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ne on worldwide security threats with the director ofburns, fbi director r wray. they joined other leaders from the intelligence community to talk about the importance of continued support for ukraine, the israel-hamas, competition with china, and efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. this is about two■? hours and 15 minutes.

i would like to call this hearing to order and welcome to our witnesses. ctor of national intelligence avril haines, cia director bill burns, fbi director christopher wray, assistant secretary for intelligence and research at the state department, brett holmgren. director of national security agency, general timothy hop. í:and defense intelligence ageny dea director jeffrey cruz. thank you for appearing before the senatentelligence committee annual worldwide threats hearing. it is important for congress and the american people to hear the leaders of our intelligence community about the threats and challenges facing

the united states. i would like to first the women and men of the u.s. intel community. most americans will never see the work you do behind the scenes, but be assured that the members of this committee know its importance and we thank you for y do to keep america safe. the threat environment today is one of the most challenging we have seen in recent years. we have seen nations institutio, authoritarian systems seeking to impose their will upon neighbors whil undermine the international system that has been guarantor of stability and security since world war ii. see the rise in

competition around new technologies. tmwe must ensure that our institutions evolve to meet these new challenges, which means in my mind redefining what we think of as national security. the ic was collect measures of hard power, how many ships, planes, and military personnel an adversary might have.strategic competition today revolves as much around not only traditional military power, but nontraditional tools and the ability to harness emerging dual use technologiwb' for example, advanced communication networks can provide ubiquitous connectivity but also ubiquitous surveillance. artificial intelligence can development but also accelerate malicious cyber attacks or the spread of misinformation. biotechnology advancements may lead one day to curing cancere y

create genetically engineered access to rare minerals may help determine who shapes the energy future for the whole world. compounding all ofnature of cony allows adversaries to protect power through asymmetrical means. fo attacks can disable critical infrastructure from thousands of miles away and are increasingly available to a wide array of actors. unmanned systems, drones, can threaten multibillion-dollar ships. we are even seeing the possibility of former adversaries weaponizing space■in ways that could be massively destructive, not only to national security but to tools such as gps and satellite communications. misinformation and

disinformation are increasingly deployed by an array of adversarial actors. we know that more than 60 countries, over half the world po will vote this year, and i am deeply concerned that democracy isn adversaries. bad actors like russia are particularly incentivized to interfere, given what's at stake in ukraine. poll after poll increasingly demonstrates americans are mistrustful of traditional sources of information. ile ai has the tools to spread sophisticated misinformation at an unprecedented speed and scale. 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 relating to forgn malign influence and threats between u.s. government agencies and social media companies. today i wouldike each witness to report on how their agencies and the isd as a whole are prepared to meet ■1technology-based challenges, d what more needs to be done. even with this new landscape, more traditional national security cllens remain. terrorist groups still threaten our homeland. over the last couple of years, we have powers challenging democratic norms, undermining the international order, and intimidating their neighbors. the people's publf china has prd an unprecedented challenge, a techno-authoritarian behemoth whose economy is intertwined th our own, challenging democratic values, u.s. leadership, and global

institutions, often using enormoushas used substantial investment power to lead or attempt to dominate a range of key industries, whether it be to the communications and huawei, social community -- social media and tiktok. another authoritarian adversary, rusher under putin has continued its brutal invasion of ukraine, illegally using militarys to seize territory. ukrainians have bravely been fending off the russian military for over two years, the russian military has suffered severe losses of men and equipment. russia's prewar ground forces have been taken out of the conflict. no result of his aggression, putin faces what he has always feared, a nato more

united than ever. this war is at a critical phase with a serious imbalance of equipment, and my fear is the decision thus far by the house of representatives not to take up legislation that would support ukraine has been one of the shortsighted decisions on a national security issue that i could imagine. without this decision, ukrainian defenses will be drastically undermined, as well as global confidence in america's resolvlt comes from putin in europe or the prc in taiwan. continued instability in the middle east. the horrific terrorist attacks by hamas on october 7 have been followedhat has cost an estimated 30,000 palestinians

their lives. while iran and partners such as hezbollah appeared to be deterred from widening the conflict for now, other iranian proxies such as the houthis■z ad she is have attempted to expand the conflict and drag in our country. israel's war against hamas has shown the difficulty of using military force alone to eradicate a nonstate actor embeddedpopulation, especially t has been adept at using underground tunnels. i worry that prime minister ct in the war threatens to undermine support for israel long-term, including in the united states. been key for israel's security, and as a longtime friend of israel, this has great concern toin addition, we convene this

timely hearing as congress fac y national security problem, section 70 two of the foreign intelligence surveillance act provides unique and intelligenco protect our national security, enabling the ic to prevent terrorist attacks, trap foreign spies, uncover economic espionage, protect u.s. troops, ing, and disrupt foreign cyber attacks. allowing this program to would critically damage our national security. we face an increasing array and diversity of challenges, but opo reinvigorate america's democratic values in the face of autocracies like china and russia. weant for granted either democracy or the international system that has kept americansr decades.

maintaining both requires leadership, conviction, and sacrifice. >> then you and i als extend my thanks to the men and women who do the important work of keeping our country safe. describe as one of those pivot moments in three what life will be like for a generation is being determined now while events are changing perhaps faster than any other time in human history. i think we have to remind ourselves we are going about , the bigger outline picture of why things are happening the way

they are, because i think they aroae all interrelated. in the late 2000's, the united states was basically the only country in the world that could project power anywhere at any time and we were called upon to do many things inegds of that. other nations have progressed, and i still think america by every measure, economically, culturally, militarily,nation ad remain that way for the foreseeable future. that order is being challenged by nations that don't like the way the world looks now. they think it benefits america and hurts them and they want to remake or replace the world they think is beneficial to america d our democratic allies with an alternative, if not a replacement. the chinese bel we are in an inevitable decline and that their rise is inevitable as well. they don't like the rules of the written by america and allies, so they are taking it on themselves to challenge.

innovation so their companies can do the things we do but cheaper and flood products. i don't need to tell this panel and the general public that they are expanding military keep abilities to inclu not just projecting power in the indo pacific but around the world. they manipulate loopholes■( in r country to gain strategic advantage and undermine our industries. part of flooding this country with deadly drugs that are destroying communities and ravaging entire families. ey also have gotten good at hiring lobbyists and deputizing corporate america to lobby us beneficial to the chinese goal at the

expenseh of this country long-term. they also have to take control. anybody who says they don't know what they are talking every coms controlled by the chinese communist party, they happen to have one of the world's intellie algorithms. it is the one used by tiktok and it uses the data of ameriq$canso read your mind and predict what videos you want to see. the reason tiktok is so successful and attractive is it knows you beer than you know yourself and the more you use it, the more it learns. the problem is not tiktok, the problem is the algorithm that powers it is owned by a company in china that does whatever the chinese communist party tells it. the only way that algorithm

works is if that company in china is given access to the data that tiktok provides. tiktok does not work witht th a and that algorithm is controlled by a company controlled by the chinese communist party under the law of china. in the case of putting bama, he sees america as decadent and in decline. he views himself as a great power and he believes great powers have a right to control the countries around their borders. they already have that in belarus in his mind and it is one of the reasons he invades ukraine. in the case of iran, they want to export the islamic revolution to the entire middle east. therere and the united states of america. that is why they have proxies in places like syria, iraq, lebanon

, yemen, for their purposes. one of their purposes is to use attack america so we say it is notwhen they leavee on jordan and bahrain and make israel old -- north korea we have not heard a lot about yet. they become increasingly aggressive. i would argue we are closer to

armed hostilities then we have be or longer. why? they feel empowered because putin is buying things from them and helping break international isolation, and i don't know what percentage of their economy is powered by ransomware hacks, but it is substantial. add to this■■t 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. therare former govertrequire 24y because iran is trying to kill them inside the united states. hezbollah is also looking for ways to conct terrorist and jews all over the world and in the homeland. al qaeda are still involved and kill americans. if they could do it in the homeland, they would love that. all happening at a time in which the single largest eventful migration in history is operating off our border. i think it is a mistake

sometimes to divide these problems geographically, because they are interrelated in keyways. thesendividuals have different ambitions, but they share a common goal, a world friendlier for them and a world in which america is weaker and less able to act. the chinese and russians are probably -- they do see great ning in the middle east because they figure every second of our attention that is paid there, we are not paying to what is happening in ukraine and the indo pacific. the chinese see great benefit to ukraine as well the more time and money we spend there, the less we have for them. the chinesehinkrselves in ukraie middle east, or b, we cut and

run and they can say, i told you america is weak, unreliable. they have a plan for either outcome, which makes it challenging for us as we decide what to do here. these things come together and that is the overarching threat we are understanding that none of these should be viewed in isolation. the goal that north korea has, that china has may be differing goals, but one of the real goals that threaten our country is they are with one another. not a formal alliance, but they are increasingly partnering with because they all share one goal, to weaken america, weaken our alliances, our standing dbi■■m■t helps them achieve the world that they envision, the world they want that comes at our

expensepense of all that has been built over 20 or 30 years. i think one of the greatest dangers we face is the interconnected, and one of the greatest challenges is to deal with them as if they are interconnected. like on this planet will be determined by what we do or fail to do over the next two orhree i look forward to hearing from all of you and i appreciate you coming. >> thank you very much. chairman warner, vice chairman rubio, members of the cmittee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today alongside my colleagues to present dic's annual threat assessment. i want tthan publicly the people of the intelligence community, from the collector to the analyst and everybody in

between, the result of their labor at this hearing and they work every day to make our country safe and prosperous and we arei want to y -- to take the opportunity to thank all of you. relationship to its communities is critically important, and you work with us on a bipartisan basis, especially inspiring. we are grateful for your courage and wisdom. today the united states interconnected threat. an environment characterized by three cs. the first is an accelerating competition with major authoritarian powers that is rules-based order and the system the united states and our partners rely on f trade,

commerce, flow of information, and accountability to the truth. [yelling] i recognize people feel passionately, but the american people deserve to hear ommunity. dir. haines: the second category is the intense transnational challenges, such as climate trafficking, terrorism, and cybercrime that often interact tion state-based economic and security challenges. the third category is regional and localized that have far-reaching and at times cascading implications for not only neighboring countries but also the world. all three challenges are affected by%8 trends in new and emerging technologies, environmental changes, and economic strain stoking muchability and making it tha

these dynamics are putting unprecedented burdens on the institutions andationships that the united states relies on to manage such challenges, and perhaps more than ever highlight the to uphold the rules-based order. i will touch on these three categories of challenges, starting with stte china, to pre context and highlight some of the intersections. president xi continues to as a leading power on the world stage and chinese leaders believe it is essential to project power locally to resist u.s. pressure. they are convinced the united states will not tolerate a powerful china. the prc china can maintain positive ties to the united states and will likely continue to do so as they ceasedo the capacity

to attract foreign investments. boosting the domestic economy is a priority of president to be dn on a long-term growth strategy that will deepen public and investor pessimism near-term permit with youth unemployment around 14 .9%, no major stimulu# aimed at consumption forthcoming , massive local debt, and a property -- property market in --

-- over the last year, imposing some tangible costs on u.s. firms, even as they contin suchd domestic costs. chinese leadership is pursuing a strategy to boost chinese innovation and technological self-reliance, expand efforts to acquire, steal, or compel teperty from others, including the united states, and engage in coercive behavior to control critical global supply chains. lz meantime, president xi's emphasis on control and central oversight is unlikely to solve the challengesendemic corruptioc decline, and structural economic constraints. over the coming year, tension between theha and

china's aspirations for political power will probably become more apparent. beijing will■ forces to intimide its neighbors and shaped the region's actions. wethe pla will deploy new technologies and grow more confident in joint operations with a particular focus on taiwan and the western pacific. the role intended for china's growing nuclear forces and cyber capabilities and the intent behind unprecedented growth in these areas remain a priority for us and are not unrelated to the action of ssia. president putin's war of aggression against ukraine continues. ukraine's struggle to stave off further territorial losses the past few weeks have exposed the erosion of military capabilities with dec■!ningkx@ capability of

external military aid. it is critical to ukraine's defense right now and without imagine how ukraine will be able to maintain the hard-fought advances it has made against the sustained surge in russian ammunition production. meanwhile, president putin is russia, devoting a high percentage of gdp to the military as lks ways, this is d by the fact russia has paid an enormous price for the war in ukraine. suffered more losses than any time since world war ii, setting them back precipitated finland and sweden's membership in nato, which putin believes requires an expansion of russia's ground forces.

putin judges time is on his side and assumes a better equipped military will serve the purpose driving that point home to western audiences. such messaging is important because putin's stragic remain unchanged. he sees nato enlargement and western support to ukraine as reinforcing his beliefs that the ited states and europe -- and europe seek to restrict russian power and undermine him. in the meantime, russia continues to modernize and fortify weapon keep abilities even though it maintains the largest and most diverse nuclear weapons stockpile. we concerned that moscow will destabilize global norms including in in the space and cyber domainvu permit another critical intersection is the relationship the vice chairman noted between the government of russia, china, north korea, and iran, which is

evolving as these countries expand collaboration through a web of bilateral and■éso trilat. the willingness to exchange a in political d capabilities, enables them to cooperate on competitive action, assists them to undermine rules-based order, and gives them isolation from pressure. we a these will remain far short of alliances or multilateral access. the interest to divii=avoid ents of harm and instability of action will limit cooperation and ensure it advances nevertheless the power dynamics are shifting, creating new challenges. russia's need for

support in the context of ukraine has forced its to grant concessions to china, north as i noted in the beginning, intensifying transnational challenges intersecting with ■ threats, with the advent of generative ai, actors interested in conducting influence operio no longer need to master a language to create false content. the threat of maligned actors exploiting these tools to denterests in democracy is potent as voters go to the polls in more than 60 elections around the globe this year. increase in ransomware attacks globally, which went up 74% in 2023 from what ite in 2022. u.s. entities were the most heavily targeted, many are conducted by nonstate actor wi a russia d group remaining the most popular

ransomware as a service provider. they were responsible for a quarter of all claimed attacks worldwide leading to a joint effort by 11 countries to take down its online domains. transnational criminal organizations and smuggling operations exploit migrants and human trafficking. in particular the threat from illicit drugs is at historic levels with mexican organization supplying and moving large amounts of synthetic opioids intohe united■tmore than 100,00e died from drug related overdoses the past year, and most deaths have been attributed to illicit fentanyl. the threat from synthetic drugs to the health and welfare of americans remains a top priority for the intelligence community. in the third category we have multiple regional conflicts with far-reaching implications, perhaps dle east.

the crisis in gaza is an example of how these developments have the potential for global implications. ving than five months, the gaza conflict has new security paradigms while pulling in a range of actors. the conflict has prompted new dynamics as it has entrenched old ones. hezbollah and iran do not want to escalate the conflict into a full out war but the houthis■ entered the war and were doing so without iran. the iranian aligned groups attacking our forces are more focused on the united states than israel, using the conflict as an opportunity to pursue their own agenda. galvanized violence by a range of actors around the world. it is likely the gaza conflict will have a terrorism.

al qaeda and isis have directed supporters to conduct attacks against israeli and u.s. interests. it is inspiring individuals to conduct acts of anti-semitism and islamophobic care worldwide. regional and localized contexts, haiti, sudan, the republic of congo -- the list goes on. kzthe intelligence gathering pursuant to 702 is essential in preparing this threat fundamenty aspect of our work. 702 provides unique insights to 5reign inweapons proliferators r actors and fentanyls,

they do it at a speed and reliability we cannot replace with any other authority. as congress rsreauthorization, e reforms, and we support those. while preserving the operational agility that is thank you for y. we look forward to your questions. sen.i know we do not normally do these on monday. i appreciate everybody coming in. we will conduct a closed session, so members holding until after that. after that, we go through the first round of questions, we will recognize questionsor ve minutes based on seniority. director haines, i want with wh.

this critical part of law enforcement and the intelligence committee expires and cgr60% oft goes into the brief is■f derived from 702 information. one of the things the vicroud oe worked hard on a reform that we introduced last year, including a great number of members of this committee are part of that reformtrying to make sure if ths overzealous use of the fbi in terms of how things were queried have been dramatically constrained. director wray, said where we went did not go far

enough, and they would propose a reform that would require warrant before conducting queries. could youthe ic side and law ent side if that requirement was put in place? director wray:mtmr. chairman. the short answer is a warrant requirement would be untenable and largely gut the effectiveness of the authority. it would blind us to i already lawfully in our possession to review and act on and act on in a time sensitive way to stop terrorist attacks and protect victims from cyber attacks, worn somebody who was targeted with assassination, kidnapping. ■r instances, at

the time the query would be run, we would not have the probable cause that the query associated with an agent of a foreign power. that is what the query tells us. you have that problem. the third problem, a lot of places we are using 702 queries are to assist victims and prevent potential victims from further attacks, whether terrorist or cyber etc. in those instances you would never get up requirement, even if there was a delay built into it. that alone for these threats, which are time sensitive, that is key. i would implore congress not to take that additional step. mentioned compliance failures. i have been clear those failures that occurred at the fbi are wholly unacceptable, and that is why i put in a host of reforms

which are covering everything from training to assistance to oversight -- i could go on and on. those reforms are working. we found 98%commented on the res working. the justice reform a report found the reforms working, 99% compliant. legislation that ensures those reforms stay in place but also preserves the agility and utility of the tools we need to protect the american people. chair warner: i appreciate that. i think our reform bill have the notion of trust but verify so that we would literally legislate the reforms that had been put in place, and a few others, some additional amicus provisions. one of the things that has been discovered, the majority of the queries that involve americans are actuallyn notification.

the very notion of having a warrant to have a victim notification is contradictory in itself. i want to raise another issue that has been appropriately raised, and this is a question arnd i think we need to go much further on data protection. i think that has been a failure of this congress to address ctod a study on this. my fear is some of the proposed reforms would actually not limit foreign entities from obtaining this data, but limit law enforcement. can you talk to the question of bulk data purchases, data brokers? ms. haines: absolutely. from our perspective, commercially available information, as we think about what is out there, what has been discussed in congress, is just increasingly critical to the intelligence commu

an example of this is commercial imagery, the role that they play in the context of the invaon but there are a series of other areas where we are purchasing information such as commercial threat information that is at the same time, we recognize that commercllavailable information raises it an important issues related to privacy and civil liberties. this is in large part true because more of our daily lives are connected digitally to the world today than ever before. an increasing amount of data about individuals and their activities often perceived as not especially sensitive on itsa own is actually available for sale alongside increasingly sophisticated analytic tools that essentially rely on artificial intelligence, can in aggregate, raise significant privacy issues that are relevant, which is why we basically said, we recognize this is something thats

we want to make sure that we are actually addressing this issue appropriately and responsibly within the intelligence communities. we had an external panel look at this question, and really asked them how and under what circumstances should we use commercially available information. in particular to reflect on the existing framework for privacy and civil liberties. we published that report. senator wyden asked us to. as a consequence, put that out., all íwthe s sense. we have issued ic guidance for cataloging commercially available information acquired by ic elements to ensure that our handling of such information is consistent with security considerations to facilitate oversight.

and we have developed a framework that augments each of ic's elements, attorney general guidelines, policies with general principles, additional guidce on how ic elements should access, collect, process commercially available precise guidance for identifying and dealing with categories of information that pose a greater risk of implicating privacy and civil liberties. finally, as the panel■h recommended, the framework set up standards and procedures that govern and require periodic reevaluation and a and some of the legislative proposals i have seen require, for example, again, probable cause requirement before you can obtain that information. similarly, we are not going to have, in the scenario of getting a cyber threat information, commercially, probable cause reason for that. we are trying to understand what the vulnerabilities are.

we recognize that whatever the commercial information we are obtaining, we need to treat it in a way that mitigates against the risks that have been described. chair warner: senator rubio. sen. rubio: director wray, we knowver the last few y millions of people across the u.s. border illegally, many released into the country. have members or people with ties to dangerous gangs, like for example, the prison gang from venezuela, where they among the people that came into this country? mr. wray: i don't know that i can speak to the specific gang but certainly we have had dangerous individuals enr the united states through a variety of sorts. sen. rubio: are we seeing crimes from people that enter the country over the last three years, some with ties to gangs,' mr. wray: what i■7 would s is this. from an fbi perspective, we are seeing a wide array of dangerous threats that emanate from the border. that includes everything from

the drug trafficking. the fbi alone sees in th fentanyl in the last two years to kill 270 million people. that is just on the fentanyl side. an awful lot of the violent crime in the united states is at the hands of gangs who are themselves involved in the distribution of that fentanyl.■h sen. rubio: you are also seeing law enforcement arresting -- for example, the assault on the■z police officers in new york. all the reporting said they had ties to this gang in particular. there is no doubt, people who were criminals in their country of origin, have cross that border are now in the u.s. committing crimes. mr. wray: correct. sen. rubio: is there a black-market emerging to sell green cards?ou seen reporting o? mr. wray: certainly on the darknet, for example, there is a

significant market place for different kinds of stolen identity. sen. rubio: what about othe streets? mr. wray: as well. sen. rubio: smuggling networks all over the world that specialize in moving people from all over the world including m are we aware of any of these smuggling organizations run ó@by or are conducted by people that have ties for example to isis or other terrorist organizations? mr. ay: i want to be careful how far i can go in open session but there is a particular network where some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling network have isis ties that we are very concerned about, have been spending an enormous amount of effort with our partners investigating exactly what that network is up to. that is subject of our current investigation.etwork we are concerned about that has facilitators involved that have ties to isis?

mr. wray: correct. sen. rubio: i talked about ■ ■! tikt in e openg. just to lay the groundwork here. tiktok, you ask an american company, they have this platform which is fascinating.■j very effective, a lot of members. one of the things that power artificial intelligence. thmo. it reads your mind. it knows the kinds of videos that you like in future more of them, causing you to go back. that algorithm is not owned by tiktok but by bytedance, a chinese company. the only way that algorithm works is if that chinese company has access to the data being generated by tiktok.[ú the owner of the algorithm, bytedance, has to have access. it doesn't matter where the data is stored, they need access to it in order for the algorithm to work.wray: what you are getting to is the key point is the parent company, is for all intents and purposes, beholding

to the ccp. sen. rubio: if bytedance in china is the one that makes tikk effective, isn't it true that under chinese law, the chinese comet's party says that data you are gaining access to in order to make your algorithm work, we want a copy of that data? if they said that to bytedance, they would have to give it to them. mr. wray: that's my understanding. sen. rubio: if they said we want to change the algorithm so that americans see videos that hurt or help a candidate and election, bytedance has to do that under chinese law. if they said we want to put out videos that americans fight with each other, spread conspiracy theories, bytedance cannot go t■ chinese court and fight the communist party. they would have to do it. mr. wray: that is my understanding. i would add that kind of influence operation, different kinds of influence operations

you are describing, are extraordinarily difficult to detect, wh■ich is ps the nationy concerns presented by tiktok so significant. sen. rubio: thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman, all of you, the people that you work with everyday. i will start with this issue of government purchases of americans data. former acting cia director, mike morel, presents something of a different view on this. he has said the amount of information available for the government to buy would "knock if it were collected through normal intelligencmethods, it er lock and key. i believe mr. morel is right. it is the wild west out there in terms of sensiti on americans, and the government can buy it up.■lligence

collection, there are apparently virtually no rules here. take one public example. i want to go to you, general cruz. not to go after you especially. you sa intelligence agencies acknowledge purchases of actual u.s. location data. my question for you and any other members who would like to add to it, are there any constitutional or statutory information of americans? constitutional or statutory limits, any? or the question, senator wyden. yes, there are clear guidelines for when we purchased the bulk data,

the first thing we do is exclude all the data that is within u.s. te#jrritory and on u.s. citizens as the first step. our teams have been here with the congress talking through our attorney general guidelines, have been speaking with the concerns that you and others have voiced to us. i think we have built the processes around our purchasing of commercial data -- sen. wyden: respectfully, i didn't hear you mention what i asked about, either constitutional or statutory limits. why don't you just send that to us for the record. i would just say, colleagues, this is the reason congress needs to pass legislation limiting gnmpuse i also believe the congress needs to pass the bill that i tred with the vice chairman, senator rubio, making sure this information is not bought up by foreign countries either. let's go now to section 702. obviously, the government needs to have section 702 to focus on foreign threats.

it is just essential that it be done without throwing aside the privacy rights of law-abiding americans. there is a workable solution. under a bipartisan solution that i've been a part of, the warrant to run searches on americans to see who they are talking to. it is only when the government wants to read the content of those private conversations that a warrant wod be required ev though there are also many exceptions that we have put into the bill. exception for emergencies, consent, cyber attacks, the list goes on. now, according to fbi's data, the fbi looks at content in less than 2% of its searches on americans. so my question would be for you, dire as i have described it, using your data, the data from the

fbi, doesn't our warrant requirement only applied to a tiny fraction of the searches the fbi conducts when you factor in all of these exceptions? i could go through them but i think you know them■% and i can go through them but i think know them. if there is any imminent danger, no warrant. have to go get the warrant later, but the exception list is very long. what we are talking about in the bipartisan bill here in the senate and in the house would apply to only a small fraction of the searches you are conducting. director wray:■e as a percentage, it is not a significant percentage, certainly the number is significant. the fundamental problem is it is the content that tells us whether or not it is an agent of a foreign power involved so i think that is part of the

problem. sen. warner: if the witness will pause for a moment. >> permanent cease-fire [indiscernible] sen. warner: continue. director wray: got cut off was i was just expanding that the fundamental problem is in the instances where we need to look at the content, the probable cause that is lacking at this point is wha that is what tells us more often than not that there is an agent of foreign power involved in that is what enables us to act and go forward with the appropriate investigative steps. sen. wyden: there is an exception for imminent danger. there is an exception for emergencies. there is an exception to simply conversations with foreign threats. i would like you to send to me so we will have this for the record how having those exceptions will in some way

obstruct you when you are trying to deal with a tiny number of ■[about americans believing you bet we have foreign threats. there is no question about it but we can address those foreign threats in a way that is compatible with the liberty and the values that law-abiding americans hold and i'm happy to work with you on it. thank you, mr. chairman. sen.f warner: senator collins. sen. collins: director, you understandably spend a considerable time talking about the significant iran, and north korea pose to our country. since the way that our disastrous withdraw from afghanistan unfolded, we have also seen a large increase in terrorist attacks conducted by isis.

in fact, those numbered nearly 200 and have resulted in some 1300 casualties, so obviously, afghanistan has shown that once again, the taliban is either unwilling or unable to control terrorist groups.d are there threats of terrorist attacks from isis toward are they a problem still and how are you balancing the great power competition with the threats from isis? in addition, i would like you to comment on whether or not terrorist groups backed by iran such as hamas and hezbollah pose a threat to our homeland?

director haines: thank you, senator. in terms of the threat from isis, which you are absolutely right, remains a significant counterterrorism concern for us, most of the attacks that you are talking about globally, taken on by isis, have actually occurred by parts of or outside of afghanistan. in afghanistan, there still remains an isis concern. taliban has actually -- they are also concerned about it because the isis group that is in afghanistan is in fact going after the taliban, and so this is a place where, actually, the taliban has taken action against that group in ways that are consistent with our concerns

interests, so that is one piece. in terms of the terrorist groups that are backed by iran, that is a major issue for us, and there are a number of them, obviously. we often talk about iranian aligned militia groups that have been attacking u.s. forces and assets in iraq and syria in particular, but also in other parts of the region, attempting to. and there have been just dozens and dozens of attacks that we have been looking to manage, and that it continues to be fueled by iran. they provide weapons. they provide training. they provide money to those groups, and we still obviously see them as a destabiliz■

the houthies is another example of this. my colleagues may wish to add to this. sen. collins: director wray, we know that china is the primary provider of the predecessor chemicals in the billre fentanyl and you pointed out in your testimony the extraordinary scope ofhe amount fentanyl that has been produced and indeed 80% of the overdoses made last year involved fentanyl but what we are also seeing is a new phenomenon that was reported by some enterprising journalists. that is that chinese nationals are establishing illegal marijuana growing operations all over the state. one public report estimates

there are more than 200 of them primarily in rural maine. they are unregulated, they are illicit, they are destroying marijuana is very potent. what is the fbi doing to support local county and state officials have sent their citizens to■$ese rural america to establish these illegal growing operations? director wray: certainly, we are observing the same phenomenon that you are describing. we have had a number of cases that have resulted in indictments of chinese nationals with illegal marijuana grow operations here, and otherwise involved in different kinds of organized criminal activity. we are tackling that through working with our state and local law fo

we are trying to share intelligence with them to help get ahead of the threat. i'm not sure i can give you a reason as to why it is happening but that is something that we are very focused on and you mentioned the precursors to fentanyl, the pill presses. this issue, i would just add to that, yet another one, which is that an awful lot of theeth precursors to the labs in mexico also come from china so it is fentanyl and also meth. so there is certainly a big degree to which problems that we are exen acute way, it sourced back to them. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. according to the annual threattn probably believes "that his approach to winning the war in

ukraine is paying off, and the western and u.s. support to ukraine is finite." for any of you, what lessons is putin taking from the u.s. failure to further support■ ukraine and its fight for national survival? and what lessons might china'sns failure? >> senator, i would be glad to address your question. i just returned from my 10th visit to ukraine during the course of the war and you know, i left convinced that we are at profoundly important crossroads for ukraine, for european security, and for long-term american interests around the world. down one road with supplementale congress lies the very real possibility of cementing a strategic success for ukraine and a strategic loss for vladimir putin's russia.■k it is our assessment that with supplemental assistance, ukraine can hold its own on the front th

early 2025, that ukraine can continue to exact costs against russia not only with the penetration strikes in crimea but also against russia's black sea fleet which resulted in 15 russian ships sunk over the course of the last six months. with supplemental assistance, ukraine can put itself in a position by the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 where it could regain the offensive initiative and also put itself in a position to negotiate from a position of greater strength and achieve an outcome in which putin's goal, which was to subjugate ukraine and to control its choices, would be denied, where ukraine could sustain itself as a strong, sovereign, independent country, anchor it self in western institutions, and have the space and the security to recover from this terrible aggression and leave

russia to deal with the long-term consequences of putin's brutal and foolish invasion. down another road, however, without supplemental assistance, it seems to me, lies a much grimmer future. ukraine is likely to lose groun. i saw, you know, in the battle which forced a rushed withdrawal of ukrainian forces a couple of days before i was in kyiv on this last visit, the consequences of that. you know, one senior ukrainian partner describe what haenedmen fought as long and as hard as they could, we ran out of ammunition, and the russians just kept coming. and i think without supplemental assistance in 2024, you are going to see more of that and that, it seems to me, would be a massive and historic miske

>> what lesson do you think the ccp will take from that? director burns: i think the cons ukraine or european security. >> -- palestinian people. children are being starved to death. don't support -- [indiscernible] stop sending arms to israel. stop supporting starvation of children. children are being starved to death! sen. warner: we shall continue. director burns: i think the co■"nsequences of that will be felt not only by ukrainians and european security but across the indo pacific fror ukraine, not only is not going to feed down's amongst our allies and partners in the indo bde ambitions of the chinese leadership in contingencies ranging from taiwan to the south china sea. so that is what i saw on this last visit. that is what i think is at stake for all of us.

i think the truth is that the ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity. they are running out of ammunition, and we are running out of time to help them. >> director, let's jump to the elephant in the room. i want to thank you for your efforts to secure hostage polices and a cease-fire in the middle east. ramadan has now begun. best of r ability a little bit on where things stand with those negotiations and what flas d push us into a more regional conflict over the course of the next month. director burns: sure. since the last hostage return and cease-fire in november, the pr=viden renew that process. i have traveled eight times to meet with my israeli, egyptian d

returned most night from the last such trip. what is on the table right now is a potential agreement that has three main elements. the first would be the return of about 40 hostages. these are the remaining women hostages. older men, and hostages who are wounded or seriously ill. that is the first step, the first phase to another president is deeply committed. that would be in return for a defined number of palestinian prisoners held by the israelis. the second element is a cease-fire of at least six weeks. again, as the first step toward what might be more enduring arrangements over time, and then the third element would be a major surge in humanitarian assistance which could be distributed effectively to people who so deeply need them. so we are going to continue to

work hard at this. i don't think anybody can guarantee success. what i think you can guarantee is that the alternatives are worse for innocent civilians in gaza who are suffering under desperate conditions, for the hostages and their families who are suffering also under very desperate conditions, and for all of us so we are going to keep at >> mr. chairman, i have a number of questions, but we have a lot of ground to cover here and mine need to be in a classified setting. i'm going to wait until closed session. >> the senator was going to address the real elephant in the room with some of our audience members accusing you of serious conduct, so i want to

give you a chance to respond to what has been said. is israel exterminating the palestinian people? director burns: can say is, you know, what i said before. i think there are a lot of innocent civilians in gaza who are in desperate conditions right now. i think there are hostages and their falies who are also and i think i have learned a long time ago in crises like this that you have to find a practical goal and pursue it relentlessly. and the goal the president has laid out, working with our and qatari partners, i think, is the most practical one i can see right now is to produce a cease-fire of at least six weeks, produce the return of the hostages. ultitely, all of the hostages, and get desperately needed humanitarian relief to people who need it in gaza. sen. cotton: is that a no, you do not believe israel is exterminating the palestinian people? director burns: i think israel -- i

understand israel's need -- the president has emphasized this -- to respond to the brutish attack that israelis suffered on the seventh of october against hamas, against a terrorist group, but i think we all also have to be mindful of the, you know, enormous toll this has taken. as the president has said, it is important for israel to be extremely mindful of that, and avoid further loss of civilian life. sen. cotton: director, do you believe palestinian people? director haines: i really don't have anything to add to what director bus i fully endors commenting on. sen. cotton: you also stand accused of starving the palestinian children. is israel starving children in director burns: the reality is that there are children who are starving. sen. cotton: but is israel doing that?

director burns: humanitarian assistance cannot get to them. it is very difficult to distribuum■! exactly why, you know, i think there is great value in what is on the table now, a return of hostages and a significant cease-fire enabling people to get that humanitarian sen. cotton: ok. for the record, i do not believe that israel nor any of you or the united states government is exterminatg the palestinian people or starving palestinian children.director haines, theren several news reports, you might say leaks, to the effect that iran does not have full co its . that is the headline from politico last month. the quote. while iran is supporting them financially and with military equipment, inte attacks. this lack of control over the houthis and the militias in iraq and syria has muddied the deliberations in shon about how to respond to repeated attacks on u.s. interests in the region including the attack in jordan

on january 28 that killed three american troops. but on page 18 of the assessment, the intelligence committee writes tehran was able to flex the network military of hamas' attacon o anti-u.s. attacks from lebanon while -- from significant consequences. -- while shielding leaders fromh significant consequences. orchestrating is stronger than anything i have heard. it is not providing support or training or funding. so it is your assessment thatses orchestrated attacks on israel and against u.s. personnel in the middle east since october 7? director haines: yes. and i don't think that means that the proxy groups or that others are always everything that they have to say or under their direct control but i think orchestrating is an

appropriate characterization of what they look to do. sen. cotton: so tose the dictionary definition, it has arranged or directed the elements of a situation to produce a desired effect, especially surreptitiously. that is correct? ok. director burns, on page 34 of the assessment, the notes that the fbi and department of energy have concluded the most likely pandemic was a laboratory in with that conclusively. why can't the cia reach the same conclusion of the fbi and the department of energy have reached? director burns: our analysts continue to look at this very carefully. they have not yet concluded that there is definitive evidence on either side of this, whether natural transmission or lab accident. we continue to pursue, you know, more intelligence, more information that might help them

to reach a definitive conclusion but right now, they have not been able to reach that. sen. cotton: director ray, -- director wray, why are your analysts so much more confident? director wray: our analysts did very rigorous work inlv sorts. we reached the assessment with moderate confidence and we stand by that assessment. >> thank you. >> senator kaine. >> thank you, mr. chairman. as others have said, thank you to the people who operate under very difficult circumstanceswit. director burns, i want to say that your statement about the impact and long-term consequences of our abandoning ukraine is important, and i think should be required reading around here. the implications are that it i ld haunt this country both in europe but also, as you suggest, in the indo pacific, including5v kim jong-un. he would assess that we did not have the staying power.

he's already making noises about the peninsula. director wray, you talked with senator rubio about tiktok.erats dangerous because it allows the chinese communist party to have access to an enormous trove of that is number one.s. is that correct? director wray: that is one of the pieces of it. there arl. sen. king: the second piece is that the misinformation and sort of policy direction that it enables the communist party to exercise, correct? director wray: second piece is the algorithm. in other words, the first is the data, the second is the algorithm, the third is the software. sen.ing: but the problem is not tiktok, it is the control by china. if tiktok were owned by an american company, lg would not have this level of

problem, is that correct? director wray: correct. sen. king: thank you. who controls mexico? is the government of mexico in control or are the cartels in control? and how do we get at the problem of the drugs, the fentanyl? byhe w, i%$calculation a minute. about 15 people have died in this country of overdoses since this hearing started an hour and 20 minutes ago. that is how serious this problem -- one a day in state of maine. how do we get control of this problem? director haines: i will start. there are a lot of us come obviously, that are working to helpines of this which include the fbi, obviously, dea, dhs, and others who are really focused on this question, but on the first point, senator king, with respect to mexico, there is

no question that it has a challenge for the with the cartels, and there are parts of the country that are effectively under the control of cartels in certain respects. yet at the same would say that our cooperation with them has improved over time and i think director burns and director wray may have more to say on this, but this is an area where we have really been able to work with them and try to he king: obviously, we have been able to work and it is improving but this is a drastic problem that should be treated as such in terms of the impact on americans. maybe this is a dhs questire ist coming? director wray: you mean coming sen. king: how does it get into the director wray: it is coming at the ports of entry but there is a variety of

ways he gets in. part of the challenge of fentanyl is of course how small it is and how easy it is to■q concl and how easy it is to be innovative in ways to get it across the border. the vast majority of the fentanyl that is killing americans is of course coming■ó from mexico, and the vast majority of the precursors for that fentanyl is coming from china. sen. king: i should mention that in the supplemental that is pending in the house, which we always focus on ukraine, there is also a major fentanyl blocking provision that would be very important to this countrymt soon as possible. director haines, you are nodding but the record does not show nodding. can you -- director haines: absolutely. there's funding for the capacity to degraded detection and ings like that that the dhs would be deploying, i believe, among others, and absolutely agree that this is a fundamental issun closed session about some of the organizational things we are looking to do.

sen. address fentanyl in that supplemental if we can get that out of its limbo in the house. general, one question. i am concerned about a gap.

and that we are appropriately using our authorities to be able to garner whatever information is required to be able to identify a foreign threat. to collect that threat of agoing foreign intelligence target outside the united states and so one of those tools that really is section 702 and our ability -- because by its very nature, if there is an origin of that threat, that there is a foreign entity communicating with in the un communications provider, it offers us an opportunity under section 70 two to target that foreign intelligence threat outside the united states. of section 702, that would ensure one means by which we are able to see the foreign part of that communication. sen. king: thank you, mr.

chairman. sen. warner: senator cornyn. sen. cornyn: director wray, i wanted to ask you a little bit about some of your testimony about the border. last year, 169 individuals on the terrorist watch list were detained at the southern border. so far this year, it has been 58. we know there were, since 2021, approximately 1.8 million got alwa, noselves in, not people paroled in the interior, b evading law enforcement at the border. can you tell us, the american people, wi any certainty that there are zero people on the terrorist watchlist that were among that 1.8 million got aways? director wray: what i would say is you rightly highlighted kind of, if you remember what

secretary rumsfeld used to refer to, the no nones and the unknown ways, the national security ramifications of the issues at the border are better reflected in some ways more by what we do not know about the people who snuck in and provided fake documents or in some other way got in when there was not sufficient information available came into connect the dots. it is almost more significant in our view than the actual number of so-called kst's because those stopped, detained, and processed appropriately. sen. cornyn: and i guess you would not answer the same way that people with criminal records, members of criminal street gangs, and others being among that 1.8 million figure for migrants who got away. we don't know what that is composed of, do we?

director wray: that is correct./ sen. cornyn: what we do know is that more than 37,000 chinese nationals were detained at the u.s. southern border in 2023 and that number is up 10 times over the earlier tally. and these individuals who were of course detained, sometimes, they claim asylum, sometimes, they are paroled into the■g interior, but again, we don't know how many chinese nationals that may be among that 1.8 million got aways that have made their way into the interior of the united states, you would answer the same way? director wray: right. we don't know what we are dealing with in particular context. it is especially challenging because presumably, within that group, you have got not only people who may mean us harm but

also people who are fleeing the ccp and share our concerns about there authoritarian thuggishness. sen. cornyn: this is a gaping vulnerability in our national security, that we r. i am reminded that there were 26 co-conspirators in the 9/11 attacks against the united states, killing 3000 people. 26 people killed 3000 americans on 9/11. i worry that among the peoplethw enforcement, that there are some people among those that mean to do us harm. do y■ou sha that ■coern? director wray: i do. sen. burr:sen. cornyn: in fact,g to public sources, cnn on august 30th, 20 23, you alluded to this earlier about dozens of migrants from uzbekistan that were being facilitated by a suspected isis agent in turkey that was assisting those migrants to make

their way to the southern border and into the united states, director wray: that is a threat are very concerned about, actively investigating working with dhs on both people whose travel was facilitated but also members of the facilitation network in some other way overseas and there's probably more i could share on that in closed session if you would like. sen. cornyn: one of the things i think this reveals is that our border situation, the illegal immigration has changed over the years. it seems to me, coming from a border state, years ago you would look at for their family. now, of course, we understand people fleeing violence and poverty and things like that.7m so we see the fact that if you make it to the border, you can likely stay for the rest of your natural life. it is an enormous magnet for people to come.

but also, and not just people who have benign intentiowho want a better life, but also people that want to do us harm.a i know sometimes, people say, well, this is just a fantastic theory. no basis in reality. do you consider that to be a frivolous consideration? i do n. i have been very vocal about this. we of course are not responsible for the physical security of the border. we work hard to be good partners with dhs on that but there are a whole host of threats that emanate from the border. and some of them are criminal threats. we talked about violence. and then of course we have concerns that it could be a vulnerability that terrorist organizations could seek to exploit. i would add that we are not at

the moment tracking any specific terrorist plot coming ac t in ts not that long ago, as you will recall, that we had indictments of an individual who was trying to smuggle foreign nationals across the border to assassinate former president bush. so it goes to your point that numbers are important but numbers do not tell the whole story.a few people who can be responsible for a whole lot of harm. sen. warner: senator bennet. sen. bennet: thank you. thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you all for being here. thank you for your service. director burns, the fbi director just mentioned president bush. i think you■s were his -- you hd one of the longest■w caerdistinguished careers in american diplomacy. and now you are in the middle of a and now, you are in the middle of a negotiation in the middle east that i think everybody up here hopes that you are going to be successful about. in that context, i want to ask

you about the supplement bill it. that is a bill that passed out of the senate with 70 votes. we almost don't pass anything around here with 70 votes, or broad bipartisan recognition of. i agree with your assessment and the intelligence committee assessment that ukraine has the possibility to prevail in this conflict with russia. nobody two years ago would have believed that but the way they fought, the way they have been able to be supported by our made a difference. they succeeded in ways nobody could have imagined. there are people here and there are people in the house that don't li the assessment is different than the intelligence communies and their jume■ but i would ask you since you are here a little bit about the negotiating posture that ukraine, the west, nato wants to

put ourselves in with vladimir putin and considering that question, i'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about whether or not our negotiating position, if you are somebody who believes in the end that somew revail although i believe they can, and believes only that they can be in a position to negotiate an end to this, why would it be better for us to pass theal froe point than to fail to pass the supplemental? >> thanks very much, senator. today, first, i will start with vladimirutin and russia.■; it is our assessment that russia is not serious about negotiations today in the sense that they may be interested in the theory of negotiations but they are not interested in negotiating in the sense of compromise right now because as director hans said in her

opening remarks, i thinkpresides on his side, that he can grind down ukrainians and wear down the rest of us so if you look at the prospect of a more serious negotiation in the future, it is essential for ukraine with our support to disabuse the russian leadership of that notion, to■ putus on his side, to demonstrate that for russia■i

also, there are long-term consequences to this war military. 215,000 plus dead and wounded. four times the casualties that the soviet union suffered in a decade of war in afghanistan. the destruction of something on the order of two thirds of their prewar tank inventory and long-term economic consequences which is fast making russia at the economic vasl c not to mention a much stronger and bigger nato that they had to face today. the challenge in 2024 is helping the ukrainians not just to hold their own but to continue to impose costs so that they would be in a position of greater strength, greater leverage in a negotiation and i think that would be my answer to that question. if you want to get her a serustp the ukrainians demonstrate that putin is wrong in his notion that time is on his side. >> that logic seems fairly compelling to me. let me ask you another question. since you serve republican and democratic presidents over many decades, you hear people in this building say that the united states of america has to give up putin, in actual conflict with russia, because of this fear that we will not be able to afford some plausible but nevertheless theoretical conflict with china in the

do you believe the united states of america cannot handle our commitments with respect to ukraine and nato and be able to deter bein >> no, i don't believe that. i think we are entirely capable. senator rubio said this earlier. i think the united states, while we may not have uncontested privacy in the world today, we still have a stronger hand to play than any of our adversaries or rivals so we are entirely capable of continuing to support inecurity and i think sustaining that support for ukraine not only doesn't come at the expense of deterring china, it actually helps to deter china, whether it is in taiwan or the south china sea or other places.

it is our assessment that xi jinping was sobered, you know, by what happened especially in the first year of the war. he did not expect that ukraine would resist with the courage and tenacity that the ukrainians demonstrated. he did not expect that the united states, who he believes is a defining power, would step up in the way the president has led with all of yours or to show solidarity with ukraine as well. that has had an impact far beyond ukraine or european security and that is what is at stake today. >> we look back at that $60 billion and say it was a bargain compar otherwise spend. mr. chairman, my colleagues i think almost o over 1.5 minutes so let me say in the last 15 seconds that our threat assessment -- >> i think the record will stand corrected.c

you have a couple seconds. >> director hans, i will take it for e cord, but ther the document, reference to the serious issues that we are confronting in spa r that, we would have a conversation. >> german warner, thank you. my request among others was that director over door intervene with china -- chinese leadership and ask for the precursors to not be imported into mexico by utilized or end up as fentanyl in the united states. he committed to doing that.■wáo my understanding from his government as well as public sources is that he did and then there seemto

interest on the part of china in negotiating with us or having conversations with the united states about that topic. i don't know that much has come from that buu am wrong. what explains the chinese unwillingness to be more proactive in combating precursor chemicals coming to the u.s.? is this -- do they have the capability? intentionally inflicting harm on americans in america? is there some quid pro quo they are looking for? ornia, they have been some signs of greater chinese seriousness about dealing with this problem, effectively enforcing the wrong law because that is all we are asking. when i was in beijing in late may of last year, i raised this issue directly with my counterparts as well so i think there are some signs that the chinese are beginning to address

chemicals but also of pill pressing equipment and certainly, they can do more and that is why it is so important for all of us to continue to push as hard as we can and to make clear as you indicated earlier that this is a problem not only for the united states but for mexico and others ar reluctance to crack down on those exports? >> i hope that what you are seeing now is readiness to do more i think since november but that is something that obviously from the president on down, we need to continue to reinforce as hard as we can. theyo for what is happening in our own society. >> how do you assess the current balance of military power in the pacific today, the united states, china, and others?escrie

of power today as china is on a rise and it has been planning for multiple five-year periods and it has educated that development, the erc way that has put them in a position that had at some point -- they will be a world leading military power. the united states is the worlds leading military per today and e for us is to be on the same trajectory to match them stride for stride and ensure we stay ahead of the growth that we see in china. if there is no doubt, the growth that you see has been discussed today in military power associated with china and the rise in all domains, cyber, space, as well as conventional. >> director haynes, has iran sought to use our borders to conduct terrorist activities in the united states? >> yes.we

efforts to come across the border, to go after the former ambassador from saudi arabia, for example. there waa case in historically attempted this but -- attempted this but it has been challenging for them and something that we consistently monitor on a regular basis and prefer to go through to the extent that they are able. sort of criminal entities and other groups as a way of trying to achieve their goals. >> director wrayth reports of our military technologies being utilized in north korean military equipment found in ukraine, coming from

russia. how do wex >> well, i am definitely tracking a similar instancin=a terms of iranian drones, for example where u.s. technology has appeared as components. part of it has to do with dual use technologies and companies here not being perhaps as vigilant as they need to be about the potential uses of their technologies and so, we are trying to be very heavily engaged with the private sector to make sure that they are more thoughul pieces and components may end up. >> even though you gave senator bennet additional time, i will not ask for it. >> thank you very much. i want to thank the panel for your testimony today and also for your public service. i want to follow up on the fentanyl and ask a relatede. i know our colleagues have mentioned and asked questions about fentanyl.

to direct your attention to this question about fentanyl. the threat assessment this year on page 36 says that china remains a primary source for illicit fentanyl, precursor chemicals intel press equipment, and then it goes on to talk about what the cartels do. it is noteworthy i think that the u.s. sentencing commission trafficking vendors were u.s. citizens, 88 percent. in fiscal year 21, 80 6% of fentanyl trafficking for u.s. citizens. we know how it gets here. we have a good sense of how it gets here. we know the administration as that it made -- some may believe progress in reestablishing coordination with the chinese government in countering fentanyl. i am increasingly concerned asdr

non-fentanyl synthetic opioids. zaila zine -- it is a powerful veterinary sedative that is mixed with illicit fentanyl and the city of philadelphia hasn ot drug. according to the dea, it was detected in nearly half, half of all fentanyl related overdoses in philly. i wanted to ask you, is the chinese government holding up its end ofng down on illicit fentanyl traffickers? >> i would say the scale of the problem that we are continuing to see suggests to me that there is a lot of room for improvement from the chinese government. let me just put it that way. you mentioned the drug. certainly, it is of concern to us.adelphia area is a place where we are seeing a certain

amount of that. we got a lot of investigations in the areas. of course, one of the problems with the drug is that it is not responsive to narcan so that just as to the challenge and certainly, it has been found in drug combinations and i think maybe 48 of the 50 states or something. it's very easy to buy unfortunately online from china-based suppliers so that as to the problem.■uzc

we are trying to engage in your area and nearby areas with hospitals and state diversion groups to try and raise awareness about it. but it is not a controlled substance currently under the u.s. controlled substance act so that is just an additional kind of aggravating circumstance. >> to what extent is regulation by chif of the u.s. law enforcement's discussions with their chinese counterparts? >> certainly trying to work with the chinese on their controlled substances listings is a key part of it. part of the problem with precursors of course is that there is an almost infinite number of variations that people can come up with so even when ey sche r stead said that as to the challenge. you asked how serious are they? i would point to the sheer volume that we are contending with and i think that tells you all you need to know about how serious the chinese are. so far -- the chinese are so far in helping us address the >> i want to ask you about iranian evasion of sanctions. since the imposition of increased sanctions against iranian oil and 2018 and 2019, iran has been increasingly successful in finding ways to evade sanctions and its oil revenues are increasingly rising.

the administration is focused on blocking iran's oil exports. how is the intelligence community supporting the administration'on identifying and sanctioning so-called ghost fleet vessels carrying iranian oil and chinese refineries -- purchasing arabian oil? >> thank you. we are very involved is the short answer but the longer answer is -- we actually do periodic reports to congress that tell you about some of thee we see opportunities for essentially additional targets for sanctions that might be acted on third parties and others who were involved in these transactions so that the treasury department and others can in fact go after them in that respect. it is a critical issue.

>> mr. chairman? >> thank you, senator. thanks to all of you. please pass on our thanks and gratitude to them. most folks will never know who they are and not get a chance to be able to say thank you so please pass that on as well. i want to continue some of the conversation at the border because while we are dealing with worldwide threats, we are seeing worldwide threats coming towards us and obvious vulnerabilities.■uyw as has been mentioned, talked about in the past, in this fiscal year, 58 people on the terror watch list who have been idtifiednd special-interest aliens and you are familiar with that as well.

the special-interest aliens, many people may not know this definition so i'm going to read it, what this designation is. non-us person who based on a -- analysis of travel patterns potentially poses a national security risk to the united states or its interests. many are employing travel patterns and have a nexused terrorism. do we have a list of how many people that have across our southern border that we have identified that are special-interest aliens? director wray, do you know the number? >> i don't know the number but we can follow-up with you to see if tt is something we can provide. >> it has been one of our challenge is to identify that. on the terror watch list, we can get the number and know that it when we ask about special-interest aliens, we are told that it is law enforcement sensitive. we know the number is in the thousands but have not been able to get a specific number nor a specific tracking on that so that would be hopeful to know those individuals that are coming in, i want to give a number of it, it is in the thounds, athfbi said they are coming across the border, released into the country

because the vast majority, we don't have a criminal backgrou we have a theory so they are released into the country currently. as the fbi kept in contact with dhs and others, who those individuals are and what kind of tracking and monitoring isn >> i know we work closely with dhs, especially cbp come on the issue of special-interest aliens including a whole lot of work on the other side of the border to try and prevent them from coming in in the first place and i know there are in and says where they are contacted but i'm not sure as i sit here right now that i can tell you we are contacted in every instance. >> that is helpful. let me give you some attention here.gaged in this and trying to figuut this in the visuals who are crossing the border right now from any of those countries, we don't have any criminal

information on these individuals. do you know just offhand how into the united states when they are crossing our southern border, we have criminal background information? about venezuelan gangs. many of them paroled into the country. it is in venezuela freely sharing their criminal records with us and do we know if these indi■rviduals have a criminal record? >> thank you, senator. i don't know if venezuela is sharing specific information but what i can say is obviously that we have seen over 7 million venezuelans emigrate from the country since 2017. a significant portion of whom obviously have emigrated to the united states legally but whends and fbi, our analyst use that to form the judgments. >> nicaragua is not taking people back on that and we are dependent on the state ystems court of -- sort of consequences. you are not taking people back on that.

do you know any of the conversation right now between nicaragua and the united states? we have attracting of some who have criminal records that are comiand consider that a threat. >> i don't have any specifics on the details or engagement with nicaragua. i'm happy to follow-up with you offline. >> that would be great. then we talked a little bit about it. this is an acronym people don't know. any terrorism. we had this since 2007. it expired in july of last year and has not been reauthorized yet. one of thesp oatey have the ability to check against the terror watch list using their authority on that. it is about 9000 people a month that used to be checked on that just in the hiring in the process all over the country with 63,000 people estimating that it had not been checked. how many people show up as a hit on the terror watch list from the hiring in the past?

when we do that check on it which now is not occurring, we have not reauthorized this. how many folks are on the terror watch list? >> i will tell you i share your concern about the lapse in the authorities and one of the challenges of this particular space is that it does not take many for it to be a real problem then we relythhistorically haveo protect.t number is not zero one that has been run in the past? >> corre. >> could you have given their witnesses homework? senator. if you want to defer to senator

kelly, i would be happy to but we are doing it by seniority.m's capital region, and the albany complex is set to house some of our nation's most advanced development, and manufacturing. today's annual threat assessment points out that china currently lags behind the u.s. in developing the most advanced■m steal our technology which they have done over and over. i included legislation requiring dod to establish a pilot program to enable collaboratn nter and e u.s. semiconductor manufacturers to improve the cybersecurity and semiconductor design and manufacturing process. general, how is the nsa working with the fbi to create safeguards against espionage and cyber attacks at leading public research facilities and its semicouctor many factors?

>> thank you for the question. in terms of how we think about the china cyber threat, it is clear that they are going to be relentless to intend to steal intellectual property so from our perspective, part of what the nsa has really focused on doing is eliminating that threat. so we have done a series of unclassified as batteries with a number -- advisories with a number of partners. six other nations and multiple companies to illuminate that threat to get unity of action against that threat. unclassified reports to allow increased unity of action so from the fbi's perspective, they are a teammate in everything we threat within the united states. and from a specific look at semiconductors, critical technology that clearly china wants to catch up on and from our perspective, an area we will

continue to identify those threats and communicatose both through the fbi and through classified advisories wherever we can. >> i would agree with everything the general just said and i would add that we have set up counterintelligence taskforces in all 56 field offices including in the albany area in with us in our national effort in that regard. in addition to the unclassified situatn at can bshared through the good work we do together, one of the advantages to the fbi engaging with private companies is because we get information from so many different sources. there are times we can share information with a private sector entity that helps protect nsa's sources and methods because it does not clearly get identified in this is something nsa told us. >> research from the center for

capturing digital hate found that the image generators create election disinformation in 41% of cases including image candidates for election fraud in spite of controls we have been told have been put in place. this is for the entire panel. have any o adversaries with intent to use generative ai, either images, video, audio, to deceive american voters? what are we relying on to advise the public when this inauthentic content appears?■k director wray, you can start. >> i want to think about what i can say here. certainly ai is something th all of our most significant adversaries are taking a hard look at to enhance their efforts. we have seen ai used in a variety of settings. whether it has been used specifically to target voters, i'm not sure i can say that but we are actively concerned about that as the latest wrinkle in a long-standing effort to engageo.

>> another exales ave seen evidence that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has used ai to generate videos aimed at inspiring lone wolf attacks as a result to the gaza conflict as well.ssia deploying ai tools in the context of their efforts in ukraine. march 2022, there was a deepfake of the ukrai■7nian president asking ukrainians to lay down their arms and ultimately had to be actually countered by president zelenskyy. >> did we give them the ability to do that quickly? >> the ukrainians? that. >> general?>> in termof nsa established a security center to generate and

communicate to anyone who is building a model from naia ai perspective what are those thres ■b security mechanisms to ensure -- to avoid misuse of those models? we are also using the center for how we apply all of the ethical and safety standards of how the department will leverage ai but really the last component wouldo those companies the threats they will have of their technology and how will we employ it?■d >> go ahead. >> you are right to raise this as a threat and i think our view generative ai will essentially lower the barrier for actors with fewer resources to engage in election interference. >> general? >> i don't think i would add anything to what has beencoof

that that has a touch point across everything. >> somehow participated in the conference and there were 20 tech companies that came together. most of the social mediaater, watermarking, and willingness to take down ai generated video and voice that were affecting elections but it was voluntary and the proof will be in the pudding. >> no one said they had a plan. advise the american people. >> this tly and the senator wile on and have a greater part. senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to all of you for your service and■@ to your teams as well. director, with regard to the

p.r.c. and some recent public reports of significant land purchas, purchases are accurate, they may very well pose a threat to not only some military installations but certainly involved in food production that takes away from our ability to produce for oura. just curious about whether or not you are aware or can confirm land purchases by chinese nationalists within the united states and are you following them at this time? >> so this is an issue we are focused on a lot lately. i think what i would say is we are investigating a number of his essays proactively where we are seeing neither commercial, real estate, or land being purchased by those with ties to infrastructure and i want to be clear.

foreign purchases of land including chinese purchases of land is not itself inherently illegal but the problem is the risk and as it has been different context, the hold that the chinese government and the ccp have over its businesses in particular so we are particularly concerned about situations where a purchase of land near a military -- military installation or critical ashing from espionage, data collection, or worse. >> do you know if th have in place today are strong enough or capable of stopping these purchases from moving forward? >> well, i mean ai go through a process but i am not clear on whether or not that fully extends to all the land purchase situations that we are concerned about.

we are working with -- through the process when that applies and working with the usda to work towards mandatory reporting regime that might apply so i think there is room for plugging gaps that may exist.0e >> thank you. i would like to also ask with regard to ai in particular, bottom line is it is not going away. it is something that we are going to have to deal with right now. it appears as though we leaved i capabilities. most certainly, our adversaries recognize that and they will do whatever they can as a shortcut to our capabilities. air, land, space, and cyberspace. with regard to the advances with ai right now, i'm concerned as much about china and russia and develop weapons systems that we have never really thought about

as being in the forefront of a major and direct threat to the united states and going to talk we know that china and russia have significant capabilities with regard to ai and using ai, you can make rapid advances, as you noted. on 30 through 33 in your i'm concerned about the fact that it may be used as a weapi's to but i will start with director ray and if you would like to pass this on, that's fine. it seems this is an area that we are not ahead in time to be able to identify and stop them, this is probably as much as a threat to the united states as any other element we have today. quex i will start with another and others may want to chime in

from a military pepefrom an fbif our priorities is protecting american ai innovation from theft, especially from the chinese. america leads the world in ai innovation and ai is often gilln about detecting deepfakes in one of the best weapons against ai is better ai. we n■keed to protect that innovation and we are concerned the chinese would -- as i've testified repeatedly -- a bigger hacking program than if they steal our ai to power it, it makes words like force multiplier an understatement. >> on page 32 of your report you made sure that russia, china, iran and north korea produced pathogens and toxins in china and russia have proven adept at manipulating information space

to reduce confidence in countermeasures and u.s. biotechnology in research. cloaks to share my view that unlawful entry through the southern border shares a serious threat to the u.s. national border? >> i've repeatedly that we are concerned about the terrorism implications from vulnerabilities at the border. >> how would you assess the present level of threat and risk of a terrorist attack in the united states compared past times during your tenure? >> even before octoberd've tolde that we were at a heightened threat level from a terrorism perspective, in the sense that it's the first time that i've

seen, in a long, long time, threats from extremist, jihadist violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations and state-sponsored terrorist organizations been elevated at one time. ber 7, the threat has gone to another level. this is a time for much greater vigilance then has maybe been call upon of us before october 7. >> is the fbi posture to understand the threat associated with the southern border? briefed on specific threats, do you feel you know enough to assure us the fbi's as well across it as you can be or ou are flying blind and not able to define the scope of the threat? >> are working hard with our partners but there is no question we need more resources to combat the threat. i will give an example.

wiq;th dhs, they collect dna samples. we provide kits to dhs to collect samplesthat get sent to. that's part of why we ask for a significant enhancement because of the sheer increase in people coming across means a sheer increase in samples that need to be collected. that's what helps us identify peopleime in the united states, or, as has happened too often, they go back across the border and try to re-illegally again. need to process those samples quickly if there's a backlog. we asked for enhancement. not only will we knock it enhancement, there was a 10% cut whatever happened in 24, but i would urge you look at fiscal year 2025 if we are serious about protecting the border. >> i think it's worth noting that a serious, tough,

bipartisan security measure was put forward in the congress. in fact, co-authored by conservative republican member of this searched enforcement resources to the border, which would provided substantial resources to fight cartels and cut down on fentanyl trafficking, it would've tightened asylum standards and expedited adjudication, therefore, movable timelines for those trying to enter the country without a valid reason to. the former president put out the the. for political reasons and the bill was stopped. not only was the bill stopped, this speaks to the corrosive impact of extreme partisanship and polarization on our national security. like to ask you, how do our adversaries view the impact of

polarization in partisanship on american strength and stability. we are talking about world wide threats and it can exploit our nties here at home. >> the best way to answer that question is to point to the fact that we have seen both russia and china have taken the opportunity to highlight where there is political dysfunction or other issues that context ofe and use it as part of their information operation globally. both to highlight, for example, to their own populations, democracy is quite challenging, and would you really want this at home, kind of g. to demonstrr allies and partners that we can be relied on as effectively. >> thank you all for your testimony. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you, everyone, for being here today. i had been sitting here s is mar

going last in one of these hearings. i was going to say it was the elephant in the room until my colleague from georgia brought it up. but, as i've sat here, i've heard moemcommittee asked somett the southern border. not everybody, but, the majority. i spent a lo t, perhaps more tin maybe anybody on this committee, maybe with the exception of senator cornyn. who i've traveled to the border with. and i strongly agree with what most of my democrat and republican about the problems and the challenges. fentanyl coming north, precursors often from china, heading south. violent extremist organizations, chinese migrants who might be manedóe selling rather strong

marijuana. isis iran proxies, problems■7■v over and over they pointed out all these problems. i've worked on this issue providing more pay for border control,& c southern border, where they make sense. they certainly do in a lot of places. more money for ngos to help border patrol. director wray pointed out talking about how we need more resources to combat the threat. and it helps when dhs gets oser resources. we have the opportunity to do something about it. more money for including fentanyl detection. more border patrol agents, more asylum officers. more authorities to rapidly expel individuals.