WASHINGTON (Realist English). Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has announced her resignation, effective June 30, 2026.
The official reason given is a rare form of bone cancer diagnosed in her husband, but observers link the decision to months of sidelining and disagreements with President Donald Trump over Iran policy.
“I cannot in good conscience ask him to fight alone”
In a letter to President Trump posted on her X account (formerly Twitter), Gabbard stated that her husband, Abraham Williams, “was recently diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”
“Abraham has been my rock throughout our 11 years of marriage. I cannot in good conscience ask him to go through this fight alone while I continue to hold this demanding position,” Gabbard wrote.
She added that she “must leave public service to be by his side and give him my full support.”
“Tulsi has done an incredible job”
President Trump confirmed the resignation on his Truth Social platform and named her first deputy, Aaron Lucas, as acting Director of National Intelligence.
“Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,” Trump wrote. He expressed hope for her husband’s speedy recovery, noting that Gabbard “rightfully wants to be with him.”
Brief biography
Gabbard is an American politician and military veteran, former member of the US House of Representatives from the Democratic Party (2013-2021), later switching to the Republican Party.
She was born in 1981/1982 in American Samoa and raised in Hawaii. A veteran of the Iraq War, she is an officer in the US National Guard holding the rank of lieutenant colonel. She has been a critic of US military interventions, calling the 2003 invasion of Iraq “the biggest intelligence failure.”
In 2022, she left the Democratic Party, and in 2024 she joined the Republican Party, actively supporting Trump.
In February 2025, the Senate confirmed her as Director of National Intelligence, making her the president’s principal intelligence advisor.
Tensions with Trump
Although the official reason given is a family tragedy, the publication and comments from informed sources indicate that a conflict between Gabbard and Trump had been brewing for some time, primarily over foreign policy issues, chief among them the war with Iran.
Gabbard, a longtime opponent of US military intervention abroad, “appeared to have differed with the president on the Iran war” and “had been sidelined from operational discussions in recent months.”
It is reported that she was not in the room when Trump consulted with key advisors immediately before launching joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
After hostilities began, Gabbard “repeatedly disputed or refused to fully support the justifications” the administration gave for starting the war, and did not back Trump’s claim of an imminent threat from Iran.
Evidence of Gabbard’s sidelining includes the earlier departure this year of her key aide, former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who resigned from the administration in protest over the Iran war, urging Trump to “change course.”
Fourth cabinet resignation in a year
Gabbard’s departure marks the fourth major personnel loss for Trump’s cabinet in recent months. Previously, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi were fired, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned.
Naming a permanent successor to Gabbard may prove difficult for Trump given his strained relations with Senate Republicans.