US interdepartmental intelligence sharing fracturing under Trump administration, officials say

US intelligence sharing on Iran and other global threats has slowed or temporarily stopped during President Donald Trump's second term, according to eight current and former officials. The CIA stopped co-authoring assessments with the National Intelligence Council, reducing reports for policymakers. Analysts fear political retaliation for assessments at odds with the White House.

US intelligence sharing on Iran and other global threats with Congress and across the federal government has slowed and, in some cases, temporarily stopped during President Donald Trump's second term, according to eight current and former officials and people briefed on the matter. Former officials and outside experts said the disruptions risk leaving policymakers with an incomplete picture of threats facing the country, echoing intelligence failures exposed after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The slowdown comes as the administration weighs whether to resume strikes on Iran after the midterm elections on Tuesday. The problems emerged during Tulsi Gabbard's tenure as director of national intelligence, amid deep tensions between her office and the CIA. While those tensions have subsided since her resignation in June, problems stemming from the clash persist. The CIA has stopped co-authoring assessments with the National Intelligence Council, reducing the number of reports that pull together the intelligence community's views for decision-makers on subjects including Iran. Lawmakers and their staffs also briefly stopped receiving intelligence reports from Gabbard's office after the US military intervention in Iran in June 2025 and after the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January 2026. Some analysts who remain at the intelligence agencies are now careful to not write assessments at odds with White House's views for fear of political retaliation. Former officials are working on a bipartisan basis at Stanford University's Hoover Institution to draw up plans to rebuild the intelligence community in the next administration.