Tulsi Gabbard fires more than 100 intelligence officers over messages in a chat tool

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired more than 100 intelligence officers from 15 agencies for using a government chat platform for discussions that included topics like polyamory, gender transition surgery and politics. 

“I put out a directive today that they all will be terminated and their security clearances will be revoked,” Gabbard told Fox News on Tuesday.

The chat tool was overseen by the National Security Agency, according to Gabbard. Each intelligence agency has internal collaboration chat tools, former intelligence officials said.

Gabbard said the fired intelligence officers’ conduct represented “an egregious violation of trust” and violated “basic rules and standards around professionalism.”

Christopher Rufo, a conservative commentator who writes for City Journal, first reported the existence of the chats. Rufo posted what he said were transcripts of the conversations, which he said were obtained from a NSA employee and a former employee.

Gabbard, according to a social media post by her spokeswoman, sent a memo directing all intelligence agencies to identify the employees who participated in the chatrooms and to terminate their employment and revoke their security clearances. 

The transcripts included some political discussion, including a few people criticizing Gabbard and three people celebrating the death of televangelist and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson in 2023.

Gabbard told Fox News the terminations were part of a wider effort to ferret out bad actors in the spy agencies and restore the public’s trust in the intelligence community. 

“So today’s action and holding these individuals accountable is just the beginning of what we’re seeing across the Trump administration, which is carrying out the mandate the American people gave him, clean house, root out that rot and corruption and weaponization and politicization,” she said. 

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Elon Musk, the billionaire helping oversee President Donald Trump’s effort to slash the size of the federal workforce, referred to Rufo’s disclosures in a social media post, writing: “MAJOR house cleaning needed.”

In a post on X, the National Security Agency said it was “aware of posts that appear to show inappropriate discussions” by intelligence personnel and that the case is under investigation. 

“IC (intelligence community) collaboration platforms are intended to drive mission outcomes. Potential misuse of these platforms by a small group of individuals does not represent the community. Investigations to address this misuse of government systems are ongoing,” it said.

Separately, Gabbard’s office and the CIA have sought to fire dozens of intelligence officers who had temporary assignments working on diversity programs. A federal judge has ordered the intelligence directors to put the imminent dismissals on hold while he reviews the action. 

The officers have asked to be reassigned and their lawyer has questioned the legality of their planned firing, arguing the intelligence agencies have violated government regulations providing a degree of due process.

The judge is expected to rule on that case on Thursday.