(Editor's Note: The following opinion column does not constitute an endorsement of any individual under consideration for a role in the current presidential administration, on the part of Newsmax.)
Many have criticized the Director of National Intelligence and the bloated bureaucracy it spawned, the Office of the DNI (ODNI), for promoting the weaponization of intelligence, DEI in the intelligence workforce, and duplication of work throughout America's 18 intelligence agencies.
Clearly, the ODNI and the entire U.S. intelligence community are in dire need of significant reforms and downsizing.
These reforms should be led by a new DNI, who is a disrupter.
Someone who is prepared to take on the entire U.S. intelligence bureaucracy.
Former. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is that disrupter.
Gabbard would come to the DNI post with extraordinary national security credentials as a combat veteran and a four-term member of Congress, representing Hawaii.
She served with the Hawaii National Guard for over two decades and was deployed to Iraq, Kuwait, and the Horn of Africa.
In 2005, she was awarded the Combat Medical Badge for "participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III."
Gabbard's tenure in Congress lasted four terms.
She was on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee during her entire tenure in Congress. Gabbard served on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and on the Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees.
Due to her service on national security committees, Gabbard had access to sensitive, top-secret intelligence while she served in Congress.
A native-born Samoan, Gabbard hasn't been shy about bucking the foreign policy establishment and her party to speak out on national security issues.
She has been an outspoken opponent of American involvement in new wars.
She strongly criticized then-President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, especially its refusal to recognize the threat from radical Islam.
Gabbard has also been criticized for meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017. She made that trip due to her opposition to the U.S. trying to force regime change in Syria.
Gabbard blames the Biden administration for causing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
She wants to see an end to this war, with Ukraine becoming a neutral state that is not a NATO member. Gabbard is concerned U.S.-Russia tensions could surge, leading to World War III. She's also been critical of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Assuredly, there will be fireworks at Gabbard’s confirmation hearing on Thursday Jan. 30.
Specifically, Democrats have seized on Gabbard’s conservative, anti-globalist national security positions to smear her as unqualified and lacking the depth and understanding of national security to be the director of National Intelligence.
Other Democrats have gone further, claiming she is pro-Putin, sides with U.S. adversaries, and has been compromised by Russia.
Such criticism is absurd and deeply insulting for a U.S. veteran and former member of Congress with decades of loyal service to her country and national security experience.
What's really behind this slander?
It's Gabbard's independence and principle in 2024 when she became a Republican and endorsed Donald Trump for president.
The Democratic Party and its media supporters will never forgive Gabbard for this.
Gabbard’s independence and principles are much needed in the U.S. Intelligence Community. She will fight the weaponization and politicization of U.S. intelligence.
She will ensure that intelligence analysts tell the truth, are rewarded for good performance, and are not hired or promoted based on DEI and political correctness.
As DNI, I also expect Gabbard to focus on ensuring that intelligence analysis and collection focuses on real threats to our country, improving warning intelligence on short-term and imminent security threats, and ensuring that our intelligence agencies have an edge in emergent technologies.
Gabbard is an ideal choice to oversee the downsizing and streamlining U.S. intelligence because she is likely to make the ODNI the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) of the U.S. intelligence community.
There are now 18 U.S. intelligence agencies costing taxpayers almost $100 billion annually. We need a U.S. official to oversee a DOGE-like comprehensive review of these agencies to eliminate stunning amounts of waste and duplication.
This should include consolidating intelligence workforces and reducing the number of intelligence agencies.
I hope Gabbard starts these reforms by cutting back the size of the ODNI, which has added a massive number of personnel and functions since its mid-2000s creation.
Tulsi Gabbard is the perfect person to do this because she will not engage in empire-building as DNI and will not be "captured" by the ODNI’s career bureaucrats.
Tulsi Gabbard is a national security expert, patriot, and disrupter uniquely suited to depoliticize, reform, and downsize the "intelligence swamp."
She should be quickly confirmed as America’s next Director of National Intelligence.
Fred Fleitz is a former CIA analyst and staff member with the House Intelligence Committee. In 2018, he served as the National Security Council Chief of Staff and as a Deputy Special Assistant to President Trump. REad Fred Fleitz's reports — Click Here Now.
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