Washington: Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence, has resigned, citing her husband’s ill health.
In a letter to President Donald Trump, Gabbard said she was "deeply grateful for the trust President Trump placed in me and for the opportunity to lead Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for the last year-and-a-half." She added that her resignation will be effective from June 30.
Gabbard said her husband, Abraham, has "recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer" and faces "major challenges in the coming weeks and months." She wrote that she must step away from public service to support him during his treatment.
While noting "significant progress" at the ODNI in advancing "unprecedented transparency and restoring integrity to the intelligence community," Gabbard said there remains important work to be completed. She pledged to ensure a smooth and thorough transition in the coming weeks to avoid any disruption to the President’s team and ongoing operations.
Gabbard paid tribute to her husband for his support during her deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, her political campaigns and her tenure as Director of National Intelligence. "I cannot in good conscience ask him (my husband) to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding time-consuming position," she wrote.
President Trump responded on Truth Social, praising Gabbard’s service and announcing that her Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will serve as Acting Director. "Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her," he wrote, adding that he expected Abraham to recover.
(Inputs from IANS)