Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday she ordered the firing of more than 100 intelligence officers who allegedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations in the National Security Agency internal chat rooms.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said she has ordered the firing of over 100 ... [+]
In an interview with Fox News’ Jesse Waters, Gabbard said over 100 people “from across the intelligence community that contributed to and participated in what is really just an egregious violation of trust.”
The top U.S. intelligence official told Waters that the workers in question were “brazen in using an NSA platform intended for professional use to conduct this kind of really, really horrific behavior.”
Gabbard said she “put out a directive” on Tuesday ordering these workers to be terminated from their roles and have their security clearances revoked.
Right-wing activist Christopher Rufo had first reported on the matter on X earlier on Tuesday, noting that the DNI sent out a memo ordering all intelligence agencies to identify the employees involved in these chats.
Gabbard responded to Rufo’s tweet saying the memo has been sent and added: “We know who they are. Action is underway.”
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While Gabbard did not offer any details about what exactly was said in these messages, her spokesperson Alexa Henning said on X that the memo targets “employees who participated in the NSA's ‘obscene, pornographic, and sexually explicit’ chatrooms.”
In a post on X, the National Security Agency wrote: “NSA is aware of posts that appear to show inappropriate discussions by IC personnel. IC collaboration platforms are intended to drive mission outcomes. Potential misuse of these platforms by a small group of individuals does not represent the community. Investigations to address this misuse of government systems are ongoing.”