Trump’s Intelligence Pick Backs Cybersecurity, Tech Accountability

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, president-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the director of national intelligence, has previously supported strengthening federal cybersecurity amid the rise of artificial intelligence and has voiced concerns about government’s tech and data practices.

Gabbard was a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee during the notable 2015 Office of Personnel Management hack that compromised the data of more than 20 million Americans.

“We really need to look here at the larger issue of the serious vulnerabilities that we have within our cybersecurity systems here in the United States,” Gabbard said in a 2015 interview. “We also need to recognize where else these threats are coming from. We have seen recent attacks coming from Russia, from North Korea from Iran and even reports recently that ISIS themselves are creating their own team of hacking jihadists.”

Gabbard had questioned the Pentagon’s role in cyber threats back in 2016 at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

“This is something that we’re going to have to continue to discuss … the differences of whether a state or non-state actor were to come and launch a traditional type of military attack on critical infrastructure versus a cyber attack,” said Gabbard during the hearing. “How the DOD is involved or not in those situations, given the types of attacks that we are already seeing from both state and non-state actors in this cyber world — having clearly defined roles and responsibilities between DOD and [Homeland Security].”

A veteran, Gabbard deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 as a major in the Hawaii National Guard. Gabbard then served in Congress as Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District representative from 2013 to 2021. In 2019, Gabbard had voiced her stance artificial intelligence.

“I’m very concerned about artificial intelligence and how this technology is evolving,” she told Joe Rogan in 2019 during her 2020 campaign for president. “Leaders in the global community need to recognize that … once you start on this race, there are no winners … This is something that could potentially, in the wrong hands, endanger all of us and [global leaders need to] find the best approach to deal with that.”

She would be the second woman permanent director of national intelligence, the first of which was Avril Haines sworn in under the Biden administration in 2021.

She noted concerns for how technology is used in intelligence gathering and for collecting data in her 2024 book, For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind. This perspective from someone in this type of leadership position could have a positive impact on policy development, MIT Emeritus Professor of Public Policy Harvey Sapolsky told GovCIO Media & Research.

“A person in that position should have some skepticism because intelligent assessments have often been wrong and confusing,” Sapolsky added. “A wise president doesn’t rely on one filter or assembler of information.”