Department and nato. Id like to call the hearing to order. Thatd committee convenes its second open hearing of 2017 into russian interference in the 2016 u. S. Election the 12th open hearing this year. To date our open hearings have largely focused on the domestic impact of russias dealings. Todays hearing will hilet russias intersfeerns in the european elections. Senator burr we hope to gain additional understanding of russian efforts to undermine Democratic Institutions worldwide as the committee continues its inquiry. The Intelligence Committee assessed in january that moscow will apply Lessons Learned from its campaign aimed at the United States president ial election to further influence efforts worldwide. It further assessed that russia sought to influence elections across europe. The director of National Intelligence copse echoed those words as recently as may when he testified before the senate that russias seeking to influence election in europe, including france, germany and