Latest news with #DNI
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First Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
Tulsi Gabbard appoints Trump ally Nicholas Kass in key intelligence role amid allegations of left-wing bias
The appointment of a top Trump ally as acting NIC chair comes as officials in the Trump administration and even Republicans argue that the US intelligence community is flooded with left-wing bias read more US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has appointed a long-time supporter of President Donald Trump as the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) amid recent controversies over alleged bias in intelligence assessment. Both Democrats and Republicans have levelled charges of politicisation at the assessment group over the past months. Now, by appointing Nicholas Kass in the role, Gabbard aims to seek greater control of the analytic hub. Recent friction with Trump US DNI came under criticism from Trump earlier this month over her testimony in Congress when she said 'the intelligence community [IC] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader [Ali] Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.' On the flip side, the Trump administration backed Israel's war against Iran, and even joined it in bombing three nuclear facilities in the Shi'ite nation based on intelligence that Iran was close to building a nuclear bomb. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD When Trump was asked about the inconsistency in the US intelligence assessment, Trump declared her DNI was 'wrong' in her assessment. 'I don't care what she said, I think they were very close to having one,' Trump said. Trump' stance was bolstered by a May 31 International Atomic Energy Agency report that stated Iran had accumulated roughly 120 kg of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, dangerously close to weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent. This finding further undermined DNI's previous assessments. 'Left-wing bias in intelligence community' Officials in the Trump administration and even Republicans argue that the US intelligence community is flooded with left-wing bias. Last month, Gabbard even fired top two officials at the NIC shortly after it produced a classified assessment that appeared to undercut a key pillar of Trump's hardline immigration policy. The move sparked strong criticism from Democrats. Now, Nicholas Kass's entry into the NIC will hopefully bring two key changes for the Republicans: Significant experience in the intelligence community and a direct challenge to the status-quo. Kass has penned several opinion pieces and social media posts sharply criticising Democrats while passionately praising Trump. In a pinned November 2024 X post, he hailed Trump's 'epic' 2024 election win as 'a thorough public repudiation of the Deep State and its authoritarianism, operations, puppets and supporters, and ideological pretensions and other emanations.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Euronews
5 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
How Iran could retaliate against the US with cyberattacks
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned that Iran might use 'low-level cyber attacks' as one way to respond to attacks launched against its nuclear facilities over the weekend. The national terrorism bulletin issued on Sunday said there is no current threat against the US that has been identified but that there is the 'possibility' of threats to the US in the form of 'possible cyberattacks, acts of violence, and antisemitic hate crimes," Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security said in a statement. The US Department of National Intelligence (DNI) considers Iran's cyber operations to be a 'major threat to the security of US networks and data,' according to a report published in March this year. But if Iran were to retaliate against the US with cyberattacks what would be the impact? Breaches of US government bodies, emails possible State-sponsored Iranian groups and hacktivists regularly target 'poorly secured US networks and Internet-connected devices for disruptive cyber attacks,' according to the DHS report. The US, among other countries, has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist group since2019. The Iranians are credited with launching attacks against 'critical infrastructure sectors' such as transportation, healthcare and the public health sector, according to the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA). Hackers sponsored by the Iranian government are credited with hacking a US-based children's hospital, a dam in New York and compromising the vulnerabilities of a Pennsylvania water authority and others across the US. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Iranian-backed actors were also linked to a series of 46 denial of service (DDoS) attacks against major American banks in 2012, such as American Express and Wells Fargo, that locked customers out of their accounts. Some institutions are already getting ready for increased Iranian cyber attacks, such as the US Food and Agriculture Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Food and Ag-ISAC) and the Information Technology - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC). Both organisations released a joint statement on June 13, warning companies to prepare for 'the likelihood of increased cyber attacks from Iran targeting US companies'. Iranian state actor groups have also been accused by CISA of using 'brute force such as password spraying and multifactor authentication 'push bombing,'' with multiple phone notifications, to gain access to US organisations through programs like Microsoft 365, Azure and Citrix systems. Some of the information gathered in previous Iranian cyber attacks against US government bodies has been sold on cybercriminal forums 'to actors who may use the information… for additional malicious activity,' a 2024 CISA alert reads. Iranian actors have also infiltrated email accounts of key government officials, the DNI threat report said. Most recently, Iranian actors breached the email of a President Donald Trump staffer on the 2024 election campaign and sent a 'targeted spear-phishing email' to his employees. The group then 'tried to manipulate journalists into leaking information' that they had gathered from the campaign, according to the report. Iranian state actors have also in the past stolen information from American aerospace and satellite companies (in 2020) and universities ( in 2018). The role of hactivists The US-based cybersecurity firm Radware identified 100 new activist groups that sprang up in the last week since Iran's June 13 retaliation against Israel. Some of these groups, the firm said, have threatened to attack the US. Radware reported on June 18 that a group called Mr. Hamza teamed up with DieNet and other hacktivists groups to target the US 'if it joins the war against Iran'. Mr. Hamza claimed in a June 22 post on Telegram that it had launched attacks against various branches of the US Air Force, including the department's training platform, mission operational capabilities, and its cloud computing program. The group is also claiming to have attacked several US defence companies, such as RTX, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing subsidiary. Euronews Next is trying to independently verify these claims. DieNet said on its Telegram channel that it would attack again using data breaches, big [DDoS attacks] against critical infrastructure and ransomware. Radware believes that DieNet is a new group that emerged in 2025 but has already claimed 61 attacks against 19 US organisations between March 11 and 17 this year, including one that amassed a 'huge amount of data' from the International Trade Administration and the US Department of Commerce. 'DieNet's campaigns are unmistakably political,' a Radware alert from March reads. 'They openly blame… Trump for fueling their motivation, claiming their cyber offensives are acts of retaliation against US military interventions'. Iran has a 'considerable number' of state-sponsored threat groups that have targeted Israel in the past, such as Muddy Water, APT35 (OilRig), APT35 (Charming Kitten) and APT39 (Remix Kitten), the Radware report added.
Wall Street Journal
6 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Why Trump Bombed Iran
When President Trump decided to bomb Iran, it seemed a rebuke to Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence. On March 25, Ms. Gabbard told the House Intelligence Committee that the intelligence community 'continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ali] Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.' That was the consensus of the intelligence community when I worked for the DNI more than a decade ago. When CNN's Kaitlan Collins reminded Mr. Trump of that testimony last week aboard Air Force One, he said: 'I don't care what she said, I think they were very close to having one.'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Middle East Latest: Israeli Strikes Kill Iranian Military Heads, Hit Nuclear Site
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard changes her assessment of Iran's nuclear capabilities, now saying that Iran has the capability to produce nuclear weapons 'within weeks to months.'
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Business Standard
7 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
After Trump's 2nd rebuke, Tulsi Gabbard says Iran could build bomb soon
In an attempt to clear the air after a public rejection of her earlier statement that Iran was not building nuclear weapons, Tulsi Gabbard, America's Director of National Intelligence (DNI), on June 22 said the United States believes Iran could build a nuclear weapon 'within weeks to months'. Only hours earlier, President Donald Trump had dismissed her for giving 'wrong' information—a sign of tensions surfacing publicly between the two. Gabbard took to social media platform X to state that her earlier comment—that Iran was not constructing a nuclear weapon—had been misunderstood. She insisted her views aligned with the President's. The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division. America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the… — DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) June 20, 2025 'The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division. America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalise the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree,' she wrote. Gabbard's earlier testimony to Congress In March, Gabbard told Congress that the intelligence community did not believe Iran was actively building a nuclear weapon. 'The intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon,' she said at the time. However, President Trump publicly contradicted Gabbard on June 21, telling reporters, 'She is wrong,' in reference to her earlier testimony. It marked the second time within a week that he had rejected her assessment. On June 17, when asked about her stance again, Trump had said, 'I don't care what she says.' His comments placed him closer in line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who considers Iran's potential nuclear capability to be an immediate threat. A source familiar with US intelligence reports told Reuters that the formal assessment presented by Gabbard had not changed. The source also said intelligence agencies believe it could take Iran up to three years to develop a functional nuclear warhead that could reach a chosen target. Internal divide within Trump's circle? These developments come as the US weighs its role in the escalating Iran–Israel conflict. They also expose divisions within Trump's 'Make America Great Again' coalition. Some supporters back Israel unconditionally, while others believe intervention abroad conflicts with Trump's 'America First' agenda. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman known for her anti-interventionist stance, had attracted attention for supporting Trump's foreign policy approach, particularly his promise to be a 'peacemaker' in a second term. According to American media reports, Gabbard has been excluded from key internal discussions on the Iran–Israel crisis. She was notably absent from a high-level meeting at Camp David on June 8, where top officials met to discuss mounting tensions. Despite reports of her being sidelined, Vice President J D Vance publicly defended Gabbard on June 18. He said, 'Tulsi is a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter of President Trump and a critical part of the coalition he built in 2024. She's an essential member of our nat sec team, & we're grateful for her tireless work to keep America safe from foreign threats.'
