Or maybe she is the right person. I like former Democrat congresswoman and Army officer Tulsi Gabbard. She is smart, patriotic and telegenic. I would like to see her on the Trump team.
I also believe President Donald Trump should have the national security team that he wants to pursue the policies he promised.
Still, Gabbard may not be the best choice to lead the large, disparate U.S. intelligence community (IC) of 17 separate agencies as the director of national intelligence (DNI).
The relatively new, post 9/11 DNI position (created in 2005) may not be as important a role as the title suggests. Some believe it’s a redundant layer of bureaucracy, with little real authority or mission.
John Ratcliffe, Trump’s DNI during his first term, even chose to be “demoted” to CIA director rather than DNI this time around.
Nevertheless, the DNI still synthesizes the IC’s views on key national security issues and advises the president on intelligence matters. The director also manages about $100 billion in intelligence programs.
And in a couple of important areas Gabbard falls short.
First, the Iraq war veteran has no relevant intelligence experience. At least Ratcliffe had served on the House Intelligence Committee prior to getting the job.
Others question her loyalty and personal background.
Though Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the chair of the intelligence committee, said at the start of the hearing that Gabbard has undergone five FBI background investigations, and he spent two hours last week pouring through more than 300 pages worth of them.
“It’s clean as a whistle,” he added.
But those issues are not as troubling as some of her stated views and past comments.
In the past, Gabbard has repeated often inaccurate Kremlin talking points on the presence of U.S. bioweapons labs in Ukraine, blamed NATO for Russia’s invasion there and questioned U.S. intelligence assessments about the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
She was also oddly sympathetic to former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Then there is the controversial surveillance tool called Section 702 which she opposed while in Congress because, though focused on foreigners abroad, could also sweep up communications from American citizens.
Gabbard now appears to support the law, but with some added safeguards to protect Americans—a potentially good compromise.
Most troubling to me was Gabbard’s refusal to call former NSA contractor Edward Snowden a traitor. This is extremely important considering what Snowden did.
After Gabbard avoided providing a definitive answer on Snowden when asked about him by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), the Democrat tore into her.
“Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?” Bennet said, his voice rising. “That is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high.”
Gabbard didn’t answer.
“The record is going to be very clear about the position you took with regard to Edward Snowden,” Bennet then emphasized.
Interestingly, Snowden himself advised Gabbard publicly to call him a traitor.
Tulsi Gabbard will be required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation today. I encourage her to do so. Tell them I harmed national security and the sweet, soft feelings of staff. In D.C., that's what passes for the pledge of allegiance. pic.twitter.com/Z1OmOHgvdU
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 30, 2025
While he revealed some troubling surveillance abuses within the community which his supporters have used to call him a patriotic whistleblower, his voluminous intelligence leaks on other critical topics ranging from military operations to nuclear weapons caused untold damage to the intelligence community and likely cost lives.
He also fled to China and Russia. He can be a whistleblower and a traitor at the same time. And I believe he is both.
This is a view shared by many, including Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.), one of the possible GOP no votes on the narrowly divided panel.
Young appeared unnerved by Gabbard’s deflections on Snowden.
“I think it would befit you and be helpful to the way you are perceived by members of the intelligence community, if you would at least acknowledge that the greatest whistleblower in American history, so called, harmed national security by breaking the laws of the land around our intel authority,” he said.
But Senator Cotton, a harsh Snowden critic, has already shown his support for Gabbard.
And even Trump seems to have softened his views, at one point suggesting he might pardon him.
In the end though, the intelligence community has had so many failures that an iconoclast ready to challenge rather than cheerlead is what we need.
In her opening statement, Gabbard launched into a laundry list of those failures, including the investigation of Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 election, the intelligence assessments that led to the Iraq War and the letter from 51 former U.S. intelligence officials that warned Hunter Biden’s laptop was part of a Kremlin disinformation plot.
“What truly unsettles my political opponents is I refuse to be their puppet,” she said.
Maybe she is what we need, after all.
READ NEXT: Despite Defeat, Trump Ally Drops Bombshell: Is Politics Calling Again?
Snowden narc’ed on the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT during the Obama Admi for SPYING ON US CITIZENS. Obama didn’t seem too concerned at the time can called him “some hacker” Now Snowden is supposed to be Public Enemy No. 1?
AND the reason he ended up in Russia was the USA pulled his valid US Passport. Literally making him a man without a country. He had to go some
place. He was one BIG TIME WHISTLE BLOWER. Just the Obama and Biden administrations were the targets along with Hillary Clinton.
Tulsi is a PATRIOT who has dedicated her life as service to the USA. I am quite dismayed at these “hearings” The people asking the questions, want to answer the questions themselves. They obviously have no interest in hearing the Candidate’s answers. They just shout over them.
And I have to LAUGH at some of the questions as to deep qualifications after watching YEARS of hearings to the Democrats in the same positions, who have been unable to answer clear cut questions directly and MANY who do not have ANY prior qualifications in the various positions.
Watch Senator Hawley sometime questioning existing Secretaries. They have no clue as to what important cases their departments are investigating, working on, as well as no personal practical knowledge of every single facet of their Department. Just because you are a lawyer, does not make you an EXPERT in insurance, education, security, intelligence, etc. Many of the people who currently held positions, were not EXPERTS. They simply met the criteria of the President nominating them.
No matter what, there is always a learning curve. A good manager surrounds themselves with people who bring different skills and knowledge to the table. Not even a President knows everything, that is why they have a CABINET.
Tulsi is the right person. She is NOT a puppet. And that is one of the reasons she left the Democrats to become an Independent. She would not bow to self-proclaimed “master” Instead, she believes in the US Constitution and her duty to defend it as well as the citizens of the USA
I’m to the right of everyone & as a retired military guy who actually worked with TS intel stuff, I would like to string him up by his balls – “initially”! Just think about it, Yes, he did basically commit treason, but, without him doing that, we would never have know what the scumbags were doing to our Constitution & the American people! Soooooo…..?????, yes he did it, but, & I hate to say this, in the end, it WAS JUSTIFIED! I can’t believe this old Marine just said that!
Tulsi Gabbard will give 100 % towards doing the very best she can do for this country & for President Trump.