‘Bloated, inefficient’: Tulsi Gabbard slashes US intelligence workforce by 40%

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

🧵 Today I’m launching ODNI 2.0 – the first step toward bringing about transformational change that is based on cutting bloated bureaucracy, rooting out deep state actors, and restoring mission focus.

When implementation is complete, ODNI will be more agile, efficient, and… pic.twitter.com/QlTa2wSr6y

— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) August 20, 2025

‘Saving taxpayers $700+ million per year’

The ODNI move which amounts to a major downsizing of the office is also expected to bring down the budget by over $700 million annually, Gabbard said.

The office was created following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and was responsible for coordinating the work of 18 intelligence agencies, including on counterterrorism and counterintelligence. “Unfortunately, two decades later, ODNI has fallen short in fulfilling its mandate,” Gabbard wrote, adding that the re-arrangement will eliminate “redundant missions, functions and personnel”.

Security clearances revoked

In another move earlier the same day, Gabbard also announced that the Trump administration has revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former US officials, accusing them of politicising intelligence and leaking classified information without authorisation.

Stating that it was the US President’s call, Gabbard directed several national security agency heads to immediately strip the officials of their clearances. The list of names of officials mentioned in the official release include those who served under former Democratic presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right. Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold. In… pic.twitter.com/23DUNuVAi0

— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) August 19, 2025

The memo did not cite specific accusations against the mentioned officials. It also remains unclear whether all 37 individuals still held active clearances, as per BBC.

“Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right,” Gabbard wrote on X.

Last month, the US administration declassified documents meant to call into question long-settled judgments about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The reorganisation is part of a broader administration effort to rethink how it tracks foreign threats to American elections, a topic that has become politically loaded given Trump’s long-running resistance to the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 election.

Foreign Malign Influence Centre to close by end of 2028

Under the proposed changes to ODNI, the Foreign Malign Influence Centre is expected to shut down operations at the end of 2028.

It was created by the Biden administration in 2022 to coordinate and integrate intelligence pertaining to malign influence. The aim was  to respond to what the US intelligence community had then assessed as attempts by Russia and other adversaries to interfere with the US elections.

On this, Gabbard said she would be refocusing the centre’s priorities, asserting it had a “hyper-focus” on work tied to elections and that it was “used by the previous administration to justify the suppression of free speech and to censor political opposition.” Officials said it has become “redundant” and that its core functions would be integrated into other parts of the government, as per Reuters.

In a fact sheet earlier, Gabbard had said the center’s job was redundant because other agencies already monitor foreign influence efforts targeting Americans.

— With inputs from Reuters, BBC