Anonymous

In May 2025, an anonymous whistleblower within the US Intelligence Community filed a highly classified complaint involving Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and another, unnamed federal agency. In June 2025, the whistleblower, consistent with the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, asked that their disclosure be transmitted to Congress. Gabbard, a subject of that complaint, then thwarted its disclosure to Congress for nearly eight months, on grounds including executive privilege, which generally denotes the President’s authority to withhold confidential information or private discussions from Congress. 

In a letter to Gabbard dated Feb. 3, 2026, Whistleblower Aid Chief Legal Counsel Andrew P. Bakaj wrote that he would offer an unclassified briefing on “Ms. Gabbard’s conduct and the underlying intelligence concerns” to the appropriate Members of Congress on Monday, Feb. 9, “should your office fail to provide us with security guidance on contacting the Congressional Intelligence Committees by Friday, Feb. 6, 2026.”

US Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Vice Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and one of a handful of congressional leaders authorized to receive a highly classified disclosure, was sharply critical of Gabbard’s stonewalling, which he described as “in direct contradiction to what [she] testified during her confirmation hearings, that she would protect whistleblowers and share the information in a timely manner.”