Classified complaint locked away for eight months, raising oversight questions
A highly classified whistleblower complaint alleging wrongdoing by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has remained buried within her agency for eight months without reaching Congress, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.
The complaint, filed in May 2025 by an unidentified intelligence official with the Intelligence Community Inspector General, has sparked accusations that Gabbard is deliberately obstructing its disclosure to lawmakers. Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s attorney, wrote to Gabbard’s office in November accusing the intelligence director of stonewalling the complaint’s transmission to Congress.
The Stalled Process
“From my experience, it is confounding for [Gabbard’s office] to take weeks—let alone eight months—to transmit a disclosure to Congress,” Bakaj stated. The complaint is reportedly so sensitive that it has been locked away in a safe, with standard procedures for sharing whistleblower allegations with congressional intelligence committees stalled indefinitely.
The material involves information described as potentially causing “grave damage to national security” if disclosed. Beyond allegations against Gabbard herself, the complaint also implicates an office within a separate federal agency and raises potential claims of executive privilege involving the White House.
Mixed Determinations
The intelligence community’s inspector general determined that specific allegations against Gabbard lacked credibility, but could not reach conclusions about the other claims, according to a federal watchdog representative. Bakaj said he was never informed of these determinations, compounding frustrations over the lack of transparency.
Gabbard’s office rejected the obstruction allegations, with press secretary Olivia Coleman stating that security guidance was provided without delay and that the complaint has been transmitted to congressional intelligence committees. Gabbard’s team characterized the matter as a procedural disagreement rather than evidence of misconduct.
Sidelined From Core Duties
The controversy emerges as Gabbard has been largely removed from typical Director of National Intelligence responsibilities. Instead, she has spent months investigating claims that President Trump lost the 2020 presidential election—allegations repeatedly debunked by election officials, courts, and Trump’s own Attorney General. Last week, she was spotted attending an FBI raid at an election facility in Fulton County, Georgia, where Trump faced separate charges related to efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 results.
The case has become a rare test of oversight procedures when allegations involve senior intelligence leadership, raising broader questions among transparency advocates about whether secrecy classifications are being applied too broadly to prevent legitimate congressional oversight.
