HPSCI Chairman Mike Turner Opening Remarks at 2024 Annual Threat Assessment Hearing

The Annual Threat Assessment hearing provides the Intelligence Community an opportunity to update Congress and the American people on serious threats to our national security.
The Intelligence Community exists to protect the American people by informing policy and decision-makers of the threats posed to national security - which includes critical infrastructure, economic security, cyber security, food security, and several other components of national security. Each year the world evolves, growing more interdependent. Our adversaries are aligning, and emerging technologies are changing the operational environment.
We are in the midst of a shifting geopolitical landscape with strategic competition at the forefront. Now, more than at any other time - at least since the Cold War - nation-state threats are dominating the United States’ national security concerns.
Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran are anti-American and working together domestically, regionally, and internationally. These common adversaries have overlapping interests and approaches. Examples include Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Hamas’ attack on Israel and continued Iranian proxy assaults in the region, and the People’s Republic of China’s regular military show of force threatening Taiwan. Also concerning is Pyongyang’s recent tests of the North Korean Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Hwasong-18 - based on the missile’s flight data, South Korea and Japan assess this North Korean capability has the potential range to strike the United States. This is a flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Over the last year, the Committee has conducted numerous engagements both in and beyond the SCIF. One area that seems fragmented and vague is the foreign/domestic divide.
There are heightened threats at the border, and the homeland is under constant assault, whether it be from cyber-attacks, counterintelligence threats, or foreign malign influence. What is not clear is how the Intelligence Community communicates those threats to other federal, state, local, tribal, or private sector partners. The lack of clarity on this issue raises the question of whether the federal government is organized appropriately and prepared to defend the United States against the kinds of threats the American people face from our foreign adversaries here.
On more than one occasion, some of you have publicly warned of threats to homeland security from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The PRC is compromising and maintaining persistent access to U.S. critical infrastructure. As stated in an unclassified cybersecurity advisory published to the public last month - the PRC is targeting and has already compromised telecommunications, energy, transportation, and water sectors. To quote this advisory - “in some cases, the cyber actors have been living inside information technology networks for years to pre-position for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States.” I pause to note that the advisory states that this activity has been going on “For years.”
In addition to pre-positioning in critical infrastructure, China seeks to be a world power in science and technology by any means possible. This poses a significant counterintelligence threat to U.S. and allied partners. China is attempting to advance as a technology superpower by offering investment and acquiring or stealing intellectual property in fields like power and energy, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, agriculture, quantum computing, and semiconductors.
Russia continues an unjust war against Ukraine’s sovereignty, bolstering its defense production by leveraging relationships with China and Iran. And we should not forget that North Korean munitions factories are supplying Russia with weapons and artillery shells to use against Ukraine. We look forward to further insights on Russia’s nuclear posture, directed energy weapons, anti-satellite capabilities in space, and ground-based anti-satellite missiles designed to target U.S. and allied satellites.
Iran, which is also benefitting from closer ties with China and Russia, has built and funded a network of proxies to promote Iran’s regional objectives. Iran supported Hamas’ attack on Israel and continues to back Hamas. Iran provides weapons and intelligence for terrorist attacks on U.S. personnel and installations in the region and terrorist attacks on the global supply chain transiting the Red Sea.
Last year, during the Annual Threat Assessment hearing, I set forth the Committee’s plan for the reauthorization of FISA Section 702. An immense amount of Committee work has gone into our bill reforming FISA. We produced a strong bill that puts in place the appropriate compliance guardrails and provides the tools necessary to protect our country.