US Intelligence Sharing Fractured in CIA-ODNI Turf War, Officials Report

US intelligence sharing has fractured under President Donald Trump, according to eight current and former officials and people briefed on the matter, slowing and at times temporarily halting the flow of assessments to Congress and across the federal government. Reuters reported on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, that the disruption comes just as the administration weighs whether to resume strikes on Iran after the midterm elections, raising fears that policymakers could be deciding with an incomplete picture of the threats facing the country.

Key Points

• The CIA has stopped co-authoring assessments with the National Intelligence Council, reducing joint reporting on Iran.
• Lawmakers briefly stopped receiving reports after the June 2025 Iran intervention and again after Maduro's January 2026 capture.
• The council has produced no assessment focused on the war in Iran, five officials said.
• Some analysts now avoid assessments at odds with White House views, fearing retaliation.
• The FBI also stopped sharing some intelligence with the counterterrorism center for weeks late last year.

What Happened

Reuters said the problems emerged during Tulsi Gabbard's tenure as director of national intelligence, amid deep tensions between her office and the CIA. While those tensions have eased since her resignation in June 2026, problems stemming from the clash persist, two United States officials said. The CIA has stopped co-authoring assessments with the National Intelligence Council, reducing joint reporting.

Lawmakers and their staffs also stopped receiving reports from Gabbard's office after the US intervention in Iran in June 2025 and again after the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January 2026, according to two people familiar with the matter. Gabbard's team had accused lawmakers of leaking to the press. Reuters said the disruption has not been previously reported.

Background and Context

The National Intelligence Council has for decades been a key resource for officials and lawmakers making foreign policy decisions. Its assessments are meant to consolidate the views of the nation's 18 intelligence agencies, and it relied heavily on the CIA for analysis on Iran and Russia. It lost its main author when the CIA stopped writing into the assessments last year, Reuters reported.

While the CIA continued sharing intelligence with the council and working with it on some reports, its analysts focused on their own assessments. Since the move, the council, also hit by staff cuts, has slowed production, two people familiar with the matter said. None of its assessments have focused on the war in Iran, five current and former officials said. The problems started last year amid significant cuts to national security agencies, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA, as Trump moved to remove or sideline officials he viewed as disloyal.

The infighting was triggered when Gabbard's office revoked the security clearances of current and former intelligence officials a year ago, and reached the point where White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had to intervene several times, three former officials said. Former officials described it as one of the biggest turf wars in three decades between two of the most important agencies.

US Intelligence Sharing Fractured

The fracture goes beyond a single agency. Gabbard's office also stopped briefing Congress on election threats in 2025, according to two people familiar with the matter and a former US official. Jay Clayton, who became director of national intelligence in August 2026, has resumed congressional briefings on election threats, officials said. An Office of the Director of National Intelligence official said the group has maintained assessment levels close to historic trendlines.

In another clash, the FBI late last year stopped sharing some intelligence with the National Counterterrorism Center for several weeks after its then-head, Joe Kent, tried to investigate the Charlie Kirk shooting, two former officials said. FBI leaders told Kent they believed the center was overstepping its authority. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

Reactions and Quotes

CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons said the CIA participates fully in providing intelligence assessments through the Presidential Daily Brief, led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and through the National Intelligence Council. The office said Director Clayton remains committed to ensuring the intelligence community has the resources to inform key US decision-makers and keep Americans safe.

"All of these things are adding up in a really complex world where policymakers need to have a more sophisticated, nuanced, and integrated view of the world, and they are getting less," said Beth Sanner, a former deputy director of national intelligence during Trump's first term. "Analysts still do the work, but this White House has made them irrelevant because the president treats unwelcome information as disloyalty," said Julia Curlee, a former CIA analyst who said she was fired from the Trump National Security Council last year for being transgender.

"The problem is that by taking actions which have the effect of hollowing out institutions where there's actual intelligence community coordination on things, you're creating little lily pads, and then everybody can pick their own lily pad to listen to," said Morgan Muir, the former deputy director of national intelligence in the Biden administration. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Why It Matters

Former officials and outside experts said the disruptions risk leaving policymakers with an incomplete picture of threats facing the country, echoing intelligence failures exposed after the September 11, 2001, attacks. That warning matters most now: the administration is weighing whether to resume strikes on Iran after the midterms, yet the council has produced no assessment focused on the war in Iran. When joint assessments slow, separate agency views can circulate untested, and Congress may learn less, later, about the basis for military or diplomatic choices.

The episode also alarms former officials working on a bipartisan basis at Stanford University's Hoover Institution to draw up plans to rebuild the intelligence community in the next administration, four former US officials said. Once coordination habits break and analysts grow cautious about unwelcome findings, restoring trust takes longer than filling a vacancy.

What Happens Next

The immediate test is whether Clayton's leadership steadies the CIA-council relationship and whether joint assessments on Iran return at their former pace. Congress will watch whether election-threat briefings continue regularly and whether the FBI and the counterterrorism center share fully again. Any Iran decision after the elections will show whether decision-makers received a consolidated picture or separate agency views.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Reuters report?
US intelligence sharing has slowed and at times temporarily stopped during Trump's second term.

Why has the CIA stopped co-authoring assessments?
Reuters linked the pause to a turf war with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under Tulsi Gabbard.

Did Congress stop receiving reports?
Yes, briefly, after the June 2025 Iran intervention and again after Maduro's capture in January 2026.

Has the situation improved under Clayton?
Partly: he resumed election-threat briefings, but officials said clash-related problems persist.

Why does this matter for Iran?
The administration is weighing resumed strikes after the midterms, with no council assessment focused on that war.

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