Gabbard plan would shrink intelligence center focused on election threats

WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, announced Wednesday that she would reorganize her office, eliminating the National Defense University and shrinking the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which tracked efforts by adversarial countries to manipulate U.S. elections.

The moves, shared with Congress in a memo, are part of an effort to fulfill Gabbard’s vow to shrink her office, something Republican lawmakers have pressed her to accomplish. But Gabbard has also framed the changes as part of her campaign to crush “the deep state,” a term she has used to describe civil servants and appointees from previous administrations that she sees as opposed to President Donald Trump’s policies.

The Foreign Malign Influence Center, created by Congress in 2022, coordinates ef