Cornyn Questions DNI Nominee Tulsi Gabbard
CORNYN: ‘Do you believe that the President of the United States should get all of the lawfully collected intelligence that's available in order to inform his judgments?’
GABBARD: ‘It is the Director of National Intelligence’s responsibility to make sure that the President has access to all the intelligence so that he can make the best informed decisions for our country.”
WASHINGTON – Today during the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s hearing on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI) under the Trump administration, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed with her the importance of providing the President all lawfully collected intelligence to inform his decisions as Commander in Chief. Excerpts are below, and video can be found here.
On Providing the President with Access to Critical Information:
CORNYN: “I hope you will take to heart the Chairman’s comments about the exploding bureaucracy not only in the government generally, but in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”
“This is a critical role to be played but, unfortunately, that role is not made easier or more effective by such a large, unwieldy bureaucracy.”
“Do you believe that the President of the United States should get all of the lawfully collected intelligence that’s available in order to inform his judgments as Commander in Chief?”
GABBARD: “Senator, not only is the answer a strong yes, I would say that it is the Director of National Intelligence’s responsibility to make sure that the President has access to all the intelligence so that he can make the best informed decisions for our country.”
CORNYN: “You and I talked about the importance of getting dissenting views in front of the President so that we don’t have groupthink, which can be very dangerous, particularly in the intelligence collection areas.”
“I appreciate your agreeing that presenting the policymakers, including the President, with dissenting views is very important.”