U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Warns of Global Nuclear Catastrophe in Emotional Hiroshima Video

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is once again sounding the alarm on what she calls an increasingly reckless drift toward global nuclear war, issuing her most sobering statement yet in a three-minute video filmed during a recent trip to Japan. Gabbard, who visited Hiroshima last week, used the historic setting to frame a harsh rebuke of U.S. foreign policy elites, whom she accuses of pushing the world to the brink of catastrophe.

In the video, posted Tuesday to her personal social media accounts, Gabbard stands solemnly among Hiroshima memorials and speaks directly to viewers. The video alternates between footage of her visit and chilling archival images of the 1945 nuclear attack that decimated the city. The emotional tone is unmistakable: Gabbard wants Americans to grasp what a nuclear strike would look like in today's context—only this time, with weapons far more powerful.

"One modern nuclear weapon can wipe out millions in minutes," she says, warning that current political and military strategies are leading the world toward "the suffering and death of all our loved ones."

While Gabbard's somber message focuses on human costs, it also carries a sharp political edge. She accuses "political elite warmongers" of stoking tensions with nuclear powers while insulating themselves from potential fallout—literally.

"They think they'll be safe in bunkers while the rest of us burn," Gabbard says, claiming that some in power are confident they'd survive a nuclear conflict.

The video was released shortly after Gabbard returned from a diplomatic visit to Japan, where she toured a U.S. military base and met with American Ambassador George Glass. Her office confirmed that Hiroshima was not part of her original March itinerary, but did not comment on whether the video was filmed using government resources—raising questions about the blurred lines between her official capacity and personal advocacy.

This latest statement marks a return to form for Gabbard, a longtime critic of U.S. military intervention and foreign entanglements. Once a Democratic congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate, she left the party in 2023, endorsed Donald Trump, and later accepted his appointment as DNI. Yet despite her partisan shift, her warnings about nuclear war have remained constant.

Back in 2019, during her campaign launch, Gabbard declared that the world stood "on the precipice of nuclear war." That same urgency permeates her new message—but with heightened immediacy. "We're closer now than ever before," she warns.

Her video comes at a time of escalating geopolitical stress. The Trump administration's ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran appear to have stalled, with Tehran reportedly rejecting a U.S. proposal to curb uranium enrichment. Meanwhile, tensions continue to simmer between NATO and Russia, and Gabbard's critics argue that her rhetoric feeds into isolationist narratives and undercuts diplomatic efforts.

But her supporters see something different: a lone voice willing to confront the horror of nuclear escalation, rooted not in politics, but in principle.

On X, formerly Twitter, Gabbard echoed her video's message in starker terms: "The warmongers are trying to drag us into WW3... And we are insane if we passively allow them to lead us into this holocaust like sheep to the slaughter."

While her tone may alienate some in Washington, the message seems calibrated for a broader public increasingly wary of endless conflict—and acutely aware of how few would survive its final act.