US intelligence director orders $700m in budget cuts

The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence has announced that it is cutting its workforce and reducing its budget by more than $700 million annually.

Director Tulsi Gabbard announced the changes - which will cut the workforce by 40 per cent - in a news release on Wednesday, saying the office had become "bloated and inefficient".

"The intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorised leaks of classified intelligence, and politicised weaponisation of intelligence," she said. "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."

The move amounts to a major downsizing of the office responsible for co-ordinating the work of 18 intelligence agencies, including on counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence, as President Donald Trump has clashed with assessments from the intelligence community.

Accusations of "weaponised" and "politicised" intelligence have been a major focus of Ms Gabbard since she took office, in line with one of Mr Trump's first executive orders, in which he accused former president Joe Biden's administration of using intelligence agencies to achieve political ends. The President has described investigations into those accused of involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection - including himself - as politically motivated.

Among the changes at the ODNI are adjustments to the Foreign Malign Influence Centre, which is meant to track influence operations from abroad and threats to elections. Officials said it has become “redundant” and that its core functions would be integrated into other parts of the government.

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 Mr Trump's long-running resistance to the intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 election.

This week, the Trump administration said it was revoking the security clearances of 37 current and former intelligence professionals whom it accused of politicising and manipulating intelligence.

In a post on social media, Ms Gabbard said that some intelligence officials had betrayed their oaths to the US Constitution and put their own interests ahead of those of the American people.

Many of the officials who were singled out left the government years ago after serving in both senior national security positions and lower-profile roles far from the public eye. Some worked on matters that have long infuriated Mr Trump, like the 2016 intelligence community assessment on Russian election interference. And several indicated their concerns about Mr Trump by signing a critical letter in 2019 that was highlighted on social media last month by right-wing activist, and close ally of Mr Trump, Laura Loomer.