New Delhi [India], March 17 (ANI): US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday reiterated US President Donald Trump's commitment to defeating the threat of Islamist terrorism that she said continues to pose a direct threat to American people. She noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also takes this threat seriously and added that the two leaders will work together to try to identify and defeat that threat.

In an interview with ANI, Gabbard said that terrorism has been affecting people in India, Bangladesh, Syria, Israel and different parts of the Middle East.

When asked how Trump administration sees the repeated terror attacks on India from Pakistan, Gabbard responded, 'President Trump, through his first administration in the presidency, and it continues now, has been very clear about his commitment to defeating this threat of Islamist terrorism that has unfortunately plagued us, and continues to pose a direct threat to the American people.'

'But, we see how it's been impacting people here in India, in Bangladesh, currently ongoing in Syria, Israel and different countries in the Middle East. So this is a threat that I know Prime Minister Modi also takes seriously and one where the leaders of our two countries will work together to try to identify and defeat that threat,' she added.

On dismantling of deep-state assets and whether they were involved in regime change matters in India, Tulsi Gabbard said that US intelligence professions were using intelligence-based chat network to conduct a 'highly unprofessional and sexually explicit conversation' for an extended period of time. She stated that the action violates the basic professionalism expected from US government employees and the trust that the people of the US need to have in intelligence professionals.

'I can tell you to my knowledge, the answer is no. what you are referring to unfortunately was an incident that came to my attention where for an extended period of time we had intelligence professionals who were using an intelligence-based chat network to conduct a highly unprofessional and sexually explicit conversation. This not only violates the basic professionalism that we expect of all of our government employees, but it really violates the specifically around those, the trust that the American people need to have in our intelligence professionals,' she said.

She expressed her commitment to ensuring that US intelligence community is focused on its core mission of securing nation, seeking out the truth and reporting the truth so that US President Donald Trump can make the best informed decisions.

'So, in my role as Director of National Intelligence, this is one area that is my singular priority when it comes to ensuring that our intelligence community is focused on its core mission of securing our country, seeking out the truth and reporting that truth so that our president can make the best informed decisions. So, anything else that distracts away from that, we want to get out of the way, whether it's these inappropriate chat rooms or the more serious threats that we've seen of the weaponization and politicization of our intelligence to undermine really the fabric of our democratic republic,' she added.

Earlier in February, President Donald Trump had questioned the US government's allocation of USD 21 million for voter turnout in India, calling it a 'kickback scheme'. He also spoke about the funding of USD 21 million for strengthening the political landscape in Bangladesh and USD 19 million for biodiversity in Nepal.. (ANI)