Tulsi

1 of 4 | Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 23. On Wednesday, she announced 40% cuts to staff at the ODNI. File Photo by Eric Lee/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 20 (UPI) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced Wednesday a plan to cut 40% of her office’s staff by October in an effort to save taxpayers about $700 million per year.

She said the overhaul of the Office of the Director National Intelligence will reduce “bloat” and refocus the agency’s mission “in the most agile, effective and efficient way.” Gabbard dubbed the plan ODNI 2.0.

“Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence and politicized weaponization of intelligence,” she said.

“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, ODNI 2.0 is the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people.”

Congress created the ODNI to oversee all 18 intelligence community agencies within the U.S. government in 2004 as a response to to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Since its founding, the staff of the ODNI grew to about 1,850, 500 of whom the Trump administration has already cut since the start of the president’s second term.

In addition to cutting staff, the ODNI won’t rehire vacant positions.

The cuts will see the duties of the Foreign Malign Influence Center, National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Center and Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center absorbed into the ODNI’s Mission Integration directorate and the National Intelligence Council. Additionally the work of the National Intelligence University will now fall under the Defense Department’s National Defense University.

The External Research Council will be shuttered and the ODNI’s facilities in Reston, Va., will be closed and moved to headquarters.

Aug. 19 (UPI) — National Security Director Tulsi Gabbard has revoked the security clearances for 37 current and former intelligence officials, as directed by President Donald Trump.

Gabbard acknowledged that the president directed her to revoke the security clearances in a social media post that she made on Tuesday afternoon.

“Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right,” Gabbard said.

“Those in the intelligence community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold,” she added.

Gabbard’s post includes a copy of the department memorandum that was circulated on Monday and lists the 37 officials whose security clearances are revoked.

Among those whose security clearances are revoked is Maher Bitar, who worked for Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., when he was the House Intelligence Committee chairman during the first impeachment effort against President Donald Trump in 2019, The Hill reported.

The Biden administration’s National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne and Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Brett Holmgren also are among those who lost their security clearances.

Others with revoked clearances include officials who held senior positions within the State Department, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Defense Department and the National Security Council, according to Politico.

Several formerly advised Biden when he was the vice president under former President Barack Obama, and some also were involved in the investigation into claims that Trump colluded with Russia ahead of the 2016 election.

The revocations are effective immediately, and those whose security clearances are revoked also have any related contracts or employment terminated and must surrender their credentials to security officers, Fox News reported.

The revocations prompted criticism alleging that the Trump administration did so for political purposes.

“Further proof of weaponization and politicization,” Mark Zaid, a national security attorney, said in a post on X.

He said most of those who lost their security clearances “are dedicated public servants who have worked across multiple presidential administrations.”

The Trump administration also revoked Zaid’s prior security clearance.

Many who lost their clearance also had spoken to media regarding decisions made by the Trump administration, according to The Hill.

Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images