At the end of this month, Tulsi Gabbard steps down as the director of national intelligence, following a bumpy 16-month tenure as our nation’s top spy. Gabbard was an unconventional fit, as a Democrat opposed to most foreign wars. In President Donald Trump’s second term, with its multiple military operations around the globe, she became a marginal Cabinet member. This led to West Wing jokes that DNI, in her case, stood for “Do Not Invite.”
Gabbard left little long-term impression on the intelligence community. Demurring from much-needed intelligence community reforms, she expended her bureaucratic energy on historical rather than current issues, often of a conspiratorial flavor, in an effort to please the president and his MAGA base. Put simply, Gabbard, a neophyte in intelligence matters, didn’t know enough about the intelligence community to be an effective boss. Worse, she expended time and energy on witch-hunts against personnel, including on her own staff, who were deemed to be insufficiently loyal to Trump. After years of Trump justifiably complaining about Democratic weaponization of our spy agencies, Gabbard introduced more toxic partisanship into the intelligence community, just in the MAGA direction.
On Tuesday, however, Trump appointed Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as the acting director of national intelligence. This represents a shocking choice because the 38-year-old scion of one of the country’s biggest home-building empires possesses zero experience whatsoever in intelligence or even national security. He makes Gabbard look well prepared by comparison. Pulte is wholly unqualified for the job, which is why his appointment was met with derision from across the political spectrum. Since Pulte, who is unpopular even among many Republicans, stands no chance of receiving Senate confirmation to head the intelligence community, let’s hope that his tenure as acting DNI is brief.
Yet, whoever is chosen as the next, full-time DNI must understand the intelligence community from Day One. It must also be someone who enjoys a solid working relationship with the White House while being able to tell Trump bad news when required. During secret mid-February discussions about whether to launch our Iran war, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and others (Gabbard wasn’t invited to the meetings) informed Trump that Israel’s optimistic take, that the Tehran regime would collapse quickly if bombs started dropping, was not to be taken seriously. But their warnings had no effect.
Taxpayers are right to wonder about the value of our sprawling, 18-agency intelligence community, with its annual budget exceeding $110 billion. Especially when the community’s analysis is rejected by the White House in favor of a foreign country. Notwithstanding the intelligence community’s many faults and failings, the problem here is more with Trump than with America’s spies. Of course, Trump won’t change. Therefore, the intelligence community must be led by someone who can get Trump to listen, while keeping key stakeholders, such as Congress, informed and supportive of our spy agencies.
Fortunately, that person exists. It’s Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR). Crawford is hardly a household name, yet he’s well known in American intelligence circles. The 60-year-old Crawford has represented Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District in the House since 2011. The former rodeo cowboy and sometime country musician grew up in a military family and served in the U.S. Army for four years in the late Cold War as an explosive ordnance disposal technician.
Although Crawford never worked in any intelligence capacity, he is very well informed about our spy agencies because he’s served on the powerful House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for almost a decade, including heading the CIA account. He’s currently the HPSCI’s chairman, and in that post, Crawford has demonstrated leadership and wisdom. Crawford’s leadership has seen impressive efforts at serious reform, demonstrating his understanding of obscure espionage issues, particularly in the important but neglected realm of counterintelligence. Crawford is well regarded among our spy agencies for avoiding needless partisanship while working with Democrats to improve our national security. He’s also loyal to Trump and is popular among fellow Republicans.
Of particular note is Crawford’s advocacy for the truth about anomalous health incidents, in the face of stiff political opposition, plus Gabbard’s lethargy. Crawford’s dogged effort to tell the public the unpleasant reality of the Havana Syndrome has won him plaudits in spy circles, since American intelligence officers know that Crawford has their back, even when many other powerful people in Washington do not.
America in 2026 needs a full-time spy boss who understands what our intelligence community gets right and wrong. And in a fair manner unclouded by partisan excess or conspiratorial mythmaking. The need for serious reform is pressing, and the clock’s ticking. The new DNI must care more about the truth than pleasing politicians.
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Future historians will ponder if our Iran war might have happened had we possessed an effective DNI who was capable of explaining unwanted facts to Trump. Regardless, that strategic mistake must not be repeated. The country needs a competent, honest, and insightful spy boss.
That choice is Rick Crawford.
John R. Schindler served with the National Security Agency as a senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer.