‘Extremely dangerous’: Intelligence community insiders warn against Trump’s DNI pick

Former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, lacks experience, and her record of Russian-aligned public statements could undermine America’s ability to acquire intelligence from allies and partners, current and former intelligence officials say.

Trump announced Wednesday that he intended to put Gabbard, who served in Congress as a Democrat from Hawaii, in charge of the National Intelligence Service. The office coordinates intelligence efforts across the entire government, creates intelligence-sharing relationships with other countries, and shapes the way the public and the White House understand threats to U.S. interests. The office takes a lead role in assembling the daily brief to the president, which the White House uses to understand how adversaries are working against the United States, and in telling the public about threats Americans are facing.

Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, has military experience but not a deep intelligence background. This was told by a former senior intelligence official Defense One that such experience is essential to making sense of the wide range of pieces of intelligence that make up a picture of current or future threats.

“What people don’t understand about intelligence is that if it’s known, it’s not intelligence. It’s the judgment you make. It has uncertainty, and the craft of understanding that uncertainty has nothing to do with meaning, but rather has to do with trust, integrity and independence,” the former official said.

But intelligence community veterans are more concerned about her past actions and public statements—especially those that dovetailed with Kremlin propaganda—than her resume.

In 2022, when Russian forces initiated an illegal expansion of their war against Ukraine, Gabbard said The US was to blame, which repeats one requirements Russian President Vladimir Putin did to justify his invasion – but that NATO and United Nations completely reject. Putin later said the war was actually a means of reconstructing the territorial empire of Catherine II.

Gabbard has echoed other Russian talking points likewise, including one that came directly from Kremlin information operations.

In addition to Ukraine, Gabbard met with Syrian dictator and Russian ally Bashar Al-Assad in 2017. Assad continued to target civilians with chemical attacks after meeting Gabbard. But two years after the meeting, she had refused to say whether he was a war criminal—despite clear evidence that he had killed around 1,400 people in Syria in a chemical weapons attack in 2013, among other crimes.

Gabbard’s pattern of publicly taking positions that are not supported by facts but that align with narratives from Moscow will damage US intelligence-sharing relationships with partner militaries and governments, the former senior official said. Many allies are already wary of Trump because of actions in his first term in the White House, such as abandon Kurdish fighters in Syria in 2018 – a move that prompted resignation by several members of Trump’s first cabinet, including then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis and anti-ISIS coalition envoy Brett McGurk.

“They’re watching. Remember, there’s a whole bunch of people who, right from (Trump’s) first term, are not comfortable with Trump because he was willing to throw allies and partners under the bus on a whim…So (allies) are already concerned. And now here’s a relevant person who has basically said, ‘Hey, I think these bad guys are good guys.’

Gabbard’s past public statements will also hurt her ability to win the trust of ordinary U.S. intelligence workers, a current intelligence official said.

“Tulsi’s history of irresponsibly promoting disinformation and providing comfort to some of America’s most aggressive adversaries runs counter to the values ​​of the intelligence community. If confirmed, she will have a steep hill to climb to earn the community’s trust and respect,” the official said. Defense One.

As DNI, Gabbard would ultimately be responsible for protecting U.S. intelligence operations and people from adversaries. She would also be the one to call for things like the 2022 resolution declassify intelligence analyzes of Russia’s intentions in Ukraine, which helped marshal allies to Ukraine’s cause.

“That decision was an ODNI decision,” the former senior intelligence official said. “It reflects a new world order where we don’t have absolute trust and you have to be able to build coalitions… Alliances, friendships have always been one of the real elements of our strength. And that’s at risk. “

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., a former CIA officer, echoed that sentiment on MSNBC Thursday. “The idea that someone who has aligned with and defended Vladimir Putin could potentially have information related to the sources and methods of how it is that we knew Russia would have invaded Ukraine…helps illuminate, why this is so extraordinarily dangerous.”

Because of her past statements, intelligence officials are also concerned that she could change the analysis to fit a political narrativewhich would leave the president or the public in the dark about important threats.

Said the current intelligence official: “Intelligence is conducted in the service of the nation without regard to political party or motive and we are typically the bearers of bad news. She will champion the professionalism and apolitical nature of what we collect and assess and speak truth to power , or ignore our work of conveying what the powers that be want to hear?”

Gabbard may also face an additional challenge as he builds community trust: The Trump administration decided to waive traditional FBI vetting of nominees for top posts, including Gabbard, CNN reported Friday.

Frank Konkel contributed to this report.