Nearly 100 former U.S. diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have called on the Senate to briefly block Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence for alleged “space dictators like Vladimir Putin and [Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad]”and other things about
In the open letter, the officers were furious Tulsi Gabbardformer candidate for president and ambassador to Hawaii, due to lack of experience in the field of intelligence, including conspiracy theories about the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 full of Russia, and “adding himself with Russian and Syrian officials” after “uncoordinated”. meeting with Assad in Damascus in 2017.
The letter was signed by former deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman, former NATO deputy secretary general Rose Gottemoeller, former national security adviser Anthony Lake, as well as several other former ambassadors, intelligence and military officials, and other top officials. an order of members of the national security apparatus.
It was released to current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and to incoming Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican.
In the letter, the officials asked the senate to “fully exercise its constitutional and consent committee function … including through appropriate vetting, hearings and regular order.” The Senate called for “all information available” in closed sessions to review Gabbard’s qualifications to “safeguard our intelligence sources and methods.”
Gabbard and her supporters have denounced similar attacks on the Lin campaign, saying it is reminiscent of anti-interventionism in Syria and Ukraine it was distorted by political enemies.
In Washington, he has moved a unique foreign policy position as a supporter of Israel and the “war on terror” – but also as a critic of US conflicts with similar countries. Russia and Iran (highly criticizing Trump’s decision to assassinate Iranian general Qassem Suleimani as an “unjust and unconditional act of war”).
“When it comes to the war against terrorists, I’m a hawk,” he told a Hawaiian newspaper in 2016. “When it comes to the war against government change, I’m a dove.”
But many in Washington see Gabbard’s closely-connected foreign policy and intelligence community as dangerous. Concerns listed in the open letter include Gabbard’s public doubts about Assad’s use of chemical weapons against civilians, despite “US intelligence reports and overwhelming public reports” corroborating the attacks.
They also noted that online reports after the Russian invasion “suggest that US funded labs in” Ukraine “to develop biological weapons and to threaten Ukraine’s conflict with NATO is aimed at Russian domination.”
His public sympathy for Putin and Assad, the letter said, “raises questions about his judgment and dignity.”
“These futile attacks are from the same geniuses who have blood on their hands from decades of vicious ‘intelligence’, and who is described in government information as “a partisan weapon to smear and complicate things about their political enemy”, Alexa Henning, a. Gabbard’s spokesman with Trump’s team told ABC News in response to the letter.
Activists have said the guard staffers from both sides expressed concern during a 2018 hearing with the Syrian military whistleblower that Gabbard could reveal personal identity details. A person with knowledge of the high-level intelligence discussions said there were concerns over other contacts in Gabbard’s country as well.