Gabbard said Odni “have to make significant changes” to combat “abuse of power, fraudulent leaks, and political weaponization of our Intel institutions.”
Trump challenges Gabbard’s statement on Iran’s nuclear program
President Donald Trump says National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard is “wrong” about Iran’s nuclear program.
WASHINGTON – National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard announced on August 20 that her office, which oversees all US intelligence reporting agencies, will cut 40% to combat “abuse of power” and “political weaponization.”
Gabbard called Overhaul ODNI 2.0 in a news release, suggesting that its broad contours are the agency’s biggest reorganization since it was created after September 11, 2001. One of its goals is to “reduce bloating by almost 50%” in the National Intelligence Director’s reference to the Labor Force Bureau.
The move is expected to save more than $700 million in taxpayers per year and enable ODNI to focus on “playing a key role as a central hub for intelligence integration, strategic guidance and surveillance for the intelligence community.”
“Over the past 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intellectual community has been filled with abuses of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and political weaponization of intelligence,” Gabbard said in the release. “By focusing on our core mission, ODNI and IC must make serious changes to fulfill our responsibility to the American people and the US Constitution. We will find the truth and provide objective, fair and timely intelligence to the president and policymakers.”
Intel Agency is lengthening the focus of Trump’s rage
ODNI was established in April 2005 after the Blue Ribbon 9/11 Committee exposed systematic obstacles throughout the intelligence community. Its aim was to consolidate and monitor surveillance from all Intel elements of the US government, including the CIA, the eavesdropping national security agency, and several military intelligence agencies.
Trump frequently attacked the institutions for being politicized against him, and vowed to reduce and restructure it along with Gabbard. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Republican Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Email Committee, capped 650 ODNI staff on June 27, turning down from 650 SALYs from what he said to remove certain reporting requirements and to assign liability for some important anti-intellectual and anti-severe diseases that have returned to the CIA.
An ODNI news release states that ODNI 2.0 will eliminate redundant missions, functions and personnel and make “significant investments in areas that support the president’s national intelligence priorities.”
It also exposes what President Donald Trump and Gabbard called intelligence politicization and weaponization, allowing “bad actors to take accountability.”
Chasing people involved in “Russian hoax”
The effort is expanding a campaign that Gabbard has already launched to investigate Democrats in the Obama and Biden administrations who claim to have created an intelligence reporting agency about false “Russian hoaxes” about Trump’s accomplices in the Kremlin intervention in the 2016 election.
Several investigations and reports, including bipartisan efforts by the Senate Intelligence Email Committee, found that Russia actually intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat his democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
One of the key goals for the new overhaul is ODNI’s efforts to appeal to Russia for ongoing interference in US elections, including the 2024 presidential election.
By refocusing FMIC’s mission, US taxpayers can save at least $7 million a year, according to the ODNI 2.0 fact sheet released by the SPY agency. It did not provide details about what its refocus entails or similar plans to overhaul the ODNI National Rebellion and BioSecurity Centre (NCBC) and its Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Centre (CTIIC).
“ODNI’s hyperfocus on election-related work began in 2017, shortly after the publication of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), manufactured in 2017, when President Trump falsely claimed that he was incorrectly claiming to help him win the 2016 election,” the factsheet said.
“I’m not confident” Gabbard is the right person to do an ODNI overhaul.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a ranking Democrat and vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Email Committee, confirmed in a statement that there is a broad, bipartisan agreement that ODNI “needs thoughtful reform.”
The current Intelligence Report Recognition Act directed Gabbard to submit plans to Congress outlining the proposed changes, saying, “and we will carefully review her proposals, provide strict surveillance and ensure that reforms will be strengthened rather than undermine national security.”
“However, given her track record of politicizing political intelligence, including her decision to cancel security clearances from career national security officials yesterday, I am not sure she is the right person to carry out this heavy responsibility,” Warner said.
Gabbard announced on August 19 that Trump had “directed her office to cancel security clearances from 37 former Intelligence Reporting agencies for politicization and manipulation. Most were partnering with the Biden and the Obama administration or signatories to protest Trump’s policies.
Warner and other Democrats have also criticized Gabbard for establishing a task force that was merely a “witch hunt” for executives and analysts within the 18 US intelligence agencies that believe are dishonest towards Trump.
Cotton, the committee chair, called ODNI 2.0, is called “the key steps to bring the department back to its original size, range and mission.”
“We look forward to working with @Dnigabbard to implement these reforms and ensuring that IC focuses on its core mission.
This story has been updated to include additional information.
Josh Meyer is a domestic security correspondent for USA Today. You can contact him by email at jmeyer@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @Joshmeyerdc and follow him on Bluesky at @joshmeyerdc.bsky.social.
