Her statement said the group will also work in concert with the Department of Government Efficiency.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said she is setting up a task force to cut costs and root out what she said is “weaponization” of the government.
In a statement on Tuesday, Gabbard said that the task force creation 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“We are already identifying wasteful spending in real time, streamlining outdated processes, reviewing documents for declassification, and leading ongoing efforts to root out abuses of power and politicization,” she said in the statement.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 (DOGE), a cost-cutting organization associated with senior Trump adviser Elon Musk, although the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) did not provide further details in the statement. But it did say that the office is currently “identifying wasteful spending, inefficiencies, and bloated bureaucracy.”
The ODNI said that it is currently reviewing any documents for potential declassification, including details on the origins of COVID-19, the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation into allegations that Trump colluded with Russia in 2016, “anomalous health incidents,” and the Biden administration’s “domestic surveillance and censorship actions.”
Anomalous health incidents refer to “Havana Syndrome,” or unexplained and sudden symptoms such as dizziness, pain, mental difficulties, and other symptoms reported by the U.S. government that first occurred in 2016.
Crossfire Hurricane drew controversy among Republicans, who said that 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 colluded with the Kremlin.
Gabbard’s task force will also root out what it called “deep-seeded politicization” as well as expose “unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence,” according to the statement.
