Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has reportedly launched an initiative aimed at preventing bad actors from using their positions to weaponize intelligence agencies against Americans for political reasons.
The Washington Post reported that Gabbard has formed a new team called the Director’s Initiative Group (DIG) to access the chat logs and emails of US intelligence agencies. This move is intended to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order to “end the weaponization of the federal government” while dismantling DEI initiatives and revealing political bias within these agencies.
However, some have taken issue with the initiative, arguing that it would result in the department gathering sensitive information on millions of American citizens. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) characterized the initiative as an effort “to expose the truth and end the politicization and weaponization of intelligence against Americans.”
DIG has already obtained unclassified communications from the Intelligence Advanced Research Proejcts Activity and is planning to leverage artificial intelligence technology to analyze the data.
Critics who spoke with The Washington Post on condition of anonymity expressed fears that this move could compromise sensitive information while targeting employees for political retaliation. “They wanted access to everybody’s systems,” one source told the news outlet.
Other employees are hesitant about giving DIG “system administrator” level access to classified communication networks. “That’d be a treasure trove of a target for any foreign intelligence service to go after,” another source said.
One official noted that “The underlying tone and tenor” of the project “was also to find the ‘Deep State.’”
Some have criticized Gabbard for firing intelligence officials and allegedly mishandling declassified materials. They accused her of revising or suppressing intelligence findings that contradicted President Trump’s policies. “This has sent a real chilling reaction throughout the intelligence community,” said one former senior official.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) cautioned that the new team might end up “creating an echo chamber within the intelligence community or creating counterintelligence risks.”
Conversely, Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) defended Gabbard, arguing that she is “seeking to root out politicization in intelligence work.”
Shortly after taking office, Trump issued an executive order directing federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to investigate their departments to address the Biden administration’s “weaponization of the Federal Government” against political opponents.
Earlier this month, Gabbard lashed out at Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima, who contributed to the report, for “harassing” members of her staff. In a post on X, she claimed Nakashima used a “burner phone” to contact her workers while “refusing to identify herself” and “lying about the fact that she works for the Washington Post, and then demadning they share sensitive information.”
Gabbard further alleged that the reporter “harassed and stalked my family in Hawaii.”
It has come to my attention that Washington Post reporter @nakashimae appears to be actively harassing ODNI staff. Instead of reaching out to my press office, she is calling high level Intelligence Officers from a burner phone, refusing to identify herself, lying about the fact…
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) July 3, 2025
It is clear that intelligence officials fear that they might be exposed for helping to use the agency to target American citizens. Intelligence agencies have been used for nefarious purposes for decades and there can be no doubt it occurred under the Biden administration.
But concerns over the consolidation of Americans’ sensitive information are valid — the last thing we need is more warrantless surveillance on the citizenry. Still, if Gabbard’s team can root out political bias in its ranks while ensuring that privacy rights are not violated, it could be a worthy endeavor.
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