Pentagon revokes Frank Kendall’s classified access over Air Force One leak

The Pentagon revoked Frank Kendall’s eligibility for access to classified information on Friday, accusing the former U.S. Air Force secretary of making an “unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding Air Force One’s capabilities” to a news outlet. Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell announced that Kendall was also barred from holding any sensitive position tied to the alleged disclosure.

The move lands hard because Kendall was not a midlevel former official. He served as Air Force secretary under President Joe Biden, and CNN’s file image shows him testifying before the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. That recent proximity to Congress and the Pentagon makes the revocation more than a personnel decision: it is a public rebuke of a former cabinet-level official who only recently sat at the center of defense policy.

Classified access is not a permanent perk of service. Pentagon post-government rules impose restrictions on former Defense Department officials for two years after they leave government service, limiting some efforts to influence official action, and access itself turns on continuing eligibility, not rank. The Pentagon’s use of the word eligibility matters because it signals that Kendall’s access was not simply paused or narrowed, but stripped as a matter of security status.

For former top defense officials, that status can determine whether they can receive classified briefings, participate in sensitive advisory work, or move into contractor roles tied to national security programs. Defense contractors and subcontractors that handle classified information also face reporting obligations around foreign travel and foreign contacts, which makes clearance status central to both government work and private-sector opportunities. When a former secretary loses access, the effects can ripple beyond one person’s reputation and into advising, procurement, and trust in who gets read into military secrets.

The Pentagon has not treated this as a routine disagreement over comments about Air Force One. By revoking Kendall’s access and blocking him from sensitive posts, defense officials signaled that alleged leaks involving presidential transport capabilities are serious enough to sever the former secretary from the classified world he once helped oversee.