Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, has reversed her position on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial warrantless surveillance authority. Once a vocal critic of the program, Gabbard now supports its reauthorization, a shift that has drawn sharp criticism and reshaped discussions about government surveillance.
Section 702 permits the U.S. government to monitor foreign nationals outside the country with the cooperation of electronic communication service providers. However, this provision also allows the collection of Americans’ communications if they interact with foreign targets. Critics argue this creates a backdoor to monitor U.S. citizens without warrants, a practice the FBI has been accused of abusing hundreds of thousands of times.
In her final days as a congresswoman representing Hawaii, Gabbard stood firmly against Section 702. She co-sponsored legislation with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to repeal the Patriot Act and dismantle the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, citing unconstitutional violations of Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.
Gabbard’s criticism was unequivocal. “The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution very specifically prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant based on probable cause,” she said in 2020. “Programs instituted through the Patriot Act and FISA have conducted mass illegal surveillance on Americans without warrant or probable cause.”
She echoed these sentiments years later at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), condemning politicians who, in her words, “vote on the side of the power elite and against liberty.”
However, Gabbard’s perspective shifted dramatically. Speaking to CNN last Friday, she defended Section 702 as “crucial for gathering foreign intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad.” While acknowledging past abuses, Gabbard insisted that reforms enacted since her time in Congress adequately address concerns about Americans’ civil liberties.
“If confirmed as DNI,” Gabbard stated, “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.”
Her reversal has gained traction among Republican senators, including Oklahoma’s James Lankford, who described her change of heart as “a very important piece” for her confirmation.
“She voted against [Section 702] in the House when she was a member,” Lankford said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “But she now recognizes that reforms have been made to protect Americans’ civil rights.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also voiced support for Gabbard, stating that she “will follow the law and support its reauthorization as DNI.”
Gabbard’s about-face has not gone unnoticed. Critics, including privacy advocates and civil libertarians, argue that the reforms she cited do little to curb the FBI’s misuse of Section 702. A 2023 report revealed that the FBI conducted at least 278,000 “unintentional” searches of Americans’ private communications between 2020 and 2021, targeting groups ranging from Jan. 6 protesters to Black Lives Matter activists.
Even former President Trump, who nominated Gabbard, previously called for Section 702 to be abolished. “IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS,” Trump said in 2024, urging Republicans to “KILL FISA.”
Despite Trump’s opposition, Gabbard’s endorsement of Section 702 appears aligned with a significant faction of the GOP. Republican senators joined forces with Democrats in April 2024 to reauthorize the program, defeating amendments aimed at strengthening privacy protections.
Gabbard’s new stance may smooth her path to confirmation as DNI, but it risks alienating supporters who admired her previous commitment to civil liberties. Her earlier advocacy against mass surveillance won her praise from libertarians and progressives alike, many of whom now view her shift as a betrayal.
For Gabbard, the stakes are high. Her confirmation would place her at the helm of America’s intelligence community, where she would oversee programs she once condemned.
The debate over Section 702 highlights the tension between national security and individual privacy. Proponents argue the surveillance authority is indispensable for combating foreign threats, while opponents warn of its potential to erode constitutional rights.
As Gabbard seeks to balance these competing priorities, her evolution on the issue serves as a microcosm of a larger struggle within American politics: the fight to reconcile security needs with the protection of civil liberties.
Whether her stance reflects pragmatism or political expediency, one thing is certain: Gabbard’s shift on Section 702 will continue to spark debate long after her confirmation process concludes.
14 Comments
Like almost all laws/rules, they are only as good as the person who enforces them. Used correctly, these are invaluable for intelligence gathering. I believe Tulsi can/will use the proper intentions for this Act.
Get ready for a long line of disappointments like this from Trump on down, because everyone’s a reformer when campaigning and a pussy cat once in office. The Trump administration could end up being for tax cuts, oil drilling and a border wall, and not much else. This 180 is similar to Trump recently saying the debt limit should be abolished. We try to be MAGA, but it’s hard when the MAGA leaders aren’t even MAGA themselves. What are we supposed to do?
You are falling for the gaslighting. Learn to think for yourself.
I totally agree with you Raul. We can’t say that the socialist-Left act like sheep when we have Trump, and a whole lot of “America First” cabinet nominees already talking out of both sides of their mouths while we stand silently in line behind them. Convention of States is our only way out of this other than a civil war. I have been preaching this forever, but naive Americans just do not want to hear it.
DUH these people are bringing the CON to Conservatives… NONE of them, including tRUMP are Conservative and everyone should question WHO or WHAT “god” / demons they pray to…
END TIME!
I add this matter to this overall horror story as it is all imperative and interrelated!!
I’ve been writing for several years about the Fat Cat’s like Gates, Soros and others doing the Devil’s work on a Global Scale with the Weather to “CHANGE the Climate!” Not long ago I released this about such matters!
They are all insane liars and serving Satan; just look at Biden and tell me I’m wrong!
And they’ve already been experimenting with “geoengineering.” “stratospheric aerosol injection” (SAI) that Soros along with the WEF and other UN member Globalists!
Chem-Trails are readily seen throughout the upper atmosphere regularity with powdery particulate substances coming down within rainfall, leaving telltale signs around the edges of pooling water from the precipitation as it seeps into the soil leaving these remnants around the edges! I’ve witnessed, photographed and collected these events and others who really have a leg up are doing more! Check out the following site!
://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/
But as the other commenter says the planet could be ruined; well it will be and there is absolutely no “RIGHT WAY” to do any of this! This is all where mankind does the “Devil’s Duty” and does itself in, as in, “Suicide on a Global Level!” Take your pick, this, a slower suffocating extermination or Nuclear Annihilation burned up in a flash!
Both are being worked on! Yes Armageddon is REAL!
Humans have now copped an attitude like they are the ones that created all of the heavens and the earth, with a chip on their shoulders the size of mountains! But we have to realize there are “power greedy evil persons” Global Psychopaths running loose on this planet and anything they see as a means of consolidating that power and growing it is all they are focused on now; thus they play this climate change for all its worth! Its absolute power corrupting absolutely and the human race because of this it doesn’t have much time left outside of God Almighty intervening with the Second Coming! The signs are all quite evident just as the Holy Scriptures state clearly what would happen prior to the Lord’s return!
Isaiah 5:20 Living Bible “20 They say that what is right is wrong and what is wrong is right; that black is white and white is black; bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
Now they are “teaching transgenderism soon to be trans-humanism” to little children in school and even “forcing gender affirming techniques” upon them with drugs and surgery without parents’ consent in California and other states; evil absolutely being applied to the most innocent to ruin and destroy. END TIMES!
As far as percentage of the issues discussed being real or imagined or manmade or natural and inevitable Marc Morano is a foremost expert on all of this and has awesome books and videos all based on verified facts and science!
://www.climatedepot.com A great starter resource to gets one’s beak wet!
They are so hungry for “World Control” that they are Soooo Insane and EVIL!
That is what we are up against, not “Mother Nature” doing us in; it’s our own breed that is out to “kill us off!” “Global Suicide!” Coming to a theatre near you!
Satan has always hated the fact God made us, and has tried to destroy and mislead humans since the beginning.
Old Patriot, correct and spot-on!
END TIME???? ……….Irrelevant diatribe.
Any thoughts on …………..The Patriot Act?
Many are being duped, sucked in to the whirlpool vortex to hell!
Satan plays many a fool like an instrument!
George Orwell had some inside info from a few true sources!
Orwellian 1984 Big Brother coming at ya!
More “Newspeak, Double-Think, Think-Speak and a Dystopian Mind-Set” coming at ya!
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right.” George Orwell
>The Installed Biden/Harris Cabal Administration ushered in Satan’s stranglehold on America and its growing exponentially now that the American Citizens finally fought back with an Election Mandate!
There is no doubt that “Biden has always been America’s Man of Perdition” while “Obama was Satan’s Blasphemous cohort!” And obviously Harris has been the new “Whore of Babylon.”
America is being destroyed from within and dying but so is the entire human race; Satan I believe is fully loosed and making his final biggest move ever to rip apart the human race!
So as it stands faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior is the key to facing what is ahead and nothing is going to stop God Almighty’s plan from unfolding just as His word has told us, by His word laid out in the Bible.
Amen.
Time for President Trump to withdraw his nomination of Gabbard and find a real conservative to stop FISA.
Thomas W Harper, correct and shows how Trump still knows how to F-up his clear shot!
She was in on the slaughter of innocent unborn babies up to full term with Biden and that evil cabal until she saw a better angle for her career trajectory; ambition and pride got her and she is not trustworthy! To me anyone in these lofty positions within the govt. that can give a thumbs up to ripping unborn babies apart in the womb is trash and not to be trusted!
Just another opportunist Chameleon like the Kama! It was never just some tissue or a non-human fetal thing like she promoted with Biden!
Luke 1:40-42 “where she entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”
She gets a huge NO CONFIDENCE from me at the gate; bye!
I’ll wait to see if she uses it AGAINST the people or FOR the people.
The Patriot Act was misused by GOP and DNC administrations AGAINST the people.
The old song I have nothing to do with it it’s all my husband fault I have no idea what he does. Except you spend his money as fast as he can steal it. You live high on the hog with his theft of money. You’re a disgrace to yourself and the American people you bullsh-t everyday just like every other criminal.
Hop you also go to prison where you belong.