Trump’s Nominee for Top Intelligence Role Under Renewed Examination for Syria Trip and Russia Remarks

President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to lead America’s intelligence agencies has brought renewed attention to her contentious 2017 encounter with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and previous remarks regarding Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. Should Gabbard be confirmed as the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI), she would be responsible for safeguarding the nation’s most critical secrets, supervising 18 US intelligence organizations, and acting as a principal advisor to the president. However, previous US national security officials and legislators have voiced apprehension that appointing Gabbard – known for her strong opposition to American participation in foreign conflicts and whom detractors claim reiterates Kremlin viewpoints – might adversely impact intelligence collaboration. Lewis Lukens, a retired diplomat who held the position of deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in London during the initial Trump administration, informed the BBC that Gabbard’s “dubious judgement” might provide allies with “reason to question how safe it is to share intelligence with the US”. Gabbard, a recent convert to the Republican Party, has previously characterized her critics as “warmongers” attempting to discredit any opponent of Washington’s established order. Trump, too, has endorsed his selection, stating that Gabbard – a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve with deployments to Iraq and Kuwait – “will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our intelligence community”. However, in an unusual development for a DNI nomination, Russian state media commended Gabbard’s selection, intensifying the apprehension among national security personnel in Washington, D.C. On November 14, well-known talk show host Olga Skabeyeva remarked that “virtually from the first days of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, she [Gabbard] explained its reasons, criticised the actions of the Biden administration, and also personally met none other than Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and supported his fight against terrorists.” Throughout her political career, Gabbard’s stances have garnered both commendation and criticism from members of both the Democratic and Republican parties. Her perspectives have typically been anti-war, against American intervention, and highly critical of the US intelligence apparatus. However, her “fact-finding” journey to Syria in January 2017 as a congresswoman initially provoked strong indignation, especially after she subsequently questioned the US intelligence conclusion that Assad’s forces had deployed chemical weapons against civilians. In April of that year, after the Trump administration initiated multiple strikes on Syria following a chemical assault that resulted in over 80 fatalities, Gabbard characterized these strikes as “reckless and short-sighted,” asserting they would intensify the civil war and impede the gathering of evidence regarding the incident. The United States fired missiles at a Syrian Air Force base, which the Pentagon identified as the origin of a warplane that subsequently dropped bombs containing the nerve agent sarin on the rebel-controlled town of Khan Sheikhoun. Subsequently, a UN panel reached the identical conclusion as the US, expressing certainty that the Syrian government bore responsibility for the sarin release in the town. Assad’s administration and its ally Russia dismissed the report, claiming instead that the Syrian Air Force strike had targeted a rebel storage facility containing chemical munitions. Gabbard’s remarks and her contentious encounter with Assad cast a shadow over her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019. In defense of her conduct, she informed an interviewer that Assad, who also receives support from Iran, was “not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States”. The Trump transition team has not yet replied to a comment request from the BBC. She garnered additional notice during Russia’s comprehensive invasion of Ukraine in 2022, issuing statements that some perceived as mirroring Putin’s rationales for the conflict. Gabbard asserted that the conflict might have been averted if the Biden administration and the NATO military alliance “had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns” regarding Ukraine’s potential future membership. Several weeks later, she published a video suggesting that US-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine could be compromised and “release and spread deadly pathogens.” This occurred concurrently with Russia, in its defense of the invasion, disseminating unsubstantiated allegations that the US was assisting Ukraine in developing biological weapons. In reply, Republican Senator Mitt Romney stated on social media that Gabbard was “parroting false Russian propaganda