前众议员塔尔西·加巴德(Tulsi Gabbard)是当选总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)挑选的国家情报总监，她周五宣布支持政府监控机构，此前她作为国会议员曾对此持批评态度。她在国会的最后一年，即2020年投票反对重新授权一项关键的监控法案。
12月，加巴德会见了共和党参议员詹姆斯·兰克福德。上周，兰克福德在《华尔街日报》的播客“金·斯特拉瑟尔的所有事情”中说，加巴德“每次在国会投票反对所谓的702授权”。现在她将成为702权威的发言人。这是一个合理的问题，只是说，好吧，你将如何处理这个问题?这是什么意思?”
兰克福德继续说，“如果她出来说，‘不，我要反对所有702权威’——这实际上关闭了我们所有的国防会议。现在，我不认为她会说什么，我有机会和她坐下来，但她会得到一个公平的听证会，能够把这些事情放在那里，并说，“这是我对这些问题的看法。”我认为这样做是对的。"
据Punchbowl News周五报道，加巴德对《外国情报监视法》第702条的批评一直是一个症结，该条款允许美国政府在没有逮捕令的情况下收集位于国外的非美国人的电子通信，她试图获得共和党和民主党参议员的支持，以确认为国家情报总监。
2020年，加巴德投票反对FISA的重新授权，认为《爱国者法案》和FISA“需要进行非常真实的改革”她认为，美国人不应该被迫在安全和自由之间做出选择，称《爱国者法案》和FISA“一直在允许滥用我们的公民自由，并允许我们自己的情报和执法机构通过未经授权全面收集我们的数据等行为，侵犯了我们的第四修正案宪法权利。”
加巴德认为，国会本可以改革《爱国者法案》和FISA，并补充说，她希望立法者有一天能够进行“必要的真正改革，以确保我们的国家安全和宪法权利得到保护。”
2020年，加巴德还呼吁保护美国人免受“非法无证监控”和“针对受第一修正案保护的活动的监控令的真正保护，如与记者的通信、抗议或宗教活动。”
她强调需要“限制商业记录收集的使用，它们不包括针对美国人的监控必须符合可能原因授权标准的必要要求。我们不能放弃定义美国的真正的宪法自由。”
然而，近五年后，加巴德在一份声明中告诉美国广播公司新闻，“我之前对FISA的担忧是基于对公民自由的保护不足，特别是关于美国联邦调查局滥用对美国公民的无证搜查权。”
“自从我在国会任职以来，FISA已经实施了重大改革来解决这些问题。如果被确认为DNI，我将维护美国人的第四修正案权利，同时维护重要的国家安全工具，如第702条，以确保美国人的安全和自由，”加巴德说。
“与其他FISA当局不同，702条款对于收集海外非美国人的外国情报至关重要，”她继续说道。“这种独特的能力是不可复制的，必须得到保护，以保护我们的国家，同时确保美国人的公民自由。”
参议院情报委员会主席、阿肯色州参议员汤姆·科顿(Tom Cotton)告诉美国广播公司(ABC)新闻，“塔尔西·加巴德(Tulsi Gabbard)在我们的谈话中向我保证，她支持最近修订的第702条，她将遵守法律，并支持其作为DNI的重新授权。”
最近几周，加巴德与主要是共和党参议员举行了近36次会议，讨论她的确认。她将于下周在国会山继续开会。周五，加巴德在国家情报总监办公室会见了现任国家情报总监艾薇儿·海恩斯。
参议院情报委员会(Senate Intelligence Committee)最高民主党人弗吉尼亚参议员马克·华纳(Mark Warner)在周二与加巴德会面后表示，“我带着很多问题进去。我仍然有很多问题。这是一项非常严肃的工作，需要保持情报界的独立性。这也意味着保持我们盟国的合作。我们在共享的基础上从我们的盟友那里获得了很多情报，如果这些信息没有得到保护，就会引发巨大的担忧。”
“我们有很多问题要问她，这只是一个过程的开始，”华纳补充道。当被问及是否计划再次与加巴德会面时，他说:“让我们看看她的回应是什么。”
Tulsi Gabbard shifts stance on key surveillance tool she previously opposed
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, announced on Friday her support for a government surveillance authority she was previously critical of as a member of Congress. She had voted against the reauthorization of a key surveillance bill in 2020, her last year in Congress.
In December, Gabbard met with Republican Sen. James Lankford. Last week, Lankford said on the Wall Street Journal's podcast "All Things With Kim Strassel" that Gabbard "has 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?"
Lankford continued, "If she comes out and says, 'No, I want to oppose all 702 authority' -- that literally shuts down all of our national defense gathering. Now, I don't think that that's what she's going to say at all, and I've had an opportunity to be able to sit down with her, but she's going to get a fair hearing to be able to put those things out there and to say, 'This is what I believe about these issues.' And I think it's the right thing to do."
Gabbard's criticism of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. government to collect electronic communications of non-Americans located outside the country without a warrant, having been a sticking point as she tries to gain support from senators, both Republicans and Democrats, to be confirmed as director of national intelligence, Punchbowl News reported Friday.
In 2020, Gabbard voted against the reauthorization of FISA, arguing that the Patriot Act and the FISA "needed to undergo very real reforms." She argued that Americans shouldn't be forced to choose between security and liberty, saying that the Patriot Act and FISA have "been allowing for the abuses of our civil liberties and overreach by our own intelligence and law enforcement agencies through doing things like warrantless sweeping collection of our data, violating our Fourth Amendment constitutional rights."
Gabbard contended that Congress could have reformed both the Patriot Act and FISA, adding that she had hoped lawmakers could one day create "real reforms necessary to ensure both our national security and our constitutional rights are protected."
In 2020, Gabbard also called for protections for Americans against "illegal warrantless surveillance" and "real protection against surveillance orders targeted at activities protected under the First Amendment, like communications with journalists, protests or religious activity."
She emphasized the need to "limit the use of business records collection, and they don't include the necessary requirement that surveillance directed towards a U.S. person be subject to a probable cause warrant standard. We cannot give up the very real constitutional freedoms that define America."
However, nearly five years later, Gabbard told ABC News in a statement, "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."
"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 said.
"Section 702, unlike other FISA authorities, is crucial for gathering foreign intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad," she continued. "This unique capability cannot be replicated and must be safeguarded to protect our nation while ensuring the civil liberties of Americans."
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told ABC News that "Tulsi Gabbard has assured me in our conversations that she supports Section 702 as recently amended and that she will follow the law and support its reauthorization as DNI."
In recent weeks, Gabbard has held nearly three dozen meetings with mostly Republican senators to discuss her confirmation. She is set to resume meetings on Capitol Hill next week. On Friday, Gabbard met with current director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said after his meeting with Gabbard on Tuesday, "I went in with a lot of questions. I've still got a lot of questions. This is an extraordinarily serious job that requires maintaining the independence of the intelligence community. It also means maintaining the cooperation of our allies. We get a lot of our intelligence from our allies on a sharing basis, and if that information is not kept secure, it raises huge concern."
"We've got a lot of questions out for her, and this is the beginning of a process," Warner added. When asked if he planned to meet with Gabbard again, he said, "Let's see what her responses are."
