Photo: Then Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard at the Loko Pa`aiau Fishpond, a Native Hawaiian fish-farming site at Pearl Harbor Navy base in 2015, by NAVFAC, Wikimedia Commons
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic Congresswoman and National Guard Lt. Colonel, has been nominated for Director of National Intelligence by President-elect Donald Trump. Ms Gabbard will certainly be the first practicing Hindu appointed to the position, and the first Pacific Islander appointed to a cabinet-level position.
Ms Gabbard was born in Samoa, her father’s homeland, and raised in Hawai’i. She has been a practicing Hindu since her teens, having been raised Hindu since birth.
“Hinduism is largely misunderstood today---In essence, it’s a monotheistic and non-secular practice. It’s more spirituality than sectarianism,” Gabbard said to the Atlantic in 2015, as reported by the Times of India.
The Hindusphere has embraced Tulsi Gabbard. Indian Prime Minster Narenda Modi, sent an emissary to her wedding in 2015. In 2016, the Doshi Family Bridgebuilder Foundation honored her for fostering understanding between people of different cultures.
When accepting the award, Gabbard cited her upbringing in Hawai’i. “When I ‘Aloha’ you, I come with an open heart, I come to you with respect and with love regardless of the color of your skin, or where you come from.”
Gabbard was born in American Samoa and raised in Hawai’i, where her father Mike Gabbard is a member of the Hawai’i state House of Representatives. He is socially conservative, having campaigned against same-sex marriage, but also supported making Hawai’i clean-energy dependent. Tulsi Gabbard’s drift from Democrat to Republican might not have been that surprising.
Ms Gabbard grew up surfing and still practices yoga. She has served in the Hawai’i National Guard as an intelligence officer and served in Iraq in 2004-05.
Sources:
“Representative Tulsi Gabbard Brings the Aloha Spirit to LMU,” Loyola Marymount University, newsroom.lmu.edu, October 14, 2016.
“Samoa’s Tulsi Gabbard heads US Intelligence,” Islandsbusiness.com, November 15, 2024.
“How Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu-American US Director of National Intelligence was introduced to Hinduism by her Parents,” Times of IndiaIndiatimes.com, November 16, 2024.
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