Nearly 100 former national security officials signed a letter criticizing President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. The officials called for closed-door Senate hearings to review any government information about her, citing concerns about her past actions and affiliations. They urged the Senate to carefully evaluate Gabbard’s qualifications for the position, given her alignment with Russian and Syrian officials and her controversial statements on international issues.
The letter also argued that Gabbard would be the least experienced person to hold the director position since its creation in 2004. The signers included prominent figures like Wendy Sherman, Ian Kelly, and Eric Green, all of whom served in national security roles. Gabbard has faced criticism in the past for sympathetic comments towards U.S. adversaries, such as calling for Ukraine to be a neutral country and meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017.
Gabbard’s spokesperson on the Trump transition team dismissed the letter as unfounded attacks from intelligence officials with a history of faulty intelligence, referring to the Iraq War. Gabbard’s nomination is not the only one facing pushback, as Trump’s picks for the Defense Department and Department of Health and Human Services, namely Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also have controversies surrounding them. Another nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, faced allegations of sexual misconduct and withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general.
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