Tulsi Gabbard, a former US representative with little intelligence experience, was confirmed as the top US spy on Wednesday, as Republicans lined up behind a nominee once seen as among President Donald Trump's most controversial picks.
The Senate voted 52 to 48, mostly along party lines, to confirm Gabbard to the position overseeing the 18-agency intelligence community and acting as Trump's top adviser on intelligence issues.
The vote was another victory for Trump as he pushes to secure quick Senate approval for all of his nominees for administration positions.
The Senate's Republican majority leader, John Thune, scheduled a procedural vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also faced fierce opposition to his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services, immediately after the Gabbard confirmation vote.
Gabbard, a 43-year-old former Democrat, had faced bipartisan questions about past statements seen as supporting US adversaries, and lack of experience. Gabbard neither worked at a spy agency nor served on an intelligence committee during her four House of Representatives terms.
She will now oversee an agency created by Congress in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate the country's sprawling intelligence apparatus, one of the most important national security positions in US government.
"The selection of a DNI is a very big deal," said Emily Harding, director of the Intelligence, National Security and Technology Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noting the DNI's broad access to classified material and role as the president's main intelligence adviser.
Russia, Syria, and Snowden
Trump's announcement of Gabbard in November sent shockwaves through the national security establishment, adding to concerns that intelligence-gathering would be politicized, and weakened, during a second Trump administration.
Skeptics questioned Gabbard's past statements seen as sympathetic toward Russia's invasion of Ukraine and defense of the government of former Syria leader Bashar al-Assad, whom she visited in Syria in 2017 while he was under US sanction.
At her hearing, Gabbard faced particularly pointed questioning from senators from both parties about her past defense of former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked thousands of highly classified documents and then sought asylum in Russia.
Some were noticeably frustrated at her refusal to call Snowden a traitor.
Republicans who expressed concerns faced an intense political pressure campaign, from Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who threatened to support primary opponents of any Republican who obstructed nominees.
Senator Todd Young, an intelligence committee member who did not immediately back Gabbard, issued a statement supporting her before the panel's party-line 9-8 vote to recommend the nominee to the full Senate.
A former Marine Corps intelligence officer criticized by Musk before he endorsed Gabbard, Young said Gabbard had reassured him that she would support intelligence professionals and provide unbiased information.
Gabbard's supporters also praised her pledges to pare back the DNI's office, at a time when Trump's administration is slashing and even seeking to close government agencies.
Past DNI nominees have been intelligence veterans confirmed with broad bipartisan support. Daniel Coats, a former ambassador and Republican senator who served on the intelligence committee, was confirmed by 85-12 in 2017, as Trump began his first term.
The DNI under former President Joe Biden, Avril Haines, had held a series of major national security positions, including deputy director of the CIA. She was confirmed by 84-10.
Harding said Gabbard will need to reassure allies that they can trust Washington as Trump pursues an aggressive foreign policy, and be cautious about making cuts amid myriad global challenges.
"The person that is going to be doing it needs to be someone that he (Trump) trusts and somebody that he'll listen to," Harding said.
Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. She backed Trump and joined the Republican Party in 2024.