Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has vowed to “aggressively pursue” government employees who leak information to journalists, saying they were “politically motivated” in their actions.
“Our nation’s Intelligence Community must be focused on our national security mission. Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people, and will not be tolerated,” Gabbard Tweeted.
“Unfortunately, such leaks have become commonplace with no investigation or accountability. That ends now. We know of and are aggressively pursuing recent leakers from within the Intelligence Community and will hold them accountable.”
Gabbard listed a number of media outlets she said had received leaked information: The Washington Post, NBC, HuffPost and The Record.
In response to Director Gabbard’s Tweet, Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray issued a statement saying that his publication will “continue to hold power to account.”
A week ago, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also issued a stern warning to leakers, saying that two leakers had been identified and now face up to ten years in prison.
Secretary Noem posted a video message on X in which she said two leakers had already been identified and would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for “putting law-enforcement lives in jeopardy.”
“We’re going to continue doing all that we can to keep America safe,” she added.
A number of immigration raids have been hampered by advance warning of their location and targets.
In one prominent example, Vanity Fair reporter Pablo Manriquez tweeted a warning about impending raids in Virginia.
“ICE RAIDS are planned for Monday & Tuesday in Northern Virginia, per multiple sources who tell us ICE has obtained between 75 and 100 judicial warrants.”
“NOTE: Judicial warrants mean ICE can go into your homes, so plan accordingly.”
“NOTE: Remember that state police have been deputized to help ICE, so highways, etc, are unsafe.”
Despite the leak, which according to Manriquez came from official sources, the raids went ahead as planned.
It’s unclear at this stage whether the two leakers were responsible for the information given to Manriquez.
Leaks were an ongoing problem for the first Trump administration, which went to great lengths to prevent them, including gaining access to the phone and email records of journalists to identify their sources.