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."