发布时间：2026年2月5日，美国东部时间凌晨5:00 / CNN政治版
作者：[肖恩·林加斯]
发布时间：2小时前
标签：图尔西·加巴德、国家安全、唐纳德·特朗普、联邦机构
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国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德在2025年7月23日白宫新闻发布会上。
肯特·西村/路透社/档案照片
上周，在国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德出现在联邦调查局（FBI）搜查佐治亚州一处选举办公室后，遭到部分选举官员的强烈批评。加巴德在周一给民主党议员的一封信中，援引了一系列情报法律和政策为自己的行为辩护。
“我的到场是应总统的要求，并在我广泛的法定权限范围内执行的，该权限用于协调、整合和分析与选举安全相关的情报，包括反情报（CI）、外国和其他恶意影响以及网络安全，”加巴德在信中写道。一位白宫官员证实，特朗普总统确实要求加巴德前往亚特兰大参与此次搜查。
但几位前高级情报官员和选举法专家告诉CNN，加巴德对此次FBI搜查并无法律权限，而且她出现在福尔顿县（Fulton County，联邦探员在那里查获了2020年选举的选票），可能会削弱水门事件后建立的外国和国内情报活动之间的关键界限。
“如果你让人们相信情报界在国内玩政治游戏，那后果很糟糕，”一位前高级反情报官员表示，“我不希望看到类似教会委员会（Church Committee）揭露的那种滥用职权的情况重演。”
这里的“教会委员会”指的是20世纪70年代中期美国参议院对联邦调查局（FBI）、中央情报局（CIA）和国家安全局（NSA）侵犯公民自由行为的调查，该调查促成了限制间谍机构权力的新法律。
FBI探员于1月28日在亚特兰大郊外的福尔顿县执行了搜查令，并查获了2020年选举中使用的选票。
佐治亚州长期以来是特朗普所谓“2020年选举被操纵”虚假主张的核心地区——这一说法已被众多法院判决和审计报告驳斥。
除了加巴德在佐治亚州的行动外，她的办公室此前还曾获取波多黎各使用的投票机，以调查其安全漏洞，她的发言人在周三晚间向CNN证实了这一点。
一名FBI雇员站在福尔顿县选举中心内，FBI人员查获福尔顿县2020年选举选票，2026年1月28日，佐治亚州联合市（Union City），靠近亚特兰大。
迈克·斯图尔特/美联社
“加巴德在信中援引了一系列与外国势力活动相关的权威，但实际上并没有将这些权威与任何具体指控联系起来，甚至表示她没有看到搜查令或其依据的证据，”这位前反情报官员表示（与其他几位官员一样，因担心受到特朗普政府的报复而要求匿名）。“那么，她到底在那里做什么？这毫无意义，除非这是政治性的。”
加巴德表示，她办公室的总法律顾问认为她的行动符合其合法权限，并且特朗普已责成她的办公室“根据我的法定权限采取一切适当行动，确保我们选举的完整性”。
国家情报总监负责监督情报界的其他17个机构；但该职位并不具备执法机构的调查权，也不具备其他间谍机构在现场采取秘密行动的“操作”权限。因此，加巴德在执法行动中出现，让那些在情报和选举领域工作数十年的人士感到困惑。
“尽管加巴德在信中有所表述，但由政治任命的国家情报总监绝对没有权限或理由在县选举办公室的搜查令执行过程中到场，”无党派非营利组织“选举创新与研究中心”（Center for Election Innovation and Research）的执行董事、选举法专家大卫·贝克尔（David Becker）表示。
“你能想象如果拜登政府的国家情报总监出现在海湖庄园（Mar-a-Lago）执行搜查其机密文件的任务时，特朗普的辩护律师会有多么愤怒吗？而现在这位辩护律师已经是副检察长了，”贝克尔补充道。
白宫周二为加巴德的到场辩护。新闻秘书卡罗琳·利维特（Karoline Leavitt）表示，特朗普“指派”加巴德“监督我们美国选举的神圣性和安全性”，并且她“正在直接与联邦调查局局长合作”。
“我认为总统指派一名内阁成员去处理大多数人希望解决的问题，这没什么不妥，”她说。
但加巴德的“权限仅限于协调对选举中潜在外国干涉的审查。这并不赋予她操作权限，也不包括查看选举选票，”一位前高级情报界律师告诉CNN。
参议院情报委员会的最高民主党成员马克·华纳（Mark Warner）参议员已要求加巴德在委员会面前宣誓作证，说明她出现在福尔顿县的情况。该委员会主席、共和党参议员汤姆·科顿（Tom Cotton）周二被问及对加巴德在福尔顿县行动的看法时，仅简单表示“不（评论）”。
曾领导参议院情报委员会两党调查俄罗斯2016年试图影响美国总统选举活动的艾米丽·哈丁（Emily Harding）表示，议员们可以向加巴德提出一些有揭示性的问题。
“我想问问加巴德，是什么外国证据为搜查令提供了依据，以及这些证据是如何传达给福尔顿县的，”现任职于战略与国际研究中心（Center for Strategic and International Studies）的哈丁表示。
“首先，国家情报总监只有在存在外国关联的情况下才应参与，”她补充道。“如果存在这种关联，那这就是一个联邦调查局的（反情报）案件，这是该局最敏感的工作之一。除非有确凿的证据，否则他们不会向任何人透露这些案件的情况。”
这位前政府律师补充道，在评估俄罗斯2016年影响选举的活动时，美国情报机构并未就莫斯科的行动是否影响选举结果表态，因为干涉选民偏好超出了间谍机构的权限。
2019年，时任国家情报总监丹·科茨（Dan Coats）任命了一名“选举威胁主管”，即一名高级情报官员，专门负责关注对选举的外国威胁。一位前高级情报官员表示，官员们谨慎地将这一角色定位为分析威胁，而非直接介入选举基础设施。
国家情报总监办公室的“职责是向国内官员通报外国威胁，而非确保选举安全——确保选举安全是州和地方官员的职责，”这位前情报官员表示。“情报界不应该介入国内选举事务。”
加巴德在特朗普虚假选举欺诈主张上的立场，在经历了初期的波折后，提升了她在政府内部和总统心中的地位。
据广泛报道，她和中央情报局（CIA）局长约翰·拉特克利夫（John Ratcliffe）关系紧张，这一点为她开辟了特定的工作领域。消息人士告诉CNN，拉特克利夫不愿参与寻找选举欺诈的工作。
消息人士称，加巴德负责“选举完整性”的任务，还有一个额外目的是让她远离拉特克利夫。
在特朗普第一任政府中担任国家情报总监的拉特克利夫，曾在镜头前宣布伊朗和俄罗斯特工正在干预2020年选举。而据CNN报道，在特朗普第二任政府中，由于政府削减了打击外国影响选举的项目，此类宣布不太可能再出现。
CNN的扎卡里·科恩（Zachary Cohen）和克里斯汀·霍尔姆斯（Kristen Holmes）提供了报道支持。
标签：图尔西·加巴德、国家安全、唐纳德·特朗普、联邦机构
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What does Tulsi Gabbard’s job as director of national intelligence have to do with elections?
Published Feb 5, 2026, 5:00 AM ET / CNN Politics
By
[Sean Lyngaas]
2 hr ago
Tulsi Gabbard National security Donald Trump Federal agencies
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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at a White House a press briefing on July 23, 2025.
Kent Nishimura/Reuters/File
After intense criticism from some election officials after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present during an FBI search of an elections office in Georgia last week, Gabbard defended her actions by pointing to a slew of intelligence laws and policies.
“My presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity,” Gabbard wrote in a letter to Democratic lawmakers on Monday. A White House official confirmed President Donald Trump asked Gabbard to go to Atlanta for the search.
But several former senior intelligence officials and election law experts told CNN that Gabbard has no legal authority over such an FBI search and that her presence in Fulton County, where federal agents took ballots from the 2020 election, risks eroding a crucial line between foreign and domestic intelligence activities instituted after Watergate.
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“If you convince people that the intelligence community is playing political games domestically, it’s bad,” said one former senior counterintelligence official. “I don’t think anyone wants a reprise of the kind of stuff the Church Committee uncovered.”
That’s a reference to the mid-1970s Senate investigation into civil liberties abuses by the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency that led to new laws reining in the spy agencies.
FBI agents on January 28 executed a search warrant in Fulton County, outside of Atlanta, and seized ballots used in the 2020 election.
Georgia has long been central to Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was rigged — a claim debunked by numerous court decisions and audits.
In addition to Gabbard’s presence in Georgia, her office had previously gained access to voting machines used in Puerto Rico to probe them for security vulnerabilities, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN on Wednesday night.
An FBI employee stands inside the Fulton County Election HUB as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mike Stewart/AP
In her letter, Gabbard “cites a bunch of authorities related to the activities of foreign actors, doesn’t actually tie them to any specific allegation and even says she hasn’t seen the warrant or the evidence it’s based on,” said the former counterintelligence official, who like others, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from the Trump administration. “So, what the hell is she doing there? It’s nonsensical unless it’s political.”
Gabbard said her office’s general counsel found her actions to be within her lawful authority, and that Trump had tasked her office with “taking all appropriate actions under my statutory authorities towards ensuring the integrity of our elections.”
The director of national intelligence oversees the intelligence community’s 17 other organizations; the director does not have the investigative authorities of law enforcement or the “operational” ones that other spy agencies have to take covert action in the field. Gabbard’s presence during a law enforcement operation is therefore baffling people who spent decades in intelligence and in elections.
“Despite the characterizations in her letter, the politically-appointed DNI has absolutely no authority or reason to be present during the execution of a warrant on a county election office,” said David Becker, an election law expert who is executive director of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research.
“Can you imagine the uproar from Trump’s defense attorney if Biden’s DNI had been present at Mar-a-Lago during the execution of the warrant on his classified files? That defense attorney is now the Deputy Attorney General,” Becker said.
The White House on Tuesday defended Gabbard’s presence at the search. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had “tapped” Gabbard “to oversee the sanctity and the security of our American elections” and that she’s “working directly alongside the FBI director.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with the president tasking a Cabinet member to pursue an issue that most people want to see solved,” she said.
But Gabbard’s “authority extends to coordinating review of potential foreign interference in elections. That doesn’t give her operational authority, and that doesn’t extend to looking at election ballots,” a former senior intelligence community lawyer told CNN.
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, has called on Gabbard to testify before the committee under oath about her presence in Fulton County. The committee’s chairman, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, simply said “no” when asked by CNN on Tuesday for his reaction to Gabbard’s activities in Fulton County.
Emily Harding, who helped lead the Senate intelligence committee’s bipartisan investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election, said lawmakers could ask some revealing questions of Gabbard.
“I’d want to ask Gabbard what foreign evidence informed the search warrant and how that was communicated to Fulton County,” said Harding, who is now a vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
People cast their votes at the Metropolitan Library voting location in Atlanta, Georgia on Election Day, November 3, 2020.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images/File
“First, there has to be a foreign nexus for the DNI to be involved,” she added. “If there is, that makes it an FBI [counterintelligence] case, which are among the most sensitive things the Bureau does. They don’t tell anyone what’s going on with those unless they have real hard evidence.”
In their assessment of Russia’s 2016 election influence campaign, US intelligence agencies did not weigh in on whether Moscow’s activities impacted the vote because getting involved in voter preferences is beyond spy agencies’ authorities, the ex-government lawyer added.
Then-Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats in 2019 named an “election threats executive,” a top intelligence official to focus on foreign threats to elections. One former senior intelligence official said officials were careful to focus that role on analyzing threats rather than having any hands-on role in election infrastructure.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s “job is to inform domestic officials about foreign threats not to ensure that elections are secure, which is the job of state and local officials,” the ex-intelligence official said. “The IC [intelligence community] shouldn’t be looking at domestic elections.”
Gabbard’s role pursuing Trump’s false election fraud arguments has boosted her standing within the administration and with the president after a rocky start.
She carved out that particular lane for herself, as it has been widely reported that she and John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, have had a fraught relationship. Ratcliffe has wanted no part in the elusive hunt for election fraud, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Gabbard’s tasking with “election integrity” serves the added purpose of keeping her clear of Ratcliffe, the sources said.
As the director of national intelligence in the first Trump administration, Ratcliffe stood in front of the cameras to announce that Iranian and Russian operatives were meddling in the 2020 election. In the second Trump administration, that kind of announcement is less likely after the administration made cuts to programs to combat foreign influence on elections, CNN has reported.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Kristen Holmes contributed reporting.
Tulsi Gabbard National security Donald Trump Federal agencies
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