US Intel Chief Tulsi Gabbard Announces Major Cuts to Root Out ‘Deep State Actors’

US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard announced sweeping reductions to her office on Wednesday, declaring that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has “fallen short” of its mission and is “rife with abuse of power.”

Gabbard revealed plans to cut ODNI staff by more than 40% by the end of fiscal year 2025, a move expected to save $700 million. “Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorised leaks of classified intelligence and politicised weaponization of intelligence,” she said in a statement.

On social media, she added that she is “cutting bloated bureaucracy, rooting out deep state actors, and restoring mission focus.” A fact sheet on her department’s website outlined “ODNI 2.0,” which involves scaling back efforts in biosecurity, WMD proliferation monitoring, and cyber intelligence. Cuts to the Strategic Futures Group were explained as necessary after it was “found to violate professional analytic tradecraft standards in an effort to propogate a political agenda that ran counter to all of the current president’s national security priorities.”

The Foreign Malign Influence Center, established to combat foreign threats to democracy, was also downsized, with Gabbard’s office claiming it was “used by the previous administration to justify the suppression of free speech and to censor political opposition.”

Since taking office, Gabbard has already reduced ODNI’s workforce by nearly 30%, cutting more than 500 positions. Recently, she revoked the security clearances of 37 national security officials, many of whom worked on Russia-related intelligence.

Her moves align with President Donald Trump’s broader pledge to downsize federal agencies, though critics note her actions contradict prior investigations confirming Russian interference in US elections.