Trump Pressures CIA: Revenge and Chaos Strike at the Heart of US Intelligence
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The United States (US) intelligence community is reportedly shaken by chaotic leadership, politicisation, and revenge-based dismissals during President Donald Trump’s era.
Intelligence officials are frustrated because the truth from their reports is often ignored or twisted to support Trump’s policies, including claims about Iran’s nuclear threat.
The Economist interviewed various current and former intelligence officials. They described the intelligence community—the collective term for 18 US intelligence agencies—as a group shaken by revenge-based dismissals, chaotic leadership, and politicisation.
“Morale is very low,” said one source, quoted from The Economist.
There are several reasons why the atmosphere is so bad. The most obvious is that spies should convey the truth to their superiors.
Under Trump, this is not always accepted. For example, on 18 March 2026, Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, presented the office’s annual threat assessment to Congress.
In her written notes, Gabbard stated that the US attack on Iran last year had “destroyed” Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme, and Iran was “not attempting” to rebuild it.
This statement undermined Trump’s rationale for war with Iran, namely the claim that the country was only two weeks away from having a nuclear bomb. Gabbard deliberately omitted that line from her oral testimony.
The day before, Joe Kent, a MAGA (Make America Great Again) loyalist who leads the National Counterterrorism Centre in Gabbard’s office, resigned in protest against the war, stating there was no intelligence supporting Trump’s claim that Iran posed an “imminent nuclear threat”.
As a note, “Make America Great Again” is a popular political slogan used by Donald Trump since his 2015-2016 presidential campaign.
When pressed on this, Gabbard, who has long opposed war with Iran, refused to take responsibility.
“The only person who can determine what constitutes an imminent threat or not,” she replied, “is the president.”
This statement shocked thousands of US intelligence officials, considering that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was founded in 1947 to prevent strategic surprises like the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The second issue is Trump’s revenge agenda. His administration has dismissed many intelligence officials without reason other than their involvement in investigations related to Trump, such as alleged Russian interference. Last year, a senior Russian official at the CIA and the head of data scientists at the NSA (agency handling signals intelligence) were dismissed.
Many senior CIA officials retired earlier than expected, while their subordinates left their positions at high rates.
The Economist noted that two officials at the Americas Mission Centre, the assistant director and deputy assistant director, recently left, shortly after Trump’s attack on drug ships in the Caribbean and Pacific.
This was a campaign involving the CIA and considered illegal by many parties.
“Any suggestion that they retired due to disagreements with the administration’s policies is completely untrue,” said an official.
The third issue is that intelligence is now considered less important.
When asked if Trump receives daily intelligence briefings like previous presidents, Ratcliffe evaded and said instead that Trump is briefed 10-15 times a week.
Many CIA analysts are frustrated, not only because their work can be twisted, but also because there is little demand for that intelligence.
John Ratcliffe’s (CIA director) public emphasis on intelligence collection as the core of the CIA’s business, rather than objective analysis of what is collected, is seen by some analysts as an insult.
However, this does not mean that operations officers—field spies who recruit agents and carry out missions—are happy.
Many might be pleased to be posted to Caracas and Tehran.
“This year, the CIA is projected to recruit and place more officers than in the last 25 years,” said Ratcliffe.
However, many officers are still annoyed with the reforms launched by John Brennan (CIA 2013-2017 in the Barack Obama era), which mixed operations officers with analysts in 11 new “mission centres”.
Many senior officials were pushed out. This change drastically reduced the power of the directorate of operations and created a top-down bureaucracy that is easier for Trump to control.
Some CIA directors promised to reverse the reforms but failed.
During the Trump era (2017-2021), dozens of senior and mid-level CIA officials resigned or were forced out.
Sources say more than 50 CIA officials were directly affected by Trump’s revenge policies or restructuring, including several senior officials like the head of NSA data scientists and officials at the Americas Mission Centre.
Many of them retired earlier than expected or left their positions due to conflicts with administration policies.
In March 2025, the US was also shocked by intelligence issues.
US District Judge Anthony Trenga blocked the Donald Trump administration’s efforts to dismiss intelligence agency employees who previously worked on DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) programmes.
Trenga issued a temporary order requiring affected employees at the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to continue receiving pay while they appeal the dismissals and seek new assignments within their agencies.
Outside the CIA, Trump often dismisses officials.
The most sensational dismissal event in the Trump 2.0 era was on 24 January 2025, or just four days after he was inaugurated.
On the night of Friday, 24 January 2025, Trump sparked major controversy by dismissing around 17 Inspectors General (IG) from various federal agencies in one go.