Thread by @jseldin

HAPPENING NOW: Senate Intelligence Committee's Hearing on Worldwide Threats

"We look to our intelligence agencies to provide their best & most objective analytic judgments" per Chairman @MarkWarner "...free of bias, & not “shaded” in any way to fit a particular policy or agenda"

"We're going to need to discuss the situation in #Afghanistan" per @MarkWarner, in introductory remarks...
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"It's the one time a year where the American public & the members of Congress here in the Senate get an unvarnished presentation by an apolitical intelligence community of the real national security threats" per Vice Chair @marcorubio

On #cyber, "Today's technology environment allows adversaries to wreak havoc and they often do so at a minimal cost" per @marcorubio "#SolarWinds hack illustrates how easily US infrastructure can be compromised"

#Afghanistan withdrawal: "Irrespective of how anyone may feel about it, no one can deny it's going to have serious security implications for our country for years to come" per @marcorubio

"There's a very real possibility in the very near future, sadly, tragically & in a heart-breaking way the #Taliban will reagin control of all or substantial portions of #Afghanistan" per Rubio "If they do, I think it's almost certain that #alQaida will return to #Afghanistan"

"We assess the world will face more intense & cascading global challenges ranging from disease to #climatechange to disruptions from new technologies & financial crises...often exceeding the capacity of existing systems" per @ODNIgov Dir Avril Haines

"At no point has it been more important to invest in our norms and institutions, our workforce & the integration of our work" per @ODNIgov's Haines

#China "an unparalleled priority for the intelligence community" per @ODNIgov's Haines "But also #Russia #Iran & #NorthKorea"

"While #China poses an increasingly formidable challenge to the US role in global affairs, it is worth noting that its economic, environmental & demographic vulnerabilities all threaten to complicate its ability to manage the transition to the dominant role it aspires" per Haines

#Russia "will continue to employ a variety of tactics to undermine US influence and erode Western alliances" per @ODNIgov's Haines

"While Russia does not want a conflict w/the UnitedStates, Russian officials have long believed that Washington is seeking to weaken Russia"

"#Moscow will use a range of tools to pursue its objectives, including mercenary operations, assassinations & arm sales" @ODNIgov's Haines "It will also employ....new weapons & cyber capabilities"

"#Russia is becoming increasingly adept at leveraging its technical prowess to develop asymmetric options in both the military & #cyber spheres in order to give itself the ability to push back & force the UnitedStates to accommodate its interests" per @ODNIgov's Haines

#Iran - "#Iraq will be a key battleground for Iranian influence in the coming year, but #Tehran will also continue to pursue a permanent military presence in #Syria, destabilize #Yemen & threaten #Israel" per @ODNIgov's Haines

#NorthKorea "may take aggressive & potentially destabilizing actions to reshape its security environment & will seek to drive wedges btw the UnitedStates & its allies" per Haines

"...could include the resumption of nuclear weapons & intercontinental ballistic missile testing"

Global terrorism - "#ISIS & #alQaida remain the most pressing threats to US interests overseas" per @ODNIgov's Haines

"Domestically, lone actors & small cells w/a broad range of ideological motivations pose a greater immediate threat"

Domestic violent extremism: "A number of other countries are experiencing a rise in DVE" per @ODNIgov's Haines, pointing #Australia, #Germany #Norway & #Britain focus on white supremacists/neo-Nazis

.@ODNIgov's Haines closes her opening remarks by acknowledging #Havana syndrome - "anomalous health incidents that have affected a number of our personnel"

"The intelligence community is taking these incidents very seriously..."

"That was a list of about as many awful things in 10 minutes as i have heard in recent times" per Senate Intel Comm. Chair @MarkWarner, as @ODNIgov's Haines concludes

"Competition in technology is right at the core of our rivalry w/an increasingly adversarial Chinese Communist Party" per @CIA Dir Bill Burns

"Nearly 1/3 of our officers, of our entire workforce is focused primarily on the technology & #cyber mission"

#COVID19: "The intelligence community does not know exactly where, when & how the COVID19 virus was transmitted initially" @ODNIgov's Haines says in response to q from @marcorubio

"Components have coalesced around 2 alternative theories" per @ODNIgov's Haines "It occurred naturally...or it was a laboratory accident"

"That is where we are right now"

"The one thing that's clear to us & to our analysts, is that the Chinese leadership has not been fully forthcoming, or fully transparent is working w/the @WHO or in providing the original complete data that would help answer those questions" per @CIA's Burns

re #China-#COVID19

#Disinformation, #influenceoperations - "This is an issue w/both #China & #Russia" per @ODNIgov's Haines "We are working to try to ensure that we can educate the American public"

#China: "I don't think there is any country that present a more severe threat to our innovation, our economic security, & our democratic ideas" per @FBI Dir Christopher Wray

"The tools in their toolbox to influence our businesses, our academic institutions, our gvt at all levels are deep & wide & persistent" per @FBI's Wray on #China

"We have now over 2,000 investigations that tie back to the Chinese gvt" per @FBI's Wray "On the economic espionage investigation side alone, it's about a 1300% increase over the last several years."

"We're opening a new investigation into China every 10 hours"

US #cyber vulnerabilities: "Our adversaries continue to get better at what they are doing" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA Gen. Paul Nakasone

"We have made progress there" he says, of US ability to be resilient and to respond

"The scope, scale & sophistication of our adversaries today, that makes us take notice" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA on #cyber security

"There is no one industry, no one sector of our gvt that's going to be able to provide us the defense that's necessary for our nation" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA "This is a team sport"

"The pvt sector is central to this - 90% of the country's critical infrastructure is in the hands of the pvt sector" per @FBI's Wray

"It's important to think of cyber security not as a single event but as a campaign"

#COVID19 vaccinations for the intelligence community

"We have some field offices where we're close to 100%. We have some field offices where we are quite a bit lower" per @FBI's Wray, saying it varies state to state but that bureau is on a "good trajectory"

"About 80% of our workforce across the world is fully vaccinated today" per @CIA's Burns "Another 10% have received the first shot"

100% of field agents have access to #COVID19 vaccine, he says

#COVID19 vaccine & @ODNIgov: About 86% of workforce has gotten at least the first shot, per Haines

.@DefenseIntel - 40%-50% has had at least one #COVID19 vaccine shot

"That exponentially increasing" per DIA Dir LtGen Scott Berrier

#Afghanistan: "I was at the table for a number of discussions leading up to the decision" per @ODNIgov Dir Haines "I'm not sure that the decision was made in a specific meeting"

#Cyber "We have to understand that there are blind spots in our nation today" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA "One of the blind spots that are adversaries are using is the fact that they are utilizing US infrastructure...we cannot surveil that"

"We need the intelligence community being able to see what's going on outside of our borders" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA "We need obviously our law enforcement capabilities to be able to understand what's going on within the UnitedStates"

"What our adversaries are doing right now, it's not spear-phishing. It's not guessing passwords" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA "It's utilizing supply chain operations. It's using zero day vulnerabilities...We call that, 'above best practices'"

#QAnon: "We understand QAnon to be more of a reference to a complex conspiracy theory, or set of complex conspiracy theories, largely promoted online, which has sort of morphed into more of a movement" per @FBI's Wray

.@FBI's Wray says #QAnon conspiracies exacerbated by #COVID19

"We are concerned about the potential that those things can lead to violence"

"We have to be clear-eyed" per @CIA's Burns "Both #alQaida & #ISIS in #Afghanistan remain intent on recovering the ability to attack US targets, whether it's in the region, in the West or ultimately in the homeland"

"The reality is that neither of them have that capacity today"

"There are terrorist groups, whether it's #alQaida in the Arabian Peninsula, in other parts of the world, who represent much more serious threats today" than #ISIS #alQaida core, per @CIA's Burns

"It is also clear that our ability to keep that threat in #Afghanistan in check from either #alQaida or #ISIS in Afghanistan has benefited greatly from the presence of US & coalition militaries on the ground & in the air, fueled by intelligence" per @CIA's Burns

"When the time comes for the US military to withdraw, the US gvt's ability to collect & act on threats will diminish. That's simply a fact" per @CIA's Burns

"It's also a fact ... the @CIA & all of our partners in the US gvt will retain a suite of capabilities, some of them remaining in place, some of them that we'll generate, that can help us to anticipate & contest any rebuilding effort [by #ISIS #AQ]" per Burns

.@CIA's Burns says there are also many questions about what the #Taliban will do, noting they have fought #ISIS in the past, how the #Taliban will handle #alQaida ties going forward, & about the capacity/capabilities of the #Afghan gvt

"There is a significant risk once the US military & the coalition militaries withdraw," per @CIA's Burns, re #Afghanistan

#Russia-#Ukraine: "The Russian military build-up in #Crimea & alongside the border of the #Donbas is a serious concern" per @CIA's Burns, saying it could be intended to signal to intimidate #Kyiv, signal to the US

"That build-up has also reached the point where it also could provide the basis for a limited military incursions" per @CIA's Burns re #Russia #Ukraine

"The #Russia|ns have positioned themselves to give themselves options" per @DefenseIntel's LtGen Berrier "They could actually be going into a series of exercises starting anytime or they could, if they chose to, perhaps do a limited objective attack"

"We don't know what the intent is right now" adds @DefenseIntel's LtGen Berrier

re: #Russia-#Ukraine

"#SocialMedia has in many ways become the key amplifier to domestic violence extremism just as it has for malign foreign influence" per @FBI's Wray

"People need to understand better what the information is that they're reading"

#Cyber blindspots: "When an adversary decides they are going to conduct an intrusion into a company, into a US gvt agency, one of things that they realize is that if they can come into the #UnitedStates & use an internet service provider in a period of time...."

"..., they can quickly do that & conduct their operations & virtually not have any coverage in a timely manner from our ability to do surveillance...They understand the timeline for a warrant to be done" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA

"It's the way they have structured their activities & it's in a way, as we go forward, need to be able to address" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA of US cyber adversaries

"Again, it's not that we are looking for authorities" he says, urging appropriate measures be taken