(PatrioticPost.com)- Some former federal officials are questioning how former Energy Department official Sam Brinton managed to receive high-level security clearance given his sketchy past.
Brinton, who claims to be “genderfluid,” was hired by the Department of Energy last year as the deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition at the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
Initially suspended after being charged with felony theft for stealing a designer suitcase from a Minneapolis airport, Brinton was fired last week after being charged with grand larceny for stealing luggage at a Las Vegas airport.
But given the inconsistencies in Brinton’s origin story that were highlighted in a recent report from LGBTQ Nation, one former official who spoke with the Daily Caller suggested that the Energy Department sidestepped due diligence in conducting a background check over concerns of public accusations against a “genderfluid” potential employee.
The official, who worked in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Justice Department, told the Daily Caller that Brinton’s position at the DOE required comprehensive knowledge of the country’s nuclear secrets and extra vetting, known as a Q clearance which takes months to obtain.
The Q clearance is designated as critical sensitive, holding similar access authorization as Top Secret security clearances given by other federal agencies. Those with Q authorization are subject to reinvestigations every five years that are more rigorous than a typical security clearance.
A former White House personnel official under four presidential administrations told the Daily Caller that Brinton’s admitted past traumas would also have to be factored into the hiring process.
In a 2018 op-ed at the New York Times, Brinton disclosed a traumatic upbringing that, according to the official, would have been flagged by any prior administration’s White House Research Team which would determine Brinton unfit for political appointment.
But Brinton’s security clearance process was not conducted by the Biden administration, instead, since he was a non-presidential appointment, the Energy Department conducted his security clearance checks.
