WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A new government task force will consider big changes to America's intelligence community and examine whether material about the and other topics of public interest should be declassified, Director of National Intelligence said.
Known as the Director's Initiatives Group, the panel will study how intelligence agencies can cut costs in line with recent executive orders from President Donald Trump, the department said Tuesday in a statement announcing the creation of the task force.
The group also will examine ways intelligence agencies have become politicized or weaponized, the department said.
Among its other duties, the panel will review efforts to prevent unauthorized disclosures of classified material and examine whether the government should material regarding the origins of COVID-19 and other issues of public interest, including and investigations into mysterious health symptoms reported by some U.S. diplomats and government employees that were once dubbed 鈥� .鈥�
鈥淧resident Trump promised the American people maximum transparency and accountability," Gabbard . 鈥淲e are committed to executing the president鈥檚 vision and focusing the intelligence community on its core mission: ensuring our security by providing the president and policymakers with timely, apolitical, objective, relevant intelligence to inform their decision-making to ensure the safety, security and freedom of the American people.鈥�
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not specify how the task force would be appointed or when it expects to submit its recommendations to Gabbard.
Gabbard鈥檚 announcement comes as the Trump administration has vowed to shake up the nation's spy services, a . Last week, Trump abruptly who led the National Security Agency.
The CIA and NSA have offered voluntary resignations to some employees. The CIA also has said it plans to lay off an unknown number of . Last week, a federal judge to fire some intelligence workers who were assigned to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
ODNI's task force announcement also comes after top national security officials in the administration, including Gabbard, were criticized for using the popular messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive military plans 鈥� with a journalist on . Gabbard later called the incident a .
The push to declassify more material, meanwhile, comes after the Trump administration about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
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David Klepper, The Associated Press
