Intelligence irregularities
Intelligence irregularities are deviations from the lawful frameworks that govern classification, intelligence-sharing, and foreign-service contacts. Concrete forms include classification of material to suppress political embarrassment rather than protect sources or methods, declassification used selectively for political effect, foreign-intelligence contacts conducted outside authorized channels, and intelligence-sharing with foreign services for political rather than statutory purposes. Legitimate intelligence operations follow the law and the published authorities; irregularities are what happens when the procedures bend around political ends.
Documented entries (2)
2026
Gabbard's 2026 threat assessment drops climate and foreign election-interference analysis
On March 18, 2026, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released the Intelligence Community's 2026 Annual Threat Assessment and testified to the Senate and House intelligence committees. The assessment omitted the climate-and-environment analysis prior editions had carried — after Gabbard gutted the National Intelligence Council office covering those issues — and Gabbard told lawmakers the IC found no evidence of foreign threats to the November 2026 midterms, a departure from the community's prior findings on Russian and other election interference. Critics charged that the IC's flagship analytic product was being shaped to fit White House messaging.
FBI raids Fulton County, Georgia election office to seize 2020 ballots; DNI Gabbard joins
On January 28, 2026, FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at the Fulton County, Georgia election office in Union City, seizing the physical 2020 presidential-election ballots, ballot images, tabulator tapes, and voter rolls of the county Donald Trump falsely blames for his narrow Georgia loss. The warrant followed a December 2025 Justice Department lawsuit demanding the records; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — who has no domestic law-enforcement authority — joined the raid, ran a parallel election-fraud inquiry, and arranged a call for Trump to thank the agents. County officials said the seizure left them unable to vouch for the chain of custody of the 2020 records.