The CIA has stopped helping with some intelligence reports, including those on the Iran war, as disputes over information‑sharing and responsibilities escalate, according to people familiar with the issue.
The feud between the CIA and ODNI has disrupted collaboration for more than a year, undermining national security analyses long relied upon by presidents to navigate foreign crises, said a US official and three sources with direct knowledge, reports Reuters.
At the centre of the dispute is a task force launched in April 2025 by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s team argues the Director’s Initiatives Group bypassed traditional intelligence‑sharing and declassification protocols, while ODNI officials accuse the CIA of blocking access to information.
The breakdown comes as the Trump administration confronts the Iran conflict, Chinese military expansion, and Russia’s war in Ukraine. It also highlights persistent dysfunction despite post‑9/11 reforms meant to unify the 18 US intelligence agencies.
Beth Sanner, a former deputy DNI, said ODNI is meant to “keep the arteries of the intelligence community flowing” but warned that failure to do so risks agencies retreating into silos and setting the stage for intelligence failures.
Beyond ODNI assessments, the CIA continues to channel intelligence directly to the president through the highly classified Presidential Daily Brief.
Gabbard, citing her husband’s illness, announced she will step down 30 June. Trump has named Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte as acting DNI.
ODNI spokeswoman Olivia Coleman insisted agencies “communicate and collaborate daily” with CIA counterparts, while CIA Public Affairs Director Liz Lyons said Ratcliffe’s agency has aggressively pursued Trump’s priorities to outmaneuver adversaries.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump’s “peace through strength” policy remains intact and that the president has full confidence in his national security team.
The CIA’s pullback from ODNI assessments is among the most serious consequences of the feud. Sources said the agency no longer regularly participates in reports on Iran, and at one point withheld National Intelligence Council products from internal distribution.
The friction began soon after Gabbard took office in February 2025, asserting tighter control over the Presidential Daily Brief and creating the Director’s Initiatives Group to root out politicization.
The group also pursued probes into election security, COVID‑19 origins, and JFK assassination documents — moves critics saw as politically motivated.
Tensions escalated when Gabbard ousted two senior CIA officers in May 2025, later stripped clearances from 37 officials, and exposed the identity of an undercover officer. Critics linked the actions to past assessments of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Last month, a CIA officer told a Senate panel the agency blocked the group’s access to COVID‑19 intelligence, prompting an inspector general investigation.
Two people with knowledge of the matter said the dispute has prompted an investigation by the intelligence community inspector general’s office, an independent watchdog within ODNI.
