President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Wednesday revoking the security clearance of former CISA leader Chris Krebs, with the White House stating he was a “significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority” during his time leading the agency.
The order also suspends any active security clearance held by employees at SentinelOne, where Krebs is currently employed as the company’s chief intelligence and public policy officer.
Additionally, it calls for a review of Krebs’ actions as a government employee.
Trump dismissed Krebs, a highly esteemed Department of Homeland Security official, in November 2020 after perceiving actions he viewed as insufficiently loyal to the president.
Krebs had played a key role in protecting the 2020 election from hacking and misinformation, consistently debunking baseless claims of widespread electoral fraud made by Trump and his allies, typically avoiding direct reference to the president.
A “rumor control” website managed by CISA during the 2020 election, which addressed conspiracy theories about stolen votes and votes allegedly cast by deceased individuals, reportedly caused significant displeasure within the White House.
The order makes further claims that Krebs, through CISA, purportedly suppressed conservative viewpoints under the characterization of “combatting misinformation.”
It also alleges that he recruited social media platforms to advance what the White House characterizes as a “partisan agenda.”
Moreover, it claims Krebs promoted censorship of election information and incorrectly dismissed concerns about election integrity and voting machine vulnerabilities.
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, addressed the order as a “gross misuse of power.”
“The EO served no purpose other than to settle old political scores and distract the public from his assault on the economy, which has been an unmitigated disaster,” Thompson stated.
“The economy is hanging on by a thread – jobs and retirements accounts are hanging in the balance. Instead of taking responsibility for his failed policies and correcting course, he is resurrecting a five-year-old lie in hopes that Americans won’t notice they’re going broke and paying more at the grocery store.”
SentinelOne responded to the situation, stating it would actively cooperate in any review of security clearances, which are held by “currently less than 10 employees.”
“We are a cybersecurity company – our mission is to defend customers, enterprises, and governments against cyber threats by leveraging the most advanced artificial intelligence,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
“We view the White House as a crucial collaborator on that mission, and we will continue to support a strong America at a time of heightened geopolitical threats. Our team’s focus remains on being a force for good in this industry and the world.”
The spokesperson emphasized that they will continue to nurture their partnerships in the U.S. government, military, and intelligence community, collaborating in their shared mission to defend U.S. critical infrastructure in cyberspace as they always have.
Founded in 2013, SentinelOne describes itself as the “world’s most advanced, autonomous AI-powered cybersecurity platform.”
The company has established a significant presence in the federal marketplace.
Last July, it announced a partnership with CISA for the agency’s Continuous Diagnostics and Monitoring (CDM) program.
In September, it publicized that its Singularity Platform and Singularity Data Lake products earned FedRAMP high status, a designation signaling the company met stringent security requirements necessary to store, process, and transmit sensitive government data.
Trump also suspended the security clearance of former DHS staffer Miles Taylor, who authored a New York Times’ op-ed and book under the pen name “Anonymous,” criticizing the president during his first term.
Another order suspended security clearances held by individuals at Susman Godfrey, a law firm that represented Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
Lawyers for Susman Godfrey reached a $787.5 million settlement after Fox News and its commentators repeatedly stated that Dominion’s voting machines were central to a conspiracy in the 2020 election to steal votes from President Donald Trump and swing them to his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The order came under strong condemnation from several former DHS officials and election security experts in comments to CyberScoop.
“This is yet another outrageous abuse of power for reasons having nothing to do with national security and everything to do with retribution and intimidation,” said Suzanne Spaulding, a former DHS official.
“Revoking Chris’ clearance for telling the truth to the American public is bad enough, but suspending clearances for ‘any active security clearance held by individuals at entities associated with Krebs’ has no basis.”
David Levine, an election integrity consultant and senior fellow at the University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, stated that the order is “at odds with the fundamental principles of a healthy democracy.”
“Rather than acknowledging the legitimacy of the 2020 election and thanking the folks who played a part in its success, including Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor, the President appears more determined than ever to punish those who stood up to his false claims of election fraud, truth be damned.”
“In a just and open democracy, a party must not place its political interests ahead of the interests of conducting free and fair elections. To do otherwise is to embrace authoritarian politics and reject core democratic principles like the rule of law.”
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