7/26/2019 CIA Director John Brennan Opening Statement

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U N C L A S S I F I E D

Statement

by Central Intelligence Agency Director

J o h n O .

B r e n n a n

befo re

th e

Senate Select

Committee

on Intelligence

1 6

J u n e

2 16

Chairman Burr, ViceChairman Feinstein, and Members of the Committee: Thank you

for inviting me to

speak

to you today in an open hearing about the Central Intelligence

Agency, an agency

an d

a workforce that I

am

enormously proud to be part of. I am

privileged every

da y

to lead

the

women an d me n of CIA, as they work around the clock

and around the world, often in difficult

an d

even dangerous locations, to help keep our

country

strong and

free

and ou r fellow

citizens

safe

and

secure.

Our hearing today

takes

place against

th e

backdrop of a heinous

ac t

of wanton violence

that wa s perpetrated against innocents in Orlando, Florida last weekend. We join th e

families

an d

friends in mourning t he l os s of their loved

ones

who were killed in

the

attack,

an d

we

extend our best wishes

for a full

an d

speedy recovery of all those

injured. This

ac t

of violence

w as a n a ss au lt

on the values of openness

an d

tolerance

tha t

d e f i n e us

a s

a N a t i o n .

In light of the events in Orlando, Iwould like to

take

this opportunity to offer th e

Committee

ou r assessment of the

terrorist

th re a t o ur Nation and ou r citizens

face

especially from

th e

Islamic

State

of Iraq

a nd t he

Levant,

or

ISIL.

On th e battlefields of Syria and Iraq, th e U.S-led coalition has

made

important

progress

against

ISIL. The group appears to be a long wa y from realizing the vision that Abu

Bakr al-Baghdadi laid out when he declared th e caliphate two y ea rs a go in Mosul.

Several notable indicators ar e trending in

the

right direction. ISIL has lost large

stretches of territory in

both Syria

and Iraq. Its

finance

and media operations have

been

squeezed.

And it

has struggled

to

replenish

its ranks of fighters, in part because fewer

foreign fighters are traveling to Syria. Moreover, some reports

suggest

that a growing

number

of ISIL

members

are

becoming

disillusioned with

th e

group

a nd ar e

eager

to

follow in th e footsteps of members

wh o have

already defected.

The anti-ISIL Coalition is taking steps to exploit these vulnerabilities. In addition to

efforts

underway

to liberate cities like Fallujah

and

Manbij,

th e

Coalition is also

removing

ISIL leaders from

th e

battlefield, thereby

reducing

the group s

capabilities

and

its will-to-

fight. Last month, for example a US airstrike killed an influential ISIL leader in Al Anbar.

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ISIL

however, is a formidable, resilient,

and

largely cohesive enemy, and we anticipate

that the group

will

adjust its strategy an d tactics in an effort to regain momentum.

In th e coming months we

ca n

expect ISIL to

probe

th e front lines of its adversaries for

weaknesses to harass th e forces that ar e holding th e cities it previously controlled, an d

to conduct terror

attacks against

its

enemies

in Iraq and Syria.

To compensate for territorial losses ISIL

will

probably rely more on guerrilla tactics,

including high-profile attacks outside territory it holds. A steady stream of attacks in

Baghdad a nd Damas cu s demonstrates the group s ability to penetrate deep inside

enemy

strongholds.

Beyond its

losses

on th e battlefield, ISIL s

finances

ar e taking a hit

as

well. Coalition

efforts

h av e r ed uc ed t he

group s

ability to

generate

revenue

a nd h av e

forced it to

cu t

cos t s

a n d t o r e a l l o c a t e f u n d s .

Yet ISIL is

adapting

to th e Coalition s efforts,

an d

it continues to generate at

least tens

of millions of dollars in revenue

pe r

month, primarily from taxation an d from crude oil

sa le s

Unfortunately,

despite

all ou r

progress

against ISIL on th e battlefield an d in

th e

financial

realm, ou r efforts

have no t

r ed uc ed the g ro up s

terrorism

capability

an d

global reach.

The r es our ces needed

for terrorism

are very

modest

a nd th e group

would

have

to

suffer

even heavier losses

of territory,

manpower

and

money

for its terrorist

capacity

to

decline

significantly.

Moreover,

th e

group s foreign branches an d global networks ca n help preserve its

capacity

for terrorism regardless of events in Iraq an d Syria. In fact, a s

th e

pressure

mounts on ISIL we judge that itwill intensify its global terror campaign to maintain its

dominance

of

th e

global terrorism

agenda.

S in ce a t least 2014, ISIL has

been

working to build an apparatus to direct and inspire

attacks against its foreign enemies resulting in

hundreds

of casualties. T he m os t

prominent

e xa mp le s a re t he attacks in Paris

and

Brussels which we a s s e s s were

directed by ISIL s leadership.

We judge that ISIL is training an d attempting to

deploy

operatives for further attacks.

ISIL has a large cadre of Western fighters wh o could potentially serve as operatives for

attacks in t he W es t. And th e group is probably exploring a variety of means for

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infiltrating operatives into the West, including refugee flows, smuggling routes, and

legitimate methods of travel.

Further

as w e h av e seen

in Orlando S an Bernardino

and elsewhere

ISIL is

attempting to inspire attacks by sympathizers who

have

no direct links to the group.

Last month, for example, a

senior

ISILfigure publicly urged

the group s

followers to

conduct attacks in their home countries if they were unable to travel to Syria an d Iraq.

At th e same time, ISIL is gradually cultivating its global network of branches into a

more

interconnected organization. The branch in Libya is probably the most developed

an d

th e

most dangerous.

We

assess that it is trying to increase its influence inAfrica

an d

to

plot attacks in th e region an d in Europe.

Meanwhile, ISIL s Sinai branch

has

established itself

as

th e most active an d capable

terrorist group in Egypt.

Th e

branch

focuses

its attacks on Egyptian military

an d

government targets

bu t

it

has

also

targeted foreigners and

tourists, as

we saw

with

the

downing of a Russian passenger jet

last

October.

Other branches, while also a concern, have struggled to gain traction. Th e Yemen

branch

for instance, h as b ee n riven with factionalism. And th e

Afghanistan-Pakistan

branch has struggled to maintain its cohesion in part because of competition with th e

Taliban

Finally, on

th e

propaganda front,

th e

Coalition is working to

counter

ISIL s

expansive

propaganda

machine. ISIL

paints

a carefully

crafted image

to

th e

outside

world, lauding

its own military efforts, portraying its

so-called

caliphate as a thriving state and

alleging that th e group is expanding globally

even

as it faces setbacks locally.

ISIL

releases

a multitude of

media

products on a variety of platformsincluding social

media

mobile applications, radio, and h ar dc op y m ed iu ms . T o disseminate its official

online

propaganda

th e group primarily

uses

Twitter, Telegram and Tumblr, an d it relies

on a global network of

sympathizers

to further

spread

its

messages.

In

sum

ISIL remains a formidable adversary but th e United States and ou r global

partners have succeeded in putting th e group on th e defensive forcing it to d ev o te m o re

time and

energy to try to hold territory and to protect its vital infrastructure. And though

this

will be a long and difficult fight, there is broad agreement in th e international

community

on

th e

seriousness of

th e threat and

on th e

need

to meet it collectively

an d

decisively.

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* * * *

As you well know, CIA is not just a counterterrorism

agency. W e are

a comprehensive

intelligence service with a global charter,

and

we ar e called

upon

to address

the

full

range of2 century threats.

And as I often tell young officers at CIA, I h av e n ev er seen a time when

our

country

faced

such

a wide variety of threats to our national security. Run your fingers along

almost

an y

portion of

t he ma p

from

th e

Asia Pacific to North Africa

an d

you will quickly

find a flashpoint with global implications. China is modernizing its military

an d

extending

its reach in the South China Sea. North Korea is

expanding

its nuclear weapons

program.

Russia

is

threatening

its

neighbors an d

aggressively

reasserting

itself on the

global

stage.

And then

there

is

th e

cyber

domain where s t at e s a nd sub-national actors

are threatening financial systems transportation networks, an d organizations of every

stripe, inside

government

and

out.

In

t he f ac e

of these many daunting challenges

ou r

Nation depends on CIA and

ou r

Intelligence Community partners to help k ee p o ur country strong an d secure. Indeed, in

today s volatile and complex world, policymakers

depend

on

CIA more than ever for

intelligence, insight, and options.

If we ar e to

m ee t t he

national security challenges that confront us, we mus t const antl y

a da pt a nd innovate. And that is why we announced a comprehensive effort

last

year

to

modernize our Agency for th e future.

Since

launching ou r Modernization

Program just over

fifteen

months

ago we

have

taken important steps to

ensure

tha t o ur A ge nc y fully adapts to t he chal lenges of our

t i m e .

We still have

work

to doand in some respects we always will. That s because

modernization is

about

m or e t ha n lines a nd b ox es

on

ou r

organizational chart.

It is

also

a mindseta

commitment

to

innovate constantly so

we

can keep

up with a

changing

w o rld .

A

k ey p ar t

of this

mindset

is ou r

commitment

to

making ou r

workforce as diverse

a s th e

world

we

cover.

Just last week th e

Office of

the

Director of National Intelligence

issued

a report showing t hat t he Intelligence Community is significantly l es s diver se t han th e

rest of th e

federal

workforce. It is a

report

that forces

those

of

us

in

th e

Intelligence

Community to confront some hard truths about

wh o we

are

and

how

we

ar e performing

o u r m i s s i o n .

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As this committee knows,

CI

recently unveiled a landmark effort to make sure that our

workforce reflectsIn our attitudes, backgrounds, ethnicities, and perspectivesthe

Nation we work

so

hard to defend. This Is both a moral and a mission imperative. I

truly believe that the business case for diversity Is stronger for CI than It is for any

organization In th e US

government.

Diversity not only gives us the cultural understanding we need to operate In any corner

of the globe.

It also helps us avoid group think ensuring we bring to bear a range of

perspectives on the complex challenges that ar e inherent to Intelligence work.

And now, Iwould be happy to

address

your questions.