Donald Trump’s choice of Tulsi Gabbard as his intelligence chief is an “alarming” move given her history of support for Russia, British defence figures have said.

On Wednesday, the president-elect nominated Ms Gabbard to be his director of national intelligence, a role overseeing America’s 18 intelligence agencies.

Ms Gabbard, 43, has repeated Russian propaganda over Ukrainian “biolabs”, backed Moscow’s case for war, and met twice with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad after dismissing reports about his use of chemical weapons.

Her appointment has sparked concern over potential reductions in intelligence-sharing across the Five Eyes alliance.

Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of Mi6, said: “This is a maverick appointment. She has no experience of intelligence and security. We have to see how this plays out once she’s in the job.”

Philip Ingram, a former senior intelligence and security officer in the British Army, said: “I think appointing anyone with zero intelligence experience to be director of national intelligence should be an alarm call.”