Hoosier Senators Support Tulsi Gabbard for DNI

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump nominated Hawaiian politician Tulsi Gabbard to be the nation’s next Director of National Intelligence, and your Hoosier senators support this choice.

Senators Todd Young and Jim Banks spoke with WIBC’s Tony Katz Wednesday, where both indicated that they believe Gabbard will be a good fit for this role.

Banks said she “is going to provide accountability and a great deal of credibility to make the Intelligence Committee more transparent and less political.” Young noted that he believes she will apply the law as it is written, instead of pursuing her own interests.

Source: The Washington Post / Getty

But, the senior senator took a bit of convincing.

He explained that he had concerns about the nominee, in regard to “a bill she introduced while she was in the U.S. House that would have pardoned [Edward] Snowden…known by some…to be the leading whistleblower in American history…known by others…a traitor.”

And, while Banks supported Gabbard in his discussion with Tony Katz, he also expressed his belief that the National Intelligence Department should not exist at all.

“I question whether or not we should even have a DNI,” he said. “It’s become a large blob of bureaucracy that I don’t know that we even need.”

In the meantime, though, he thinks Gabbard is “going to clean it up.” The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced her nomination Tuesday.