Over 100 US intelligence staff fired over sexually explicit chats

The office has in recent weeks also moved to fire employees who led diversity initiatives in the Biden administration.

By REUTERS FEBRUARY 26, 2025 18:17

Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, attends to testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2025. (photo credit: Nathan Howard/Reuters)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that more than 100 employees from across the intelligence community had been fired for using a secure government chat normally used to share sensitive information to participate in sexually explicit conversations.

In an interview with Fox News Tuesday night, Gabbard described their use of the National Security Administration tool as “an egregious violation of trust” that went against “basic rules and standards around professionalism.”

“I put out a directive today that they will all be terminated and their security clearances will be revoked,” Gabbard said.

Conservative activist Chris Rufo, who writes for City Journal, first disclosed the news Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump holds Tulsi Gabbard's commission certificate on the day of Gabbard's swearing in ceremony as Director of National Intelligence, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 12, 2025. (credit: Nathan Howard/Reuters)

A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said on X Tuesday that Gabbard had sent a memo directing all intelligence agencies to identify the employees who participated in the “‘obscene, pornographic, and sexually explicit’ chatrooms’” by Friday.

A wave of terminations

In her Fox News interviews, Gabbard said that the administration would continue to "clean house."

The office has in recent weeks also moved to fire employees who led diversity initiatives in the Biden administration.

It is not clear how many people throughout the intelligence community have been told that they will be fired. That effort has temporarily paused as a federal judge reviews the legality of the move.