Important Takeaways:
- The former Democrat Hawaii congresswoman received a 52-48 vote, with Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY) joining Democrats against her.
- Shortly before the final vote, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he was “proud” to say that every single Democrat would vote against her, claiming she “echoes Russian propaganda.”
- In a February 3 opinion piece in Newsweek, Gabbard listed her four day-one priorities:
- First, to assess the global threat environment and identify where gaps in our intelligence exist, integrating intelligence elements, increasing information-sharing, and ensuring unbiased, apolitical, objective collection and analysis is provided to support President Trump and policymakers’ decision-making.
- Second, I will deliver on President Trump’s commitment to the American people to end the politicization of the IC and provide focus to the IC’s essential mission, which is securing our nation.
- Third, I will rebuild trust in the intelligence community through transparency and accountability.
- Finally, I will assess and address efficiency, redundancy, and effectiveness across ODNI.
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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:
- Trust in the intelligence community is at an “all-time low,” Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence (DNI), said during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
- “I’m honored and grateful to President Trump for his trust and confidence in nominating me to serve our country as the Director of National Intelligence at a time when trust in the intelligence community, unfortunately, is at an all-time low,” Gabbard said during her opening statement, citing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who “admitted a few years ago, quote, ‘You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.’”
- “For too long, faulty, inadequate or weaponized intelligence have led to costly failures and the undermining of our national security and God-given freedoms enshrined in the Constitution,” she said before laying out several of these failures by name, beginning with the invasion of Iraq.
- She said:
- The most obvious example of one of these failures is our invasion of Iraq based upon a total fabrication or complete failure of intelligence. This disastrous decision led to the deaths of tens of thousands of American soldiers, millions of people in the Middle East, mass migration, destabilization and undermining of the security and stability of our European allies, the rise of ISIS, strengthening of al Qaeda and other Islamist jihadist groups, and strengthening Iran.
- Gabbard listed a host of other examples, many of which occurred under President Joe Biden’s watch.
- “The American people elected Donald Trump as their president, not once, but twice, and yet, the FBI and intelligence agencies were politicized by his opponents to undermine his presidency and falsely portray him as a puppet of Putin,” she said. “Title I of FISA was used illegally to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, using a Clinton campaign-funded false dossier as their so-called evidence.”
- “Biden campaign adviser Tony Blinken was the impetus for the 51 former senior intelligence officials’ letter dismissing Hunter Biden’s laptop as disinformation, specifically to help Biden win the election,” she continued.
- “Former DNI James Clapper lied to this committee in 2013, denying the existence of programs that facilitated the mass collection of millions of Americans’ phone and internet records, yet was never held accountable,” she said. “Under John Brennan’s leadership, the CIA abused its power to spy on Congress to dodge oversight, lied about doing it until he was caught and yet has never been held responsible.”
- Further, Gabbard continued, the FBI “abused its power for political reasons to try to surveil Catholics who attend traditional Latin Mass, labeling them as quote, unquote, radical traditionalist Catholics” — all of which happened under Biden’s watch.
- “Personally, just 24 hours after I criticized Kamala Harris and her nomination, I was placed on a secret domestic terror watch list called Quiet Skies,” Gabbard revealed. “Sadly, there are more examples.”
- Gabbard said such weaponization must end, contending that this is something that comes with the mandate the American people issued to President Trump.
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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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