Trump administration grants Mamdani security clearance 9 months into his term
Por Chris Sommerfeldt — POLITICO – TOP Stories
NEW YORK — After a monthslong wait, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has finally received a federal security clearance, allowing him to participate in classified briefings about security threats and other emergencies impacting New York City.
“I have my security clearance now,” Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated press conference Wednesday in Brooklyn.
A spokesperson for Mamdani would not immediately clarify when exactly President Donald Trump’s administration provided the mayor with the clearance. The thumbs-up comes just days after Mamdani had a chummy meeting with Trump — who has been accused of politicizing the federal government’s security clearance process — though there’s no indication that sit-down was a factor in the mayor finally being approved.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on what, if anything, caused the holdup for Mamdani, instead referring questions to the FBI, which handles background checks for security clearances. The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment.
The issue was highlighted earlier this month by Gothamist, a local news outlet that reported that Mamdani’s wait for a clearance was unusually long for a New York City mayor, given that he initiated his application shortly after taking office in January.
However, the nine-month wait for Mamdani comes amid a broader trend of lengthy delays in the issuance of federal security clearances.
According to data from the Government Accountability Office, federal agencies were taking an average of 206 days, or just shy of seven months, to authorize 90% of security clearances in the second half of fiscal 2025. That’s 92 days longer than the government’s goal of processing clearances in 114 days.
In terms of what the clearance authorization means for Mamdani, he can now participate in classified federal briefings, including ones held by the FBI, regarding security threats. Up until now, he has been unable to take part in those meetings, though top members of his administration, including his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, have had that ability, given they already held clearances.
The long wait for Mamdani also came at a time that Trump used the security clearance process to exact political retribution. Last year, his administration revoked clearances for dozens of current and former government officials involved in investigations that Trump has labeled “witch hunts,” including the FBI probe into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia.
Though they’ve since developed an almost shockingly cordial relationship, Mamdani and Trump were harsh critics of each other as recently as last year, when the mayor routinely called the president a “despot” and a “fascist.”
Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories
