WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's announcement this week that it wouldrescind the security clearancesof 37 current and former national security officials was hardly an isolated act. In ordering the revocation of the clearances, PresidentDonald Trumpwas turning to afavored retributive tacticthat he's wielded — or at least tried to — against high-profile political figures, lawyers and intelligence officials. The latest targets include officials who have served in the government across a range of agencies and positions, including on former President Joe Biden's national security team and at the National Security Agency. Some have been vocal critics of Trump and some have worked directly on matters that infuriated him, including anintelligence community assessmentthat said Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 presidential election. Security clearances are important tools not only for current national security workers but also former ones who may need them to preserve access to sensitive information in their capacity as contractors. The practical impact is unclear because it's not known how many of the 37 people newly singled out byDirector of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbardstill have security clearances. But critics have decried the move as an act of retribution meant to chill dissent or make intelligence officials think twice before reaching conclusions, or engaging in work, that anger the president. A look at some of the other people and industries affected by Trump's security clearance actions: Signers of the letter on Hunter Biden's laptop On his first day in office, Trumpmoved to revoke the clearancesof more than four dozen former intelligence officials who in 2020 had signed on to a letter saying theHunter Biden laptop sagabore the hallmarks of a "Russian information operation." The list includes prominent officials like James Clapper, director of national intelligence under former PresidentBarack Obama; John Brennan and Leon Panetta, who both served as Obama's CIA directors, and John Bolton, who wasfired as Trump's national security adviserduring his first term. The laptop storyline surfaced after The New York Post in 2020 reported that it had obtained a hard drive of a computer that Hunter Biden had dropped off at a Wilmington, Delaware, repair shop. The newspaper published communications related to the younger Biden's business dealings in Ukraine. A subsequent letter from 51 former intelligence officials raised alarms about the provenance of emails reported by the Post. The signatories wrote that they didn't know whether the emails were authentic but that their emergence has "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." Trump's then-director of national intelligence and current CIA director, John Ratcliffe, contradicted that assessment by saying there was no intelligence to support the idea that Russia had anything to do with Hunter Biden's laptop. The FBI, which was conducting its own criminal investigations into the younger Biden, seemed to back up Ratcliffe's statement by telling Congress in a letter that it had nothing to add to what he had said. Hunter Bidenwas subsequently convicted of both tax and gun chargesbut was pardoned by his father. Former President Joe Biden and his key officials Trump followed up with aseparate order stripping Bidenof his clearance, saying in February there was no need for him to continue receiving access to classified information. He also ended intelligence briefings for Biden in payback for Bidendoing the sameto him in 2021. Top Biden administration officials saw their security clearances suspended in a March order, includingformer Vice President Kamala Harrisandformer Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Other Trump foes A host of Trump's perceived adversaries also were targeted in that same March order, including: —Andrew Weissmann, a top prosecutor on the Justice Department special counsel team that during Trump's first term investigated ties between Russia and his 2016 presidential campaign. — Alvin Bragg,the Manhattan district attorneywhose office prosecuted Trump last year in connection with hush money payments in 2016. — Mark Zaid, a prominent Washington national security lawyer whose clients have included an intelligence community whistleblower whose complaint initiated the first of two impeachment cases against Trump. Zaid subsequently sued, calling it an act of "improper political retribution" that jeopardizes his ability to continue representing clients in sensitive national security cases. Law firms Trump also made the suspension of clearances a key provisionin a spate of executive ordersthis year targeting prominent law firms over legal work he disfavored or for their relationships to attorneys he did not like. The actions also sought to bar firm attorneys from accessing federal buildings and threatened the cancellation of federal contracts. Four firms — Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey and Jenner & Block — sued in federal court to block the enforcement of the orders and in each caseprevailed in getting them struck down, leaving the clearances intact.
