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Moderate Sen. Susan Collins backed Tulsi Gabbard’s bid to become director of national intelligence ahead of a key committee vote Tuesday, in a significant boost for the former Hawaii rep’s prospects.
Collins (R-Maine), 72, who isn’t afraid to buck the GOP, having voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month, praised Gabbard’s push to downsize the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“After extensive consideration of her nomination, I will support Tulsi Gabbard to be the Director of National Intelligence,” Collins said in a statement Monday.
“The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, however, has become far larger than it was designed to be, and Ms. Gabbard shares my vision of returning the agency to its intended size.”
The Maine Republican helped write the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which established the DNI position in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to enhance coordination between the 18 federal intelligence agencies.
Gabbard, 43, sat before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week and was greeted by a handful of skeptical Republicans who were leery of her past record on key national security flashpoints.
Collins previously sounded skeptical of Gabbard and grilled her during the hearing last week about whether she ever met with any known members of Hezbollah, noting the “speculation in the press.”
“No,” Gabbards shot back at the time, calling it an “absurd accusation.”
Prior to the hearing, Collins also seemed unconvinced by Gabbard’s change of heart on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702, which gives the feds broad powers to conduct surveillance on non-Americans living overseas.
As a congresswoman, Gabbard had been a fierce critic of Section 702, amid concerns that it could result in the incidental collection of intel on US citizens in violation of the Fourth Amendment against surveillance without a warrant.
But during the hearing, Gabbard explained her reversal on Section 702 and underscored her commitment to safeguarding national security.
“The national security capability that is provided by Section 702 that enables this foreign surveillance on non-US persons overseas is critical, period,” she affirmed during the public portion of her hearing.
Collins also explained that Gabbard “addressed my concerns regarding her views on Edward Snowden.”
Gabbard was repeatedly pressed on the controversial NSA leaker and declared that he “broke the law” and that she did “not agree with or support all of the information and intelligence that he released, nor the way in which he did it.”
She stressed that her goal is to prevent “another Snowden-like leak.”
Collins is ranked as the most moderate Republican in the upper chamber by GovTrack. She’s also been dubbed the most bipartisan member of the chamber by Lugar Center and the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy.
The Maine senator is perhaps the most endangered Republican up for reelection in the 2026 cycle, hailing from a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won by almost seven percentage points.
Still, she was previously perceived as an underdog against former state House speaker Sara Gideon in 2020, having trailed her in nearly every poll, including by double digits in some cases. Ultimately, Collins won by 8.6 points.
