Former officials urge closed-door Senate hearings on Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for intel chief

Nearly 100 erstwhile elder U.S. diplomats and intelligence and nationalist information officials person urged Senate leaders to schedule closed-door hearings to let for a afloat reappraisal of nan government’s files connected erstwhile Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s prime to beryllium nationalist intelligence director.

The erstwhile officials, who served successful some Democratic and Republican administrations, said they were “alarmed” by nan prime of Gabbard to oversee each 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. They said her past actions “call into mobility her expertise to present unbiased intelligence briefings to nan President, Congress, and to nan full nationalist information apparatus.”

A spokesperson for Gabbard connected nan Trump modulation squad connected Thursday denounced nan entreaty arsenic an “unfounded” and “partisan” attack.

Avril Haines, nan existent head of nationalist intelligence, erstwhile asked Thursday whether intelligence sharing pinch friends could beryllium successful jeopardy nether nan adjacent administration, cited nan value of those relationships and noted nan beardown bipartisan support for them successful Congress.

The question, astatine a Council connected Foreign Relations talk, focused connected nan particularly adjacent intelligence sharing among nan Five Eyes — nan U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It did not mention Gabbard by name.

“It is difficult for maine to judge that anybody coming successful wouldn’t want to support those relationships,” Haines said. “So I wouldn’t deliberation of them arsenic being successful important risk,” she added. “I surely dream that will continue.”

Among those who signed nan missive to Senate leaders were erstwhile Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, erstwhile NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, erstwhile nationalist information advisor Anthony Lake, and galore retired ambassadors and high-ranking subject officers.

They wrote to existent Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and incoming Republican Majority Leader John Thune connected Wednesday to impulse nan closed briefings arsenic portion of nan Senate’s reappraisal of Trump’s apical appointments.

They requested that Senate committees “consider successful closed sessions each accusation disposable to nan U.S. authorities erstwhile considering Ms. Gabbard’s qualifications to negociate our country’s intelligence agencies, and much importantly, nan protection of our intelligence sources and methods.”

The missive singles retired Gabbard’s 2017 meetings successful Syria pinch President Bashar Assad, who is supported by Russian, Iranian and Iranian-allied forces successful a now 13-year warfare against Syrian guidance forces seeking his overthrow.

The U.S., which trim relations pinch Assad’s authorities and imposed sanctions complete his behaviour of nan war, maintains astir 900 troops successful opposition-controlled northeast Syria, saying they are needed to artifact a resurgence of extremist groups.

Gabbard, a Democratic personnel of Congress from Hawaii astatine nan clip of her Syria trip, drew dense disapproval for her meetings pinch a U.S. adversary and sadistic leader.

As nan missive notes, her statements connected nan wars successful nan Middle East and Ukraine person aligned pinch Russian talking points, diverging from U.S. positions and policy.

Gabbard passim her governmental profession has urged nan U.S. to limit subject engagement overseas different than combatting Islamic extremist groups. She has defended nan Syria travel by saying it is basal to prosecute pinch U.S. enemies.

In postings connected societal media earlier this twelvemonth she confirmed that nan U.S. had for a clip placed her “on a concealed panic watch list” arsenic a “potential home panic threat.” She blamed governmental retaliation. Neither she nor U.S. authorities person publically elaborate nan circumstances involved.

Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Gabbard pinch nan Trump team, called nan missive sent to nan Senate leaders “a cleanable example” of why Trump chose Gabbard for this position.

“These unfounded attacks are from nan aforesaid geniuses who person humor connected their hands from decades of faulty ‘intelligence,’” and usage classified authorities accusation arsenic a “partisan limb to smear and connote things astir their governmental enemy,” Henning said.

A spokesperson for Thune did not instantly respond to questions astir nan request.