A sharp divide at the top of America’s national security apparatus is bursting into public view as the FBI has told Congress it ‘strongly’ opposed a plan that would hand the nation’s counterintelligence reins to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The bureau reportedly warned lawmakers against expanding the authority of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a letter obtained by the New York Times showed.
Gabbard’s office would gain sweeping new power under the proposal that was shot down by Congress – highlighting growing unease and division across federal agencies.
Gabbard’s team reportedly planned to promote the changes putting them in another letter. In its note, the FBI challenged claims from Gabbard’s office that the broader intelligence community was unified in backing a plan that would place her office at the forefront of counterintelligence operations.
The letter from the FBI added to the growing evidence of strain reported between Gabbard and leaders at other intelligence agencies, particularly FBI Director Kash Patel.
The FBI letter, though unsigned, was confirmed by administration officials to have Patel’s backing before being sent. It pushes back on several counterintelligence roles that Gabbard would assume, employing phrases such as ‘vigorously disagrees with’ and ‘strong objection.’
The letter warns that one of the proposed changes would ’cause serious and long-lasting damage to the US national security.’
In a joint statement to Daily Mail, a spokesperson from Gabbard’s office emphasized that they were working together, saying, ‘The ODNI and the FBI are united in working with Congress to strengthen our nation’s counterintelligence efforts to best protect the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.’
An intelligence community official also tells Daily Mail that the FBI’s letter is a ‘preemptive response’ to an ODNI process document. ‘It was drafted as a part of interagency coordination. Deliberative process documents are not final products. Any time there is a disagreement in opinion across the intelligence community, ODNI denotes the discrepancy in final products and accounts for it in all materials before it reaches Congress or others in the Administration.’
According to officials familiar with the matter, the House proposal would effectively place all counterintelligence operations across the nation’s intelligence agencies under Gabbard’s control.
Hellbound and Down 