A friend and I were talking the other day, and an interesting question came up: Is the President of the US automatically granted an unlimited security clearance for any and all classified material past and present? Presumably, an elected president could be a civilian with no history in government/military service, and no security clearance going into office. He/she could also have something in his/her past that would disqualify them in obtaining such a clearance, if they sought clearance through the normal procedures/background checks, etc. Could the military/intelligence community refuse to clear an elected president for any reason? What if an elected president demanded access to all records about things like the JFK assassination, Roswell, Area 51, etc. The names of all current/past CIA operatives? Stuff that has no immediate "need to know" basis. Would he be allowed to see them if requested?
Interesting point Elis. But I think as far as the military goes, he'd fire anyone who didnt do as he asked... As as a need to know.. He would have a need to know everything..
ha! yeah right, like the military and intelligence communities are going to let go of powerful information to some chump who will only be in power for 4 to 8 years. they'll just make sure he has no idea they have such info in the first place. he can't ask for access to something he doesn't know exists.
It's an interesting question, I don't know the answer. I would assume checks are done on all candidates long before the election, but I think the president is usually given very high clearance. The thing is, there are people MORE powerful than the President in goverment, and there are things they definately don't want him to know. And politically, he is better off being ignorant of these things. (Or he may have an other round of "What did you know, and when did you know it.") The president can't just fire anybody in the military he wants, it just isn't that easy. His staff, yeah, but the military are career people, in this for the long run, decades, not just years, and a dude who may be writting a book after one term, or even two, isn't going to get everything they have.
The president can't just fire anybody in the military he wants, it just isn't that easy. Yes it is that easy. Its called appointing one person and re-assignment of the other. Poor performance, doesnt have the same "vision" as you, or even if you dont like that person, show them the door and give them orders to Alaska or give them a desk job over a bunch of toilet cleaners. Its the military, not like they can sue anyone. High level military officers such as Generals and Admirals are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the military establishment and the Congress. A variety of military boards such as the Joint Chiefs of Staff are also appointed by the President. http://www.presidential-appointments.org/appointments.htm The Constitution requires that a candidate for the presidency must be a "natural-born" citizen of the United States, at least 35 years of age, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. Therefore, if Skip, wanted to he could be president, he could run. (As long as he had the 14 years resident reqirement met) You can smoke dope and still be elected. Clinton is a fine example of that.
There are a LOT of people who are high ranking in the Military and are out of the range of just being fired by the President on a whim. Generals are also internally promoted, and many cannot be touched without a court marshall. The president is still NOT the most powerful person in the county.
