'I'm Gonna Sue': Former Air Force Secretary Promises Lawsuit Against Trump Admin. Over Revoked Security Clearance

Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall vowed Monday on CNN to take legal action against President Donald Trump's administration after the Pentagon revoked his security clearance, declaring, "I'm gonna sue."

Kendall's clearance was revoked Friday after the Pentagon accused him of an "unauthorized disclosure of classified information" related to the new Air Force One. The move followed reporting from The New York Times that quoted Kendall warning the Qatari-gifted aircraft had "a lot of shortfalls" compared with the existing presidential plane and posed "a measure of risk."

Speaking with CNN's Erin Burnett on Monday's edition of OutFront, Kendall explained that he was only alerted to the news when top Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted about it on X, adding, "I was initially mystified, because I couldn't think of anything I'd ever said that was classified, and I had tried very hard not to say anything classified, and was quite sure I had not."

"There are some other explanations for why they did this, of course," Kendall noted. "I've been a very vocal critic of the administration ever since I left office." Kendall led the Air Force from 2021 until 2025 under former President Joe Biden, having spent decades prior working in national security.

"I don't know anything about that airplane," the former Air Force secretary continued, in reference to Trump's gifted Qatari jet. "I have made the observation that an airplane that you've spent one year on and $400 million will not be as capable as an airplane you spend five years on and $2 billion. That's inherently obvious."

When Burnett asked what he plans to do next, Kendall responded:

Well, I'm gonna sue them. That's what's next for me. You know, this has happened to a number of people. I mean, what happens to me is not terribly important. This does not have an enormous impact on me. I will lose some income because of it, and I will lose some opportunities because of it, but, you know, this is one of over a hundred cases where our government has taken away people's security clearances very arbitrarily, often for political reasons, as a way to attack political enemies, apparently.

I could be put into that category. I have said some very negative things about the dangers of this administration to the country. As my mother taught me years ago, you stand up to bullies, and I'm gonna try to get this overturned. I think I have a very sound basis to do that. I've hired an attorney, Mark Zaid, who had to go through the same thing. He's been successful in his case so far. And so, we're gonna go fight this out and see how it comes out.

But I'm quite confident that there was no legitimate basis to remove my clearance, and I'm also confident that there was no due process provided to me. As you mentioned, I found out about this through a tweet. Nobody from the government ever talked to me about this. Nobody asked me any questions. I have no idea what they think I said. I've had no opportunity to defend myself. Those are just basic due process rights that we should all have as Americans.