FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ODNI News Release No. 25-25
August 25, 2025
ICYMI: ODNI 2.0 Is The Start Of A New Era
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard unveiled ODNI 2.0, a historic transformation to refocus the post 9/11 agency on its core mission of intelligence integration and oversight.
Leaders from Capitol Hill to the Intelligence Community praised DNI Gabbard’s actions to end the weaponization of intelligence and restore mission focus.
What They Are Saying About ODNI 2.0:
- "A Senate source exclusively told Breitbart News that 'Gabbard knocked it out of the park.' 'It’s exactly what conservatives have been calling for and if this was in place at the time, the Russia Collusion Hoax never would have happened. The Republicans on SSCI [Senate Select Committee on Intelligence] are thrilled with her leadership,' the source added.”
- “ODNI 2.0 is a major redesign intended to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the DNI’s office. The changes that Gabbard is rolling out merge the decades of military, private sector, and government service that she and her team bring to the table, and have been well-received by the DNI’s career staff, many of whom emailed ideas directly to Gabbard herself.”
- “None of the developments should be surprising to those who took the president at his word. Trump returned to office promising to purge a deep state which Republicans believe was weaponized against them. And Gabbard vowed to deliver.”
- “Tulsi has had a lot of direct contact from people around the building who are super excited,” explained one senior ODNI official.
- “America's top spy agency announced it will 'rightsize' its overall footprint by cutting almost half of all its employees after President Donald Trump directed that members the 'deep state' be rooted out.”
Members of Congress on ODNI 2.0:
Chairman Tom Cotton, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: “Congress created the ODNI to be a lean organization that used small staffs to coordinate across the Intelligence Community and execute specific, important tasks. Today’s announcement is an important step towards returning ODNI to that original size, scope, and mission. And it will help make it a stronger and more effective national security tool for President Trump. I look forwarded to working with Director Gabbard to implement these reforms and provide the ODNI with the legislative relief necessary to ensure our Intelligence Community can focus on its core mission: stealing secrets from our adversaries.”
Chairman Rick Crawford, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: “I commend Director Gabbard for taking bold, unprecedented action to get at the redundancies, inefficiencies, politicization, and weaponization of the Intelligence Community. Anyone involved in the IC and intelligence oversight has known for over a decade that the ODNI has been in desperate need of reform to return the agency to its critical national security mission. This is an excellent first step in the right direction.”
Senate Republican Conference: “Senate Republicans commend @DNIGabbard for refocusing the department back to its original mission—a strong, nonpartisan IC is essential to keeping Americans safe.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.): “Republicans ran and won on draining the swamp and cutting wasteful government spending. Another promise made, promise kept from @POTUS and @DNIGabbard!”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (Okla.): “@DNIGabbard is streamlining @ODNIgov to maximize efficiency for taxpayers, maintain an elite workforce, and eliminate excess bloat to better support our nation's intelligence priorities. ODNI 2.0 will save taxpayers $700M+ per year. Strong mission-focused approach!”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.): “@DNIGabbard is transforming @ODNIgov from the inside out by cutting bloat and inefficiency. Taxpayers are expected to save $700M annually because of new efforts announced, and these changes will make our country safer and more secure.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (Ala.): “Thank you, @DNIGabbard, for eliminating waste in our government. Taxpayers deserve a focused and effective intel community.”
Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.): “Clean up on aisle Deep State. Another good move by @DNIGabbard.”
Sen. James Lankford (Okla.): “ODNI was created to oversee the intelligence community, not grow into its own bureaucracy. As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I think ODNI’s announcement is a strong first step toward restoring that original mission.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson (Texas): “ODNI 2.0 is EXACTLY the kind of bold, America First reform we need in our intelligence community. Rooting out deep state corruption and prioritizing America’s security. Director Gabbard and President Trump are doing exactly what they promised to do: DRAINING THE SWAMP!”
Rep. Ben Cline (Va.): “In recent years, Americans witnessed the intelligence community become bloated and in some cases politically. With ODNI 2.0, @DNIGabbard is reducing the size of @ODNIgov, restoring accountability, and keeping our agencies focused on serving the best interests of the American people.”
Rep. Pat Fallon (Texas): “Over the past two decades, ODNI has become severely overgrown, making it harder for it to achieve its mission in the first place--to defend Americans against present and future threats. ODNI 2.0 is exactly the sort of change we need to see in the intelligence community.”
Rep. Eli Crane (Ariz.): “The swamp is being drained.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (Tenn.): “DNI @TulsiGabbard announcing huge 40% cuts in her department. This is what we voted for!”
Rep. Claudia Tenney (N.Y.): “After years of abuse, cleaning house at ODNI is absolutely necessary. Our intel community leaked classified information, colluded with Big Tech to censor Americans, smeared President Trump with false Russia claims, & turned intelligence into a political weapon.”
DNI Gabbard on ODNI 2.0:
On why ODNI 2.0 is necessary to refocus the organization on its core national security mission:
"So the ODNI was created with a very simple purpose, a very simple but critical mission, which was to ensure that intelligence from across the intelligence community was actually being integrated, that people were talking to each other and sharing intelligence, not leaving it in silos, and to exercise oversight to make sure that the intelligence being provided to the President of the United States, to Congress, to different policy makers, was timely, relevant and a political, unbiased and objective intelligence to best inform some of the most critical decisions leaders in our country make...20 years later, here we sit now where ODNI has more than doubled in size, bloated with bureaucracy, inefficiencies and redundancies, wasting taxpayer dollars, but actually getting in the way of the mission that it was charged to do...So today's announcement is the first step to aggressively get after a core national security mission, root out those deep state actors and really focus on delivering what the American people deserve."
On ODNI 2.0's efforts to end the politicization and weaponization of intelligence:
"Obviously, you've seen what we've released over the last several weeks, of people like Obama's DNI James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan, inserting and politicizing, weaponizing, manufacturing an intelligence document for purely political reasons. This kind of thing unfortunately still exists within the Intelligence Community. The changes that I'm making at ODNI is just the very first step to bring about an end to this dangerous politicization of intelligence that ultimately is undermining our national security and our republic and make sure that the intelligence community is staying focused on its core mission and then beginning through transparency and accountability, to start to earn the trust of the American people that's been broken for a very, very long time."
On rooting out deep state bad actors through the ODNI 2.0 transformation:
"When we talk about the deep state actors, it's a term that's commonly used. Maybe folks don't always know who or what we're referring to. What I'm referring to are those who sit within our government, yes, within the intelligence community, but I can tell you, as I speak to my colleagues in the Department of Justice and the FBI and these other agencies, there are deep state actors across the federal government...who believe that their actions, their views are more important than those of elected leaders, duly elected by the American people like the President of the United States. These are dangerous people because they believe their views and opinions supersede the United States Constitution, that they all swear an oath to uphold, to support and defend, and that their views and opinions supersede those again, who are elected by the American people, specifically the President of the United States. So I'm going to do my very best every day that I have the privilege of serving our country in this role under President Trump's leadership to root out those bad actors and to try to bring about that institutional change so that this is not something that the American people are continually faced with."
Watch DNI Gabbard's media interviews on ODNI 2.0:
- Newsmax: DNI Gabbard on Rob Schmitt Tonight
- FOX News: DNI Gabbard on Jesse Watters Primetime
- FOX Business: DNI Gabbard on Kudlow
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