NSA staff accused of ‘lurid sex chats’ at work – they were just discussing LGBTQ+ issues

NSA employees have been accused of having “lurid sex chats”on company time – despite the fact that screenshots clearly show they were simply discussing their experiences as trans and non-binary people.

Right-wing tabloid the Daily Mail used the headline “Lurid sex chats among NSA agents exposed as intel chief Tulsi Gabbard vows to punish workers posting about ‘kinks, fetishes and polyamory’.”

Conservative outlet Fox News also described them as “sex chats”, despite the fact the article went on to make it clear the chats were actually straightforward discussions about LGBTQ+ issues such as “gender-reassignment surgery, artificial genitalia, hormone therapy, and pronoun usage.”

Trump’s Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard leapt on the news, calling the discussions “disgusting” and “unacceptable,” and writing on social media that “those involved WILL be held accountable.”

She subsequently claimed that more than 100 intelligence officers from 15 agencies had been fired as a result of their participation in the chats.

The chats are alleged to have taken place on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) “Intelink” messaging platform, and were obtained by a researcher from the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank: right wing activist Christopher F. Rufo, a prominent advocate for bans on teachers discussing LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms.

Rufo shared the screenshots on X, claiming that they showed “NSA, CIA, and DIA employees (discussing) genital castration, artificial vaginas, piss fetishes, sex polycules, and gangbangs – all on government time.”

EXCLUSIVE: @GrossmanHannah and I have obtained logs from the NSA’s secret transgender sex chatroom, in which NSA, CIA, and DIA employees discuss genital castration, artificial vaginas, piss fetishes, sex polycules, and gangbangs—all on government time.

This is insane. 🧵

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) February 24, 2025

Rufo claims that the chat logs were taken from two groups titled “LBTQA” and “IC_Pride_TWG.” The discussions depicted are honest and open accounts of various LGBTQ+ topics and experiences, many of them apparently written by trans employees and offered up as useful advice for colleagues.

The first set of screenshots appear to show several employees describing the positive impact of their vaginoplasty, which usually involves the removal of the testicles and penis and the creation of a vagina, labia and clitoris. One person explains one benefit is that going to the toilet no longer causes them to feel dysphoric.

The second series of messages that Rufo shared features advice about accessing laser hair removal treatments.

The third “lurid sex chat” is about pronoun usage, with one person saying: “Hi, it/its pronoun user here, while I understand we can make some people uncomfortable, keep in mind that the dehumanizing aspect either a) doesn’t apply or b) is a positive effect when we’re requesting it.”

The fourth features several members explaining their experiences of polyamory, otherwise known as ethical non-monogamy, and answering questions from another person who wanted to know more about it.

Nothing remotely explicit is mentioned in the polyamory explanation despite Rufo attempting to paint the discussion as some kind of salacious account of “sprawling sexual networks.”

Trump’s “first buddy” Elon Musk also jumped in to the “NSA sex chats” discourse, sharing a fifth screenshot from the leaked chat where two people were talking about how appropriate it would be to raise an intersex baby as non-binary, with the comment “wow.”

However, others defended the chats, with one writing: “seems like some friendly colleagues chatting about the vagaries of sex, gender, nature, nurture? not exactly a vast conspiracy. they come across very human here.”

Rufo has form when it comes to portraying straightforward discussion of LGBTQ+ issues as being inherently sexually inappropriate. He regularly links LGBTQ+ discussions in schools to grooming: suggesting that talking about LGBTQ+ identities and experiences with young people is a precursor to sexually abusing them.

He’s also an outspoken supporter of The Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, more commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bans the discussion of LGBTQ+ topics in schools and beyond.

In 2022, he misrepresented a study by educational researcher Charol Shakeshaft to claim that public school teachers are responsible for 100 times more child sexual abuse than Catholic priests. Shakeshaft termed this a misuse of her data, calling it “completely invalid”.

At the time, NYMag accused Rufo of trying to forment a “school-rape panic,” before ending their article with the sentence: “The most unfathomable aspect of this story may be the simple fact that Rufo works for a think tank.”