WASHINGTON — (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's pick to be director of national intelligence, defended her past controversial views and told lawmakers during Thursday's confirmation hearing that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America's intelligence service.
Gabbard lashed out at former intelligence leaders and said that too often intelligence provided to policy makers has been false or politicized, leading to wars, foreign policy failures and the weaponization of espionage. She listed the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a key example of how America's spy services have failed, but she said those failures have continued as the U.S. faces renewed threats from Russia and China.
"The bottom line is this must end. President Trump’s reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure and the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community,” Gabbard said at the start of her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Gabbard promised to be objective and “leave her personal views at the door.” She noted her military service and said she would bring the same sense of duty and responsibility to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees and coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies.
Lawmakers from both parties questioned Gabbard over her past comments about Russia and a 2017 visit with Syria's now-deposed leader. They also raised concerns over her past statements supportive of Edward Snowden, who fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.
It's Gabbard's comments, however, that have posed the biggest challenge to her confirmation. Gabbard has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine and criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a corrupt autocrat.
She's been accused of spreading Russian disinformation by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., asked Gabbard on Thursday whether Russia would "get a pass" from her.
“Senator I’m offended by the question," Gabbard responded. “Because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people.”
A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another point of contention. Assad was recently deposed as his country's leader following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator and then more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.
“I just do not understand how you can blame NATO for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, and when Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, you didn’t condemn him,” said the committee’s senior Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.
Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.
“I asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions,” Gabbard said.
Asked about her past support for Snowden, Gabbard said that while Snowden revealed important facts about surveillance programs she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law," she said. Gabbard refused to answer repeated questions about whether she considered Snowden a traitor.
As a lawmaker, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would have repealed a key surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.
Gabbard argued then that the program could be violating the rights of Americans whose communications are swept up inadvertently, but national security officials say the program has saved lives.
She now says she supports the program, noting new safeguards designed to protect Americans' privacy.
Gabbard defended her change of opinion, and said her critics are opposed to her nomination because she asks tough questions and doesn't always follow Washington dogma.
“The fact is what truly unsettles my political opponents is that I refuse to be their puppet,” she said.
While lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about Gabbard's nomination, Republicans have increasingly come to support her. Given thin Republican margins in the Senate, she will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes in order to win confirmation.
Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, supports Gabbard's nomination and said at the start of Thursday's hearing that he hopes she can rein in an office that he said has grown too large and bureaucratic.
Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, noted that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now larger, in terms of staffing, than any of the agencies it was created to oversee.
“Look at where conventional thinking has got us. Maybe Washington could use a little more unconventional thinking,” Cotton said. “Ms. Gabbard, I submit that, if confirmed, the measure of your success will largely depend on whether you can return the ODNI to its original size, scope, and mission."
__
Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Byron Tau contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
