Sen. Mark Warner, currently cmte vice chair, soon to be chair: "Echoing what the chmn [Sen. Rubio] has said, perhaps the greatest challenge facing you as the DNI will be a rising China that is committed to surpassing & eclipsing the US militarily, economically & technologically"
https://twitter.com/tanvi_madan/status/1351551103104667648
2/ DNI Nominee Avril Haines: "we should provide the necessary intelligence to support long-term bipartisan efforts to outcompete China, gaining & sharing insight into China's intentions & capabilities..."
3/ DNI Nominee Avril Haines: "...while also supporting more immediate efforts to counter Beijing's unfair, illegal, aggressive & coercive actions as well as its human rights violations whenever we can"
4/ DNI nominee Haines in response to Rubio question re PRC outreach to sub-national officials to influence them:
"obviously the counter-intel challenge w/ China is a very important one, a priority & sthg I will hv to focus on" [but notes she hasn't had an in-depth briefing yet]
"obviously the counter-intel challenge w/ China is a very important one, a priority & sthg I will hv to focus on" [but notes she hasn't had an in-depth briefing yet]
5/ Sen. Warner: "for a no. of decades we had a bipartisan consensus on China -- that the more they came into the world order, the closer they would move to some level of international norms.
I'll be the first to acknowledge I was part of that consensus & I think I was wrong"
I'll be the first to acknowledge I was part of that consensus & I think I was wrong"
6/ Sen. Warner says it is important to be "clear-eyed" about China and asks,
"Is China under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party an adversary of the United States?"
"Is China under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party an adversary of the United States?"
7/ DNI nominee Haines's answer to Sen. Warner question: "Is China under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party an adversary of the United States?" 
8/ Sen. Susan Collins: "China is clearly a key geopol adversary & poses a threat to our interests in terms of the theft of IP & also potential spying thru its telecom cos. Do u hv any concerns abt how the Obama admin approached China when u served in ur capacity in that admin?"
9/ DNI nom Haines's re Sen. Collins's ques re Obama admin China approach:
"our approach to China has to...meet the reality of particularly the assertive & aggressive China that we see today"
Says reqs "aggressive stance" - ackn at a place "more assertive than where we had been"
"our approach to China has to...meet the reality of particularly the assertive & aggressive China that we see today"
Says reqs "aggressive stance" - ackn at a place "more assertive than where we had been"
10/ Sen. Ben Sasse says often hear "bipartisan" thrown around but re China, heard Rubio & Warner "really singing off the exact same song sheet."
11/ Sen. Sasse says China policy shldnt be used as "partisan cudgel"
"were bipartisan failures for a decade & a half, &...nearly bipartisan agmt [for abt half decade]...that dealing w/ the CCP is the no. 1 issue that the natsec community faces"
"were bipartisan failures for a decade & a half, &...nearly bipartisan agmt [for abt half decade]...that dealing w/ the CCP is the no. 1 issue that the natsec community faces"
12/ Sen. Sasse echoes Sens. Rubio & Warner: "we need the American ppl to understand that our opponent is not the Chinese ppl, our opponent is not Chinese Americans, but our opponent is the Chinese Communist Party"
13/ Sasse says 5 broad natsec threats [China, Russia, Iran, DPRK, "grab bag of jihadis"] but "if we look at the resources of IC, it still doesn't show a primary focus on China that I think is the bipartisan consensus in this committee." Asks abt IC being slow pivoting to China
14/ DNI nom Haines: "I've heard from a no. of members a concern over this issue [IC slowness re pivoting/rebalancing to China] &, if confirmed, I will absolutely make it a priority from my perspective to ensure we are allocating the right resources in addressing this issue"
15/ Sasse asks Haines to commit to returning to SSCI in six months w "a strategic plan of how China actually becomes in reality not merely in rhetoric the no. 1 priority of our IC"
She commits to coming back to the cmte w/in six months after confirmation "on this issue"
She commits to coming back to the cmte w/in six months after confirmation "on this issue"
16/ Sen. Bennet asks re China's long-term horizon thinking relative to US.
Haines ackn urgent > important problem, but says there's recognition re need to think abt challenges strategically, hv whole of govt long-term plans & to promote them in ways that'd make them sustainable
Haines ackn urgent > important problem, but says there's recognition re need to think abt challenges strategically, hv whole of govt long-term plans & to promote them in ways that'd make them sustainable
17/ Hearing ends w/ DNI nominee Avril Haines answering Sen. Cornyn question re role of deterrence in cyber realm.
Her answer is instructive beyond the cyber realm:
Her answer is instructive beyond the cyber realm:
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