IIn 2018, a Syrian rebel codenamed Caesar spoke out before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the torture and summary executions that characterized Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on rebels during Syria’s civil war. He was scheduled to testify.
This was not the first time Mr. Caesar had come to Washington. A former military photographer who smuggled 55,000 photos and other evidence of life out of Assad’s brutal detention facilities years ago urged US lawmakers to pass tough sanctions as punishment for Assad’s network. He was campaigning anonymously to persuade them. his reign of terror.
But before that hearing, committee staff, activists, and Caesar himself suddenly became nervous. Was it safe to testify in front of Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who had traveled to Damascus for her exactly one year earlier? Will he meet with President Assad of his own free will?
They asked if she could record Caesar’s voice or send a photo of the secret witness back to the same contact who mediated the meeting with the Syrian president.
“Democrats in her own party, and Republicans, and we and Caesar had genuine concerns about how she was going to do this.” Her 2015 trip to Syria with Gabbard “We believe that the members of this committee will provide all the information that she has to Russia’s Assad,” said Mouaz Mustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, an activist group. And Iran, all of which would have wanted to kill Caesar. ”
Mustafa said that during a visit to Congress in 2015, Gabbard asked three Syrian girls whether the airstrike that nearly killed her was carried out by ISIS, not Assad. I remembered. The only problem? IIS had no air force.
Photos from the 2018 press conference showed a heavily disguised Caesar sitting in a hoodie and mask testifying before a House committee.
“I often disguise myself (as a witness),” said Mustafa, who worked closely with Caesar and acted as his translator. “But that day I was especially wary of Tulsi.”
There is no evidence that Gabbard sought to pass information about the Syrian whistleblower to Damascus or any other country, nor is there any evidence that she has any documented ties to other intelligence agencies.
But Gabbard has long been seen as a danger in Washington’s foreign policy circles and within the close-knit intelligence community. Some worry that she leans toward conspiracy theories and appears to be cozying up to dictators. Others, including former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, went further, calling her a “Russian asset.”
Those concerns have been heightened by Gabbard’s nomination to the post of director of national intelligence under President Donald Trump. The post is a senior cabinet-level position with access to classified materials across the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies, shaping that information for the president’s daily briefings. This role will allow her to access and declassify information at her discretion and will direct intelligence sharing with U.S. allies around the world.
“There are real concerns about her contacts (in Syria) and that she doesn’t share the same sympathies and values as the intelligence community,” said a person familiar with the discussions between senior intelligence officials. . “She is historically unfit.”
Gabbard and her allies have denounced the attacks as a smear, saying the history of anti-interventionism in Syria and Ukraine has been misrepresented as a kind of “Cold War 2.0.”
In Washington, she has asserted her unique foreign policy position as a strong supporter of Israel and the “war on terror,” but has also criticized America’s conflicts with countries like Russia and Iran. (General Qasem Soleimani, who strongly criticized President Trump’s decision to assassinate Iranians, deemed it an “illegal and unconstitutional act of war”).
“I’m a hawk when it comes to fighting terrorists,” she told a Hawaiian newspaper in 2016. “I’m a dove when it comes to wars that are counterproductive to overthrow the regime.”
Jeremy Scahill, an American left-wing journalist and activist, has argued that Gabbard “has posed a grave danger to U.S. security in one way or another through those in power since 9/11 and through America’s long and bloody history of intervention.” “Act as if the retaliation that would result would be enormous.” Of hype and hysteria. ”
However, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard said, “Ukraine has more than 25 U.S.-funded biolabs that, if compromised, could release deadly pathogens that could spread to the United States and the world.” He has repeatedly shared conspiracy theories, including claiming, In fact, a U.S. program dating back to the 1990s aims to improve laboratory safety with a focus on infectious disease outbreaks.
Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard said, even as Kiev desperately defends its sovereignty. “It’s time to put geopolitics aside and embrace the spirit of aloha, respect and love for the Ukrainian people. Ukraine will become a neutral country.”
And she has repeatedly supported dictators, including President Bashar al-Assad, suggested that reports about chemical weapons attacks in 2013 and 2017 were false, and suggested that the US “joined forces” with Russia after its 2015 intervention in Syria. I asked.
Establishment Democrats and Republicans have openly questioned whether she poses a threat to national security.
“I worry about what would happen to countless American assets if someone as reckless, inexperienced, and blatantly dishonest as Gabbard were at the DNI,” Caesar said in a statement to the Foreign Relations Committee with Gabbard in 2018, when she testified. wrote former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who served on the committee.
A source close to the intelligence community said there were ongoing concerns about Gabbard’s contacts in the Middle East, stemming from her controversial 2017 meeting with President Bashar al-Assad, which Gabbard said she regrets. claims not to have done so.
Those officials could be investigated during Senate confirmation hearings early next year, the person said.
CNN reported last month that Gabbard was briefly placed on the Transportation Security Administration’s watch list due to her international travel patterns and connections, but was later removed.
Although she doesn’t have a background in intelligence, the Hawaii native served in the military for more than 20 years, including deployments to Iraq and Kuwait.
Additionally, her choices could affect intelligence sharing among America’s foreign allies, including the Five Eyes, a close intelligence organization that includes the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, and NATO, Japan and South Korean allies. There are also concerns that there may be. .
“Much of the information that we get, at least on the human collection side, comes from our partners,” said John Cypher, a former CIA director of Russian operations, adding that cooperation was usually informal and “based on individuals and trust.” pointed out. ”.
“They’re going to be very hesitant to hand over (information) to places that are becoming more partisan and less professional… They’re going to create their own checklists. ‘Hey, we’ve never done this before. This secret we were giving away to the CIA that could harm us if it became public… let’s not do it this time.”
