Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to oversee US spy agencies, faces grilling

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s choice to be the Director of National Intelligence (John McDonnell/AP)

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, has defended her past controversial views and told a confirmation hearing that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America’s intelligence service.

Ms Gabbard lashed out at former intelligence leaders and said that too often, intelligence provided to policy makers has been false or politicised, leading to wars, foreign policy failures and the weaponisation of espionage.