WASHINGTON – Ms Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, released a video on June 11 warning that the world is closer to nuclear war than ever and accusing unnamed political elites of trying to foment conflict between world powers.
Ms Gabbard didn’t cite any countries by name, but her remarks echoed long time claims by Russian officials and, more recently, by far-right commentators in the US who have warned that the Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet earlier in June made nuclear war more likely.
“As we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers,” Ms Gabbard said in the video posted to X.
“Perhaps it’s because they are confident that they will have access to nuclear shelters for themselves and for their families that regular people won’t have access to,” she said. “It’s up to us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness.”
The video was prompted by the director’s visit to Hiroshima, Japan, where she said she saw the aftereffects of the US decision to drop an atomic bomb on the city in 1945.
Foreboding music played in the background as archival footage showed the victims of the attack.
“A single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes, just one of these nuclear bombs would vaporise everything at its core,” Ms Gabbard said.
The video then cut to mock footage of a nuclear attack on San Francisco that obliterated the Golden Gate Bridge.
“Acknowledging the past is critical to inform the future,” the director’s deputy chief of staff, Ms Alexa Henning, said in a statement on the evening of June 10. “DNI Gabbard supports President Trump’s clearly stated objectives of bringing about lasting peace and stability and preventing war.”
President Donald Trump said the US had “stopped a nuclear conflict” with its mediation between India and Pakistan after a flare up in clashes between the two adversaries.
The US is also looking to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme amid concerns that Israel may be readying an attack on its nuclear sites.
