This is an accepted version of this page Tulsi Gabbard (/ˈtʌlsi ˈɡæbərd/; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician and military officer serving as the eighth director of national intelligence (DNI) since 2025.

After Trump nominated Gabbard to serve as DNI, her past statements on Syria drew scrutiny, alongside concern over her comments regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine that were considered sympathetic toward Russia.

[37] In July 2004, she was deployed for a 12-month tour in Iraq, serving as a specialist with the Medical Company, 29th Support Battalion, 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Hawaii Army National Guard.

[54][55] On July 4, 2021, Gabbard was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel,[56][57] while she was deployed to the Horn of Africa working as a civil affairs officer in support of a special operations mission.

[117] In July 2020, Gabbard met with the family of Vanessa Guillén, a U.S. Army soldier and victim of military sexual harassment who was found murdered after previously being reported missing.

[177] Ball noted, "Her interaction with Assad is weaponized to undercut everything else Tulsi has to say about the American warfighting machine," pointing out that critics often have "a bit of a blind spot about their own foreign policy positions.

[183] Initial news stories had mistakenly also reported Clinton claimed Russia was "grooming" Gabbard to run as a third-party candidate, who would help president Donald Trump win reelection via a spoiler effect.

He saw the Clinton-Gabbard feud as part of "a long campaign of vilification against critics of the Russia consensus" by Clinton and "her allies in the media (which very much include certain former high-ranking members of the US intelligence community)".

[207] She also made several appearances on Fox News programs since leaving Congress, where she criticized figures such as House speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. representative Adam Schiff, calling the latter a "domestic terrorist" for what she deemed as his attempt to "undermin[e] our constitution by trying to take away our civil liberties and rights" in the aftermath of the 2021 storming of the U.S.

[213] On October 11, 2022, Gabbard announced on Twitter that she was leaving the Democratic Party, accusing its leadership of "cowardly wokeness, anti-white racism, [being] hostile to people of faith and spirituality, and dragging us closer to nuclear war".

[224] The next day, she was named as an honorary co-chair of his presidential transition team, alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., joining Trump's sons and the Republican vice-presidential nominee, JD Vance.

[236] Libertarian-leaning GOP senators backed her anti-interventionist stance, and former Trump Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates emphasized the need for new intelligence leadership given global events.

[248][249][250] Media coverage was widely critical,[251][252][253] and Democrats raised concerns about her past meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and remarks perceived as aligning with Russian narratives.

[268] She denied knowing Edward Snowden while he worked in Hawaii's NSA facility,[a][272] and defended her past advocacy for reforming the Espionage Act,[268][273][274] including a House resolution she introduced with Representative Matt Gaetz.

"[278] Regarding her 2017 Syria trip with former Congressman Dennis Kucinich, she stated that he arranged the meetings and denied knowledge of extremist remarks[279] made by Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun.

[285][284] Senator Lisa Murkowski announced her support on February 10, 2025, stating that while she had concerns about some of Gabbard's past positions, she appreciated her commitment to oversight and ensuring civil liberties remain protected.

After her swearing-in, Gabbard promised to "focus on ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people" while echoing Trump's claims of politicization of the intelligence community and the need to rebuild trust.

[300][301] Gabbard has been outspoken against a "broken criminal justice system" that puts "people in prison for smoking marijuana" while allowing pharmaceutical corporations responsible for "opioid-related deaths of thousands to walk away scot-free with their coffers full".

[306] In June 2020, Gabbard introduced an amendment to the House version of the 2021 NDAA to allow members of Armed Services to use products containing CBD and other hemp derivatives.

[309] At that time, Gabbard also called for halting the visa waiver program after mass numbers of Syrian immigrants entered Germany, until the threat of terrorist attacks was resolved.

[314] Gabbard successfully passed an amendment to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would require the Department of Energy to reexamine the safety of the Runit Dome, a leaking Cold War era nuclear waste site in the Marshall Islands.

[319] She has since advocated for a two-tier universal health care plan that she calls "Single Payer Plus", loosely modeled after Australia's system and allowing for both supplementary and duplicative private insurance.

[344][345] After criticism from Democrats over her past anti-gay remarks, she was defended by conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, journalist Glenn Greenwald, and openly gay representative Sean Patrick Maloney.

[360] In January 2017, Gabbard went on a one-week "fact-finding mission" to Syria and Lebanon, during which she met various political and religious leaders from both countries[d] – and also had two unplanned meetings with then-Syrian-president Bashar al-Assad.

[397] In a statement she said "A successful prosecution of Assad (at the International Criminal Court) will require collection of evidence from the scene of the incident, and I support the United Nation's efforts in this regard.

She expressed skepticism about the motives behind not resolving the issue, blaming "warmongers on both sides in Washington" and suggesting the U.S. might want Russia to invade in order to impose "draconian sanctions" and cement a new Cold War.

[425] On March 9, 2022, Tucker Carlson, after airing a video of the State Department's Victoria Nuland saying "[W]e are now quite concerned Russian troops ... may be seeking to gain control of [Ukraine's biological research facilities], so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces",[426] asked Gabbard "How concerned are you that ... there are unsecured bio agents, dangerous bio agents in Ukraine?"

"[449] On August 30, 2024, Dana Milbank wrote in a Washington Post op-ed: "Gabbard endorsed Russian propaganda in falsely claiming the United States was funding biological laboratories in Ukraine that could spread dangerous pathogens.

She also stated her belief that the trade war has made it more difficult to secure Chinese support over a nuclear deal with North Korea; she said America should work with China on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

[509] On September 30, 2018, Gabbard received the Ho'ola Na Pua Advocacy Award for "her dedication to serving and empowering human trafficking survivors in Hawaii" at their annual Pearl Gala.