Dispute between intelligence agencies threatens US security

The CIA, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, has stopped contributing to some intelligence assessments, including those related to the war with Iran, produced by the office of the country's top spy official, as disputes over intelligence sharing and areas of responsibility intensify, according to people familiar with the matter.

Internal conflicts between the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) have been escalating for more than a year, straining collaboration on national security reviews that U.S. presidents have long relied on to deal with complex foreign policy challenges, said a U.S. official and three people with direct knowledge of the situation.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters.

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At the center of the disagreements is a working group created in April 2025 by Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, the sources said.

The CIA, led by Director John Ratcliffe, maintains that the Director's Initiative Group, created by Gabbard, has acted recklessly by circumventing traditional protocols for sharing and declassifying intelligence information, two of the sources said.

ODNI authorities claim that the CIA has systematically blocked the group's access to intelligence information.

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The breakdown of collaboration between intelligence agencies comes at a delicate time for the Trump administration, with the United States embroiled in conflict with Iran and facing national security challenges ranging from China's military expansion to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The episode also suggests that reforms implemented after the attacks of September 11, 2001 - which created the position of Director of National Intelligence to coordinate the 18 US intelligence agencies - failed to eliminate the system's dysfunctions.

"ODNI should be the oil that keeps the wheels of the system running and ensures the continuous flow of information within the intelligence community, removing roadblocks," said Beth Sanner, former deputy director of National Intelligence during President Donald Trump's first term.

"When this doesn't happen, it creates the possibility that agencies will simply retreat into their own isolated compartments, increasing the risk of intelligence failures."

Gabbard said last week that she will step down as Trump's top intelligence officer on June 30, citing her husband's illness.

Trump said Tuesday that he was nominating the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, as acting director of national intelligence.

"Intelligence agencies continue to provide the president and policymakers with the best information and analysis," said Olivia Coleman, ODNI spokeswoman, adding that ODNI and agencies under its oversight "communicate and collaborate daily with CIA counterparts across the full spectrum of intelligence products and operations."

The Director's Initiative Group "operated within the oversight authorities of the ODNI and in support of the president's executive orders," Coleman said.

Reuters reported in February that Gabbard had shut down the group's activities and reassigned its staff to other roles within the agency, amid congressional scrutiny over its activities.

"Under Ratcliffe's direction, the CIA quickly advanced President Trump's priorities, with a more aggressive agency taking calculated risks to outmaneuver our adversaries and give the United States a decisive advantage," said Liz Lyons, CIA Director of Public Affairs.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump's "foreign policy of peace through strength is a tried-and-true approach that keeps America safe and discourages global threats," and that media efforts to sow division at home would fail.

"President Trump has full confidence in his entire exceptional national security team," Ingle said.

Less cooperation on intelligence assessments
The CIA's decision to significantly reduce its contributions to assessments produced by Gabbard's office is one of the most serious consequences of the mutual distrust between the agencies.

The CIA has been one of the main responsible for the reports produced by the NIC (National Intelligence Council), the main US intelligence analytical body. These reports are of great relevance, especially in times of war.

Two of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter said assessments on Iran - where the US military has been involved since February - are among those in which the agency has failed to regularly participate.

Now, the CIA and ODNI operate largely as two separate analytical operations, sources said.

At one point last year, the CIA, in response to friction between the two agencies, stopped publishing NIC reports on the internal intelligence community distribution service it controls, temporarily limiting access to analytical products, the sources said.

A US official said the reports were only withheld for "a few hours" due to a "processing issue."

The friction between the agencies began shortly after Gabbard took office in February 2025, the four sources said.

Among her first actions, she claimed to have tighter control over the production of the daily intelligence briefing for the president, according to the sources. The CIA traditionally played a leading role in compiling this highly classified daily summary of intelligence reports prepared for the president.

The relationship deteriorated further with the creation of the Director's Initiative Group to "eradicate" the alleged politicization of the intelligence community, according to the sources.

The group also worked to declassify documents related to the assassination of former President John F.

Kennedy, in addition to investigating the security of electronic voting machines and the origins of COVID-19.

Critics, including some former intelligence officials, say the group was created as a tool to exact retaliation against Trump's perceived political adversaries.

At various times, task force members pressured the CIA to share information and materials needed to complete investigations assigned by ODNI, but believed that not enough material had been provided, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Dismissal of CIA agents
In May 2025, Gabbard removed two senior CIA officers who led the NIC.

An intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal government matters, said ODNI removed the two "because they created a toxic work environment, as documented in an employee survey, and because they had a history of politicizing intelligence."

The employee did not present evidence to substantiate these allegations.

In August, Gabbard revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former employees, in the process revealing the identity of an undercover CIA agent operating abroad.

Gabbard accused the 37 of politicizing and leaking intelligence information, but provided no evidence.

Former officials and others said the move was in part retaliation for a 2017 intelligence assessment that indicated Russia had used an extensive influence operation to interfere in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump.

Tensions between the CIA and ODNI came to a head last month when a CIA agent assigned to the Director's Initiatives Group told a Senate committee that the agency had blocked the group's access to information about the origins of COVID-19.

That dispute triggered an investigation by the inspector general of the intelligence community, an independent body linked to the ODNI, said two people with knowledge of the investigation.

Reuters was unable to determine the extent of the investigation.

Source: CNN