Tensions rise between Gabbard and CIA chief after her disclosure of undercover officer's name, insiders say

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Aug. 30, 2025, 2:42 PM EDT


Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard blindsided CIA leaders last week when she disclosed the name of an undercover CIA officer on a list of people she stripped of security clearances, multiple current and former intelligence sources said.

The move alarmed the agency’s workforce, the sources said, and is the latest example of simmering tensions and crossed signals between Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The two have clashed previously over her decisions, including earlier this month when Gabbard declassified a lightly redacted document related to Russian election interference.

Two former government officials said their read of the situation is that Gabbard is under pressure to regain President Donald Trump’s confidence. Gabbard fell out of favor with Trump and his aides earlier this year after she posted a video and delivered testimony about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

But the tensions between Gabbard and Trump seem to have subsided for now. When Gabbard announced the security clearance removals last week, she said some of the 37 current and former officials were engaged in “politicization or weaponization of intelligence” and that she was acting on the president’s orders.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/tulsi-gabbard-cia-director-john-ratcliffe-rcna223285

[Irish_Dem]

1. If CIA agents are blindsided by Tulsi, then they are failures at their jobs.

Everyone else knows she is a Russian asset except them.

And any classified list of agents they hand her may result in the death of those agents/assets.

[erronis]

2. Guess I am misunderstanding your comment.

If I'm undercover, working somewhere for many years and developing my intelligence network, and then have some two-bit dumb-ass-kisser exposing me and my position, then why wouldn't I be blindsided?

Sure, I know that the vagaries of politics on the Potomac and elsewhere, but to have a russian asset (gabbard) working for another russian asset (rrump) pull the rug out from under me...

It's also very difficult for some intelligence operatives to just decide to leave their post and go back "home". Many of them are actually part of the local community and perhaps government.


And why-the-fuck is everybody calling this bimbo by her first name? It seems like everyone wants to be her friend.

[Irish_Dem]

3. I am specifically addressing the widespread comment that the CIA is "blindsided"

by TG's behavior. Acting surprised that a Russian agent is compromising their agents.

So either the CIA is lying or incompetent.

The correct answer would have been that the CIA is not surprised in the least
that a Russian agent appointed to high US office by Trump is compromising agents
and they have already taken appropriate safety precautions.

BTW CIA agents can and did quit their jobs the last time Trump came into office.
They knew what would happen. They are not stupid. In fact they are quite smart
in most cases and can find other work.

[erronis]

4. Agree. I guess I was taking The CIA to mean its personnel, not the "Company".

[Montauk6]

5. Aloha 'Oe (vey)

[Pas-de-Calais]

6. Let them have a match

Isn’t there a WWW match at the WH being scheduled?

[popsdenver]

7. Nothing new

think about Cheney/Rumsfeld outing CIA Agent Valerie Plame, just out of revenge, for something her husband said......
Within 24 hours, people were dropping around the world because of that......

[jaymac]

9. again!

Republicans again do the treacherous thing. Republicans.....yeah, those guys who are always pointing at us and saying democrats will ruin our country, spend too much money, are too weak. Hegseth, Gabbard, RFK............Republicans. A vote for a republican is a vote against the safety of our country and our people.

[travelingthrulife]

10. Yeah. I thought since Plame this was an A-ok thing to do.

None of the GOP was against exposing undercover operatives back then.

[popsdenver]

13. Do you also recall that Trump, HIMSELF

exposed the identities of several of the Team Six? Seals, by circulating a picture of all of their faces on AFOne? In effect, it probably ended the covert careers of those Seals........or at least their belonging to the U.S. Navy Special Warfare Unit.........

[NBachers]

8. This is what routinely happens when republicans are in office.

[FakeNoose]

11. An undercover agent could be anyone - it could be your best friend or next door neighbor

What protects them and keeps them alive is the CIA's promise that their status as an undercover agent will never be revealed by the US government. We all know what could happen if that promise should ever be broken. Tulsi Gabbard needs to resign now!

[popsdenver]

14. She, and countless other Republican Politicians

should be brought up on Charges of Treason and Sedition.............starting with Cheney, Rumsfeld, WBush, etc for their actions in 1980 and so many others for their actions beyond...1980.......

[FakeNoose]

15. Yes, it's a long litany of traitors...

[Martin68]

12. A total clown show. But angering the intelligence community is a dangerous thing to do.