Latest news with #NationalIntelligenceCouncil
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Leaked Emails Show How Tulsi Gabbard's Top Aide Pushed to Alter Intelligence Report So It Couldn't Be 'Used Against' Trump
Leaked emails show that Tulsi Gabbard's top aide urged intelligence officials to change their findings on Venezuelan gang activity in order to align with statements President Trump has made on immigration. Gabbard's acting chief of staff, Joe Kent, emailed the National Intelligence Council about their report, writing, 'We need to do some rewriting so this document is not used against [Gabbard] or POTUS.' Gabbard, who serves as the director of national intelligence, later fired two top intelligence officials over the fallout from the Gabbard's right-hand man allegedly directed a group of intelligence officials to alter their report on Venezuelan gang activity so that it would align with statements President Donald Trump has made on immigration. In newly leaked emails obtained by The New York Times, Gabbard's acting chief of staff, Joe Kent, offered the unusual instructions for the National Intelligence Council on April 3. 'We need to do some rewriting so this document is not used against the DNI or POTUS,' he wrote, with acronyms referring to Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and the president. The document in question was an intelligence assessment on the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the target of the Trump administration's most sweeping actions on immigration so far. On March 15, Trump signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has only been used three times before — all during wartime — in order to target noncitizens who can then be 'apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies.' The declaration authorized the removal of all Venezuelan citizens ages 14 and older who are not U.S. citizens or "lawful" permanent residents and were believed to be affiliated with Tren de Aragua. Trump justified his use of the act in part by implying that the Tren de Aragua are working with, or aided by, the Venezuelan government. 'TDA is undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela,' he declared in the executive order that invoked the 18th-century law. 'I make these findings using the full extent of my authority to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs under the Constitution.' However, the Feb. 26 intelligence assessment that Kent wanted to alter directly contradicted the idea that the gang was affiliated with the Venezuelan government or the Maduro regime. The National Intelligence Council — an internal think-tank that analyzes information gathered by the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency and more — concluded in both the initial and revised assessments that the Venezuelan government 'probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States.' While there was some dissent on the part of the FBI analysts who believe that 'some Venezuelan government officials facilitate TDA members' migration,' most of the intelligence community disagrees with the idea that the government as a whole is working in tandem with the gang. 'Intelligence indicating that regime leaders are directing or enabling TDA migration to the United States is not credible,' the memo said. Among other reasons to dispute the claim, the council cited a lack of evidence from spy agencies about communication and monetary exchanges that would be expected if the gang and government were working together. Related: MAGA Podcaster Dan Bongino, Who Said His Life Mission Is to 'Own the Libs,' Named Deputy FBI Director by Trump In his emails, Kent — who is currently awaiting the Senate's approval to lead the National Counterterrorism Center — also encouraged intelligence officials including Michael Collins, then the acting head of the National Intelligence Council, to emphasize the claim that the Venezuelan government was orchestrating immigration to the United States, whether or not those immigrants were gang members. 'Flooding our nation with 'migrants' and especially 'migrants' who are part of a violent criminal gang is the action of a hostile nation, even if the [government] of Venezuela isn't specifically tasking or enabling TDA's operations,' he wrote. This was also disputed in the intelligence assessment, which ultimately claimed that Venezuelan immigrants leave their own country 'voluntarily, often at great personal risk, to flee political instability and near-collapse of Venezuela's economy.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer. The White House requested the original assessment in February, though the information it contained did not stop Trump from invoking the Alien Enemies Act and starting mass deportations. After a New York Times report in late March pointed out the discrepancies between the president's statement and the intelligence assessment, Kent began emailing about altering the language in the report. According to the Times, Kent and Collins exchanged emails about 'edits' on April 3 and 4. 'Let's just come out and say TDA leaders are given sanctuary in Venezuela as their gang members commit horrendous crimes in America, then we can provide the context about our exact knowledge of the relationship between TDA and the Venezuelan government,' Kent requested, as reported by the Times. Ultimately, the final version of the memo — which was released to the public on May 5 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request — still contradicted Trump's claim about the Venezuelan government's collusion with Tren de Aragua. A week after its release, Gabbard fired Collins and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof. Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, released a statement accusing Gabbard's office of retaliation. '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,' he wrote. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Leaked emails suggest Trump appointee reportedly tried to politicize intelligence
After years of Republican apoplexy and conspiracy theories about the U.S. intelligence community allegedly politicizing information, fresh evidence suggests that it's Donald Trump's team that's doing exactly that. The New York Times reported: New emails document how a top aide to Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, ordered analysts to edit an assessment with the hope of insulating President Trump and Ms. Gabbard from being attacked for the administration's claim that Venezuela's government controls a criminal gang. 'We need to do some rewriting' and more analytic work 'so this document is not used against the DNI or POTUS,' Joe Kent, Gabbard's acting chief of staff, wrote in an email to a group of intelligence officials on April 3. For those who might benefit from a refresher, let's revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point. To justify his administration's plans to remove immigrants to a Salvadoran megaprison, the president has spent months insisting that Venezuela's government controls the Tren de Aragua gang. Among the problems with this assertion is the simple fact that U.S. intelligence has come to the opposite conclusion. In fact, the National Intelligence Council — the top entity for analyzing classified intelligence and providing secret assessments to policymakers — concluded months ago that Nicolás Maduro's Venezuelan regime is not orchestrating Tren de Aragua's operations in the U.S. Those findings might've been accurate, but they didn't sit well with Team Trump. In fact, the Times reported last week that Joe Kent — who, in addition to being Gabbard's acting chief of staff, is also the president's conspiratorial nominee to lead the National Counterterrorism Center — 'told a senior intelligence analyst to do a new assessment of the relationship between Venezuela's government and the gang.' In other words, the National Intelligence Council analyzed the classified intelligence and provided a reality-based assessment. Soon after, a Trump appointee, unsatisfied with the available facts, effectively asked the council to do it again. To hear the administration tell it, this was a routine and uncontroversial request for the most accurate available information. The latest reporting from the Times, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, pointed to emails from Kent that suggest his principal goal was to prevent a political embarrassment for Trump and Gabbard. Or as the Times' article summarized, '[T]he disclosure of his emails supports the accounts of critics who said he was applying political pressure to generate a torqued narrative that would support, rather than undermine, the administration's policy agenda.' As for why this matters, there are a few elements to keep in mind. First, there's a growing body of evidence that Team Trump is politicizing intelligence in ways that could pose dramatic risks. As The Washington Post's David Ignatius explained in his latest column, 'Telling inconvenient truths to presidents is what intelligence analysts are supposed to do. ... Sometime in the future, Trump will ask his intelligence advisers about a policy initiative — Will this work? Does it make sense? — and there won't be anyone left to give him an honest answer.' Indeed, let's not forget that after the leaders of the National Intelligence Council declined to tell the administration what it wanted to hear, Gabbard decided to fire the leaders of the council, which was ridiculous and sent a dangerous signal to other intelligence professionals throughout the government. Second, it seems increasingly obvious that the White House should pull Kent's nomination to lead the National Counterterrorism Center, sooner rather than later. And finally, let's not overlook that apparently some intelligence insiders seem eager to let the public know about these behind-the-scenes abuses. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on
Int'l Business Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Trump Official Instructed Intelligence Staff to 'Rethink' Their Reports After Conflicting With Trump's Statements: Report
A top Trump administration official pressured intelligence analysts to revise a key report that contradicted the president's public claims about Venezuelan gang activity, raising new concerns about the politicization of U.S. intelligence , according to internal emails. In February, the National Intelligence Council completed an internal assessment that found no credible evidence linking Venezuela's government to the criminal gang Tren de Aragua, despite Trump publicly declaring such a connection to justify mass deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. Trump's proclamation asserted that Venezuela was using the gang to conduct "irregular warfare" against the U.S., a claim not supported by intelligence findings, the New York Times reported. Emails reveal that Joe Kent, chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, urged analysts to revise the original report to avoid political fallout. On March 24, just days after a New York Times article exposed the contradiction between Trump's statement and the intelligence report, Kent emailed analysts to "rethink" their assessment and produce a version more aligned with "basic common sense" and the administration's policy narrative. He also suggested the Biden administration had effectively aided the gang's migration efforts through lax border enforcement. Despite revisions, the second version of the intelligence memo, completed April 7 and declassified in May, still refuted Trump's core assertion. While it acknowledged the presence of some gang members who may have received unofficial support, the report concluded that most intelligence linking Venezuela to gang-directed migration was "not credible." Gabbard later dismissed key intelligence officials involved, calling them "deep-state bureaucrats." Since then, the revelations have intensified scrutiny of political interference in intelligence work under the Trump administration. Originally published on Latin Times
Indian Express
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
US official's email on gang assessment sparks concern in intelligence agencies
A top adviser to Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, acknowledged in a March 24 email that the Venezuelan government may not have specifically directed the activities of a gang that the Trump administration has used to justify fast-tracking deportations of immigrants, but argued that a link between Caracas and the gang was 'common sense.' US President Donald Trump has used a claim that Tren de Aragua is coordinating its US activities with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to justify deportations of alleged gang members to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Some legal scholars have argued invoking the act requires a connection to a foreign government. In the email, according to a person familiar with the matter and confirmed by a second source, Gabbard's acting chief of staff Joe Kent asked for a 'rethink' of an intelligence assessment contradicting the administration's argument that Venezuela is responsible for the U.S. activities of Tren de Aragua gang members. 'I would like to understand how any IC (intelligence community) element arrived at the conclusion that the Venezuelan government doesn't support and did not orchestrate TDA operating in the U.S.,' Kent said in the email, referring to Tren de Aragua. 'Flooding our nation with migrants and especially migrants who are part of a violent criminal gang is the action of a hostile nation even if the government of Venezuela isn't specifically tasking or enabling TDA operations.' He added that analysts needed to produce a new assessment on the gang that 'reflects basic common sense.' The New York Times was the first to report on Kent's communications with the National Intelligence Council, the intelligence community's highest analytical body. Reuters is the first to publish the contents of that email in detail. The exchange underscores the extent to which Kent, a former CIA officer, pushed Michael Collins, the head of the National Intelligence Council, and other DNI officials to redo their assessment, taking into account points that had previously been articulated publicly by Trump. A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence called the timeline presented in this story 'false and fabricated,' and called Kent 'an American patriot who continues to honorably serve our country.' 'President Trump rightfully designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization based on intelligence assessments and, frankly, common sense,' said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. In his email, Kent argued that it would be logical for Venezuela, a U.S. adversary, to send gang members across the border, saying that any country seeking to harm the United States 'would naturally take their bad actors and send them to our nation.' 'When Biden announced that the border was open I think we let a quest for … direct links between the Venezuelan government and TDA obstruct basic common sense,' he wrote, adding that the National Intelligence Council needed to start 'looking at getting a new assessment written on TDA and their relationship with the government of Venezuela that reflects basic common sense.' While Trump's predecessor Joe Biden faced high levels of illegal immigration during his presidency, his administration also took steps to discourage illegal border crossings and encourage migrants to enter the U.S. legally. In subsequent emails with ODNI officials, Kent also said that Gabbard needs to be 'protected' in the rewriting process, according to two people familiar with the matter. The New York Times late Tuesday reported that in one email, Kent ordered analysts to 'do some rewriting' of the assessment and more analytical work so that 'this document is not used against' Gabbard or Trump. Kent's emails were in response to a February National Intelligence Council assessment on the subject – one of at least two in recent months – that took into consideration analysis by agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI and the National Security Agency. The first was published internally Feb. 26 and made public via reporting by the New York Times in March. It said that the intelligence community did not find that the gang was controlled by the Venezuelan government. The second, published April 7 and made public earlier this month via the Freedom of Information Act, added more context and nuance but confirmed the intelligence community's original assessment, two people familiar with the situation said. Collins, the NIC chief, was removed from his post as acting chairman of the National Intelligence Council last week along with his vice chair, Maria Langan-Riekhof. It's not clear who ordered the original intelligence assessment or why Trump later made statements that contradicted his own intelligence agencies' findings. It's common for the White House – under any administration – to ask its intelligence community to draw up reports on various national security matters. Traditionally, intelligence agencies are tasked with producing assessments without political interference or bias so the president and his top national security officials can make more informed decisions. The removals have sparked consternation in the upper echelons of the intelligence community, according to three people familiar with the matter. Both Collins and Langan-Riekhof have been accused publicly by ODNI for politicizing intelligence. But two people familiar with the situation said Kent pressured Collins to redo the initial intelligence assessment to more closely align with the administration's public rhetoric. Collins, despite that request, held firm and instead supported the spy agencies' original findings. 'It's clear that Collins got axed for just doing his job,' one former senior U.S. intelligence official said. 'Collins is respected throughout the entire community and has a long history of working on tough problems with the highest of integrity.' The people were granted anonymity so they could speak more freely about the internal deliberations surrounding the Tren de Aragua assessment.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump appointee reportedly pressed analyst to redo intelligence the White House didn't like
To justify his administration's plans to remove immigrants to a Salvadoran megaprison, Donald Trump has spent months insisting that Venezuela's government controls the Tren de Aragua gang. Among the problems with this is the simple fact that U.S. intelligence has come to the opposite conclusion. In fact, the National Intelligence Council — the top entity for analyzing classified intelligence and providing secret assessments to policymakers — concluded months ago that Nicolás Maduro's Venezuelan regime is not orchestrating Tren de Aragua's operations in the United States. This left the president with a choice: Trump could either listen to his own administration's findings, or he could keep lying. Predictably, the Republican chose the latter. But that wasn't the only thing that happened. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's highly controversial and wildly unqualified national intelligence director, decided to fire the leaders of the National Intelligence Council, the office that dared to tell the White House what it didn't want to hear. In case this weren't quite enough, The New York Times reported on some previously undisclosed behind-the-scenes details that appeared to take the controversy to a new direction. A top adviser to the director of national intelligence ordered a senior analyst to redo an assessment of the relationship between Venezuela's government and a gang after intelligence findings undercut the White House's justification for deporting migrants, according to officials. The original intelligence assessment reportedly came together in late February. According to the Times' new reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, it was in March when Joe Kent — Gabbard's acting chief of staff and the president's conspiratorial nominee to lead the National Counterterrorism Center — 'told a senior intelligence analyst to do a new assessment of the relationship between Venezuela's government and the gang.' In other words, the council analyzed the classified intelligence and provided a reality-based assessment. Soon after, members of Trump's team, unsatisfied with the available facts, effectively asked them to do it again. A re-review came to the same conclusions, and Gabbard ousted the National Intelligence Council's leadership. The administration hasn't made much of an effort to deny any of this, with a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence telling the Times that the administration's handling of the matter was 'common practice.' (The same spokesperson went on to complain about 'the deep state.') The Washington Post's David Ignatius explained in his latest column, 'Telling inconvenient truths to presidents is what intelligence analysts are supposed to do. ... Presidents never like to be told they're wrong, and they often persist in misguided policies, regardless of the evidence. But in this administration, it seems, truth-telling is a cause for dismissal.' Ignatius added, 'Sometime in the future, Trump will ask his intelligence advisers about a policy initiative — Will this work? Does it make sense? — and there won't be anyone left to give him an honest answer.' The developments come against a backdrop of Trump ignoring intelligence briefings and reports, as he moves forward with a 'major downsizing' at U.S. intelligence agencies. Let's also not forget that the president recently fired the leadership of the National Security Agency, a key intelligence gathering department, as well as the National Security Council's director for intelligence. What we're confronting, in other words, is the White House and presidential appointees aren't just feuding with the U.S. intelligence community, they're also potentially destabilizing the U.S. intelligence community. There's no shortage of scandals that have unfolded since Trump returned to power four months ago, but this absolutely belongs on the list. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on
