A person needs four things to access classified info: clearance, non-disclosure agreement (NDA), oath to protect classified, and need to know. Clearance is a government determination that a person can be trusted, usually after a background investigation. Cleared people are asked to sign a NDA and to swear an oath to protect classified. Anyone holding the info can determine that a cleared person has need to know. The special master in this case has previously held a clearance (and may now), so he is trusted, has signed the NDA, and sworn the oath that we all had to start swearing around 2005. To serve in this case, he obviously has need to know the evidence. There is no harm to the government in having the special master see every document. The government's contentions are absurd.
As I note in the article, from what I've read, Article III judges are not required to have security clearances, probably due to Constitutional separation of powers reasons. For the same reason, the laws and regulations governing the control of classified information do not apply to the President, who is both the embodiment of the Executive Branch, and as Commander-In-Chief, the ultimate classification authority.
A person needs four things to access classified info: clearance, non-disclosure agreement (NDA), oath to protect classified, and need to know. Clearance is a government determination that a person can be trusted, usually after a background investigation. Cleared people are asked to sign a NDA and to swear an oath to protect classified. Anyone holding the info can determine that a cleared person has need to know. The special master in this case has previously held a clearance (and may now), so he is trusted, has signed the NDA, and sworn the oath that we all had to start swearing around 2005. To serve in this case, he obviously has need to know the evidence. There is no harm to the government in having the special master see every document. The government's contentions are absurd.
As I note in the article, from what I've read, Article III judges are not required to have security clearances, probably due to Constitutional separation of powers reasons. For the same reason, the laws and regulations governing the control of classified information do not apply to the President, who is both the embodiment of the Executive Branch, and as Commander-In-Chief, the ultimate classification authority.