Receipts. Call to order, this hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence. This is an unusual hearing for us, and it is exciting, from the back room it sounded like it was a reception, everyone was so excited to see their friends and to reconnect. That was happening on a social level. We will reconnect on the professional level. One thing that we know, for each of you, is you have had an incredible career in congress, incredible careers in National Security, incredible careers on this committee. We do not want to lose your resident expertise. And we believe that you work on a bipartisan basis, and certainly, you are about getting this committee working on a bipartisan basis. So we want to turn to you today to get your advice, on issues that you see that you think we need to be focused on. On issues that you think this committee, as you have seen the work we have been doing, should either continue or modify, in the way we are undertaking them. So i want first to introduce we have in front of us. We have former congresswoman jane harmon, who during her time in congress, remain steadfast and a commitment to u. S. National security, miss harmon served as the Ranking Member of House Intelligence Committee in the 107th and 108 congress. She also shared the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence and served as the president and ceo of the Wilson Center following her time in office. Former congressman frank luliano, who earned reputation as an advocate for the Intelligence Committees work in some of the most remote in dangerous areas of the world, where he himself would often travel. For congresswoman, lana ross laden who made history as the first hispanic republican woman and the first cuban american elected to congress. Miss ross little is also a leader in advocacy for the u. S. Israeli relationship during her time in the house of representatives. Former congressman pete king, who is known for his dedication to u. S. Counterterrorism efforts. Mr. King previously served as chairman of the House Homeland Security committee in the 109th and the 112 congress. He is a wellknown commentator on National Security and world affairs. And former congressman jim laundrymen, who was a leading voice on cybersecurity issues, he chaired the Armed Services committee on intelligence and one and 16th congress, and mr. Langevin served as the chair to my being his Ranking Member on the strategic subcommittee of Armed Services. We appreciate the each of you are here today, we know, the preparation you are asked these basic questions, what are the most critical threats facing our nation, what is the proper role of the Intelligence Community in our nations response to these threats . What was the Unfinished Business of this committee while you served in congress, that he believed that this committee needs to continue, and any other advice or thoughts that we might have for us, we welcome you here today. I recognize current Ranking Member. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you to our former colleagues to take the time to be here today, to provide your expertise. Its great to see all of you again. All of you developed a tremendous amount of knowledge while you are members. I like to commend the chairman for bringing us together in this venue, so you can share your perspective and expertise on the work we do here in the Intelligence Committee. I say this all of the time. The fact is that intelligence oversight is very, very hard. We all served on other committees where you have the assistance of an aggressive press, nonprofits, others who are scrutinizing Financial Services industry, the carbon industry, all sorts of things. It is committee, quite often, it is just us and our staff, to look at some of the most challenging and provoking issues that we face as a country. And of course, intelligence oversight involves command of very complicated technical issues, very complicated legal issues. It is difficult in this short time that we are given here on this committee to develop the expertise, that does the American People proud, by making sure that our Intelligence Community is both immensely capable, but that it operates into the values and legally bound to the constitution. I said before, oftentimes as members of this committee, we tend to get hyper focus on some of the areas which are tremendously important, but exceptionally narrow. As people who have sat in these very seas previously, my hope is you can point us to areas where we should be focusing on more holistically, instead of risking losing the forest for the trees. Finally, china. Obviously lots and lots of challenges out there. But the challenges and opportunities posed by china, i think, are very different than things we have seen in the past. Often, my colleagues, i think in appropriately invoked the concept of a new cold war. The reality is when we were in the old cold war with the soviet union, with almost no trade with the soviet union. They did not own trillions of dollars of our sovereign debt. We do not have the same common interests we have with a country like china, even as we have less common interests, it violates regularly the values that are so important to us as americans. So i hope, to hear your thoughts on how this committee and congress can thoughtfully and, in statesman like fashion, approach this critical issue. Again, thank you for being here today, mister chairman, i yield back. Thank you. Proceeding with Opening Statements order. Miss harman mr. Lobiondo miss ross layton, mr. King and mr. Langevin will begin with miss harman. Is this on . Yes it is. Good morning, everybody. I served with some of you, as we all did over the years. And darin, i remember your father so finally. Please say hello. I served with all these people, its ignores the exciting to have this reunion of people dedicated to the intelligence enterprise. I was thinking that on 9 11, just before i became a Ranking Member, i was walking towards the dome of the capital at nine a. M. , to remind, thats where the Intelligence Committee rooms were, in the dome of the capital. Everyone now thinks that was the intended target of the fourth plane which went down in pennsylvania. They were aiming at us, obviously they were aiming at our government. And could have, maybe caused a continuity of government crisis, because congress did not have a thoughtful plan of what to do if the capital were attacked. But it has been a long road from then to now. The one thing that has not changed at all is, well, it did change for a while, but the one thing that is back is the bipartisan character of this committee. And i just want to commend all of you for holding hands. I gather you just went on a big trip, 11 of you, to the middle east. And everybody got along. You know, it was solidarity. And, to remind what i said, of what i said back in the day, the terrorists will not check our Party Registration before they blow us up. And it is a sobering thought, and it is worth keeping in mind, always, even in the toughest times. Even when partisanship aims to drag us apart, it cannot drag us apart on this. So you have asked about Lessons Learned from my long tenure on the committee. And it was here on this committee, probably the most important thing that we did after two enormous intelligence failures on 9 11, and on the iraq wmd and i. E. , was to play a key role in drafting a bipartisan basis, and passing irtpa, the intelligence reform and terrorist prevention act of 2004. Remember how brave pete hugs from, then Committee Chair was to join with others including me, susan collins, Joe Lieberman in supporting this, in spite of the opposition from the thenchair of the Armed Services committee and even vice president. The president was for it, they were against it and he briefly stood up and passed on an overwhelming bipartisan basis. As i said, our first piece of advice is to fight to keep the bipartisan reputation of the committee and to make certain of the overarching mission is to provide our country, to protect our country, not ones reelection, not that reelection does not matter, we all understand this, but to put the country first. And i applaud this committee, let me go to the topic i really want to address, for creating a Bipartisan Working Group to focus on the reauthorization of section 702 of fisa. To remind, in the 70s, i was working in the Carter White House on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act passed on a bipartisan basis to correct the abuses that had been identified by the Church Committee. It also set up this committee back in the day, and fisa was strictly adhere to over many, many years. Then, it turned out that after 9 11, the administration, instead of following fisa, went through the office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department and came up with a series of appearances to justify practices outside of fisa. And when Congress Found this out, which we did, it was disclosed by some reporters and then, president bush, 43, partially declassified a program underway, we in the congress, not just one party, worked to amend fisa, to modernize fisa, which should have happened long before, and to include section 700 to among other things. It was not perfect. Guess what, legislation is often not perfect. It probably needs to be updated and tweaked. But it should not expire. It should not expire, that will be hugely dangerous. I just want to make the point that this committee is on the case, and i really appreciate the efforts of all of you to try to find the best answers. My second recommendation is to make a i, Artificial Intelligence essential focus of your work. To do this, you need technical capacity in your staff. You also need technical capacity in your own heads, [laughter] i would suggest that digital natives, some of you might be that, i am not one of those people, really have to understand how the Technology Works in order to help you embrace it, put guardrails around it, and to understand that a. I. Has huge dangers, but also has huge advantages. And as open sourced intelligence becomes an increasing part of the intelligence enterprise, a. I. Will be all over. And you have to understand what can happen there. Third piece of advice, focus on china as a peer competitor, but do not surge everything on china. The world remains dangerous. Think north korea, think iran, think some things which are going on in africa. Think domestic extremists. Think all of the things in addition to china, that you have to stay focused on. So you need a whole of world approach to the intelligence enterprise. And i suggest again, while focusing on chinas probably, and i would think this as well, the number one threat, keep brain cells and attention on other things. Finally, the i c and congress should be commended for the classified intelligence, has a role to play in deterrence and the broader u. S. Security. The declassification of intelligence on ukraine was central in preparing the ukrainians for the fight and ensuring that the world recognized russian aggression for what it was, and for making sure that the russians knew that we were staying one step ahead. Back in my day, not only was their overclassification, which remain a problem, but also there was an aversion to any declassification. And it is a very good, i think, deterrent. It was used skillfully by our Intelligence Committee this time. So in conclusion, many of these tasks are different now from my days on the committee. But the challenge of terrorism, and the challenge of china endured. And this committee is on it. So, i am just optimistic about what you can do, working together, and what we would all like to do to help you. This is a happy little band of bipartisan friends. And we are here to help. And i think it was an inspired idea to have this hearing, to let us all hug each other again, thank you. Excellent. Mr. Lobiondo . Think you mister chairman, chairman turner and mr. Himes for putting this together. It is an honor and pleasure to be here today, to share my inserts from serving on the House Intelligence Committee for the final eight years of my 24 year tenure in the United States congress. My time on the committee was certainly some of the most personally rewarding and professionally challenging of opportunities in my career of public service. It is the privilege to have been appointed to ic, to chair the cia subcommittee for a period of time. As you know, there are many aspects of serving on fc that we cant discuss beyond the walls of the scif. Most americans will never know the true extent of the threats to our National Security, and the rule of those who serve on fc and city play in conjunction with the men and women of our Intelligence Committee in forwarding those planned attacks. That is what makes your job today so critically essential to securing our future going forward. Theres no shortage of issues before the committee for you to be rightly focused on. From russian aggression in europe, to north koreas provocation in asia, from Irans Nuclear ambitions to the erosion of Democratic Institutions across the globe. The geopolitical picture is increasingly complex, while the security situation is exponentially more fragile. But i want to focus my remarks today on a region, often overlooked by u. S. Policy makers, to the detriment of our own National Security interests, and security overall. And that is africa. The dual threat of chinas systematic expansion alongside the resurgence of terrorist recruitment and training makes ignoring africa a grave and strategic mistake for the United States. The Unfinished Business of our Intelligence Committee is crucial to understanding chinas advances, and the operational capabilities that terrorist groups are developing in various locations on the continent. During my time on the committee, i made approximately two dozen trips to the african continent. My primary focus was the front lines of engagement in the most hostile regions of our intelligence case officers and u. S. Special forces. Places like somalia, angela, molly, niger, djibouti, not the destinations american tourists or state visits. I was often the first sitting member of congress to visit some of these places in decades. In the five years since my last trip, the situation has only grown more desperate from my vantage point. And the biggest geopolitical challenge to the United States is taking advantage of that. Let me be blunt. I believe china is bribing its way across the african continent, creating economic partnerships with impoverished african nations for its own Global Security objectives, from security leasing rights for rare earth minerals, to assessing key transportation infrastructure along the atlantic and indian ocean. China has muscled its way into the void created by lack of sustained u. S. Policy and engagements by numerous administrations. In my opinion, our diplomatic engagement has been marginalized for compelling priorities while our intelligence collection capabilities have been wholly inadequate for the entirety of the 21st century. This is providing opportunities not only for china, but for the direct threats the u. S. Interests and assets. Weak central governments across the subsaharan are allowing terrorist groups like alshabaab and boko haram to expand Operational Training grounds to export their death and destruction to western democracies, where their main goal of attacking the United States. Offshoots of alqaeda and i. S. I. S. Are looking to the congo, burkina faso, libya, Central African republic and other economically depressed nations to gain a foothold. Recruitment of young men to terrorism is made easier by the sense of disillusionment with their own governments, fueled by abandonment by the United States in the region. What keeps me up at night is the critical mistake the u. S. Could make by further reducing intelligence capabilities in africa. Instead of reducing, we must really ramp up, not cut back. Federal resources and man power we have in the cia nsa and other intelligence partners to get a better understanding of how badly we are falling behind is important. A robust Human Intelligence Program on the continent would give a greater insight into how these terrorist groups are developing their operational capabilities. And in my view, from my time on the committee and all of the trips, there is no substitute for human intelligence. The ability to develop human intelligence source takes years. The language barriers, the customs, all that goes on. And when we let that