Americas

Americas

Tulsi Gabbard resigns as director of national intelligence

23 May 2026 08:58 (UTC +04:00)

Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump's director of national intelligence, announced Friday she is leaving the administration, Axios reports.

Gabbard wrote in her resignation letter that her departure is related to her husband's diagnosis with an "extremely rare form of bone cancer."

"At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle," she wrote. "Abraham has been my rock throughout our eleven years of marriage — standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns, and now my service in this role."

Gabbard's resignation will go into effect on June 30. Aaron Lukas, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, will take over as acting director of national intelligence, Trump said in a Truth Social post.

It has been revealed that Tulsi Gabbard, who announced that she would resign from the post of U.S. Director of National Intelligence, had a behind-the-scenes conflict with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, led by Gabbard, had been in a secret confrontation with the CIA for several months, and the situation came into the open during hearings held at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“The Washington Post” writes that serious tensions are being observed between the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence during Donald Trump’s current presidential term, and that Gabbard’s resignation could strengthen the position of CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

Speaking at the Senate committee on May 13, CIA employee James Erdman said that he had worked for one year in a task force called the “Director's Initiative Group” (DIG), created by Gabbard. The group was engaged in investigating high-profile cases, disclosing documents and identifying possible sabotage attempts against the administration’s policy.

Erdman stated in his written testimony that the CIA obstructed legal oversight of the DIG group’s activities and pressured group members by launching unfounded investigations against them.

According to him, the CIA concealed documents and information both from the task force and from Tulsi Gabbard, restricting their access to them.

In addition, Erdman said that the CIA monitored the communications and computer activity of DIG members.