Some miscellaneous historical thoughts on comparing the Oppenheimer affair to the Brennan affair, as someone who just finished writing half a chapter about the Oppenheimer affair for his (forthcoming!!) book on the history of nuclear secrecy in the USA:
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4. Under AEC regulations, Oppenheimer was given opportunity to have a hearing on his clearance suspension. That worked out poorly for him, in the end, resulting not only in the upholding of its suspension, but the airing of a lot of dirty laundry (affairs, bad judgment, etc.)...
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...I don't know (but would love to know) whether Brennan and the potential "others" have the ability to contest? I suspect not. But I am not up to date on the regs for this. If not, then that's another key difference between the two.
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5. Lastly, it is clear that Trump is doing this to Brennan because he wants to silence his critics. Purely political. The Oppenheimer affair was more complicated, a mix of the political and the personal, and again, only reluctantly participated in by Eisenhower.
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I only write these things because I've seen some historians assert historical parallels. I think it's kind of a weak comparison, in the sense that the Oppenheimer affair was pretty complex, and the Brennan affair seems to be "merely" a form of ugly politics.
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The Oppenheimer affair, for all of its injustice, was not merely an attempt to silence a critic, or cut him off from potential income. The Brennan affair looks *only* like that, at least from my vantage point. FIN.
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