And fbi director christopher wray. They join other members of the community to talk about the continued importance of support for ukraine, competition with china, border security, Artificial Intelligence, and efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. Held by the Senate Intelligence committee, this is about two hours, 15 minutes. Continued su, the israelhamas war, competition with china, and efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. This is about two hours and 15 minutes. Good afternoon. I would like to call this hearing to order and welcome to our witnesses. Good afternoon. Id like to call this hearing to order and welcome our witnesses, director of national intelligence, admiral haynes, cia director bill burns, fbi director christopher wray, assistant secretary for intelligence and research at the department, director of National Security agents the, and Defense IntelligenceAgency DirectorLieutenant General jeffrey cruz. Thank you for appearing today before the Senate Intelligence committees annual worldwide threats hearing. It is important for congress and for the American People to hear directly from the leaders of our intelligence committee. About the threats and challenges facing the United States. Id like to first acknowledge the women and men of the u. S. Intel community. Most americans will never see the work they do behind the scenes. But be assured that the members of this committee know it is important, and we thank you for what you do to keep america safe. The federal environment today is perhaps one of the most challenging we have seen in recent years. We see nations backsliding from democratic institutions. We see authoritarian systems seeking to impose their will upon neighbors while looking to undermine the International System that is a guarantor of security and stability since world war ii. And we see the rise in competition around new technologies. We must ensure that our institutions, including the ic, evolved to meet these new challenges. Which means, in my mind, redefining what we think of as National Security. The ic was built to collect measures of hard power. The ships, planes, and military personnel an adversary might have. But the nature of strategic competition today revolves as much about not only traditional military power, but around nontraditional tools. And the ability to harness emerging dual use technologies. For example, advanced Communication Networks can provide ubiquitous connectivity, but also ubiquitous surveillance. Artificial intelligence can accelerate software development, but can also accelerate malicious Cyber Attacks or the spread of misinformation. Biotechnology advancements may lead one day to curing cancer or eliminating famine. But also may create new pathogens, or even genetically engineered super soldiers. Access to Rare Earth Minerals may help to turn who shapes the Energy Future for the whole world. Compounding all of this, the nature of conflict increasingly allows adversaries to project power through asymmetrical means. For example, Cyber Attacks can disable Critical Infrastructure from thousands of miles away and are increasingly available to a widening array of actors. Inexpensive, unmanned systems, drones can threaten multibilliondollar ships. We are now even seeing the possibility for adversaries weapon icing space in ways that could be massively destructive, not only to our National Security, but to our way of life , and using tools such as gps and satellite communications. Similarly, misinformation and disinformation are increasingly deployed cheaply by an array of adversarial actors. We all know that more than 60 countries, over half the worlds population, will boat this year. And i am deeply concerned that democracy, including in the United States, is under greater threat than ever from these foreign adversaries. Bad actors like russia are particularly incentivized to interfere, given what is at stake in ukraine. Poll after poll increasingly demonstrates that americans are distrustful of traditional sources of information. And while ai provides the tools to spread sophisticated misinformation at an unprecedented speed and scale, admits these threats, our ability to respond, has been hamstrung. Recent litigation pending before the Supreme Court has had a Chilling Effect on the voluntary sharing of information related to foreign maligned influence threats between u. S. Government agencies and social media companies. So today, i would like each of our witnesses to report on how their agencies and the ic as a whole are prepared and poised to meet these technologybased challenges, and what more needs to be done. And yet, even with this new landscape, more traditional National Security challenges remain. Terrorist groups still threaten our homeland. Over the last couple of years, weve seen authoritarian powers challenging democratic norms, undermining the order, and intimidating their neighbors. The peoples republic of china under xi jinping has presented an unprecedented challenge. A technoauthoritarian behemoth whose economy is intertwined with our own. Challenging Democratic Values, u. S. Leadership, and global institutions. Often using enormous government subsidies. China has used substantial investment power to lead or attempt to dominate a range of key industries. Whether it be communications, social media, or genomics. Another authoritarian adversary, russia, has continued its brutal invasion of ukraine. Legally using military forces to seize territory. Ukrainians have bravely been fending off the Russian Military for over two years, supported by partners around the world. The Russian Military has suffered severe losses of equipment. The fact that close to 87 of russias prewar Ground Forces have been taken out of the conflict by either being killed or wounded. And now, as a result of this aggression, putin faces what he has always feared a nato more united than ever. That said, this war is an incredible phase with a serious imbalance of equipment. And my fear is the decision thus far by the house of representatives not to even take up legislation that would support ukraine in the fight against putins aggression has been one of the most shortsighted decisions on a National Security issue that i can possibly imagine. Without this assistance, ukrainian defenses will be disastrously undermined, as well as Global Confidence in americas resolve will be undermined. That will be the case weather comes from putin in the europe for the prc and taiwan. As we convene this hearing, we also face continued instability in the middle east. The horrific terrorist attacks against israel civilians by hamas on october 7th have been followed by an incursion by israel that has caused an estimated 30,000 palestinians their lives. And while iran and its key partners such as hezbollah appear to be deterred from widening the conflict for now, other iranian proxies such as yemen and the militias have attempted to expand their conflict and drag in our country. At the same time, israels war against hamas has shown the difficulty of using military force alone to eradicate a nonstate actor embedded in a civilian population. Especially one that has been so adept at using underground tunnels. And i worry that Prime Minister netanyahus conduct in the war threatens to undermine report for israel in the longterm, including in the united dates. This International Support has been key to israels security. As a longtime friend for israel, this has been of great concern to me for even israels support in the United States. In addition, we convene at this timely hearing as Congress Faces a pressing deadline on a key National Security program, section 702 of the federal surveillance act, which provides unique and critical foreign intelligence nessus very to protect our National Security, enabling the ic to prevent and thwart terrorist attacks, trap foreign spies, uncover economic espionage, protect u. S. Troops, expose human and drug trafficking, and disrupt foreign Cyber Attacks. Allowing this program to lapse would critically damage our National Security. In closing, we face an increasing array of diversity of challenges, but we also have an opportunity to reinvigorate americas Democratic Values in the face of autocracies like china and russia. We cannot take for granted either democracy or that the International System that has kept americans safe for decades. Maintaining both requires leadership, conviction, and sacrifice. With that, let me now turn to the vice chairman. Thank you all for coming here today. I also extend my thanks to the men and women who work underneath you who do the important work of keeping our countrys eighth. What i think you could describe is one of those pivotal moments in history where, when life will be like for generations is being determined by whats happening now and in the near future. Perhaps faster than any other time in human history. I think we have to remind ourselves if we are going to talk about the specific threats , the what and the why. The bigger outline picture of why things are happening the way they are happening. Because i do think they are all interrelated. The end of the cold war, lets say the late 2000s, we lived in a unipolar world. The United States was basically the only country in the world echo project power anywhere at any time and we were called to do many things in regard to that. And i still think america, by far, economic, culturally, militarily, remains the worlds strongest nation and should remain that way for the foreseeable future if we make the right choices. That order that we just described is being challenged. Is being challenged by nationstates that frankly dont like the world looks now. I think it benefits america and it hurts them and they want to replace the world that they think is beneficial to america and are democratic allies with an alternative if not at least a replacement, this new order that they seek. The chinese, they believe we are in inevitable decline and that their rise is inevitable as well. Like i said, they dont like the rules of the world as a believer written by america and our allies, so they increasingly are taking it upon themselves at every opportunity to challenge them. At every domain, they steal our ideas so that their companies can do the things that we do, of course, do it cheaper and flood markets with those products. I dont need to tell this panel or the members of this committee and the general public that they are expanding their military capabilities and in the ordinary way to include not simply projecting power in the pacific, but around the world. They manipulate loopholes in our laws and systems in this country. They gain strategic advantage in industries and undermine our industries and return. They are a major part of flooding this country with deadly drugs that are destroying communities and ravaging entire families. And theyve also gotten very good at hiring lobbyists and even deputizing the Corporate America to come up and lobby us for things that are beneficial to the chinese goals at the expense of this country long term. And i think its important to mention here today, they also happen to control anyone who says they dont doesnt know what they are talking about, as every company in china is controlled by the Chinese Communist party. They happen to control one of the worlds best Artificial IntelligenceArtificial Intelligence algorithms. Its the one thats used in this country, and it uses the data of americans to basically read your mind and predict what videos you want to see. The reason why ticktock is so accessible is because it knows you better than you know yourself. The more you use it, the more it learns. The problem is that tiktok the algorithm that powers it is controlled by a company in china that must do whatever the Chinese Communist party tells it to do. The only way that that algorithm works is that company in china under the control of the Chinese Government is given access to that data that tiktok collects. Tiktok does not work without that algorithm, and that algorithm is controlled by a company that is controlled by the Chinese Communist party under the law of china. In the case of putin, he also sees america as decadent and in decline, and he views russia as resilient. They view themselves as a great power, and he believes great power has a right, not just to have their own borders, to control the countries around their borders as buffer state. I think he already has belarus in his mind, and its one of the reasons why he invades ukraine. In the case of iran, they want to export their shia Islamic Revolution to the entire middle east. The problem with this is two things standing in their way. The state of israel, and the United States of america. And that is why they have proxy groups in places like syria and iraq and lebanon and yemen and gaza. Who they use for their purposes. One of their purposes is to use these groups to attack americans so we will say, its not worth the trouble. We need to get out of there. Once we leave, they will move on jordan and bahrain and they will make israel an unlivable place. Ultimately, their ambitions are the entire region or most of the gulf kingdoms. Thats i think its a mistake to look at the horrific events on october 7th as simply a long standing israelipalestinian problem. It is deeply tied to the head of the snake, and the head of the snake is in iran. Add to these three countries north korea. They have become increasingly aggressive. In fact, i would argue we are perhaps closer to some possible armed hostilities than we have been in a decade or longer. Why . Why have they become so aggressive . They feel empowered. Putin is buying things from them and helping them to break from national isolation. I dont know what percentage of their economy is powered by Ransomware Attacks and cyber hacking, but it is substantial. And then i add to all these that terror is still a threat. Iran, as has been publicly reported, is still trying to kill former government officials that live in the United States of america. There are four government officials in this country no longer in office who require 24 hour a basic 30 because iran is trying to kill them. Hezbollah, an agent of iran, is also looking for ways to conduct terrorist attacks for israeli and jewish interest. By the way, isis and al qaeda are not out of business. They also want to kill americans. I can do it in the homeland. They would love that. All of that happening at a time or perhaps the single largest most eventful migration corridor in history is operating right off of our border. So i think its a mistake sometimes to divide all of these problems geographically, because in some ways, they are all interrelated and key ways. These individual states all have different ambitions, but they share a common goal. The common goal is a world friendlier and better for them, and a world in which america is weakened unless able to act. All these crises begin to interlock in a way that help them. The chinese and russians probably see great benefit no, not probably. They see great benefit with whats happening in the middle east. They figure every second and every dollar of our attention, we are not paying attention to what is happening in ukraine and the indo pacific. The chinese see great benefit in ukraine as well, because they see it as, the more time and money we spend there, the less time and focus we have on them. One of the things i know the chinese hope for is one of two things. A, we deplete ourselves in ukraine or the middle east, or be, we cut and run, and they can go around the world, i told you america is weak. They have a plan for either outcome, which makes it challenging for us as we decide what to do here. So these things all come together, and i think thats really the overarching threat we face, is an understanding that none of these should be viewed in isolation. The goal that russia has, the golden iran has, the role of chinese, they may be different goals. But one of the real developments to threaten the security of our country is that they are increasingly partnering with one another. Not a nato alliance, but they are increasingly partnering with each other. That is on selected topics and selected opportunities, because they all share one goal, and that is they want to weaken america, we can our alliance is, we can ending and our capabilities and our will, because it helps them to achieve the world as they envision it, the world that they want. But it comes at the expense of all that has been built over the last 20 or 30 years. I think that one of the greatest dangers we face is the inability to see how all these things are interconnected. And i think one of the greatest challenges we face is to deal with them as if they are interconnected. I think that what life will be like on this planet for the next generation will be determined very much by what we do or fa