Oppenheimer, sitting behind him, General Groves appeared before the committee, and Roger Robb passed the AEC guidelines to him:
General Groves: Do you have the guidelines?
Roger Robb: Under current AEC guidelines, would you clear Dr. Oppenheimer today?
Then the scene cuts to a flashback at Los Alamos where Oppenheimer is sitting in front of a house, holding a cigar.
Why did the scene change without General Groves answering Robb’s question?
It's a narrative device.
Clearly Oppenheimer's security clearance is an issue and the writers and the director want to show what happened with regard to the clearance and whether Groves would clear him knowing what he now knows.
In fact, much later in the movie, [2hr 38m] Groves does answer the question.
Under my interpretation of the Atomic Energy Act, which did not exist when I hired Dr Oppenheimer in 1942... I would not clear Dr Oppenheimer today if I were a member of the commission.
