OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:38 PM – Thursday, August 21, 2025
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard announced that her agency, which she described as “bloated” and “rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and the politicized use of intelligence,” will be reduced by over 40% — saving approximately $700 million annually.
Gabbard emphasized that her agency has been “plagued by partisanship,” and she now aims to refocus the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on its core mission of providing unbiased and timely intelligence to support national security objectives.
On Thursday, Gabbard announced the launch of “ODNI 2.0,” marking the “first step toward bringing about transformational change that is based on cutting bloated bureaucracy, rooting out deep state actors, and restoring mission focus.”
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The Trump administration DNI described the cuts as “long-overdue” and essential for eliminating offices that politicize intelligence — a concern Gabbard highlighted in her recent disclosure of the former Obama administration’s purported weaponization of intelligence.
On Wednesday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued a press release confirming that the cut will “Reduce ODNI by over 40% by the end of fiscal year 2025 and save taxpayers over $700 million per year.”
The change will also “enable ODNI to focus on fulfilling its critical role of serving as the central hub for intelligence integration, strategic guidance, and oversight over the Intelligence Community.”
“Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence,” Gabbard stated.
“ODNI and the [Intelligence Community] must make serious changes to fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the U.S. Constitution by focusing on our core mission: find the truth and provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence to the President and policymakers. Ending the weaponization of intelligence and holding bad actors accountable are essential to begin to earn the American people’s trust, which has long been eroded,” she continued.
Gabbard emphasized that ODNI 2.0 “is the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.”
The ODNI was created in response to the intelligence failures revealed by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The 9/11 Commission specifically recommended stronger coordination across the intelligence community. Under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, it was also established to improve the sharing of intelligence among agencies like the CIA, FBI, NSA, and others, which historically operated with a high degree of independence.
A fact sheet released by the ODNI reveals that Gabbard is eliminating the External Research Council and the Strategic Futures Group, “both of which operated as hubs for injecting partisan priorities into intelligence products.”
The shift also includes “refocusing functions” in the Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC), the National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Center (NCBC), and the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC).
The fact sheet stated that the FMIC was utilized by the previous Biden administration “to justify the suppression of free speech and to censor political opposition.” ODNI pointed to one example regarding Twitter, now known as X, removing The New York Post’s 2020 Hunter Biden laptop story from its platform.
“FMIC (then the Election Threats Executive) had coordinated with the company, and other Big Tech platforms like Facebook and Google, on their responses to the story – all under the guise of combating foreign influence activities,” the fact sheet read. The imminently defunct External Research Council (ERC) “consisted of politically appointed partisans who brought their external biases and politics into the intelligence process from a senior advisor role.”
“The ERC was created late in 2024 towards the end of the prior administration by partisan former [National Intelligence Council] leadership, who have already been removed by DNI Gabbard for leaking classified information to reporters.”
The proposed operational changes will “ensure intelligence is relevant, timely and unbiased to inform decisions and action – policy, diplomatic, economic, military, etc.”
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