LOS ANGELES.–Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Ha.], 47, currently a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserves, is on the chopping block in the Senate Intelligence Committee facing her confirmation hearing to replace 55-year-old Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard switched parties to GOP Oct. 22, 2024, was a avid supporter of President Donald Trump. Tulsi’s political journey started to change during her time in Congress [Jan. 3, 2013 to Jan. 20121. By the time Tulsi came to Congress former President Barack Obama was in his second term, with so many things happening in foreign affairs the 43-year-old Iraq War veteran had started to change her positions on war-and-peace. Gabbard had a front row seat in Congress watching Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden support a multibillion dollar proxy war to topple the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Gabbard came up the ranks in the U.S. army watching the Iraq War in 2003 turn the country into a terrorist haven, destabilizing the Mideast, and prosecuting a war that cost almost 5,000 American lives. Gabbard watched firsthand has more than 500,000 Syrians were killed in the U.S.-Turkey funded proxy war, causing 15 million to flee Syria for Turkey, Europe and other places in the biggest humanitarian crisis since WW II. Obama-Biden’s proxy war against Syria prompted Russia to get involved to save al-Assad in 2015, driving Gabbard to visit al-Asssad in Damascus Jan. 2017 on a fact-finding trip. Gabbard’s thinking on foreign policy watched the death and destruction in Syria, influence the U.K. Brexit movement, eventually breaking off from the European Union Jan. 30, 2020. All that was happening while GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump ran for president in 2016.
Gabbard watched Obama’s Department of Justice and FBI launch an unlawful counterintelligence investigation into Trump and his 2016 campaign, eventually leading to the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. Gabbard, who came to Congress around the time former CIA and Booz Allen Hamilton contractor Edward Snowden, 41, released troves of classified documents on the Guardian documenting U.S. government spying on its own citizens. Snowden fled to Russia via Hong Kong, escaping the long reach of the CIA, eventually given asylum by 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gabbard watched all of this before she ran for Congress in 2016. She was especially irked by former FBI Director James Comey using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] to wire tap former Trump campaign officials.
So when it comes to Gabbard’s views on war and intelligence collection she believes in a lawful process, not the kind of corruption that existed at the FBI under former FBI Director James Comey. When Comey was fired May 8, 2017 by Trump, Gabbard thought he deserved it for his illegal use of FISA, designed to catch terrorists plotting to harm the United States, not to investigate political candidates and campaigns. When it comes to Section 702 on the FISA Act, Gabbard has expressed problems with warrantless wiretapping authorized under the provision. Gabbard watched Trump’s campaign wiretapped under the FISA Act, when Comey went to FISA court to seek wiretaps with fake probable cause. Comey used former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bogus Steele Dossier to justify seeking warrants from the FISA court to wiretap his 2016 campaign.
Gabbard’s views on Section 702 plague her now that she’s up for confirmation for Director of National Intelligence. Instead of questioning Gabbard’s integrity for interviewing al-Assad as a member of Congress, the Senate should congratulate her for her service and patriotism, seeking to protect Americans’ civil liberties. Section 702 gives the FBI and CIA the authority to wiretap anyone suspected of anti-American activities. Gabbard has come around on Section 702 but still thinks it’s a bad idea to not go through proper channels in the FISA Court to seek wiretaps of American citizens. Gabbard’s evolution on ending her ties to the Democrat Party happened after the Feb. 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. While Gabbard opposes Putin’s aggression, she also believes in diplomacy, détente and arms control with normal U.S.-Russian relations.
Gabbard faces an uphill battle convincing Senators of the Intelligence Committee that she’s a patriot with solid judgment over the use of the FISA Act. “There are several questions I want to follow up on in the hearing,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said. Collins said she wants to hear Gabbard’s unrehearsed responses “because I want to hears her unpracticed responses,” despite knowing Gabbard will be prepared. Gabbard is the most intelligent, ethically-minded person ever nominated for DNI. She’s a nonpartisan truth seeker with American citizens first on her mind in making any decisions. Gabbard watched Trump persecuted by his own government because of Hillary’s fake intel. “If confirmed as [intelligence director], I will uphold Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining vital nation security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom the American people,” Gabbard said.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
