Trump signs agreement with Justice Department to begin background checks on nominees

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with the Justice Department paving the way for the FBI to process security clearance requests.

The Justice Department is responsible for processing requests for security clearance for incoming administration officials who will need to access briefing materials and national security information. Those clearances could not happen without a signed memorandum of understanding between the Trump transition and the Justice Department.

Senators in both parties have said they want the background checks to proceed through the Justice Department as in past administrations.

Susie Wiles, Mr. Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, said the agreement “will afford the transition process additional insights, and it facilitates our agency landing teams gaining access to the information they need to prepare for leadership of federal agencies and departments.” 

“This agreement with the Department of Justice will ensure President Trump and his team are ready on Day 1 to begin enacting the America First Agenda that an overwhelming majority of our nation supported on Election Day,” she said.

It is the Justice Department, not the White House or General Services Administration, that oversees the security clearances for transition personnel. It handles the security clearances for individuals working across all government agencies, not just the Justice Department. 

The Justice Department agreement is the second major pact the Trump team needs to sign with the government to smooth over the transition process. It comes about a week after the Trump transition team signed an agreement with the Biden White House to unlock access to resources to speed up the transition process. 

However, the Trump transition team has declined to sign a memorandum of understanding with the General Services Administration. The GSA  is an independent federal agency that is in charge of federal office space, but also supports transition teams, presidential inauguration efforts and, under the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, must regularly report to Congress on the status of transition planning. 

At least two months before the Nov. 5 election, both the GSA and the Biden White House had pressed the Trump transition team to sign both a White House memorandum of understanding and the GSA memorandum of understanding.

If the Trump team had signed the GSA agreement,  members of Mr. Trump’s team would be able to access facilities at agencies across the government along with information and employees. 

Ms. Wiles has suggested that not signing the GSA agreement saves taxpayers money, but it also increases the levels of transparency and documentation. For example, government servers and email addresses that would be unlocked under the agreement are subject to the federal Freedom of Information Act, unlike private servers and accounts.