See below for video of Sen. Mark Warner delivering – as his office puts it – “a major speech on the Senate floor warning of the accelerating politicization of the U.S. intelligence community and federal law enforcement under the Trump administration.” For some background, Sen. Warner’s office says the following:
“In September, Warner delivered an initial floor speech outlining concerns that senior administration officials, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel, were dismantling long-standing norms and reshaping intelligence and law enforcement agencies around political loyalty. Since then, reporting has revealed an alarming escalation: the firing or reassignment of thousands of career national security professionals, misuse of federal law enforcement resources, and critical agencies operating without permanent leadership even as foreign terrorist and cyber threats continue to rise.
In his remarks, Warner will detail these developments and warn that the administration’s actions are leaving the United States dangerously vulnerable at a moment when the threat landscape is growing more complex. He will also make clear that this speech is part of a continuing effort to sound the alarm, announcing his intention to return to the Senate floor in the coming weeks with additional speeches documenting the continued degradation of U.S. national security.”
With that, here’s the video, in which Sen. Warner warns about the Trump administration’s “dangerous” actions “turning our intelligence agencies into instruments of political loyalty.” And, Sen. Warner adds, “We are watching in real time an administration strip away the guardrails that have protected this country for generations.” [UPDATE: at the bottom of this post, see Sen. Mark Warner’s remarks as prepared for delivery]
Also, see below for video of Sen. Warner’s weekly press availability, during which he talked about his major speech:
“Later today, I’m going to go to the floor of the Senate and raise concerns again about the undermining of the um independence of our intelligence community. I went to the floor in September, talked about some of the early actions, particularly by the director of national intelligence, where she let classified information out in terms of identities of people who were undercover where we cited all of the craziness of Laura Loomer, this uh crazy right-wing blogger who seems to have huge influence over Secretary Hegseth and Director Gabbard.
Today, I’ll be focusing more on the undermining of the independence of the FBI, where a number of senior members, parts of leadership, have been fired… I think the critical response team, they fired three heads of that department over the last three months. One appears to be fired because Kash Patel was embarrassed by the fact that word got out that he was flying his girlfriend around on a government plane and somehow this gentleman Mr. Palmer seemed to be collateral damage. I’m going to talk about the fact that, you know, upwards in some communities up 45% of the FBI agents who should be working on sex trafficking crimes, counterterrorism, cyber have all been put on an immigration detail, which is a complete waste of their of their resources and talents. And they leave these cases open.
The fact that we still don’t have a um new head of the NSA, we don’t have a new head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, because those generals got pushed out again because we don’t know for sure, but in one case it feels like the Defense Intelligence Agency wasn’t willing to corrupt their product to meet the president’s goals.
I’m going to point out as well that the election security team that was set up by President Trump in his first term that made the 2020 election so safe has been completely been dismantled. And CISA, the cyber security agency, has had about a third of its personnel fired.
All these items together, it leads to an America that is dramatically less safe. And people need to understand there is a reason why the intelligence community’s job is to speak truth to power, to tell policy makers the truth even if they don’t want to hear it. But that is being gravely undermined. And as we maybe the best example of that as well is the fact that we are now seeing our allies, including the British, who are indicating they’re not willing to um share as much intelligence with us because some of the intelligence leaders have been so sloppy on keeping classified information classified.”
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Senator Warner’s remarks as prepared for delivery appear below:
Mr. President, two months ago, I came to this floor to warn about the growing politicization of our intelligence community.
I laid out, in detail, how this administration, led by Director of National Intelligence Gabbard, was dismantling the independence, integrity, and credibility of the very institutions we rely on to keep Americans safe.
I had hoped that by sounding that alarm early, the administration might reconsider its actions… or at the very least, slow its march toward turning our intelligence agencies into instruments of political loyalty.
But instead, the situation has grown only more dangerous.
And I want to say at the outset: this will not be the last time I come to this floor on this issue.
I intend to continue making these speeches… for as long as it takes… because the stakes for our national security are too high to let this pattern go unchallenged.
Since my remarks in September, we’ve seen not restraint, but an escalation… an escalation of political retaliation, of the hollowing out of expertise, and of the outright manipulation of intelligence. We are watching, in real time, an administration strip away the guardrails that have protected this country for generations.
I have had the distinct privilege of representing the people of Virginia in this body since 2009. And in nearly 17 years, one of the most consequential responsibilities I’ve held has been serving on the Senate Intelligence Committee… first as a junior member and then, for the last eight years, as Chairman or Vice Chairman.
I always tell our new members that getting a seat on the Committee is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, you get access to things that no other Senators see… you see capabilities that would astonish even the most seasoned spy-novel reader among us.
But the other edge is harder: you also see the full scope of the threats facing the United States… daily reports about terrorist plots, cyber-attacks, hostile foreign services targeting our citizens and institutions.
And once you’ve seen that picture clearly, you don’t sleep quite so easily at night.
It’s precisely because those threats are real, persistent, and in many cases, growing, that I’m so deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s reckless actions – actions that have left our country more vulnerable than at any point in recent memory.
Just last month, FBI Director Kash Patel testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the FBI has experienced a 300percent increase in terrorist cases opened this year alone… on top of a 30percent increase in foreign espionage cases.
At the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Annual Threat Assessment hearing, Director Gabbard reiterated that foreign terrorists remain intent on striking the United States and our citizens… that a range of cyber and intelligence actors continue to target our critical infrastructure… and that state adversaries possess weapons capable of hitting U.S. territory and disabling vital U.S. systems. Indeed, in an interview earlier this month, Director Gabbard repeated that “terrorism continues to pose the greatest – both short- and long-term – threat to the American people.”
Whatever one thinks of the individuals delivering them, the assessments themselves leave no ambiguity about the dangers confronting the United States.
And yet, in spite of those clear and present threats, the Trump administration has chosen a course of action that weakens our defenses and leaves Americans more vulnerable to the very risks its own officials have publicly described.
Since Inauguration Day, the president and his hand-picked FBI Director, Kash Patel, have forced out thousands of experienced agents for reasons that appear more political than professional, like refusing to lie about who won the 2020 election, or for prosecuting the violent criminals who attacked Capitol Police officers on January 6, or simply for being friendly with someone critical of the president.
Alarming court filings suggest that even Director Patel has privately acknowledged that many of these actions may be illegal… yet justified them by saying that his position depended on carrying them out.
The list of those purged reads like a Who’s Who of the Bureau’s most decorated public servants:
Those agents forced out include the former Acting Director of the FBI, Brian Driscoll, who rose through the FBI ranks in some of its most elite units, including the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team… where in 2015 he supported U.S. Special Operations in rescuing an American humanitarian aid worker, Kayla Mueller, from ISIS. Special Agent Driscoll would later rise to be the Head of FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, the FBI’s elite team in charge of dealing with terrorists, child abductors, bomb threats, and hostage situations. For his service, Agent Driscoll was awarded the FBI Medal of Valor and the Shield of Bravery… only to have Director Patel fire him because he would not purge agents the president deemed politically disloyal.
They include Bobby Wells, who joined the FBI shortly after 9/11 and spent decades in counterterrorism. He eventually became the Head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, leading efforts against Al Qa’ida, ISIS, and other global terrorist networks. Notably, he helped bring to justice the mastermind of the Kabul International Airport bombing that killed 13 American service members – an accomplishment publicly touted by the president – only to have the president fire him shortly thereafter.
They include Michael Nordwall, the Head of the FBI’s Criminal Cyber Response Branch, who led efforts to combat ransomware attacks, online fraud, and sophisticated cyber intrusions targeting critical U.S. infrastructure.
They include Ryan Young, the Head of FBI’s Intelligence Division… overseeing the collection and analysis of intelligence on domestic and foreign threats, ensuring that field offices had the situational awareness to prevent attacks.
Other senior agents forced out include dozens of heads of FBI field offices nationwide, from Washington, D.C., to Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Seattle.
Among them was Special Agent Jacqueline Maguire, the lead investigator into the five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, whose expertise was critical to understanding 9/11 and preventing further attacks.
And most recently, they include Steven Palmer, a 27-year veteran of the FBI and the third head of the FBI’s elite Critical Incident Response Group to be fired in just three months. As head of the Critical Incident Response Group, he led teams tasked with responding to terrorist attacks, mass shootings, hostage crises, and high-risk national security incidents… work that requires split-second decision-making under extreme pressure. He was fired not for failing in his duties, not for misconduct, and not for political disagreements about law enforcement policy.
He was fired because the American people learned that Director Patel had been using the FBI’s $60 million jet, at $20,000 per flight, to go on dates with his girlfriend. To make matters worse, recent reporting indicates that Patel has now also pulled agents off of an FBI SWAT team to provide a personal security detail for his girlfriend… an unprecedented use of some of one our nation’s most elite units, ordinarily assigned to deal with terrorism, hostage situations, or mass shootings.
Thousands of FBI agents… all forced out, not because they failed to do their jobs, but because they refused to bend the knee to partisan politics.
And as if that weren’t alarming enough, in recent months the FBI has reassigned between 25 and 45 percent of its agents who handle counterterrorism, cyber, espionage, child sexual abuse, and other critical missions… to immigration enforcement.
Data reveals a 33 percent decrease in the hours spent on child exploitation cases, compared to previous years.
Firing agents who investigate terrorists, foreign spies, cyber hackers, and child predators does not make America safer, especially when the president’s own intelligence officials warn, publicly and repeatedly, of the many threats facing our nation.
Just this summer, the ODNI issued a bulletin warning of Al Qa-ida and ISIS plots targeting the homeland. And just last month, the FBI disrupted ISIS terrorist plots in Michigan and New Jersey that may have been aimed at Halloween festivities.
I shudder to think what would have happened had the FBI missed these plots… had semi-automatic rifles been unleashed on young children trick-or-treating.
The FBI Agents Association, which represents over 90percent of all active FBI agents, issued a sobering warning earlier this month that Director Patel, quote, “disregarded the law and launched a campaign of erratic and arbitrary retribution” and that his actions, quote, “make the American public less safe.”
Unfortunately, this political purge of our country’s defenses is not limited to the FBI.
Since April, the National Security Agency – the agency in charge of spying on the communications of our adversaries – has been without a permanent Director or Deputy Director after President Trump fired General Tim Haugh and his Deputy, Wendy Noble, at the behest of conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer.
Same for the Defense Intelligence Agency, whose director, General Jeff Kruse, was fired after DIA provided a fact-based assessment that contradicted the president’s false televised claim that U.S. strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
This pattern of reckless firings has extended to nearly every corner of our national security enterprise.
Hundreds of workers who are responsible for maintaining our country’s nuclear weapons… fired.
Staff managing foreign assistance programs ranging from the detention of ISIS terrorists in Syria to air defense support for Ukraine… fired.
Hundreds of analysts monitoring China and Russia… fired… including a 29-year veteran of the CIA who supported President Trump’s Alaska Summit with President Putin… whose undercover identity was publicly and incompetently disclosed by DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
More than one-third of CISA – the agency Congress established for the explicit purpose of protecting our critical infrastructure like water, power, and our elections – fired… even as major cyberattacks hit state and local governments in at least 44 states, including a massive ransomware attack on Nevada’s online government systems in August, a ransomware attack in July on local government networks in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a cyberattack on city systems in Mission, Texas in February.
The irony is stark: despite persistent efforts by China, Russia, Iran, and other adversaries, the 2020 presidential election was one of the most secure in history, thanks in large part to steps taken during the Trump administration’s first term to safeguard our critical infrastructure.
Yet now, much of that hard-won protection has been dismantled, leaving Americans more vulnerable than ever.
Cyber Command, which under General Paul Nakasone disrupted Russian troll farms in 2017, lacks a permanent Commander. The Foreign Influence Task Force – stood up by President Trump in his first term to share information with state and local partners about foreign interference in our elections – has been disbanded entirely.
And all the while, the administration’s own intelligence reporting warns – and I quote:
“Beijing will continue to expand its coercive and subversive malign influence activities to weaken the United States…[and] is likely to feel emboldened to use malign influence more regularly in coming years, particularly as it fields AI to improve its capabilities.”
“Moscow’s malign influence activities will continue for the foreseeable future and will almost certainly increase in sophistication and volume.”
“Iran’s growing expertise and willingness to conduct aggressive cyber operations make it a major threat to the security of U.S. networks and data.”
The pattern is unmistakable: political loyalty is now valued over competence, and the very institutions created to protect Americans are being dismantled before our eyes.
We can no longer pretend that politics and national security are separate. Every day we allow this purge to continue is a day we leave Americans more exposed – in their homes, on their streets, and online.
The next attack will not wait for Congress to act. The next threat will not ask permission. And when it comes, the consequences will not be measured in polling numbers or election results. They will be measured in lives lost, infrastructure damaged, and national security compromised.
This is the moment to stand up. To defend our intelligence agencies, to protect our agents, and to safeguard the American people. If we fail to act now, we will bear the cost later… a cost that could be catastrophic.
Thank you. I yield the floor.
