Important Takeaways:
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune defended Gabbard’s nomination in a speech on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, in which he highlighted her military service and focused on her promise to “right-size” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “I am glad that Ms. Gabbard plans to focus on identifying and eliminating redundancies and inefficiencies to restore the office to what it was originally designed to be,” he said.
- Gabbard is Trump’s 14th nominee to be confirmed since January 20.
- Gabbard’s confirmation would make her the most markedly anti-surveillance official to lead the intelligence community in the post-9/11 era. Her previous animus toward what she has described as the “national security state and its warmongering friends,” hell-bent on using the Espionage Act and other tools to punish its enemies, has raised questions about whether she might seek to reshape the rules by which American intelligence agencies have been collecting, searching and using intelligence for decades.
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Important Takeaways:
- President-elect Donald J. Trump is appointing Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic presidential candidate, as Director of National Intelligence. The Iraq War veteran, noted for her opposition to neoconservative “forever wars,” campaigned for Trump during the 2024 presidential election, arguing a vote for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was tantamount to “a vote for Dick Cheney.”
- “I am pleased to announce that former Congresswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Tulsi Gabbard, will serve as Director of National Intelligence,” Trump confirmed in a statement on the appointment, adding: “For over two decades, Tulsi has fought for our Country and the Freedoms of all Americans.”
- “As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties – She is now a proud Republican! I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength. Tulsi will make us all proud!” he added.
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