As an unconventional pick to lead the nation's intelligence service, Tulsi Gabbard is expected to face tough questions about her past comments on Syria, Russia, foreign surveillance and President Donald Trump when she goes before lawmakers at her confirmation hearing Thursday.

As of Jan. 24, 67 active cases of tuberculosis, or TB, had been reported in Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas. The outbreak began last year, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said on its website. It did not specify a source of the outbreak.

WASHINGTON — When Tulsi Gabbard returned to Washington from a clandestine sit-down with Syria’s then-president Bashar Assad eight years ago this month, she was greeted with a flurry of criticism.

Tulsi Gabbard’s past statements on Syria, Russia, Ukraine and warrantless spying have all given Republican senators pause. But for some lawmakers another issue looms just as large: Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who released reams of classified data on American surveillance programs in 2013 and then fled to Russia.

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, is set to face tough scrutiny from lawmakers on Thursday over her past remarks on Russia and her controversial 2017 visit with Syria’s now-deposed leader.

Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence disregarded U.S. assessments of chemical weapons attacks and instead looked to contested academic research.