Senior officials from the U.S. intelligence and police communities told a Senate panel on Wednesday that a “changing landscape” of interconnected and rapid global threats, ranging from climate change a cyberattacks – would mean that agencies will have to rethink part of their focus on national security issues.
They said no threat appears greater or more thorny than that posed by China, which National Intelligence Director Avril Haines called an “unparalleled priority” and a “formidable challenge.”
“China is increasingly a close competitor to all countries challenging the United States in multiple areas, while pushing for a review of global rules in a way that favors the Chinese authoritarian system,” Haines said in the first statements.
Haines testified alongside the directors of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, all of whom were presented to the Committee on Human Rights. ‘Senate information for an annual public hearing on threats around the world.
It was the first time since 2019 that the hearing was held, a tradition of more than a decade. Intelligence leaders opposed declaring publicly last year to avoid a public reprimand from then-President Trump, who previously disapproved their own intelligence officials to offer assessments in apparent conflict with their administration’s policies.
The testimony of officials followed the publication of a written report on Tuesday that presented the collective assessment of the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies on the main threats.
After Haines recapitulated the report’s main findings in his initial statement, committee chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said they were “as many horrible things in ten minutes as I’ve been able to hear in recent times.”
Warner focused on the technological threat from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which said it feared trying to “dominate” a wide range of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
The intelligence community “must have a clear view to assess the extent of the threats posed by the CCP,” he said.
Florida Republican Vice President Marco Rubio put pressure on Haines in the ongoing work of the intelligence community to determine the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. A laboratory accident scenario, according to Rubio, remained “plausible.”
Haines responded that the intelligence community “does not know exactly where, when or how” COVID-19 was initially transmitted, but said the two theories of a natural occurrence and a laboratory accident are still they were exploring.
CIA Director William Burns added that Beijing’s leadership “has not been completely transparent or fully transparent” in what it had shared with relevant global health authorities or the U.S. government.
Senators also expressed repeated concerns about the country’s own readiness to defend against cyber intrusions, including how it struggled with the consequences of Russian SolarWinds espionage campaign and the Microsoft Exchange Hack attributed to Chinese spies.
NSA Director General Paul Nakasone, who also leads the U.S. Cyber Command, said the visibility of agencies on national entities ’cybersecurity was limited because adversaries had“ structured their activities ”to exploit US legal and political borders. He also said that cyber intruders had gone beyond techniques such as impersonation and password to “overcome best practices” – more sophisticated maneuvers, such as targeting supply chain vulnerabilities and using zero day farms.
Nakasone told the court repeatedly that he was “not seeking” enhanced authorities for either the NSA or the Cyber Command, but that the existing “blind spots” were a challenge that relevant agencies should “be able to address.”
Senators seemed to reserve their most sensitive questions about current threats with real-time political implications, including on Iran’s nuclear program and Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s border, for the scheduled session at the door. closed following the public hearing.
On Tuesday, President Biden proposed a US-Russia Summit in a third country in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a White House reading, which also said Mr Biden was looking for a “stable and predictable” relationship with Moscow.
The administration has also sent officials to Vienna for indirect talks aimed at reactivating the country Iran Nuclear Agreement 2015.
Several lawmakers proposed the planned withdrawal by the administration of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, which President Biden announced Wednesday afternoon.
“When the time comes for the withdrawal of the U.S. military, the U.S. government’s ability to pick up and act on threats will diminish; that’s simply a fact,” Burns said. But, he added, the CIA and other partners would retain “a set of capabilities” that would help the United States “anticipate and combat” new threats that may arise.
“I think we need to have a clear view of the reality posed by the potential challenge of terrorism that both al-Qaeda and ISIS in Afghanistan continue to try to regain the ability to attack U.S. targets,” Burns said. “After years of sustained anti-terrorist pressure, the reality is that none of them have that capability today.”
Burns will testify along with the same panel of witnesses before the House Intelligence Committee for his version of Thursday’s hearing.