Alex Wellerstein on Twitter: "(I am basically sympathetic with Henry Smyth's argument for keeping his clearance: Oppenheimer did a lot of dumb and questionable stuff but nothing truly disloyal or disqualifying, and revoking it would cause more trouble than not.)… https://t.co/hUhqZWlGYO"

@wellerstein

Historian of science, secrecy, and nuclear weapons. Professor of STS at @FollowStevens. UC Berkeley alum with a Harvard PhD. NUKEMAP creator. Coder and web dev.

Hoboken, NJ / NYC

Joined September 2011

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Audra J. Wolfe‏Verified account @ColdWarScience 18 Aug 2018

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Audra J. Wolfe Retweeted Alex Wellerstein

Guilty. I nevertheless think the parallels are worth exploring. Senior governmental advisors aren't used to having clearances rescinded as political punishment, and Oppenheimer's still the best example of that. History doesn't rhyme but repeats, etc. etc.https://twitter.com/wellerstein/status/1030854372157272064 …

Audra J. Wolfe added,

Alex WellersteinVerified account @wellerstein

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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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 18 Aug 2018

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I guess I just don't think that Oppenheimer's case informs us on Brennan or the other way around. They strike me as VERY different in nearly every aspect. The similarities strike me as very superficial.

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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 18 Aug 2018

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Oppenheimer's security issues weren't about high level politics or him criticizing officials or administrations. He was still an "insider" (though already transitioning to an "outsider") when he got his clearance removed. His politics was more about in-fighting more than public.

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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 18 Aug 2018

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And unlike Brennan there WERE significant (if exaggerated) security issues involved in Oppenheimer's case. It wasn't just Teller not liking his judgment, which was probably the weakest part of the AEC case against Oppenheimer anyway.

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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 18 Aug 2018

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Oppenheimer admitted in sworn testimony to lying to security officers, to having an affair with a known Communist while he was director of Los Alamos, and to appointing people he knew were Communists to key positions at the lab.

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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 18 Aug 2018

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I'm not saying he deserved the hearing, which was indeed a farce (punctuated by illegal things like Strauss and the FBI wiretapping his confidential conversations with his lawyer), but it's more than "they didn't like his political opinions." The guy did some legit sketchy stuff!

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Audra J. Wolfe‏Verified account @ColdWarScience 18 Aug 2018

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Yes...but those in charge had known about this for quite some time. The timing of enforcement matters.

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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 18 Aug 2018

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Oh, of course. I'm *not* saying it wasn't a farce. I'm just saying that as far as farces go, once you go down the hearing road, Oppenheimer was not going to come up smelling like roses.

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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 18 Aug 2018

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(I am basically sympathetic with Henry Smyth's argument for keeping his clearance: Oppenheimer did a lot of dumb and questionable stuff but nothing truly disloyal or disqualifying, and revoking it would cause more trouble than not.)

11:54 AM - 18 Aug 2018

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1. Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 18 Aug 2018
  
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  (The fact that Oppenheimer's clearance was about to expire within days anyway makes it even further farcical. In the long-run I think Strauss would have been better served by not denying it — all the dirty laundry would be aired, but no martyr-complex.)
  
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