WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held an open hearing to examine the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment and hear from key Intelligence Community (IC) leadership about the relentless efforts from highly sophisticated adversaries to disrupt U.S. national and economic security.
Watch the full hearing here. Key highlights below.
Chairman Rick Crawford (AR-01) highlighted the inroads that our adversaries have made in the Western Hemisphere over the last two decades as the U.S. focused on the War on Terror, and why a focus on our own neighborhood is of the utmost national security priority.
Vice Chairman Trent Kelly (MS-01) got a commitment from FBI Director Patel’s commitment to give the Committee the complete FBI report on the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting, of which Chairman Crawford confirmed was transmitted to the Committee at the close of the hearing.
Rep. Darin LaHood (IL-16) discussed the Committee’s efforts to overhaul and reform the FISA 702 authority to prevent Americans’ privacy civil liberties, while highlighting the critical value the tool brings, when used responsibly, to defeating foreign adversaries looking to undermine U.S. national security.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) questioned FBI Director Patel about recent and responsible use cases of the FISA 702 authority and discussed how it can be successfully utilized in counternarcotics operations with CIA Director Ratcliffe.
Rep. Austin Scott (GA-08) points out the clear and welcomed refocusing of the FBI’s mission under Director Patel from targeting Americans to going after violent criminals.
Rep. French Hill (AR-02) highlights how the Biden administration’s withholding of critical information about the encounters of known or suspected terrorists at the Southern border presented a serious national security threat.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (TX-02) questioned witnesses about the integrated agency approach for combating cartels and working with Mexico to go after corruption cases.
Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10) questioned FBI Director Patel and DNI Gabbard about the widescale purchase of U.S. land by the China Communist Party (CCP), particularly near U.S. military installations, and the emboldened message the CCP is looking to send with this encroachment.
Rep. Ann Wagner (MO-02) laid out the importance of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) gathering and the need for a specific agency to be tasked as the primary organization to manage OSINT.
Rep. Ben Cline (VA-06) and CIA Director Ratcliffe discussed the unprecedented and impeccably coordinated mission, spearheaded by President Trump, which apprehended and extradited one of the top architects of the Abbey Gate bombing which took the lives of 13 U.S. servicemembers.
Rep. Greg Steube (FL-17) discussed the unprecedented amount of fentanyl and illicit narcotics that are flowing across our Northern and Southern borders and how the FBI plans to address this threat head on.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (NY-24) questioned the witnesses about who is behind the organizing and funding of the pro-Hamas protests that have taken over college campuses, threatening Jewish students across the country, and specifically in New York.
Rep. Pat Fallon (TX-04) highlighted the alarming number of foreign nationals caught spying on U.S. critical infrastructure and the increasing number of counterintelligence threats that are penetrating all levels and branches of government, at the federal, state, and local levels.
