“I don’t understand WHY anyone not in an administration any longer still has security clearances.”
I think people retain the clearance but lose any need to know once they become unemployed. A clearance might readily be reactivated for a few years after leaving a clearance-based job. I would probably have to undergo a new background check to get back the clearances I had 37 years ago.
If someone switches jobs, the new employer has to get the clearance reactivated I believe.
As I understand things, Trump would have had to request the Biden administration the reactivate his clearance. I don’t think Trump can see his still classified archive materials since Biden I understand didn’t reactivate Trump’s clearance after Trump left office.
Any government official, elected or otherwise, any government work should have their clearances suspended or put INACTIVE when they leave their positions. They can be activitated if and when they get a new job requiring it.
Obama is one responsible for questionable actions stripping former presidents of secret service and other perks from the office. Never was there a president who lost his legal right to his classified information. Biden cannot take from Trump or allow Obama to retain a clearance. The clearance is not Biden’s to give. Congress is where any legal decision can be made to revoke a former president. To revoke a former president of a security clearance is in effect a prison sentence or a death sentence.