Nearly 100 former national security officials signed a letter expressing alarm over President-elect Donald Trump's pick of Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.
The letter, first surfaced by Foreign Policy for America on Wednesday, urged incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to hold closed committee sessions to review "all information available to the U.S. government" regarding Gabbard.
"Several of Ms. Gabbard's past actions call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus," the letter stated.
The former officials, led by Wendy Sherman, former deputy secretary of state under President Joe Biden, said they were "alarmed" by the selection of the former Hawaii Democrat lawmaker given Gabbard's previous statements in support of Syria and against Ukraine.
"[Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad is not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States," Gabbard said in 2019. Her trip to Syria in 2017 to meet with Assad drew bipartisan criticism after she expressed "skepticism" that Assad was behind a chemical attack that killed dozens of Syrians.
Three days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard took to social media to say, "It's time to put geopolitics aside and embrace the spirit of aloha, respect, and love for the Ukrainian people by coming to an agreement that Ukraine will be a neutral country — i.e., no military alliance with NATO or Russia."
"Her sympathy for dictators like Vladimir Putin and Assad raises questions about her judgment and fitness," the letter added.
Further, the former officials knocked Gabbard for being the "least experienced" person to hold the job since its inception in 2005, given she'd oversee 18 agencies, including the CIA and FBI.
"The Senate must carefully evaluate whether Ms. Gabbard is equipped to effectively oversee an organizational structure as unique and large as the National Intelligence Program and also the effect of her holding this position on the willingness of our closest allies to share intelligence with the U.S.," the letter said.
The letter said it represented officials who served in Democrat and Republican administrations, including Ian Kelly, who was ambassador to Georgia during the Obama and Trump administrations.
"This is a perfect example of why President Trump chose Tulsi Gabbard for this position. These unfounded attacks are from the same geniuses who have blood on their hands from decades of faulty 'intelligence,' including the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. These intel officials continue to use classification as a partisan weapon to smear and imply things about their political enemy without putting the facts out," Trump transition spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a statement picked up by multiple media outlets.