What are your thoughts on Tulsi Gabbard being confirmed as Director of National Intelligence?
After the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to advance Gabbard’s nomination, and she won the support of Susan Collins (who voted no on Pete Hegseth and was seen as a swing vote), Tulsi Gabbard is all but certain to become the next Director of National Intelligence.
Gabbard’s nomination was one of the ones which concerned me the most - up there with Hegseth and Kash Patel. I know there’s many who think she’s a Russian asset/puppet, etc. I actually don’t think that’s the case. Her record of service doesn’t indicate such betrayal. I think it’s something almost worse. I think she’s just gullible. Susceptible to propaganda and prone to conspiracy theories. I think she parrots Kremlin talking points not because she’s secretly paid to or because they have kompromat on her, but because she actually believes it.
Many point to her transition from a Bernie Democrat to a MAGA Republican as a sign of cynicism and self-promotion. But the scarier view imo is what if it wasn’t so calculating? What if it was genuine? I know a number of people who were Bernie Bros that ended up on the Trump train, and the best way I can describe them is low information voters who aren’t particularly bright. The guy I used to buy weed from in high school, who almost failed Econ 101 but is somehow a crypto evangelist today. These types of people.
The Director of National Intelligence is a role that was created after 9/11 to streamline communication and compile crucial information pertaining to our national security between a dozen and a half different agencies. 9/11 ultimately was a massive intelligence failure and a failure of communication. The ODNI also relies upon intelligence from other countries who have no legal or diplomatic obligation to share with us. Our relationships with those countries matter, and their confidence in what we do with that information matters. I worry about the confidence other countries have in us, and I worry about the ramifications of having someone at the helm of the ODNI who appears to be easily duped.
If there’s a plus side, Tulsi Gabbard does seem to be far more on the side of civil liberties than any of her predecessors. She will likely try to roll back a lot of the PATRIOT Act era stuff, and potential abuses of government surveillance. But my concerns about her far outweigh the upsides.
What are your thoughts?