CIA Stops Contributing to National Intelligence Assessments Amid Escalating ODNI Feud Over Directors Initiatives Group

Reuters, citing a U.S. official and three people with direct knowledge, reported that the CIA has stopped contributing to certain National Intelligence Council assessments, including those covering the Iran conflict, amid a dispute of more than a year with ODNI 123. The CIA contends Gabbard's Director's Initiatives Group, established April 2025, circumvented intelligence-sharing and declassification protocols; ODNI officials counter that CIA blocked the group's intelligence access throughout 123. The friction traces to February 2025 when Gabbard asserted tighter control over the Presidential Daily Brief; in May 2025 she ousted two senior CIA officers leading the NIC, and in August stripped clearances from 37 current and former officials, including inadvertently revealing the identity of an undercover CIA officer serving overseas 123. A CIA officer detailed to the group testified last month before a Senate panel that CIA restricted the group's access to COVID-19 intelligence, and two sources told Reuters the dispute has triggered an investigation by the IC inspector general's office 123. Gabbard announced last week she will step down June 30, and Trump named Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte as acting DNI 123.