Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and also one of his closest advisers has been operating for a year now without a permanent security clearance. The Washington Post reports that effective immediately, he will no longer have access to the highly classified daily presidential briefings according to sources. Jared Kushner is married to the president's daughter Ivanka Trump and has been a close confidant of Trump during his election campaign and in the White House.

Changes to White House security clearance

The White House came under scrutiny for allowing access to classified information by employees who were not given security clearances.

When it was revealed that Donald Trump's staff secretary Rob Porter had worked for a year without security clearance, the WH was amiss to explain this state of affairs. Rob Porter resigned this month following accusations of domestic abuse by his two former wives. In the wake of these revelations, Chief of Staff John Kelly promised to put an end to the practice of employees without the proper security documentation having access to top secret information. It was believed that Kushner would be the most high profile employee to be affected by this change.

The President's Daily Brief

Only a small number of top-level officials are given access to the President's Daily Brief and Jared Kushner, as a senior adviser to Donald Trump, was one of those with access to these briefings.

Included in the briefing is information that is highly classified and sensitive relating to intelligence, CIA covert operations and information from allied intelligence agencies. President's Daily Brief (PDB) is produced by the Director of National Intelligence with information from other US top intelligence and security agencies.

Limiting Kushner's role

Jared Kushner will still have a job in the White House as long as his father-in-law wants him there. Kushner's lawyer said that his client will continue to do the important work assigned by the president. His portfolio is indeed a big one that includes responsibility for peace in the Middle East and the Office of American Innovation.

With the loss of high-level security access, however, there are questions about his ability to play a significant role in major policy decisions.

President Trump had given full authority to his Chief of Staff Kelly, to deal with disputes over his son-in-law's security clearance and there has been no comment from Trump on the decision at this time.