Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs The world today is a very dangerous place. President Donald Trump will take office on January 20, 2025 with major wars being fought in Europe and the Middle East, Communist China threatening Taiwan and the Philippines, a wide-open Southern border and, as the ISIS-inspired attack in New Orleans showed, Jihadi terrorism again on the rise.Fortunately, President Trump has the resolve and experience to handle these challenges.President Trump has assembled a very strong national security team to back him up. The names Rubio, Hegseth, Ratcliffe, Gabbard, Bondi, Patel, Stefanik and Bessent are already giving our allies comfort and sowing fear in adversary capitals.When President Biden took office four years ago, Republicans showed bipartisan cooperation by confirming his full cabinet. Now it’s time for Democrats to extend the same courtesy and respect the democratic process by confirming President-elect Trump’s national security nominees by Day One.The president will receive the Oval Intelligence Brief on his first day back in the White House. The official responsible for preparing the briefing and sitting with the president in this key meeting, which will occur several times a week for four years, is the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). It is thus very important that a strong relationship of trust exist between the president and the DNI. President Trump has made a bold nomination for director in whom he possesses a high degree of confidence: Tulsi Gabbard.
President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with former Representative Tulsi Gabbard after she endorsed him.
President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with former Representative Tulsi Gabbard after she endorsed him.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
Gabbard brings over two decades of military service to the table. Her experience as a combat veteran in the Middle East has given her firsthand knowledge of the importance of accurate intelligence. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and Battalion Commander, Gabbard has demonstrated leadership skills that will be invaluable in her role as DNI. Her patriotism, honor, and selflessness are evident in her long record of military service to our nation.Gabbard also has an open mind and the curiosity necessary to evaluate complex and, often, contradictory reports that are commonplace in the Intel World. Her path from congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate to supporting President Trump demonstrates her ability to put country above party and ideology when the facts require courageous action.This is exactly the approach we need in leaders of our intelligence community.
In my hours of meetings with Gabbard since her nomination, it is clear why the president selected her to serve as DNI. She listens, she asks questions that go to the heart of the matter being discussed and she is concise and eloquent in sharing her views. She is also unafraid of the IC bureaucracy that she will have to reform and bring into the 21st Century by rooting out partisanship and introducing new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and quantum computing into both intelligence collection and analysis.Notwithstanding the perilous state of the globe, I am certain that under President Trump’s leadership, the United States will enjoy unprecedented prosperity and safety in the coming four years and beyond.The American people have spoken. It is now the Senate’s responsibility to confirm the president’s national security team, including Gabbard as DNI, with dispatch.Robert C. O’Brien served as the 27th US National Security Advisor from 2019-2021.The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
