US building on strong security partnership with India: Tulsi Gabbard

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday affirmed that she was building on the strong security partnership with India including in cyber security, emerging technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

Emphasising that "America first is not America alone", Gabbard said she met her Indian counterparts during her visit to New Delhi, and heard "directly from them about the very serious concerns that you have here of your own security interests".

She said the US is also looking at opportunities where it can "build off of what is already a very strong partnership that has gone on for quite some time and again, take advantage of the new administration to pick up that momentum and find those other opportunities".


"From an intelligence sharing standpoint, knowing that in our role, our ability is to make sure that we are providing the best timely and relevant intelligence reporting to our leadership so that they can make the best informed decisions, but obviously strengthening our security partnership, our economic partnership that President (Donald) Trump and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi really laid out in their compact statement when Prime Minister Modi was in Washington, DC," she said at the Raisina Dialogue conference organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and Observer Research Foundation. "There's huge opportunity for continued growth and continued investment in our mutual interests," Gabbard noted.

"...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. On Trump's vision, Gabbard said, "President Trump remains unwavering in his commitment to achieving peace through a strategy rooted in realism, pragmatism, securing peace through strength requires strong leadership with a clear-eyed and realistic understanding of the global challenges that exist as well as the opportunities."