Tulsi Gabbard’s efforts to seize control of counterintelligence from the FBI have hit an unexpected roadblock: the Trump White House.
According to a new report in The Atlantic, a senior administration official confirmed that the Trump administration opposes transferring the FBI’s counterintelligence responsibilities to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the agency Gabbard leads.
Gabbard has long accused the intelligence community of being a “deep state” hostile to Trump, labeling leaders in the intelligence apparatus “traitors to the Constitution” who sought to undermine the president. Over the past year, she has revoked security clearances and pushed to consolidate authority over counterintelligence operations within her office, The Atlantic noted.
“Counterintelligence, the work of catching foreign spies, has long been the FBI’s bailiwick, and the bureau is vehemently opposed to the transfer,” the publication reported Friday. “But Gabbard’s office seems to believe that the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division is irredeemably politicized—which is to say anti-Trump.”
Her push, however, has struggled to gain traction. The FBI, under Trump loyalist Kash Patel, has resisted giving up power, and White House aides reportedly see Gabbard as a “non-player” within the MAGA administration.
A memo reviewed by The Atlantic highlights the internal struggle over counterintelligence authority, with feedback from the FBI, the National Security Council and Gabbard’s own office. The document warns that “if we do nothing, the same deep state actors who have egregiously weaponized counterintelligence for political purposes will be empowered.”
But so far, the White House appears uninterested in any major reorganization.
“The administration is opposed to the transfer of counterintelligence responsibilities from the FBI to the ODNI,” a senior administration official told The Atlantic.