Gabbard ends intelligence reform task force after less than a year of work

WASHINGTON — After a little less than a year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is ending the work of a task force she created to look at big changes to the U.S. intelligence community.

The panel known as the Director's Initiative Group was formed in April and charged with rooting out what Gabbard called the politicization of intelligence gathering. The group also studied ways to reduce spending on intelligence and whether reports on high-profile topics like COVID-19 should be declassified.

The group became a lightning rod for criticism of Gabbard, with Democrats and some intelligence insiders questioning whether it would be used to weaken spy agencies and bring them under the control of President Donald Trump.

In announcing the end of the group's work Wednesday, Gabbard said it was always intended to be a temporary effort as she began her work overseeing coordination of the nation's 18 intelligence agencies. Reuters first reported the winddown.

“In less than one year, we’ve brought a historic level of transparency to the intelligence community," Gabbard said in a statement. “My commitment to transparency, truth, and eliminating politicization and weaponization within the intelligence community remains central to all that we do.”

The number and identities of the officers assigned to the group is classified, Gabbard's office said, adding that they now will return to other agencies to continue the work begun by the group.

Gabbard has ushered in big changes to America's intelligence service, at times using the nation's spy agencies to back up Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2016 and 2020 elections.

Under Gabbard, the government has revoked the security clearances of dozens of former and current officials as well as declassified documents meant to call into question long-settled judgments about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Her presence at an FBI search of a Georgia election office related to the 2020 election has prompted criticism from Democrats who say she is blurring the traditional lines between foreign intelligence gathering and domestic law enforcement.

The CIA also released more information about its investigations into the origins of COVID-19, including a new assessment released last year that found COVID most likely originated in a lab.

In August, Gabbard announced plans to reduce the workforce at her office and trim more than $700 million from its annual budget. In May, she fired two top intelligence officials because she determined they opposed Trump.