Hearing, and we will show it again now in insincerity. We will show it again at 8 00 p. M. Eastern time. Afterrt off right witnesses and senators enter. 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. Fbi,cting director at the andrew mccabe. 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 are 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 review and highlight, to the extent possible, the ranges of threats that we face as a nation. The National 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 What used to be a collection of mostly physical and state taste National Security concerns has been replaced by something altogether different. Today our traditional focus on countries like north korea, russia, and iran, is comforted by new challenges like strategic threats posed by nonstate actors in the cyber arena and the 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 tireless 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 reduce those threats. I encourage all the Witnesses Today to not only address the threats to talk about what their organizations are helping to do to help this country to the degree they can in a classified uclassified setting. An uclassified setting. Director coats, yours is a lengthy and detailed account of what this country is facing and it is evidence of why the 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 particular concern to me and to many on this committee. I would like your insight into what is behind north koreas unprecedented level of nuclear and missile testing and how close they are to holding the u. S. Mainland at risk of a nuclear attack. I would also value your sense of how tuesdays elections of the a new president in south korea is going to 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 policy should be, i would very much value your assessment of the situation in afghanistan today, including the state of governance in kabul, the sustainability and 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. I also will share your assessment of the battlefield in iraq and in syria with us this morning. Your insights on the ground include Ongoing Operations to dislodge isis from mosul. Admiral 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 computers. The dni statement reads, and i quote, 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. Director cardillo, youre at the nexus of Data Collection and and analysis. Given the complexity of what we are being confronted with and the Global Nature of what this country faces, expectations are of nga are high. We know that the ic cannot be everywhere at once, but that is still kind of what we look to the nga 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. Director mccabe, 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 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. Witnesses, its 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. The timing of the dismissal, to 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. President 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. This is important to maintaining the principal. Actions have the potential to undermine that confidence, and that should be deeply concerning, no matter belong to. Which Political Party g 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. And again, i want to complement the chairman on his work. His actions will do nothing to undermine the resolve to see where it leads. We hope to speak to mr. Comey. Mr. Mccabe, i did not necessarily expect to see you here today. We do not know how long you will be acting fbi director. I will want to make sure 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. Again, some, including myself, have at times been frustrated with the pace. We will no doubt face other challenges in the future. Ups and downs and bumps, 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. At the same time, chairman burr and i have put this investigation on a solid, bipartisan footing. In spite of the events in the last 24 hours, 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, wherever that leads. There is obviously consensus agreement among u. S. Intelligence committee the exact russia actively intervened in the 2016 president ial elections. Nor do i imagine any member of this committee was surprised to see the exact same russian playbook was used in the French Elections. No one should forget, we had some of the folks in from the German Services recently, there was a hacking into the german bundestag. Its fair to say that the germans should be looking for more Cyber Attacks with their Upcoming National elections in september. In short, russias direct interference in the democratic process 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 particularly note that director coats, testifying before this committee for the First Time Since his confirmation, dan, i know that were ready for retirement, and i thank you both for being willing to serve one more time. I 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 Committee, but as a senator from virginia where so many of those intelligence professionals live. 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 cannot ignore it just because you do not 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. Since the second world war, america has relied on Global Systems of alliances, institutions, and norms since to ensure our stability and prosperity. Today, many challenges threaten that system. Countries, like china and russia, are 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 rogers, as the chairman mentioned, we all share an enormous concern about the upside and downside of these technologies and the asymmetrical threats propose by cyber and other technology actors. I would add as well, director cardillo, the dominance in terms of overhead is at threat from emerging nations. Terrorist groups and extremist s are able to access these technologies. While isis continue to suffer losses in syria, iraq, and libya, it unfortunately continues to spread hateful ideology to social media communications. Gentlemen, 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 , and i thank you for being here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen. Burr 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 and 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 we will work around that. So, plan to be back at the skiff by 1 30 for that hearing to start. With that, director coats . The floor is yours. Dir. Coats chairman burr, vice thank you forr, 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 director of the cia, the job we have inherited, an 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, and we are most appreciative of their contributions to their country and to this issue. The threat environment is ever expanding and it has challenge the ic to stay ahead of the adversary. It has not been an easy task. Given the tasks we face around the world, the ic has worked to collect, analyze, and we appreciate very much the support from your committee these threats. We will give the president , the congress, and other policymakers the best and most integrated intelligence we could assemble. In the interest of time and on behalf of my colleagues at the table, i will discuss just some of the many challenging threats that we currently face. The Intelligence Communitys written statements for the record submitted earlier discussed these and many other threats. Let me start with north korea. North korea is an increasingly grave National Security threat to the United States because of its growing missile and nuclear capabilities. Kim jongun is attempting to prove that he can strike the u. S. Mainland with a Nuclear Weapon. He has taken steps towards creating a mobile intercontinental holistic missile, but it 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 kim does not intend to negotiate them away. Difficulties regarding north koreas isolation caused the ic to dedicate more resources to this challenge. It requires some of our most talented professionals to warn leaders of impending actions and of the longterm implications of their strategic weapons programs. In syria, 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 disastrous conditions for syrians and regional states. Furthermore, on april 4, the Syrian Regime used nerve agents arin against the opposition in what is probably the largest chemical attack i by 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. Him hi we are still acquiring and continuing 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 Security issue for the United 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 and others continue to develop 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 already rely on social media and Communic