File photo: US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (Picture credit: AP)
The Trump administration has announced sweeping cuts to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), slashing its budget by over $700 million a year and reducing its workforce by more than 40%. As per news agency AP, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed the restructuring on Wednesday, saying the changes were designed to end “the weaponisation of intelligence” and restore public trust.“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 weaponisation of intelligence,” Gabbard said in a statement, as reported by AP. She added that her goal was to “provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence” to the president and policymakers.According to Politico, the initiative, described by ODNI as “ODNI 2.0”, will eliminate hundreds of jobs and consolidate several offices, including the Foreign Malign Influence Centre, the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center and the National Intelligence University. Some functions will be folded into other intelligence agencies or the National Defence University. According to Axios, ODNI staff have already been cut from around 2,000 in February, when Gabbard took charge, to about 1,500. Following this restructuring, the number will drop further to roughly 1,300. A senior official cited by Axios said that President Trump had even discussed the possibility of shutting down ODNI entirely, but Gabbard’s review concluded it still serves an “important role” in coordination.Among the most high-profile changes is the dismantling of the Foreign Malign Influence Centre, created in 2022 under President Biden to counter foreign disinformation campaigns. Gabbard claimed it had a “hyper-focus” on elections and had been used to suppress free speech. Emerson Brooking of the Atlantic Council, however, disputed that characterisation, saying the centre’s task was “supposed to solve for redundancy, not add to it,” AP reported.The overhaul has drawn sharply divided reactions in Congress. Senate Intelligence Committee chair Tom Cotton praised the move as a return to ODNI’s original mission. By contrast, Democrat Senator Mark Warner expressed doubts, citing Gabbard’s “track record of politicising intelligence,” while Representative Jim Himes called the cuts “a profound betrayal” of ODNI’s duty to protect Americans.Staff affected by the layoffs will receive 60 days’ notice, Axios reported. In total, Gabbard aims to cut $1.3 billion across all 18 US intelligence agencies in the coming years.
