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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has announced that she is ending the work of a task force trying to reform America’s intelligence community, including removing what she described as the politicization of the intelligence community, less than a year after it was created.
Gabbard founded the group in April, when he was also tasked with examining ways to reduce intelligence spending and whether reports on high-profile topics like COVID-19 should be released.
In a statement on Wednesday, Gabbard said the task force was always intended to be temporary after he was approached to oversee the coordination of 18 US intelligence agencies.
“In less than one year, we have brought an unprecedented level of transparency to the intelligence community,” Gabbard said in a statement. “My commitment to transparency, truth, and depoliticization and weaponization in the intelligence community remains central to everything we do.”
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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has announced that she is ending the work of a task force seeking to reform the US intelligence community. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
The number of officers assigned to the task force, as well as their identities, are classified, according to Gabbard’s office.
The police will now return to other intelligence agencies to continue the work the group has started, his office said.
The group drew criticism from Gabbard after it was launched, with Democrats and some intelligence insiders raising questions about whether it would be used to undermine the intelligence agencies and bring them under the tight control of President Donald Trump.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said last year that the group appeared to be a “witch hunt” designed to target intelligence officials deemed disloyal to Trump.
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This team wanted to eliminate allegations of political intelligence gathering. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“This appears to be a witch hunt and it will seriously harm our national security,” Warner told Reuters at the time.
Gabbard made significant changes to the nation’s intelligence community last year, including using agencies to support Trump’s claims about meddling in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
In August, he unveiled plans to reduce his office’s staff and cut more than $700 million from its annual budget. He also fired two senior intelligence officials in May after concluding they were against Trump.
Since Gabbard took office as director, the federal government has revoked the security clearances of dozens of former and current officials, including the president’s top political opponents, in what critics say is a punishment for pro-Trump rather than a security risk.
Police officers assigned to the army will now return to other intelligence agencies. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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Gabbard’s presence in the recent FBI search of Georgia’s election office in connection with the 2020 election has led to criticism from Democrats who say she is blurring the traditional lines between the foreign intelligence community and domestic law enforcement.
The CIA has also released more details about its investigation into the origins of COVID-19, such as tests released last year that confirmed it may have originated in a Chinese lab.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
