Senate Confirms National Security Threat, Tulsi Gabbard
The decision by the Senate to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence is a mistake that threatens the safety of the United States
In yet another display of the Senate GOP's utter spinelessness, the Senate has officially confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as the next Director of National intelligence. The move, announced earlier today, will undermine America’s position on the world stage and weaken other countries' trust in our intelligence apparatus.
The Problem with Tulsi
Much has been said about Tulsi Gabbard and her propagandized beliefs. Former staffers accused her of consistently consuming Russian propaganda, specifically falling for RT’s propaganda. As The Daily Beast noted, the State Department has warned that RT is not a news source but is part of a larger online “covert influence” operation. Earlier last year, the Department of Justice accused two RT employees of funneling money to conservative commentators through Tenet Media, seemingly to promote propaganda.
The Director of National Intelligence must be able to see an influence-peddling company for what it is, and yet Tulsi Gabbard was utterly incapable of doing so.
Even when it comes to basic facts, such as whether or not former Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad gassed his people, which he did, Tulsi has consistently failed to avoid the Russian position on the issue.
As I explained in my previous article on her:
“When Assad gassed his citizens, the world was alight with shock at the cruelty of the dictator’s act. However, Gabbard has a history of downplaying the attacks. In a 2015 trip to the country, she questioned whether or not ISIS carried out the attack. An observer later reminded her that the gas was dropped using planes, something ISIS doesn’t have. In a secret 2017 trip to Syria, Gabbard met with a cleric who threatened to unleash suicide bombers on America if Washington intervened in Syria. In her hearing, she claimed that she wasn’t aware of the statements by said cleric, but records uncovered by The Washington Post show that she was warned about the cleric after she returned from the trip.”
She was unreliable in Congress and is now, but thanks to the Senate GOP's cowardice, she will now have all the power she wants.
National Security Compromised
Now that she is in a position of power, she could have access to some of the most important intelligence information necessary to ensure national security, which means she could not only leak that information but alter it when it doesn’t fit her narrative. That possibility will likely lead our allies to hesitate to provide critical information. If the Trump administration were seriously interested in protecting the American people and earning the world's respect, they would have told Gabbard to pound sand. Instead, they acquiesced to a useless contrarian. I’ve said it before and will say it again: America First is America Last.