US National Intelligence Officer Tulsi Gabbard warns in a grim video message of the risk of a full-scale nuclear war.
She sharply criticizes “the political elite warmongers” and accuses them of pushing the world “closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before”.
In the three-minute video clip, Gabbard talks about her recent visit to Hiroshima, Japan, where she studied the aftermath of the US nuclear attack on the city in 1945. The video mixes images from the trip with archive footage of the victims of the bombing and shows Gabbard speaking directly to the camera about the consequences of a modern nuclear attack.
Gabbard points out that today’s nuclear weapons are significantly more powerful than those used in World War II.
– A single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes, she explains, continuing:
– This is the reality of what’s at stake, what we are facing now. Because as we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers.
“Up to us – the people”
Gabbard further suggests that powerful people are convinced that they would have access to “nuclear shelters” and therefore believe themselves to be protected from the consequences of a nuclear war.
– It’s up to us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness. We must reject this path to nuclear war and work toward a world where no one has to live in fear of a nuclear holocaust, she concludes.
I recently visited Hiroshima, and stood at the epicenter of a city scarred by the unimaginable horror caused by a single nuclear bomb dropped in 1945. What I saw, the stories I heard, and the haunting sadness that remains, will stay with me forever. pic.twitter.com/TmxmxiGwnV
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) June 10, 2025
It is unclear exactly when the video was recorded, but Gabbard visited Japan last week, including an American military base together with the US ambassador to the country. However, according to her staff, she did not visit Hiroshima during her first visit to Japan as director of intelligence in March.
When asked to clarify her statements, Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, Alexa Henning, responded that President Donald Trump also shares her concern about a future nuclear war.
“President Trump has repeatedly stated in the past that he recognizes the immeasurable suffering, and annihilation can be caused by nuclear war, which is why he has been unequivocal that we all need to do everything possible to work towards peace”, Henning said in a written statement, adding that Gabbard supports Trump’s goal of lasting peace and stability.
“Trying to drag us into World War III”
This is not the first time the former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate has warned that a nuclear war could be imminent – and she has also strongly criticized politicians and military leaders for their warmongering.
During her 2019 presidential campaign, she said the world was “on the brink of nuclear war”, and in Congress she was a strong advocate for nuclear disarmament and renewed international agreements.
The warmongers are trying to drag us into WW3, which can only end in one way: nuclear annihilation and the suffering and death of all our loved ones. Zelensky, Biden, NATO, congressional and media neocons are insane. And we are insane if we passively allow them to lead us into… pic.twitter.com/NbHiCgWhDf
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) February 21, 2023
As recently as 2023, she also accused leading representatives of the US, NATO, and Ukraine of having ambitions to start a third world war and risk the survival of all humanity.
“The warmongers are trying to drag us into World War III, which can only end one way: nuclear annihilation and the suffering and death of all our loved ones. Zelensky, Biden, NATO, congressional and media neocons are insane. And we are insane if we passively allow them to lead us into this holocaust like sheep to the slaughter”, she warned on X.