Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced a major restructuring of her agency on Wednesday, imposing a 40% workforce reduction and cutting $700 million from the annual budget of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The move, described as essential to eliminate "bloated bureaucracy" and "root out deep state actors," targets key divisions responsible for monitoring foreign influence, biosecurity, and cyber threats. Gabbard declared the intelligence community "rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks, and politicized weaponization of intelligence," asserting the cuts would restore focus to "objective, unbiased intelligence".
The overhaul eliminates the Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC), a Biden-era unit created to combat foreign disinformation campaigns targeting U.S. elections. Gabbard’s fact sheet accused the FMIC of being "redundant" and instrumentalized by the previous administration to "suppress free speech and censor political opposition". Critics, including Emerson Brooking of the Atlantic Council, countered that the FMIC was designed to resolve redundancy by coordinating intelligence across agencies. Its dissolution follows earlier Trump administration cuts to election-security entities, including the FBI’s foreign influence task force and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The downsizing extends beyond staffing cuts. At President Trump’s direction, Gabbard revoked security clearances for 37 current and former officials, many involved in Russia-related analysis accusing them of "politicizing intelligence, leaking classified information, and violating tradecraft standards". This aligns with her broader campaign to discredit intelligence assessments of Russian election interference, which she recently labeled a "treasonous conspiracy" orchestrated by the Obama administration. These claims contradict bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee findings that Russia actively worked to undermine U.S. democracy in 2016.
The elimination of the FMIC and reductions in cyber threat monitoring coincide with heightened concerns about foreign influence operations ahead of the 2026 midterms. Meanwhile, the Strategic Futures Group, which produced long-range global forecasts, was cut for allegedly "violating analytic standards to counter the president’s national security priorities".
Republican leaders like Senator Tom Cotton praised the cuts as a return to ODNI’s "original size and mission," while Democrats warned of national security vulnerabilities. Senator Mark Warner pledged "rigorous oversight" to ensure reforms do not weaken intelligence capabilities. The overhaul reflects Trump’s long-standing skepticism of U.S. intelligence agencies and follows broader administration efforts to shrink government, including cuts to the Department of Education and foreign aid. With ODNI’s workforce already reduced by 30% since Gabbard took office, the latest cuts risk impairing coordination among the 18 intelligence agencies it oversees.