Who is Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s new director of national intelligence?

Tulsi Gabbard – a former Democratic congresswoman who joined the Republican Party to support Donald Trump – is the president-elect’s choice for director of national intelligence.

The wide-ranging role means she oversees US intelligence agencies such as the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency (NSA), which focus on intelligence gathering.

The nomination raised questions about Gabbard’s lack of intelligence experience as well as accusations that she had previously amplified Russian propaganda.

She will seek Senate confirmation to fill the role.

If she is confirmed for the role Gabbard will manage the budget more than $70 billion (£55 billion) and supervision 18 intelligence agencies.

But the nomination has sparked criticism in some quarters.

Reacting to X’s appointment, Democratic Virginia congresswoman of the House Intelligence Committee Abigail Spanberger said she was “appalled by the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard”.

“Not only is she unprepared and unqualified, but she also traffics in conspiracy theories and is cozy with dictators like Bashar-al Assad and Vladimir Putin,” she said.

An Army veteran who served in a medical unit in Iraq, Gabbard has set several political precedents during his career.

She was first elected to the Hawaii State Legislature at age 21 in 2002, the youngest person ever elected to the state. She left after one term when her National Guard unit was deployed to Iraq.

Gabbard went on to represent Hawaii in Congress from 2013 to 2021 – becoming the first Hindu to serve in the House of Representatives.

In the past, she has supported liberal causes such as government-run health care, free college tuition, and gun control. These issues were part of the 2020 Democratic presidential race – which she ultimately dropped out of in favor of Joe Biden.

In 2022, she left the Democratic Party and initially registered as an independent — accusing her former party of being an “elite cabal of warmongers” driven by “cowardly wokeness.” push.

Becoming a Fox News contributor, she spoke out on topics like gender and free speech, and became an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump before joining the Republican Party less than a month ago.

In 2019, during Gabbard’s bid to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, she was criticized by her opponents after receiving seemingly favorable coverage in Russian state media.

That same year, she also faced criticism for her perceived support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, considered a key ally of Russia.

She said that Assad “is not an enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States” – and defended meeting with him in 2017, during Trump’s first term.

That same year, she said in an interview with CNN that she “suspected” that the Syrian regime was behind a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people.

Mr. Trump said that “there is no debate about Syria’s use of banned chemical weapons”, speaking after the US launched a missile attack on Syria’s air base in response.

In 2019, Gabbard also described Assad as a “brutal dictator”.

Gabbard has also made a series of controversial statements regarding Russia and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Writing on social media on the day of Russia’s invasion, she said the war could have been averted if the United States and its Western allies had acknowledged Russia’s “legitimate security concerns” about its bid to join NATO. Ukraine.

The following month, she said it was an “undeniable fact” that there were US-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine that could “release and spread deadly pathogens” as she called for a ceasefire.

In response, Republican senator Mitt Romney said Gabbard had accepted “real Russian propaganda”.

On Russian television, her nomination as intelligence director is being said to have the potential to complicate Washington’s relationship with Ukraine.

Rossiya 1 reporter Dmitry Melnikov said that her nomination “does not bode well for Kyiv”, noting that in the past she “openly accused the Biden administration of provoking Russia”.

The host also pointed out that Gabbard had “strongly criticized Zelensky and called for dialogue with Russia”.

Additional reporting Karine Mirumyan of BBC Monitoring