Tulsi Gabbard axes $700 million from intelligence office, slashing workforce in bold shake-up

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will cut its workforce by more than 40% and slash its budget by over $700 million each year, the Trump administration announced Wednesday. ODNI coordinates the work of 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, including on counterterrorism and counterintelligence, but Trump has often clashed with its assessments.

This week, the administration also revoked security clearances of dozens of current and former officials, and last month it declassified documents to question intelligence findings on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, said ODNI had become “bloated and inefficient” over 20 years, with problems like abuse of power, leaks of classified data, and politicized use of intelligence, as per the Military report.

Gabbard targets Foreign Malign Influence Center

Gabbard said the downsizing is about “ending the weaponization of intelligence” and regaining the trust of the American people. One target is the Foreign Malign Influence Center, set up to track foreign influence operations and threats to U.S. elections. Officials said it is now “redundant” and its main duties will be moved to other agencies.

The reorganization is part of a larger Trump administration effort to rethink how foreign threats to U.S. elections are tracked, since Trump has long rejected intelligence claims that Russia helped him in 2016. Earlier this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi disbanded an FBI task force on foreign election influence. The administration also cut staff at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and in April shut down a State Department office fighting disinformation from Russia, China, and Iran, as stated in the reports.

Political fight over intelligence cuts

Republicans welcomed the ODNI cuts. Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called it “an important step” that would return ODNI to its original role and make it stronger for President Trump. Democrats raised concerns. Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, promised strict oversight to ensure reforms do not weaken national security. He said he doubts this will happen given Gabbard’s record of politicizing intelligence.

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The downsizing fits Trump’s cost-cutting mandate, led from the early days by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which oversaw major federal layoffs. Gabbard, once out of favor with Trump over her Iran analysis, has recently emerged as a key loyalist with these high-profile actions. The Foreign Malign Influence Center was created by the Biden administration in 2022 to coordinate intelligence on Russian and other foreign election interference, as mentioned in the report by Military.

The center worked with other agencies to debunk disinformation, like a Russian video falsely showing Pennsylvania mail-in ballots being destroyed before the 2024 election. Gabbard said the center had been too focused on elections and was used by the Biden administration to suppress free speech and censor opposition. She plans to merge its functions into other operations.

Though the center was legally set to close in 2028, Gabbard is effectively shutting it down now, said Emerson Brooking of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. Brooking rejected Gabbard’s claim that the center was redundant, saying it was designed to solve redundancy by analyzing government intelligence and informing leaders — work he called “important but boring”, as reported by the Military.

FAQs

Q1. Why did Tulsi Gabbard cut $700 million from ODNI?
She said ODNI had become bloated, inefficient, and politicized, so the cuts aim to stop abuse of power and rebuild public trust.

Q2. What happens to the Foreign Malign Influence Center?
Tulsi Gabbard is shutting it down early, calling it redundant, and moving its duties to other agencies.