U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said that for decades the United States followed a policy of “regime change” or “nation-building” in other countries, but that this policy has ended during the administration of President Donald Trump.
Gabbard made these remarks on Friday (31 October) at the annual security conference “Manama Dialogue,” held in Bahrain. The conference was organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), an international security research organization.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Gabbard’s comments echo Trump’s recent statements during his Middle East tour. The United States’ earlier objective was the expansion of human rights and democracy in the Middle East. But during Trump’s second term, the focus has shifted to “economic prosperity and regional stability.”
Gabbard said Washington’s past way of thinking kept the United States stuck for a long time. “For decades our foreign policy was trapped in a failed cycle of regime change or nation-building. It was a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach—overthrowing governments, trying to impose our system on other countries, intervening in various conflicts with little understanding, and ending up creating more enemies than allies,” she said.
The former Hawaii congresswoman and former member of the U.S. Army National Guard added that such policies had cost the United States trillions of dollars, countless lives, and in many cases created greater security threats, including enabling the rise of Islamist militant groups like ISIS (Islamic State).
Gabbard’s assessment also aligns with Trump’s own views on the wars the U.S. launched after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. During Trump’s first term, an agreement was signed to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan—a process that concluded chaotically in 2021 under the Biden administration. Trump has also accepted Syrian interim president Ahmad al-Shar’a, a former al-Qaeda member who was once imprisoned in a U.S. detention facility in Iraq.
However, Gabbard did not comment on Trump’s deployment of warships in South America, attacks on vessels accused of drug trafficking, or secret operations in Venezuela.
Trump’s Middle East policy continues to face challenges. Gabbard said the ceasefire in Gaza remains “fragile.” Meanwhile, Iran has recently begun new activities at its nuclear facilities.
Gabbard said that although the path ahead will not be easy or straightforward, Trump is firmly committed to pursuing it.
