WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe, Acting Director of the National Security Agency Lieutenant General William Hartman, and Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Major General Constantin Nicolet. Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, raised concerns that the Trump Administration may be using U.S. intelligence personnel, tools, and resources to target Americans in violation of our laws and the Constitution.
Read the Bloomberg article here.
“I write today with my deep concerns that the Trump Administration is using our intelligence community to target American citizens and to request your assurances that you have not and will not focus the organizations you oversee on the American public. As you know, the IC exists to defend the United States against foreign adversaries—not to monitor, investigate, or target Americans,” Slotkin wrote.
“Turning these tools against our own citizens would not only be illegal but would undercut longstanding American values of a right to privacy and ability to speak out against our government without fear of retribution,” Slotkin continued.
Slotkin’s concerns stem from actions such as President Trump’s NSPM-7 memorandum that purports to label groups who oppose the administration’s policies as “domestic terrorists,” the creation of “weaponization working groups” led by Director Gabbard, and Director Gabbard’s involvement in the seizure of 2020 election records in Fulton Country, GA. Slotkin has been sounding the alarm on many of these concerns since last year.
Slotkin called on intelligence leaders to confirm, in writing, that no intelligence personnel, tools, or resources are being used to surveil or target Americans and to reaffirm those leaders’ commitment to operating within the Constitution and federal law.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
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