In reality, they say, the process suffers from political pressure, a lack of robust due diligence, a reliance on trust, and stretched resources. Some were granted anonymity to speak candidly about this sensitive issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A security official who has undergone the same process as Mandelson \u2014 known as Developed Vetting (DV) \u2014 said: \u201cIf the process was done properly \u2014 and he still passed \u2014 then everyone who has been through DV needs re-vetting. Because, if Mandelson can pass, anyone can.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his part, Mandelson \u2014 who did not respond to a request for comment for this piece \u2014 has said he \u201cdeeply regrets\u201d his continued association with Epstein and the \u201clies\u201d that the \u201cmonster\u201d told him. He has said none of the Epstein emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice \u201cindicate wrongdoing or misdemeanor on my part.\u201d He has apologized \u201cunequivocally\u201d for his association with Epstein and \u201cto the women and girls that suffered.\u201d<\/p>\n
A question of timing<\/p>\n
A full DV check is supposed to be a grueling affair, gatekeeping the most senior and sensitive Whitehall jobs.<\/p>\n
Candidates must actively declare any potential security risks they are aware of. They are routinely subjected to a deeply-personal interview on every aspect of their life, including those which could potentially make them a blackmail target.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Self-declaration forms are filled in, candidates are interviewed, and referees are quizzed to cross-examine the information provided. DV covers everything from a candidate\u2019s foreign travel to their pornography habits. It presses them on any drug taking or affairs, and can probe their entire financial history. Criminal records must be declared and are scrutinized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In reality, they say, the process suffers from political pressure, a lack of robust due diligence, a reliance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[39099,235,5490,7816,6229,5704,21439,130677,1336,8926,39097,65728,17372,59,76430,57,58,1293,146,47672,420,50,423,424,154,1351,1352,473,18638,56,54,158,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-431662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-accountability","9":"tag-alcohol","10":"tag-career","11":"tag-cars","12":"tag-communications","13":"tag-conflict","14":"tag-conflict-of-interest","15":"tag-darren-jones","16":"tag-data","17":"tag-department","18":"tag-due-diligence","19":"tag-emily-thornberry","20":"tag-feed","21":"tag-gb","22":"tag-gordon-brown","23":"tag-great-britain","24":"tag-greatbritain","25":"tag-history","26":"tag-intelligence","27":"tag-intelligence-services","28":"tag-keir-starmer","29":"tag-news","30":"tag-parliament","31":"tag-peter-mandelson","32":"tag-russia","33":"tag-security","34":"tag-services","35":"tag-tanks","36":"tag-tony-blair","37":"tag-uk","38":"tag-united-kingdom","39":"tag-united-states","40":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}