News confirmed that Trump has indeed revoked the security clearances of the intelligence officials with an executive order, even including his former national security advisor, John Bolton, known as one of the most ruthless war hawks in the Washington political swamp.
CNN, on the other hand, attempted to downplay the significance of the consequences for the 51 former intelligence officials, claiming that many of them were already in retirement. This is not entirely accurate. While they may be no longer employed by the government, they are still active in various capacities, such as as consultants for their former agencies, private security and defense companies, or as lobbyists and geo-strategic experts with their own features in mainstream media.
Trump’s revocation of their security clearances means effectively the end of these lucrative side hustles. By cutting off their access to classified or secret information, their credibility in the side hustle world, especially in mainstream media, is also severely impacted.
Even if the majority of the 51 are already in retirement and do not, as is common in these circles, have a lucrative side hustle, they still have well-paid consulting jobs that require a security clearance from the US government, as it enables them direct access to classified information.
Without the security clearances, they no longer have direct access to classified information, nor can they get it from still-serving colleagues who would not risk going to prison. They are losing the aura of the “all-knowing elite” that they previously profited from. CNN, in particular, seems to have deliberately overlooked these connections, as it would have exposed the deep state’s corruption in a more vivid way.
Instead, CNN expressed concern over a different aspect of Trump’s actions against the 51 intelligence officials, signaling that Trump’s intention is to “carry out his threats against his political enemies.”
In reality, the 51 former top spies can be grateful if it only ends with the loss of their security clearances and the associated income. For in a next step, they could face criminal charges for successfully manipulating the 2020 presidential election in favor of Biden. In the US, high penalties await those found guilty of such a crime, and if convicted, they could spend the rest of their lives in prison, as the leaders of the 51 have already admitted in a Congressional committee that they deliberately manipulated the election in favor of Biden.
The 51 can be held accountable for the following: in the summer of 2020, on the eve of the presidential election, they secretly coordinated with each other, with the goal of discrediting the credible and serious evidence of corruption in the Biden family, found on Hunter Biden’s laptop, as Russian fakes and election manipulation.
Four years later, in June 2024, a report by the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Federal Government and the Permanent Select Subcommittee on Intelligence found:
“The statement of 51 former intelligence officials about Hunter Biden was from the start an obvious political operation. It began with a call from the high-ranking Biden campaign manager – and later US Secretary of State – Antony Blinken to the former CIA deputy director, Michael Morell.”
The report further stated:
“The investigations of the committees found that Morell would not have written the statement without this call from Blinken. In fact, Morell told the committees that the call from Blinken ‘triggered’ his decision to write the statement. The authors of the statement were openly about the goal of the project: ‘We think Trump will attack Biden on this topic at the debates (of the presidential candidates)’ and ‘we want to give the vice president a discussion point that he can use as a response.'”
The committees also found that high-ranking CIA officials, including the former CIA Director Gina Haspel, were informed about the Hunter-Biden statement of the 51 before its approval and publication.
Some of the signers of the statement, including Michael Morell, had active contracts with the CIA at the time of the publication of the Hunter-Biden statement.
After the publication of the Hunter-Biden statement, CIA officials internally expressed concerns about the political content of the statement and admitted that it was “not useful for the Agency” in the long run.
It is also interesting to see how many top intelligence officials, who were active in the Trump administration at the time, signed a blank lie in support of Joe Biden. Some names and positions of the former Trump officials who signed the statement are as follows: Russ Travers, the former acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center; Glenn Gerstell, the former general counsel of the NSA; Rick Ledgett, the former deputy director of the NSA; Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired leading CIA operations official; Cynthia Strand, the former deputy director for global affairs at the CIA.
Former CIA directors or acting directors like John O. Brennan, Leon Panetta, General Michael Hayden, John McLaughlin, and Michael Morell, along with more than three dozen other intelligence veterans, also signed the statement.
After the news of Trump’s revocation of the security clearances of the 51 “conspirators?” broke in the media on Monday, demands in the comment sections for harsher measures with many years of prison time followed. Comparisons were made. If, for example, ordinary US citizens were sentenced to long prison terms for their “walk” through the hallowed halls of Congress on January 6, 2021, then the 51 intelligence officials should indeed be behind bars, many agreed.
Furthermore, evidence is mounting that the peaceful demonstrators before the Capitol were pushed by at least 41 “agent provocateurs” in the service of the FBI, just to be funneled into the interior of the Capitol, only to be presented as a storm on the parliament and a coup attempt, incited by Trump. The J.6 demonstrators, who were already convicted, will reportedly be freed by Trump in the coming days.
Meanwhile, one cannot give the 51 top intelligence officials a good grade for foresight. Biden has issued a general amnesty for already known and unknown crimes, including for Covid-19 profiteer Dr. Fauci, the head of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, and for Liz Cheney, as well as for anyone who sat in judgment over the J.6 convicted. In contrast, none of the 51 intelligence officials, who with their joint lie helped Biden win the presidency, have been protected by an amnesty.