Trump, Modi friendship indicative of their approach to serve best interest of people: Gabbard

The friendship between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is indicative of their approach to leadership and their priorities of setting policies to serve the best interest of their respective people, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said. Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue organised by the Observer Research Foundation and the MEA in New Delhi on Tuesday, Gabbard said she was looking to build on the strong security partnership with India, including cyber security, emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.

Defending Trump’s ‘America First’ policy, Gabbard said the criticism from some quarters that the policy amounted to America going into a shell showed a “lack of understanding”. “To be a President who puts the interest of America first should not be at all mistaken or concluded (as) to be a President who doesn’t understand the importance of relationships with other countries and wherever possible to work together towards their shared interests,” Gabbard said. America first, is not America alone, she emphasised

Talking about Modi’s recent US visit, Gabbard said one saw the reconnection of two old friends. “It is a personal friendship and it is indicative of their approach to leadership and their priorities of listening to the needs of their respective people and setting policy and taking action towards serving their best interest,” she said. On Sunday, Modi said in a podcast hosted by podcaster and computer scientist Lex Fridman that he and Trump connect well as both put their respective countries first. Trump shared the podcast on his Truth Social account following which Modi joined the platform.

Gabbard said she met her Indian counterparts and heard from them about the very serious concerns that India has in its own security interests”. She said India and the US are looking for opportunities where they could build off of what is already a very strong partnership that has gone on for quite some time and  take advantage of the new administration to pick up that momentum and find those other opportunities.

On emerging technologies, Gabbard underlined that it was important to focus on cyber security and maximise emerging tech to strengthen security interests.  “Absolutely, it’s impossible to have a conversation about both the challenges and opportunities we face without focusing on the very quickly evolving cyber security needs, the vulnerabilities that exist, and the need to maximise emerging tech and AI and other capabilities to strengthen our security interests,” she said.

Trump was being called an isolationist as he called for peace, Gabbard noted. “It is a common misconception that those who call for peace, as President Trump has, that somehow that is automatically equated as being an isolationist. Nothing can be further from the truth,” she said.