To the editor:

Security clearances are required for our military and federal civilians in office to provide their access, as part of their jobs, to see/handle classified information. However, there must be a need to know for such access. When a person retires or leaves his or her job, there is no longer a need to know, and therefore no right to retain the security clearance.

This is the point the fake news ignores regarding the recent Brennan action by the president. But in Brennan’s case, he should be in jail for lying to Congress under oath. That is a felony!

I served in the Navy 31 years, primarily as a naval aviator, which included piloting the P-3 aircraft to track the many Soviet submarines that were staged from Europe to Key West, Fla., during the Cold War. This involved intelligence gathering to specifically identify each sub as to its location, depth, speed and missile capability. I had a secret clearance. But that expired when I retired. I no longer had a need to know.

That rule should automatically apply to any ex-employee of the federal government. If in the future their services are requested by the government regarding classified information, they can be given a temporary limited clearance.

Those that have already been proven to be part of the gross corruption in the FBI, DOJ and CIA should also lose their security clearances, and likely will by the president. Simply because as ex-federal employees they no longer have a need to know classified information. What could be considered unreasonable about that?

Ron Pyle

Suffolk