'Refuse to be their puppet': Top 5 moments from Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation hearing

Tulsi Gabbard faced an hourslong hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday .

She faced questions related to her qualifications and previous remarks related to national security.

The hearing ended ahead of 1 p.m. on Thursday before it moved to a closed session later in the afternoon .

She kicked off her hearing by combating "lies and smears" she anticipated to hear from some lawmakers.

"You even called Edward Snowden , and I quote here, a brave whistleblower," Warner asked.

Gabbard argued that the attack on 9/11 likely could have been prevented if government "stovepiping" had not suppressed intelligence communications from reaching other officials.

"There's a general consensus that there was a massive intelligence failure," Republican Sen. Roger Wicker , R- Miss. , said.

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard says she was surprised by the lack of interest from the intelligence community at the time of her 2007 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad .

She said she asked him tough questions about his own regime's use of chemical weapons and the brutal tactics that were being used against his own people.

She vowed to cut redundancies from the director of national intelligence in an effort to streamline efficiency.