US intel chief speaks out against nuclear arms after Japan visit

The Mainichi

2 days ago

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday posted a video message speaking about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II and called for a world without nuclear weapons.
It is very unusual for an incumbent U.S. Cabinet member to publicly voice opposition to nuclear weapons. "It's up to us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness. We must reject this path to nuclear war and work toward a world where no one has to live in fear of a nuclear holocaust," Gabbard said.
The three-and-a-half-minute video on the X social media platform, featuring images of the ruins of the Japanese cities and the suffering of victims, begins with Gabbard saying she recently traveled to Hiroshima and the visit was an experience that will stay with her permanently.
Gabbard warned that the power of today's nuclear weapons far exceeds that of the bombs used in the U.S. attacks about 80 years ago.
"A single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes. Just one of these nuclear bombs would vaporize everything at its core. People, buildings, life itself," she said. "This isn't some made-up science fiction story. This is the reality of what's at stake, what we are facing now."
Gabbard, a former U.S. House of Representatives member from Hawaii who was confirmed as director of national intelligence in February, did not specify when she went to Hiroshima.
U.S. Defense Department photos show that Gabbard visited Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni last Wednesday with U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass, and it is likely that she went to nearby Hiroshima before or after her trip to the base.
When she visited Japan in March as part of her first trip to the Indo-Pacific region since assuming the post, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said she did not have the opportunity to travel to Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
At the time, the office also said she was hoping to realize such a visit on her next trip to the region, so as "to honor the lives lost, highlight the immeasurable cost of nuclear war, and President (Donald) Trump's commitment to counterproliferation and preventing nuclear war."
According to the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, when Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui visited Hawaii in 2019, he spoke with Gabbard, then a Democratic congresswoman and presidential hopeful, and asked her to visit the Japanese city one day.
In the video, she went on to say, "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."
The former congresswoman, who joined the Republican Party four years after her unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, did not address any of the Trump administration's policies or the status of the United States as a nuclear superpower.
Prior to assuming her current post, Gabbard also spoke out in connection with Japan to warn about Tokyo's strengthening of defense capabilities.
In December 2023, she said in a social media post to mark the 82nd anniversary of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, "As we remember Japan's aggression in the Pacific, we need to ask ourselves this question: is the remilitarization of Japan, which is presently underway, truly a good idea?"
"We need to be careful that shortsighted, self-serving leaders do not end up bringing us again face-to-face with a remilitarized Japan," she said.
Her comments, seen as casting doubt on U.S. efforts to boost its security alliance with Japan amid China's rise, came under the spotlight during the confirmation process for her current role.
(By Takuya Karube)