Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

7. Intelligence Community · Notable

Remove IC employees who abused their positions of trust

Not started

213 7. Intelligence Community

“The DNI and CIA Director should use their authority under the National Security Act of 1947 to expedite the clearance of personnel to meet mission needs and remove IC employees who have abused their positions of trust.”

What has happened

  1. Not started

    Neither half of this ask is evidenced. On clearances, what happened is the opposite of expedition by the DNI: Congress, not the DNI, acted, and only to order studies — section 6310 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY2026 requires the DNI to evaluate whether recently separated officers could retain eligibility and to assess continuous vetting of inactive clearances, reporting in 120 days. On removals, the National Security Act termination authority the Quote names (50 U.S.C. §§ 3036(e)(1), 3024(l)(1)) was used in the window, but to terminate nineteen career officers assigned to DEIA duties in order to effectuate Executive Order 14151, not for abuse of a position of trust; no allowlisted source records an IC employee removed for abusing a position of trust.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

  • The use of the section 3036(e)(1) authority is established by the Fourth Circuit’s published opinion in John Doe 1 v. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, No. 25-1527 (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca4-25-01527/pdf/USCOURTS-ca4-25-01527-1.pdf), which quotes the CIA Director as saying the terminations were taken to effectuate the DEI executive order. That instrument carries #543 and #547; it is context here because the ground of removal is not the one this Quote names.
  • The nearest thing to the removals this ask asks for is DNI Gabbard’s 2025-08-19 revocation of the clearances of 37 current and former officials, which #561 already records as unreadable on allowlisted domains (dni.gov, and the Washington Post, The Hill and Axios pages, refused to open for us). A clearance revocation is also not a removal from employment.
  • This ask is also covered by a single negative search of the IC personnel-discipline and public-presence asks on pp. 213-214.
Action
eliminate
Object
IC employees who have abused their positions of trust
ID
559