director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that she would end the work of a task force less than a year old aimed at reforming the U.S. intelligence community, including rooting out what she said was the politicization of intelligence collection.

Gabbard established the panel in April when it was also tasked with exploring ways to reduce intelligence spending and whether reports on high-profile topics like COVID-19 should be declassified.

Gabbard said in a statement Wednesday that the task force’s work was always interim after she was appointed to oversee coordination among 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.

“In less than a year, we have brought historic transparency to the Intelligence Community,” Gabbard said in the statement. “My commitment to transparency, truth, and the elimination of politicization and weaponization in the Intelligence Community remains at the core of everything we do.”

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that she is ending the work of a task force aimed at reforming the U.S. intelligence community. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP: Photo by Getty Images)

Gabbard’s office said the number of officers assigned to the task force and their identities are confidential.

Her office added that the officers will now return to other intelligence agencies to continue the work the team started.

The group’s creation has sparked criticism of Gabbard, with Democrats and some intelligence insiders questioning whether it could be used to undermine intelligence agencies and subject them to tighter control by the president. Donald Trump.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said last year that the group appeared to be a “passport for a witch hunt” aimed at targeting intelligence officials deemed disloyal to Trump.

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The task force seeks to root out the so-called politicization of intelligence collection. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“This appears to be just a license for a political persecution that will further undermine our national security,” Warner told Reuters at the time.

Gabbard implemented major changes to the country’s intelligence collection last year, including using the agency to bolster Trump’s claims about alleged interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections.

In August, she revealed Planned layoffs and cut more than $700 million from the annual budget. She also fired two senior intelligence officials in May because they believed they opposed Trump.

Since Gabbard took over as director, the federal government has revoked the security clearances of dozens of former and current officials, including high-profile political opponents of the president, which critics criticized as punishment for siding with Trump rather than posing a security risk.

Officers assigned to the task force will now return to other intelligence agencies. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)

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Gabbard’s presence during a recent FBI raid on Georgia election offices in connection with the 2020 election has drawn criticism from Democrats who say she has blurred the traditional lines between foreign intelligence collection and domestic law enforcement.

The CIA has also released more information about its investigation into the origins of COVID-19, such as an assessment released last year that confirmed it likely originated in a laboratory in China.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.