UNITED KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE

London, May 22, 2026. Tulsi Gabbard notified Donald Trump of her resignation as director of national intelligence (ODNI) during a one-on-one meeting on Friday, with an effective date set for June 30. In her letter, she cites her husband Abraham's diagnosis with an 'extremely rare' bone cancer, which he has had for 11 years, and says she cannot 'in good conscience ask him to face this battle alone' while she holds such a demanding position. Trump praised her on social media as someone who 'has done an incredible job' and expressed confidence that Abraham would recover.

But it's the political context that's drawing attention from British media. The BBC notes that Gabbard is the fourth member of the cabinet to leave the Trump administration, following Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer in April, followed by Interior Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, both of whom left earlier in the year. This rate of turnover is fueling questions about the cohesion of the government team.

The Independent provides a precise account of the nature of the initial nomination in 2024: at the time, appointing the keys of intelligence to a former Democrat turned convert, known for her pro-Russian positions and for having relayed propaganda elements during a 2015 trip to Syria, was seen as a 'gesture of contempt' towards the American intelligence community, with which Trump has an ancient mistrust since the investigations into his first term.

Tensions did not take long to materialize. In March, during a Congressional hearing, Gabbard had declared that Iran was not seeking a nuclear weapon - a position that Trump immediately dismissed: 'I don't care what she said.' He later cited Iran's nuclear capability as the central justification for US military engagement against Tehran. Two months before her resignation, her chief advisor, Joe Kent, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, had himself walked out, calling on the President to 'back down' on Iran.

Gabbard had then chosen to publicly support Trump, claiming that the commander-in-chief was alone authorized to qualify a threat as imminent. This flip did not dispel the image of a responsible person out of line with the presidential line on the most sensitive dossier of the year.

Aaron Lukas, deputy principal director, will take over as interim head of the ODNI.