Newly elected President of the United States Donald Trump has appointed Tulsi Gabbard as his Director of National Intelligence.

The Republican Party leader named the former Democratic congresswoman as part of a series of appointments to the Cabinet and other key positions in his administration. But his choice of Gabbard as head of U.S. intelligence stands out even among a string of controversial appointments because of her positions on major foreign policy issues over the years. Trump’s latest choice is even drawing criticism from some Republicans.

So who is Gabbard, and why is her appointment so controversial?

Who is Tulsi Gabbard?

Gabbard, 43, was the first Hindu in the US Congress and the first member born in the US territory of American Samoa. She grew up in Hawaii and spent a year of her childhood in the Philippines. She is also an Iraq war veteran and served in the U.S. Army. Gabbard also deployed to Kuwait.

She served as a representative of Hawaii’s Second District in the U.S. House of Representatives for four terms from 2013 to 2021. While in the House, she was a Democrat. Gabbard endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in his 2016 presidential bid. She also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020 as a Democrat.

However, in 2022 she left the party and became independent. In a video message she posted to her YouTube channel and by cowardly wakefulness.” She also accused the party of fueling “anti-white racism.”

I can no longer remain a member of today’s Democratic Party, which is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers, driven by cowardly wokeness, who divides us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism, and actively works to undermine our God-given freedoms. , Are… pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022

In August this year, Gabbard formally endorsed Trump in his presidential bid. In October, she announced she would join the Republican Party at a Trump rally in North Carolina.

What does the director of national intelligence do?

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is the head of the U.S. intelligence community, who oversees the National Intelligence Program and serves as an advisor to the President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council on national security issues.

The position was created in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. The first DNI was appointed in 2005 by former President George W. Bush.

The National Intelligence Program funds intelligence activities in several federal departments and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The Intelligence Community consists of 18 organizations, which the DNI supervises. In addition to the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, these are: Air Force Intelligence, Army Intelligence, Coast Guard Intelligence, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Marine Corps Intelligence, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, National Security Agency, Navy Intelligence, and Space Force Intelligence.

The current DNI is Avril Haines, who was appointed by President Joe Biden and began the role in January 2021. Haines was the first woman to serve as DNI. If sworn in, Gabbard will be the eighth DNI.

Where does it stand on key intelligence issues?

Gabbard has no direct experience in an intelligence position and, unlike other DNIs, has not held senior government positions. Gabbard served two years on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Time and time again, she has been critical of and deviated from the decisions of the US intelligence community. She has largely taken an anti-interventionist position. In other words, she has advocated for the US to remain uninvolved when it comes to conflicts around the world.

Russia and Ukraine

Gabbard is accused of amplifying Russian propaganda.

Three days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Gabbard posted a video to her country will be” without being a member of military alliances such as NATO.

In March 2022, she posted another video on X saying that there are more than 25 US-funded biolabs in Ukraine. She wrote it after an allegation emerged in Moscow that US-backed bioweapons laboratories were operating in Ukraine. The claim was denied by the US and Ukraine, and there is no independent evidence to support the claim.

There are more than 25 US-funded biolabs in Ukraine that, if breached, would release and spread deadly pathogens to the US and the world. We must take action now to prevent disasters. US/Russia/Ukraine/NATO/UN/EU must now implement a ceasefire around these labs until they are safe and pathogens are destroyed pic.twitter.com/dhDTH5smIG

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 13, 2022

The post earned her criticism from Republicans in Congress, including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who called Gabbard’s statement “treasonous” and said she was embracing “Russian propaganda.” Senator Mitt Romney said she was “parroting fake Russian propaganda.”

In another X post, she clarified that “biolabs” and “bioweapons labs” are separate things and said her original post was misunderstood.

Syria

Gabbard has opposed the US intervention in the Syrian war, which emerged in 2011 after President Bashar al-Assad cracked down on peaceful protests against his government, which then developed into an uprising.

In 2015, she criticized the administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama for its support of the Syrian opposition movement against al-Assad.

In 2017, Gabbard met al-Assad during a secret trip to Syria, she told CNN.

“Let the Syrian people decide their own future, not the United States, not any other country,” she told CNN.

Iran

Gabbard was critical of the decisions Trump’s administration made during his first term from 2017 to 2021.

In 2020, she said the Trump administration provided “no justification whatsoever” during an intelligence briefing on the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force. He was killed in 2020 during a US airstrike in Iraq, outside Baghdad International Airport.

The White House and Pentagon confirmed Soleimani’s killing and said the attack was carried out at Trump’s direction and aimed at deterring future attacks allegedly planned by Iran.

When Gabbard was asked by CNN whether she believed Iran posed an immediate security threat, she said the central question to be asked was: “Is our country’s national security better off because of Donald Trump’s actions and decision ? And the answer to that is no.”

She accused Trump of leading the US down a path to war with Iran in a CNN interview, saying this was “no justification whatsoever for this illegal and unconstitutional act of war by President Trump,” referring to the killing of Soleimani.

India

Gabbard has had a close relationship with the Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom she has met several times.

The news site Intercept found in 2019 that Gabbard’s House campaigns had received donations from more than 100 individuals linked to a majority Hindu movement that includes Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

In January 2019, Gabbard was the guest of honor at the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, the Indian government’s annual diaspora outreach event, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Gabbard’s nomination comes less than a month after the US unsealed an indictment against former Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav, accusing him of a foiled plot to kill Indian-American Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US in 2023.

The revelation of this plot involved the work of U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI, which Gabbard will oversee as the DNI.

Israel and Gaza

Gabbard has also criticized pro-Palestinian protesters in the US in recent months, describing them as “puppets” of a “radical Islamist organization,” in an apparent reference to Hamas.

It has fully supported Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Gabbard also does not appear to be in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza, despite her anti-interventionist positions on other conflicts. In an interview uploaded to YouTube in February, she called Hamas a “threat that must be defeated militarily and ideologically.”

Asked what she thinks about US support for a UN resolution seeking a ceasefire in Gaza, Gabbard said it should be approached strategically.

“We must be realists about the threat that remains to the people of Israel. So as long as Hamas is in power, the people of Israel will not be safe and will not live in peace.”

What criticism has her appointment generated?

Her nomination is viewed with skepticism by some members of Congress.

Democratic Representative and former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger posted on X that she is “shocked about the nomination.”

“Gabbard is not only ill-prepared and unqualified, but she also traffics in conspiracy theories and associates with dictators like Bashar-al-Assad and Vladimir Putin,” Spanberger wrote.

As a former CIA officer, I watched the men and women of America’s intelligence community put their lives on the line for this country every day – and I am shocked by the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to lead DNI. (1/3)

— Rep. Abigail Spanberger (@RepSpanberger) November 13, 2024

What does Gabbard’s appointment mean for the US?

Mark Cancian, a Marine colonel and senior adviser at the Washington DC-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Al Jazeera that Gabbard’s appointment was clearly a reward for her support during Trump’s campaign.

Cancian said he expects Gabbard will be “criticized for a lack of qualifications” during her confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate.

“But they are sufficient, but not strong. She served on the House Armed Services Committee and served in the military.” He also pointed out that Trump’s nominee for director of the CIA is her top subordinate, John Ratcliffe, who has extensive experience in the intelligence community.

Cancian added that Gabbard’s nomination in itself does not represent a change in U.S. policy.

“The intelligence changes are likely to be driven by the administration’s larger policy choices toward Ukraine, Israel, Iran and China.”