The security clearance of Jack Posobiec, a right-wing activist and Navy intelligence officer, is under review, a Navy official told CNN.
Posobiec is a Navy reservist and intelligence officer who has trafficked in debunked conspiracy theories and was retweeted by President Donald Trump this week.
A Navy official told CNN on Wednesday that Posobiec’s security clearance is now being reviewed by his command, which considering whether his statements and behavior are in violation of the conditions of his clearance.
Posobiec is one of many bombastic right-wing voices who have picked up steam online, posting nearly constantly to Twitter and earning the praise of Trump’s supporters as well as attention from the President himself.
On Monday, Trump retweeted a post from Posobiec decrying the lack of “national media outrage” over shootings in Chicago during the weekend that Charlottesville, Virginia, became a national flashpoint.
Reached by CNN Wednesday, Posobiec said: “I have never posted or discussed classified information outside of a SCIF. I’m proud of my years of service to our country.”
He added: “I have always fully repudiated the KKK and white nationalists and their vile ideology of hatred and bigotry.”
NBC was first to report on Posobiec’s security clearance review.
Posobiec responded to NBC’s report on Twitter, writing, “‘I’ve always been honest and open about my military service and am proud to have worn the uniform. Why did no one from NBC simply ask me?”
“Outrageous that fake news media’s first reaction was to attack my service record with the US military. Shameful!” he tweeted later.
Posobiec’s military record showed he enlisted in the US Navy in 2010. His latest rank was junior-grade lieutenant, and as of April 2017, he was a Navy reservist who worked in Strategic Command Intelligence. His record said he served in Guantanamo Bay for nearly a year.
