European diplomats have raised concerns after President-elect Donald Trump selected Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. However, they did show support for Trump's choice of Florida Republican Marco Rubio as secretary of state.
Many fear Hegseth and Gabbard's appointments signal a shift away from the U.S.'s traditional role in NATO, leaving Europe to brace for greater self-reliance amid global tensions.
"This is really terrifying," Nathalie Loiseau, former French Europe minister under President Emmanuel Macron and now a European lawmaker in his Renew Europe group, posted on X about Trump's Cabinet selections,
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the German who heads the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defence, said: "The time of European restraint and the hope that the USA would protect us is over."
Meanwhile, Marek Magierowski, the former Polish ambassador to Washington, sharply criticized Gabbard for her past "pro-Russian" remarks. Just three days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, she urged the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. to "embrace the spirit of aloha" and negotiate Ukraine's status as a neutral country.
"As she becomes the head of the entire U.S. intelligence community, this is a very disturbing signal for sure," he said on Polish television.
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii, lacks experience in intelligence and has made controversial statements about countries like Russia and Syria, raising concerns about her judgment. If Trump's nomination stands, Gabbard would be responsible for overseeing the nation's 16 intelligence agencies and some of its most classified national security programs.
"This is seriously big and bad," François Heisbourg, senior adviser for Europe at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, posted on X. "I hope the Senate will block her confirmation — but I don't expect that to happen."
Heisbourg added about previous picks: "The question is not so much 'Can they rein in Trump?' as 'Will they want to?' They are on board for the ride."
Gabbard's background contrasts sharply with that of Avril Haynes, the current director of national intelligence, who has a decades-long career in intelligence. Haynes previously served as the deputy director of the CIA during the Obama administration and was a senior member of his national security council.
