Sometime today, we’re voting on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard.
She’s going to be Director of National Intelligence after she’s confirmed.
Until she was nominated, I only knew of her from seeing her in media soundbites and what other people wrote about her.
She came to my office, and we had a very good, very substantive conversation.
I determined that she’s very smart, and obviously an articulate person.
In our discussion, we covered many of her past statements on various policy matters and she was able to clarify what the media got right and what the media got wrong.
Obviously, since she served in the Congress of the United States as a Democrat, I and she may not agree on every policy.
However, Representative Gabbard made clear that she does not see her position as Director of National Intelligence as a policymaking [position].
She understands that President Trump was the one who was elected.
As Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard’s job will be simply to make sure that the Intelligence Community is able to provide the best, unbiased information to help President Trump make the proper decisions.
She and I also spoke about some of my past oversight work regarding the Intelligence Community.
I have had mixed results in getting the legitimate information I have sought depending on who was in that particular position.
For instance, when Ric Grenell became the Acting Director of National Intelligence, I suddenly and surprisingly got materials that I had asked for after being totally stonewalled by previous Directors of National Intelligence.
Based on my conversation, I expect Tulsi Gabbard, along with CIA Director Ratcliffe, will ensure that the Intelligence Community will be forthcoming and fully [responsive] to Congress, as we in Congress exercise our constitutional responsibility – not only to pass laws and appropriate money, but to be a check on the executive branch of government and see that a president, whether that president’s a Republican or Democrat, faithfully executes the laws as required by the [Constitution] of the United States.
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