As Trump launches attacks on Iran, Mamdani still lacks national security clearance

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hasn’t been granted security clearance from the federal government roughly two months after taking office. He lacks access to highly sensitive information as the U.S. and Israel launch military strikes on Iran – an extended attack that could have ramifications in the city. 

The federal security clearance, typically granted to mayors and police commissioners, has historically given recipients access to classified briefings on terrorism threats as well as other national security matters that impact the country’s largest city. Mamdani’s approval process remains in progress as of early March. 

Dora Pekec, a senior spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said that the timeline is fairly typical. Pointing to similar remarks City Hall gave back in early January after the Trump administration detained Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and brought him to Brooklyn for prosecution, she said Mamdani’s lack of security clearance has not impeded “his ability to be briefed and protect the city.” That’s due in large part to the fact that several senior leadership members in his administration do have federal security clearance and have been able to brief the mayor. The NYPD confirmed that Commissioner Jessica Tisch does have federal security clearance, and she’s not the only one in the department. Mamdani has said that his chief counsel Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented people detained at Guantánamo Bay and served as a senior policy adviser to former President Joe Biden, also has clearance.

The latest update about the mayor’s clearance comes several days after the U.S. and Israel launched a series of military strikes on Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday. Iran and its allies promptly hit back against Israel and other targets in the region. Messaging from the White House has been mixed, but on Monday, President Donald Trump suggested that the conflict could last weeks. 

Mamdani has condemned the attack, describing it as a “catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.” “Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change,” he said in a statement Saturday. “They want relief from the affordability crisis. They want peace.” In an interview with PIX 11 that aired Monday, Mamdani said that the New York City Police Department is increasing patrols at sensitive locations out of “an abundance of caution.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of Mamdani’s clearance process. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio didn’t receive his federal security clearance from the Obama administration until October – nearly a year into his first term. Former Mayor Eric Adams very likely lost his clearance for a brief period of time after he was indicted in late 2024 over an alleged bribery scheme.