The United States has abandoned its long-held strategy of “regime change or nation building” under President Donald Trump, US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday.

Speaking at the Manama Dialogue, an annual security summit in Bahrain, Gabbard said Washington’s approach in Trump’s second term now prioritises economic prosperity and regional stability over democracy promotion and human rights advocacy.

She noted that the shift includes brokering a ceasefire that ended Israel’s two-year war on Gaza and pushing for a halt to Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran after US bombers targeted Iranian nuclear sites.

For decades, our foreign policy has been trapped in a counterproductive and endless cycle of regime change or nation building,” said Gabbard, a former US congresswoman and Army National Guard veteran.

It was a one-size-fits-all approach—toppling regimes, imposing our system on others, intervening in conflicts we barely understood, and walking away with more enemies than allies,” she added.

Gabbard said the results were “trillions spent, countless lives lost, and, in many cases, the creation of greater security threats.”