Interestingly, just a few days before Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, took control of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) away from the CIA, Gabbard also made a move that is just as consequential and directly related.
It is pretty clear now the NIC was in the middle of a domestic Intelligence Community operation against the Trump administration when Tulsi Gabbard intercepted it (we hope with support from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, but we are not sure). {GO DEEP} It is clear from the comments by SoS/NSA Rubio, that several media outlets were poised and awaiting leaks from the NIC in anticipation of fulfilling their role to advance the operation. [SEE HERE] DNI Gabbard essentially quashed their plan.
(Credit: Conservative Treehouse)
However, I was not aware that it was pushed into the public sphere where DNI Gabbard had taken control of the Presidential Daily Brief simultaneous to her confrontation with the NIC operation. [NYT LINK, Archive] I am writing this update to inform and also ensure the CTH library has a reference point for future discussions. Please familiarize yourself with the citations above as well as two very important outlines.
#1 – The unrealized power of the DNI and the possibilities for Trump’s appointed Director of National Intelligence, if a particular process was followed {GO DEEP}. #2 – The actual purpose of the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB), as well as the modern weaponization of it by the CIA. {GO DEEP}. Those two citations are important context to understand a very visible dynamic taking place.
On the same day that DNI Tulsi Gabbard took control of the PDB away from the CIA, DNI Gabbard also removed the National Intelligence Council from the CIA. This is very good news and highlights both President Trump and DNI Gabbard understanding the unrealized potential power of the DNI that we have discussed on these pages.
Confronting a weaponized Intelligence Community is a key facet of interest for us because it is a core component battle against the main tools of the Fourth Branch of Government. The IC influence is in every policy related to Trump’s domestic and foreign agenda. Taking control and neutering the capabilities of the IC and CIA specifically, is a key undertaking.
With the horrible National Security Advisor Mike Waltz removed, and with Marco Rubio taking control of the National Security Council, now the moves by DNI Tulsi Gabbard begin to take on a much more deliberate context. Now I can be somewhat more optimistic about what we are seeing unfold, albeit it will likely remain unnoticed by almost all other reviewers of politics. Y’all are well aware the need for this IC confrontation has long been one of my biggest focuses.
The article is within the New York Times, which means the anonymous sources are from within the DHS/DNI (domestic IC) apparatus.
NYT – Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, is moving the assembly of the president’s daily intelligence brief from the C.I.A. headquarters to her own complex, according to officials briefed on the move.
The brief, a summary of intelligence and analysis about global hot spots and national security threats, is overseen and presented to the president by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. But C.I.A. officers write much of the analysis in the document and produce it, pulling together articles and graphics on the agency’s classified computer systems.
Ms. Gabbard’s decision comes as President Trump has openly mused to aides over time about whether the office she leads — which was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to improve interagency coordination — should continue to exist, according to two people with knowledge of his remarks. Ms. Gabbard has discussed Mr. Trump’s concerns with him directly and has considered how to overhaul the office, according to one official.
(…) The C.I.A. memo said that while the directorate of analysis role in supporting the daily brief would evolve, “we will remain laser-focused on the president’s and Director Ratcliffe’s priorities and our core mission — generating and delivering insight with impact, free from political or personal bias.”
It is not clear how many C.I.A. personnel assigned to the P.D.B., as the brief is called, and to the National Intelligence Council will move. People familiar with the matter, who were not authorized to discuss internal concerns publicly, said a number of employees at the agency were looking for new assignments to avoid moving to Ms. Gabbard’s office. (Link, non-Paywall Archive)
The DNI position comes as an outcome of The Patriot Act and as I have repeatedly said, that position has never been fully functionalized. In essence, the DNI can be more powerful than all of the feeder elements into the intelligence apparatus.
The ODNI was formed in 2004, with the intent for the office to be the pivot point of a national security radar. The DNI was intended to provide information to domestic agencies about foreign terror networks that would prevent something like 9-11 from happening again. However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has never, not for one day, operated on this intent. This is why they are such a critical position from my perspective.
I said in August of 2024, “The DNI can make the FBI, DOJ, DOJ-NSD, DoD, DoS and CIA provide anything and everything they demand. Instead of the other silos using blocks and threats against the office of the President, use the authority of the DNI to get them without confrontation. Then use the DNI to declassify the documents (if requested by potus), instead of the originating silo.
Can you see how the DNI office can be repurposed to be a seriously strong weapon in the toolbox of the President, against the schemes of those inside the various IC silos? The DNI becomes much more important than the CIA Director, NSA Director, FBI Director, Attorney General, etc, because the DNI can just show up and say, “give me this.” That’s the whole functional purpose of the DNI office that has never been exerted; let’s flippin’ use it.
Let’s use the office of the DNI as the central information hub that takes information from inside the corrupt silos, then provides that information to the President who puts sunlight upon it. Each corrupt silo penetrated with disinfectant. This could begin a process to pull down the shadow operations and let the American public see what has been happening inside our IC apparatus.”
It would appear that President Trump and Tulsi Gabbard are doing exactly that, and I am extremely pleased/thankful to see this plan of action in place.
Now, there’s another element to this. The Dept of Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, reports directly to President Trump. However, for all material intents and purposes of the post-911 design, the DHS Secretary also reports to the Director of National Intelligence, that’s Tulsi Gabbard.
The DHS Secretary directly controls the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). Do you remember the story of Tulsi Gabbard being targeted by the Joe Biden DHS/TSA under the “Quiet Skies” operation? All of that information is at the fingertips of DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
So, I will leave you to think of this with a little optimism. Here is Tulsi Gabbard today discussing how Joe Biden defined “Domestic Violent Extremists,” and also a discussion about her own personal targeting on the “Quiet Skies” watch list.
Keep in mind, ODNI Tulsi Gabbard has access to every document, note, list and detail of the TSA program that targeted her. Tulsi Gabbard knows exactly who put her on the watch list, when, why and how, as well as who else was/is targeted under this program.