. >> former director of national intelligence john ratcliffe now on national security threats and u.s. intelligence capabilities. speaking at an event hosted by the heritage foundation, mr. ratcliffe outlets threats by china, north korea, and iran. >> good morning and welcome to the heritage foundation. i'm overseer for foreign policy policy at the heritage foundation, and we have an extraordinary event today. and i think one that doesn't get near the attention and importance it deserves. in washington where we don't agree on anything, where somebody thinks it's bipartisan to have a bill that actually nobody from the other party votes for, there is one thing where we all ought to be coming together and paying a lot of attention to. in an era of great competition, america's intelligence capabilities are never more important than ever. we've had a succession of president was bush to obama to trump to biden who have all said what are the great concerns, what are the great destabilizing factors in the world today. president was bush to obama to trump to biden who have all said what are th

approximately 50 years ago when the intelligence reform act was passed as you sat as director of national intelligence. to that end i thought we would break the session into three parts. the threats, the response, or the capabilities of the intelligence community and then the questions that will come from the audience that dustin cormack is going to enable the questioning of those -- of those to you. the intelligence community that you led just recently -- in fact, april 9th, ten days ago, issued a written annual threat assessment. in that, that was a preamble, in fact, to the hearings that were held by both the committee that you served on the house in terms of the house permanent select intelligence committee, and then to the ssci, the senate select committee for intelligence this past week. i point that out because it's a great backdrop for the following questions that i have on national security as it applies to the threats that we face. and as dr. carafano said, this is one area that as a nation we can agree that those threats are very real. they're looming, and they're getting worse and deeper a

mean, you know, the world health organization came out with a report and as a director of national intelligencee past year i didn't see intelligence product from the best intelligence enterprise in the world that was consistent with what the world health organization said about the likely origins of covid-19. in fact, we put our intelligence out, helped mike pompeo do that through the state department talking about how coronavirus 96.2% identical to covid-19, we are being experimented from the wuhan institute of virology and have scientists working on that became sick with covid-like symptoms. all of those things are real clear about china's role with respect to a virus that -- that was a direct and proximate cause of half a million american deaths and, you know, the big winner in the 2020 election was joe biden and was also china and the fact that joe biden is not or his diplomats are not addressing this issue directly with china, i think, really reflects that everything that they've said about china, about being tough is just that, it's rhetoric and -- and the policies are really an attempt n

you were the director of national intelligence. were banging pots and pans you were trying to tell the american people that democrats in congress that we have a huge issue. a huge problem on our hands with communist china. do you think they realize it now? >> well mark i think they realized it all of last year i think they spent year saying that china is our greatest national security threat by far. militarily, economically, technologically, the china and china alone is intending to plant the united states. but i as you recall received a lot of pushback on that because it wasn't the political narrative that the left wanted. they wanted russia to be the bad guy i was accused of trying to create a false equivalency with russia when intelligence was clear. mark i felt so strongly about it i did something that directors of national intelligence haven't done before i wrote op-ed saying china is number one national security threat. and as you correctly pingt out now that election is over, i think -- the intelligence can't be ignored what

intelligence was clear, mark, i fell strongly about it, i did something that directors of national intelligence had not done before, i wrote an op-ed, saying that china is our number one security threat. you point out, intelligence can't be ignored. you saw 27 page unclassified hospital put out tracking the op-ed and i wrote, saying that china is our greatest national security threat. mark: digging into this. we see when china has done on hong kong. once the freest place on the face of the earth. they destroyed it. they are devouring it. we see what they have done in south china sea, they claim it as their own. they built the military islands inn they threaten any navy and any ship that come through the area, they have their sites, this is important, on taiwan, they threaten japan, they threatened vietnam, vietnam has sort of cozied us to us, they are concerned about the way chinese are laying claim to the waters off vietnam. this is just the beginning, this is a very aggressive country right now. >> very. you see you are talking about now a reflection that china will test the waters, they will

this year's annual threat assessment of the director of national intelligence highlights the complexity of the current threat environment. the report finds that the united states and its partners face, quote, a diverse array of threats that are playing out amidst the global destruction involving from the covid-19 pandemic and against the backdrop of great power competition, disruptive effects and a change in climate. an increasing number of nonstate actors and rapidly evolving technology. the interconnected nature of these threats will drive how we resource and transform our tools and national power, not only military but also diplomatic, economic and informational. to respond to these complex security challenges, we need to do all of these things. the united states and its democratic allies and partners are increasingly challenged by states and nonstate actors that do not accept the international norms that have underpinned our security and help keep the peace for decades. a recent report published by the director of national intelligence sought to project global trends over the next 2

again i just wanted to pick up on what you said because these sanctions come off the back of a national intelligence report in the us that said russia attempted to interfere in the 2020 presidential elections that it tried and failed is what the report claims have seen sanctions but it also says if i'm trying to interfere and and fail so why no sanctions against iran but against russia you see it sounds logical. that if you change the process of elections you know yes this is though you see if there is a small but not a republic. in your private company like they're referring to in this. company. small. company their salaries they say they're. changing the elections it's a it's not it's not serious it's not serious. if they want to use this as a pretext for divorce. worse than the good relations between states or. visit. other other country like russia it's another thing. then to understand. but don't take this seriously it's of course. it's not. it's. really it i don't see i don't i hope they don't think. seriously. that. this is the kind of bluff and on the more not not more. but you see. you cann

any more information in the meantime i'm going to talk to glenn col who is a former deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats at the cia he's on skype from boston for us today and we thank you for your time as always mr karr i know there is a lot of conjecture and a lack of detail at the moment but if we just look at the big picture to start with this is the kind of thing that we've almost been waiting for hoping that wouldn't happen but that something could happen post january 6th in washington. well that's true in a way it's not a surprise but even had there not been the january 6th episode and even had that not been preceded by 40 years of frankly fomenting of violence and extremism by the president. this sort of. incident is to be expected there is a rule of thumb very informal one among secret service agents work with that let's say there one percent of the population is mentally ill and and that's you know there's much higher but it's one percent and one percent only of that group will be inclined to violence against foreign years so one percent of one percent of the a

the threat that the director of national intelligence today said is immediate growing and complex.get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? i mean it... uh-oh, sorry... oh... what? i'm an emu! no, buddy! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> in our world lead today, the fight against conspiracy theories including qanon. today we learned that domestic violence extremism is immediate, growing and increasingly complex, unquote, according to leaders of the intelligence community. >> the effects of covid, social isolation and other factors all exacerbate people's vulnerabilities to those theories and we're concerned about the potential that those things can lead to violence. >> alex marquardt joins us live. alex, what what is specifically said about qanon? >> the director of the fbi chris wray was asked about domestic violence extremism and specifically about qanon and who may be behind it. he said that qanon is a complex conspiracy theory tha

after veterans or people with some national intelligence or national security clearance, the majorityhrinking, you say you are running because you are not being represented? why? >> i watched that of the democratic women take that majority of the house and they were democrat, women, veterans. i felt i wasn't represented. maybe ran in new jersey, and a navy veteran, and there is no reason a conservative republican, a veteran running for the congressional seat. you are among men, that has got to feel good. >>, and at the naval academy as well. we saw, it was by a veteran -- explained, as you said, you have been parent for this your whole life. >> there was service to country first, i take care of geriatric patient and service to family and mom. >> you actually -- as far as being a mother of four. what does this show about your kids growing up, surely this has to be good for them and encouraging for them as well as young people. >> he is, two boys and two girls, such a great example especially as women. i frequently speak to school-age children in that part of my life, being unable aviat

a recent report from the director of national intelligence found that accelerating shifts in military power, economic growth, environmental conditions and technology as well as how divisions in governance models are likely to ratchet up divisions between china and a western coalition led by the united states. it is against this background china has been identified as a threat to the military heard we also must avoid the perception that china is 10 feet tall. i hope our witnesses will also describe the challenges facing china, including demographic, economic, and governmental, and how the united states and our network of allies and partners can take advantage of them. russia is utilizing a whole-of-government approach to accelerate competition and advance its interests, notably via disinformation campaigns, assassination attempts, espionage, and the use of mercenary groups in numerous countries around the world. i hope our witnesses will help us more fully understand the extent of russia's maligned actions as well as areas where our partners and allies would benefit from greater u.s. s

biden told the director of national intelligence, as soon as she was sworn in, that she needed to review all of the intelligence and report to him on russia allegedly mounting that major cyberattack on the u.s. last year, the solarwinds attack. also their alleged chemical weapons assassination attempts. also those unbelievably inflammatory, outrageous reports that the kremlin had offered to pay cash bounties to fighters in afghanistan if they would attack u.s. service members there. also the issue of whether russia came back at our elections again in 2020 to try to influence and undermine elections again in 2020 after what they did in 2016. biden assigned that wide ranging review of the intelligence on russia's malign activities in his very first few days in office. and today we learned the outcome of that. and it turns out to be a surprising mix. and it seems to be kind of a transparent, interesting, surprising set of data that they have returned. it came with a whole bunch of government actions by the biden administration today, some of them quite dramatic, and, surprise, it came with

." >> national intelligence officials testify on global threats facing the u.s., including russia's nuclear buildup and the growing threat of climate change. from the senate armed services committee, this is about an hour and 15 minutes. >> good morning. before i turn to our witnesses today, i would like to give my colleagues a preview. because of the uncertainty of the timing of the president's budget submission, the committee has made a difficult decision to delay the markup until july, in consultation with the senate ranking member. the chairman and military services will testify in june. we now have 23 nominations or intent to nominate, including three military combatant commanders and two nominees for the national nuclear security administration. getting these nominees confirmed as quickly as possible will require many hearings, including possible full committee hearings on wednesday. i asked everyone to be as patient and cooperative as possible while we perform this very necessary oversight duty. i'm breaking a bit from the tradition of the last several months. i would like to take a

here is what this administration's own national intelligence threat assessments as will happen. "-- this is a quote from this administration "the taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield in the afghan government will struggle to hold the taliban at bay until the coalition withdraw support." in 2019 the democratic leader and the now chairman of the foreign relations committee expressed outrage that the previous administration considered hosting taliban officials for discussions around the date of september 11. but now, the democratic administration is going to skip the negotiations and just surrender an entire country back to the taliban on the very same date. our president should remember what happened when the obama administration let political considerations rush a retreat for my rock, total chaos -- from my rock, -- iraq total chaos and bloodshed. two years ago i wrote a bipartisan amendment that warned a republican administration against recklessly withdrawing from afghanistan or syria. a super majority voted for it. super majority voted for it. warning that the terrorists

national intelligence council from 2010 to 2014. what we do about it? there is not a whole lot we can do to improve it in the near term. the major obstacles such as the military buildup on the border with ukraine and of course the occupation of crimea and eastern ukraine, the war that continues undeclared for almost seven years. those are not going away and until those are really resolved, it is difficult to imagine that the relationship will go through another reset, to use a term from an forgotten era, president obama's time in office. if president obama's time in office. , ., , office. if you were president biden, office. if you were president biden. what _ office. if you were president biden, what other _ office. if you were president biden, what other things - office. if you were president| biden, what other things you would be looking to do? well, i think the answer _ would be looking to do? well, i think the answer is _ would be looking to do? well, i think the answer is not - would be looking to do? well, i think the answer

officer for russia at the national intelligence council. the author of the book "putin's world, russia against the west and with the rest." it is a pleasure to speak to you. how do you think russia is reacting today? what is the reaction from the kremlin? angela: first of all, thank you for having me on the show. i think the russians have been forewarned that sanctions were coming, but i think the way they are reacting now obviously is to push back. i am sure they will react by expelling diplomats and double medic personnel. obviously it is harder for them to react to this financially and economically because we are in a much stronger position , but we have nowbanned any u.s. financial -- now banned any u.s. finaco institutions for trading in sovereign debt -- u.s. financial institutions from trading in sovereign debt, ruble denominated dollar-denominated -- ruble denominated or dollar-denominated. i think the russians will continue to push back. on the other hand, there probably will be a summit. on tuesday, president biden this to preside

when did the postal service get into national intelligence? president biden painting with broad strokes on immigration but failed to address the crisis happening at this very moment on the southern border. he is even being slammed by his own party. i'm brian brenberg in for elizabeth macdonald. the"the evening edit" starts rit now now. ♪ brian: president biden highlighted his 6 trillion-dollar spending spree, drawing harsh criticism from republicans about the american families plan. the white house offered specific numbers who will be affected by tax hikes to pay for it. blake burman at white house with details. reporter: brian, good evening after wrasse night's joint address president biden is on the road and will be there several days to try to sell his economic vision. give you a live look at duluth, georgia. you see the cars there in the background. the president is set to hold a drive-in rally. duluth a suburb northeast of atlanta. the president tomorrow will be in pennsylvania. then on monday he will head to virginia. you're right, brian

national agency has has followed suit now of course you should always sort of listen up when a national intelligence agency puts an. under surveillance that protesting against government policies but as ha see over the interior minister said we had it there it's not directed at those who are peacefully protesting and making their opinions heard but really against those who are using those protests to illegitimate and and that's to incite violence and to to to undermine and threaten security and that that has grown in recent in over the last few weeks and months. and one example that's been cited by authorities is a sort of so-called death list of of politicians that's been circulated among squared anchors on messaging apps. containing names of of members of parliament that recently voted in favor of a national lockdown or. thank you for the political correspondent on your shelf and . so with football and the european super league debacle caused a huge uproar about fans especially in england where 6 premier league clubs announced they were joining the breakaway leak and then changed their minds to tr

now that is now happened and of course you should always sort of listen up when a government national intelligence service puts a group under surveillance who are protesting against government measures and but the intelligence services stated that that the that group the fed and guy using what are legitimate demonstrations and concerns against. government measures for illegitimate ends and that is to undermine the german state in the german constitution and what they said was particularly concerning were sort of connections to right wing groups especially far right extremists like the iceberg for example who question the validity of the modern german state us off laws thank you very much for this update. u.n. secretary general antonio good terrorist is holding meetings in geneva with the leaders of divided cyprus to find some common ground between the 2 sides the island has been split along ethnic lines between greek and turkish cypriots for decades the hope is to use this summit as a springboard to resume formal peace talks have been stalled since 2070. time seems to have come to a standstill and

the director of national intelligence the secretary of homeland security to i people who are powerful decision makers in washington also a lot less to susan rice and john bolton historically to politicians who are you know. this russian rhetoric alongside the names moscow explained that these individuals have been chosen precisely because they all bear responsibility for promoting americans and to russian policy direction i have to say this is a really strong move because usually such bans are done on the low down in the quiet that are not announced publicly so clearly the kremlin here is so frustrated by what's going on that it wants to make a really bold korea statement of not 10 american diplomats have been expelled a number of american organizations suspected of interfering in russia's internal affairs have been told that they need to stop their activity and it was also made clear that if the u.s. continues to behave this way the more can and will be done including reducing the diplomatic mission here to just $300.00 and taking action that would be harmful to u.s. business interes

now that is now happened and of course you should always sort of listen up when a government national intelligence service puts a group under surveillance who are protesting against government measures and but the intelligence services stated that that the that group that fed anger are using what are legitimate demonstrations and concerns against. government measures for illegitimate ends and that is to undermine the german state in the german constitution and what they said was particularly concerning were sort of connections to right wing groups especially far right extremists like the iceberg for example who question the validity of the modern german state. thank you very much or it's up to. us or to general antonio is holding meetings in geneva with the leaders of divided cyprus to find some common ground between the 2 sides the island has been split along ethnic lines between greek and turkish cypriots for decades decades the hope is to use this summit as a springboard to resume formal peace talks that have been stalled since 27 tea. time seems to have come to a standstill and for russia it's

violent extremism poses heightened threat in 2021 the march 1st report from the director of national intelligence was written in consultation with the cia the f.b.i. the d. the d.h. s. and a partridge in a pear tree and evil kind of kind of dastardly partridge not a good part of virgin all not. like the kind of partridge that would eat the last pickle and then put the jar back in the fridge so that later your excited for a delicious chris prepared. and there's not the dare but a jar of pickles urine what i'd rather do were to ask dad to have hard drives. that kind of party point is makes clear that its target encompasses a wide range of groups from the left and to animal rights and environmental activists pro-choice extremists and anarchists those who oppose capitalism and all forms of globalization to the right wing sovereign citizen movements anti-abortion activists and those deemed motivated by racial or ethnic hatreds yes yes grouped together animal activists animal rights activists who have killed exactly no one wants racial hatred ideologies something that has been prevalent in just about e

c-span3, a hearing on global security threats with the director of national intelligence and the head of the defense intelligence agency. that is followed at 11:00 a.m. by a hearing on mars perseverance rover mission. on our website, the confirmation hearing for eric lander to lead the white house office of science and technology policy. michael regan testifies on the president's budget request for the energy and commerce committee. he will those live at -- you will find those live at c-span.org. ♪