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Story time:
1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump signed a directive removing security clearances held by former Penn lecturer Miles Taylor and all University affiliates on Wednesday. The April 9 presidential memo directed federal agency leaders to “suspend any active security clearances held by Miles Taylor” and accused him of “possibly violating the Espionage Act.” The memo further instructed agency heads to suspend “any active security clearances … held by individuals at entities associated with Taylor, including the University of Pennsylvania.”* * *
“Every security clearance held by someone at the University of Pennsylvania has now apparently been suspended because the current occupant of the Oval Office is angry at a public critic named Miles Taylor,” University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor Tobias Wolff wrote in an Instagram Threads post.Taylor formerly served as the chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. During that time, he anonymously published a whistleblower opinion piece in The New York Times alleging presidential misconduct from inside the first Trump administration. In 2019, Taylor published a book — using the same alias of “Anonymous” — titled “A Warning” that expanded upon his initial article, which the White House characterized as “full of falsehoods and fabricated stories.”
Betrayal--personal or social--are among (yes the plural is used deliberately here) the thorniest of the instruments in the weapons cabinet of officials. It can be used enveloped in righteousness, or meanness, or just money. Those are all post fact judgments best made by those who judge these things. For the betrayer and the betrayed the intensity is too strong for rational judgment, certainly at the time. President Trump is no stranger to Betrayal--both by act and in text ( Ruminations 91: Very Brief Reflections on John Bolton's "Secret History" of Mr. Trump, and the Art of Political Burlesque). In that reflection on Mr. Bolton's opus, I noted its long history and the template from which it perhaps drew its form and logic:
So begins the now well-known "Secret History" (Anecdota; Greek: Ἀπόκρυφη Ἱστορία, Apókryphe Historía; Latin: Historia Arcana) of Procopius of Caesaria (Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς; born 500- died c. 565)). It was a work known for a time when it was written and then lost until republication int he 17th century. Like others of its kind, it is the work of a disgruntled academic turned functionary, who having spent a lifetime getting into the good graces of the powerful in order to excise (or at least witness) power from the position of a servant, a trained tool of the imperial machinery, produced a scathing criticism--personal and professional--of his former masters after he was cast out by the ungrateful patrons he thought he had served so well. The imperial personages who for many years were portrayed so positively, now descend into caricature. Their political depravity mirrored (as is common in Western literary tropes of this sort) by their sexual depravity and mental incapacity (on modern versions of this form of conflation for political ends, see, Emasculated Men, Effeminate Law in the United States, Zimbabwe and Malaysia (2005) Yale Journal of Law and Feminism)
Following that path so nicely paved by Mr. Bolton, it appears that Mr. Taylor also had a tale to tell about the President, especially for those predisposed to consume such offerings. But Mr. Trump has a long memory, and a refined taste for revenge, especially when served cold. He now also apparently has a longer reach.
"The root of the problem is the president's amorality," Taylor said, accusing the president of making "half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions." * * * White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf accused Taylor during an Oval Office signing ceremony on Wednesday of leaking classified information while at DHS and making "outrageous claims both about (the Trump) administration and about others in it." The presidential memorandum signed by Trump targeting Taylor is "going to order the Department of Justice to investigate his activities to see what else might come up in that context," Scharf said. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, accused Taylor of saying "all sorts of lies, bad things." "I think it's like a traitor, it's like spying," he said. "We're going to find out whether or not somebody is allowed to do that. "I think it's a very important case and I think he's guilty of treason if you want to know the truth," Trump said. "But we'll find out." Taylor, for his part, reacted to the news on X, writing: "Dissent isn't unlawful. It certainly isn't treasonous. America is headed down a dark path." (here)
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Both President Trump's memory and his exquisite taste for pay back were very much more in evidence in the Presidential Memorandum of 9 April 2025: "Addressing Risks Associated with an Egregious Leaker and Disseminator of Falsehoods" the text of which appears below. The rest is opera; no, perhaps better musical comedy--it is far too early to tell. Now one must consider the casting of the roles; and the right casting is not half as obvious as it might seem to partisans. But then that is what makes betrayal such an essential element of the human condition in the post-modern, and especially as a marker of significant transitional moments. This small act, then, is merely a small view into a much larger arena in which one might be excused for thinking (if only for a moment) that betrayals (broadly understood) are playing out simultaneously, individually, and structurally across the full scope of human collectivity. Whether it will amount to high drama or low comedy remains to be seen.
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MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
Miles
Taylor was entrusted with the solemn responsibility of Federal service,
but instead prioritized his own ambition, personal notoriety, and
monetary gain over fidelity to his constitutional oath. While serving
as an administrative staff assistant at the Department of Homeland
Security, Taylor stoked dissension by manufacturing sensationalist
reports on the existence of a supposed “resistance” within the Federal
Government that “vowed” to undermine and render ineffective a sitting
President. He illegally published classified conversations to sell his
book under the pseudonym “Anonymous,” which is full of falsehoods and
fabricated stories. In so doing, Taylor abandoned his sacred oath and
commitment to public service by disclosing sensitive information
obtained through unauthorized methods and betrayed the confidence of
those with whom he served. Where a Government employee improperly
discloses sensitive information for the purposes of personal enrichment
and undermining our foreign policy, national security, and Government
effectiveness –- all ultimately designed to sow chaos and distrust in
Government — this conduct could properly be characterized as treasonous
and as possibly violating the Espionage Act, and therefore makes such
employee ineligible for access to national secrets.
In his
former position, Taylor relied upon various colleagues to facilitate his
unethical laundering and release of sensitive Government data to
advance his false narratives. It is therefore against America’s
interests to allow those associated with Taylor to access our Nation’s
secrets.
Accordingly, I direct the Attorney General, the
Director of National Intelligence, and all other relevant executive
department and agency (agency) heads to immediately take all action as
necessary and consistent with existing law to suspend any active
security clearances held by Miles Taylor, in addition to individuals at
entities associated with Taylor, including the University of
Pennsylvania, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent
with the national interest.
I further direct the Secretary of
Homeland Security, in consultation with any other relevant agency heads,
to take all appropriate action to review Miles Taylor’s activities as a
Government employee. This review should identify any instances where
his conduct appears to have been contrary to suitability standards for
Federal employees, and where his conduct appears to have involved the
unauthorized dissemination of classified information. Upon completing
this review, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall prepare a report
to be submitted to the President, through the Counsel to the President,
with recommendations for appropriate remedial or preventative actions to
be taken to protect America’s interests.
This memorandum is not
intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the
United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers,
employees, or agents, or any other person.
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