The US Senate has confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgement fell in line behind her nomination.
Ms Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country's 18 different intelligence agencies, given her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian president Bashar Assad and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden.
A military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, the 43-year-old has no past experience working in the intelligence space.
She is the latest high-ranking nominee to win Senate confirmation as the new Trump administration works to reshape vast portions of the federal government, including the intelligence apparatus.
Staffers at the CIA and other intelligence agencies have received buyout offers, while lawmakers and security experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accessing databases containing information about intelligence operations.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to address intelligence failures exposed by the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Republicans have increasingly criticised the office, saying it has grown too large and politicised. Mr Trump himself has long viewed the nation's intelligence services with suspicion.
'Independent thinker'
GOP senators who had expressed concerns about Ms Gabbard's stance on Snowden, Syria and Russia said they were won over by her promise to refocus on the office's core missions: coordinating federal intelligence work and serving as the president's chief intelligence adviser.
"While I continue to have concerns about certain positions she has previously taken, I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency," said Senator Lisa Murkowski, adding that Ms Gabbard would bring "independent thinking" to the job.
Ms Gabbard was confirmed by a 52-48 vote on Wednesday, local time, with Democrats opposed in the sharply divided Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.
The only "no" vote from a Republican came from Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former GOP leader. In a statement after the vote, he said his assessment was that she brings "unnecessary risk" to the position.
"The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the President receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgement," Mr McConnell said.
Democrats noted that Gabbard had no experience working for an intelligence agency and they said her past stances on Russia, Syria and Snowden were disqualifying.
They also questioned whether she would stand up to Mr Trump if necessary and could maintain vital intelligence sharing with American allies.
"We simply cannot in good conscience trust our most classified secrets to someone who echoes Russian propaganda and falls for conspiracy theories," said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who suggested that Republicans were only supporting her because of pressure from Mr Trump.
"Is Ms. Gabbard really who Republicans want to lead intelligence agencies? I'll bet not."
Mr Trump's Make America Great Again base has pressured senators to support the president's nominees for top roles in the administration.
Also on Wednesday afternoon, the Senate advanced voting on Robert F Kennedy Jr's confirmation as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
His appointment last month drew controversy and is opposed by many in the medical community.
Assad, Snowden, Russia connections scrutinised
Ms Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020.
She has no formal intelligence experience and has never run a government agency or department.
Her past praise of Snowden drew particularly harsh questions during her confirmation hearing. Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about US surveillance programs.
Ms Gabbard said while Snowden disclosed important facts about such programs that she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets.
Her 2017 visit with Syria's Assad was another flashpoint. He was recently deposed following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons.
Following that visit, Ms Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimising a dictator. She later defended the meeting saying it was used as an opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.
"I asked him tough questions about his own regime's actions," Ms Gabbard said.
She also has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.
In the past, she opposed a key US surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.
AP/ABC
