国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德(Tulsi Gabbard)宣布，在该工作组成立不到一年后，她将终止其工作。该工作组致力于改革美国情报界，包括根除她所谓的情报收集政治化问题。
加巴德于今年4月成立了该小组，同时赋予其调查削减情报支出的方法，以及是否应解密有关新冠疫情等备受关注话题的报告等任务。
加巴德在周三的一份声明中表示，自她被任命监督18个美国情报机构的协调工作以来，该工作组的工作一直被视为临时性的。
“在不到一年的时间里，我们为情报界带来了前所未有的透明度，”加巴德在声明中说，“我对透明度、真相以及消除情报界内的政治化和武器化的承诺，仍然是我们所有工作的核心。”
据加巴德办公室称，分配给该工作组的官员人数及其身份均属于机密。
加巴德办公室表示，这些官员现在将返回其他情报机构，继续开展该小组开始的工作。
该小组成立后引发了对加巴德的批评，民主党人和一些情报界内部人士质疑该小组是否会被用来破坏情报机构，并使其更紧密地受唐纳德·特朗普总统的控制。
弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员、参议院情报委员会副主席马克·华纳(Mark Warner)去年曾表示，该小组似乎是一场“猎巫行动的通行证”，旨在针对那些被认为对特朗普不忠的情报官员。
“这似乎只是一场猎巫行动的通行证，这将进一步破坏我们的国家安全，”华纳当时告诉路透社。
在过去一年中，加巴德对美国的情报收集工作进行了重大改革，包括利用情报机构支持特朗普关于所谓2016年和2020年选举干预的说法。
今年8月，她透露计划削减其办公室的工作人员，并削减超过7亿美元的年度预算。今年5月，在认定他们反对特朗普后，她解雇了两名高级情报官员。
自加巴德接任以来，联邦政府已撤销了数十名现任和前任官员的安全许可，其中包括总统的高调政治对手。批评者称这是对支持特朗普的惩罚，而非出于安全风险考量。
加巴德最近对美国联邦调查局(FBI)搜查佐治亚州一个与2020年选举有关的办公室的行为表示关注，这引发了民主党人的批评，他们认为她正在模糊外国情报收集与国内执法之间的传统界限。
中央情报局(CIA)还发布了关于其对新冠病毒起源调查的更多信息，例如去年发布的一份评估报告，确认新冠病毒最有可能起源于中国的一个实验室。
美联社对本报道有贡献。
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced she was ending the work of a task force that sought to reform the U.S. intelligence community, including rooting out what she described as the politicization of intelligence gathering, after less than a year since its creation.
Gabbard established the group in April, when it was also tasked with probing ways to reduce spending on intelligence and whether reports on high-profile topics such as COVID-19 should be declassified.
In a statement on Wednesday, Gabbard said the task force’s work was always intended to be temporary after she was tapped to oversee coordination of the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.
“In less than one year, we’ve brought a historic level of transparency to the intelligence community,” Gabbard said in her statement. “My commitment to transparency, truth, and eliminating politicization and weaponization within the intelligence community remains central to all that we do.”
The number of officers assigned to the task force, as well as their identities, are classified, according to Gabbard’s office.
The officers will now return to other intelligence agencies to continue the work the group started, her office added.
The group sparked criticism against Gabbard after its creation, with Democrats and some intelligence insiders raising questions about whether it would be used to undermine intelligence agencies and bring them under tighter control of President Donald Trump.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said last year that the group appeared to be a “pass for a witch hunt” designed to target intelligence officers deemed disloyal to Trump.
“This seems to be just a pass for a witch hunt and that’s going to further undermine our national security,” Warner told Reuters at the time.
Gabbard has implemented significant changes to the country’s intelligence gathering in the last year, including by using agencies to back up Trump’s claims about alleged interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
In August, she revealed plans to cut her office’s workforce and slash more than $700 million from its annual budget. She also fired two top intelligence officials in May after concluding that they opposed Trump.
Since Gabbard took over as director, the federal government has revoked the security clearances of dozens of former and current officials, including high-profile political opponents of the president, which critics have panned as being a punishment for siding against Trump rather than posing security risks.
Gabbard’s presence for a recent FBI search of a Georgia election office in connection to the 2020 election has led to criticism from Democrats who argue she is blurring the traditional lines between foreign intelligence collection and domestic law enforcement.
The CIA has also released additional information about its investigations into the origins of COVID-19, such as an assessment released last year that affirmed the position that it most likely originated in a lab in China.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
发表回复