The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday approved Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to serve as director of national intelligence, ending weeks of suspense after key GOP holdouts announced their support in the 24 hours leading up to the committee vote.

The committee vote was held in a closed-door session, but the party-line 9-8 outcome was all but assured after swing vote Sen. Todd Young announced earlier Tuesday that he would support Ms. Gabbard.

Ms. Gabbard was one of President Trump’s most unconventional picks and faced serious scrutiny from Republicans. She is a former Democratic Congress member from Hawaii who quit the party in 2022 to become an independent and then joined the Republican Party in 2024 to support Mr. Trump.

Mr. Young said he decided to support her nomination after receiving “firm commitments” from Ms. Gabbard that addressed his various concerns.

“I got them at the 11th hour,” Mr. Young told reporters. “I think the expectation among some, not those within the administration, but in the media and elsewhere was that either I could never get there or that there was no forward progress, but there was along the way. And I’m glad that we were able to mutually accommodate one another and alleviate concerns and get me into this position.”

Ms. Gabbard sent a letter to Mr. Young, which he shared on social media, that memorialized the commitments she made. It included her promise to seek justice against any intelligence community employee or contractor who leaks intelligence secrets and not to recommend a pardon for Edward Snowden, the most infamous leaker of classified intelligence documents.

Ms. Gabbard also promised to work with lawmakers to reauthorize Section 702 authorities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which she had opposed as a member of the House over concerns that Section 702 allows Americans’ data to be caught up in warrantless surveillance of foreigners.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said he was pleased the committee advanced Ms. Gabbard’s nomination and expressed confidence she would have enough support to be confirmed by the full Senate.

“Once confirmed, I look forward to working with Ms. Gabbard to keep America safe and to bring badly needed reforms to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence,” he said.

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.