There’s a national security issue brewing. The White House is frozen in fear.
And now Congress is begging Joe Biden to address this classified national security threat.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the head of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence asked President Joe Biden to declassify materials pertaining to an unclear “security threat.”
On a regular basis, the committee receives briefings on sensitive national security issues and monitors the 19 federal agencies that make up the United States intelligence community. The committee’s chairman, Ohio Republican Mike Turner, released a statement saying that all members of Congress had been informed of the threat, but he would not elaborate further.
The message was issued by Turner on Twitter, which is now known as X. In it, he asked President Biden to declassify all information about the danger so that lawmakers, the administration, and the allies of the United States could discuss freely about what to do in response.
Statement from Chairman @RepMikeTurner: pic.twitter.com/OA9yJuEPlf
— House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) February 14, 2024
The committee failed to provide any information about the specifics of the danger.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan did not anticipate Turner to make a public statement, according to a news conference held by Sullivan at the White House on Wednesday. Sullivan had planned a confidential meeting with House leaders to apprise them of the situation on Thursday.
“I am a bit surprised that Congressman Turner came out publicly today…that’s his choice to do that, what I can tell you is that I’m focused on going to see him,” Sullivan said, adding that “I’m not in a position to say anything further from this podium at this time,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan told reporters, “That question is impossible to answer with a straight yes,” when asked if the American people should be concerned about the danger of this national security threat.
“Last month, I sent a letter to the White House requesting a meeting with the President to discuss a serious national security issue that is classified. In response to that letter, a meeting is now scheduled tomorrow on this matter here at the Capitol with the Gang of Four,” House Speaker Mike Johnson discussed with members of the press.
“I want to assure the American people there is no need for public alarm. We are going to work together to address this matter, as we do all sensitive matters that are classified and, beyond that, I’m not at liberty to disclose classified information and really can’t say much more.”
But other lawmakers thought it had to do with a measure that’s now in Congress and has seen bipartisan resistance over warrantless surveillance concerns – the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this had something to do with the fact that FISA is up for review. Anytime you start talking about FISA reform, you know, the intel community has this way of bringing out the boogey man,” said the Republican Representative Eli Crane from Arizona.
“The Senate Intelligence Committee has the intelligence in question, and has been rigorously tracking this issue from the start. We continue to take this matter seriously and are discussing an appropriate response with the administration,” U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio wrote in a bipartisan official statement from the Senate.
If this is just an attempt to drum up a panicked support for a renewal of FISA legislation that would allow the federal government to continue to abuse their warrantless surveillance of American citizens, then shame on the entirety of Washington, D.C.
Warrantless surveillance of Americans and violating their constitutional rights has been left unchecked for far too long. To use the heightened concerns of national security in the midst of U.S. involvement in Middle Eastern conflicts and the Ukraine-Russia war as a means to fear monger the American people into supporting FISA renewal is absolutely sickening.
Even if this is not about FISA renewal, this isn’t being handled well by the Joe Biden administration at all. Anytime members of Congress have to publish a statement telling their constituents that there’s no reason to be alarmed means that the White House simply isn’t doing their job to keep a handle on national security matters.
On top of that, no one actually trusts Joe Biden to handle serious national security concerns in a rational and timely matter. Many within his own party have come out and said as much themselves, something Democrats almost never do.
The timing of this new “threat” with the expiration of FISA on the horizon set for April is the most interesting aspect of this whole story, if you were to ask the DC Daily Journal staff.
