Tulsi Gabbard will explain her past support for Edward Snowden, including calling for a pardon for the national security leaker, to a tough crowd of members of the Senate Intelligence Committee considering her confirmation. It is said that
While still a member of Congress, Gabbard introduced a resolution calling for all charges against Snowden to be dropped. And she commented on another post that specifically mentioned Snowden, calling for President-elect Trump to pardon those who “exposed the deceit and criminality of those in the deep state” at the end of his first term.
This is not the kind of rhetoric you'll hear about Snowden from members of Congress' two intelligence committees.
“I don't think Edward Snowden is a patriot at all. He is a traitor to his country,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Gabbard appears to have made progress in recent days, including changing her position on warrantless surveillance programs that allow spying on noncitizens abroad. The program is controversial because it could wipe out communications with Americans in the process.
In private meetings with members of Congress, Mr. Snowden similarly sought to reassure them by saying he did not feel there was an appropriate outlet for them to share their concerns, an explanation that drew mixed reactions from members. there was.
The office of Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) would not comment on Gabbard's position on Snowden, saying that Snowden should “rot in prison.”
Snowden fled to Russia after leaking thousands of National Security Agency documents showing mass collection of Americans' communications data. The move compounded criticism from intelligence community leaders who deemed Snowden's leaks intolerable.
“Her concern was that there was no way someone could be a whistleblower,” Lankford said. [and] Give people a better path to be able to challenge what they think is inappropriate, but without having to actually go to the Russians and risk their sources and methods. ”
“It was helpful to hear the context,” he added, before repeating his own criticism of Snowden.
“She was able to answer that question. She said thoroughly that there are better protections and better ways to enable people to have private conversations.” “At that time, she felt like years had passed” before,” he added.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, slammed this explanation.
“She’s full of ST,” he said.
“Look, she's trying her best to land the next shiny job, but she's showing a complete lack of consistent principles,” he added, adding that changes to the foreign espionage program were “to put it mildly… “Her principles are negotiable,” he said. ”
Himes also disagreed with Gabbard's view that whistleblowers are being held back, saying Snowden had many options to raise concerns without giving away national security secrets.
“It's important to remember that there were many other routes that Edward Snowden could have taken that were legitimate whistleblowing routes and routes consistent with protecting the country's sensitive secrets. He chose not to take either of those routes. He chose to flee to the most terrifying totalitarian regime on earth,” Himes said.
“That's eloquent, isn't it? I mean, I know how the people inside are doing [intelligence community] You think about the people who are defending that behavior. they will hate it. ”
Cotton (R-Arkansas)'s office declined to comment on the case, but the senator has not been shy about his views on Snowden and how he should be punished.
“Edward Snowden is a selfish serial liar and traitor whose unauthorized disclosure of classified information endangered the safety of the American people and our allies around the world. Mr. Snowden's close and ongoing relationship with Russian intelligence “He deserves to spend the rest of his life rotting in prison,” Cotton said in 2016, when the House Intelligence Committee released a report analyzing Snowden's damage. said.
But Cotton praised Gabbard when she announced that she had changed her position on the foreign espionage program, an intelligence tool covered by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
He last week called the program a “vital national security tool,” a position echoed by national security leaders on both sides of the aisle who called for its reauthorization earlier this year.
This is an important commitment, as Section 702 expires in April 2026, and intelligence community members must ensure that they have a champion for this tool when the issue comes back to Congress. I'm sure you're looking for it.
“In her conversations with me, Tulsi Gabbard assured me that she supports the recently amended Section 702 and supports her reauthorization as a DNI in accordance with the law,” Cotton said in a statement last week. However, this is a positive sign for Gabbard's confirmation process. The Hill first reported on the series of turbulent meetings in December.
A person close to Gabbard said her latest comments to lawmakers reflected changes in whistleblower protections since Snowden leaked documents in 2013. They also said that while Mr. Snowden revealed documents about another program, Ms. Gabbard feels more comfortable with reforms to how Section 702 operates. .
“Lieutenant, Colonel Gabbard issued these statements almost a decade ago, and changes and updates were made to both the whistleblower protections for contractors that were her concern. [intelligence community] “While these concerns need to be raised, there are many options available that do not violate the law,” the official said.
“We also have an update on the Fourth Amendment protection concerns she supports for FISA, and we look forward to seeing how they are implemented in practice as DNI .”
Gabbard has made other controversial comments that are sure to be considered by the committee. She met with Bashar al-Assad, the deposed Syrian leader accused of using chemical weapons against his own people, and parroted Russia's story about the war with Ukraine.
Democrats also successfully pushed to delay her hearing after claiming they could not obtain her complete background check and documents.
But her position on Mr. Snowden has raised questions about how she will treat one of the intelligence agencies' most basic tenets: keeping secrets secret.
But it is clear that committee members still have doubts about her position on Mr. Snowden.
“This is a line of investigation that I would like to continue,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the committee's top Democrat.
“I think Mr. Snowden was a traitor. I know she introduced a bill for amnesty. Some of her reactions have changed a little bit as we've gone through this process, but I'm going to ask more questions about that. There is.”
