FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ODNI News Release No. 07-25
April 28, 2025
FIRST 100 DAYS: DNI GABBARD PRIORITIZES INTELLIGENCE EFFORTS TO SECURE THE SOUTHERN BORDER
WASHINGTON, D.C. - During the Trump Administration’s first 100 days, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard redirected Intelligence Community efforts towards identifying illegal aliens with terror ties and securing the southern border. DNI Gabbard expanded counterterrorism activities to include counternarcotics, recognized cartels and transnational gangs as a top national security threat, and streamlined internal operations at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to ensure proper vetting of those seeking to enter our country. President Trump’s commitment to securing our border has resulted in a historic decline in illegal border crossings, and arrests and deportation of criminals who entered our country illegally.
Under the leadership of President Trump and DNI Gabbard, ODNI accomplished the following border security wins:
- DNI Gabbard highlighted cartels and gangs coming across the southern border as the most immediate and direct threat to America’s security in the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment (ATA).
- DNI Gabbard joined Vice President Vance and Secretary of Defense Hegseth in Texas to tour U.S. southern border operations, observing tactics and capabilities of cartels trafficking humans, weapons and drugs across our borders, and how within days of President Trump taking office, illegal border crossings have dropped to a historic low, beginning to undo the damage and risk the Biden Administration’s open border policies did to our country.
- After President Trump’s designation of cartels and transnational gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, DNI Gabbard directed ODNI’s National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to focus intelligence and vetting resources against these terrorists who traffic deadly narcotics into the country.
- Under DNI Gabbard’s leadership, working with state, local, and federal law enforcement, NCTC has identified and provided leads on approximately 750 individuals in the United States with ties to MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and the Sinaloa Cartel as a part of NCTC’s integrated screening and vetting process.
- At DNI Gabbard’s direction, NCTC worked across the interagency to track down the location of more than 400 illegal immigrants who used an ISIS network to enter our country, so they can be deported immediately.
- DNI Gabbard continues to remove information sharing and technological barriers across the IC to improve efficiency in identifying terrorists crossing the southern border.
Read more about the Trump Administration’s successful border policies here.
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