When this administration stepped into the White House, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles assured everyone that leaks and drama were not going to be a thing.
Soon after Trump took office, DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced she wanted lie detector tests implemented as a way to plug leaks.
Ever since that initial burst, the leak front has been relatively quiet, but that just changed in a big way, and it has once again put DHS Secretary Kristi Noem front and center.
I will be the first to admit that Trump's naming of Wiles as his chief of staff was a bit of a surprise.
Politicos knew who Wiles was, but we also knew that she preferred to stay behind the scenes and keep a low profile. In other words, she was not someone we were going to see hogging the limelight.
She also had a reputation for not tolerating nonsense, so her opening day salvo at attention mongers was not surprising, having stated, "I don't welcome people who want to work solo or be a star. My team and I will not tolerate backbiting, second-guessing inappropriately, or drama. These are counterproductive to the mission."
Her statement continued, "To my core, I believe in teamwork. Anyone who cannot be counted on to be collaborative, and focused on our shared goals, isn't working in the West Wing."
As happens in every administration, there were leaks, but they were relatively small compared to Trump’s first administration.
Gabbard, however, was the subject of a leak, which did not sit well, and her office announced it was going after the leak. A DNI spokesperson announced, "Since the start of President Trump's second term, we have seen numerous unauthorized disclosures of classified information, which have the potential to damage U.S. strategic alliances and credibility and endanger sources and methods vital to intelligence gathering.”
The statement continued, "The fact that deep state actors leaked information about DNI Gabbard's directive, aimed at preventing leaks and protecting classified information, to the media is both deeply ironic and a powerful reminder of why her efforts to identify and deter leakers is urgently necessary."
Now, if you remember, Gabbard had already sent several referrals to the DOJ after taking her post for security leaks, so she was clearly taking Wiles’ directive seriously.
Noem has also been doing her fair share of detective work on this front, and this week, she announced that another leak had been found, plugged, and was about to have the hammer fall.
Noem posted to X, "I plan to refer this individual to @TheJusticeDept for criminal prosecution. We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment, or status as a career civil servant—we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."
Noem needed something to get her out of the headlines over the recent deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, so as bad as this was for the administration, it was good news for Noem.
And, for the record, I fully support throwing the book, in fact, the entire library, at administration leakers. I cannot tolerate rogue agents who think they are doing the world a favor every time they don’t agree with a policy. If you don’t like what you see, quit. I would love to see an example simply to serve as a deterrent. Leaks at this level cannot be tolerated, period.
