Tulsi Gabbard ends intelligence reform task force after less than a year

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced she was ending the work of a task force that sought to reform the U.S. intelligence community, including rooting out what she described as the politicization of intelligence collection, less than a year after its creation.

Gabbard created the group in April, when it was also charged with studying ways to reduce spending on intelligence and determining whether reports on high-profile topics such as COVID-19 should be declassified.

In a statement released Wednesday, Gabbard said the task force’s work was always intended to be temporary after she was tasked with overseeing the coordination of all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.

“In less than a year, we have brought a historic level of transparency to the intelligence community,” Gabbard said in her statement. “My commitment to transparency, truth-telling, and eliminating politicization and militarization within the intelligence community remains at the heart of everything we do.”

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced she was ending the work of a task force aimed at reforming the U.S. intelligence community. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

The number of officers assigned to the task force, as well as their identities, are classified, according to Gabbard’s office.

The agents will now return to other intelligence agencies to continue the work started by the group, his office added.

The group drew criticism of Gabbard after its creation, with Democrats and some intelligence insiders questioning whether it would be used to undermine intelligence agencies and bring them under President Donald Trump’s tighter control.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said last year that the group appeared to be a “witch hunt pass” intended to target intelligence officials deemed disloyal to Trump.

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The task force sought to eliminate the so-called politicization of intelligence collection. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“This seems like just a free pass on a witch hunt and it’s going to further undermine our national security,” Warner told Reuters at the time.

Gabbard has implemented significant changes to the nation’s intelligence collection over the past year, including tapping agencies to back up Trump’s claims about alleged interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections.

In August, she revealed plans to downsize her office and cut more than $700 million from its annual budget. She also fired two senior intelligence officials in May after concluding they opposed Trump.

Since Gabbard took over as director, the federal government has revoked the security clearances of dozens of current and former officials, including prominent political opponents of the president, in what critics have called punishment for siding against Trump rather than posing security risks.

Officers assigned to the task force will now return to other intelligence agencies. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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Gabbard’s presence during a recent FBI raid at a Georgia election office in connection with the 2020 election has drawn criticism from Democrats who argue she blurs traditional lines between foreign intelligence collection and domestic law enforcement.

The CIA has also released additional information about its investigations into the origins of COVID-19, such as an assessment released last year that affirmed the position that the virus most likely originated in a laboratory in China.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.