By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s choice to be the Director of National Intelligence, arrives to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Samoan American politician Tulsi Gabbard has been sworn in as the United States’ director of national intelligence.
Despite Gabbard’s perceived sympathies with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syria’s deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, all but one Republican senator voted in favor of Gabbard’s nomination. Alongside Senate Democrats, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote against Gabbard’s nomination.
In a Dec. 4, 2024, letter to incoming Republican majority leader Sen. John Thune, then-majority leader Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer wrote that legislators were “alarmed by the announcement that the President-elect intends to nominate Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence,” because of Gabbard’s activities with Putin and al-Assad.
Schumer wrote of Gabbard’s “uncoordinated trip to Syria in 2017 to meet with President Bashar al-Assad,” and said that several of her “past actions call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus.”
“Following her trip to Syria, for example, Ms. Gabbard aligned herself with Russian and Syrian officials,” Schumer’s letter continued. “She publicly cast doubt on U.S. intelligence reports and overwhelming public reporting that Assad carried out chemical weapons attacks against Syrian civilians, giving credence to the debunked conspiracy that the attack was staged by agents of the United Kingdom.”
After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Gabbard “similarly released a video insinuating that U.S.-funded labs in Ukraine were developing biological weapons and that Ukraine’s engagement with NATO posed a threat to Russian sovereignty, both arguments initially used by Russia to justify its illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Her sympathy for dictators like Vladimir Putin and Assad raises questions about her judgment and fitness,” Schumer wrote.
President Donald Trump nominated Gabbard last November. Gabbard is now the highest-ranking Pacific Islander official in the country.
It’s surprising to see Gabbard voted in as Director of National Intelligence given her controversial past, particularly her perceived sympathies toward Russian President Putin and the former Syrian dictator. While it’s important to focus on a person’s qualifications for the role, such a background raises concerns about objectivity, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security. It will be interesting to see how her past positions and views shape her actions in this new role, and whether it will affect the trust the public places in her leadership.