Shortly after President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin Alaska, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard abruptly ousted a CIA expert who had helped brief Trump’s team in the lead-up to the meeting, according to several people familiar with the episode.
By naming this person in a memo last week announcing she was revoking the security clearances of several current and former intelligence officials, Gabbard appears to have identified a CIA officer who was operating under cover, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Although the employee, who CNN is not naming for her protection, has been publicly affiliated with the CIA in the past, she was under cover at the time Gabbard named her in an X post, the source said.
A person close to Gabbard disputes that the employee was under cover, citing her past public affiliation with the agency. But traditionally, intelligence officers at the CIA routinely move in and out of “covered” jobs depending on the role. They also argued that the decision to revoke this CIA employee’s security clearance had nothing to do with their work on issues related to Russia and noted the DNI planned to promote another intelligence official with similar expertise.
“Director of National Intelligence Gabbard directed the revocations to ensure individuals who have violated the trust placed in them by weaponizing, politicizing, manipulating, or leaking classified intelligence are no longer allowed to do so,” a DNI Spokesperson told CNN in a statement.
It’s not clear why Gabbard moved to effectively fire the officer. Her name was offered in a list of 37 current and former intelligence officers whose security clearances Gabbard publicly revoked because she said they had “abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.”
Some details related to the CIA employee’s ouster were first reported by the Washington Post.
The episode is the latest example of bureaucratic tension between Gabbard’s agency — which nominally leads the intelligence community — and the CIA, led by Director John Ratcliffe. Some CIA officers have complained that Gabbard, who views a core part of her mandate to be “depoliticizing” the intelligence community and has dismissed nearly 30 percent of her own agency, often acts without adequate coordination with the intelligence agencies whose personnel she is effectively purging.
The person close to Gabbard also denied that Gabbard’s announcement of the dismissal caught the CIA by surprise, arguing that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence emailed the CIA and other relevant agencies, to let them know before Gabbard posted on X. The decision was also coordinated with the White House Counsel’s office, this person added.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
