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Allen West claims he has higher security clearance than the President

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Zebo said:
Many presidents can not obtain level security clearance he had. Drug use precludes you. Any marks on credit report. Any time out of country not thoroughly vetted precludes you. Bush would not have qualified either.
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Incorrect
 
"And I tell you, if you look at the application for a security clearance, I have a clearance that even the president of the United States cannot obtain because of my background."

I'm not sure how that translates into a higher clearance.
 
Well, being a Muslim from Kenya had to have hurt Obama's chances for getting clearance when he applied for it.

If he'd needed to apply of course, instead of getting it as a perk with the office. Perhaps Batman meant his clearance was higher back when Obama was still a senator? Or when he was a community organizer?

"My clearance is better than any dog catcher on the planet! Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Batman!"
 
Let's take this in a different direction perhaps...? If you were suddenly elected President, what would be the first thing you would demand to know that most people do not, or ever will? Would you vacation at Area 51?
 
CallMeJoe said:
Since the President is the ultimate classifying authority, can he give something such a high security classification that he himself is not authorized to read it?
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It's not so much the level, but The need to know that determines what you are authorized access to.
 
Marlin1975 said:
TS/SCI is the highest but it does not mean you can see/do anything. It just means you can see anything in your area/field.

I have a Top Secret but that does not mean I can walk up to the doors at DoD or the white house and tell them to let me in.
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Right and wrong.

TS/SCI is the highest level of classification.

TS/SCI is not the highest level of clearance.

Got it?
 
OCGuy said:
You have to be naive if you think the president is told everything...
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thats my thinking too. why give someone who is going to be in office 4 years to a max of 8 full clearance of everything? only thing i can see him having is "need to know" stuff.

it really wouldn't surprise me many in the government have higher then the Pres.
 
her209 said:
And you have to be naive if you think the president can't be told everything.
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I can almost guarantee he does not know the full details of the Black Budget, Skunkworks, etc.

When the F-117 Stealth was finally shown off to to the world, it had been in development for 10+ years.

Our newest fighter, the F-22 Raptor, started development around 1986.

You have to think that there are black projects for military toys that we wont see until 2025.

Basically there are plenty of things that have nothing to do with the current president, that he can spoil once he leaves office.
 
waggy said:
thats my thinking too. why give someone who is going to be in office 4 years to a max of 8 full clearance of everything? only thing i can see him having is "need to know" stuff.

it really wouldn't surprise me many in the government have higher then the Pres.
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And this is exhibit #2 why we need to bring good civics classes to schools.

The President is responsible for the people OVER AND AGAINST the bureaucracy.

He can't exactly reign in abuses if he can't be told about them.

I'll repeat an anecdote that illustrates this.

When JFK took office, he made Robert McNamara, whom he had never met, the Secretary of Defense. McNamara had worked in WWII on the controversial massive city bombing campaigns with Curtis LeMay, the Air Force Chief of Staff when McNamara became secretary of defense.

Up to then, the Air Force had treated the nuclear war plans as their own domain, not even informing the President of the plans.

McNamara told the Pentagon he wanted to review the plans - and the Air Force told him "no". 'They aren't your concern, they're our plans'.

McNamara had to have JFK order the Pentagon to show the plans to McNamara.

McNamara was shocked what he found - the only plan was an all-out nuclear bombing of every city more than a village in the USSR and China (the logic was, apparently, if there was nuclear war with the USSR, it was better to go ahead and wipe out China too as long as we're at it). He was appalled that any minor skirmish in Europe, where the USSR had far more forces, could easily escalate in to all-out nuclear war and worked to moderate the plans.

This was the age of a Pentagon officer saying, 'If there's one American left, and no Russians, we win.'
 
batman_wall.jpg


"Don't worry, old chum.... This is how I clear security..."
 
OCGuy said:
I can almost guarantee he does not know the full details of the Black Budget, Skunkworks, etc.

When the F-117 Stealth was finally shown off to to the world, it had been in development for 10+ years.

Our newest fighter, the F-22 Raptor, started development around 1986.

You have to think that there are black projects for military toys that we wont see until 2025.

Basically there are plenty of things that have nothing to do with the current president, that he can spoil once he leaves office.
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This one?
http://www.examiner.com/exopolitics-in-honolulu/obama-takes-on-the-black-budget
 
Marlin1975 said:
TS/SCI is the highest but it does not mean you can see/do anything. It just means you can see anything in your area/field.

I have a Top Secret but that does not mean I can walk up to the doors at DoD or the white house and tell them to let me in.
Click to expand...

I thought disclosing your classification was classified. Not sure how I would know though.
 
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