Steady State Urges Congress To Investigate
Re: Concerns regarding intelligence sharing with Five Eyes Partners
Dear Chairman Cotton, Vice Chairman Warner, Chairman Crawford, and Ranking Member Himes,
The Steady State[1] is an association of more than 320 senior veterans from the U.S. national security, homeland security, and diplomatic communities. We have dedicated our careers to the principles of an apolitical, professional, and constitutionally bound national security enterprise. We have served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, always with the goal of upholding the rule of law and safeguarding the integrity of the institutions that protect our nation.
On behalf of The Steady State, I write to bring to your urgent attention recent reporting by CBS and journalist Jim LaPorta, which indicates that Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has issued a directive prohibiting the sharing of intelligence with our Five Eyes partners regarding ongoing negotiations between and among the United States, Russia and Ukraine (“Face the Nation,” August 10, 2025).[2]
The Five Eyes intelligence‐sharing alliance—comprising the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—dates back to the Second World War. It has been a bedrock of U.S. national security, providing unparalleled access to human intelligence, signals intelligence, and analytic perspectives, and ensuring that our leaders make decisions with the benefit of the broadest possible information base.
Under existing statutory requirements, the Director of National Intelligence is obligated to keep the congressional intelligence committees “fully and currently informed” of significant intelligence activities. A decision to suspend cooperation with an alliance of such historic importance, in a matter of urgent global security, would seem to require immediate notice to and oversight by your committees.
This directive is difficult to explain in light of decades of mutually beneficial cooperation with our closest allies. Even if unintended, it raises troubling questions about the United States’ position in the current negotiations: Are we aligned with the Western democracies—including our Five Eyes partners and Ukraine—across the table from Vladimir Putin? Or are we now, in effect, sitting on the same side of the table as Putin—estranged from our former closest partners and allies?
The consequences of this shift are not abstract. By cutting off the intelligence flow to and from our allies on a critical matter of war and peace, the President will lack access to vital insights and assessments when he meets with President Putin in Alaska later this week. After all, the Five Eyes relationship supports two-way sharing. The result may be a diminished understanding of the situation and a weakened U.S. position at the negotiating table.
We respectfully urge the Committees to:
● Review the DNI’s directive in detail, including its legal authority, scope, and rationale.
● Assess its impact on the completeness of intelligence provided to the President, especially in light of the upcoming summit with President Putin.
● Evaluate its implications for U.S. foreign policy, alliance management, and long‐standing intelligence‐sharing commitments.
We believe this issue goes to the heart of our national security and the trustworthiness of our intelligence posture.
We appreciate your consideration of this matter.
cc: Members of the Committee
[1] Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 320 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.
[2] Available on-line at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-full-transcript-08-10-2025/