Federal law requires the intelligence community to submit an annual worldwide threats assessment, but agencies failed to do so during Trump’s final two years in office. The last worldwide threats hearings were in January 2019.
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“Over the last four years, the Trump Administration discarded the tradition of open hearings on World Wide Threats, when it displeased the former president to have his preferred views of rival nations contradicted by agency heads,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff
The hearing will be the first congressional appearance for many of the witnesses since they were confirmed earlier this year.
It comes as the U.S. is facing a diverse set of threats, ranging from geopolitical tensions, a massive cyberattack on the U.S. government, a pandemic and an increase in domestic extremism.