Donald Trump’s intel chief Tulsi Gabbard shakes up CIA with bold power play amid Iran conflict: Report

WASHINGTON, DC: It’s not every day that the US intelligence community finds itself caught in a Game of Thrones-style predicament.

But rumblings are exactly what’s brewing behind closed doors in DC, and at the center of it all is Tulsi Gabbard.

The former Congresswoman-turned-Director of National Intelligence is allegedly trying to wrest control of President Donald Trump’s daily intel briefing out of the CIA’s grip.

According to the Daily Mail, Gabbard is making a bold move to take back the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), one of the most powerful tools in Washington, and plant it squarely under the ODNI's roof.

"She’s trying to move, physically move and take control of the president’s daily brief," one senior intel official told the outlet.

With wars flaring between Iran and Israel, Russia and Ukraine still grinding on, and China’s military training harder than ever, whoever controls that morning briefing has real leverage over what ends up on the president’s war-room radar.

Tulsi Gabbard's bid to control the info to control Trump?

The CIA has been the top dog when it comes to assembling the PDB, even though technically the ODNI took over responsibility for it back in 2004. But the CIA still runs the internal systems that actually produce the daily reports, drawing heavily on its classified sources.

But Gabbard’s push to not just oversee but physically relocate the production of the PDB from CIA HQ in Langley to ODNI offices downtown appears to have stirred up some tension.

"That controls what the president sees," the intel source pointed out. "So she’s, I would say, probably caused a lot of ripples within the CIA, especially within the DA, the Director of Analysis, by saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to take the PDB physically from Langley and move it down the street to the ODNI,’" the official added.

Langley isn’t just about to let it slide. "Of course, the CIA is unhappy because they want to keep control of the product," an ODNI insider told the Daily Mail. "Their phrase at the CIA is 'Whoever controls the information the president sees, controls the president.'"

It’s not hard to see why they’d be rattled.

"By housing the PDB staff under the ODNI, the production process aligns more closely with the ODNI’s mission to integrate foreign, military, and domestic intelligence," the official explained. "This will yield a more cohesive and holistic intelligence product that reflects contributions from all IC agencies, reducing the risk of CIA dominance in the PDB’s content."

"There are a lot of folks at the agency, in particular, the Directorate of Analysis, they’re used to being the final say," the official added. "They’re not used to someone saying, ‘Hey, I’m gonna ask you some questions about this.’"

It's worth noting that the daily briefings have been a presidential staple since Lyndon B Johnson’s time in the 1960s, and the CIA’s Directorate of Analysis has always been the one pulling together the meat and potatoes.

Tulsi Gabbard, John Ratcliffe, and a White House in flux

The ODNI’s move isn’t just talk, either — they confirmed last month that some of the CIA’s key PDB functions are being relocated under their roof. That includes the staff responsible for putting the briefing together, a move that signals Gabbard’s plans are already in motion.

Gabbard doesn’t just oversee the ODNI; she’s in charge of all 18 federal intelligence agencies, the CIA included. But it’s not without tension. CIA Director John Ratcliffe is also a Cabinet-level official, and that dual-power structure has always made for a bit of a rocky relationship.

With the Iran-Israel conflict burning into its second week and no signs of cooling down, Gabbard has become an ever-present figure at the White House.

"She’s been in every meeting," a White House official confirmed to the Daily Mail. They even added that Gabbard has practically taken up residency there, saying she’s been spotted at the White House nearly every day since the conflict began.

Still, that doesn’t mean the CIA’s out of the loop. Ratcliffe, for his part, has also been a constant in President Trump’s war briefings, with some insiders suggesting that the DNI’s voice may not carry quite as far as the CIA's — at least not yet.

"I think those are coming from people who either like drama for the sake of drama, or they’re trying to give the CIA more power," another official shrugged. "I think people are trying to play the palace intrigue game," they added. "It’s a power play."

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