The Department of War stripped former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall of his security clearance and barred him from holding any sensitive government position, accusing him of leaking classified details about Air Force One's capabilities to the press.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the revocation on X on Friday, calling it effective immediately. The action follows what the department described as Kendall's "unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding Air Force One's capabilities to a media outlet." Parnell did not name the outlet in his post.
But the timing lines up with a Wall Street Journal report published days earlier that compared the capabilities of the Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, the aircraft now serving as the new Air Force One, with the older VC-25A jets it replaced. Fox News Digital reported that Kendall was among the former officials quoted in that Journal piece. A representative for Kendall did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
Kendall has pushed back on the allegation. In a statement reported by the Associated Press, the former secretary denied wrongdoing:
"I've always been extremely careful to not say anything classified, and as far as I know I have not."
That denial runs headlong into the Pentagon's characterization of his public remarks. Kendall had spoken to multiple outlets, including CNN and NPR, about what he described as the new aircraft's shortcomings. In an NPR interview cited by the Washington Examiner, Kendall said the one-month refit period the jet underwent before entering presidential service was nowhere near sufficient for meaningful hardware upgrades:
"A month is not enough time to do anything significant. Software could be done. Software changes can be made relatively easily anyplace. Hardware modifications? I'm having a hard time imagining any that could be done in a month that are of any serious significance."
Earlier in July, Kendall told The Wall Street Journal that fully retrofitting a 747 with the defensive capabilities needed to protect the president should take three to four years. He made a similar estimate on CNN, Breitbart reported, telling the network the Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8 would need that same timeline to reach Air Force One standards.
The question at the center of the dispute is whether those assessments, about timelines, hardware gaps, and refit limitations, crossed the line from informed opinion into classified territory. The Pentagon says they did. Kendall says they did not.
The Qatari-donated jet underwent a $400 million retrofit before entering presidential service, but AP reporting indicated it still lacked several advanced security features found on the older Air Force One, including widened doors and multiple built-in stairs. The reporting also noted that when Trump left the NATO summit as the U.S. launched airstrikes on Iran, the Secret Service urged him to use an older Air Force One model, a detail that underscored ongoing concerns about the newer aircraft's readiness.
The White House has rejected the premise that the jet is inadequate. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said the aircraft "has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff."
That gap between the White House's assurances and the assessments Kendall offered publicly is precisely what made his remarks a flashpoint. Former officials who discuss the capabilities, or limitations, of presidential aircraft tread on sensitive ground, and the administration has made clear it intends to hold people accountable for crossing it.
Kendall is not a peripheral figure in the Air Force One story. He served as the Pentagon's undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics during the Obama administration, the department's top weapons buyer. In 2015, while serving as the Pentagon's acquisition chief, he coordinated with then-Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James on the decision to use the Boeing 747-8 platform for the next generation of presidential aircraft.
He later served as Secretary of the Air Force from 2021 until January 2025 under President Biden. That tenure gave him deep familiarity with the program, and, the Pentagon now alleges, access to classified information he later shared with reporters.
The revocation fits into a broader administration effort to crack down on unauthorized disclosures from current and former defense officials. The DOJ recently subpoenaed four New York Times journalists over reporting on the new presidential aircraft's security deficiencies, part of the same classified-information probe that has now reached Kendall.
Parnell's statement framed the revocation in unambiguous terms. He posted on X:
"Safeguarding classified information is a non-negotiable duty. Those who violate that trust forfeit the privilege of access and any role requiring it."
Kendall's case does not exist in isolation. The administration has signaled repeatedly that it views unauthorized disclosures from the national security establishment as a serious threat. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the DOJ have formed a joint task force specifically to pursue Pentagon leakers, a move that puts current and former officials on notice.
The Air Force One story has also generated friction on Capitol Hill. Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic effort led by Chuck Schumer to prevent taxpayer-funded upgrades on the Qatar-gifted aircraft, keeping the modernization path open.
Whether Kendall faces any formal legal proceeding beyond the administrative clearance revocation remains unclear. The Pentagon's announcement cited no criminal referral, no investigation timeline, and no statute. It was, in form, an administrative action, but one that carries real consequences for a former senior official who spent decades in defense acquisition.
Kendall's denial, that he was careful and believes he said nothing classified, sets up a factual dispute the public may never fully see resolved, since the very material at issue is classified. The administration, for its part, has already rendered its verdict.
The Pentagon's decision to strip Kendall's clearance sends a pointed message to every former official still holding access: the days of treating classified information as raw material for media commentary may be over.
When former officials use their access to undermine the sitting administration's credibility on national security, accountability is not optional, it is overdue.
