White House refuses security clearance for Ashkan Soltani

Last month White House CTO Megan Smith announced that Ashkan Soltani would be joining her staff as a senior advisor, after leaving his post as the FTC’s chief technologist. Today, Soltani revealed he will not be able to take the job, after being informed by the Office of Personnel Security that he is not receiving the necessary security clearance. There’s no explanation as to why that is, but as The Guardian mentions and many are speculating, it could be a result of Soltani’s participation in Pulitzer-winning reporting for the Washington Post covering the Edward Snowden revelations. We’ve contacted the White House and the Office of Science and Technology Policy but have not received any response.

Bittersweet end to my stint in government — I’m disappointed to announce my departure from @whitehouseostp pic.twitter.com/nYlBI1b2ur

— ashkan soltani (@ashk4n) January 29, 2016

Also, anyone know if @whoismrrobot or @SHO_Homeland need any subject matter experts? Would love to do something fun for a bit.

— ashkan soltani (@ashk4n) January 30, 2016

Excited to welcome our extraordinary colleague @Ashk4n to @whitehouseOSTP! #TechiesInGov #Data #Privacy #Innovation pic.twitter.com/iPiD9XM89r

— Megan Smith (@USCTO) December 16, 2015

Ashkan’s WaPo Snowden stories forced Yahoo to turn on HTTPS & revealed spying on Google data center links. I suspect NSA hasnt forgiven him.

— Christopher Soghoian (@csoghoian) January 30, 2016

Source: Ashkan Soltani (Twitter)