Top Secret Security Question

[BlueGreenLady]

Does the US President automatically get access to any and all classified documents immediately upon taking office? If so Shouldn't all presidential candidates have to be able to pass the most high level security clearance even before running for President? Sorry if I missed previous discussions about this.

[Raven123]

1. Passing security clearance is not a Constitutional requirement.

I believe the President has access to all classified documents

[BlueGreenLady]

4. That implies to me that the NARA exists mainly for the

educational benefit of the President.

[Thomas Hurt]

5. NARA is the archivist for all the Presidential documents. The documents in question, AFAIK,

would have come from the IC or DOD agencies to the WH. The Trump Admin just decided not to give them back or Donnie just absconded with what was at hand at the end of his term. I am guessing the assessment on the documents will get to the bottom of that chain of custody issue. I would also assume they want to know where they were exposed at any given point in the chain or its journey to Mar a Lago.

[RockRaven]

2. Because the power to classify/declassify is ultimately a presidential one, there is no test or

threshold that applies to the presidency itself. POTUS calls the shots on classification, no subordinate of POTUS has power to gate-keep the boss except to the extent that POTUS willingly allows them to.

[getagrip_already]

3. The constitution lists the requirements for office....

It doesn't include a security clearance. You can't screen candidates prior to election. What would happen if republicans passed a law that said all candidates had to be approved by a gop controlled panel?

And yes, the potus automatically gets access to all secrets. They become the ultimate arbiter to what is classified and what isn't, but their is a process backed up by law.

It's not a perfect system. It assumes the potus holds the best interests of the country as sacred.

[dclarston13]

6. When the constitution the security risks were different

Now the numbers and types of threats are vast, as we see with the TFG mess. In my opinion, there certainly should be a rigorous vetting process.
Personally almost every job I ever had for the past 40 yrs required some sort of background check, drug tests, and in some cases pych analysis, and I am a nobody.

[Towlie]

7. If the nation's secrets can be concealed from the president then who is their ultimate custodian?

 
?

That can't work. Even when the president is a jerk it's obvious that someone has to have access to the nation's secrets, and if not the president then whom?

This reminds me of the character Albert Nimzicki in Independence Day, an advisor who knew the truth about Area 51 but explained that it was concealed from the president for "plausible deniability". Who decided to conceal it?

[Deep State Witch]

8. "Customer #1"

Has access to all classified documents upon becoming POTUS.

However, requiring someone to pass the minimum standards for a Secret clearance is unlikely. One of the many issues the Old White Dudes that I used to work with had with Bill Clinton is that he wouldn't have gotten a security clearance because of MJ use and extramarital affairs.

That being said, TFG would not have gotten a clearance because of his numerous foreign business ties, known connections to organized crime, and multiple extramarital affairs, including sex-for-hire.