Nearly 100 former nationwide safety officers signed a letter criticizing President-elect Donald Trump’s resolution to appoint former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of nationwide intelligence and known as for closed-door Senate hearings to evaluation any authorities details about her.
In the letter obtained by NBC News, the officers urged the Senate to “fastidiously consider” whether or not Gabbard is “outfitted” for the place, which requires Senate affirmation.
“Several of Ms. Gabbard’s previous actions name into query her capacity to ship unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to your entire nationwide safety equipment,” the letter mentioned. “Following her journey to Syria, for instance, Ms. Gabbard aligned herself with Russian and Syrian officers.”
The former officers additionally proposed closed-door hearings that will permit lawmakers to totally evaluation any authorities recordsdata on Gabbard, a former Democratic House member from Hawaii.
“Senate committees ought to think about in closed classes all data accessible to the U.S. authorities when contemplating Ms. Gabbard’s {qualifications} to handle our nation’s intelligence businesses, and extra importantly, the safety of our intelligence sources and strategies,” they wrote.
The letter’s signers embody Wendy Sherman, former deputy secretary of state within the Biden administration; Ian Kelly, who was ambassador to Georgia through the Obama and Trump administrations; and Eric Green, a member of the National Security Council through the Biden administration.
Gabbard has beforehand confronted criticism for sympathetic feedback about U.S. adversaries.
Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard known as for Ukraine to be a “impartial nation,” urging individuals to “embrace the spirit of aloha.”
In 2017, Gabbard made an unannounced journey to Syria to fulfill President Bashar al-Assad, the nation’s authoritarian chief. The journey sparked bipartisan criticism. The identical yr, she solid doubt on the U.S.’ personal intelligence businesses’ conclusion that Assad’s authorities was chargeable for a chemical weapons assault on Syrians.
The letter additionally argued that Gabbard would “be the least skilled” particular person to carry the director place because it was created in 2004.
“The Senate should fastidiously consider whether or not Ms. Gabbard is supplied to successfully oversee an organizational construction as distinctive and huge because the National Intelligence Program and likewise the impact of her holding this place on the willingness of our closest allies to share intelligence with the U.S.,” the letter mentioned.
The letter was addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and incoming Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Thune’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Schumer’s workplace referred to a letter he despatched to Thune this week in regards to the affirmation course of, by which he mentioned Democrats are “prepared and keen to work with Senate Republicans to offer recommendation and consent” on Trump’s nominations.
Reached for remark, a spokesperson for Gabbard on the Trump transition workforce slammed the letter, in addition to the signers’ credentials.
“These unfounded assaults are from the identical geniuses who’ve blood on their arms from many years of defective ‘intelligence,’ together with the non-existent weapons of mass destruction,” mentioned spokesperson Alexa Henning, referring to a purported justification for the beginning of the Iraq War that turned out to be fallacious.
“These intel officers proceed to make use of classification as a partisan weapon to smear and suggest issues about their political enemy with out placing the details out,” Henning continued.
Gabbard is only one of Trump’s anticipated nominees who’s dealing with headwinds.
Trump’s decide to guide the Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, faces controversies about allegations of a sexual assault and extreme consuming. Hegseth has mentioned the encounter was consensual, and he was not charged. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump chosen to guide the Department of Health and Human Services, has been criticized for his vaccine skepticism. Those positions additionally require Senate affirmation.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who withdrew his title from consideration to be lawyer common, confronted allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied.