On cspan. On cspan, we are live at the Heart Senate Office Building for a hearing this morning that will feature the acting at ei director, andrew mccabe, mike pompeo, director of National Intelligence dan coats, looking at intelligence threats. Beenr director comey had scheduled to testify this morning before his firing the other day by President Trump. Expecting a lot of questions at the hearing this morning about that issue, and more. Live coverage this morning on cspan. Senator richard burr, the chair of the committee, subpoena Michael Flynn for documents related to the intelligence Intelligence Committee us investigation. This is their worldwide threats hearing, getting underway shortly here on cspan. Sen. Burr i would like to call the hearing to order. I would like to welcome our witnesses today. The director of National Intelligence, dan coats. Good to see our former colleague. Director of the Central Intelligence agency, mike pompeo. Director of defense intelligence, vince stewart. Director of the National Security agency, mike rogers. Director of Geospatial Intelligence agency, robert cardella. And andrew mccabe, acting director of the at ei. Fbi thank you for coming in on such short notice. Since 1995, this committee has met with an open forum to hear about and discuss the security threats facing the United States of america. I understand that many people tuned in today and were hopeful that we would focus solely on the Russian Investigation and their involvement in our elections. Let me disappoint everybody up front. While the committee certainly views russian intervention in our elections as a significant threat, the purpose of todays hearing is to view and highlight , to the extent possible, the ranges of threats that we face as a nation. Security threat picture has evolved significantly since 1995. What used to be a collection of mostly physical and state taste National Security concerns has been replaced by something altogether different. Our traditional focus on countries like north korea, russia, and iran, is comforted by new challenges like strategic threats posed by nonstate actors. Danger of transnational terrorists who can use the internet to inspire violence and fear in the homeland all without leaving their safe havens in the middle east. What has not changed, however, is the dedication and patriotism of the women and men who make up the United StatesIntelligence Community. The very people represented by our witnesses this morning. One of the many reasons i find so much value in this hearing is that it provides the American Public with some insight into the threats facing our country. But it also lets people know what is being done on their behalf to the threats. The witnessesl today to not only a dress the threats to talk about what their doanizations are helping to to help this country to the degree they can in a classified statement setting. Coats, yours is a lengthy and detailed account of what this country is facing and thes evidence of why substantial resources and investments that this committee authorizes are in fact necessary. From the human tragedy of the refugee crisis in the middle east to the risk that territorial ambitions will set off a regional conflict in the south china sea, it is a complicated and challenging world. Director pompeo, the Korean Peninsula is a point of concern to me and many on this committee. I would like your insight into what is behind north koreas unprecedented level of Nuclear Missile testing and how close they are to holding the u. S. Mainland at risk of a nuclear attack. I also value your sense of how of the southctions korean president will impact things for us on that peninsula. General stewart, im sure that you are aware of the reinvigorated policy discussions on afghanistan. While we all respect that you cant offer your own recommendations on what that veryy should be, i would much value your assessment of the situation in afghanistan today, including the state of governance in cobble and the proficiency of the afghan National Security forces and whether taliban reconciliation is a realistic objective. If the u. S. Is ramping up in afghanistan, we need to know the iocs abuse on what we are getting into. Youro will share assessment of the battlefield in iraq and in syria with us this morning. On the ground include Ongoing Operations to dislodge isis from proposal mosul. Rogers, i made a couple of references to cyber already and thats for good reason. Of the many difficult challenges we will discuss this morning, nothing worries me more than the threat of a wellplanned, well executed widescale attack on the Computer Networks and systems that make america work. From banking and health care to military and Critical Infrastructure, the functionality of our modern society is dependent on pewters. On computers. Nearly all informations systems will be at risk for years. That alarms me. Admiral rogers, i look forward to hearing from you on this line of assessments. ,irector cargo low cardillo youre at the nexus of Data Collection and analysis. Given the complexity of what we are being confronted with and the Global Nature of what this country faces, expectations are high. We know that the ic cannot be everywhere that everywhere at once, but that is sort of a we look to them to do. I would appreciate your sense of what nga analytic strengths are today and what the role of commercial imagery is in the future. Welcome to the, table and into the fray. To the extent possible i hope you will discuss the bureaus assessment of the terrorist threat within our borders. Your agents are often our last line of defense here at home and i will say, continue to do outstanding work. We are fortunate to have six people with the experience and the dedication that we have today. What i would like to highlight for my colleagues, the committee will be holding a crass classified hearing today at 1 30. I will do everything i can to make sure that the essence you ask in this open session are appropriate to the venue we are in. I would ask you to think about that long and hard and if there is a question, to move to a staffer to ask him whether this is the appropriate area and if you, as our witnesses, feel there is something you cannot sufficiently answer in an open setting, you will pause long enough to get my attention and we will try to make sure that we moved to the appropriate setting. With that, i turn to the vicechairman for any comments you might make. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for your leadership on this committee. Good to see you all, but it is impossible to ignore that one of the leaders of the Intelligence Committee is not here with us today. The president s firing of director comey tuesday night was a shocking development. Dismissal, tothe me and others is especially troubling. And if there was any coordination in the campaign or efforts to interfere in the election. If it was related to this investigation. That is truly unacceptable. We were scheduled to hear directly from director comey today in open session. We and the American People. We anticipate asking director comey a series of questions about his actions as they relate to the russians. Trumps actions this week cost us the opportunity to get at the truth, at least for today. You may wonder, a bit, how seriously i wonder how the white house continues to dismiss this investigation. This administration doesnt take the investigation to seriously. It is important to restate the importance of the independence and integrity. Important to maintaining. He principal the presents actions that should be deeply concerning, no matter which Political Party belonged to. These developments make the investigation into the russian influence on 2016 u. S. President ial election even more important. While it is clear to me now, more than ever that an independent special counsel must be appointed, make no mistake, our committee will get to the bottom of what happened during the 2016 president ial election. I again want to, the chairman. We hope to speak to mr. Comey. Mr. Mccabe, i do want to make or that my first question to you, even in this public setting, will be for you to assure the committee that if you come under any political influence from the white house or others to squash this investigation or impede it in any way, that you will let the committee know. This investigation has had its ups and downs. Could myself, have at times been frustrated with the pace. We will no doubt face other challenges in the future. And bumps,ns sometimes, is how bipartisanship works, its a constant struggle but one worth making and im proud of how members of this committee on both sides of the aisle have conducted themselves in one of the most challenging political environments we have ever seen. We believe this investigation to be on a solid, bipartisan footing. In spite of the events in the last one in four hours, i attempt i intend to maintain the committees focus on the investigation. Recent actions only increase the burden of responsibility on all of us to be sure that we live up to this challenge and uncover the truth. There is obviously consensus agreement among u. S. The exactce committee same playbook was used in the French Elections. No one trip no one should forget, we had some of the folks in from the German Service recently, there was a hacking into the german bundestag. Its fair to say that they should be looking for more Cyber Attacks with their Upcoming National elections in september. In short, russias direct interference around the globe is a direct assault that we must work on together and it is clearly one of the Top Worldwide threats. That being said, gentlemen, i want to start again by thanking you for your service to the nation. I want to know the director coats, testifying before this committee for the First Time Since his confirmation, dan, i know that you and marshall were ready for retirement and i thank you both for being willing to serve one more time. Also want to recognize the men and women that you represent here today. These thousands of dedicated intelligence professionals toil in the shadows, put their lives on the line, and make sacrifices most of us will never know. I also want to make sure that they know that i appreciate their efforts and am proud to represent them not only as the vice chair of the intelligence , but our annual worldwide threat hearing is an important opportunity to review the threats and challenges we face as a nation. Obviously, these threats continue to multiply. As the world becomes more complex and challenging, good intelligence gives leaders a heads up on the challenges that they need to address. The Intelligence Community in many ways is the nations Early Warning system. However, a fire alarm only works if you Pay Attention to it. You cant ignore it just because you dont like what its telling you. Similarly, we need to make sure that all policymakers Pay Attention to the warnings provided by you, the independent, nonpartisan intelligence professionals. America has relied on Global Systems of alliances, institutions, and norms since the Second World War two inch to ensure prosperity. Many challenges have come to that system. Chinaning countries like and russia, challenging many of the global institutions. In many cases they are seeking to undercut and delegitimize. We must Work Together and stand vigilant. Similarly, rogue states like north korea have sought to undercut the global nonproliferation regime. Obviously north korea is one of the most pressing issues our country faces. Admiral rodgers, as the chairman mentioned, we all share an enormous concern about the upside and downside of these technologies and the asymmetrical threats propose by ciber and other technology actors. I would add as well, director cardillo, the dominance in terms is at threat from emerging nations. Extremistgroups and nations are able to access these technologies. Continue to suffer losses, it unfortunately continues to spread hateful ideology to social media indications. I only lightly touched on a few of the challenges we face. I look forward to the discussion we are about to have an eye thank you for being here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Vice chairman. For member purposes, we have a vote scheduled on the floor at 11 00. It is the intent of the chair in the vice chair that we will rotate the gavel so that the hearing continues through. Members will be recognized by seniority for five minutes. When we conclude the open session with hopefully enough of a gap for the witnesses to have some lunch, we will reconvene at 1 30. The afternoon vote to my knowledge is not set yet, but he will work around that. Back at the skiff at 1 30 for that to start. With that, director coats . The floor is yours. Dir. Coats thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. Im here with my colleagues from across the community. Im sure that i speak for my colleague, mike pompeo, new job wer of the cia, the have inherited, and Intelligence Community with leadership professionals and intelligence expertise that is exceptional. It is a great privilege to hold these positions and to know that we have the support from across 17 agencies relative to gathering intelligence and analyzing and synthesizing that intelligence. Several of those leaders are sitting here today. Making contributions to the country into this issue. The threat environment is ever expanding and it has challenge the icc to stay ahead of the adversary. Easy task. Been an given the tasks we face around the world, we work to collect, and we appreciate very much the support from your committee these threats. The best and most integrated intelligence we could assemble. Just some of the many challenging threats that we currently face. Intelligence communities, written statements for the record submitted earlier discussed these and many other threats. North korea is an increasingly grave National Security threat to the United States because of nuclearing missile and capabilities. Un is attending to prove that he can strike the u. S. Mainland with a Nuclear Weapon. He has taken steps towards intercontinental holistic missiles, but they have not yet been flight tested. North korea updated its constitution 2012 to declare itself a nuclear power. Its officials consistently state that Nuclear Weapons are the basis for regime survival, suggesting cam does not intend intend kim does not to negotiate them away. Difficulties regarding north koreas isolation caused the icc to dedicate more resources to this challenge. It requires some of our most talent talented professionals to warn leaders of impending actions and of the longterm implications of their strategic weapons programs. We assess that the regime will maintain its momentum on the battlefield, provided as likely as it maintains support from the iran and russia. The continuation of the syrian conflict will worsen. Already there are disastrous conditions for syrians and regional states. Furthermore, april 4, the syrian agents againstve the opposition in what is probably the largest chemical attack i the regime since august of 2013. The Syrian Regime probably used chemical weapons along the battlefront in late march, threatening key infrastructure. We assess that syria is probably both willing and able to use cw, chemical warfare, in future attacks, but we do not know if they plan to do so. We are still acquiring and continue to analyze all intelligence related to the question of whether russian officials have a foreknowledge of these attacks before april. As we learn this information, we will certainly share it with this committee. Cyber threats continue to represent a Critical National the unitedsue for states for two key reasons. First, our adversaries are becoming bolder, more capable, and more adept at using cyberspace to threaten our interests and shape realworld outcomes. The number of adversaries grows as nationstates, terrorist groups, criminal organizations developrs continue to cyber capabilities. Secondly, the potential impact of these Cyber Threats is amplified by the ongoing integration of technology into our Critical Infrastructure and into our daily lives. Our relationships and businesses on social media and Communication Technologies and on Critical Infrastructure. And is becoming increasingly reliant on the internet. As such, this raises the potential for physical, economic, and psychological consequences for a cyber attack or exportation event to occur. The worldwide threat of terrorism is geographically diverse and multifaceted. It poses a continuing challenge to the United States for our allies and partners who seek to counter it. Isis is experiencing territorial and syria with persistent Counterterrorism Operations degrading its strength. However, isis