The head of American intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has decided to shut down the activities of a key working group that monitored foreign interference and influence operations. This was reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
Details
The decision to liquidate the unit, which specialized in detecting disinformation and covert campaigns by foreign states, is explained by Gabbard's desire to reduce the "politicization" of intelligence.
According to the director, resources should be redirected to combating real threats to the physical security of the state, and not to analyzing media flows and social networks. She has repeatedly criticized previous approaches to assessing foreign influence, calling them tools of internal political struggle.
The group's activities are being curtailed against the backdrop of Gabbard's statements about the need to reform the system of daily reports for the president. The new format should be more compact and focused on specific facts, which corresponds to Donald Trump's style of information perception. Critics of this decision warn that the lack of specialized monitoring could make the US more vulnerable to hybrid attacks from China, Russia, and Iran.
Reaction of the intelligence community and lawmakers
Gabbard's initiative met with a mixed reaction in the Capitol. Representatives of the Republican Party support the reduction of the bureaucratic apparatus and the "cleansing" of intelligence from ideological layers. At the same time, Democrats express concern that the liquidation of the group will leave the country unprotected from digital threats during the election period and weaken coordination between various special services.