WASHINGTON: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired two veteran intelligence officials because they oppose President Donald Trump, her office said, coming a week after the release of a declassified memo written by their agency that contradicted statements the Trump administration has used to justify deporting Venezuelan immigrants.
Mike Collins was serving as acting chair of the National Intelligence Council before he was dismissed alongside his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof. They each had more than 25 years of intelligence experience. The two were fired because of their opposition to Trump, Gabbard’s office said in an email, without offering examples.
“The director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community,” the office said.
The firings, which were first reported by Fox News Digital, follow the release of a declassified memo from the National Intelligence Council that found no coordination between Venezuela’s government and the Tren de Aragua gang. The Trump administration had given that as reasoning for invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan immigrants. The intelligence assessment was released in response to an open records request.
While it’s not uncommon for new administrations to replace senior officials with their own picks, the firings of two respected intelligence officials who had served presidents of both parties prompted concern from Democrats. US Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he’s seen no details to explain the dismissals.
“Absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the President’s political agenda, rather than truthful and apolitical,” Himes said in a statement.
Though it’s not widely known to the public, the National Intelligence Council plays a key role in the nation’s spy services, helping combine intelligence gathered from different agencies into comprehensive assessments used by the White House and senior national security officials.
Collins was considered one of the intelligence service’s top authorities on East Asia. Langan-Riekhof has served as a senior analyst and director of the CIA’s Strategic Insight Department and is an expert on the Middle East.
Attempts to reach both were unsuccessful Wednesday. The CIA declined to comment publicly, citing personnel matters.
Gabbard also is consolidating some of the intelligence community’s key operations, moving some offices now located at the CIA to ODNI buildings, her office said. They include the National Intelligence Council as well as the staff who prepare the President’s Daily Brief, the report to the president that contains the most important intelligence and national security information.
The move will give Gabbard more direct control over the brief. While the brief is already ODNI’s responsibility, the CIA has long played a significant role in its preparation, providing physical infrastructure and staffing that will have to be moved to ODNI or re-created.
Gabbard oversees and coordinates the work of 18 federal intelligence agencies. She has worked to reshape the intelligence community — eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs under Trump’s orders and creating a task force to examine ways to cut costs and consider whether to declassify material relating to COVID-19 and other topics.
Gabbard also has vowed to investigate intelligence leaks and end what she said was the misuse of intelligence for political aims.
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Gabbard fires 2 top intelligence officials and will shift office that preps Trump’s daily brief
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Gabbard fires 2 top intelligence officials and will shift office that preps Trump’s daily brief
- “The director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community”: Gabbard’s office
Japan reaffirms no-nukes pledge after senior official suggests acquiring weapons
- The unnamed official said Japan needed nuclear weapons because of a worsening security environment
- At a regular press briefing in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan’s nuclear policy had not changed
TOKYO: Japan reaffirmed its decades-old pledge never to possess nuclear weapons on Friday after local media reported that a senior security official suggested the country should acquire them to deter potential aggressors. The unnamed official said Japan needed nuclear weapons because of a worsening security environment but acknowledged that such a move would be politically difficult, public broadcaster NHK and other outlets reported, describing the official as being from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s office.
At a regular press briefing in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan’s nuclear policy had not changed, but declined to comment on the remarks or to say whether the person would remain in government. There is a growing political and public willingness in Japan to loosen its three non-nuclear principles not to possess, develop or allow nuclear weapons, a Reuters investigation published in August found.
This is driven in part by doubts over the reliability of US security guarantees under President Donald Trump and growing threats from nuclear-armed China, Russia and North Korea.
Japan hosts the largest overseas concentration of US military forces and has maintained a security alliance with Washington for decades.
Some lawmakers within Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party have said the United States should be allowed to bring nuclear weapons into Japan on submarines or other platforms to reinforce deterrence. Takaichi last month stirred debate on her own stance by declining to say whether there would be any changes to the three principles when her administration formulates a new defense strategy next year.
“Putting these trial balloons out creates an opportunity to start to build consensus around the direction to move on changes in security policy,” said Stephen Nagy, professor at the department of politics and international studies at the International Christian University in Tokyo.
Beijing’s assertiveness and growing missile cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang are “creating the momentum to really change Japan’s thinking about security,” he added.
Discussions about acquiring or hosting nuclear weapons are highly sensitive in the only country to have suffered atomic bombings, and risk unsettling neighboring countries, including China.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing worsened last month after Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan that also threatened Japan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” and trigger a military response.
At a regular press briefing in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan’s nuclear policy had not changed, but declined to comment on the remarks or to say whether the person would remain in government. There is a growing political and public willingness in Japan to loosen its three non-nuclear principles not to possess, develop or allow nuclear weapons, a Reuters investigation published in August found.
This is driven in part by doubts over the reliability of US security guarantees under President Donald Trump and growing threats from nuclear-armed China, Russia and North Korea.
Japan hosts the largest overseas concentration of US military forces and has maintained a security alliance with Washington for decades.
Some lawmakers within Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party have said the United States should be allowed to bring nuclear weapons into Japan on submarines or other platforms to reinforce deterrence. Takaichi last month stirred debate on her own stance by declining to say whether there would be any changes to the three principles when her administration formulates a new defense strategy next year.
“Putting these trial balloons out creates an opportunity to start to build consensus around the direction to move on changes in security policy,” said Stephen Nagy, professor at the department of politics and international studies at the International Christian University in Tokyo.
Beijing’s assertiveness and growing missile cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang are “creating the momentum to really change Japan’s thinking about security,” he added.
Discussions about acquiring or hosting nuclear weapons are highly sensitive in the only country to have suffered atomic bombings, and risk unsettling neighboring countries, including China.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing worsened last month after Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan that also threatened Japan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” and trigger a military response.
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