DNI Gabbard recalls classified report on Venezuela in highly unusual move

By Kaitlan Collins, Zachary Cohen, Kristen Holmes, CNN

(CNN) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard directed the National Security Agency in recent months to recall a classified report about Venezuela – despite agency staff affirming it was accurate and complied with all NSA policies – in a move that has raised major questions inside the intelligence community, according to people familiar with the matter.

The classified report related to Venezuela and one of President Donald Trump’s special envoys, Richard Grenell, the people said. One of the people said it included conversations that Grenell had with Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Venezuela whom the US has accused of drug trafficking, as well as information about Grenell collected by the National Security Agency.

After it was released, an unclassified addendum was added directing staff to “recall this report” at Gabbard’s direction. The unclassified addendum was issued in April, according to the person familiar with the matter.

“The report is accurate and in accordance with all NSA policy, directives, and guidance; however, the DNI directed NSA to recall the report,” the addendum said. “Please remove the original report from all manual and computer files.”

Grenell, who multiple sources said is close with Gabbard, declined to comment. CNN has reached out to the White House and Gabbard’s office for comment.

A senior intelligence official told CNN that the report, the general contents of which were described to CNN, was withdrawn over concerns about protecting a person’s civil liberties and privacy. The NSA report, the person said, made a person’s identity obvious, although the substance was about Grenell’s diplomatic work and was not derogatory. GOP officials have long raised concerns about “unmasking” people’s identities in intelligence reports, feeling the common practice has been used to target and embarrass them by Democratic administrations. CNN has not independently reviewed the report.

The official said that the White House ordered reduced distribution of Venezuela intelligence reporting a few weeks ago.

NSA staff, though, were given no reason in the addendum for recalling the report. Updating is often a reason reports are retracted.

One US official called the move “highly unusual,” noting that senior intelligence officials typically defer to each agency when it comes to recalling reports of this nature, especially when they involve US persons whose identity is masked. Another senior administration official, though, defended the practice.

“Making administrative edits to existing reports is an extremely common practice. This report is still available to the intelligence community – calling it a ‘retraction’ is sensationalism,” the official said.

The report’s recall was first reported by the New York Times.

Gabbard, as director of national intelligence, is one of only a few senior policy makers who receive unredacted versions of these reports. A former official with knowledge of the process questioned why she recalled the intelligence product, rather than taking less intrusive action to limit who could access it.

“If it was very sensitive, the usual method would be to increase the classification, which is still not the way it is supposed to be, but it is better than pretending a piece of intelligence doesn’t exist,” the former official said.

“Plus, the NSA is very rigorous about masking identity for US persons,” the official added, saying that the names of those individuals are typically hidden by default. Intelligence officials have to write a detailed justification, which receives multiple reviews, to get specific identities unmasked just for themselves in a report, they added.

Grenell serves as a special envoy for Trump and has at times clashed with the State Department over attempts to release Americans from Venezuela. Shortly after Trump took office, Grenell visited Caracas to meet with Maduro. The surprise visit prompted speculation that the White House might be walking back the “maximum pressure” campaign against Maduro that it had previously pursued. Grenell returned to the US with six Americans the US had deemed illegally detained, and the White House celebrated their return.

But the episode set up a clash between Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long opposed giving any concessions to Maduro, and Grenell, who was pushing to make deals with the leader. In the months since the visit, the White House has made clear that it opposes Maduro.

Gabbard fired the top two career officials leading the National Intelligence Council, which is the senior most analytical group in the intelligence community whose job it is to understand and assess the biggest threats facing the United States.

The dismissals came shortly after the ODNI — which Gabbard leads — released a declassified assessment from the council about the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua that undercut the Trump administration’s key argument for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to speed up deportations.

Gabbard, when asked about the assessment at the time, blasted the media for “twisting and manipulating intelligence assessments to undermine the president’s agenda to keep the American people safe.”

Gabbard has vowed to root out what she has described as politicization of the intelligence community and launched a war on leaks to the media that critics say is hollowing out the intelligence community of needed expertise from experienced professionals.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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