FBI, DHS leaders decline to testify publicly about threats facing US
By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday declined to appear publicly before a U.S. Senate committee to discuss national security threats, provoking the ire of the panel’s Democratic chairman.
In a statement, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Gary Peters called their refusal to publicly testify a “shocking departure” that runs counter to 15 years of precedent.
“Their choice to not provide public testimony about their departments’ efforts to address wide-ranging national security threats robs the American people of critical information and the opportunity for public accountability of what the federal government is doing to keep Americans safe,” Peters said in a statement.
In a statement, the FBI said the bureau remains “committed to sharing information about the continuously evolving threat environment facing our nation,” but that the FBI believes the committee “would benefit most from further substantive discussions and additional information that can only be provided in a classified setting.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Traditionally for more than a decade, top officials from the FBI, DHS and the National Counterterrorism Center have appeared publicly before both the House and Senate homeland security committees to discuss threats facing the United States.
Earlier this week, the House Homeland Security Committee announced that its own hearing on the subject, featuring Wray and Mayorkas as witnesses, was being postponed until December.
These hearings would have marked the first time that Wray and Mayorkas appeared before Congress since Republican Donald Trump won the election on Nov. 5.
Trump has vowed to shake up both agencies once he takes office on Jan. 20.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Jonathan Oatis)