OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:31 PM – Wednesday April 23, 2025
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard revealed that she has, so far, referred two intelligence community officials to the DOJ for criminal prosecution over their alleged efforts to leak classified information to media outlets.
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The two unnamed individuals in the intelligence community are suspected of leaking classified information to The New York Times and the Washington Post — although the details of the leak remain unclear.
“Politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation’s security at risk and must end,” Gabbard stated. “Those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Today, I referred two intelligence community leakers to the Department of Justice for criminal referral, with a third criminal referral on its way, which includes the recent illegal leak to the Washington Post,” Gabbard continued. “These deep-state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes to undermine President Trump’s agenda.”
“I look forward to working with the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate, terminate and prosecute these criminals,” she added.
Her office further explained that an internal review was conducted prior to sending the criminal referral to the DOJ. It was also revealed that a third criminal referral is “on its way” as well.
The announcement follows after multiple staffers under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were fired, including Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, senior advisor Dan Caldwell, and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to the deputy defense secretary.
The three individuals later wrote a joint statement on X, claiming that they were “slandered” using “baseless attacks on our way out the door.”
“We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All three of us served our country honorably in uniform—for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it,” the three wrote.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz previously took responsibility for adding the Atlantic journalist to the previous Signal group chat, stating: “I take full responsibility. I built the group.”
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