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Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard (; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician and military officer serving as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2021, having previously served in Hawaii Army National Guard from 2003 to 2020. In November 2024, President-elect Trump selected Gabbard for the position of director of national intelligence in his second term, starting January 2025. A former congresswoman, Gabbard served as U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. She was the first Samoan American member of Congress, and also its first Hindu American representative. She was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. She left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. In 2024, she joined the Republican Party.

Gabbard joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003 and was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005, where she served as a specialist with the medical unit of 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. She received the Combat Medical Badge in 2005 for "participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire". In 2007, Gabbard completed the officer training program at the Alabama Military Academy and graduated at the top of her class. She was stationed in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009 as an Army Military Police platoon leader. In 2015, Gabbard became a major with the Hawaii Army National Guard. In 2020, she transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve. She was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2021, while deployed in the Horn of Africa as a civil affairs officer.

During her time in Congress, Gabbard became known for her strong stand against Islamic terrorism in the Middle East and her opposition to U.S. military intervention in the Syrian civil war. Around 2015, she often criticized the Obama administration for not recognizing Islamic extremism as a problem. She served as vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2013 to 2016, but then resigned from the position to endorse Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. Gabbard met with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in 2017— she faced criticism for making subsequent comments perceived as supportive of Assad, including a 2019 statement that "Assad is not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States." Gabbard later referred to Assad as a "brutal dictator." In her 2020 presidential campaign, she highlighted a broad opposition to military interventionism, while reiterating her position on combating terrorism. After ending her presidential candidacy, she endorsed Joe Biden in March 2020.

After her departure from the House of Representatives in January 2021, Gabbard took more conservative positions on issues such as abortion, foreign policy, LGBTQ rights, and border security. She appeared frequently on Fox News, often serving as a fill-in host for ''Tucker Carlson Tonight''. In October 2022, Gabbard left the Democratic Party, citing differences on foreign policy and social issues. Gabbard campaigned for several Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections, and was a featured speaker during that year's Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC).

In August 2024, Gabbard endorsed former president Donald Trump for the 2024 United States presidential election. After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Gabbard became an honorary co-chair of Trump's 2024 presidential transition team. In November 2024, Trump announced his intention to nominate Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence. Her nomination drew scrutiny of her past statements on Syria, alongside concern over her comments regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine that were considered sympathetic toward Russia. Several Republicans have defended her record, noting that Gabbard has honorably served in the U.S. Armed Forces for over two decades. Provided by Wikipedia