Gabbard Drops Pick for Top Intel Post, a Critic of Israel on Gaza

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, opted not to name a critic of Israel’s war in Gaza to a top post managing briefings for the president, after the proposed appointment upset some members of President Trump’s coalition, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.

Daniel Davis, a senior fellow at a Washington think tank who is skeptical of American intervention overseas, was undergoing a background check to become the deputy director for mission integration, the officials said. The post is a powerful job that oversees the compiling of the President’s Daily Brief, a compendium of intelligence assessments that goes to the White House and top policymakers.

But news of the proposed appointment generated blowback on the right. A senior administration official said Ms. Gabbard reconsidered her choice given the criticism, and other officials confirmed the decision.

Mr. Davis is a senior fellow at Defense Priorities, a think tank with funding from Charles Koch that has a number of alumni in key positions in the Trump administration. Defense Priorities has taken a skeptical view of U.S. military involvement in the Middle East and has supported Mr. Trump’s efforts to reach an immediate cease-fire in the war in Ukraine.

The abandoned appointment has highlighted an emerging foreign policy fault line in the new administration. The Trump administration has appointed both more hawkish Republicans, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, and officials far more skeptical of American intervention, including Ms. Gabbard.

The tug of war over Mr. Davis’s appointment also highlighted the strain among supporters of Mr. Trump’s over U.S. support of Israel.