Defending her loyalty, US President Donald Trump’s “Top Spy Pick” was vocal enough to hold that she has “No Love for Dictators”. Tulsi told US Senators at a hearing to confirm her as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) that she has “no love for Assad or Gaddafi or any dictator” as her critics have said, “I just hate Al Qaeda.”
Gabbard presented her sole focus, commitment, and responsibility for her own nation, security and the interests of the American people. Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be Director of National Intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike during a fiery confirmation hearing focused on her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden.
US Intelligence Lapses
Gabbard started her hearing by telling lawmakers that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America’s intelligence service. She said too often intelligence has been false or politicized, leading to wars, foreign policy failures, and the misuse of espionage. She said those lapses have continued as the U.S. faces renewed threats from Russia and China.
“The bottom line is this must end. President Trump’s re-election is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure and the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community,” Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Gabbard promised to be objective and noted her military service, saying she would bring the same sense of duty and responsibility to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees and coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies.
The questions raised by senators about Gabbard’s judgment and experience make her one of the more contentious of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Given thin Republican margins in the Senate, she will need almost all GOP senators to vote “yes” in order to win confirmation.
A former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for President in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.
It’s Gabbard’s comments, however, that have posed the biggest challenge to her confirmation. She has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and in the past opposed a key U.S. surveillance program.
In a back-and-forth that at times grew heated, lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about her statements supportive of Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs.
Several senators, including Republicans James Lankford of Oklahoma and Susan Collins of Maine, pressed Gabbard on whether she would push to pardon Snowden, or whether she considered him a traitor. On the last question, Gabbard repeatedly declined to answer.
“Yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?” asked Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.
“As someone who has served in uniform in combat, I understand how critical our national security is,” Gabbard responded, before Bennet cut her off, saying “Apparently, you don’t.”
Gabbard said that while Snowden revealed important facts about surveillance programs she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said.
Gabbard has been accused of spreading Russian disinformation by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, asked Gabbard, whether Russia would “get a pass” from her.
“Senator I’m offended by the question,” Gabbard responded. “Because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people.”
A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another point of contention. Assad was recently deposed as his country’s leader following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator and then more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.
“I just do not understand how you can blame NATO for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, and when Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, you didn’t condemn him,” said the committee’s senior Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.
Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record. “I asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions,” Gabbard said.
Senators also pressed her about her changing views of the surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.
As a lawmaker, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would have repealed it. She argued then that the program could be violating the rights of Americans whose communications are swept up inadvertently, but national security officials say the program has saved lives. She now says she supports the program, noting new safeguards designed to protect Americans’ privacy. Gabbard defended her change of opinion, and said her critics are opposed to her nomination because she asks tough questions and doesn’t always follow Washington dogma.
“The fact is what truly unsettles my political opponents is that I refuse to be their puppet,” she said. Gabbard is among a couple of nominees who are facing more difficultly gaining unanimous support from Republican senators. Sens. Todd Young, Susan Collins and James Lankford were among the most aggressive questioners, but it remained unclear if they were satisfied enough by her responses to move her out of committee and confirm her on the Senate floor. The committee has not yet scheduled a vote.
There has been much discussion over whether the committee vote on Gabbard should be made in public or in private as the panel usually operates. Many of Trump’s supporters want it to be public to pressure any GOP senator, who is considering opposing her nomination. Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, supports Gabbard’s nomination and said at the start of hearing that he hopes she can rein in an office that has grown too large and bureaucratic.
Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, noted that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now larger, in terms of staffing, than any of the agencies it was created to oversee.
“Look at where conventional thinking has got us. Maybe Washington could use a little more unconventional thinking,” Cotton said. “Ms. Gabbard, I submit that, if confirmed, the measure of your success will largely depend on whether you can return the ODNI to its original size, scope, and mission.”
Gabbard joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003 and was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005, where she served as a specialist with the medical unit, and received the Combat Medical Badge.
After ending her presidential campaign, Gabbard has since taken more conservative positions on culture war social issues, including abortion; Environment, gun control and transgender rights.
Who is Tulsi Gabbard?
Gabbard grew up in Hawai’i in a multi-ethnic and multi-faith family. A practicing Hindu, she is of Asian, Polynesian, and Caucasian descent. As a teenager, she co-founded an environmental non-profit called Healthy Hawaii’ Coalition, focused on educating children about protecting Hawaii’s environment.
An advocate for environmental policy, Tulsi was elected to the Hawaii State Legislature in 2002 when she was just 21 years old, becoming the youngest person ever elected in the state. A year later, she joined the Hawaii Army National Guard to serve Hawaii and our country. In 2004, Tulsi volunteered to deploy with her fellow soldiers, becoming the first state official to voluntarily step down from public office to serve in a war zone.
Tulsi served two tours of duty in the Middle East, and she continues her service as a Major in the Army National Guard. Tulsi’s 2005 deployment was a 12-month tour at Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Iraq, where she served in a field medical unit as a specialist with a 29th Support Battalion medical company. She was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal at the end of this tour.
In between her two tours, Tulsi served in the U.S. Senate as a legislative aide to Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), where she advised him on energy independence, homeland security, the environment, and veteran issues.
While working for Senator Akaka in 2007, Tulsi graduated from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy, where she was the first woman to finish as the distinguished honor graduate in the Academy’s 50-year history. Tulsi was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and again assigned to the 29th Brigade Special Troops Battalion of the Hawaii Army National Guard this time to serve as the Military Police Platoon Leader.
Tulsi continued to work for Senator Akaka until 2009, when she again voluntarily deployed with her unit to the Middle East. During this second deployment, in addition to leading her platoon on a wide variety of security missions, she also conducted non-military host-nation visits and served as a primary trainer for the Kuwait National Guard.
Tulsi was one of the first women to set foot inside a Kuwait military facility and became the first woman to ever be awarded and honored by the Kuwait National Guard for her work in their training and readiness program.
In 2010, Tulsi was elected to the Honolulu City Council, serving as Chair of the Safety, Economic Development, and Government Affairs Committee and Vice Chair of the Budget Committee. In 2011, she visited Indonesia as part of a peacekeeping training with the Indonesian Army. Tulsi was elected in 2012 to the United States House of Representatives, serving Hawaiis 2nd District.
She is one of the first two female combat veterans to ever serve in the U.S. Congress, and also its first Hindu member.
Now in her fourth term in Congress, Tulsi brings with her a broad range of real-world experience, a storehouse of personal strength, and tested leadership as she represents the people of Hawaii and nation in Congress.
As she works on the challenges that face the country, she remains focused on bringing her pragmatic approach to working in a collaborative, bipartisan fashion to find real solutions that best serve the people. Tulsi serves on the House Armed Services Committee where she is a strong advocate for veterans, service members, and making smart strategic decisions that best secure the nation.
Tulsi also serves on the House Financial Services Committee, where she fights for the nation’s financial, banking, and housing policies to serve the American people — not Wall Street and special interests. is working every day to make sure we have a sustainable economy that works for all families, with access to affordable health care, good jobs, and a quality education.
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Commencing teaching in his early twenties, Prof Aggarwal has diverse experience of great tenure in the top institutions not only as an educationist, administrator, editor, author but also promoting youth and its achievements through the nicest possible content framing. A revolutionary to the core, he is also keen to address the society around him for its betterment and growth on positive notes while imbibing the true team spirit the work force along with.
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