US intel chief Tulsi Gabbard to visit India
What's the story
US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has announced that she will be visiting India as part of a wider Indo-Pacific tour.
The former Congresswoman and Army veteran posted her schedule on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, listing visits to Japan, Thailand, and India, with a brief stop in France before heading back to Washington, DC.
Significance
First visit by a top White House official to India
The particulars of Gabbard's engagements in India, however, are not yet known.
Gabbard's visit is important as it is the first visit by a top White House official to India under the Trump administration.
It follows PM Narendra Modi's visit to the US in February, where he met Gabbard and lauded her as a "strong votary" of India-US friendship.
Tour goals
Gabbard's Indo-Pacific tour: A commitment to peace and prosperity
Gabbard, announcing her tour on X, stressed the need for "building strong relationships, understanding, and open lines of communication," which she said are key to fulfilling President Trump's peace, freedom, and prosperity agenda in the Indo-Pacific.
Her tour's first stop will be Honolulu, Hawaii, where she will meet US intelligence community partners, leaders at the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), and American troops engaged in training exercises.
Personal history
Gabbard's background and ties to the Indo-Pacific
Gabbard shares a long-standing connection with the Indo-Pacific region, where she spent part of her childhood.
Contrary to popular beliefs, due to her name and choice of religion, Gabbard was born in American Samoa and raised in Hawaii and the Philippines.
Her mother, Carol Porter Gabbard, was raised in a multicultural household and became interested in Hinduism, a religion that Tulsi also later embraced.