Former Intel Officials: DNI Nominee Tulsi Gabbard Has Put ‘Party Loyalty Far Behind Duty to Country’

By admin On Jan 18, 2025

Former intelligence officials said that Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard has put “party loyalty far behind duty to country.”

In the week after his historic election, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Gabbard to serve as director of National Intelligence.

“For over two decades, Tulsi has fought for our Country and Freedoms of all Americans,” Trump s aid in a written statement. “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!”

Gabbard thanked Trump on X “for the opportunity to serve as a member of your cabinet to defend the safety, security and freedom of the American people,” adding, “I look forward to getting to work.”

Her nomination garnered swift backing from many leaders in the intelligence community.

Bernard Hudson, a retired CIA official who was the agency’s chief of counterterrorism, where he oversaw the CIA’s efforts in the Global War on Terror, said in a statement to Breitbart News, “To be successful, a Director of National Intelligence must have two key attributes. One, they need to have the confidence of the President. An intelligence chief without this is going to be a severe disadvantage in trying to carry out their duties. Tulsi Gabbard clearly has the confidence of the incoming Chief Executive. Two, the DNI needs to be willing to speak truth to power, no matter what the personal or political cost to them. This tends to be easier said than done. Tulsi Gabbard has already demonstrated she is willing to pay a steep price for speaking uncomfortable truths.

“During her run for the Democratic nomination for President, she demonstrated this time and time again. And she paid a price for it, but it had not deterred her from seeking and speaking the truth. In regards to her experience with the intelligence world, she’s been both a consumer of tactical and strategic intelligence,” he continued. “As a soldier, especially during her combat tour in Iraq, she has seen the value, and sometimes the limitations, of tactical intelligence for the warfighter.”

As a member of congress sitting on the House Armed Services Committee, she was privy to and responsible for understanding and supporting some of the most sensitive and vast global intelligence programs the United States has. Lastly, she is someone who has put party loyalty far behind duty to the country,” the former senior CIA officer concluded in his statement to Breitbart News. “That bipartisan background should help her demonstrate to the American people that the intelligence community she leads is a non-partisan tool that supports the key interests of the United States and its key allies.”

Robert C. O’Brien, who served as the 27th U.S. National Security Adviser under Trump, on Sunday wrote an op-ed calling on the Senate to confirm Gabbard and all of Trump’s national security nominees.

He explained:

Gabbard also has an open mind and the curiosity necessary to evaluate complex and, often, contradictory reports that are commonplace in the Intel World. Her path from congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate to supporting President Trump demonstrates her ability to put country above party and ideology when the facts require courageous action.

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In my hours of meetings with Gabbard since her nomination, it is clear why the president selected her to serve as DNI. She listens, she asks questions that go to the heart of the matter being discussed and she is concise and eloquent in sharing her views. She is also unafraid of the IC bureaucracy that she will have to reform and bring into the 21^st Century by rooting out partisanship and introducing new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and quantum computing into both intelligence collection and analysis.

On Sunday, Gabbard received the backing of Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee after the nominee said she believes in balancing the need for protecting Americans’ civil liberties and national security.

Lankford explained:

She’s now coming in and saying, those changes have been done because even since she was in Congress, there have been quite a few changes that we’ve made in Congress to make sure we’re protecting the civil rights of Americans. But when she came out and said, “Hey, this is something I’m going to stand for” – that’s part of the role of the Director of National Intelligence is to make sure we’re actually watching for people to come attack us and stopping them before they do.