Republicans boycott committee hearing on technology and national security
Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee boycotted a public hearing Wednesday on emerging technologies and national security, protesting the lack of hearings or briefings on issues related to warrants requested under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
In a letter to Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Republican members said "numerous critical issues pertinent to this Committee's jurisdiction were ignored," pointing to the lack of hearings held on the shortcomings identified by the Justice Department inspector general in FISA applications for warrants against former Trump campaign official Carter Page.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded in a December report that the FBI was justified and showed no political bias when it launched its investigation into Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign, but his team did find 17 "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in the FBI's handling of FISA applications to surveil Page.
"Until the Committee prioritizes oversight activities related to urgent and critical concerns, Republican Members cannot support distractions from our core responsibilities," the Republicans wrote in their letter, which was obtained by CBS News. "There are numerous Committees in the House of Representatives that may conduct public hearings on emerging science and technology matters; the House Intelligence Committee should focus on critical issues we are uniquely postured to address."
Wednesday's hearing was chaired by Congressman Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, who heads the Strategic Technology and Advanced Research Subcommittee. The panel's subcommittees were restructured to be focused on thematic challenges rather than specific agencies after Democrats retook the majority, CBS News previously reported.
Advanced and emerging technologies and their effect on espionage has long been an area of focus for the intelligence committees. The nation's counterintelligence chief warned in a new report released on Monday that the U.S. faces spy threats from a growing range of adversaries employing new technologies to undermine the country's interests.
In his opening remarks, Himes called the Republicans' letter "as wrongheaded as it is mendacious." He said that GOP Congressman Chris Stewart, the ranking member of the subcommittee, told him that Republicans were reluctant to engage in committee's public work because of grievances related to impeachment — an issue not mentioned in their letter. Schiff was the lead impeachment manager prosecuting Mr. Trump in the Senate trial, which ended in acquittal of the president last week.
"Even as this committee was the epicenter of the polarizing impeachment debate, this committee has always succeeded in compartmentalizing the emotions and arguments of impeachment and the critical work we do on behalf of the American people. So today, that rubicon has been crossed," Himes said in his opening statement at the hearing.
A spokesman for the committee's Republican minority did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The committee is in active discussions with the leadership of the intelligence community about holding a public hearing on worldwide threats, which has traditionally occurred before both the House and Senate. The House has not held such a hearing since 2016, when partisan divisions principally stemming from the committee's ill-fated investigation into Russia's election interference first started taking hold.
