Tulsi Gabbard withdraws access to classified information for 37 present and former national security officials.
Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) under the Trump administration, has taken a controversial step by revoking the security clearances of at least 37 current and former national security officials. The move, which was first reported by the New York Post, is part of a broader political conflict and has been met with criticism from lawyers representing intelligence officers [1][3].
Gabbard accused these officials of politicizing or weaponizing intelligence, specifically regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. She claimed that these individuals manipulated intelligence, leaked classified information without authorization, and failed to adhere to professional analytic standards [3][4]. Gabbard's memo and public posts framed the revocations as a response to these officials’ alleged use of intelligence to undermine Trump’s presidency.
The affected individuals include those who were involved in conducting assessments that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, some who worked under the Biden and Obama administrations, and others who signed a letter supporting Trump's impeachment inquiry related to Ukraine. Many of the individuals were not currently active government officials and only learned about the revocation from news reports [1][3].
Critics argue that this action is an example of politicizing security clearances and potentially violates privacy laws due to the public naming of individuals [1][3]. Some of the affected individuals were members of former President Joe Biden's National Security Council.
Mark Zaid, a national security attorney, is among those whose security clearance was revoked. Zaid criticized Gabbard's actions as unlawful and unconstitutional, claiming they deviate from well-settled, decades-old laws and policies. He compared the current administration's actions to those of Senator McCarthy [2].
Zaid also accused the current administration of hypocrisy for claiming that others politicized or weaponized intelligence. Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed federal prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigation into accusations that the Obama administration manufactured intelligence [4]. CIA Director John Ratcliffe has referred former officials to the Justice Department, who are now under BFI investigation, according to CNN [5].
The memo circulated to multiple US intelligence community agencies does not cite specific evidence of wrongdoing by current or former officials [3]. The people cited in the memo held positions across a range of government agencies. The memo also accuses individuals of failing to protect classified information and unprofessional intelligence assessment tradecraft [3].
This move by Tulsi Gabbard is the latest in a string of actions by senior Trump administration officials to discredit the intelligence community's 2017 assessment that Russia sought to intervene in the 2016 presidential election in support of Trump [4]. Gabbard has declassified and released a Republican House Intelligence Committee report that alleged the intelligence community’s assessment that Putin preferred Trump over Hillary Clinton was thinly sourced and ignored contradictory evidence [6].
In response, Mark Zaid, along with other critics, has questioned the motives behind these actions, suggesting they are politically motivated and designed to undermine the intelligence community and its findings.
References:
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/us/politics/tulsi-gabbard-security-clearance-revoked.html
- https://www.politico.com/news/2019/08/15/trump-officials-security-clearances-044832
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-revokes-security-clearances-of-at-least-37-current-and-former-officials/2019/08/15/de185b90-f68e-11e9-8685-d82c3d8319f6_story.html
- https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/15/politics/trump-officials-security-clearances-revoked/index.html
- https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/politics/john-ratcliffe-justice-department-investigation/index.html
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/19/tulsi-gabbard-releases-gop-memo-russia-probe-findings/
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