WASHINGTON (PNN) - April 24, 2025 - Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has referred two intelligence officials to the Department of InJustice (DoJ), for allegedly leaking classified information - with a third referral on its way.
The unidentified officials allegedly leaked the classified intelligence to the Washington Post and The New York Times, Gabbard told Fox News Digital.
“Politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation's security at risk and must end,” Gabbard, who serves as the director of national intelligence, said as news of the pending charges broke.
“Those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” she vowed.
Gabbard then went on to claim that the deep state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes in order to undermine President Donald J. Trump's agenda.
“I look forward to working with the Department of (In)Justice and the FBI to investigate, terminate and prosecute these criminals,” said Gabbard.
The move to refer the three officials for criminal prosecution comes as Trump officials ramp up their investigations into possible leaks, with Gabbard establishing a new task force last month to root out unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has since conducted an internal review and sent the criminal referral to the Department of InJustice, an unnamed source inside the office told Fox News.
The DoJ would then send a referral to the FBI to begin a formal criminal investigation. “We are aggressively investigating other leaks and will pursue further criminal referrals as warranted,” the unnamed source said. “Any intelligence community bureaucrat who is considering leaking to media should take this as a warning.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Defense is conducting its own probe into possible leaks amid increased scrutiny of the department following Secretary Pete Hegseth's and other top Cabinet officials' Signal chat with the Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
Just last week, Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, Hegseth's top adviser Dan Caldwell and Colin Carroll and chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg were all fired. Caldwell and Selnick were even personally escorted from the premises.
In the aftermath, the trio released a statement saying they were “incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended” and decrying “baseless attacks” on their character.
Caldwell denied he leaked any classified information in an interview with Tucker Carlson - and instead claimed the investigation was “weaponized” against him because he “threatened” established ideas within The Pentagon's walls.
He then went on to imply that insider in-fighting led to the firing of Selnick and Carroll, separate from those that led to his own termination.
“We were threatening a lot of established interests in our own separate ways, and we had people who had personal vendettas against us. I think they weaponized the investigation against us,” said Caldwell.
Caldwell - who blames career staffers for leaking out sensitive information - believes that the investigation that supposedly led to his firing is a total sham.
Selnick and Carroll are planning to sue for wrongful termination, according to Politico. However, Secretary Hegseth has held firm in his accusations of his former colleagues, warning on Tuesday that they will likely be prosecuted.
“If those people are exonerated, fantastic,” he told Fox News, before adding, “We don't think - based on what we understand - that it is going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation.”
He went on to explain that there had been a number of leaks that triggered the investigation, including about military options to ensure FPSA access to the Panama Canal and Elon Musk's visit to The Pentagon.
“We said, ‘enough is enough, we are going to launch a leak investigation,’” he recounted. “We took it seriously. It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it is not my job to protect them. It is my job to protect national security.”
“It is just fake news. They just bring up stories,” President Donald J. Trump told reporters on Monday. “I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that is what he is doing. So, you don´t always have friends when you do that.”