The Senate vote is finalized. Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed as Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

🚨JUST ANNOUNCED: Tulsi Gabbard has been CONFIRMED as President Trump's Director of National Intelligence DNI! 52-48 Senate vote.

Congratulations Tulsi! @TulsiGabbard Thanks to the President! pic.twitter.com/r1psRBWbxR

— AJ Huber (@Huberton) February 12, 2025

Of course, the Democrats are big mad about this. Her confirmation hearings were quite the circus. And, of course, the media was all in on working to help tank her nomination.

Gabbard has been one of Trump’s most contentious nominees because of her past remarks on foreign adversaries and concerns about whether she has the experience to do the job. But Republican senators — many of whom had expressed reservations about Gabbard as DNI — overwhelmingly backed her nomination.

Gabbard will now oversee the work of the country’s 18 spy agencies — the same intelligence community that she has expressed skepticism of in the past. As DNI, she will also serve as President Trump’s primary intelligence adviser.

Once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, Gabbard has traversed from the left flank of her former party, nominating Bernie Sanders to run for President in 2016 to endorsing Trump eight years later. Now the country’s top spy chief, her foreign policy views have defied easy categorization and have caused alarm among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Quite honestly, we need someone to be skeptical of our intelligence community. Why? The 51 signers of the Hunter Biden laptop letter is a prime example. The CIA and the FBI missing major cues leading up to 9/11 is another. The missteps in vetting procedures regarding illegal aliens is yet another. I could go on. 

Skepticism and questioning is a good thing. Moreover, when you look at who was involved in the intelligence community for the last four years during the Biden Administration, I shudder to think of what else was missed because of Biden’s significant cognitive issues. 

But of course, the Democrats don’t want someone at DNI who might upend the norms. Chuck Schumer threw a tantrum on the Senate floor this morning. 

The Democrats and media believe that the information she’ll present to President Trump will be biased. Yet none of them asked about what information was held back these last four years, did they? Or what information that the White House refused to present to Joe Biden. Let’s look at the disaster in Afghanistan leading to the deaths of 13 American soldiers as a case in point.

Evidently the Democrats like failure and the weaponization of the intelligence community. As does Mitch McConnell, who voted against her nomination. 

But Tulsi made it clear during her opening remarks that that has to stop. Our country can no longer afford major intelligence failures and remain secure nationally and internationally.

“In both roles engaging with world leaders, in both roles being privy to highly classified intelligence,” Gabbard said. “So I know first hand how essential accurate, unbiased and timely intelligence is to the president, to Congress and to our warfighters. I also know the heavy cost of intelligence failures and abuses.”

Gabbard argued that “for too long, faulty, inadequate or weaponized intelligence have led to costly failures, and the undermining of our national security and god-given freedoms enshrined in the Constitution,” adding that Mr. Trump’s victory in the 2024 election is “a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure.”

“If confirmed as DNI, I will do my very best to fulfill this mandate, and bring leadership to the intelligence community with a laser-like focus on our essential mission — ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people,” Gabbard said.

For those who don’t believe she’s qualified. She’s passed five very detailed security checks over the last few years. Yet, possibly because of her stance regarding Kamala Harris, she was placed on a major TSA watch list. That’s a spiteful misuse of our intelligence community. 

There’s a lot concerning the intelligence community that has sent up red flags over the years. Remember Tulsi’s concern, that ended up verified, over biolabs in Ukraine? That issue hasn’t gone away and it’s something she’ll have eyes on as DNI. 

We need our intelligence community to work on behalf of the American people, not their political cronies. Here’s hoping that Tulsi, as DNI, can start cleaning that mess up. 

Feature Photo Credit: Tulsi Gabbard photo via Sen. John Barrasso’s FB page, cropped and modified