Trump Picks Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he selected former Hawaii Congresswoman Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard to be his Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
Gabbard, a member of the National Guard, was in Congress from 2013-2021. A former Democrat, she recently announced she was joining the Republican party and endorsed Trump in his race against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Gabbard has been an opponent of US involvement in the Ukraine war since Russia launched its invasion. “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border,” she wrote on X on February 23, 2022.
During a presidential run in 2020, Gabbard made opposing “regime change wars” central to her campaign. She staunchly opposed US involvement in Syria and made a trip to the country in 2017 to go on a fact-finding mission. While in Syria, she met with President Bashar al-Assad, enraging hawks in Washington.
