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1 of 4 | Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 23. On Wednesday, she announced 40% cuts to staff at the ODNI. File Photo by Eric Lee/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 20 (UPI) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced Wednesday a plan to cut 40% of her office’s staff by October in an effort to save taxpayers about $700 million per year.

She said the overhaul of the Office of the Director National Intelligence will reduce “bloat” and refocus the agency’s mission “in the most agile, effective and efficient way.” Gabbard dubbed the plan ODNI 2.0.

“Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence and politicized weaponization of intelligence,” she said.

“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, ODNI 2.0 is the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people.”

Congress created the ODNI to oversee all 18 intelligence community agencies within the U.S. government in 2004 as a response to to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Since its founding, the staff of the ODNI grew to about 1,850, 500 of whom the Trump administration has already cut since the start of the president’s second term.

In addition to cutting staff, the ODNI won’t rehire vacant positions.

The cuts will see the duties of the Foreign Malign Influence Center, National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Center and Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center absorbed into the ODNI’s Mission Integration directorate and the National Intelligence Council. Additionally the work of the National Intelligence University will now fall under the Defense Department’s National Defense University.

The External Research Council will be shuttered and the ODNI’s facilities in Reston, Va., will be closed and moved to headquarters.

President Donald Trump, alongside commissioner of the Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano, shows his signed proclamation marking the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday. Photo by Will Oliver/UPI | License Photo

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