Tulsi Gabbard to fire over 100 US intel officers over sexually explicit messages

Tulsi Gabbard, director of US National Intelligence, announced the termination of more than 100 intelligence officers over their involvement in sexually explicit conversations on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) ‘Interlink’ messaging platform. Calling the act an “egregious violation of trust”, Gabbard also said that the security clearances of the officers would be immediately revoked.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, she said, “There are over 100 people from across the intelligence community that contributed to and participated in what is really just an egregious violation of trust. What to speak of, like basic rules and standards around professionalism.”

“I put out a directive today that they will all be terminated, and their security clearances will be revoked,” she added.

Gabbard said the intelligence officers were “brazen in using an NSA platform intended for professional use to conduct this kind of really, really horrific behaviour”.

Later, in a tweet, she further said, “We know who they are. Action is underway.”

In a statement after Gabbard’s announcement, the NSA said it was “aware of posts that appear to show inappropriate discussions” by intelligence personnel and confirmed that a probe was currently underway.

“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 tweeted.

The news of the sexually explicit messages was first reported by conservative activist Christopher Rufo.

According to Rufo, the messages originated from the “LBTQA” and “IC_Pride_TWG” hosts on the Interlink platform that focused on the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiative.

Earlier on Tuesday, DNI spokesperson Alexa Henning said that several intelligence agencies were directed to identify the individuals by Friday.

“The DNI sent a memo directing all intelligence agencies to identify the employees who participated in the NSA’s ‘obscene, pornographic, and sexually explicit’ chatrooms and to terminate their employment and revoke their security clearances,” she tweeted.