NEW YORK: US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday said she will visit India as part a “multi-nation” trip to the Indo-Pacific she is undertaking with the aim of building strong relationships and open lines of communication to achieve President Donald Trump's objectives of peace and freedom.
“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 airplane.
“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.
Gabbard had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in February during his visit to Washington DC for the bilateral 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.