Mark Kelly: “today the Senate is deciding whether COL Tulsi Gabbard should be the person who, each day, makes the call on which…”

“today the Senate is deciding whether COL Tulsi Gabbard should be the person who, each day, makes the call on which intelligence gets in front of the President of the United States. That is what the Director of National Intelligence does. They sift through the intelligence collected and analyzed by all of our intelligence Agencies, from the CIA to the NSA, and decide what to brief the President on. This includes information about terrorists planning attacks here in the United States or on our servicemembers abroad. It includes evidence of adversaries backing cyber attacks. Often, the intelligence is incomplete, or there are pieces that contradict one another. It is this person's job to cut through the noise and present the President with what he needs to know. There can't be any spin. There can't be a finger on the scale to get him to do one thing or not do another. It requires impeccable judgment and sound decision making. Everything we have learned about Colonel Gabbard during her confirmation process suggests that she is not the person for this job. It is that simple. Now, I went into this process with an open mind. Colonel Gabbard and I, we had a long meeting in my office. She responded to a number of written follow-up questions that my colleagues and I had for her. And I was able to ask her questions in an open and closed hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee. And after each of those steps, I became more and more concerned.…”