Robert F. Kennedy, Matt Gaetz, and Pete Hegseth

Recently, Donald Trump has stirred significant conversation with his announcements regarding potential cabinet positions for a second presidential term. This has elicited strong reactions across various governmental sectors, particularly within the intelligence community. A focal point has emerged with Trump’s selection of Tulsi Gabbard as his nominee for the Director of National Intelligence.

Gabbard, a former Congresswoman from Hawaii, comes to this role without formal intelligence experience and has previously made controversial statements regarding countries like Russia and Syria, raising questions about her qualifications. If confirmed, she would be responsible for overseeing the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies and handling some of the most sensitive operations related to national security.

“We are all in disbelief,” commented a current intelligence official who has served under multiple administrations.

Intelligence analysts are particularly apprehensive about Gabbard potentially downplaying intelligence reports that are critical of Russia or even cutting funding for essential investigations. Some officials are reportedly considering resigning if Gabbard takes charge.

The position of Director of National Intelligence was created in the wake of the September 11 attacks to ensure that America’s national security apparatus functions cohesively and effectively shares crucial information about significant threats. Typically, nominees are vetted by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which includes a review of financial disclosures and an FBI background check. These assessments are meant to confirm that nominees do not have significant debts or connections to foreign governments that might hinder their capacity to lead thousands of intelligence personnel across agencies like the FBI, CIA, and NSA.

This marks a sharp contrast to the current Director, Avril Haynes, who possesses a wealth of experience in intelligence roles, having served as the deputy director of the CIA under the Obama administration. In comparison, Gabbard’s background is markedly different, as Haynes has spent decades navigating the intricacies of intelligence.

During her congressional tenure, Gabbard did not serve on the House Intelligence Committee; instead, she was involved with committees that focused on armed services, foreign affairs, and homeland security.

Gabbard gained national prominence in 2012, becoming the first Hindu, the first American Samoan, and one of the first female combat veterans to be elected to Congress. Before her legislative career, she served in Iraq in 2004 as part of a medical unit with the Hawaii Army National Guard and currently holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Over the last ten years, Gabbard has markedly deviated from conventional foreign policy perspectives, often expressing skepticism towards American intelligence evaluations and adopting stances that resonate with Russian narratives.

In 2017, while still serving in Congress, Gabbard met with Syrian President Bashar Assad after the U.S. had cut diplomatic ties due to Assad’s violent repression of his citizens. Russia has historically backed Assad, supplying military resources that have propped up his regime throughout the ongoing Syrian civil conflict. Gabbard has consistently argued against U.S. support for opposition groups favored by American intelligence.

Later that same year, following a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria, Gabbard supported Russian claims absolving Assad of responsibility, despite a U.N. investigation confirming the Syrian military’s involvement.

Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Gabbard promoted a video that advanced a debunked conspiracy theory about pathogens escaping from biolabs in Ukraine, a narrative that aligned with Russian propaganda. Former Representative Adam Kinzinger criticized her for disseminating “actual Russian propaganda,” while Senator Mitt Romney denounced her claims as “fake Russian propaganda.”

This was not the first time Gabbard faced allegations of promoting Russian interests. During her 2019 presidential bid, she received favorable coverage from Russian media, prompting Hillary Clinton to suggest that a Democrat was being “groomed” by Russia to run as a third-party candidate to assist Trump in his re-election. Many speculated that Clinton was referring to Gabbard, who later accused Clinton of trying to “destroy” her reputation.

In a significant change, Gabbard announced her departure from the Democratic Party two years ago, criticizing it as being “under the total control of an elitist cabal of warmongers motivated by cowardly wokeness.” Just last month, she declared her support for the Republican Party during a rally for Donald Trump in North Carolina.

Interestingly, Gabbard has not always been in agreement with Trump’s perspectives. She openly condemned his 2015 decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, which was backed not only by the Obama administration but also by Iran, Russia, China, France, Germany, and the U.K. Moreover, she criticized Trump’s 2020 order to eliminate Iranian General Qassim Soleimani, arguing that it violated constitutional protocols by targeting a foreign military leader without congressional consent.