Donald Trump Nominates Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who transitioned to the Republican Party to support Donald Trump, has been chosen by the president-elect as his nominee for director of national intelligence. This extensive position would involve her supervision of various U.S. intelligence organizations, including the CIA, FBI, and the National Security Agency (NSA), which specializes in collecting intelligence. Concerns have emerged regarding Gabbard’s nomination, specifically her limited background in intelligence and prior allegations of her amplifying Russian propaganda. Her appointment to this position is contingent upon Senate confirmation. Should her confirmation proceed, Gabbard would be responsible for a budget exceeding $70bn (£55bn) and would supervise 18 intelligence agencies. However, the nomination has drawn criticism from certain sectors. Commenting on the selection via X, Abigail Spanberger, a Democratic congresswoman from Virginia and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, stated she was “appalled at the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard”. Spanberger added, “Not only is she ill-prepared and unqualified, but she traffics in conspiracy theories and cozies up to dictators like Bashar-al Assad and Vladimir Putin.” Gabbard, a military veteran who served in Iraq with a medical unit, has established several political milestones throughout her career. In 2002, at the age of 21, she was first elected to the Hawaii State Legislature, becoming the youngest individual ever elected in that state. She departed after a single term when her National Guard unit received deployment orders for Iraq. Subsequently, Gabbard represented Hawaii in Congress from 2013 to 2021, achieving the distinction of being the first Hindu to serve in the House. Prior to this, she advocated for liberal policies such as government-administered healthcare, tuition-free college education, and stricter gun control. These policy positions formed part of her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, a race she ultimately withdrew from, subsequently endorsing Joe Biden. In 2022, she departed from the Democratic Party and initially registered as an independent, characterizing her former party as an “elitist cabal of warmongers” motivated by “cowardly wokeness”. After becoming a contributor to Fox News, she expressed strong opinions on subjects like gender and freedom of speech, and emerged as a prominent supporter of Donald Trump before formally joining the Republican Party less than a month prior. During her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, Gabbard drew criticism from her competitors following what appeared to be favorable media attention from Russian state outlets. That same year, she also encountered censure for her perceived endorsement of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is regarded as a significant Russian ally. She asserted that Assad “is not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States” and justified her meeting with him in 2017, which occurred during Trump’s initial term. Also in 2017, she stated in a CNN interview that she was “sceptical” that the Syrian government was responsible for a chemical weapons assault that resulted in numerous fatalities. Following a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation, Trump declared there could be “no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons”. In 2019, Gabbard also characterized Assad as a “brutal dictator”. Furthermore, Gabbard has issued several contentious remarks concerning Russia and its comprehensive invasion of Ukraine. On the day of Russia’s invasion, she posted on social media that the conflict might have been avoided if the U.S. and its Western partners had acknowledged Russia’s “legitimate security concerns” regarding Ukraine’s aspiration to join Nato. The subsequent month, she claimed it was an “undeniable fact” that U.S.-funded biolabs existed in Ukraine capable of “release and spread deadly pathogens,” while simultaneously advocating for a ceasefire. In reaction, Republican senator Mitt Romney asserted that Gabbard had adopted “actual Russian propaganda”. On Russian television, her selection as intelligence director is being portrayed as potentially complicating Washington’s relationship with Ukraine. Rossiya 1 correspondent Dmitry Melnikov commented that her nomination “does not bode well for Kyiv,” highlighting that she had previously “openly accused the Biden administration of provoking Russia”. The channel’s presenter further noted that Gabbard had “strongly criticised Zelensky and called for dialogue with Russia”. Further reporting was provided by Karine Mirumyan of BBC Monitoring. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.