Outgoing US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy has told reporters to “calm down” over fears US president-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Tulsi Gabbard as the country’s intelligence chief could compromise trust between intelligence agencies.
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 prioritising 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 and foreign allies may be reluctant to share vital information.
But Kennedy has largely dismissed the concerns until it’s known “who actually gets confirmed”.
Responding to a question from question from SBS Chief Political Correspondent Anna Henderson, who raised Democratic party allegations Gubbard is working for Russia and asked if Australia could trust the US with sensitive intelligence, Kennedy said: “Let’s just calm down and wait to see what happens”.
“There are thousands of people who work in our intelligence agencies and more closely with Australia and we have no more trusted or capable ally and that’s going to continue.
“But obviously that would be of great concern and we’ll see who actually gets confirmed.”
Gabbard diagnoses a ‘resistance to change’
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.
Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, has stirred controversy over her criticism of US President Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine, which has prompted some critics to accuse her of parroting Russian propaganda.
Tulsi Gabbard dismissed criticism of her appointment as “resistance to change” during an interview with Fox News, after being chosen as US intelligence chief by president-elect Donald Trump. Source: AAP / Evan Vucci
She also spoke out against US military intervention in the civil war in Syria under former US president Barack Obama and met in 2017 with Russian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with whom the US severed all diplomatic ties in 2012.
“Of course there’s going to be resistance to change from the ‘swamp’ in Washington,” Gabbard said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday.
She also said voters had given Trump “an incredible mandate” to move away from Biden’s agenda but offered no policy specifics.
RFK’s ‘dangerous’ vaccine views
Another subject of criticism amid Trump’s senior staff picks is Kennedy’s cousin and anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr.
He is to head the Department of Health and Human Services — the top US health agency.
But the outgoing ambassador on Monday joined a number of voices criticising him for making false medical claims, including that vaccines are linked to autism.
“I think Kennedy’s views on vaccines is dangerous — but I don’t think that most Americans share them,” she told the NPC.
“I grew up with him, so I have known all this for a long time. Others are just getting to know.”
With additional reporting by Reuters.
