US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is headed to India for the first high-level visit from the new administration under President Donald Trump, and she will be attending a major conference of intelligence chiefs in Delhi next week. Besides Gabbard, intelligence chiefs from Quad countries Australia and Japan, and prominent G7 countries are also expected to attend the gathering of intelligence tsars. Some of them might also attend the Raisina Dialogue from March 17-19, which is organised by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs. The conference usually takes place quietly on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue, when some of these officials attend the think tank event. The intelligence chiefs will gather in India, and are to be hosted by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and chiefs of R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) and Intelligence Bureau among others. Gabbard announced her visit to India on Monday. “I am #WheelsUp on a multi-nation trip to the Indo-Pacific, a region I know very well having grown up as a child of the Pacific. I’ll be going to Japan, Thailand, and India, with a brief stop in France enroute back to DC,” Gabbard said in a post on X, with a photograph of her boarding an aircraft. “Building strong relationships, understanding, and open lines of communication are vital to achieving President Trump’s objectives of peace, freedom and prosperity,” she said. Her first stop will be Honolulu where she will visit “IC partners and INDOPACOM” (US Indo-Pacific Command) leaders, and “our troops engaging in training”. This will be Gabbard’s first trip to India after taking over as the eighth Senate-confirmed and first female combat veteran Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in the second Trump administration. Last month, Gabbard had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Washington DC for the meeting with Trump in the White House. She was the first US official to meet Modi at Blair House on February 12, shortly after the Indian leader arrived in the US capital. “Met USA’s Director of National Intelligence, @TulsiGabbard in Washington DC. Congratulated her on her confirmation. Discussed various aspects of the India-USA friendship, of which she’s always been a strong votary,” Modi had said in a post on X. Gabbard, who was the first Hindu member of the US House of Representatives, was tapped by Trump for the top intelligence official’s job. An advocate for India, she had criticised Pakistan for providing a safe haven to terrorists, including after the Pulwama terrorist attack in 2019. She has also spoken out on the plight of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh. She visited India several times in recent years, including in 2014 when she undertook a two-week trip.
