The series of resignations from the Trump administration continues. The Director of Intelligence joins the departures
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard officially announced last night that she has submitted her resignation from President Donald Trump's administration, continuing a series of successive withdrawals of its top officials, and becoming the fourth high-profile woman to choose to leave her leadership positions in just three months.
Gabbard followed in the footsteps of former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Dermer, who respectively left the cabinet lineup, at a time when intelligence and media reports spoke of increasingly sharp disagreements between the director and the White House over the strategy for conducting the war against Iran.
Compulsive family reasons and human devotion
Gabbard revealed, in an official and direct message published on her account on the "X" platform, that her decision to resign will take effect on June 30, 2026, explaining that her family is going through a difficult health condition after her husband "Abraham" was recently diagnosed with a very rare and difficult type of bone cancer.
The U.S. official reiterated her intention to step down fully from public service and political commitments to be full-time alongside her husband during the next phase of treatment, while expressing her deep gratitude for the trust Trump has placed in her and for the opportunity to lead the national intelligence community over the past year and a half.
Acting Assignment and Traditional Presidential Tribute
US President Donald Trump praised Gabbard's performance in a post on his official platform "Truth Social", stressing that she has done a great and mighty job in her position, noting that the US administration will miss its intelligence efforts, and Trump also announced the appointment of her deputy, Aaron Lucas, to take over as acting director of national intelligence to manage the critical transition.
Political sources linked Gabbard's departure to a series of muted and ongoing behind-the-scenes disagreements over how to deal with the Tehran file and the Middle East war, with the 45-year-old director providing an intelligence assessment that differed from Trump's position during a public hearing before Congress last March, refusing to consider Tehran an "imminent threat" in the format that preceded the joint strikes.
Gabbard's career and international stances
Tulsi Gabbard hails from Hawaii and is considered one of the most controversial figures in the modern American political scene due to her shifting geopolitical positioning.
Gabbard began her career as a prominent figure and former presidential candidate within the Democratic Party before defecting from it and becoming a close ally in Donald Trump's camp. Gabbard is known for her staunch opposition to U.S. foreign military interventions, as well as her adoption of political narratives that Western circles have described as close to the Kremlin regarding the war in Ukraine, which has made her appointment the subject of major controversy and constant congressional scrutiny.
The wave of women pulling out of the Trump administration
The consecutive departures of four of the most prominent secretaries and officials from the Trump administration (Bondi, Noem, Chavez-Derimer, and Gabbard) opens the door to structural questions about the nature of internal cohesion in the White House's executive wing and the level of governance and decision-making.
While these resignations are ostensibly personal, familial or administrative, their timing coincides with the ignition of the regional war with Iran and the rearrangement of the global balance of deterrence, indicating, according to observers, enormous political and field pressure being exerted on the members of the presidential team to pass tough military decisions without opposition or delay.