The day Russia launched its “special military operation” in UkraineKicking off two years of persistent misery in the region, politicians in Washington were virtually unanimous in their condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

A notable exception was Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and military veteran who had run a failed presidential campaign in 2020, but has now been chosen as Donald Trump’s intelligence chief.

“This war and suffering could easily have been avoided if (the Biden administration and) NATO had simply recognized Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s NATO membership,” he said. she tweeted.

The statement was just the latest in a series of outlandish foreign policy positions, including his skepticism about chemical weapons attacks in Syria that followed two contentious meetings with Bashar al-Assad.

After leaving the Democratic Party in October 2022, Ms. Gabbard underwent a remarkable transition to become one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal allies.

His appointment Wednesday as director of national intelligence could cause the biggest shake-up in the U.S. spy community in decades.

Military-industrial complex

Since joining the Republican Party earlier this year, Gabbard has accused the government of being complicit in a “military-industrial complex” and denounced the “Washington foreign policy establishment.”

Shortly after January 20, if her nomination is confirmed by the Senate, she is expected to join this establishment as head.

The DNI oversees all 18 US intelligence agencies, from the giant FBI and NSA to the more obscure National Reconnaissance Office.

This position was created in the aftermath of 9/11 and has never been held by a politician with such disregard for the intelligence activities he oversees.

In 2015, Ms. Gabbard raised eyebrows at the CIA when she tried to introduce legislation to block the agency’s activities in Syria. The plan was blocked by congressional committees.

Four years later, she called on the US government to drop charges against Julian Assange, the Australian journalist and founder of Wikileaks who published thousands of classified intelligence documents on the Internet. She then asked for forgiveness from Edward Snowdon, an NSA employee who provided much of the material.

She also pushed a Kremlin-backed conspiracy theory that Ukraine was developing U.S.-backed biological weapons labs.

Those positions will not make her popular within the U.S. intelligence community, and her nomination will likely face significant opposition in the Senate before Mr. Trump takes office next year.

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