Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) said in an interview Sunday that he would support President-elect Trump’s nomination of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (R-Hawaii) to be director of national intelligence.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Lankford said his support for Gabbard was due to her reversal on FISA Section 702. This would authorize the United States to conduct warrantless surveillance on non-U.S. citizens abroad.
“I do,” Lankford said when asked about Gabbard, who consistently voted against reauthorizing Section 702 when she served in the House.
“And that was a very important piece for me.” He continued by mentioning Gabbard’s turnaround last week. “Obviously she voted against the 702 authority. And to be clear, that authority is actually intended to enable us to track foreign terrorists. “It has nothing to do with American citizens or anything happening in the United States.”
“If confirmed as DNI, I will defend America’s Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining critical national security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people,” Gabbard said in a statement last week.
Lankford told NBC he was encouraged by the statement.
“One of the roles of the Director of National Intelligence is to actually monitor people coming to attack us and stop them before they do,” he said.
Lankford previously said it was important for Gabbard to clarify her position on Section 702.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, Lankford pointed to Gabbard’s past opposition to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act powers as an important issue she should address during her confirmation hearing.
“She will be the spokesperson for the 702 authorities. It’s a legitimate question to say, ‘Okay, what are you going to do about this?’ What does that mean?’ Because if she came out and said, “No, I want to oppose the whole 702 authority,” literally every defense meeting would be shut down,” Lankford said last week.
“Now I get the opportunity to sit down with her without any thought that she would say something like that, but she would present those things in a fair hearing. And say, ‘This is what I believe about the matter.’ And I think it’s the right thing to do,” he added.
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