"I think one of the things that is important to note is that the administration is misidentifying the enemy and their motivation by saying that they are motivated out of materialistic aspirations, that they're motivated out of poverty, of a lack of jobs or education or opportunity and as a result, the courses of action that the administration is proposing are also materialistic in nature, saying that if we just go in and alleviate poverty, if we go in and create jobs and increase opportunity and institute this Western style of democracy, that somehow this is going to solve the problem, when really, that's not the case," Rep. Gabbard said on Wednesday's broadcast of CNN's The Situation Room.

Gabbard has been critical of the president and the administration's approach to understanding what extremism is and how to eradicate it.

In January, Gabbard said President Obama "refuses to recognize" radical Islam is our enemy.

A few days later the Congresswoman said there is "bipartisan concern" over the fact that Obama won't use the term "Islamic extremism" to identify our enemy.

She has stated on numerous occasions that she supports expanding the use of drone strikes against military opponents, and, in 2014, refused to rule out the idea of using torture on suspected terrorists. Gabbard also spoke out vehemently against the Iran nuclear deal when it was first proposed by President Obama.