Published: · Region: Global · Category: intelligence

U.S. Strips Former Air Force Secretary’s Access Over Air Force One Leak, Raising Oversight and Secrecy Tensions

The Pentagon revoked former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s classified access, accusing him of leaking sensitive details about security flaws in the new Air Force One jet partly funded by Qatar. Kendall denies disclosing classified information and says he has not been told what he allegedly revealed, exposing a rare public clash between a top defense insider and the system that guards presidential aircraft secrets.

The Pentagon has taken the unusually public step of revoking classified access from former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, accusing him of leaking sensitive information about security shortcomings on the next-generation Air Force One. The move pits a senior former official with deep experience in acquisition and classified programs against the institution tasked with policing the flow of secrets around one of the most symbolically and operationally important aircraft in the U.S. arsenal. According to accounts emerging on 8 August, defense authorities concluded that Kendall disclosed information about vulnerabilities tied to the new presidential aircraft, a heavily customized jet partly underwritten as a gift by Qatar during the Trump administration.…

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