Top Trump aide denies report about revamping intelligence agencies

A new report about President-elect Donald Trump planning to revamp two U.S. intelligence agencies is “100 percent false,” incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Thursday morning.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Trump is looking at restructuring the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). During a Thursday call, Spicer pushed back on the report, arguing that all talks are “tentative” and saying that Trump’s main commitment is keeping Americans safe.

“These reports are false,” Spicer said on the call. “All transition activities are for information-gathering purposes and all discussions are tentative.”

{mosads}“There is no truth to this idea of restructuring the intelligence community infrastructure,” he continued. “It is 100 percent false.”

The WSJ report said that Trump wants to shrink the ODNI because he believes the agency has become politicized since its inception in 2004 following the 9/11 terror attacks. Trump’s plan for the CIA included staff cuts at its Virginia headquarters and assignments to more field posts.

“The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world [is] becoming completely politicized,” an individual close to Trump’s transition team told the Journal. “They all need to be slimmed down. The focus will be on restructuring agencies and how they interact.”

Spicer’s comments come as chiefs from the intelligence community testify Thursday morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee about Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Trump will receive a briefing from the intelligence chiefs on Friday once President Obama receives the finalized report.