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Spy world vexed by Trump choice of Gabbard as US intelligence chief

Spy world vexed by Trump choice of Gabbard as US intelligence chief
Former US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard attends a campaign rally of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 4, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 15 November 2024

Spy world vexed by Trump choice of Gabbard as US intelligence chief

Spy world vexed by Trump choice of Gabbard as US intelligence chief
  • Intelligence officials worry about Gabbard’s views on Syria, Russia
  • Western security source warns of slower intelligence sharing

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Tulsi Gabbard as US intelligence chief has sent shockwaves through the national security establishment, adding to concerns that the sprawling intelligence community will become increasingly politicized.
Trump’s nomination of Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who lacks deep intelligence experience and is seen as soft on Russia and Syria, is among several high-level picks that suggest he may be prioritizing personal allegiance over competence as he assembles his second-term team.
Among the risks, say current and former intelligence officials and independent experts, are that top advisers could feed the incoming Republican president a distorted view of global threats based on what they believe will please him and that foreign allies may be reluctant to share vital information.
Randal Phillips, a former CIA operations directorate official who worked as the agency’s top representative in China, said that with Trump loyalists in top government posts, “this could become the avenue of choice for some really questionable actions” by the leadership of the intelligence community.
A Western security source said there could be an initial slowdown in intelligence sharing when Trump takes office in January that could potentially impact the “Five Eyes,” an intelligence alliance comprising the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The worry from US allies is that Trump’s appointments all lean in the “wrong direction”, the source said.
Trump’s presidential transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Inside and outside the US intelligence network, much of the anxiety focuses on Trump’s choice of Gabbard, 43, as director of national intelligence, especially given her views seen as sympathetic to Russia in its war against Ukraine.
While Trump has made some conventional personnel decisions such as that of Senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state, Wednesday’s announcement of Gabbard, an officer in the US Army Reserves, surprised even some Republican insiders. She is likely to face tough questioning in her Senate confirmation hearings.
Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, has stirred controversy over her criticism of President Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine, which has prompted some critics to accuse her of parroting Kremlin propaganda.
She also spoke out against US military intervention in the civil war in Syria under former President Barack Obama and met in 2017 with Moscow-backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, with whom Washington severed all diplomatic ties in 2012.
The selection of Gabbard has raised alarm in the ranks of intelligence officers unsure of how tightly she holds some of her geopolitical views, whether she is misinformed or simply echoing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” followers, one intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.
“Of course there’s going to be resistance to change from the ‘swamp’ in Washington,” Gabbard said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday night. She said voters had given Trump “an incredible mandate” to move away from Biden’s agenda but offered no policy specifics.

Allies attentive
A senior European intelligence official said agencies in European Union countries “will be pragmatic and ready to adapt to the changes.” “No panic in the air for now,” the official added.
A European defense official described Gabbard as “firmly” in the Russia camp.
“But we have to deal with what we have. We will be attentive,” the official said.
Some analysts said concerns about Gabbard could be tempered by Trump’s choice to head the CIA: John Ratcliffe, a former congressman who served as director of national intelligence at the end of Trump’s first term.
Though close to Trump and expected to offer little pushback against his policies, Ratcliffe is not seen as an incendiary figure and could act as a counterbalance to Gabbard in his post atop the No. 1 spy agency among the 18 that she would oversee.
But some analysts said that by attempting to install Gabbard with other controversial loyalists, including congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Fox commentator and military veteran Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, Trump is showing he wants no guardrails to his efforts to remake federal institutions.
Democratic critics were quick to pounce not only on Gabbard’s views but what they see as her lack of qualifications and the potential the new administration could deploy intelligence for political ends.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks to fix what was seen as a lack of coordination between those organizations.
“She isn’t being put in this job to do the job or to be good at it. She’s being put there to serve Donald Trump’s interests,” US Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told CNN on Thursday.

Support for isolationist policies
After leaving the Democratic Party, Gabbard became increasingly critical of Biden and grew popular among conservatives, often appearing on far-right TV and radio shows, where she became known for supporting isolationist policies and showing disdain for “wokeness.”
Shortly after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Gabbard wrote in a social media post: “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.”
Rubio, a former Trump rival turned supporter, defended Gabbard’s nomination, describing her as a “revolutionary pick that has a chance to really make a positive change.”
But some other Republicans were more non-committal.
Asked about Gabbard’s qualifications, Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said: “We’re going to do our job, vet the nominees and make a decision. That’s a constitutional responsibility of the Senate.”
To become director of national intelligence, Gabbard must first be confirmed by a majority of the 100-member US Senate, where she could face headwinds.
Trump’s fellow Republicans will have at least a 52-48 seat majority in the chamber starting in January, and have in the past been eager to back the party leader, increasing the likelihood that she will secure the post.
“Our friends are watching as closely as our foes, and they are asking what this all means for the pre-eminent player in global intelligence collection and analysis,” said one former US intelligence officer who worked in some of the world’s hotspots.


Lyle Menendez denied parole after 35 years in prison for parents’ shotgun murders

Lyle Menendez denied parole after 35 years in prison for parents’ shotgun murders
Updated 10 sec ago

Lyle Menendez denied parole after 35 years in prison for parents’ shotgun murders

Lyle Menendez denied parole after 35 years in prison for parents’ shotgun murders
  • Ruling announced by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
  • His younger brother Erik was likewise denied parole following a similar 10-hour session on Thursday
LOS ANGELES: Lyle Menendez, imprisoned 35 years with his brother Erik for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents at their Beverly Hills home, was denied parole on Friday, a day after the same decision was rendered against his younger sibling.
The ruling was announced by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the parent agency of the state Board of Parole Hearings, at the end of an 11-hour-plus proceeding.
Parole commissioners assigned to the case concluded there were still signs that Menendez, 57, would pose a risk to the public if released from custody, according to details of the hearing provided to news outlets, including Reuters, through a media pool reporter.
Menendez, dressed in blue prison garb, appeared by video from a San Diego lockup where he is currently incarcerated.
His younger brother, Erik Menendez, 54, was likewise denied parole following a similar 10-hour session on Thursday. The two siblings may apply for parole again in three years.

Seoul says fired warning shots after North Korean troops crossed border

Seoul says fired warning shots after North Korean troops crossed border
Updated 9 min 19 sec ago

Seoul says fired warning shots after North Korean troops crossed border

Seoul says fired warning shots after North Korean troops crossed border
  • South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff calls event a ‘premeditated and deliberate provocation’
  • The last border confrontation between the arch-rivals was in early April

SEOUL: South Korea fired warning shots at North Korean soldiers that briefly crossed the heavily fortified border earlier this week, Seoul said Saturday after Pyongyang accused it of risking “uncontrollable” tensions.
South Korea’s new leader Lee Jae Myung has sought warmer ties with the nuclear-armed North and vowed to build “military trust,” but Pyongyang has said it has no interest in improving relations with Seoul.
Seoul’s military said several North Korean soldiers crossed the border Tuesday while working in the heavily mined Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.
The incursion prompted “our military to fire warning shots,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, adding “the North Korean soldiers then moved north” of the de facto border.
Pyongyang’s state media said earlier Saturday that the incident occurred as North Korean soldiers worked to permanently seal the frontier dividing the peninsula, citing a statement by Army Lt. Gen. Ko Jong Chol.
Calling the event a “premeditated and deliberate provocation,” Ko said Seoul’s military used a machine gun to fire more than 10 warning shots toward the North’s troops, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
“This is a very serious prelude that would inevitably drive the situation in the southern border area where a huge number of forces are stationing in confrontation with each other to the uncontrollable phase,” Ko said.
The last border confrontation between the arch-rivals was in early April when South Korea’s military fired warning shots after around 10 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the frontier.
North Korea’s military announced last October it was moving to totally shut off the southern border, saying it had sent a message to US forces to “prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict.”
Shortly after, it blew up sections of the unused but deeply symbolic roads and railroad tracks that connect the North to the South.
Ko warned that North Korea’s army would retaliate against any interference with its efforts to permanently seal the border.
“If the act of restraining or obstructing the project unrelated to the military character persists, our army will regard it as deliberate military provocation and take corresponding countermeasure,” he said.
Under Lee’s more hawkish predecessor, relations between the two Koreas had sunk to one of their lowest points in years.
After Lee’s election in June, he pledged to pursue dialogue with the nuclear-armed North without preconditions, saying last week his government “will take consistent measures to substantially reduce tensions and restore trust.”
Even so, South Korea and the United States began annual joint exercises on Monday aimed at preparing for potential threats from the North.
Lee described the drills as “defensive” and said they were “not intended to heighten tensions.”
North Korea – which attacked its neighbor in 1950, triggering the Korean War – has long been infuriated by such exercises between the US and the South, decrying them as rehearsals for invasion.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Pyongyang was again accusing Seoul of pursuing a “dual approach” with its latest outburst – calling for dialogue while in its view raising military tensions.
Pyongyang’s leader Kim called earlier this week for the “rapid expansion” of the North’s nuclear weapons capability, citing the ongoing US-South Korean military exercises that he claimed could “ignite a war.”
His powerful sister has since said Seoul “cannot be a diplomatic partner” of the North, and that Lee “is not the sort of man who will change the course of history.”


Judge blocks Trump from cutting funding from 34 cities and counties over ‘sanctuary’ policies

Judge blocks Trump from cutting funding from 34 cities and counties over ‘sanctuary’ policies
Updated 53 min 9 sec ago

Judge blocks Trump from cutting funding from 34 cities and counties over ‘sanctuary’ policies

Judge blocks Trump from cutting funding from 34 cities and counties over ‘sanctuary’ policies
  • The Trump administration has been trying to remove millions of people in the country illegally
  • District Judge William Orrick said Trump's “executive actions” were an unconstitutional “coercive threat”

A judge ruled late Friday the Trump administration cannot deny funding to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and 30 other cities and counties because of policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration efforts.
US District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco extended a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from cutting off or conditioning the use of federal funds for so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions. His earlier order protected more than a dozen other cities and counties, including San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
An email to the White House late Friday was not immediately returned. In his ruling, Orrick said the administration had offered no opposition to an extended injunction except to say the first injunction was wrong. It has appealed the first order.
Orrick also blocked the administration from imposing immigration-related conditions on two particular grant programs.
The Trump administration has ratcheted up pressure on sanctuary communities as it seeks to make good on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to remove millions of people in the country illegally.
One executive order issued by Trump directs Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold federal money from sanctuary jurisdictions. Another order directs every federal agency to ensure that payments to state and local governments do not “abet so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.”
The cities and counties that sued said billions of dollars were at risk.
Orrick, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, said the executive orders and the “executive actions that have parroted them” were an unconstitutional “coercive threat.”
In May, the Department of Homeland Security published a list of more than 500 “sanctuary jurisdictions,” saying each one would receive formal notification that the government had deemed them noncompliant. It also said it would inform them if they were believed to be in violation of any federal criminal statutes.
The list was later removed from the department’s website after critics noted it included localities that have actively supported the administration’s tough immigration policies.
The Justice Department has also sued New York, Los Angeles and other cities over their sanctuary policies.
There is no strict definition for sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe places that limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces immigration laws nationwide but seeks help from state and local authorities to identify immigrants wanted for deportation and hold them for federal officers.


Trump turns $11.1 billion in US government funds into a 10 percent stake in downtrodden Intel

Trump turns $11.1 billion in US government funds into a 10 percent stake in downtrodden Intel
Updated 23 August 2025

Trump turns $11.1 billion in US government funds into a 10 percent stake in downtrodden Intel

Trump turns $11.1 billion in US government funds into a 10 percent stake in downtrodden Intel
  • US govt getting the stake through the conversion of $11.1 billion in previously issued funds and pledges, making a gain of $1.9 billion, on paper
  • Remarkable turn of events comes at a time that the chipmaker is in the process of laying off more than 20,000 workers in bid to bounce back from years of missteps

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday announced the US government has secured a 10 percent stake in struggling Silicon Valley pioneer Intel in a deal that was completed just a couple weeks after he was depicting the company’s CEO as a conflicted leader unfit for the job.
“The United States of America now fully owns and controls 10 percent of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future,” Trump wrote in a post.
The US government is getting the stake through the conversion of $11.1 billion in previously issued funds and pledges. All told, the government is getting 433.3 million shares of non-voting stock priced at $20.47 apiece — a discount from Friday’s closing price at $24.80. That spread means the US government already has a gain of $1.9 billion, on paper.
The remarkable turn of events makes the US government one of Intel’s largest shareholders at a time that the Santa Clara, California, company is in the process of jettisoning more than 20,000 workers as part of its latest attempt to bounce back from years of missteps taken under a variety of CEOs.
Intel’s current CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, has only been on the job for slightly more than five months, and earlier this month, it looked like he might be on shaky ground already after some lawmakers raised national security concerns about his past investments in Chinese companies while he was a venture capitalist. Trump latched on to those concerns in an August 7 post demanding that Tan resign.
But Trump backed off after the Malaysian-born Tan professed his allegiance to the US in a public letter to Intel employees and went to the White House to meet with the president, leading to a deal that now has the US government betting that the company is on the comeback trail after losing more than $22 billion since the end of 2023. Trump hailed Tan as “highly respected” CEO in his Friday post.
In a statement, Tan applauded Trump for “driving historic investments in a vital industry” and resolved to reward his faith in Intel. “We are grateful for the confidence the President and the Administration have placed in Intel, and we look forward to working to advance US technology and manufacturing leadership,” Tan said.
Intel’s current stock price is just slightly above where it was when Tan was hired in March and more than 60 percent below its peak of about $75 reached 25 years ago when its chips were still dominating the personal computer boom before being undercut by a shift to smartphones a few years later. The company’s market value currently stands at about $108 billion — a fraction of the current chip kingpin, Nvidia, which is valued at $4.3 trillion.
The stake is coming primarily through US government grants to Intel through the CHIPS and Science Act that was started under President Joe Biden’s administration as a way to foster more domestic manufacturing of computer chips to lessen the dependence on overseas factories.
But the Trump administration, which has regularly pilloried the policies of the Biden administration, saw the CHIPs act as a needless giveaway and is now hoping to make a profit off the funding that had been pledged to Intel.
“We think America should get the benefit of the bargain,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said earlier this week. “It’s obvious that it’s the right move to make.”
About $7.8 billion had been been pledged to Intel under the incentives program, but only $2.2 billion had been funded so far. Another $3.2 billion of the government investment is coming through the funds from another program called “Secure Enclave.”
Although US government can’t vote with its shares and won’t have a seat on Intel’s board of directors, critics of the deal view it as a troubling cross-pollination between the public and private sectors that could hurt the tech industry in a variety of ways.
For instance, more tech companies may feel pressured to buy potentially inferior chips from Intel to curry favor with Trump at a time that he is already waging a trade war that threatens to affect their products in a potential scenario cited by Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics for the Cato Institute.
“Overall, it’s a horrendous move that will have real harms for US companies, US tech leadership, and the US economy overall,” Lincicome posted Friday.
The 10 percent stake could also intensify the pressure already facing Tan, especially if Trump starts fixating on Intel’s stock price while resorting to his penchant for celebrating his past successes in business.
Nancy Tengler, CEO of money manager Laffer Tengler Investments, is among the investors who abandoned Intel years ago because of all the challenges facing Intel.
“I don’t see the benefit to the American taxpayer, nor do I see the benefit, necessarily to the chip industry,” Tengler said while also raising worries about Trump meddling in Intel’s business.
“I don’t care how good of businessman you are, give it to the private sector and let people like me be the critic and let the government get to the business of government.,” Tengler said.
Although rare, it’s not unprecedented for the US government to become a significant shareholder in a prominent company. One of the most notable instances occurred during the Great Recession in 2008 when the government injected nearly $50 billion into General Motors in return for a roughly 60 percent stake in the automaker at a time it was on the verge of bankruptcy. The government ended up with a roughly $10 billion loss after it sold its stock in GM.
The US government’s stake in Intel coincides with Trump’s push to bring production to the US, which has been a focal point of the trade war that he has been waging throughout the world. By lessening the country’s dependence on chips manufactured overseas, the president believes the US will be better positioned to maintain its technological lead on China in the race to create artificial intelligence.
Even before gaining the 10 percent stake in Intel, Trump had been leveraging his power to reprogram the operations of major computer chip companies. The administration is requiring Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, two companies whose chips are powering the AI craze, to pay a 15 percent commission on their sales of chips in China in exchange for export licenses.
 


Gambian man sentenced to more than 67 years after US conviction for torture

Gambian man sentenced to more than 67 years after US conviction for torture
Updated 23 August 2025

Gambian man sentenced to more than 67 years after US conviction for torture

Gambian man sentenced to more than 67 years after US conviction for torture
  • Michael Sang Correa, a member of former Gambian dictator Jammeh’s death squad, was convicted by US jury in April
  • Rights groups say Jammeh carried out brutalities against critics and political dissenters

A Gambian man who was part of an armed unit run by former dictator Yahya Jammeh and was convicted of torture by a US jury in April has been sentenced to more than 67 years in prison, the US Justice Department said on Friday.
A Colorado jury convicted the Gambian national, Michael Sang Correa, for his participation in the torture of numerous victims in Gambia in 2006, including beating and flesh burning, because of the victims’ purported involvement in a coup plot against the then-president, the Justice Department said.
Correa, 46, was sentenced to 810 months in prison by Senior Judge Christine Arguello for the District of Colorado after conviction on one count of conspiracy to commit torture and five counts of torture, the department said in a statement.
The case marked the first criminal prosecution over involvement in the feared armed group known as “the Junglers,” which operated in Gambia’s police state during Jammeh’s rule. The former president seized power in 1994 and foiled several attempts to overthrow him before he lost a 2016 election.
Correa was arrested in 2020 under a law which makes it a crime for anyone in the US to commit torture abroad.
Jammeh denied torture during his rule.
The Junglers were a secretive offshoot of the Gambian army that took orders from Jammeh. Rights groups and former victims say they carried out brutalities that worsened after a failed coup in 2006.
Suspected coup plotters and other outspoken opponents of Jammeh were taken to the National Intelligence Agency near one of the capital Banjul’s white sand beaches, according to victims.
Some found themselves in a torture chamber where they were subjected to electric shocks, beatings and burning with acid, they said. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Edmund Klamann)