Latest news with #MariaLanganRiekhof
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Tulsi Gabbard fires intelligence officers who contradicted Trump
Tulsi Gabbard fired two senior intelligence officials who contradicted Donald Trump's claims about Tren de Aragua (TdA). Ms Gabbard, the United States director of national intelligence (DNI), removed the two national intelligence council figures behind an assessment concluding the gang was not being controlled by the Venezuelan government. Mr Trump has previously claimed the group's operations were directed from Caracas and represented a de facto invasion of the US, allowing him to invoke wartime legislation to summarily deport alleged gangsters. Michael Collins, the acting chairman of the NIC, and its vice-chairwoman, Maria Langan-Riekhof, have now been sacked by Ms Gabbard, NBC News reported on Thursday. Both are said to have been veteran intelligence officials with decades of experience. 'Unable to provide unbiased intelligence' It is unclear whether Mr Collins and Ms Langan-Riekhof personally worked on the memo which contradicted Mr Trump, but it is likely they would have overseen such a significant assessment. The memo was released by Ms Gabbard's office in response to a freedom of information request by the Freedom of the Press Foundation in April. 'While Venezuela's permissive environment enables TdA to operate, the... regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TdA and is not directing TdA movement to and operations in the United States,' it read. One official told NBC News that Ms Gabbard 'dismissed these individuals because they were unable to provide unbiased intelligence'. However, Alexa Henning, Ms Gabbard's deputy of chief, said the pair were dismissed 'because they politicised intelligence'. A DNI spokeswoman said Ms Gabbard was 'working alongside president Trump to end the weaponisation and politicisation of the intelligence community'. Laura Loomer, the Right-wing activist who successfully lobbied Mr Trump to sack national security officials last month, has previously attacked Mr Collins as a 'leaker… working against president Trump'. Several senior officials have been pushed out of their posts by the Trump administration over perceived disloyalty. Col Susannah Meyers, the head of the US military's Greenland base, was sacked for distancing herself from controversial comments by JD Vance when the vice-president visited the autonomous Danish territory. The vice-president claimed on the trip in March that Denmark had effectively abandoned Greenland to China and Russia. Col Meyers sent a message to personnel saying the comments were not 'reflective' of the base, and was subsequently removed from her post. A Pentagon spokesman said at the time: 'Actions [that] undermine the chain of command or to subvert president Trump's agenda will not be tolerated at the department of defence.' Col Sheyla Baez Ramirez, the commander of Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, was sacked in April after refusing to install pictures of Mr Trump, Mr Vance and Pete Hegseth, the vice-president, on a wall displaying the chain of command. Mr Trump has suffered a series of court defeats around the country over his attempts to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has only been invoked during wartime, to deport alleged TdA members. However, a Pennsylvania district court judge on Tuesday became the first to back his administration. Stephanie L Haines ruled the legislation did not require an invasion by an enemy nation to be used, although she said migrants designated for deportation would need 21 days' notice and a chance to appeal.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Gabbard fires officials who released memo contradicting Trump's Venezuela gang claims
Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, has fired the two highest-ranking officials at the National Intelligence Council (NIC) just weeks after the council released an assessment that contradicted Donald Trump's justification for using the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process. 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 the US president, Gabbard's office said in an email on Wednesday, 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 follow the release of a declassified memo from the NIC 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 filed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The latest round of intelligence firings comes as Gabbard and her team aim to eliminate what they view as bias and inefficiency within the intelligence community. On Twitter/X, Gabbard's deputy chief of staff, Alexa Henning, said the NIC officials, whom she referred to as 'Biden holdovers', were removed for 'politicizing intelligence'. 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 has prompted concern. US congressman 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 country'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 on 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 buildings for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), 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. Sign up to First Thing Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 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 recreated. 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 taskforce 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. The Associated Press contributed reporting
Arab News
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Gabbard fires 2 top intelligence officials and will shift office that preps Trump's daily brief
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.
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Gabbard fires top officials for alleged leaking after assessment on Venezuela contradicts Trump
Tulsi Gabbard is battling 'politicization' of the American intelligence community by firing top career officials on a senior team for allegedly leaking to the media. Fox News first reported the firings of two National Intelligence Council officials on Tuesday. Mike Collins, the council's acting chair, and his top deputy Maria Langan-Riekhof were the targets of the latest purge. A dozen others are reportedly under suspicion of leaking and are undergoing internal investigations. Gabbard is also set to bring the National Intelligence Council to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in McLean, Virginia, for oversight purposes, reported Fox News. The right-leaning news network further reported senior officials telling Fox that Collins was under an investigation for allegedly 'deliberately undermining the upcoming Trump administration' dating from the transition period. The official separately depicted his deputy, Langan-Riekhof, of being a champion for DEI-related efforts, while giving no examples. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that the pair were potentially targeted for a different reason: issuance of a memorandum that firmly rejected the Trump administration's political narrative surrounding immigration and violent drug-related crime hailing from Venezuela. The White House and other administration officials have insisted that Tren de Aragua, a violent drug cartel targeted by the Trump administration's rhetoric as the government ramps up deportation operations nationwide, is operating with the assistance and possible direction of Venezuela's government. But a document first reported by the Post last week states that 'the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with [Tren de Aragua] and is not directing [Tren de Aragua] movement to and operations in the United States.' The memo, a 'Sense of the Community Memorandum', was issued by the National Intelligence Council and authored by the National Intelligence Officer for the Western Hemisphere. The document was largely unsparing in its criticism of the Maduro government, which the U.S. does not recognize as the winner of legitimate elections. It called the Venezuelan government unable to control the extent of the country's territory and generally willing to cooperate with armed groups to ensure security. It also highlighted the role that low-level government officials take in facilitating Tren de Aragua's operations and profiting from the gang's illicit businesses. In some cases, the document said, low-level military and federal officials may cooperate with Tren de Aragua in some instances, like a 2023 prison raid in which the gang's leadership escaped, but in general was dismissive of a core part of the MAGA-world narrative: the description of migration through the US southern border as an 'invasion' from Venezuela or other countries. 'Venezuela's permissive environment allows Tren de Aragua to operate,' the intelligence community's assessment read. But it continued: 'the [intelligence community] has not observed the regime directing [Tren de Aragua] to push migrants to the United States.' The Post reported that there was no indication that either Collins or Langan-Riekhof had a 'direct role' in the memorandum's publication. But Gabbard's deputy chief of staff denied that premise entirely on Wednesday as she responded to a Post reporter who tweeted that the firings came after 'the council authored an assessment that contradicted Trump's rationale for invoking the Alien Enemies Act'. The administration's use of that law, passed in 1798 to regulate the activities of noncitizens during wartime, marks only the fourth time it has been invoked in the nation's history. 'No one from ODNI told you that, so of course you inject your own politically motivated opinion. That's wrong but who cares about facts, right? These Biden holdovers were dismissed because they politicized intelligence,' tweeted Alexa Henning, Gabbard's deputy chief of staff. Gabbard's efforts to weed out officials suspected of leaking to the media — a problem that vexed Trump and his team during his first presidency — has gone on for weeks, if not longer. "It takes time to weed them out and fire them," one ODNI official told Fox News, describing Gabbard's enemies as "career bureaucrats that are entrenched in Washington politics,' and ' Deep State holdovers' supposedly responsible for "trying to sabotage President Trump's agenda." Staffers on her team separately told Fox News in late April that Gabbard issued criminal referrals for three senior intelligence community officials to the Justice Department for allegedly leaking classified information to reporters at the Post and another news outlet; it wasn't immediately clear if those referrals included Collins and/or Langan-Riekhof. "Politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation's security at risk and must end," said Gabbard in April. "Those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. [...] These deep-state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes to undermine President Trump's agenda."
CNN
14-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Gabbard fires two senior intelligence officials focused on assessing threats to US
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top two career officials leading the National Intelligence Council, the senior most analytical group in the intelligence community whose job it is to understand and assess the biggest threats facing the United States. Gabbard fired Mike Collins, the acting chair, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, on Tuesday, a spokesman confirmed to CNN. The dismissals come as Gabbard has vowed to root out what she has described as politicization of the intelligence community, and launched a war on leaks to the media that critics say is hollowing out the intelligence community of needed expertise from experienced professionals. Jonathan Panikoff, a former intelligence official who served on the NIC and has worked with both people, said Collins is 'an unbelievable professional who's served selflessly for 30 years and is a real China expert,' and Langan-Riekhof 'is not just a strategic thinker but an unbelievably gift analyst. 'The Director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the Intelligence Community,' the Office of the Director of National Intelligence spokesman said in a statement. CNN has reached out to Collins and Langan-Riekhof through an intermediary because their contact information was not immediately available. The dismissals come shortly after the ODNI — which Gabbard leads — released a declassified assessment from the NIC about the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua that undercut the Trump administration's key argument for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to speed up deportations, the key provisions of which had already leaked to the media and which Gabbard has said is under investigation. Gabbard, when asked about the assessment, blasted the media for 'twisting and manipulating intelligence assessments to undermine the president's agenda to keep the American people safe.' It's not clear whether the two episodes are linked in any way — but Gabbard's crackdown on authorized disclosures to the media has been a key pillar of her broad efforts to do what she has described as depoliticizing the intelligence community. Gabbard recently told conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly that there are 11 internal investigations into unauthorized disclosures to the media and said that she has referred three cases to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution. 'Really what is happening when they do that is they're undermining our democracy because what they're doing… is saying, 'I'm doing what's best for the country and I know what's better for the country than the majority of the American people who chose this duly elected president,' Gabbard told Kelly. 'The only way we bring about accountability is by doing the work of conducting these investigations.'
