Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired more than 100 intelligence officers from 15 agencies for using a government chat platform for discussions that included topics such as sexuality, gender transition surgery and politics.
The affair emerged after Christopher Rufo, a conservative commentator for the City Journal, published what he called transcripts of the conversations, obtained from a source inside the NSA. The conversations included political discussions, in which some people criticized Gabbard and celebrated the death of preacher and former 1988 Republican primary candidate, Pat Robertson.
Gabbard said the conduct of the fired intelligence officers represented “a blatant breach of trust” and violated “basic rules and standards regarding professionalism.” According to a social media post by her spokeswoman, the director of national intelligence sent a memo ordering all agencies in the field to identify employees who participated in the chat rooms, fire them and revoke their security clearances.
Gabbard told Fox News that the layoffs are part of a broader initiative to flush out wrongdoers in spy agencies and restore public confidence in the intelligence community.
The director further added: “So today’s action and holding these individuals accountable is just the beginning of what we’re seeing across the Trump administration, which is carrying out the mandate the American people gave him, clean house, root out that rot and corruption and weaponization and politicization”.
The National Security Agency also intervened in the matter, saying it was “aware of posts that appear to show inappropriate discussions” by intelligence personnel and that the case is being investigated.
“Potential misuse of these platforms by a small group of individuals does not represent the community. Investigations to address this misuse of government systems are ongoing,” the agency informed.
Elon Musk, head of DOGE, charged by Trump with reducing the federal bureaucracy, also spoke out on the episode. The world’s richest man winked before the layoffs involving intelligence agencies, stating on X: “MAJOR house cleaning needed.”
