The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Tulsi Gabbard said it’s probing allegations the CIA spied on a task force assembled by Gabbard.
“We have confirmed that the Intelligence Community Inspector General is aware of the allegations and is working, alongside ODNI and interagency partners, to uncover the truth about any potential wrongdoing,” an official with the office told The Epoch Times via email on May 15.
A person with knowledge of the situation said that a complaint was previously submitted alleging the CIA spied on Gabbard’s Director’s Initiatives Group.
James Erdman III, a senior CIA operations officer who was part of the group, told senators during a hearing in Washington on March 13 that the CIA opened investigations into, and monitored communications and computer activity of, group members.
The group was tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump’s executive orders and reform priorities, including declassifying documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the origins of COVID-19.
“These were Americans being spied upon illegally while executing duties directed by the president and under the authority of the director [of] national intelligence,” Erdman told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
He said that a CIA contractor helping the group investigate the origins of COVID-19 was fired just one day after a group meeting.
Other individuals with the group became aware that third parties were listening into secure phone calls at intelligence community facilities, including a call with a whistleblower, Erdman said. The experiences of the group led members to believe the CIA was “constantly aware” of and monitoring the group’s activity, he said.
The group was dissolved in January, according to Erdman.
The CIA has not returned requests for comment, including a query seeking a response to Erdman’s spying allegations.
Liz Lyons, a spokeswoman for the CIA, said in a post on X that senators “acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an Agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously.”
She said that Erdman was not a whistleblower and that the hearing at which he testified was “nothing more than dishonest political theater.”
Neither Ratcliffe nor Gabbard have commented publicly on Erdman’s testimony.
