Trump picks Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence

CV NEWS FEED // President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he is selecting Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic U.S. Representative from Hawaii who joined the Republican Party last month, to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

The position, like other cabinet-level offices, requires Senate confirmation. Republicans will hold a majority of 53 seats in the next Congress, beginning in January.

“I am pleased to announce that former Congresswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Tulsi Gabbard, will serve as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI),” Trump wrote in a statement posted to TRUTH Social Wednesday afternoon.

“For over two decades, Tulsi has fought for our country and the Freedoms of all Americans,” Trump continued:

As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties – She is now a proud Republican! 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. Tulsi will make us all proud! 

On Wednesday afternoon, Gabbard issued a statement thanking Trump for nominating her to lead the country’s National Intelligence Program.

She expressed her gratitude “for the opportunity to serve as a member of your cabinet to defend the safety, security and freedom of the American people.”

“I look forward to getting to work,” Gabbard added.

Gabbard, a U.S. Army Reserve Officer, is widely considered to be a leader among the growing faction of the right that favors a more non-interventionist foreign policy, including ending the country’s “endless wars.” 

The DNI nominee has advocated for such foreign policy stances since her time as a Democratic lawmaker and has cited the Trump-led Republican Party’s increased embrace of peace as her reason for joining it.

On Monday, the day the country observed Veterans Day, Gabbard wrote on X: “The best way for us to honor our veterans is to only send our men and women in uniform into harm’s way as a last resort, when no other options exist.”

“And actually take care of them and their families if and when they return home,” she added. “As a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves, serving as a solider for over 21 years with countless great Americas, this is the actual way to honor our veterans.”

Gabbard served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from 2013 to 2021 representing Hawaii’s deep-blue second congressional district. For her first few years in Congress, she was widely regarded as a rising star in the Democratic Party – and served as a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2013 to 2016.

She did not seek reelection in 2020 and instead ran for that cycle’s Democratic presidential nomination. During a 2019 primary debate, Gabbard made headlines when she called out fellow presidential candidate then-Sen. Kamala Harris’ record on crime and foreign policy.

Observers at the time widely considered Gabbard’s criticisms of Harris during the debate as contributing to the latter’s unexpectedly early exit from the race.

In 2022, Gabbard left the Democratic Party, which she said was “now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.” At the time, she registered as an independent – an affiliation she maintained for the next two years.

She publicly endorsed Trump’s successful 2024 run in August.

In October, Gabbard announced she was joining the Republican Party.

“I was a Democrat for over 20 years,” she stated at a campaign rally for Trump in North Carolina. “When you look at the party of Kamala Harris for example, she is anti-freedom, she is pro-censorship, she is pro-open borders, and she is pro-war.”

>> GABBARD JOINS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY <<

“The Republican Party of warmongering elite Dick Cheney is in the past,” Gabbard continued at the time. “Trump’s GOP is a big open tent party of the people, equality, commonsense, and the party that is led by a president who has the courage and strength to fight for peace.”

According to the position’s official government website, the DNI

serves as the head of the U.S. Intelligence Community, overseeing and directing the implementation of the National Intelligence Program and acting as the principal advisor to the President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council for intelligence matters related to national security

…

The DNI works closely with a President-appointed, Senate-confirmed Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence to effectively integrate all national and homeland security intelligence in defense of the homeland and in support of U.S. national security interests.