Just days after helping prepare President Donald Trump for his Aug. 15 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the CIA’s senior-most Russia experts was abruptly stripped of her security clearance — effectively ending her 29-year career, according to a Thursday report from The Washington Post.
The officer had been slated for an overseas posting, which had been approved by CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Instead, she became one of 37 current and former officials swept up in what critics describe as a politically motivated purge orchestrated by Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The August 19 memo announcing the revocations, signed by Gabbard and posted on X, accused those targeted of having “abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.”
Most of those whose clearances were revoked were had either taken part in the assessments regarding Russia’s potential role in the 2016 presidential election or had called for President Donald Trump’s impeachment during his participated in intelligence assessments related to Russia’s attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election or had signed a 2019 letter calling for President Trump’s impeachment, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The list included senior officials at the NSA, Cyber Command, and the Defense Intelligence Agency, as well as one individual who says she has not worked in the government or held a security clearance in over a decade.
The Journal further reported that Gabbard’s public disclosure carried additional risks: among the names she shared was a senior CIA officer who had been working undercover. The CIA was reportedly not “meaningfully” consulted before the list went live. Gabbard was reportedly unaware that the agency had been working undercover.
The ousted Russia analyst was not particularly political and had no public record of criticizing Trump, according to The Post, citing former colleagues, making it particularly shocking.
“If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone,” one told The Post. “What analyst in their right mind is going to write something that in any way challenges … what they think the administration’s view is if they think they’re going to get fired over it?”
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