President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, faced tough questions Thursday from several Republican senators at her confirmation hearing over her past praise for intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and her shifting views on an electronic surveillance program supported by senators whose votes she needs.
Republicans hold a narrow 9-8 majority on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is holding the hearing and has the first vote on Gabbard’s nomination. The questions from some of the Republican members raised the possibility that Gabbard may not secure their support.
With Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee expected to oppose her, Gabbard will need the votes of every Republican on the panel to keep her path to confirmation alive. If the committee fails to back her, the full Senate could still vote on her confirmation, but that would require a 60-vote majority — a politically improbable scenario.
As a Democratic member of Congress and as a commentator, Gabbard for years portrayed Snowden — a former government contractor who leaked a vast trove of classified information — as a “brave whistleblower” and called for him to be pardoned. Under questioning from both Republican and Democratic senators at the hearing, Gabbard declined to say whether she believes Snowden is a traitor but said she would not seek a pardon for him if confirmed for the top-ranking intelligence job.
Gabbard did strike a different tone on Snowden than in the past, saying that he “broke the law” and that he should not have leaked so much secret information.
When Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Gabbard if she would seek a pardon or clemency for Snowden, Gabbard replied: “Senator Collins, if confirmed as the director of national intelligence, my responsibility would be to ensure the security of our nation’s secrets, and [I] would not take actions to advocate for any actions related to Snowden.”
When Collins followed up to confirm she would not seek a pardon for Snowden, Gabbard said that was correct.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., asked Gabbard twice if she believed Snowden was a traitor but she declined to answer directly.
“I’m focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again,” Gabbard said.
Snowden was a contractor for the National Security Agency in 2013 when he leaked a ream of secret information exposing details of America’s global surveillance operations. Snowden, who fled the country and resettled in Russia, has been indicted for espionage.
Gabbard also faced detailed questions from Republicans about her longtime opposition to an electronic surveillance program that allows U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop without a warrant on foreigners outside the country to collect intelligence.
The program, authorized under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, also allows U.S. authorities to search through the data, including information incidentally collected from Americans who are in communication with the foreign targets.
Gabbard had previously opposed the program as an abuse of civil liberties. But a few weeks ago, she shifted her stance, saying she now supported the surveillance powers because amendments passed last year had addressed her concerns.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, pressed Gabbard about her views on the need for a warrant to search for Americans appearing in collected surveillance data and what criteria would be required to obtain a warrant.
Gabbard sidestepped the question.
“Senator, that’s not for me to say,” Gabbard replied, saying it was up to Congress to determine.
But Cornyn countered that it would be her job as DNI to oversee the program.
“That would be for you to decide and for the attorney general to weigh in on,” Cornyn said.
Gabbard’s past position on section 702 puts her in alignment with many progressive Democrats in Congress as well as libertarian-minded Republicans, but at odds with the national security hawks who dominate the Senate Intelligence Committee. Kash Patel, the president’s pick for FBI director, has also been an outspoken opponent of the surveillance program.
Here are five things to know about Tulsi Gabbard, an American politician and U.S. Army Reserve officer.
If confirmed by the Senate as director of national intelligence (DNI), Gabbard would oversee 18 spy agencies with a budget of more than $100 billion and have the final say over what intelligence is delivered to the president.
As a presidential candidate, a member of Congress and a commentator supporting Trump’s campaign, Gabbard has been accused of echoing propaganda spread by Russia and the former Assad regime in Syria, including questioning U.S. intelligence assessments that the Syrian government had carried out multiple chemical weapons attacks on its own people.
Gabbard rejected criticism at the hearing that she has sided with U.S. adversaries and said it was outrageous to question her loyalty to the United States given her career in the Army and in politics.
Gabbard has previously rejected accusations that she is aligned with authoritarian leaders or undermining U.S. interests.
She maintains she is coming under attack for questioning Washington’s national security establishment and opposing U.S. military “regime change” interventions, including the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Gabbard has come under intense criticism over her 2017 meeting in Damascus with Syria’s then dictator, Bashar al-Assad, and comments she made afterward that seemed to embrace the regime’s portrayal of the country’s civil war. But Gabbard has said that she was merely exploring ways to end the war and that any peace settlement would require dialogue with Syria’s government.
Her supporters also note she has maintained a security clearance for years, a sign that she can be trusted with classified information. A spokesperson for the former lawmaker said Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, has an active top secret security clearance and has never breached the confidentiality rules around classified information.
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