US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard resigns / Photo: © AFP/File
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard resigns
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation on Friday, ending the tenure of a long-term contrarian who appeared to be at odds with President Donald Trump over the Iran war.
Gabbard said in a letter to Trump posted on X that she was quitting as Director of National Intelligence to care for her husband after he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
"Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30," Gabbard, whose job involved coordinating the global security information brought to Trump, wrote in the letter.
"My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. He faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months," added the 45-year-old.
"At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle."
Trump hailed Gabbard -- one of the few women left in the Republican's cabinet -- following the announcement.
"Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her," Trump said on his Truth Social network, adding that she "rightfully" wanted to help her husband with his cancer battle.
Her deputy Aaron Lukas would serve as acting Director of National Intelligence, the president added.
A former Democrat, Gabbard was a surprising choice to lead the giant US spy apparatus given her previous history of questioning intelligence and opposition to America's foreign military interventions.
As a congresswoman, Gabbard had in particular expressed opposition to going to war against Iran.
She faced questions over her 2017 meeting with now-deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and her peddling of Kremlin propaganda, particularly false conspiracy theories about the Ukraine war.
- Iraq veteran -
She was also regarded with suspicion by some over her views on US government surveillance and her backing for National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden, seen on both sides of Congress as having imperiled Americans' safety.
Trump pressed on with the appointment, but she appeared to be increasingly frozen out of decision making in recent months as he headed towards the war with Iran.
She was reportedly not in the room when Trump huddled with his top advisors in the immediate-run up to the launch of the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
After the war began, she repeatedly contradicted or failed to fully back the justifications that the Trump administration gave for launching the war.
She repeatedly declined to endorse Trump's claim that Iran posed an imminent threat -- an assessment that the administration used to justify the strikes.
Testifying to Congress, she stressed that the decision was "the responsibility of the president."
Gabbard also said US intelligence had concluded that Iran was not rebuilding nuclear enrichment capacities destroyed last year by the United States and Israel -- also used as a major justification for the war.
The Hawaii native served in Iraq with the Army National Guard. The experience informed her opposition to America's long foreign wars, as it did for Vice President JD Vance and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.
Gabbard got married in a Hindu ceremony to her Hawaii-based cinematographer husband.
They met while shooting her campaign advertisements and he proposed to her while surfing in the sunset.
Gabbard's mother, born on the US mainland, embraced Hinduism and raised her children in the tradition. Her first name Tulsi is a sacred plant in Hinduism, and she is a lifelong vegetarian.
R.al-Qadhi--BT
