President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of National Security, Tulsi Gabbard, told Senators that she now supports Section 702 of the FISA Act. 702 is viewed as giving the US government the power to surveil Americans warrantlessly. Gabbard previously authored a bill that would have ended the mass surveillance program.
“If confirmed as DNI, I will uphold Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining vital national security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people,” Gabbard said during her confirmation hearing. Section 702 of the FISA Act allows the US intelligence community to bulk-collect Americans’ data without a warrant.
During her time as a member of the House of Representatives, Gabbard branded herself a stalwart opponent of mass surveillance. “We have a very important responsibility to strike a balance between national security to keep the American people safe, while also protecting our constitutionally protected freedoms,” she said in 2018. “Let us make this critical choice. Vote to keep our country safe. Vote to uphold our constitutional rights that so many have fought and died to protect.”
In 2020, Gabbard introduced a bill that would have repealed Section 702.
Gabbard says she is now convinced that reforms to the FISA Act implemented by Congress have alleviated her concerns over civil liberties. “My prior concerns about FISA were based on insufficient protections for civil liberties, particularly regarding the FBI’s misuse of warrantless search powers on American citizens,” she said.
It is unclear what reforms Gabbard is referring to. FISA was previously used to target the 2016 Trump campaign. At one point, Trump was a staunch proponent of Section 702, posting on social media, “KILL FISA.”
Civil liberties advocates, such as former libertarian Congressman Justin Amash, have attacked Gabbard for her sudden change in stance on 702. “This is such a false, disingenuous, and shameless statement,” he posted on X about Gabbard’s claim that 702 had been reformed. In a separate post, he said the position “Disqualified” her from becoming DNI.
“Significant FISA reforms have been enacted since my time in Congress to address these issues. If confirmed as DNI, I will uphold Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining vital national security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the Americans,” Gabbard added.
Republican Senator James Langford questioned Gabbard’s reversal after meeting with her. She “voted against what’s called 702 authority every time that she was in Congress and voted against it. Well, now she’s going to be the spokesman for 702 authority. It’s a legitimate question just to say, OK, how are you going to handle this? What does that mean?” he said to the Wall Street Journal.
