Effective immediately, the Department of War has REVOKED former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall’s eligibility for access to classified information and his ability to hold any sensitive position.
This action follows his unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding Air Force One’s capabilities to a media outlet.
Safeguarding classified information is a non-negotiable duty. Those who violate that trust forfeit the privilege of access and any role requiring it.
The extraordinary move comes amid scrutiny surrounding sensitive information that reached The New York Times about the aircraft being prepared for President Donald Trump following Qatar’s gift of a luxury Boeing 747.
According to the Pentagon, Kendall was responsible for an unauthorized disclosure of classified material concerning Air Force One.
The controversy intensified following Trump’s recent trip to Turkey for the NATO summit.
Trump initially announced that the Air Force One aircraft he used to travel to Ankara would subsequently visit a U.S. military installation in the United Kingdom.
But when the president left Turkey, he departed aboard a different presidential aircraft.
The switch quickly fueled questions about whether security issues had affected the decision.
Reports later emerged claiming that the newer aircraft did not possess some of the sophisticated defensive capabilities found aboard the presidential fleet’s existing planes.
Those details were considered sensitive enough that federal investigators reportedly took action to determine how the information reached reporters.
Federal agents subsequently served subpoenas involving four New York Times journalists after the newspaper published information about alleged security deficiencies aboard the aircraft.
The newspaper’s reporting relied on people familiar with sensitive national security matters who claimed the new plane lacked certain advanced defensive systems installed on other presidential aircraft.
The Pentagon’s Friday announcement now puts Kendall directly at the center of the leak controversy.
Kendall was hardly a peripheral figure inside the Biden administration.
He served as the 26th Secretary of the Air Force and oversaw both the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.
According to his official Air Force biography:
Frank Kendall was the 26th Secretary of the Air Force, responsible for organizing, training, and equipping the U.S. Air and Space Forces. In this capacity, he directed the Department of the Air Force’s annual budget exceeding $173 billion, provided Air and Space forces to Combatant Commanders for global military operations, and was accountable for the welfare of nearly 700,000 active duty, Guard, Reserve, and civilian Airmen and Guardians and their families.
Kendall brought decades of experience in defense, engineering, government and national security to the position.
His career included senior jobs in both Republican and Democratic administrations as well as extensive work in the private defense industry.
The Air Force biography states:
Mr. Kendall has more than 50 years of experience in engineering, management, defense acquisition and national security affairs across private industry, government and the military. He was a consultant to defense industry firms, non-profit research organizations and the Department of Defense in the areas of strategic planning, engineering management and technology assessment. Additionally, he is an attorney and was active in the field of human rights, working primarily on a pro bono basis.
Before serving as Air Force secretary, Kendall worked for defense giant Raytheon and held several major positions inside the Department of Defense.
He also graduated from West Point and spent 11 years as an active-duty Army officer.
That background makes the Pentagon’s decision particularly notable.
Kendall was entrusted for decades with some of the nation’s most sensitive defense and national security matters.
Now, according to the Pentagon, that trust has been withdrawn.
The department’s language left little ambiguity about its position: access to classified intelligence is a privilege conditioned on protecting the information entrusted to government officials.
The Air Force One controversy also raises a larger question for investigators — precisely how sensitive information concerning the president’s aircraft reached the media and whether anyone else participated in unauthorized disclosures.
Air Force One is far more than a luxury mode of transportation.
The presidential aircraft functions as a flying command center and incorporates highly sophisticated communications, defensive and security systems designed to protect the commander in chief during emergencies and military crises.
For obvious reasons, specific details about those capabilities — and potential weaknesses — can carry serious national security implications.
That is what makes allegations involving leaks about the aircraft particularly consequential.
Kendall’s classified access has now become one of the first major casualties of the investigation.
And with federal investigators already pursuing information connected to the New York Times reporting, the question now is whether the former Biden official’s revoked clearance marks the end of the matter — or merely the beginning.
