WASHINGTON – Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced on Aug. 19 that President Donald Trump had directed her office to revoke security clearances from 37 former intelligence officials for “politicizing and manipulating intelligence.”
“Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right. Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold,” she wrote in an X post that contained a memo her office had sent out. “In doing so, they undermine our national security, the safety and security of the American people and the foundational principles of our democratic republic.”
The former officials who are all accused of “leaking classified intelligence without authorization,” include Biden administration officials Emily Horne, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, and Dilpreet Sidhu, who served as a deputy chief of staff at the National Security Council.
Last month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report that claimed to demonstrate how the former President Barack Obama and his national security Cabinet had “manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup” against Trump after he had defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Obama’s office dismissed the claims as another example of the constant “nonsense and misinformation” that emanates out of the White House.
“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” Obama’s office said in a statement on July 22. “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
Rubio now serves as Trump’s secretary of state.
On his first day in office, Trump revoked the security clearance of his former national security adviser John Bolton as well as his Secret Service protection.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 37 former intel officials lose security clearance on Trump’s order
