Tulsi Gabbard: The outsider

The former Congresswoman, known for backing whistleblowers and sparking controversies over her views on leaders like Putin and Assad, will be Trump’s Director of National Intelligence

“He’s [Donald Trump] essentially pimping out our men and women in uniform to a foreign power who’s the highest bidder... He is unfit to be our commander-in-chief.” These were the words of Tusli Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, back in 2019. Clearly Ms. Gabbard’s loyalties have drastically changed since then.

Ms. Gabbard started public life by getting elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives in 2002 at the age of 21. She had to step down from the role in 2003, as her National Guard regiment was called for duty in Iraq. She would later serve in Kuwait and work her way up the ranks to the post of Lieutenant Colonel in 2021.

Conflicting policies

She started her tenure in the U.S. Congress as a Democrat, representing Hawaii’s second congressional district, in 2013. She was also the first Hindu in the U.S. Congress. Her political portfolio has been marked by diverse but often conflicting policies. Ms. Gabbard, perhaps owing to her time in the Army, has been a strong advocate against U.S. military interventionism. The New Yorker once quoted her as saying “If our troops are sent to fight a war, it must be the last option.” Not the first.”

One such ‘intervention’ Ms. Gabbard once decried was Mr. Trump’s push for escalating the war in Syria. In 2018, she accused Mr. Trump and then Vice-President Mike Pence of protecting “al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces in Syria,” all the while “threatening Russia, Syria, and Iran, with military force if they dare attack these terrorists.”

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ms. Gabbard spoke about the “legitimate” security concerns Russia had if Ukraine were to join NATO. “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns,” she posted on Twitter (now X) at the time. She also gave value to Russia’s claims that Ukraine was using U.S. funded labs to create deadly bioweapons. Her sympathetic position on Russia had even earned her praise on Russian state TV, while domestically she has been perceived as indiscriminately believing Russian propaganda.

Similarly With respect to Syria, Ms. Gabbard has been accused of cosying up to ‘dictators’ such as Bashar al-Assad. As a member of Congress in 2017, Ms. Gabbard once moved outside of official channels to meet the Syrian leader in 2017. The meeting kicked up a storm among her then-fellow Democrats who said that she was giving legitimacy to a leader accused of various war crimes.

However, the former Congresswoman has taken a tough line on Islamist extremism. She has condemned al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and more recently Hamas. Such a diverse portfolio does make it difficult for Ms. Gabbard to fit in perfectly with either of the political parties —Democrats or Republicans.

Breaking loose

Ms. Gabbard’s allegiances have undergone a 180-degree shift. In 2016, Ms. Gabbard endorsed Bernie Sanders for President over Hillary Clinton. In 2020, she unsuccessfully ran for Democratic nomination and later endorsed Joe Biden. And in 2022, she left the Democratic Party, accusing them of being an “elitist cabal of warmongers” driven by “cowardly wokeness“. She then registered as an independent and became a frequent contributor to Fox News wherein she espoused conservative ideas about gender and freedom of speech. And earlier this year, she joined the Republican party and endorsed Donald Trump for President.

While her nomination as Director of National Intelligence needs Senate confirmation, Ms. Gabbard’s selection has already created controversy citing her past political positions and her lack of experience. According to CNN, Ms. Gabbard was briefly placed on a Transportation Security Administration list that prompts additional security screening before flights after her overseas travel patterns and foreign connections triggered a government algorithm. And now by being director, she will oversee agencies such as the CIA, the FBI and the NSA.

This is of particular interest as Ms. Gabbard has been a fierce defender of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, both men who have been accused by the U.S. government of leaking national secrets to the public. It remains to be seen how she makes sense of her position as both a defender of whistleblowers and as protector of national intelligence.

Published - November 24, 2024 03:40 am IST