Mutiny in Trump Ranks as Gabbard and CIA Clash Over Her Disclosure of Undercover Officer's Name

Tulsi Gabbard has sparked fresh tension with CIA chief John Ratcliffe after disclosing the name of an undercover CIA officer on a list of people she stripped of security clearances.

RadarOnline.com can reveal the Director of National Intelligence’s move triggered alarm within the agency's workforce and ramped up her rumored rift with Ratcliffe, who is still smarting from her decision to ignore CIA objections to declassify a document related to Russian election interference last month.

According to insiders, Gabbard has been under pressure to regain President Donald Trump's confidence after falling out of favor with the president earlier this year for posting a video and delivering testimony about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

When Gabbard announced the security clearance removals last week, she said some of the 37 current and former officials were engaged in "politicization or weaponization of intelligence" and that she was acting on the president's orders, proving tensions between herself and Trump had subsided.

Last Tuesday, as he presided over a Cabinet meeting before television cameras, Trump praised Gabbard, saying: "You found some interesting things, Tulsi.

"She's becoming a bigger and bigger star every day."

One insider — a former government official — claims Gabbard is trying to show the president she was exposing Democrats and political enemies, including some purportedly inside the CIA.

The security clearance removals reflected "a battle between Gabbard and Ratcliffe."

The director of national intelligence position was created after the 9/11 attacks in an effort to ensure close coordination among the country's spy agencies.

There have been turf wars and personality clashes in the past between some DNIs and CIA directors. During Barack Obama's presidency, Dennis Blair was often at loggerheads with the CIA chief, Leon Panetta, and he ultimately resigned after 16 months on the job.

But in this case, the current director of national intelligence appears to be seeking the president’s support, former officials claim, by doubling down on accusations against former Democratic administrations and punishing members of a perceived "deep state" of anti-Trump government bureaucrats.

Apart from highlighting the divide between Gabbard and Ratcliffe, the episode also illustrates the effect of a widening and unpredictable purge of career government officials deemed insufficiently loyal.

The CIA officer whom Gabbard publicly identified and stripped of her security clearance was a veteran analyst.

Days earlier, she had worked intensely to help prepare the White House team for a summit in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, former intelligence agency colleagues claim.

She was allegely due to take up a new assignment for the CIA in Europe, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.

After the summit, the CIA informed the analyst that she had lost her security clearance, effectively ending her career. "She did most of the prep for the Putin summit and to this day has no idea why her clearance was removed," said a former colleague, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation from the Trump administration.