Team Trump Has A Suitability Problem
And he is scapegoating the FBI so he can circumvent background checks that will show just how unsuitable they are
The Nixon Administration: Abuse and Intrigue
It was the late 1960s and early 1970s, so let’s just assume the bowels of the White House were also smoke-filled. Between the plumes and the polyester one could glimpse naked political ambition and paranoia. Sounds like a bad movie script, but that is true of Nixon’s entire political career.
Richard Nixon, the man with the audacity to believe he could be an important president, sits at the helm, barking orders at the FBI. Investigate this. Ignore that. Build me a file on what’s his name. Bury thus and so. Turns out, Nixon would realize his dream of being important. Just not in the way he dreamed.
by Rick Geary
Nixon took office in a time when the country was reeling. The civil rights movement was igniting passions, the Vietnam War was fracturing the nation, and protests echoed from college campuses to the steps of the Capitol. Nixon, paranoid, calculating, and fairly medicated, saw the FBI as more than just a law enforcement agency. He saw it as his. His to use as he saw fit be it to safeguard his power or to gut his adversaries.
“If you want to win, you’ve got to know your enemy."
Richard Nixon
Americans have always viewed the FBI as somehow operating on the edge, but under Nixon, the FBI became a political instrument. Gone were the days when the Bureau solely focused on crime and corruption; now “the Feds” roamed the hallways of power, collecting dirt on politicians, activists, and every dissenting voice that dared to challenge Nixon’s regime. One of Nixon’s key allies, Attorney General John Mitchell, was the architect of the … shall we say … redirection.
As noted by historian Tim Weiner in his book “Enemies: A History of the FBI,” Mitchell oversaw an unprecedented expansion of the Bureau’s reach into political matters. Ultimately, Mitchell would use the FBI to kidnap his wife, Martha, and orchestrate a whole slew of botched crimes that would land him in prison.
Nixon’s paranoia, famously documented in his secret tapes, led him to believe that everyone was out to get him. The CIA, the media, even members of his own party were seen as threats that must be subdued. This suspicion culminated in the establishment of the infamous “White House Plumbers,” a covert group tasked with preventing or responding to the leaking of classified information. It’s a vivid reminder of how Nixon’s administration blurred the lines between legal oversight and outright surveillance.
One of the most notable examples of the FBI’s misuse under Nixon came through the targeting of political adversaries. The administration used the FBI to conduct extensive background checks on individuals associated with the anti-war movement and civil rights organizations. Does treating Americans as subversives rather than citizens exercising their constitutional rights ring any modern bells?
The Bureau was pressured to produce files on individuals such as Daniel Ellsberg, the man behind the Pentagon Papers, and on high ranking elected officials like Democratic nominee for President, Senator George McGovern. This was surveillance masquerading as security was merely an attempt to discredit those who dared to challenge the Nixon narrative.
Kent State Abuses
The Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970, served as a wake-up call. Students protesting the Vietnam War were met with lethal force, igniting a national outcry and further splintering an already fractured nation. Rather than address legitimate grievances, Nixon opted for silence and subterfuge. His administration directed the FBI to dig deeper into the lives of student activists and protestors. Soon, reports started circling that people were being closely monitored and their movements tracked by a government that labeled them as enemy combatants in a war for social justice.
FBI agents were dispatched to college campuses across the nation, often without legal justification, snooping into students’ activities. As historian Richard A. Fried notes in “Nixon’s War at Home,” this surveillance had little focus on actual criminal activity; instead, it targeted the very heartbeat of dissent. The irony? Nixon’s efforts to stifle opposition inadvertently fueled the very fire he feared, galvanizing a generation of activists into action. The careful orchestration of political espionage only heightened the divisions within America.
As the years rolled on, the consequences of Nixon’s misuse of the FBI began to unfold in unmistakable clarity. The Watergate scandal, at its core, was an intricate web of espionage, political sabotage, and audacious cover-ups—largely facilitated by the very Bureau that Nixon had molded into his personal watchdog. The hushed rumors behind closed doors soon erupted into a national crisis when the truth could no longer be hidden beneath layers of deceit.
As the investigations unfolded, the public’s trust in government began to erode—an erosion that has yet to fully recover. The Senate Watergate Committee uncovered evidence that Nixon had used the FBI to intimidate political opponents and even his own staff. Public figures like Senator Sam Ervin, who led the committee, became champions of accountability during a time of rampant distrust.
Suitability Review
As America lurches toward January 2025, Donald Trump has announced that he will forego the customary background review for a large swath of his new team. Why? Well, he’s pointing to a politicization of the FBI that has caused him to mistrust the Bureau as a whole and specifically the “anti-Trumpers” who work there.
In reality, to whatever extent Bureau employees are partisan, it slants far right just like most law enforcement organizations. So, what is Trump trying to help his appointees avoid?
“The suitability review is an evaluation of a person’s character traits and conduct to decide whether that individual is likely to act with integrity and efficiency in their job.” That’s gonna be a problem for some of Team Trump.
Drugs, Money and Buddies
If the job requires a security clearance, the government is going to want to know the applicant is likely to reveal classified information to a foreign government. To assess that, “the security clearance is more extensive and investigates … which typically includes former employers, coworkers, friends, neighbors, landlords, and schools along with a review of credit, tax, and police records.” That’s gonna be a problem for some of Team Trump.
“Various reasons exist why someone may be denied a security clearance. Some of the most important factors in an investigation are the individual’s honesty, candor, and thoroughness in the completion of their security forms. There are 13 adjudicative guidelines that have been established for making these individual assessments under 5 CFR 731.202 (b). The guidelines include allegiance to the United States, foreign influence, foreign preference, sexual behavior, personal conduct, financial considerations, alcohol consumption, drug involvement, psychological conditions, criminal conduct, security violations, outside activities, and misuse of information technology systems.” Yah, for some of Team Trump this is going to be too high a hurdle to clear.
“The most common suitability issues that arise during the review process are past unlawful use of drugs and failure to comply with financial obligations.” The Feds particularly don’t like it when folks use cocaine. Need I say more?
Oh, There Are Citizenship & Residency Requirements
Sensitive positions in the federal government “almost always require that the applicant be a U.S. citizen or an individual who owes permanent allegiance to the Unites States.” Dual citizenship is “reviewed on a case-by-case basis, considering such issues as whether you possess a foreign passport, military service for a foreign country, or residence in a foreign country to meet citizenship requirements.” Additionally, “dual citizens are often required to relinquish their foreign passport and/or renounce their foreign citizenship.” Finally, “applicants who have been outside the country for more than two (cumulatively) of the last five years will be barred from most federal positions, including summer internships.”
The Suitability of Team Trump Is Trump’s Problem
As a result of his own behavior, Trump can’t find enough people who fit the requirements of a suitability review and/or a background check. Instead of taking ownership of that, instead of finding suitable appointees, Trump has decided to ratchet up the “deep state” mistrust among his followers.
And we will all pay the price for his choices.
Eventually.
One way or another.