Susan M. Gordon

Things that get baked into the National Defense Authorization Act or the Intelligence Authorization Act, those help to, like, create some nuance and priorities, and they can also create accountability around, you know, how we move things in the clearance process, where we saw that in the last National Defense Authorization Act.

I know Sue Gordon, some folks have been trying to push a clearance-ready reserve for years.

Have not been able to get it done, but we at least got Congress to say, "Hey, we want to study," right? 'Cause they can't say, "Hey, you have to do it now." We want to study on increasing the eligibility window to five years, specifically for veterans.

'Cause to say, as you know, you worked in the private sector, that market elasticity of saying like, "Hey, if I wanna work on the Hill for a few years and get my GI Bill or do something else," why does the government have to pay another $5,000 to $6,000 and do a-- renew a TS investigation when we could pay 100 bucks a year and keep people under continuous vetting, right? Or just do some other things like that.

Quote, "The anonymous source behind one of the stories the White House cited to justify banning Politico was none other than Vice President JD Vance." A White House spokesperson declined to comment to Status.

But that's where we start the hour, with former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, our dear friend, the warrior, Sue Gordon.

Thank you for being here, my friend.

[laughs]

So this idea that somehow the US press and its access was national security, we have just created a fundamentally different national security problem by allowing the reporting to be by our adversary or competitor, a- and who we know has an agenda that is anti-US.

I-

I, I mean, the, the moment that it brings to mind is when he was alone with Putin in Helsinki, and he walks out and says, "No, I believe him, not, not Sue Gordon and my US intelligence agencies."

Yeah.