WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) announced a hearing for Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at 2:00 PM ET, to examine the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A). The hearing will feature witness testimony from Undersecretary for I&A Ken Wainstein.

“DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis has faced numerous challenges, from questionable intelligence activities encroaching on civil liberties to creating a politically biased ‘Intelligence Experts Group,’ now rebranded as an ‘Advisory Board,’” Chairman Pfluger said. “Since the 118th Congress began, we’ve closely observed I&A’s operations and passed bipartisan legislation to improve its training and transparency. Oversight is essential to address I&A’s shortcomings and ensure it provides timely, actionable intelligence to law enforcement amid a dynamic threat landscape. I look forward to hearing from Undersecretary Wainstein and exploring ways to improve the office beyond superficial leadership changes.”
 
DETAILS:

What: A Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence hearing entitled, “Persistent Challenges: Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.”

When: Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at 2:00 PM ET

Where: 310 Cannon House Office Building

WITNESSES:

Ken Wainstein
Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis, the Department of Homeland Security

Witness testimony will be added here. The hearing will be livestreamed on YouTube and will be open to the public and press.

Background:
 
Earlier this month, the Committee advanced bipartisan legislation aimed at bettering I&A training and transparency. H.R. 8664, the “DHS Intelligence and Analysis Oversight and Transparency Act,” requires the Office of Intelligence and Analysis to conduct an annual audit of its information systems and bulk data in order to protect Americans’ civil liberties and privacy.
 
The Committee also advanced H.R. 8654, the “Streamlining Law Enforcement Information Sharing Act,” which requires an evaluation of the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) to determine its relevance for nationwide law enforcement partners in securing the homeland to remedy the long history of HSIN’s poor implementation and difficulty to use. 
 
Additionally, H.R. 8671, the “DHS Intelligence Rotational Assignment and Law Enforcement Support Act” was passed by the Committee to codify and conduct oversight on the Intelligence Rotational Analysis Program to enhance the DHS Intelligence Enterprise. 
 
In March 2024, Subcommittee Chairman Pfluger held a roundtable for members of the Committee to hear from key experts and stakeholders regarding I&A’s activities, while exploring potential legislative reforms.

In September 2023, Chairman Green and Subcommittee Chairman Pfluger demanded answers on the appointment of former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan to DHS’ newly-formed Homeland Intelligence Experts Group. The group was ostensibly created to provide advice to I&A, yet in 2020, Brennan and Clapper argued, without evidence, that the New York Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s political influence peddling was the product of Russian disinformation. Committee Republicans, led by Subcommittee Chairman Pfluger, later introduced legislation, H.R. 5729, to block funding for the establishment of the group or the formation of any group, program, initiative, or other similar effort that is equivalent to the group. The Experts Group was recently disbanded due to litigation and continued Committee oversight work. 

In August 2023, Subcommittee Chairman Pfluger and Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology Chairman Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas seeking information on the longstanding issue of security clearance backlogs that have impacted information sharing capabilities between the DHS intelligence enterprise and state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement partners in communities across the country.

Following reports of possible violations of Americans’ civil liberties by the Office’s Overt Human Intelligence Collection Program, Chairmen Green and Pfluger were joined by Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Chairman Dan Bishop (R-NC) on a letter to Secretary Mayorkas in March 2023, demanding answers and a congressional briefing on the department’s possible overreach of its statutory mandate. This investigation followed a February 2023 letter from the Committee, which requested a status update and any preliminary findings regarding DHS’ ongoing “360” review of the office. The Committee continues to engage with the department amidst every aspect of its important oversight work concerning I&A.
 

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