Former weapons inspector Scott Ritter posted an article titled “The US administration lost a patriot and truth-teller in Tulsi Gabbard,” following Gabbard’s resignation as Director of National Intelligence on May 22.
“As DNI,” Ritter wrote, Gabbard “brought candor and integrity to intelligence — but in a White House that prizes loyalty, truth became a liability.” He reviewed her years in the Democratic Party, her 2017 visit to Syria, the “Russian asset” accusations from Hillary Clinton and others, and her 2020 presidential run, and praised her DNI tenure for what he called “unprecedented transparency efforts,” including the release of hundreds of thousands of pages of records relating to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Ritter also credited Gabbard with leading an internal review of the intelligence Barack Obama relied on in accusing Donald Trump of Russian collusion in 2016, which Ritter said “resulted in the debunking of every claim of collusion” and led Gabbard to refer Obama for prosecution.
The timing of Gabbard’s departure, Ritter wrote, has been read by many as suspicious given tensions over the Iran war, “although there is no doubting the human reality of her husband’s serious medical condition.” He concludes: “In any event, the US has lost the services of a true patriot whose integrity proved to be both benefit and bane to the Trump administration.”
Ritter and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern also discussed her departure on the Consortium News program “The World This Week: Chaos of the Old Order,” hosted by Joe Lauria.