When you think of intelligence reports, you might imagine sober-minded analysis provided by intelligent people in dark rooms who examine top-secret information to protect the nation from foreign threats.
Of course, since “woke” wormed its way into virtually every section of society in modern times, it's not surprising that it showed its divisive face at the Central Intelligence Agency, too, especially under former Presidents Obama and Biden.
Trump has vowed to gut DEI across the federal government, and on Friday, the CIA announced that they were rejecting or revising 19 politically driven reports that were not based on dangers but on diversity, equity, and inclusion:
The Obama and Biden administrations mixed intelligence analysis and politics far too often.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 20, 2026
I commend Director Ratcliffe for correcting the record and ensuring that the CIA’s analysis is free of any political bias. https://t.co/T7uuz1gMge
The agency’s director said that the reports were not objective and were based on unnecessary criteria:
CIA Director John Ratcliffe rescinded 19 intelligence products because each “failed to meet the agency’s standards of objectivity,” according to a senior official, of which 17 were fully retracted and two withdrawn for revisions.
The agency publicly released just three of those assessments that it said were politically influenced and focused on DEI, which were authored during the Biden, Trump and Obama administrations.
Does this kind of stuff make you feel that these folks are spending their time looking for terrorists and maximizing our security?
CANCELLED: 19 @CIA intelligence products officially retracted over “inappropriate insertion of DEI issues" and failure to meet "objectivity" standards, per senior CIA official.@CIADirector Ratcliffe ordered the removal of 17 intelligence products from CIA databases + 2 reports… pic.twitter.com/UdaHp6S8Gh
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) February 20, 2026
Independent journalist Catherine Herridge reports in the above tweet:
@CIADirector Ratcliffe ordered the removal of 17 intelligence products from CIA databases + 2 reports were significantly revised.
The CIA official said these intelligence products, which began under the Obama Administration, undercut the Agency’s mission to provide “objective intelligence analysis on national security issues.”
Among them: This October 2021 Report: “Women Advancing White Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist Radicalization and Recruitment”
The other reports noted by Ratcliffe included “Middle East-North Africa: LGBT Activists Under Pressure" and “Worldwide: Pandemic-Related Contraceptive Shortfalls Threaten Economic Development.”
So glad they’re looking out for our interests.
In an Obama-era report, analysts explicitly said that an ideological approach was somehow important to our security (emphasis mine):
Another Jan. 14, 2015, document pushed for the CIA to engage with “political debates about LGBT issues” in foreign governments, while citing known activist groups like the Human Rights Campaign, per the official.
The document stated in its opening paragraph: “The tough stance taken against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community by governments in the Middle East and North Africa probably is driven by conservative public opinion and domestic political competition from Islamists, and is hindering US initiatives in support of LGBT rights.”
Ratcliffe had vowed during his 2025 Senate confirmation hearing that he would get rid of “political or personal biases” and turn the agency into “the ultimate meritocracy.”
We don’t need woke intelligence; we need reports that improve our security.
This retracted CIA intelligence product from the Biden Administration relied, almost exclusively, on media reports (which are not intelligence nor evidence) as well as academic papers. pic.twitter.com/Wwo5Li2ZGS
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) February 20, 2026
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