As Tulsi Gabbard stepped down as Director of Intelligence (DNI) overseeing 18 spy agencies, a controversial investigative report suggested that a reclusive spiritual guru may have been secretly influencing the Hindu American politician’s career.
A Washington Post report Monday claimed that it had launched a year-long investigation to identify the person behind “hundreds of confidential memos detailing politics and policy guidance for Gabbard from her years in Congress” after she was nominated for the top intelligence job by President Donald Trump.
The investigation, it said, uncovered a mysterious Nine Isles email domain and encrypted memos sent to people close to both Gabbard and Chris Butler, 78, “the eccentric religious leader Gabbard once described as her guru.”
The report suggested how Gabbard’s actions as a public official and remarks on television matched the guidance in the memos and detailed what it called a “secretive effort to inflate the appearance for public support for Gabbard online.”
Read: Indian American researcher making music from the cosmos (June 10, 20263)
Gabbard grew up in Butler’s breakaway Hare Krishna group, the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF). Her parents held senior positions in the organization, according to the Post.
Butler’s followers practice a form of Hinduism that involves devotion to a single deity, in their case Krishna, and certain expectations around meditation, yoga and diet, it said. Some former members, however, have called the group a cult and said disciples were isolated from the outside world, characterizations the group has denied.
The Post cited former devotees as suggesting that “Butler controlled his followers’ major life decisions and demanded total obedience and secrecy. They said he spent years working to extend his reach into politics — and they suspected Gabbard’s rise in Washington was the culmination of that effort.”
One former member was quoted as saying “I was raised to believe Chris Butler was God’s voice on Earth, and if you question him or offended him in any way, you were effectively offending God,” while another suggested he had ambitions beyond religion, saying, “He wanted, he said, to rule the world.”
A former SIF member Rebecca Saltzburg, who worked on several of Gabbard’s congressional campaigns, provided material suggesting Butler’s influence reached Gabbard and her family, according to the Post.
Between 2014 and 2016, when Gabbard was a sitting member of Congress, the Post reported that she frequently used arguments that matched talking points said to have come from documents linked to the SIF.
The report claimed these ideas appeared not only in her interviews but also in her policy positions and legislative activity. One example cited in the investigation involved an email instruction that read, “Get it started in the morning,” encouraging legislative action against countries whose citizens fought for Islamic State. Gabbard introduced a similar bill in Congress a week later.
The report goes on to claim that online activity was coordinated to promote Gabbard’s public image, including social media accounts run by Butler supporters that regularly defended and praised her political career. One message read, “DNI Gabbard is a true patriot and will be missed.”
Butler has been quoted by former associates as having previously condemned US intelligence and defence institutions, calling them “madmen.”
A Gabbard’s spokesperson dismissed the report as “a blatant example of anti-Hindu bigotry.” Those close to Butler have also denied that he personally authored directives attributed to him, with his associate Sunil Khemaney claiming responsibility for writing them.
However, the Post claimed its analysis found indicators suggesting Butler himself may have been the source, including references to his upbringing in Hawaii. In the 173-page material reviewed by the newspaper, first-person references and biographical details aligned more closely with Butler than his associates, it said.