US Spy Chief Gabbard Starts Task Force to Investigate Intelligence Community

Her statement said the group will also work in concert with the Department of Government Efficiency.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (L) accompanied by CIA Director John Ratcliffe (R), speaks during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing in Washington on March 25, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said she is setting up a task force to cut costs and root out what she describes as the “weaponization” of the government.

In a statement on April 8, Gabbard said the task force is designed to “rebuild trust in the Intelligence Community” and to align with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

“We are already identifying wasteful spending in real time, streamlining outdated processes, reviewing documents for declassification, and leading ongoing efforts to root out abuses of power and politicization,” she said in the statement.

Several of the moves will fall under Trump’s executive orders that established the Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting organization associated with senior Trump adviser Elon Musk, although the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not provide further details in the statement. But it did say the office is currently “identifying wasteful spending, inefficiencies, and bloated bureaucracy.”

The office said it is currently reviewing any documents for potential declassification, including details on the origins of COVID-19, “anomalous health incidents,” the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation into allegations that Trump colluded with Russia in 2016, and the Biden administration’s “domestic surveillance and censorship actions.”

The phrase “anomalous health incidents” refers to “Havana syndrome,” or unexplained and sudden symptoms such as dizziness, pain, mental difficulties, and other effects reported by the U.S. government that first occurred in 2016.

Crossfire Hurricane drew controversy among Republicans, who said it relied on false information to obtain a warrant to surveil a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page.

Trump has long decried the FBI investigation and said it was part of a longstanding witch hunt meant to harm his presidency and reelection campaign. An investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller found that Russia engaged in election interference in the 2016 election but did not find that Trump or his campaign had colluded with the Kremlin.

According to the statement, Gabbard’s task force will also root out what her office called deep-seated politicization and expose “unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence.”

The group is also working to revoke security clearances for people who “no longer have an active role in national security,” including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former President Joe Biden.

Other work includes declassifying materials related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. In March, the Trump administration declassified documents relating to the JFK assassination in 1963, in accordance with the president’s executive order issued at the start of his presidency in January.

“President Trump promised the American people maximum transparency and accountability,“ Gabbard said in the statement. ”We are committed to executing the President’s vision and focusing the Intelligence Community on its core mission.”

Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was confirmed by the Senate in February by a 52–48 vote, with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) being the only Republican to vote against her confirmation.

During her first congressional hearing after assuming office, Gabbard was asked about a Signal chat group with members of the Trump White House that included messages about strikes in Yemen. Gabbard said she had not shared any classified information outside of official channels.