The Senate Intelligence Committee hears from the FBI director, CIA director, Director of National Intelligence, and other intelligence heads as they testify on worldwide threats facing the U.S. and allies, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Senators aren’t required to confine their questioning to the topic of the hearing — they can ask the intelligence chiefs about other issues. Among the topics that might come up — the Russia investigation.
In prepared remarks, Sen. Mark Warner says “certain questions remain with respect to the true extent of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, and we’ll work through those as our investigation continues.”
He says despite those questions, there is ” broad bipartisan consensus” in the Committee on the fact that Russia did engage in a “coordinated attack to undermine our democracy” that targeted state and local election systems and that Russia utilized social media to push and spread disinformation “at an unprecedented scale.”
“We’ve had more than a year to get our act together and address the threat posed by Russia and implement a strategy to deter future attacks. But we still do not have a plan,” Warner says in his remarks.
He added, “What we are seeing is a continuous assault by Russia to target and undermine our democratic institutions, and they are going to keep coming at us”, and points to China as being a potential country that is looking to gain access to “sensitive technologies and intellectual property”
Cybersecurity
In his opening remarks, Coats said that the U.S. is “under attack” by “entities using cyber to penetrate virtually every major action that takes place in the U.S.”
He said that from the business world to local governments, the U.S. is “threatened by cyber attacks every day” by using elections as an opportunity to “sow discord and undermine our values.”
Coats pointed to Russia, China and Iran as posting the greatest threat to the nation’s cybersecurity posture, saying that Russia is a likely to pursue “more agressive attacks with intent to degrade Democratic values” as well as our global alliances.
Asked by Sen. Warner on the chain of command when it comes to the intelligence community’s response to cyber threats, Coats said no single agency is in charge but find many federal agencies are working together to keep the U.S. response moving and prevent further attacks from happening.
Coats said the intelligence community is also gaining more support from the private sector. “We can’t as a government direct them what to do, but we’re spending every effort to work with them to provide answers,” added Coats.
Wray echoed the Director, saying the team effort on the part of the intelligence community in its effort to combat cyber attacks is more apparent than the last time he was a government role.
Wray noted, however, that the federal government “can’t fully police social media” so the intelligence community needs to work with tech companies to better prepare for future attacks. He commended the intelligence community’s use of “defensive briefings” with U.S. telecommunication companies and members of the tech industry to help them “recognize the threats that are coming their way”
He said he’s been “gratified” by the response he’s received from companies when trying to educate them, but noted the bigger challenge is innovation — smaller start up companies with less sophisticated measures to prevent cyber attacks.
As it pertains to China, Wray said they are turning to more “creative avenues” by using “non-traditional collectors”, an aspect Wray said the intelligence community recognizes but the private sector “isn’t used to spotting.”
North Korea
Meanwhile, Coats said that North Korea continues to pose more than ever as an “increasing threat to the U.S.” He said that the regime has stated it does not “intend to negotiate nuclear weapons away” which they deem critical to its security. Coats said that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un sees nuclear ICBM’s as leverage to end the alliance between South Korea and the U.S. in its efforts to “dominate the peninsula.”
He said that the nation can expect to see North Korea press ahead with additional nuclear tests, including an atmospheric nuclear test over the pacific.
Pompeo echoed Coats’ assessment of Kim, saying he continues to remain intent on staying power. He said that U.S. intelligence officials see that as the North Koreans ratchet up their nuclear capability it makes a response much more difficult and North Korea’s capacity to do harm in the region also increases.
Pompeo also addressed the Winter Olympic Games which has been a moment for diplomacy between the North and South. He said that Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong, who led the regime’s delegation to the Olympics, is the “head of propaganda and agitation department” and there has been “no indication” of a strategic shift for the North Koreans and its nuclear containment.
He said that those around Kim “aren’t suggesting to him the tenuous nature of his position” as leader of the regime and the consequences of his actions in the peninsula.
Russia
Coats says that Russia utilized social media as a relatively “cheap and low risk” opportunity to sow dissension in the U.S. He said in the eyes of Russia, it “offers plausible deniability and is proven to be effective at sowing division.”
He said that Russia will “continue using propaganda, social media, false flag personas and sympathetic spokesmen to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political issues in the U.S.”
Coats noted that Russia perceived its past influence as “successful” and aims to use the 2018 midterm elections as a potential target.
Director Pompeo added that intelligence officials have yet to sees a “significant decrease” in Russian activity as it pertains their influence in U.S. elections and social and political issues.
Rob Porter Clearance
Wray was asked by Sen. Ron Wyden about his knowledge of allegations of domestic abuse carried out by former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, creating security clearance issues at the White House. Wray said that while there was a limit to what he can say about the content of Porter’s background investigation, he said he was confident the FBI followed “established protocols” when conducting the background investigation.
Wray provided a brief timeline of when the FBI submitted its reports on the investigation as part of Porter’s clearance process, saying that the investigation was completed in late July. He said the FBI soon thereafter received a request for a follow up inquiry which was provided in November. The file was then closed in January but said earlier this month, the FBI received “additional information” and passed that along to the proper agencies.
Nunes Memo
Wray said he did have interactions with the White House as it pertains to the since-declassified memo penned by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. He said, however that the FBI “had then and continues to have now grave concerns about the accuracy of the memo because of omissions.” He added, “we provided thousands of documents that were very sensitive” as well as “lots” of briefings so it’s “very hard for anybody to distill that down to 3 and a half pages.”
