Four Commerce Dept. officials lose jobs over background check issues: report 

Four political appointees at the Commerce Department lost their jobs on Tuesday because of problems in their background checks, The Washington Post reported.

The four appointees, who were working with temporary security clearances, are the latest administration officials to encounter issues amid increasing scrutiny of those trying to obtain permanent clearances.

One of the appointees, Fred Volcansek, served as a senior adviser to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for several months and was an advance staffer organizing events for Trump’s campaign. He told the Post that agency officials would not tell him why he was being let go.

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“What’s interesting is that my investigation went on for 13 months,” he told the newspaper. “If they found something … why didn’t they bring it up before?”

The three other appointees left their posts at the Commerce Department after they were denied permanent security clearances, the Post reported.

One of the appointees told the Post that he had been planning to leave for a few weeks and resigned on Tuesday.

Public scrutiny of staffers’ security clearances has ticked up in recent weeks after it was reported that former White House staff secretary Rob Porter had issues obtaining his clearance due to allegations of past domestic abuse from his two ex-wives.

Porter resigned shortly after the allegations were made public earlier this month.

News also emerged Tuesday that President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner had his security clearance downgraded last week because of complications with his background check.

Kushner was among dozens of Trump administration staffers who still lacked full security clearances.