New in SpyWeek: High Drama as Tulsi Nips at CIA, NIC in Bid to Save Agency

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Trump mulls scrapping ODNI, triggering Kabuki-like plays in the administration

TULSI’S GAMBIT TO SAVE ODNI: This week brought a flurry of sudden firings and relocations at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, now helmed by former Hawaii Democrat-turned-Trump loyalist Tulsi Gabbard. Officially, it’s all about “deep state leaks” and “politicization,” but let’s be real—that’s just cover. What’s actually happening? Gabbard is in full turf-defense mode, trying to save her office (and her team) as Trump openly toys with scrapping ODNI altogether. According to The New York Times, the president has “openly mused” about axing the post-9/11-era agency, long seen as a bureaucratic fifth wheel in the 18-agency intel tractor. Gabbard, reportedly in direct talks with Trump, is now scrambling to rebrand and restructure ODNI. And some scramble it is. 

THE PURGE: Nothing pleases the boss like frog marching members of the “deep state” out of the building. And that’s what Gabbard virtually did this week by firing the top officials running the National Intelligence Council because she didn’t like their facts. Mike Collins, the acting NIC chair and China expert, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, were both shown the door Tuesday, accused of “politicizing intelligence.”