Senate confirms new intelligence director
By: Rebecca Morin
and Josh Meyer
USA today
..... The Senate on Wednesday [02/12/2025] confirmed Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence as Republicans lined up behind a nominee once seen as among President Donald Trump's most controversial picks.
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Gabbard secured confirmation on a 52-48 vote, mostly along party lines.
..... In her new role, she will oversee the 18 agencies within the U.S. intelligence community, serving as the president's top advisor on intelligence matters.
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The vote was another victory for Trump as he pushes to secure quick Senate approval for all of his nominees for administration positions. Senate majority leader John Thune scheduled a procedural vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also faces fierce opposition to his nominator of Secretary of Health and Human Services, immediately after the Gabbard confirmation vote.
..... Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the only Republican to vote no, said in a statement that Gabbard was not ready for the job: "the nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessment the President receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment."
..... She faced bipartisan questions about lack of experience and past statements sen as supporting U.S. adversaries. Gabbard neither worked at a spy agency nor served on an intelligence committee during her o=four terms in the House of Represenatives. In a tens hearing January 30 [2025] before the Senate Intelligence Committee, lawmakers raised pointed questions about Gabbard's views on Russia, ousted Syrian dictator Basher Assad and Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, who leaded classified information. The committee late voted along party lines to sign off on her nomination.
..... Republicans who expressed concerns about Gabbard faced a pressure campaign from Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who threated to support primary opponents of any Republican who obstructed nominees.
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Before joining the Trump administration, Gabbard, who was born in American Samoa, represented Hawaii in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2021. She ran for president as a Democrat but left the party in 2022 and changed her affiliation to Republican when she began campaigning for Trump last fall. [2024] She is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and served in Iraq.
..... During the confirmation process, Democratic senators homed in on Gabbard's 2017 visit to Syria to meet then-President Assad. Critics blasted the meeting, saying it legitimized Assad weapons on Syrian civilians. Senate Democrats also expressed concern about pro-Russia talking points Gabbard has espoused in the years since.
..... Gabbard's nomination was met with alarm by nearly 100 former intelligence and national, security officials, including ex-CIA agents and deputy secretary of state, who signed a letter urging senators to examine records on Gabbard behind close doors. Her "sympathy for dictators like Vladimir Putin and Assad raises question about her judgment and fitness," they wrote.
..... Contributing: Reuters; Francesa Chambers, Savannnah Kuchar, USA Today