Tulsi Gabbard moves to cut staffing levels at the ODNI by 40%

During her confirmation hearing earlier this year, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard pledged to reform the agency that President Donald Trump had nominated her to lead.

Evidence that Gabbard is making good on that promise emerged this week when she revealed that nearly half of all personnel will be fired. 

Gabbard points to “suppression of free speech”

According to Politico, Gabbard’s move has been dubbed “ODNI 2.0,” and will involve hundreds of positions being done away with through consolidation of roles.

The website noted how Gabbard has already eliminated 30% of ODNI staff, and that figure is now expected to rise to 40%, saving over $700 million per year.

Many of those force reductions will happen at the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which is tasked with monitoring foreign attempts to undermine American elections.

However, Gabbard has pointed out that much of this work is already being carried out by the National Intelligence Council as well as the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. What’s more, she recalled how the Foreign Malign Influence Center has been used “to justify the suppression of free speech and to censor political opposition.”

“ODNI has become bloated and inefficient”

“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 in a statement.

“ODNI and the IC must make serious changes to fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the U.S. Constitution by focusing on our core mission: find the truth and provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence to the President and policymakers,” the DNI continued.

“Ending the weaponization of intelligence and holding bad actors accountable are essential to begin to earn the American people’s trust which has long been eroded,” Gabbard stressed.

She concluded by saying, “Under President 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.”

Congressional Republicans praise changes

Gabbard’s announcement was welcomed by Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who serves as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“Congress created the ODNI to be a lean organization that used small staffs to coordinate across the Intelligence Community and execute specific, important tasks,” Cotton declared in a statement of his own.

“Today’s announcement is an important step towards returning ODNI to that original size, scope, and mission,” the conservative lawmaker added.

Politico noted how Arkansas Republican Rep. Rick Crawford chairs the House Intelligence Committee, and he spoke up as well, praising Gabbard’s decision as “yet another profound betrayal of the DNI’s core responsibility to keep Americans safe.”

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