James Lynch writes for National Review Online about a plan to shakeup a federal intelligence agency.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is overhauling her office to trim down its bloated bureaucracy and end the “weaponization” of intelligence for partisan purposes.
Gabbard announced Monday her plan to trim staff at the office of the director of national intelligence by 40 percent by the end of fiscal year 2025 and save taxpayers $700 million annually. The goals of Gabbard’s downsizing are to reduce bureaucratic inefficiency and reorient ODNI towards its mission of being an intelligence hub rather than a vehicle for “politicized weaponization” of intelligence.
“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,” Gabbard 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,” she added.
“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 is calling the re-organization “ODNI 2.0” and considers it the beginning of a new era for the agency. Her promise to downsize the agency and return it to its original mission was key in winning over moderate GOP Senators in her fight to get confirmed as director of national intelligence. Some Republican Senators were concerned about Gabbard’s history of leftist views and opposition to Trump.
Founded after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, its original purpose was to integrate intelligence across agencies and conduct oversight. Its mission has been expanded over the past two decades as it became a cabinet-level agency during Trump’s first term. The director of national intelligence is one of the highest-ranking U.S. intelligence officials and produces the president’s daily intelligence briefing.
The post Gabbard plans 40% cut to her own agency’s staff first appeared on John Locke Foundation.
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Author: Mitch Kokai
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