The House Intelligence Committee is holding an open hearing with former members of Congress on Wednesday to deal with “critical threats” facing the US from China and Russia, in addition to oversight of the country’s own intelligence community, in keeping with prepared comments obtained by The Fast.
Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) invited five former members of the committee to testify concerning the biggest threats to national security, with the committee returning to such work on a bipartisan basis because the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives within the 2022 midterm elections.
Led by former committee chair Congressman Adam Schiff (D-California), the panel focused primarily on Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia in the course of the 2016 campaign that led to the primary impeachment of the forty fifth House of Representatives president in 2019.
Schiff relied on Steele’s discredited dossier and lied that he had personally seen “greater than circumstantial evidence” to substantiate the allegations.
![Representative Mike Turner (R-Ohio).](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000007999911.jpg?w=1024)
But independent probes by special counsels Robert Mueller and John Durham, in addition to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, found no evidence of collusion.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) removed Schiff from the committee in January, saying he “lied to the American public persistently” during his leadership.
Turner said the Durham Report proves that “FBI personnel repeatedly disregarded critical safeguards established to guard the American people from illegal surveillance.”
![Former Florida Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012281694.jpg?w=1024)
“Such actions should never have taken place, and it is necessary that Congress codify clear protective barriers that can prevent future FBI abuses and restore public confidence in our law enforcement,” he said in a May 16 statement.
Turner sought to redirect the commission’s work by correcting many mistakes made by federal intelligence agencies, including illegal surveillance by the FBI through the abuse of FISA warrants.
Considered one of the committee’s panellists, former Florida Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said on Wednesday that abuses by the FBI, especially the foreign intelligence oversight court, had caused many to lose confidence within the agency.
![Former California Democrat Jane Harman.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012281696.jpg?w=1024)
“Perhaps essentially the most serious damage to public trust comes from reports of presidency misrepresentation by the Court, with seemingly few negative consequences for the federal government,” she said in her prepared opening statement.
She also called on the commission to extend sanctions to curb FISA abuses.
Democratic former California congresswoman Jane Harman, in her prepared speech, similarly called for “any reforms which are needed to guard privacy rights,” defending FISA Section 702, a surveillance bill that should be re-approved by Congress later this 12 months.
![Former New York Republican Congressman Peter King.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012281695.jpg?w=1024)
Harman, who was a member of the rating committee from 2002 to 2006, also praised the members for selectively declassifying intelligence prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last 12 months, giving Kiev the time it needed to arm itself.
“The declassification of key intelligence on Ukraine was crucial in preparing Ukrainians for combat, in ensuring the world recognized Russian aggression for what it was, and in ensuring Russia knew we were one step ahead,” she said. .
Former Latest York Republican congressman Peter King praised his former colleague, but in addition urged lawmakers “that this crucial fight mustn’t distract our allies from collective counter-terrorism measures put in place after 9/11.”
![Former New Jersey Republican Representative Frank LoBiondo](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012281693.jpg?w=1024)
“Today, while ISIS, al-Qaeda and their offshoots and affiliates are on the retreat, they proceed to be a deadly force,” he said in his prepared remarks, before criticizing President Biden’s decision to withdraw US forces from the region.
“American withdrawal from Afghanistan, collapse of border security and instability within the Middle East add to their death toll.”
Former Latest Jersey Republican Representative Frank LoBiondo warned of a similar lack of US involvement in Africa, where he said “China is bribing its way” into “forming economic partnerships with impoverished African nations for its own global security goals.”
![Former Rhode Island Democrat Jim Langevin](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012281697.jpg?w=1024)
“From securing rare-earth mineral leasing rights to accessing key transportation infrastructure along the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, China has entered the void created by the dearth of sustained US policy and the involvement of multiple administrations,” he said in his remarks.
All former members of Congress—including former Rhode Island Democrat Jim Langevin—also congratulated Turner and the committee on returning to bipartisanship.
“Now in 2023, after years of infiltration of the national security debate into political agendas, those of us still working on this space are returning to trust due to the clear and coordinated efforts of Chairman Turner, a rating member [Jim] Himes [D-Conn.] and all of you to diligently focus on doing all your nation’s work as a substitute of scoring political points,” added LoBiondo.