Senate Intelligence Committee Issues Report Detailing Foreign Threats
The Senate Committee on Intelligence released a report last week examining foreign intelligence threats currently impacting the United States.
The redacted report identifies challenges facing the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) and suggests solutions aimed at ensuring the NCSC is equipped to deal with the highlighted threats. Committee professional staff conducted independent research on the NCSC for two years, assessing its mission, duties, and authorities, resources, and structure.
The report details several adversaries that pose threats to the United States, including state actors like China and Russia, ideologically motivated entities, and transnational criminal organizations. In comparison to past threats, current adversaries have access to much more tools for stealing information, influencing U.S. officials, or inflaming social and political tensions. While there is a history of foreign entities targeting the public and private sectors, the report suggests that foreign intelligence agencies are expanding their targets to include academic institutions and national laboratories in an attempt to seize cutting-edge technology.
“The United States faces a dramatically different threat landscape today than it did just a couple of decades ago. New threats and new technology mean that we have to make substantial adjustments to our counterintelligence posture if we are going to protect our country’s national and economic security,” stated Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
“Foreign adversarial governments, including the People’s Republic of China, are now targeting all sectors of U.S. society. This Committee aims to ensure that the American public, industry, and academia are aware of this, and also to ensure that the Intelligence Community has the authorities and resources necessary to effectively confront these new counterintelligence threats,” added Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the Committee's Vice Chairman.
According to the report, U.S. counterintelligence efforts are not well equipped to address the contemporary whole-of-society threat landscape because the NCSC lacks a clearly defined mission, clear authorities, and adequate resources.
The report concludes that Congress must work with the Executive Branch and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to formulate a consistent definition of counterintelligence based on today's threat landscape, and clarify NCSC's mission, structure, and responsibilities.
By in large, the report is reminiscent of the annual threat assessment published by ODNI earlier this year which was presented to the Congressional committees on intelligence and armed services.
