Tulsi Gabbard will bring sunlight to a rotten system

First, a disclaimer: Tulsi and I are good friends. Despite our political differences, we’ve forged a deep bond over the years. 

At our first lunch together, we got kicked out of the restaurant because we couldn’t stop talking. Today, I’m proud that she and her husband Abraham are godparents to my eldest daughter, Liberty.

It’s because I know Tulsi so well that I understand why she would make an excellent director of national intelligence. Americans have understandably lost trust in our intelligence services. In choosing Lieutenant Colonel Gabbard, President Trump has picked a highly-qualified, reform-minded leader who can regain that trust.

The fact that her nomination has engendered such blowback in the media, driven and organized by the failed leadership class of past administrations, is a sign of how much they fear her. They dread what she represents: sunlight and transparency, a bright light confronting a dark, rotten system ridden rife with liars and frauds.

The intelligence services of the United States of America ought to be focused on serving our national interest. They ought to be focused on understanding the movements and intentions of the nation’s foes, anticipating dangers before they emerge and giving the commander-in-chief the information needed to stop those who would harm us. That is the reason they exist.

Instead, in recent years, our intelligence services — the same people who swore to uphold the Constitution and defend us against dangerous threats — have time and again turned on the American people.

They have met the enemy, and it is you and me. They have spied on Americans, trumped-up charges against their fellow citizens and pursued their political critics without regard to the law. 

They looked at the tattoos of brave military warriors and scenes of parents protesting against lockdowns at school boards and, with the help of the same journalists today criticizing Gabbard, pretended that these patriotic citizens represented a threat to the country. It is precisely this anti-American mindset which Gabbard is well-placed to dismantle.  

It’s true that her unorthodox foreign-policy views alarm some right-thinking people. Bari Weiss, the admirable founder of the Free Press, once called her a “toady,” principally because Gabbard had met President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Knowing Tulsi as I do, I can say with certainty that she is no such thing.

She is a patriot. She is a woman of faith, strong and courageous, deeply patriotic, with a passionate love for America and those who serve. 

As a conservative woman in the public eye, I’m all too familiar with the double standards we face. Tulsi Gabbard is experiencing what happens when accomplished women who don’t fit the liberal mold stand up for what they believe. 

Much of the criticism directed at Gabbard today is not just unfair – it is tinged with a combination of paranoia and sexism, emanating from decrepit voices. It’s the same figures who President Trump stripped of their national security clearances after their repeated public lies to the American people.

If she were a Democrat, or, heaven forbid, a man of either party, we wouldn’t be hearing these ridiculous questions about her qualifications. 

As a former member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, Gabbard’s credentials aren’t just politically impressive: she would be the first female director of national intelligence to have served in the military. 

Similar to many in my generation, she enlisted after 9/11 out of a sense of duty — she graduated top of her class in officer school, the first woman to do so, and served three times to multiple war zones. She knows the threats we face.

Unlike many of her critics, Tulsi Gabbard actually put her life on the line for our country for more than two decades. 

She knows the importance of America’s role in the world, the consequences of how we the use of our power, and what can happen when wrong bad decisions are made at the top, even with the best intent.

When she was a rising star in the Democratic Party, the media couldn’t get enough of her. But the moment it became clear that she was a woman who thinks for herself, challenging the ruling class for their failures and hypocrisy, the knives came out.

The media tends to treat conservative women as either ditzy airheads or cold-hearted villains. There’s no in-between, no nuance. 

The anonymous sources within the intelligence establishment and their allies in the media are clearly terrified of an independent-thinking woman who bucks the establishment.

We need to call out their hypocrisy whenever we see it. Women like Tulsi Gabbard, who have served our country with distinction, deserve respect and fair treatment, regardless of their political affiliation.

When people talk about breaking glass ceilings and empowering women, surely that should include all women, not just those who toe the liberal line? 

I support Tulsi Gabbard’s swift confirmation as our next director of national intelligence not because she is a woman, but because she deserves the job. Because she is a patriot who understands the burden of leadership, and chooses to carry it even so. I therefore hope that she is confirmed in the coming days.