{"id":2620,"date":"2026-05-22T21:39:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T21:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/05\/22\/the-turbulent-15-months-of-trumps-unlikely-us-intelligence-director\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T21:39:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T21:39:59","slug":"the-turbulent-15-months-of-trumps-unlikely-us-intelligence-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=2620","title":{"rendered":"The turbulent 15 months of Trump\u2019s unlikely US intelligence director"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border);background-color:var(--article-inner-background)\" class=\"dcr-wqti5a\">\n<div class=\"dcr-2zxs1v\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"df928c44-9b47-465e-8d08-b7fa1e7f36fd\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a woman holds a document while standing near a chair in a room as people walk behind her\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/5e76083dd5e18811dce5cdbf5acb442708508209\/0_0_3782_2783\/master\/3782.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"342.172131147541\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Tulsi Gabbard at a Senate intelligence committee hearing in Washington DC on 18 March.<\/span> Photograph: Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"df928c44-9b47-465e-8d08-b7fa1e7f36fd\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Tulsi Gabbard at a Senate intelligence committee hearing in Washington DC on 18 March.<\/span> Photograph: Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1aqe7zu\">\n<div class=\"dcr-13sure5\">\n<div class=\"dcr-47lvke\"><a href=\"\/tone\/analysis\" class=\"dcr-epjkf7\">Analysis<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">The turbulent 15 months of Trump\u2019s unlikely US intelligence director<\/h1>\n<div class=\"dcr-isvq2p\">\n<div class=\"dcr-f3dx7u\"><a rel=\"author\" data-link-name=\"auto tag link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/profile\/cate-brown\">Cate Brown<\/a><span> in Washington<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1b20i6h\">\n<p>Over 15 months, the ex-Democrat without an intelligence background took actions seemingly meant to flatter Trump<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-kn9unn\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1c9t5u6\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Tulsi Gabbard\u2019s tumultuous 15-month tenure as the US\u2019s top intelligence official ended Friday, when Gabbard submitted her resignation as director of national intelligence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Gabbard was an unconventional choice for the role, given she was a former Democrat with no notable intelligence background. Her political views, particularly on foreign intervention, have at times diverged from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s. But she also undertook norm-breaking actions as the country\u2019s top intelligence chief that appeared designed to flatter Trump and his agenda of election denial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Gabbard became increasingly sidelined by the president, who excluded her from key national security conversations on Iran and Venezuela, according to people familiar with the office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cShe had been playing on the outskirts of the inner circle for a while,\u201d said Emily Harding, director of the Intelligence, National Security, and Technology (INT) program at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/9556\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In Gabbard\u2019s January 2025 confirmation hearing, the Republican senator Tom Cotton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rev.com\/transcripts\/tulsi-gabbard-confirrmation-hearing\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">told the former Hawaii representative<\/a> that \u201cthe measure of your success will largely depend on whether you can return the ODNI [the office of the director of national intelligence] to its original size, scope, and mission\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The interagency coordination office had become bloated and ponderous over its 20-some-year mandate, some lawmakers believed, and the Heritage Foundation\u2019s conservative policy mandate Project 2025 pushed for dramatic reform.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Gabbard told lawmakers that she would \u201caddress efficiencies, redundancies and effectiveness\u201d across the sprawling 2,000-person agency. She claims to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dni.gov\/files\/ODNI\/documents\/ODNI-20-Fact-Sheet.pdf\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">reduced her staff by 30%<\/a> since assuming office, and at least <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2025\/04\/08\/tulsi-gabbard-intelligence-doge-cuts-weaponization\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">100 employees accepted early retirement programs<\/a> offered at both the CIA and the ODNI in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Gabbard also introduced a taskforce to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2025\/04\/08\/tulsi-gabbard-intelligence-doge-cuts-weaponization\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">cut costs and investigate \u201cweaponization\u201d<\/a> across the intelligence community. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dni.gov\/index.php\/newsroom\/dig\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Director\u2019s Initiatives Group<\/a>, or DIG, examined Trump\u2019s priority topics, including the origins of Covid-19, allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 elections and anomalous health incidents, like Havana syndrome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The DIG was dismantled in December following an interagency controversy and given a final termination date in June. It\u2019s unclear whether the group achieved its goals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Like Trump, Gabbard demanded loyalty within her office. \u201cShe is now tight with a very inner circle,\u201d said a person familiar with her office earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Chief among Gabbard\u2019s confidants is Alexa Henning, her acting chief of staff. The political appointee came to Washington from the Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders\u2019 office, where she referred to herself in a <a href=\"https:\/\/arktimes.com\/arkansas-blog\/2024\/08\/06\/alexa-henning-gov-sanders-toughest-henchman-to-leave-for-job-in-d-c\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">social media post<\/a> as \u201cone of the governor\u2019s henchmen\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Henning demonstrated equal loyalty as Gabbard\u2019s spokeswomanperson leading up to her confirmation to head the ODNI, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/27\/us\/politics\/tulsi-gabbard-trump-national-intelligence.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">swatting off questions<\/a> about herGabbard\u2019s ties to the Science of Identity Foundation, a religious cult based in Hawaii, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/dec\/05\/intelligence-security-officials-tulsi-gabbard\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">dismissing claims<\/a> that Gabbard held sympathy for dictators like Vladimir Putin or former Syrian leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/bashar-al-assad\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Bashar al-Assad<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Once Gabbard took office, Henning often adopted an aggressive and unusual stance towards media and other intelligence leaders, repeatedly deriding the Senate Iintelligence Ccommittee vice-chair Mark Warner <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/alexahenning\/status\/2017052767081079165?s=20\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">on X<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/alexahenning\/status\/1896608768332595247?s=20\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">calling out<\/a> Republicans who didn\u2019t support Gabbard\u2019s bid to lead the intelligence center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump first dismissed Gabbard\u2019s input as an intelligence chief in June 2025, amid a joint mission between Israel and the US to bomb Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities and assassinate nuclear scientists inside the country. The president was asked by reporters about Gabbard\u2019s previous Senate testimony that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cI don\u2019t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,\u201d Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/5354764-trump-gabbard-iran-intelligence-assessment\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">told reporters<\/a> on Air Force One. The president had recently endorsed Israel\u2019s decision to attack Iran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Shortly after Trump\u2019s rebuke, Gabbard did an about-face and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c056zqn6vvyo\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">said<\/a> Iran could produce a nuclear weapon \u201cwithin weeks\u201d. The episode underscored the tension between a director of national intelligence who had long been skeptical of foreign intervention, and a president who was moving toward more aggressive military action overseas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In February, Trump came to Gabbard\u2019s defense when she faced public scrutiny for appearing at a raid on an election polling center in Fulton county, Georgia: the FBI conducted a surprise raid on the office in January and seized ballots and other materials related to the 2020 election, which Trump hasfalsely claimed was rigged against him. Democrats expressed deep concern that Gabbard was present at a domestic law enforcement operation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWhen the nation\u2019s top intelligence official inserts herself into a matter with no connection to a foreign threat, it\u2019s hard to escape the conclusion that the objective was political \u2013 namely, getting back into Donald Trump\u2019s good graces \u2013 and that her presence was meant to lay the groundwork for baseless claims of foreign interference,\u201d Warner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.warner.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/why-was-tulsi-gabbard-in-fulton-county\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">said<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But Trump appeared pleased with Gabbard. \u201cShe took a lot of heat two days ago because she went in \u2013 at Pam [Bondi, the former attorney general]\u2019s insistence \u2013 she went in and she looked at votes that want to be checked out,\u201d Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hugolowell\/status\/2019433536307277954?s=20\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">said to congregants<\/a> at a National Prayer Breakfast. \u201cWhy is she doing it, right, Pam? Why is she doing it? Because Pam wanted her to do it. And you know why? Because she\u2019s smart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Weeks later, Gabbard once again strained her relationship with the president by failing to condemn the resignation of her former deputy, Joe Kent, who quit over Trump\u2019s decision to wage war on Iran. In his resignation letter, Kent wrote: \u201cIran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">After that, Trump began <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/02\/trump-tulsi-gabbard-intelligence-chief\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">questioning Gabbard\u2019s leadership<\/a> of the nation\u2019s intelligence agencies. The Guardian reported that Trump began polling cabinet members on whether he should fire Gabbard in March \u2013 a <a href=\"https:\/\/punchbowl.news\/archive\/3526-am\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">red flag<\/a> for people in the president\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Gabbard said Friday that she was resigning from office because her husband had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. Gabbard will lead the ODNI until 30 June, her resignation letter says. The White House has named Aaron Lukas to succeed her as an acting director.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump has not commented at length about Gabbard\u2019s resignation, but said in a Friday statement that Gabbard \u201chas done an incredible job, and we will miss her\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1rrvs2w\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/trump-administration\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Trump administration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/analysis\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">analysis<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=The%20turbulent%2015%20months%20of%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20unlikely%20US%20intelligence%20director&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/22\/tulsi-gabbard-intelligence-director?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fmay%2F22%2Ftulsi-gabbard-intelligence-director&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/may\/22\/tulsi-gabbard-intelligence-director\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:right-column\" data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1h2hraq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tn16h9\">\n<section class=\"dcr-1hko8ef\"><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tulsi Gabbard at a Senate intelligence committee hearing in Washington DC on 18 March. Photograph: Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}