Tulsi Gabbard Resigns as DNI, Citing Husband’s Cancer Diagnosis

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard submitted her resignation May 22, citing her husband Abraham's diagnosis with an extremely rare form of bone cancer, effective June 30. Gabbard delivered the notification to President Donald Trump in a meeting at the Oval Office. In her resignation letter addressed to Trump, Gabbard wrote, "Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026," adding that "Abraham has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer." Gabbard also posted the letter publicly on X ^[2][5]. Fox News first reported the resignation.

President Trump announced that Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas will serve as acting director. Lukas has served in the intelligence community for more than two decades, including as a former CIA chief of station, and previously served as chief of staff to the director of national intelligence before ascending to the principal deputy role. ^[3][8] Trump announced plans to nominate Lukas as Gabbard's deputy in March 2025, and the Senate confirmed him by a 51 to 46 vote in July 2025. ^[8] Lukas is expected to assume the acting director role on June 30, Gabbard's final day.

Gabbard's departure creates a vacancy in a role that oversees the 18 agencies comprising the nation's intelligence community, a structure established under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker who broke with her party to endorse Trump in 2024, was sworn into her post in February 2025. She is the fourth Cabinet member to leave the administration this year, following the departures of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. ^[3][5] Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, 5 U.S.C. § 3345, a confirmed official such as Lukas may serve as acting head of an agency without a separate Senate confirmation.

Gabbard's tenure was marked by recurring friction with the White House over Iran policy. Her messaging on Iran had at times been at odds with the White House's claims and justifications, beginning months before the war started in late February, and multiple people inside the West Wing had grown disillusioned with her performance. After the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began, Gabbard's prepared Senate Intelligence Committee remarks stated that Iran's nuclear enrichment program had been "obliterated" by Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 and that there had been "no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability," though she did not read that portion aloud during the hearing. ^[4] When pressed on Iran's threat status, Gabbard told the committee that "the only person who can determine what is and is not a threat is the president."

During pivotal moments as Trump deliberated over possible military action or watched live video feeds of operations in Iran or Venezuela, Gabbard was often not in the room, underscoring her outsider status. ^[6] That marginalization accelerated after the exit of her closest ally at the agency. In March, Joe Kent, who had been serving as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, posted his resignation letter on X, writing that he "cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran" and that "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation." ^[18][19] Kent's invocation of the imminence standard is legally significant: the standard is a recognized predicate for executive use of force without prior congressional authorization under both domestic separation-of-powers doctrine and international law. Kent had worked under Gabbard, and the two were political allies. ^[19]

ODNI had also been locked in a behind-the-scenes dispute with the CIA for months. A CIA insider who participated in Gabbard's special Directors Initiative Group testified at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing that his agency had obstructed ODNI's efforts to uncover more information about the JFK files, COVID's origins, and what are called Anomalous Health Incidents, commonly referred to as Havana Syndrome. A CIA spokesperson disputed that testimony, stating the agency had not impeded ODNI in any way. ^[5] Gabbard also drew internal criticism when she disclosed the name of an undercover CIA officer on a list of individuals whose security clearances she revoked, a move that alarmed the agency's workforce and marked a further instance of friction between Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. ^[6]

Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that Gabbard had made "significant progress" on Trump's priorities, including implementing reforms to address what he described as the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Gabbard's replacement "must be committed to restoring trust in the office, protecting the integrity of our intelligence, and ensuring our nation's intelligence professionals can speak truth to power, without fear or interference." ^[3] No permanent nominee has been named. The confirmation process for a permanent DNI would proceed before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence under Senate Rule XXXI and the relevant provisions of the National Security Act of 1947, as amended.