Coming a week following the publication of a declassified memo penned by their agency contradicting remarks the Trump administration has used to justify deportations, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard sacked two seasoned intelligence officials for opposing President Donald Trump.
Before he was kicked along with Maria Langan-Riekhof, Mike Collins was acting chair of the National Intelligence Council. Their combined intelligence experience exceeded 25 years. Gabbard’s office said in an email, without providing specifics, that the two were sacked due to their opposition to Trump.
“The director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponizing and politicizing of the intelligence community,” the office stated.
First reported by Fox News Digital, the firings follow the publication of a National Intelligence Council declassified letter revealing no collaboration between Venezuela’s government and the Tren de Aragua gang. The Trump government had justified deporting Venezuelan immigrants and calling for the Alien Enemy Act’s invocation on that rationale. An open records request drove the release of the intelligence evaluation.
Although it’s not unusual for fresh administrations to replace top officials with their own choices, Democrats expressed concern at the firings of two esteemed intelligence chiefs who had served presidents of both parties. Senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Connecticut U.S. Representative Jim Himes stated he has not seen any specifics to justify the dismissals.
Himes stated in a statement, “absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the President’s political agenda, rather than honest and apolitical.”
Though not well-known to the general public, the National Intelligence Council is essential in the country’s spy services since it helps compile information from several agencies into thorough analyses used by top national security officials and the White House.
One of the leading authorities on East Asia among intelligence services, Collins was regarded Langan-Riekhof is a Middle East expert having worked as a senior analyst and director of the CIA’s Strategic Insight Department.
Wednesday saw failed attempts to reach both. Citing personnel concerns, the CIA refrained from public commentary.
Her office said Gabbard is grouping some of the main activities of the intelligence community and relocating several offices previously housed at the CIA to ODNI facilities. They comprise the National Intelligence Council and the personnel who draft the President’s Daily Brief, the report to the president comprising the most crucial intelligence and national security data.
The action will provide Gabbard more direct influence over the brief. Although the brief is already ODNI’s responsibility, the CIA has long been heavily involved in its preparation, supplying personnel and physical infrastructure that must be relocated to ODNI or re-created.
Gabbard manages the operations of eighteen federal intelligence agencies. Under Trump’s directives, she has tried to transform the intelligence community, eradicating programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion and forming a task force to look at cost-cutting measures and whether to declassify information on COVID-19 and other subjects.
Gabbard also promised to look into intelligence leaks and stop what she claimed to be political goal-oriented intelligence use.
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