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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (AR-01) delivered the following opening statement in a hearing to examine the annual assessment of worldwide threats to the national security of the United States.

Watch the full committee hearing here.

As prepared for delivery:

Good morning, everyone. I call the committee to order. 

Without objection, the Chair may declare the committee in recess at any time. 

Before we begin today’s hearing, I would like to provide a few important reminders. First, today’s open portion is being broadcast live on C-SPAN and streamed on the Committee’s YouTube channel. This open portion of the hearing will be conducted entirely on an unclassified basis. All participants are reminded to refrain from discussing classified or other sensitive information protected from public disclosure. I will adjourn this open session following completion of one round of questions, and we will then move into a closed session where such questions can be asked.

Second, I want to inform the audience that while I fully support constitutionally-protected rights of speech and protest, this is not the time or place. Any would-be disruptors in the audience who interfere with the Committee’s business will not be tolerated.  

For this event, Members will have five minutes with the witnesses. I would ask each of my colleagues to keep both your questions, and complete answers from the witnesses, within those allotted five minutes. Any last questions that can’t be answered in time will be submitted for the record.

In the same manner in which the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has conducted itself in recent Worldwide Threats hearings, I expect that we will continue to act in a bipartisan and respectful manner during today’s event. I am confident all members can treat each of our witnesses today with due respect- consistent with past practice. 

This Worldwide Threats hearing provides the American people the opportunity to hear directly from our Intelligence Community leadership on the threats that face our nation. It is my pleasure to welcome our witnesses to today’s hearing:

• Director of National Intelligence, the Honorable Tulsi Gabbard
• Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Honorable John Ratcliffe
• Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Honorable Kash Patel
• Director of the National Security Agency, General Tim Haugh,
• Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse 

First, I want to address an issue that was made public earlier this week regarding a group text message exchange that included several members of President Trump’s National Security leadership team, and a journalist. Yesterday, our colleagues on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held their hearing on the Annual Threat Assessment and unfortunately, instead of exploring the real and existential threats that face our nation—which is the purpose of this hearing—this issue consumed most of their time. While I will address this topic further in my questions, it is my sincere hope that we use this hearing to discuss the many foreign threats facing our nation.

I have deep concerns about the state of our national security. The war between Russia and Ukraine just surpassed three years, and now includes North Korean troops on the battlefield. Iran remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, supporting terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East like Hezbollah and Hamas—fueling the latter’s war with Israel in Gaza. 

The threat of the Chinese Communist Party’s, or CCP, has metastasized worldwide, expanding a robust military and espionage capability well beyond the Pacific, including here within the Western Hemisphere. The CCP’s aggressiveness in operations below the level of armed conflict continues to grow. For example, they have sponsored cyber-attacks against United States critical infrastructure and even recruited a New York State Governor’s office employee into being an undisclosed agent of the CCP.  

And after four years of a catastrophic open-border policy and limited—and in many cases—no vetting, we have seen an explosion of illegal migrants crossing our border since 2021. In Fiscal Year 2024, 516 were identified to be known or suspected terrorists, 106 of whom tried to sneak into our country between ports of entry – and these are just the ones we caught of the nearly 3 million encounters recorded by Customs and Border Protection.  

We have also seen an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network bringing more than 400 migrants into the U.S.  And this occurs through networks associated with cartels and gangs from Sinaloa to CJNG, who present and unacceptable risk to the security of the American people. 

In the midst of such threats, many have understandably lost trust in the intelligence community. One reason I am particularly concerned about is a pattern of lapses I’ve seen in analytic integrity and objectivity in some of the assessments provided by the IC in the last few years. From the President Trump/Russia collusion fiasco, to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, to Anomalous Health Incidents, there have been numerous instances of the IC suppressing certain reporting, using substandard reporting to support a pre-decided thesis, and failure or refusal to consider plausible alternative analyses. That, combined with the many other examples of weaponized government results in a situation where the United States is facing very real threats, while many of our citizens lack trust in those they empower to inform on and counter those threats.

Look, I’ve been honored to serve our country for many years, first as an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician for the Army, now as a Representative for the first district of Arkansas and Chairman of this Committee. In my time here, I’ve traveled the world and met with countless IC employees, from everyday Americans doing the challenging and often dangerous work of intelligence, to Agency Directors like yourselves. The vast majority of those people are honest, hardworking, patriotic Americans that, silently and without accolades, do difficult jobs; often in austere places, sacrificing time with their families, and in some cases putting themselves in danger, all in order to serve the United States. These silent warriors deserve our gratitude and respect. They do not deserve to have their reputations besmirched by poor leaders.

Unfortunately, in recent years we’ve seen instances of politicized, self-serving, dishonest leaders staining the reputation of our institutions and patriots by abusing the powers and sacred trust given to them by the American people.

We have some real work to do. You, in your roles as leaders of your prestigious organizations, and us as Members of this Committee, charged with conducting honest and rigorous oversight, must ensure that our institutions work for the American people. Those that don’t uphold the stringent standards of integrity that the American people expect and deserve must be held accountable. In the instances where trust is breached, those involved must be held accountable. This will help rebuild the trust between the American people and those that serve them in the Intelligence Community.

Today, we need you to be candid about the threats facing the United States. I have deep concerns that many threats have been downplayed or not taken seriously enough for some time, particularly in the homeland and Western Hemisphere. I look forward to hearing your assessment.  

Thank you again to our witnesses for being here today.  

With that, I would like to yield to the distinguished Ranking Member, Mr. Himes, for his opening statement. 

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