Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Gabbard to the position overseeing 18-agency intelligence community
\n WASHINGTON
\nTulsi Gabbard has been sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence inside the Oval Office with President Trump in attendance following the confirmation by US Senate.
\nThe Senate voted 52 to 48, mostly along party lines, to confirm Gabbard to the position overseeing the 18-agency intelligence community and acting as Trump\u2019s top adviser on intelligence issues.
\nThe vote was another victory for Trump as he pushes to secure quick Senate approval for all of his nominees for administration positions.
\nThe Senate\u2019s Republican majority leader, John Thune, scheduled a procedural vote on Robert F Kennedy Jr, who also faced fierce opposition to his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services, immediately after the Gabbard confirmation vote.
\nGabbard, a 43-year-old former Democrat, had faced bipartisan questions about past statements seen as supporting US adversaries, and lack of experience.
\nShe neither worked at a spy agency nor served on an intelligence committee during her four House of Representatives terms.
\nGabbard will now oversee an agency created by Congress in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate the country\u2019s sprawling intelligence apparatus, one of the most important national security positions in the US government.
\n\u201cThe selection of a DNI is a very big deal,\u201d said Emily Harding, director of the Intelligence, National Security and Technology Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, noting the DNI\u2019s broad access to classified material and role as the president\u2019s main intelligence adviser.
\nPressure from president, Musk
\nTrump\u2019s announcement of Gabbard in November sent shockwaves through the national security establishment, adding to concerns that intelligence-gathering would be politicised, and weakened, during a second Trump administration.
\nSceptics questioned Gabbard\u2019s past statements seen as sympathetic toward Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and defence of the government of former Syria leader Bashar al-Assad, whom she visited in Syria in 2017 while he was under US sanction.
\nAt her hearing, Gabbard faced particularly pointed questioning from senators from both parties about her past defence of former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked thousands of highly classified documents and then sought asylum in Russia.
\nSome were noticeably frustrated at her refusal to call Snowden a traitor.
\nRepublicans who expressed concerns faced an intense political pressure campaign, from Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who threatened to support primary opponents of any Republican who obstructed nominees.
\nSenator Todd Young, an intelligence committee member who did not immediately back Gabbard, issued a statement supporting her before the panel\u2019s party-line 9-8 vote to recommend the nominee to the full Senate.
\nA former Marine Corps intelligence officer criticised by Musk before he endorsed Gabbard, Young said Gabbard had reassured him that she would support intelligence professionals and provide unbiased information.
\nGabbard\u2019s supporters also praised her pledges to pare back the DNI\u2019s office, at a time when Trump\u2019s administration is slashing and even seeking to close government agencies.
\nPast DNI nominees have been intelligence veterans confirmed with broad bipartisan support. Daniel Coats, a former ambassador and Republican senator who served on the intelligence committee, was confirmed by 85-12 in 2017, as Trump began his first term.
\nThe DNI under former President Joe Biden, Avril Haines, had held a series of major national security positions, including deputy director of the CIA. She was confirmed by 84-10.
\nHarding said Gabbard will need to reassure allies that they can trust Washington as Trump pursues an aggressive foreign policy, and be cautious about making cuts amid myriad global challenges.
\n\u201cThe person that is going to be doing it needs to be someone that he (Trump) trusts and somebody that he\u2019ll listen to,\u201d Harding said.
\nGabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. She backed Trump and joined the Republican Party in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Gabbard to the position overseeing 18-agency intelligence community WASHINGTON Tulsi Gabbard has been sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence inside the Oval Office with President Trump in attendance following the confirmation by US Senate. The Senate voted 52 to 48, mostly along party lines, to confirm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-461431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n