Intel nominee Gabbard to be questioned on Russia, Syria at confirmation hearing

PHOTO CAPTION: Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's 2024 Road to Majority Conference held at the Washington Hilton, in Washington, DC., on June 21, 2024. (Michael Brochstein / SOPA Images / Reuters file via NBC News)

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -     Former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's choice to be Director of National Intelligence, will face tough questioning on Russia, Syria and surveillance at what is expected to be contentious Senate hearing on Thursday.

Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed doubts about the choice of Gabbard, a 43-year-old former Democrat and combat veteran with little intelligence experience, to serve as the nation's top spy overseeing all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.

Trump's announcement in November, days after his election victory, sent shockwaves through the national security establishment, adding to concerns that the sprawling intelligence community will become politicized under a second Trump administration. 

On Thursday Gabbard is due to front the Senate Intelligence Committee whose support could be crucial to the success of her nomination.    

It has nine Republicans and eight Democrats, meaning one Republican "no" vote on the panel would force committee Chairman Tom Cotton to take the unusual step of sending the nomination to the full Senate without committee backing.

Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. She backed Trump in 2024 and joined the Republican Party a month before his November election victory.

Senators have said they want to question Gabbard about her views seen as sympathetic to Russia in its war against Ukraine, her opposition to U.S. military intervention in Syria, and a 2017 meeting with Moscow-backed former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when he was under U.S. sanctions.

While in the House of Representatives, Gabbard introduced legislation that would have dropped charges against Edward Snowden, a former government contractor who leaked thousands of National Security Agency documents and then fled to Russia.

Many Republicans, including Cotton, have harshly criticized Snowden as a liar and traitor and said he should "rot in jail."

Even so, Cotton has praised Gabbard's patriotism, noting her military career, and that she has passed background checks.

"It’s fine for people to have policy differences and ask questions about those differences. I hope no one would impugn Ms. Gabbard’s patriotism or her integrity," he told Fox News Sunday.

CONCERNS ABOUT SURVEILLANCE LAW

Gabbard has also taken positions that worry senators from both parties concerned that government programs to thwart foreign attackers violate Americans' right to privacy.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said he wanted to ask Gabbard about "the variety of positions she's had" on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a government surveillance authority that raises privacy concerns, as well as Salt Typhoon, a major cyber-espionage operation against American telecom companies.

U.S. officials say "Salt Typhoon" is run by the Chinese government and lawmakers have called for U.S. firms to do more to harden the networks in response.

Beijing routinely denies allegations of cyberespionage.

Gabbard once sought to repeal Section 702, but reversed her stance after she was nominated for the intelligence post. 

"I'm sure I'll ask her some questions that speak to her understanding of what I call the ability to show you can have security and liberty and that the two are not mutually exclusive," said Wyden, a veteran intelligence committee member.

Some of Trump's picks have sailed through the confirmation process. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Republican senator, was confirmed unanimously on Jan. 20, the day Trump was inaugurated.

But others have struggled.

Gabbard's hearing comes one day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick to lead the top U.S. health agency, came under attack at his confirmation hearing from Democratic lawmakers who accused him of covering up anti-vaccine views and embracing conspiracy theories.

Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth was confirmed on Friday as Secretary of Defense, surviving criticism of his lack of management experience and his personal conduct. He was only the second cabinet pick to require a tie-breaking vote from the vice president after three of Trump's Republicans - Senators Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell and Lisa Murkowski - joined every Democrat in voting against him.

Collins, who has not said how she would vote on Gabbard, is a senior member of the intelligence committee.

In the full Senate, if Democrats unite against Gabbard as expected, she can afford to lose the backing of only three of Trump's Republicans to become DNI, with Vice President JD Vance again breaking a tie in his capacity of president of the Senate.

 (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee and Stephen Coates)