The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard to be the next director of national intelligence in a 52 to 48 vote that demonstrated President Trump’s political control over Republican lawmakers.
Ms. Gabbard had one of the most contentious confirmation hearings of all of the president’s nominees. A number of Republican senators joined Democrats in asking tough questions about her previous support of Edward Snowden, a former government contractor who released reams of classified data, and her skepticism about warrantless wiretaps of overseas communications.
Her defense of Bashar al-Assad, the former Syrian dictator, and her sympathy toward President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia also gave some Republican lawmakers pause.
But in the end only one Republican was willing to oppose her. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the former majority leader, voted against her. Mr. McConnell has taken stances against several of Mr. Trump’s nominees, but so far has not persuaded many in his caucus to join him.
Before the floor vote, the Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee fell in line and backed Ms. Gabbard’s confirmation. Some, like Senator Susan Collins of Maine, highlighted Ms. Gabbard’s pledges to streamline the office. Others, like Senator Todd Young of Indiana, emphasized her vows to hold accountable people who leaked classified information and to help reauthorize overseas surveillance programs.
That support from skeptics paved the way for Ms. Gabbard’s confirmation by the full Senate.
Democrats remained united against her. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said Ms. Gabbard was not qualified. He said that in a secret vote, she would have received little Republican support. He said he was troubled by her “long record of weakness” against Russia.
“We simply cannot in good conscience trust our most classified secrets to someone who echoes Russian propaganda and falls for conspiracy theories,” Mr. Schumer said.
Mr. Schumer said there was pressure on Republicans to support Ms. Gabbard. In recent weeks, supporters of Mr. Trump have made huge numbers of calls on behalf of Ms. Gabbard. Some members of Mr. Trump’s coalition see Ms. Gabbard as a key voice in their movement and have demanded more traditional Republican senators back the president’s choices.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s most important job, arguably, is overseeing the President’s Daily Brief, an intelligence summary assembled each morning. In Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Trump will have someone aligned with his foreign policy views supervising those updates.
During his first term, Mr. Trump grew irritated when briefers lingered too long on Russian influence operations. He often wanted briefings focused on economics and trade. He also liked the agency’s insights on world leaders he was meeting, or with whom he hoped to make deals.
Ms. Gabbard shares Mr. Trump’s skepticism of mainstream views of Russia as a grave national security threat. She also, like Mr. Trump, is deeply critical of the long overseas wars the United States became embroiled in during the George W. Bush administration.
Still, there are limits to the office’s power and influence. While it sets broad goals for collecting intelligence, the individual spy agencies have latitude to set their own collection targets and collection goals.
Those limits, along with Ms. Gabbard’s commitment to rein in the office’s work, persuaded Republican lawmakers that opposing her nomination was not worth the political risk.
Ms. Gabbard’s fierce opposition to foreign wars, and frequent appearances on Fox News, have made her a darling of the Trump wing of the Republican Party. Elon Musk, the president’s ally, attacked at least one senator, Mr. Young, who was thought to be wavering on his support for Ms. Gabbard. Mr. Musk initially called Mr. Young a “deep state puppet,” then retracted his comment after speaking with him. Mr. Young denied he had spoken to Mr. Musk about Ms. Gabbard but later announced his support for her.
Ms. Gabbard has said her first moves will be to depoliticize the organization, a frequent refrain among Mr. Trump’s nominees. She has cited the faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as one example. She has said information from intelligence agencies was used to falsely portray Mr. Trump as a puppet of Mr. Putin.
She has also criticized former intelligence officials for a letter suggesting that material from Hunter Biden’s laptop could be Russian disinformation.
Some former officials expect her to halt the work of the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which watches for threats against the election from adversaries.
She is also expected to press intelligence agencies to scour their files for any information on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that has not yet been released.
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