The end of the Director’s Initiative Group comes as Gabbard continues overseeing coordination across the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies, according to her office’s statement reported by The Associated Press. The panel was created in April and, in Gabbard’s description, was meant to look at large changes to the U.S. intelligence community and to address what she said was politicization in how intelligence is gathered.
The group, known as the Director’s Initiative Group, was also tasked with studying ways to reduce spending on intelligence and with evaluating declassification questions involving high-profile topics, including COVID-19, AP reported. In its work, the panel became a focal point for criticism of Gabbard, with Democrats and some intelligence insiders questioning whether the initiative was intended to weaken spy agencies and bring them under the control of President Donald Trump.
AP reported that Gabbard announced Wednesday that she was ending the group’s work, and said the effort was designed from the start to be temporary as she took on the role of overseeing the coordination of U.S. intelligence activities. In a statement, she said: “In less than one year, we’ve brought a historic level of transparency to the intelligence community,” and added that her “commitment to transparency, truth, and eliminating politicization and weaponization within the intelligence community remains central to all that we do.”
Gabbard’s office said the number and identities of the officers assigned to the group are classified. The office said those personnel will return to their other agencies to continue work that the group began.
The task force’s winddown reflects the broader controversy surrounding Gabbard’s tenure at ODNI, AP reported, including criticism tied to her use of intelligence agencies in support of claims she has made about the 2016 and 2020 elections. AP also reported that under Gabbard the government revoked security clearances of dozens of former and current officials and declassified documents intended to challenge long-settled judgments about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Democrats have also criticized Gabbard for her presence at an FBI search of a Georgia election office connected to the 2020 election, according to AP, who reported that critics said she was blurring the traditional line between foreign intelligence gathering and domestic law enforcement. AP further reported that the CIA released more information about investigations into the origins of COVID-19, including a new assessment released last year that found COVID “most likely originated in a lab,” and that the controversy over intelligence decisions has included questions about how and when information is made public.
Separately, AP reported that Gabbard in August announced plans to reduce the workforce at her office and trim more than $700 million from its annual budget. In May, AP reported, she fired two top intelligence officials after she determined they opposed Trump.
In addition to the staffing and budget changes, the end of the Director’s Initiative Group sets a new timeline for Gabbard’s stated reform effort—moving from a centralized task force toward continued work within individual agencies, with personnel returning to their prior roles while the ODNI director remains in charge of coordinating the intelligence community.