Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday announced major changes to her office.
ODNI 2.0, as she calls it, will reduce bloat by more than 40 percent and save taxpayers more than $700 million per year. Over 500 staffers have already been cut since her first day, a fact sheet said.
ODNI was created after the horrific Islamist terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, exposed systemic failures across the Intelligence Community (IC). Its purpose was to integrate intelligence from and provide oversight over all IC elements (currently 18) in order to ensure the intelligence provided to the President and policymakers is timely, accurate, and apolitical.
Unfortunately, two decades later, ODNI has fallen short in fulfilling its mandate. […]
ODNI 2.0 eliminates redundant missions, functions and personnel, and makes critical investments in areas that support the President’s national intelligence priorities, and focuses on rebuilding trust, exposing politicization and weaponization of intelligence, holding bad actors accountable, saving American tax dollars, and focusing on our core mission: protecting the safety, security, and freedom of the American people. (DNI)
🧵 Today I’m launching ODNI 2.0 – the first step toward bringing about transformational change that is based on cutting bloated bureaucracy, rooting out deep state actors, and restoring mission focus.
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) August 20, 2025
When implementation is complete, ODNI will be more agile, efficient, and… pic.twitter.com/QlTa2wSr6y
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“Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence,” said Gabbard. “ODNI and the IC must make serious changes to fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the U.S. Constitution by focusing on our core mission: find the truth and provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence to the President and policymakers. Ending the weaponization of intelligence and holding bad actors accountable are essential to begin to earn the American people’s trust which has long been eroded. Under President Trump’s leadership, ODNI 2.0 is the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.”
.@DNIGabbard: “Today’s announcement is the first step to aggressively get after our core national security mission, root out those Deep State actors, and really focus on delivering what the American people deserve.” https://t.co/fCbmEAYvLL pic.twitter.com/eaFIOrGp3z
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 20, 2025
As Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and others remarked, the move is an "important step towards returning ODNI to [its] original size, scope, and mission."
🚨 Good news: @DNIGabbard is streamlining @ODNIgov to maximize efficiency for taxpayers, maintain an elite workforce, and eliminate excess bloat to better support our nation's intelligence priorities.
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) August 21, 2025
ODNI 2.0 will save taxpayers $700M+ per year. Strong mission-focused approach! https://t.co/s3YGrtEUYB
After two decades in national security, I have witnessed firsthand how waste and weaponized agendas can detract from our core mission. I applaud the leadership of @POTUS and @DNIGabbard for restoring @ODNIgov's mission focus and championing our Constitution to reclaim American… https://t.co/0HdQBqBRIo
— Aaron Lukas (@DepDNILukas) August 20, 2025
Editor's Note: The Trump administration is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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