Memorandum to Resolve the Backlog of Security Clearances for Executive Office of the President Personnel

Memorandums

TLDR

This executive order allows mass temporary Top Secret/SCI security clearances for Executive Office of the President staff, bypassing standard vetting to address claimed processing backlogs, while granting White House Counsel authority over clearance management for 6 months.

This memorandum focuses on security clearance processing for Executive Office of the President (EOP) personnel.

The memorandum aims to address what is claimed to be a backlog in security clearance processing inherited from the Biden administration, which is preventing new staff from accessing White House facilities and performing their duties.

Core actions:

  • Authorizes immediate interim Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearances
  • Grants facility and technology access to designated personnel
  • Empowers White House Counsel with clearance management authority

The memorandum bypasses standard security clearance procedures by granting interim TS/SCI clearances en masse, which could potentially compromise national security protocols. Traditional clearance processes involve thorough background investigations and individual assessments.

Procedural concerns:

  • The six-month interim period creates a temporary solution without addressing the underlying clearance process issues
  • Concentrates significant authority in the White House Counsel’s office for clearance decisions
  • Lacks specific criteria for clearance revocation

The memorandum explicitly states it creates no enforceable rights or benefits, limiting potential legal challenges to its implementation. This is a standard clause in executive actions to prevent litigation.

Impact Assessment

Operational effects:

  • Enables immediate staffing of EOP positions
  • Potentially accelerates administrative transitions
  • Creates a temporary workaround to existing security clearance procedures

Risk factors:

  • Bypasses established vetting procedures
  • Potentially compromises security standards
  • Creates precedent for circumventing traditional clearance processes

This memorandum represents a significant departure from traditional security clearance protocols, prioritizing operational efficiency over established security vetting procedures.

January 20, 2025

MEMORANDUM TO THE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL

SUBJECT: Memorandum to Resolve the Backlog of Security

Clearances for Executive Office of the President

Personnel

The Executive Office of the President requires qualified and trusted personnel to execute its mandate on behalf of the American people. There is a backlog created by the Biden Administration in the processing of security clearances of individuals hired to work in the Executive Office of the President. Because of this backlog and the bureaucratic process and broken security clearance process, individuals who have not timely received the appropriate clearances are ineligible for access to the White House complex, infrastructure, and technology and are therefore unable to perform the duties for which they were hired. This is unacceptable.

Therefore, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, Ihereby order:

  1. The White House Counsel to provide the White House Security Office and Acting Chief Security Officer with a list of personnel that are hereby immediately granted interim Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearances for a period not to exceed six months; and

  2. That these individuals shall be immediately granted access to the facilities and technology necessary to perform the duties of the office to which they have been hired; and

  3. The White House Counsel, as my designee, may supplement this list as necessary; and

  4. The White House Counsel, as my designee, shall have the authority to revoke the interim clearance of any individual as necessary.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.