Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard reportedly disagreed with President Donald Trump during a February meeting over a clean extension of a provision within a surveillance court bill despite publicly supporting it last year.
Gabbard met with the president in February over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and reforms that could be proposed, Politico’s Morning Cyber newsletter reported citing two anonymous sources. The section allows for the monitoring of communications between foreigners and, in some cases, American citizens without a warrant.
The meeting repeatedly ended with no meaningful compromise, with the president continuing to push for a clean extension of the provision, according to Politico.
The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Gabbard previously criticized the tool before becoming the DNI when serving as a Democratic congresswoman representing Hawaii, co-sponsoring legislation with Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in 2020 that sought to end data collection. She had also called the FISA program “an overreach” of congressional powers.
“Unfortunately Congress just passed a bill allowing continuation of intel/law enforcement agencies to infringe on your civil liberties,” Gabbard wrote in 2020. “Patriot Act & Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) needed real reforms to prevent these constitutional abuses. Congress failed to do this.”
Upon being promoted to DNI, the former Democrat shifted her tone on Section 702 by calling the program “crucial” and that it “must be safeguarded to protect our national while ensuring the civil liberties of Americans,” Punchbowl News reported in 2025.
“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,” Gabbard told ABC News at the time.
Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday that he supported a clean extension of FISA’s Section 702 with no amendments, saying that he would be “willing to risk the giving up of [his] Rights and Privileges” for the extension.
“Our Military Patriots desperately need FISA 702, and it is one of the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield,” Trump wrote in part.
A group of bipartisan senators spoke against a clean extension of the FISA extension, citing threats Artificial Intelligence poses concerning mass surveillance of Americans’ personal data. Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee also introduced a bill that would force agencies to get a warrant before buying Americans’ data or accessing private communications.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is aiming for a new vote on Thursday following extended GOP resistance to the bill, according to Politico. Talks between White House officials and GOP holdouts are still ongoing with no deal in place, the outlet reported.
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