37 Clearances Revoked. Zero Justification.

National security isn’t about protecting America anymore. It’s about protecting Trump.

The Trump administration has revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former officials, along with the jobs and livelihoods of some of the most experienced professionals in U.S. intelligence.

This wasn’t about leaks. It wasn’t about mishandling classified information. It was about politics. File that under: not normal, not safe.

From the very beginning, Donald Trump has treated the intelligence community not as patriots protecting the country, but as props to be manipulated or scapegoats to be blamed. On his first day of his first term as president, he stood in front of the CIA’s Memorial Wall, sacred stars marking those who gave their lives in service, and delivered a rambling speech about his inauguration crowd size.

That moment told us everything. Trump never understood or respected the sacrifices made by the men and women of the intelligence community. The “deep state” became his favorite cloak, a way to attack those who produced facts he didn’t like, while wrapping himself in the language of law and order and national security.

I started my national security career after 9/11. I served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, always guided by one principle: service to the greater good of the American people. In the intelligence community, service is nonpartisan by design; you follow the facts, not the politics. But serving under Trump forced a choice I never thought I’d face. I saw firsthand how facts were distorted, how institutions were exploited, and how truth-tellers were silenced. My moral compass told me I could no longer stay silent. So I left the career I loved to speak out. Because true service is about protecting the country. Trump’s version is only about protecting himself.

Security clearances are supposed to be apolitical. They exist to ensure that those trusted with the nation’s secrets can safeguard them responsibly. It takes years of vetting, background checks, and significant taxpayer resources. To strip them for political reasons isn’t just an abuse of process; it’s discarding some of our most valuable assets.

Among those just stripped of clearances:

• Shelby Pierson, who warned Congress about Russian interference in 2020.

• Vinh Nguyen, a brilliant NSA data scientist.

• A senior CIA analyst serving undercover, and many others who worked on Russia analysis or foreign threats to our elections.

These aren’t partisans. They are professionals. Their removal weakens our defenses and sends a chilling message to everyone still inside the government: loyalty to the truth may cost you your career.

Take Vinh Nguyen. He was recruited to the NSA as a teenager because of his extraordinary math skills. He rose to become the agency’s chief data scientist, working on AI and quantum projects critical to our cyber defense. In the days before his clearance was revoked, the acting NSA director, Lt. Gen. William Hartman, personally asked Tulsi Gabbard for evidence of any misconduct. She gave him none and fired Nguyen anyway.

There is no evidence that Nguyen mishandled classified data or politicized his work. His only “offense” was a tangential tie to the 2016 election assessments, and that was enough. Why? Because conservative outlets like Real Clear Investigations and far-right influencers like Laura Loomer put a target on his back. Tulsi Gabbard listened to them, not to her own generals. That is how national security is being run in America right now. Let that sink in.

Former CIA Director Bill Burns put it best:

“It is about breaking people and breaking institutions by sowing fear and mistrust throughout our government. It is about paralyzing public servants, making them apprehensive about what they say, how it might be interpreted, and who might report on them. It is about deterring anyone from daring to speak truth to power.”

The Opportunist in Charge

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s handpicked Director of National Intelligence, has long been a political opportunist, shifting allegiances, auditioning for relevance, and cozying up to authoritarian figures. Now, she sits at the top of the intelligence community, carrying out Trump’s purge. 

This week, she unveiled what she branded “ODNI 2.0”, a supposed reform that she says will cut “bloated bureaucracy” and “restore mission focus.” In her own words:

Translation: this isn’t reform, it’s retribution. When you fire career officers, revoke clearances, and call them “deep state actors,” you’re not eliminating waste; you’re gutting expertise and silencing dissent. You’re replacing nonpartisan service with partisan loyalty.

It’s not lost on me, or anyone paying attention, that this move came right after Trump rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin on U.S. soil. No consequences. No deals. Just theatrics. And then, days later, the gutting of America’s intelligence professionals who dared to analyze Russian interference. That’s not a coincidence. That’s choreography.

This Isn’t the First Round, and It Won’t Be the Last

This purge isn’t isolated. Over the last eight months, Trump has systematically stripped security clearances and protections from a broad range of perceived adversaries, including former presidents, law firms, and intelligence watchdogs.

He revoked clearances from high-profile former officials like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He went after whistleblower attorneys, such as my attorney Mark Zaid, and ousted FBI officials like Brian Driscoll for refusing to play loyalty games. This isn’t a one-off; it’s a pattern: a purge disguised as national security, with “disloyalty” defined however Trump wants.

Why does this matter?

Because once clearances and careers become partisan weapons, no one is safe. What happens when the next Democratic president decides to revoke clearances from every Trump official tied to border crackdowns or election lies? Once both sides wield that weapon, the intelligence community stops protecting the country and starts protecting whoever sits in the Oval Office. That should alarm Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike.

Loyalty to Trump is never permanent; it’s transactional. MAGA officials who think they’re immune should take note. Authoritarian power always eats its own. Today, it’s intelligence officers who work on Russia. Tomorrow, it could be your local election officials, your governor, or even you.

You can’t rip out decades of experience and expertise without consequences. Losing Nguyen could stall critical advances in AI and cyber defense. Pierson’s absence guts election security efforts at a time when foreign interference is again a live threat. And every analyst watching knows: tell the truth about Russia, or about Trump, or anything that your leadership may disagree with, and you might be next.

This is the national security equivalent of book banning: erase the people who produce uncomfortable truths, and the truth itself will disappear.

But the truth won’t disappear. What will disappear are the experts who protect us–the defenders who know how to act on it. That’s the cost of Trump’s purge.

Yes, I’m angry. Because all of this makes us less safe.

– Olivia