Description: The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has announced that it was downsizing its budget by approximately $700 million annually after revoking the security clearances of more than 37 current and previous intelligence officers. The Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has stated that ODNI’s departments have become obsolete in tackling and combating real threats to US national security and blamed the revocation of the security clearances on the officers’ weaponization and politization of intelligence, citing claims made by intelligence officers regarding Russia’s 2016 elections interference. The most impacted department would be the Foreign Milign Influence Center which directly tracks and neutralizes disinformation and influence operations and monitors elections compliance. The move was followed by Feb’s cuts initiated by Attorney General Pam Bondi when she disbanded an FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) task force which investigated foreign influence operations.
Impact: ODNI’s budget cuts and revocation of security clearances would significantly impact US intelligence capabilities and compromise the country’s counterintelligence, counterterrorism and cybersecurity capacities. The Trump administration has enforced political persecution and censorship upon the US intelligence community and has made the entire US intelligence apparatus susceptible and vulnerable to foreign and domestic threats. Focusing on Russia’s influence and disinformation campaign in the 2016 US elections, Trump has considerably and consistently debilitated the US national security struggling to contain information which directly impacts his political standing. Geopolitical adversaries would substantially exploit similar moves conducted by the Trump administration to inflict damage to US national interests through covert operations while exploiting the reduced capacities and capabilities of the US intelligence services.