US intelligence chief cracks down on staff over explicit chatroom activity

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has ordered the dismissal of intelligence community employees over alleged involvement in explicit discussions on an internal agency messaging platform.

In a directive on Tuesday, February 25, Gabbard instructed the termination and revocation of security clearances for those who participated in what she described as “an egregious violation of trust” on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Intelink system, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

"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," Gabbard said.

Chat logs obtained by the conservative Manhattan Institute reportedly revealed discussions among personnel from agencies including the NSA, the Defence Intelligence Agency and U.S. Naval Intelligence. Topics included gender-reassignment surgery, artificial genitalia, hormone therapy and pronoun usage.

An NSA spokesperson confirmed the agency was investigating potential misuse of the platform. Gabbard said Tuesday’s action was just the beginning of wider accountability efforts under the Trump administration.

By Aghakazim Guliyev