US allies alarmed by Trump's nomination of pro-Russia Tulsi Gabbard as intelligence chief: Reports

US President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence has alarmed US allies in Europe, according to reports.

Gabbard has long been supportive of Russia and critical of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Well before Russia invaded Ukraine, she was parroting Russian propaganda against Ukraine and the West.

With pro-Russia Gabbard overseeing 18 US intelligence agencies, a Western security source told Reuters that allies could initially slow sharing intelligence with the United States.

Such a slowdown of intelligence-sharing could impact the working of ‘Five Eyes’, the intelligence-sharing grouping of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Regarding Gabbard’s position, the source said that Trump’s appointments all lean in the “wrong direction” compared to that of allies.

Separately, Justin Crump, a geopolitical risk expert, told The Telegraph that the Five Eyes relationship will be jeopardised by “unpredictable and adversarial” relationship with the United States.

“Five Eyes countries have to trust each other, which will be jeopardised by unpredictable and adversarial leadership in the largest player. Most will just dig in and get on with the urgent job, but I suspect there may be a period of a lot more uncertainty over quite how much should be shared,” said Crump.

Trump has been friendly with Russia and has fawned over Russian ruler Vladimir Putin for years. He and his allies in the American far-right have criticised Ukraine and its leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy instead of holding Russia accountable for plunging Europe into the worst security crisis since World War II. On the contrary, Trump has said that he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” with allies if they don’t do his bidding.

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Such a stand of Trump along with pro-Russia top officials like Gabbard are bound to raise alarms among European allies.

Europe will be pragmatic, says intelligence official

A senior European intelligence official told Reuters that European Union (EU) members “will be pragmatic and ready to adapt to the changes” that Gabbard’s appointment would bring.

A second official from European defence establishment described Gabbard to the agency as being “firmly” in the Russian camp.

“But we have to deal with what we have. We will be attentive,” said this official.

Gabbard may destabilise special US-UK alliance, say British experts

Gabbard’s pro-Russia stand is in sharp contrast with the United Kingdom, the closest US ally in Europe which is firmly standing up to the Russian challenge.

The likes of Gabbard may compromise the special relationship as such a figure may affect the trust in intelligence gathering, suggested Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former NATO commander, to The Telegraph.

“The greatest strength perhaps of the special relationship is the sharing of intelligence” but Gabbard’s appointment “who seems closer to Moscow than London, has the potential to destabilise this unique and critical alliance”, said Bretton-Gordon.

Bretton-Gordon further told the newspaper that Gabbard’s appointment could embolden Putin.

“In these really challenging times where margins are fine, any hint that the US senior security minister is anything other than completely USA or pro-NATO could give Putin the chink of light that he needs to be bolder in his actions against Ukraine in the knowledge that the new administration might not be so proactive in preventing his war crimes,” said Bretton-Gordon.

Tulsi Gabbard’s friendly behaviour with Russia & its allies

Gabbard was a Democrat Congresswoman from Hawaii for eight years until 2021. After a failed bid to secure the party’s presidential nominee, she took a sharp rightward turn and quit the party in 2022. She embraced Trump’s far-right platform and formally joined the Republican Party last month in the last leg of the election campaign.

Gabbard has parroted Russian talking points in recent years. The day Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard wrote on X that the Biden administration and NATO were responsible for the war as there would have been no war if they would have accepted Russia’s assertions.

“This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border (sic),” said Gabbard.

Gabbard has also been friendly with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, whom he met at the height of the Syrian Civil War. She has also been a denier of Assad’s usage of chemical weapons on Syrians. As a Congresswoman, she once introduced a bill to limit US activities in Syria.

Gabbard has also parroted other demands of Russia, such as Ukraine not joining NATO or EU. At a time when Russia was bombing Ukraine indiscriminately, Gabbard said that there were US-funded biolabs in Ukraine which would “release & spread deadly pathogens to US/world (sic)”.

“We must take action now to prevent disaster. US/Russia/Ukraine/NATO/UN/EU must implement a ceasefire now around these labs until they’re secured & pathogens destroyed,” said Gabbard.

At a time when Russia unilaterally attacked Ukraine, Gabbard went on to urge the United States, Ukraine, NATO, UN, and EU for a ceasefire and. Gabbard further said that Biden administration would be responsible the war in Ukraine.

“Biden can very easily prevent a war with Russia by guaranteeing that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO. It is not in our national security interests for Ukraine to become a member of NATO anyway, so why not give Russia that assurance? Is it because the warmongers actually WANT Russia to invade? So that we can levy draconian sanctions on Russia and firmly establish a new Cold War which will reap the Military Industrial Complex endless profit for decades to come? (sic)” said Gabbard on X.