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Hearing Highlights: Tulsi Gabbard Under Fire for Cozy Ties to Foreign Adversaries
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Washington D.C. – During a testy Senate confirmation hearing for President Trump’s choice for Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard only raised more questions than answers about her lack of intelligence experience and reputation for being “soft on Russia.”
For someone who would oversee more than a dozen intelligence agencies, there should be zero lingering questions about an Intelligence Director’s first allegiance to America’s national security interests. But Tulsi Gabbard’s inexplicable coziness with Russia raises many."
Tony Carrk, Executive Director of Accountable.US.
Lack of Intelligence Experience and Expertise
How can Gabbard assure Americans that she is qualified to manage and lead our nation’s intelligence apparatus without any substantial or meaningful background in intelligence operations? Gabbard’s professional background indicates no direct experience in deep intelligence. Current intelligence officials have expressed alarm at her nomination, with some privately considering resignation if she becomes DNI. Former CIA officer Rep. Abigail Spanberger called Gabbard “ill-prepared and unqualified,” noting she “traffics in conspiracy theories and cozies up to dictators.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence oversees 18 intelligence agencies crucial to national security and requires experienced leadership to handle complex threats to our nation.
Concerning Foreign Relations and National Security Risks
How can Gabbard assure Americans that her judgment and relationships with foreign adversaries won’t compromise our national security? Gabbard has faced serious criticism for her “secret” 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad despite the Assad regime deploying chemical weapons against Syrian citizens in 2013, killing over 1,400 people. Gabbard has repeated Russian propaganda such as claims that there are over two dozen U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine, a claim called “traitorous” by one Republican congressman, and urging the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine to “put geopolitics aside” and accept that Ukraine “will be a neutral country.”
In 2022, Russian state television played a clip of Gabbard reacting to comments made by President Biden that Putin cannot stay in power. While setting up the clip, the host refers to Gabbard as “our girlfriend Tulsi” and a panelist “quipped” that she was a Russian agent.
Gabbard was briefly placed on a Transportation Security Administration watchlist after her overseas travel patterns and foreign connections triggered a government security algorithm. The incident raised concerns among security officials about her “unusual relationships overseas.”
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