Tulsi Gabbard has resigned as US Director of National Intelligence, citing her husband Abraham Williams’ recent diagnosis with a rare form of bone cancer. The resignation, announced on Friday, takes effect on June 30.
President Donald Trump said Principal Deputy Director Aaron Lukas — a former CIA officer and analyst who served on the National Security Council during Trump’s first term — would serve as acting director. Trump described Gabbard’s work as “a great job” on his Truth Social platform and said her husband’s diagnosis meant she “rightfully, wants to be with him.”
In her resignation letter posted on X, Gabbard told Trump she was “deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half.” She advised Trump of her intention during an Oval Office meeting on Friday.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Gabbard had been “forced out by the White House,” which had been “unhappy with her for quite some time.” Sources of friction reportedly included her Director’s Initiatives Group — which worked on declassifying documents related to the death of John F. Kennedy, investigating election machine security and probing the origins of COVID-19 — and her revocation of security clearances of 37 officials last August.
Trump had previously hinted at differences with Gabbard over Iran, saying in March she was “softer” than him on curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Reuters reported she had been absent from deliberations on major foreign policy decisions, including the US military operation in Venezuela, the Iran war and Cuba policy.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and an army reserve lieutenant colonel, joined the Republican Party after endorsing Trump in 2024. The handover to Lukas, a career intelligence figure, comes with the Iran-US tensions continuing to shape oil prices and shipping risk premiums that feed into Sri Lanka’s fuel import bill.
