During the Senate hearing for now Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner warned her about the importance of allies trusting the U.S. with the sharing of intelligence.
“Make no mistake about it, if they stop sharing that intelligence, the United States will be less safe,” Warner said in late January. He offered an example from August 2024 when the sharing of intelligence prevented a terrorist attack at Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna, Austria.
In the fallout from a tense conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Trump Administration announced the U.S. will pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine. As the embattled nation continues war with Russia, vital information that has enabled Ukrainians to fight may no longer be available to them.
Russia‘s intentions and military movements have proven critical to the defense of Ukraine, as reported by The Associated Press, and indicated U.S. and other western allies’ support of Ukraine. Trump also paused military aid to Ukraine.
“We have taken a step back and are pausing and reviewing all aspects of this relationship,” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said.
The suspension of intelligence is a “pause,” according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe as a result of the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy last week in the Oval Office.
“On the military front and the intelligence front, the pause that allowed that to happen will go away, and I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine as we have,” Ratcliffe said.
Intelligence from the U.S. has enabled Ukraine to track Russian troop movements and choose targets for battle. Likewise, intelligence from the U.S. and other allies allows Ukraine’s troops to prepare for attacks from Russia.
“The idea that we will now withhold life-saving intelligence from Ukrainians who are fighting and dying is unforgivable,” said top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee U.S. Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut.
Warner of Virginia is vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He called the Trump Administration’s decision to cut off military assistance to Ukraine as “ill-advised” and a “weak decision.” He said that cutting off intelligence sharing is callous.
“Instead of standing up to Putin, President Trump has given away American power to Russia – from voting at the UN with Russia and North Korea and against all of our allies, to directly negotiating with Russia at the highest levels while excluding Ukraine, to refusing to condemn Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship while unjustly calling the democratically elected Ukrainian president a ‘dictator’ and ejecting him from the White House,” Warner said.
He added that Putin has not ended “his illegal assault against Ukraine. Allied intelligence support has been crucial to enable Ukraine to defend itself from the first days of the conflict in February 2022, to unmask Russian invasion plans and intentions, and to save countless innocent lives. Let me be clear: Cutting off intelligence support to our Ukrainian partners will cost lives.”
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Rebecca Barnabi
