Trump signs order stripping Chris Krebs of security clearance

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Wednesday revoking the security clearance of former CISA leader Chris Krebs, with the White House saying 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, and called 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 what he viewed as actions not sufficiently 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 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,” while allegedly recruiting social media platforms to advance what the White House calls a “partisan agenda.” It also claims Krebs promoted censorship of election information and incorrectly dismissed concerns about election integrity and voting machine vulnerabilities. 

Both Krebs and SentinelOne did not respond to CyberScoop’s request for comment. 

Founded in 2013, SentinelOne bills itself as the “world’s most advanced, autonomous AI-powered cybersecurity platform.” The company has 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 announced that its Singularity Platform and Singularity Data Lake products earned FedRAMP high status, a designation that indicates the company met stringent security requirements necessary to store, process, and transmit sensitive government data.