Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that security clearances for 37 current and former officials were revoked over allegations they politicised or mishandled intelligence, including in the Obama-ordered 2017 assessment on Russian influence in the US election.
According to an August 18 ODNI memo obtained by the New York Post, the officials’ access to classified systems, facilities, and materials was terminated "forthwith," with any government contracts or employment ended immediately.
Among those stripped of clearances were ex-Principal Deputy DNI Stephanie O’Sullivan and Vinh Nguyen, a former top aide under then-DNI James Clapper. Both worked on the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), which asserted Russia favoured Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
The report has since been widely disputed.
Nguyen, who later became the NSA’s first chief AI officer under Trump, was cited in recent investigations as having played a role in drafting the ICA.
"Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right," Gabbard said.
"Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold."
The revoked clearances also include officials who signed a 2019 statement backing Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into Trump.
Samantha Vinograd, a Biden-era Homeland Security official, Andrew P. Miller, a former Obama NSC member, and Loren DeJonge Schulman, an ex-adviser to Susan Rice, were among those named.
Gabbard has declassified records showing that Clapper, then-CIA Director John Brennan, and then-FBI Director James Comey pushed the ICA despite warnings from veteran officers to exclude the now-debunked Steele dossier.
She has described the process as a "treasonous conspiracy" to undermine Trump’s 2016 win.
Since taking office, Gabbard has also released a House Intelligence Committee report challenging the Obama-era assessment.
A review by CIA Director John Ratcliffe described the ICA process as "chaotic," "unconventional," and potentially politically motivated.
The Department of Justice has opened a grand jury investigation into Brennan, Comey, and Clapper over the Russia-gate probe, according to US media.
