That’s the question facing Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff. Right now many committee members do not have staffers with the Top Secret clearance necessary to review many classified records.
Daniel Schuman in Just Security:
Members of HPSCI must rely on committee staff to support them on highly classified matters, and those staff are hired by the chair and ranking member. No matter how professional, the staff have an inherent conflict of interest. Such concerns are heightened when the executive branch is in conflict with the committee and strives to undermine its authority. A most economical approach would be to allow each member of that committee to identify a pre-existing member of their personal staff as appropriate to receive a TS/SCI clearance. The newspaper Roll Call described now-Chairman Schiff’s favorable response to this approach, saying the “idea is appealing and he is exploring it,” even while expressing the caveat that this would not automatically grant staff access.
Source: Schiff’s First Order of Business for the House Intelligence Committee | Just Security
