The former CIA counterterrorism chief is the latest person to endorse President-elect Donald Trump's nomination for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.
“She has the experience, temperament, and professional integrity to restore confidence in America's intelligence agencies,” said the Harvard University fellow who spent 28 years at the CIA overseeing the agency's war on terror. Bernard Hudson, a military veteran who served, wrote in an article. national review editorial Published on Friday.
Gabbard, a former congresswoman and military veteran, was named Trump's nominee to oversee the nation's 17 intelligence agencies in November after switching to the Republican Party and supporting Trump in late October.
Gabbard's bipartisanship (she is a former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee) “could go a long way toward restoring the confidence of the American people,” Hudson wrote.
Restoring trust in intelligence agencies is an “urgent task” after recent “astonishing misinformation” by U.S. intelligence agencies and “flimsy accusations” that the current U.S. president was also a Russian agent. he said.
Gabbard, 43, quickly became the target of a smear campaign that accused her of also being a Russian agent and focused on her 2017 meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
But the recent fall of Assad's regime by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a designated terrorist organization, “is exactly the type of outcome that is concerning.” [Gabbard] In 2017,” Hudson said.
She has long argued that involvement in the Syrian civil war is not in the United States' interests, a position President Trump has recently reiterated.
President Trump previously said of Gabbard, “Tulsi brings to our nation's intelligence services the fearlessness that defined her storied career, championing constitutional rights and ensuring peace through force.'' I know that I am deaf.”
Hudson said Gabbard has asked tough questions about “the flawed elite foreign policy consensus” and remains an outspoken critic of Democrats' terrorism policy. She first caused a stir in 2015 when she criticized the Obama administration for banning terms such as “radical Islamic terrorism.”
“As a military officer, she knows both the importance of patriotism and the costs that are necessarily involved in any military intervention,” he added.
An open letter signed by more than 250 veterans, including current members and former federal employees, was released Monday, giving Gabbard a push to secure the votes she needs for approval.
“While most Americans know Tulsi as a fearless and principled lawmaker who stood up to an entrenched political system, we recognize her as a fellow veteran, a veteran of combat zone service and a lifetime of I know him as someone whose worldview was forged through a crucible of dedication to service.” Written by a military veteran.
Republican senators have praised Gabbard as a “strong and proven leader,” and aides told the Post they expect her to win the votes needed for confirmation.
