Here comes another big appointment from President-elect Donald Trump. Tulsi Gabbard has been nominated to serve as director of national intelligence.
In a statement Wednesday, President-elect Trump said, “For over two decades, Tulsi has fought for our Country and Freedoms of all Americans.” The statement further read as, "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." He added,” Tulsi will make us all proud!” (view the image of the statement below).
First Hindu-American Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who served in the House from 2013 to 2021 and was the vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 to 2016, thanked the President-elect for the onerous responsibility bestowed on her. Taking to X, she wrote the following. (view the image)
Gabbard will be the first person of color to be director of national intelligence, a position created by President George W. Bush.
GABBARD TO HEAD 18 US INTEL AGENCIES
How big this appointment of Director Intelligence can be gauged that the U.S. Intelligence Community is composed of the following 18 organizations and the first Hindu-American Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard will chair over the following organizations, when she had never worked in the intelligence world or served on a congressional intelligence committee.
There are two independent intelligence agencies—
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Nine Department of Defense elements—
- Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
- National Security Agency (NSA)
- National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA)
- National Reconnaissance Office (NRO),
Intelligence elements of the five DoD services
- Army
- Navy
- Marine Corps
- Air Force
- Space Force.
Seven elements of other departments and agencies—
- Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence
- Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis
- U.S. Coast Guard Intelligence
- Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Drug Enforcement Administration’s Office of National Security Intelligence
- Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research
- Department of the Treasury’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis
DEMOCRATS OPPOSE TULSI APPOINTMENT
Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer was the first to react to President-elect Trump’s statement. Taking to X, she posted 3 tweets (view the image given below).
WHY TRUMP SELECTED TULSI?
Before the 2022 midterm elections, Gabbard quit the Democrat Party. He posted a video on X to announce her reason behind leaving the party. She stated, “I quit the party because, it's now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness."
She also said, The Democrats of today are hostile to people of faith and spirituality." She continued. "They demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans. The Democrats of today believe in open borders and weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents. Above all else, the Democrats of today are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war."
Gabbard ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential race and ended her campaign in March 2020 to endorse Joe Biden.
Here are the facts that tell us why Trump chose Tulsi.
- In 2019, Gabbard was one of the only House Democrats not to vote for Trump's first impeachment on charges that he abused power and obstructed Congress .
- She had also criticized the House Jan. 6 committee, arguing that the panel's first public hearing in June 2022 about its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack was centered on achieving "political interests."
- After a New York court found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts in his hush money trial, Gabbard posted a video making scathing remarks on Biden-Harris administration terming it as “personal political persecution of Donald Trump.” (The video link embedded)
- In August this year, she endorsed Trump, working as a co-chair for Trump’s transition team and helped him prepare for his lone debate prepare for his lone debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
- WHY Trump chose Tulsi to prepare him for debate with VP Kamala Harris for this big reason.
- Year 2019: The second Democratic Presidential primary debate was being held in Detroit.
- Gabbard critiqued Kamal Harris so ruthlessly that she drew unending applauses. (video available with MSNBC.
- She ripped apart the prosecutorial record of Kamala Harris.
- Tulsi said, “I want to bring the conversation back to the broken criminal justice system that is disproportionately negatively impacting Black and brown people all across this country today.”
- Hitting hard, she charged, “Now, Sen. Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president. But I’m deeply concerned about this record. There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”
- Given her track record, Trump campaign officials have then said that he valued Gabbard’s experience in verbal combat with Harris. And, therefore, she was chosen.
TULSI’S PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON US INTELLIGENCE
Moreover, why President-elect Donald Trump selected Tulsi for the onerous responsibility of Director of Intelligence can be gauged from her public statements.
- Gabbard views were often at variance with U.S. intelligence community’s assessments.
- In 2017, Gabbard said she was “skeptical” that Syria was behind a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Syria.
- She faced criticism over her meeting with Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad, who was accused as war Criminal by US.
- Gabbard had posted a video on social media talking about the then headline news on 25+ US-funded biolabs in Ukraine. (view the post below).
- But Ukraine’s government, the U.S. government, news organizations and independent researchers have claimed there is no evidence.
- US claimed that the video originated from Moscow.
INDIA’S FRIEND
During PM Modi’s 2019 US visit, Tulsi Gabbard met PM Narendra Modi in New York City. She gifted a copy Of Bhagvad Gita to Modi.
More so, Tulsi Gabbard was a former Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.
- Tulsi Gabbard had also promoted greater trade between Hawai and India, leading the successful effort to formally create a Sister-State relationship between Hawai‘i and Goa.
Moreover, she said the following points.
- India is the world's largest democracy and one of the United States most important partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
- We need to continue to work together to address the following pressing issues that impact us and the world—
- Combating climate change and protecting our environment,
- Improving the economic well-being of our people,
- Increasing trade,
- Counterterrorism efforts,
- Preventing nuclear war and nuclear proliferation.
- She supported Indian stand on Kashmir.
- Background: Rep. The first Hindu-American congresswoman from Hawaii representing the Democrat party has recently changed her political allegiance to Republican. In 2020, she was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. She quit Democrat party in 2022 and in 2023 became a stalwart Trump supporter and a conservative media personality.
GABBARD PROFILE
- In 2003, at age 21, Gabbard was elected to Hawaii’s house of representatives, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to a state legislature
- Gabbard then joined as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who served in the Hawaii Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq with a medical unit.
- Gabbard described herself as a hawk on terrorism.
- Gabbard is a staunch anti-interventionist consistently challenging U.S. regime change wars, including through her position on the House Armed Services Committee.
- Born on April 12, 1981 to Carrol gabbard and Mike Gabbard.
- Her mother developed interest in Hinduism
- Named her children with Hindu names.
- In 2015, she married cinematographer Abraham Williams in a Vedic ceremony.
The only Hindu member of Congress, she then said, “It was a deeply spiritual, traditional ceremony that held great meaning for Abraham and I.”
