Tricia Newbold, a White House security specialist turned whistleblower, spoke out in her first televised interview since coming forward to raise major concerns over the Trump administration’s allegedly lax handling of security clearances. “The protection of national security is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue; it’s an American issue, and we as security professionals owe it to make all our recommendations in the best interest of national security,” she said to NBC’s Peter Alexander in an interview that aired Tuesday. On Monday, the House oversight committee revealed that Newbold had approached Congress to warn that she and her colleagues had recommended denials of 25 applications for clearances only to have their decisions overturned. to Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel to President Donald Trump, Newbold said the applications “were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security.”Now Newbold says she’s afraid of losing her job, having worked in the White House for 18 years. “I am always concerned, but it’s important that we stand up to do the right thing no matter what,” she told Alexander.

Source: Huffington Post April 03, 2019 01:52 UTC