Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, is also a National Guard Lt. Colonel, who has served two tours in the Middle East. She has proved to be a solid and ethical choice for President Trump’s DNI, restoring credibility to our badly damaged intelligence services.
During the Obama and Biden’s Handler’s years, manipulating and politicizing intelligence was a feature, not a bug. Not so for Gabbard, who has previously pulled security clearances from Obama and Biden officials who betrayed the public trust, and arguably national security. And she’s not done. She recently pulled the security clearances of 37 additional officials:
A DNI memo sent out on Monday included the names of officials who worked at the CIA, NSA, State Department and National Security Council, including former Obama DNI James Clapper, who Gabbard claimed told officials to "compromise" normal procedures to rush a 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment related to Russia's influence in the 2016 election.
Graphic: X Post
Clapper, the former DNI, now under criminal investigation for lying to Congress among other potential offenses, has recently admitted he has “lawyered up.” Clapper has previously admitted lying to Congress.
Gabbard’s complete memo may be found here.
Notable officials on the list include Brett M. Holmgren, former assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research; Richard H. Ledgett, former NSA deputy director; Stephanie O’Sullivan, former principal deputy director of National Intelligence; and Luke R. Hartig, former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council.
Also included was Yael Eisenstat, a former CIA officer and White House advisor known for her involvement in the Facebook election integrity operation.
Gabbard noted this was done at Trump’s direction. Those named have been immediately terminated from access to all materials, systems and facilities.
Security clearances aren’t a right, they’re a privilege. There are many jobs in the military and the rest of the government that require clearances. If one doesn’t pass, no matter how otherwise well qualified they are, they don’t get the job. That’s how the system is supposed to work, but it’s reasonable to believe many people who should never have been granted clearances got them under Obama and Biden’s Handlers. During those years, it appears willingness to ignore the law and push Democrat priorities, particularly if they were improper, broke the law, or weren’t in America’s interests, was the primary qualification.
Former government employees commonly rely on their security clearances to make them marketable on the boards of defense contractors and other companies. Losing a security clearance and the access it provides can be an enormous financial, reputational loss.
That’s why what Trump is doing is smart, not only in terms of protecting national security and restoring some measure of credibility to our intelligence agencies, but in pursuing prosecutions of those who have genuinely broken the law. Whenever Republicans pursue investigations against Democrats, they cry “political retribution,” because it’s different when they do the same thing. In these cases, every prosecution the DOJ is pursuing is apparently based in actual crimes, not manufactured lawfare.
It's possible some of those who have lost their security clearances and who are being investigated are innocent, or sort of innocent. If so, they ought to have a strong incentive to prove their innocence by telling the FBI/DOJ everything they know about people who aren’t innocent. That reality certainly isn’t lost on AG Pam Bondi, DNI Gabbard or President Trump, who are surely expecting just that sort of soul cleansing. Even some Democrat true believers are likely to develop a desire to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth when they’re facing felony convictions and the loss of any ability to make a lucrative living in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed.
Without Trump, Bondi and Gabbard none of this would be possible.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.