EXCLUSIVE — A watchdog group is urging acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to review and potentially revoke the security clearances of former members of special counsel Jack Smith’s team over alleged lapses in handling classified information.The Center to Advance Security in America, or CASA, made the request in a letter sent Tuesday to Pulte that cited internal Justice Department messages released this month by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the Senate judiciary committee chairman. The group, led by attorney James Fitzpatrick, argued the messages showed potential violations of protocols governing access to classified information and a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, used by Smith’s office during its prosecution of President Donald Trump.CASA named former Smith prosecutors Molly Gaston, Thomas Windom, Carli Rodriguez-Feo, Julie Edelstein, William O’Neil, and Stephanie Van Buskirk, while asking Pulte to investigate others who may have been involved.
“Deliberate or negligent failure to comply with rules and regulations for protecting classified or other sensitive information raises doubt about an individual’s trustworthiness, judgment, reliability, or willingness and ability to safeguard such information,” according to the group’s letter, shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner, which was signed by Fitzpatrick and cited the federal government’s security-clearance guidelines. Fitzpatrick previously served as counsel to the Republican National Committee and worked in the first Trump administration, though CASA is a self-described nonpartisan organization.Two of the former prosecutors have separately drawn congressional scrutiny over the broader Arctic Frost investigation that led to Trump’s federal prosecutions by Smith. House judiciary committee Republicans said Gaston was involved in subpoenaing phone records for several members of Congress, while Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) referred Windom to the DOJ last year for possible prosecution, alleging she improperly refused to answer questions about the investigation.More recently, Grassley’s records described one instance in which an individual was allegedly given access to classified material without confirmation of a required “need to know.” Other messages reflected uncertainty over the movement of sensitive material and an April 2024 incident in which a SCIF accessible to Smith’s office was apparently left unsecured overnight.The released correspondence did not conclude that classified information was compromised or accuse the named employees of criminal wrongdoing. But Grassley has asked the DOJ to determine whether the incidents were investigated, whether material was compromised, and whether any evidence used in Smith’s Mar-a-Lago prosecution of Trump was affected by Wednesday, according to a previously issued letter.CASA said the disclosures warranted a clearance-eligibility review under Guideline K of the federal adjudicative standards, which addresses improper handling, disclosure, or safeguarding of protected information.A page from the federal government’s Security Executive Agent Directive 4 outlines security concerns involving the negligent handling of classified or protected information.
