President Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were the culmination of 15 years of intelligence work, the Pentagon said Thursday—but the absence of Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard from key moments before and after the operation has raised eyebrows.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and a vocal critic of U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, is now facing growing speculation that she is being sidelined by the administration. In her place, CIA Director John Ratcliffe—who previously held Gabbard’s current role—has taken on a more prominent public presence. Notably, Gabbard, 44, was absent from a classified intelligence briefing to Congress on Thursday, during which Ratcliffe delivered details of the weekend strike, the New York Post reported.
Gabbard was also notably absent from a high-level national security meeting at Camp David on June 8, where President Trump began shaping his strategy on Iran alongside CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. According to administration officials who spoke to Fox News, Gabbard was not invited to the gathering.
Just two days after the meeting, Gabbard released a video warning of the dangers of nuclear war—a message one source close to the administration described as “fear-mongering” and widely interpreted as a veiled criticism of the administration’s consideration of a preemptive strike, The Post added.
“That narrative played directly into the hands of those who did not support the president’s then-upcoming bold decision to obliterate Tehran’s nuclear program,” the source said. The sentiment exemplified what an administration official who told The Post this week: “She’s been wrong on the big stuff.”
Trump made headlines earlier this month when he twice split from his intelligence chief’s assessment that Iran wasn’t close to building nuclear bombs. “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” Trump said of Gabbard while aboard Air Force One on June 17.
Gabbard endorsed President Trump last year primarily on foreign policy grounds, after years of criticizing both establishment Democrats and pre-Trump Republicans for supporting regime change interventions abroad.
During her 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign, she famously sold T-shirts bearing the slogan “No War With Iran,” launching the merchandise just two days after Trump ordered the strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
Still, multiple insiders say they don’t believe Gabbard is at risk of being removed from her post. A White House official who saw her on Friday, shortly before she briefed President Trump in the Oval Office, said there were no visible signs of tension and dismissed speculation about her standing as “bogus.”
Gabbard was among the senior officials present in the Situation Room during Saturday’s high-stakes bombing mission. Internal disagreements among advisers—especially on foreign policy—are often welcomed by Trump, who values a range of perspectives within his inner circle, The Post noted.
