WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.120 Welcome to the deep dive. We are we're so glad 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:04.879 you're here with us today. Yeah, really glad 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:06.820 to be here. Because today we're asking a question 00:00:06.820 --> 00:00:10.519 that, well, it sounds like it belongs in a geopolitical 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:13.039 spy thriller. It definitely does. But it's actually 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:15.839 one of the most critical foundational functions 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:18.379 of the American government. And that question 00:00:18.379 --> 00:00:22.000 is simply who watches the watchmen. Right. And 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:24.739 more specifically, you know, who watches them 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:27.280 when those watchmen happen to be the most secretive. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:31.000 heavily funded and technologically advanced intelligence 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.579 agencies on the face of the planet? It's a massive 00:00:33.579 --> 00:00:36.140 question. I mean, it's huge. It really is. We 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:38.960 are taking a comprehensive look today at a Wikipedia 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:42.539 overview detailing the United States Senate Select 00:00:42.539 --> 00:00:45.600 Committee on Intelligence. Right. And in Washington, 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.000 you will almost always hear this simply referred 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.280 to as the SSCI. The SSCI. So our mission for 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:53.920 you today is to unpack exactly how this this 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.960 incredibly small rotating group of senators manages 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:59.439 to hold. the purse strings. And the oversight 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:02.859 power. Exactly. The oversight power over the 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:06.239 entire U .S. intelligence community. We're talking 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:11.260 about a hidden world of classified budgets, global 00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:14.540 surveillance, covert operations. All of it. Yeah, 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:18.400 all of it. And the incredibly intricate system 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:21.200 designed to keep all that immense power in check. 00:01:21.739 --> 00:01:24.079 It's a lot to cover. It is. OK, let's unpack 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:26.299 this, starting with the sheer architecture of 00:01:26.299 --> 00:01:28.379 this oversight, because when you look at the 00:01:28.379 --> 00:01:30.819 scope of what the single committee is responsible 00:01:30.819 --> 00:01:35.079 for, it completely reframes how you think about 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:37.439 American intelligence. It really does. Their 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:40.560 mandate is to oversee and make continuing studies 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:42.819 of the intelligence activities and programs of 00:01:42.819 --> 00:01:44.920 the United States government. Which sounds very 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:46.859 official. Right. But to understand what that 00:01:46.859 --> 00:01:49.019 actually means, we have to define the intelligence 00:01:49.019 --> 00:01:51.980 community itself. It is not just a handful of 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:54.760 spies in trench coats. Exactly. When most people 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:56.819 hear intelligence, they immediately picture the 00:01:56.819 --> 00:01:59.579 CIA headquarters in Langley. Sure. Or maybe they 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:02.120 think of the NSA. But the SSCI's jurisdiction 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:04.299 goes so much deeper into the fabric of the government, 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:07.780 doesn't it? Far deeper. Yes, they oversee the 00:02:07.780 --> 00:02:09.379 Central Intelligence Agency and the National 00:02:09.379 --> 00:02:12.539 Security Agency, but they also oversee the Office 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:15.819 of the Director of National Intelligence, the 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:19.439 Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:21.659 Intelligence Agency. That's a mouthful. It is. 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:24.639 And the National Reconnaissance Office. But here's 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:27.460 the part that usually surprises people. They 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:29.560 are also responsible for the intelligence components 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:32.319 of domestic and diplomatic agencies. Oh, wow. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:34.639 Yeah. That means they oversee the intelligence 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.199 branches of the FBI, the Department of State, 00:02:37.259 --> 00:02:39.340 the Treasury Department, and even the Department 00:02:39.340 --> 00:02:41.580 of Energy. The Department of Energy having an 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:43.759 intelligence wing always catches people off guard. 00:02:43.900 --> 00:02:46.759 Right. But when you remember they deal with nuclear 00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:50.740 materials, it suddenly makes perfect sense. Absolutely. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:53.379 It makes me think of an analogy. Imagine the 00:02:53.379 --> 00:02:57.219 SSCI as a corporate board of directors, but they 00:02:57.219 --> 00:02:59.580 aren't overseeing a company that sells software. 00:03:00.169 --> 00:03:02.509 They are the board of directors for a massive, 00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:05.490 heavily classified multinational conglomerate 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:07.830 where the various departments are dealing with 00:03:07.830 --> 00:03:10.330 national security space reconnaissance, global 00:03:10.330 --> 00:03:12.889 communications and nuclear threat assessments. 00:03:13.229 --> 00:03:15.129 That's a great way to picture it. And this board 00:03:15.129 --> 00:03:17.150 has to somehow keep track of all those moving 00:03:17.150 --> 00:03:20.870 parts, audit their activities and crucially approve 00:03:20.870 --> 00:03:23.229 their budgets. That board of directors analogy 00:03:23.229 --> 00:03:25.650 works really well for visualizing their scope, 00:03:25.830 --> 00:03:28.789 but with one massive deliberate difference. OK, 00:03:28.889 --> 00:03:31.560 what's that? A corporate board is usually permanent, 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:35.360 or at least its members stay on for decades to 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.159 build institutional power. This committee is 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:40.419 expressly designed to do the exact opposite. 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:42.599 Really? Yeah, it all comes down to that word 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:45.800 in their title, select. The Senate Select Committee. 00:03:46.099 --> 00:03:48.360 Right. The committee was established in 1976 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:51.620 by the 94th Congress as a select committee, meaning 00:03:51.620 --> 00:03:54.080 its membership is entirely temporary. The seats 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.060 are rotated among members of the Senate chamber. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:58.419 Which is such a fascinating, counterintuitive 00:03:58.419 --> 00:04:01.139 way. To run a group that needs to understand 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:04.120 hyper -advanced secretive programs? I mean, why 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:06.039 would you constantly cycle your experts out? 00:04:06.259 --> 00:04:08.419 What's fascinating here is the brilliant cross 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:10.860 -pollination design of the committee to prevent 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:13.280 exactly the kind of institutional stagnation 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:15.599 you just mentioned. Okay. The committee is made 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:19.560 up of 15 to 17 members. Now, the way those seats 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.160 are distributed is engineered for maximum oversight. 00:04:22.420 --> 00:04:25.220 How so? Eight of those seats are specifically 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:28.500 reserved for members who already sit on four 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:31.939 major powerful Senate committees. Oh, I see. 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:34.420 They take one majority member and one minority 00:04:34.420 --> 00:04:36.939 member from the Appropriations Committee, the 00:04:36.939 --> 00:04:39.199 Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Relations 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.850 Committee, and the Judiciary Committee. So you 00:04:41.850 --> 00:04:44.170 are basically pulling in the top minds who already 00:04:44.170 --> 00:04:47.269 deal with the government's checkbook, the military 00:04:47.269 --> 00:04:49.769 international diplomacy and the law. Precisely. 00:04:49.829 --> 00:04:52.550 You have senators who intimately understand the 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:54.889 military budget sitting right next to senators 00:04:54.889 --> 00:04:57.490 who focus entirely on the legal and constitutional 00:04:57.490 --> 00:05:00.410 constraints of federal actions. Wow. They are 00:05:00.410 --> 00:05:02.750 all sitting in the same secure room looking at 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:04.970 the same classified intelligence programs. And 00:05:04.970 --> 00:05:07.009 just to round out the math for everyone listening, 00:05:07.129 --> 00:05:11.009 of the remaining seats, four. go to members of 00:05:11.009 --> 00:05:13.649 the majority party and three go to members of 00:05:13.649 --> 00:05:15.750 the minority party. Right. Plus you have the 00:05:15.750 --> 00:05:18.209 majority and minority leaders acting as ex officio 00:05:18.209 --> 00:05:20.750 members. Yes. And just to clarify for anyone 00:05:20.750 --> 00:05:23.949 unfamiliar with the term ex officio, basically 00:05:23.949 --> 00:05:26.569 means they get a seat at the table simply because 00:05:26.569 --> 00:05:28.589 of the leadership offices they hold, even though 00:05:28.589 --> 00:05:31.050 they don't actually get a vote. Got it. The chair 00:05:31.050 --> 00:05:33.370 and ranking member of the armed services committee 00:05:33.370 --> 00:05:37.050 also get this ex officio status if they aren't 00:05:37.050 --> 00:05:39.439 already formally on the select committee. I want 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:42.060 you, the listener, to imagine for a second why 00:05:42.060 --> 00:05:45.699 this specific rotating cross -functional structure 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:49.279 matters to your daily life. It's vital. Think 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:52.319 about basic human nature. If a group of politicians 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:55.180 sat on the same secretive committee for 30 years, 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.920 dealing with the same spy agencies, approving 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:00.579 the exact same black budgets behind closed doors, 00:06:00.740 --> 00:06:03.199 reviewing highly advanced surveillance technologies. 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:06.139 They would become completely entrenched. Exactly. 00:06:06.139 --> 00:06:08.720 It would be so easy for them to become entrenched. 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:11.740 They might become too cozy with the very agencies 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.259 they are supposed to be regulating. By making 00:06:14.259 --> 00:06:16.600 the membership temporary and pulling from different 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:20.100 areas of expertise, the system is designed specifically 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:23.680 to prevent that kind of dangerous coziness. It 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:26.420 forces fresh eyes on the country's deepest secrets. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:29.100 And importantly, it guarantees that the people 00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:31.699 holding the power of the purse are constantly 00:06:31.699 --> 00:06:34.680 changing. Because while oversight and audits 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:37.120 are important, the most significant power the 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.589 SSCI wields is financial. The power of the purse. 00:06:40.850 --> 00:06:44.290 It is the ultimate leverage in Washington. A 00:06:44.290 --> 00:06:46.269 core responsibility of the committee is performing 00:06:46.269 --> 00:06:48.730 an annual review of the intelligence budget submitted 00:06:48.730 --> 00:06:51.470 by the president. Right. They then have to actually 00:06:51.470 --> 00:06:54.470 prepare the legislation that authorizes the appropriations 00:06:54.470 --> 00:06:57.370 for all these various civilian and military agencies. 00:06:57.689 --> 00:06:59.209 And let's break down what that actually means 00:06:59.209 --> 00:07:01.589 in practice. There is a big difference between 00:07:01.589 --> 00:07:04.430 authorizing a budget and appropriating the money. 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:06.569 That's a good point. Authorizing is essentially 00:07:06.569 --> 00:07:09.389 writing the rules and saying you're legally permitted 00:07:09.389 --> 00:07:12.269 to spend this much money on this specific spy 00:07:12.269 --> 00:07:14.569 satellite program. OK. But the Appropriations 00:07:14.569 --> 00:07:16.290 Committee is the one that actually writes the 00:07:16.290 --> 00:07:19.649 check. For military related intelligence, the 00:07:19.649 --> 00:07:22.029 SSCI makes recommendations to the Senate Armed 00:07:22.029 --> 00:07:24.550 Services Committee. Right. But for the civilian 00:07:24.550 --> 00:07:27.290 agencies, they're deeply involved in authorizing 00:07:27.290 --> 00:07:29.569 those funds under what is called the National 00:07:29.569 --> 00:07:32.050 Intelligence Program. And when you control the 00:07:32.050 --> 00:07:34.670 budget of a secretive agency, you theoretically 00:07:34.670 --> 00:07:37.509 control the agency. But controlling that money 00:07:37.509 --> 00:07:40.569 is not always a smooth process, especially when 00:07:40.569 --> 00:07:42.810 other committees want a piece of that power. 00:07:42.949 --> 00:07:46.170 Very true. Back in 2008, a massive turf war erupted 00:07:46.170 --> 00:07:48.629 over this exact issue. It is a perfect example 00:07:48.629 --> 00:07:50.990 of how oversight actually functions behind the 00:07:50.990 --> 00:07:54.129 scenes. In March of 2008, 14 of the 15 members 00:07:54.129 --> 00:07:57.959 of the SSCI Almost the entire committee, in a 00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:00.860 very rare show of near unanimity, wrote a formal 00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:02.600 letter to the Senate leadership. What did they 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:05.160 open? They proposed creating a brand new Senate 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:07.060 Appropriations Subcommittee on Intelligence. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:09.079 Essentially, they wanted their own dedicated 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:11.699 checkbook. That's exactly. They wanted heavy 00:08:11.699 --> 00:08:14.439 representation on this new subcommittee so they 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:16.439 could prepare the annual intelligence budget 00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:19.259 directly, rather than just... authorizing it 00:08:19.259 --> 00:08:21.600 and handing it off. They argued it would significantly 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.639 increase their influence and leverage over the 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:27.939 executive branch intelligence agencies. Furthermore, 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:30.959 they argued it would force continuing disclosure 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:33.340 of the annual budget for the National Intelligence 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:36.039 Program. Right. They were essentially saying 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:39.860 we can't properly oversee these agencies if we 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:42.039 don't have the ultimate leverage of writing the 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:44.690 actual checks. But. The leadership of the Maine 00:08:44.690 --> 00:08:46.909 Senate Appropriations Committee looked at this 00:08:46.909 --> 00:08:49.450 proposal and they fiercely opposed it. The proposal 00:08:49.450 --> 00:08:52.490 was completely shot down. If we connect this 00:08:52.490 --> 00:08:54.830 to the bigger picture, it reveals a fundamental 00:08:54.830 --> 00:08:57.769 truth about how the government operates. Washington 00:08:57.769 --> 00:09:00.049 is often a battleground, not just between political 00:09:00.049 --> 00:09:01.990 parties, but between different congressional 00:09:01.990 --> 00:09:04.049 committees fighting for jurisdiction influence 00:09:04.049 --> 00:09:06.990 and leverage over secret budgets. Oh, absolutely. 00:09:07.110 --> 00:09:09.720 The Appropriations Committee. already controls 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:11.840 government spending. They were absolutely not 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:14.179 about to carve out a special, powerful subcommittee 00:09:14.179 --> 00:09:16.259 and hand that leverage over to the Intelligence 00:09:16.259 --> 00:09:19.159 Committee. No way. Even if the SSCI argued it 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:21.080 was necessary for the sake of national security 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:23.799 oversight, giving up the purse strings means 00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:27.159 giving up power. It is a turf war over the most 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:29.980 secretive turf in the world. But that tension 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:32.639 over what to tell the public and how to hold 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:35.039 these agencies accountable isn't just about budgets. 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:37.720 This is all. Here's where it gets really interesting, 00:09:37.820 --> 00:09:41.500 because over the decades, the SSCI has been at 00:09:41.500 --> 00:09:43.860 the center of some of the most sensitive, controversial 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:46.740 investigations in modern American history. To 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:48.820 really understand their investigative weight, 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:51.220 you have to look briefly at the climate they 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:54.259 were born into. Right, the 1970s. The SSCI rose 00:09:54.259 --> 00:09:56.240 from the ashes of the famous Church Committee 00:09:56.240 --> 00:10:00.360 of 1975. The Church Committee was a massive investigation 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:03.460 into decades of severe intelligence abuses by 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:06.990 the CIA. the FBI and the NSA, things like illegal 00:10:06.990 --> 00:10:09.429 domestic spying and assassination plots. The 00:10:09.429 --> 00:10:12.649 public trust was entirely broken. It was. So 00:10:12.649 --> 00:10:16.370 when the SSCI was officially formed in 1976 to 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:18.929 provide permanent oversight with Senator Daniel 00:10:18.929 --> 00:10:22.570 K. Inouye of Hawaii as its first chair, their 00:10:22.570 --> 00:10:25.169 foundational mandate was to dig into the things 00:10:25.169 --> 00:10:27.669 that the agencies wanted kept hidden. And we 00:10:27.669 --> 00:10:30.309 see that mandate play out massively in the 2000s, 00:10:30.309 --> 00:10:32.980 specifically regarding the Iraq War. The committee 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:35.059 undertook a multi -phase grueling investigation 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:37.980 into the pre -war intelligence on Iraq. This 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:40.740 was a monumental task. The intelligence community 00:10:40.740 --> 00:10:42.940 had made specific assessments regarding weapons 00:10:42.940 --> 00:10:45.259 of mass destruction, which obviously led to the 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:48.559 invasion. In July 2004, the SSCI issued their 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:51.299 first report on those pre -war assessments. But 00:10:51.299 --> 00:10:54.000 the real friction came years later. On June 5, 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:56.320 2008, they issued a long -delayed portion of 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:58.519 their Phase II investigative report. And the 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:00.659 focus of that phase two report is what makes 00:11:00.659 --> 00:11:02.919 it so critical. It didn't just look at the raw 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:05.740 intelligence. It specifically compared the pre 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:07.820 -war public statements made by top Bush administration 00:11:07.820 --> 00:11:10.799 officials, the actual speeches and claims used 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:12.779 to justify the invasion to the American public 00:11:12.779 --> 00:11:15.320 against the actual intelligence information that 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:17.279 was available to those officials at the time. 00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:20.240 Think about the weight of that. You have a bipartisan 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:23.679 committee whose job is to audit the gap. between 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:26.080 what the executive branch tells the public and 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:30.120 what the classified documents actually say. Highlighting 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:32.899 that discrepancy is the very definition of oversight. 00:11:33.179 --> 00:11:35.340 But that tension over public disclosure wasn't 00:11:35.340 --> 00:11:37.720 just limited to foreign wars. It blew up right 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:40.740 here at home a few years later. In 2013, the 00:11:40.740 --> 00:11:42.980 committee found itself in the spotlight following 00:11:42.980 --> 00:11:45.340 Edward Snowden's disclosures regarding massive 00:11:45.340 --> 00:11:47.700 NSA surveillance of domestic communications. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:50.279 Overseeing highly classified domestic surveillance 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:52.840 programs while the public is actively reading 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:55.519 leaked details about them in the news creates 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.940 an incredibly awkward dynamic. I can imagine. 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:00.360 And we saw that play out in real time. During 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.019 this era, Senator Dianne Feinstein was the chair 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.299 of the committee. She made several public statements 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:07.620 trying to contextualize the NSA's capabilities. 00:12:07.820 --> 00:12:10.379 Right. But one statement was immediately and 00:12:10.379 --> 00:12:13.259 fiercely disputed. She claimed that the NSA tracked 00:12:13.259 --> 00:12:16.220 U .S. citizens' locations via their cell phones. 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:18.679 Which, as you can imagine, caused an absolute 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:21.720 uproar. Privacy advocates were already on high 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:23.679 alert, and having the chair of the Intelligence 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:26.039 Committee casually mention cell phone location 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:28.460 tracking was like throwing gasoline on a fire. 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:31.279 It really was. But what happened next highlights 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:34.629 the high wire act of this committee. The SSCI's 00:12:34.629 --> 00:12:37.110 own staff director at the time, David Grannis, 00:12:37.250 --> 00:12:40.330 had to publicly intervene. A staffer had to walk 00:12:40.330 --> 00:12:42.929 back the comments of the powerful committee chair. 00:12:43.070 --> 00:12:45.490 That rarely happens. Grannis stated that the 00:12:45.490 --> 00:12:48.269 NSA did not collect cell phone location data, 00:12:48.409 --> 00:12:50.929 and he claimed that Senator Feinstein was simply 00:12:50.929 --> 00:12:53.809 speaking extemporaneously. It is a remarkable 00:12:53.809 --> 00:12:56.470 moment. It shows how difficult it is to discuss 00:12:56.470 --> 00:12:58.830 the nuances of classified surveillance programs 00:12:58.830 --> 00:13:01.490 in a public forum without accidentally confirming 00:13:01.490 --> 00:13:04.029 or misstating the capabilities of those programs. 00:13:04.190 --> 00:13:06.330 And that tension between secrecy and transparency 00:13:06.330 --> 00:13:10.230 only escalated the following year. In 2014, the 00:13:10.230 --> 00:13:12.870 SSCI made a decision that put their oversight 00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:17.509 powers on the global stage. Yes. In March of 00:13:17.509 --> 00:13:20.210 that year, the committee voted to publish a highly 00:13:20.210 --> 00:13:24.320 sensitive deeply controversial document. By December, 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:26.440 they officially released a detailed report on 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:29.279 the policies of the CIA regarding detention and 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:31.720 interrogation. This is widely known in the public 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:35.440 sphere as the CIA Torture Report. The document 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:37.980 detailed the use of torture during CIA detention 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:40.879 and interrogation programs following 9 -11. Right. 00:13:40.980 --> 00:13:43.759 Deciding to declassify and publish findings that 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:46.299 severely damage the reputation of your own intelligence 00:13:46.299 --> 00:13:50.019 agencies is a massive highly consequential move. 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.320 It is the ultimate test of whether the committee 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:54.659 is willing to air the government's darkest laundry 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:57.299 in the name of accountability. Which brings us 00:13:57.299 --> 00:13:59.519 into the modern era of the committee, an era 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:01.840 marked by incredibly complex investigations into 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:04.580 foreign adversaries, but also by intense human 00:14:04.580 --> 00:14:07.080 drama and abrupt leadership shakeups. Let's talk 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:09.360 about the Russia probe. Starting in 2017, the 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.159 SSCI began a sprawling investigation into Russian 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:15.080 interference in the 2016 United States elections. 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:18.509 They were tasked with looking into possible Determinating 00:14:18.509 --> 00:14:20.549 links between members of the Russian government 00:14:20.549 --> 00:14:22.909 and members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign 00:14:22.909 --> 00:14:26.009 team, as well as auditing the overall security 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:29.110 of election processes in the U .S. This was a 00:14:29.110 --> 00:14:32.309 multi -year, deeply scrutinized investigation 00:14:32.309 --> 00:14:34.710 that took place in one of the most polarized 00:14:34.710 --> 00:14:37.250 political climates in modern history. Absolutely. 00:14:37.289 --> 00:14:40.029 The investigation concluded with a report released 00:14:40.029 --> 00:14:44.059 on April 21st, 2020. Now, at this time, the committee 00:14:44.059 --> 00:14:46.840 was chaired by Republican Senator Richard Burr. 00:14:46.940 --> 00:14:49.879 And despite the intense partisan divide in Washington. 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:53.279 they reached a very specific bipartisan conclusion. 00:14:53.580 --> 00:14:55.919 They released a redacted report with their final 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:58.519 judgment on the intelligence. They found that 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:00.460 the intelligence community's assessment of the 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:02.720 situation was coherent and well constructed. 00:15:03.019 --> 00:15:05.539 Coherent and well constructed. That is a very 00:15:05.539 --> 00:15:08.059 specific phrase. It means the committee didn't 00:15:08.059 --> 00:15:11.019 just take the agency's word for it. They reviewed 00:15:11.019 --> 00:15:14.340 the raw data, analyzed the methodology, and agreed 00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:17.820 with the findings. Specifically, the SSCI supported 00:15:17.820 --> 00:15:29.870 the claim that Vladimir Putin's That is a critical 00:15:29.870 --> 00:15:32.389 unified finding regarding the nature of the foreign 00:15:32.389 --> 00:15:35.990 threat. However, the committee was also very 00:15:35.990 --> 00:15:39.090 clear on another key conclusion, balancing the 00:15:39.090 --> 00:15:41.149 narrative against the intelligence record. What 00:15:41.149 --> 00:15:44.159 was that? They explicitly noted that no direct 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.460 evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:49.440 and Russia was found. OK. This report represents 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.299 the committee executing its duty, finalizing 00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:54.519 their findings based purely on the intelligence 00:15:54.519 --> 00:15:56.879 assessments rather than the surrounding political 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:59.039 noise. But we have to remember that this committee, 00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:01.679 despite its lofty mandate and secure vaults, 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:03.980 is not just made up of dry policy reports. It 00:16:03.980 --> 00:16:06.779 is made up of human beings. And that means it 00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:09.600 is entirely vulnerable to human flaws. For example, 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:12.679 in 2018, the S .S. SCI's own director of security, 00:16:12.899 --> 00:16:15.440 James Wolfe, was actually arrested. The irony 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.360 there is stark. The director of security for 00:16:18.360 --> 00:16:20.240 the committee tasked with keeping the nation's 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.279 secrets safe was convicted of lying to the FBI 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.379 regarding the leak of classified documents. Unbelievable. 00:16:26.419 --> 00:16:28.860 He had leaked this classified information to 00:16:28.860 --> 00:16:31.179 a reporter with whom he was having an affair. 00:16:31.659 --> 00:16:34.519 It is a harsh reminder that the vulnerabilities 00:16:34.519 --> 00:16:37.960 in a high security environment are rarely just 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:40.600 technological. They are almost always human. 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:43.620 And that human drama extended all the way to 00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:45.879 the top leadership. We just mentioned that Senator 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.019 Richard Burr chaired the committee through the 00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:51.259 Russia probe. But on May 14th, 2020, Senator 00:16:51.259 --> 00:16:53.820 Burr actually had to step down as SSCI chair. 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:57.320 This sudden departure was due to an ongoing FBI 00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:00.159 investigation regarding insider trading by Senator 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.820 Burr during the early days of the COVID -19 pandemic. 00:17:03.659 --> 00:17:05.099 When the chair of the Intelligence Committee 00:17:05.099 --> 00:17:08.000 is under active investigation by the FBI, an 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:09.720 agency the committee is supposed to oversee, 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:12.880 it forces an immediate and chaotic change in 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:15.160 leadership. It definitely does. Just days later, 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:17.500 Senator Mitch McConnell announced that Marco 00:17:17.500 --> 00:17:20.160 Rubio would replace Burr temporarily as the acting 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:23.440 chair. It highlights how the carefully orchestrated 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.839 rotating nature of the committee can sometimes 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.759 be thrown into overdrive by unforeseen personal 00:17:28.759 --> 00:17:31.329 scandals. Flashing forward to the present day, 00:17:31.410 --> 00:17:34.109 the 119th Congress, the committee continues its 00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:37.869 vital work. The seats have rotated again. Currently, 00:17:37.970 --> 00:17:40.450 Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, serves 00:17:40.450 --> 00:17:43.470 as the chair with Mark Warner, a Democrat from 00:17:43.470 --> 00:17:45.589 Virginia serving as the vice chair. The watchmen 00:17:45.589 --> 00:17:47.470 are still being watched. So what does this all 00:17:47.470 --> 00:17:49.849 mean? It means that while the intelligence community 00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:52.930 operates almost entirely in the shadows, dealing 00:17:52.930 --> 00:17:55.890 with global threats, covert operations and massive 00:17:55.890 --> 00:17:58.930 budgets, they do not operate unchecked. I want 00:17:58.930 --> 00:18:00.529 you to remember that this committee, with its 00:18:00.529 --> 00:18:02.670 rotating membership pulled from across the Senate, 00:18:02.789 --> 00:18:05.210 is the public's primary mechanism for accountability. 00:18:05.549 --> 00:18:07.450 Yes. They are the ones reviewing the budgets. 00:18:07.630 --> 00:18:09.769 They investigate the failures. They debate the 00:18:09.769 --> 00:18:12.210 limits of surveillance. It is a flawed human 00:18:12.210 --> 00:18:15.210 system prone to scandals and turf wars, but it 00:18:15.210 --> 00:18:18.210 is the firewall between secret power and democratic 00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:20.509 oversight. I want to leave you with a final thought 00:18:20.509 --> 00:18:23.529 to mull over, building on a very small but fascinating 00:18:23.529 --> 00:18:26.730 detail buried in the text. Okay. When listing 00:18:26.730 --> 00:18:29.009 the various agencies the committee oversees, 00:18:29.029 --> 00:18:30.990 there is a mention of the National Reconnaissance 00:18:30.990 --> 00:18:33.869 Office. And right next to it, it lists a specific 00:18:33.869 --> 00:18:36.170 intelligence analysis system called Sentient. 00:18:36.569 --> 00:18:39.670 Sentient? Just the name alone sounds like an 00:18:39.670 --> 00:18:42.430 AI from a science fiction movie. It does. It 00:18:42.430 --> 00:18:45.529 is an advanced, hyper -complex intelligence analysis 00:18:45.529 --> 00:18:48.910 system. And the existence of programs like sentient 00:18:48.910 --> 00:18:51.730 raises an incredibly important question about 00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:53.490 the very nature of this committee structure. 00:18:53.809 --> 00:18:57.309 The SSCI relies on a rotating temporary cast 00:18:57.309 --> 00:19:00.150 of senators. This is designed, as we discussed, 00:19:00.269 --> 00:19:03.359 to prevent entrenchment and coziness. But think 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:05.460 about the sheer complexity of the technology 00:19:05.460 --> 00:19:07.640 they are overseeing today. Right. They aren't 00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:09.759 just looking at troop movements on a paper map 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:12.680 anymore. Exactly. If you have generalist politicians 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:15.680 stepping into this role for a limited term, how 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.519 effectively can they truly oversee highly classified, 00:19:18.819 --> 00:19:21.680 hyper -advanced black box technologies like the 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:23.829 sentient system? That's a great point. By the 00:19:23.829 --> 00:19:26.589 time a senator fully comprehends the sheer technical 00:19:26.589 --> 00:19:30.049 capability, the algorithms, and the global implications 00:19:30.049 --> 00:19:33.089 of an AI -driven surveillance tool, their term 00:19:33.089 --> 00:19:35.710 on the committee might be up. Are we reaching 00:19:35.710 --> 00:19:38.509 a point where the technology being overseen is 00:19:38.509 --> 00:19:41.329 simply too complex for a rotating board of lawmakers 00:19:41.329 --> 00:19:44.190 to truly hold accountable? That is a chilling 00:19:44.190 --> 00:19:46.849 and fascinating question to ponder. How do you 00:19:46.849 --> 00:19:49.130 regulate what you barely have the time or the 00:19:49.130 --> 00:19:50.930 technical background to understand? Thank you 00:19:50.930 --> 00:19:52.970 so much for joining us on this deep dive into 00:19:52.970 --> 00:19:54.289 the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. 00:19:54.690 --> 00:19:56.869 We hope it gave you a new perspective on the 00:19:56.869 --> 00:19:59.529 hidden architecture of oversight, the turf wars 00:19:59.529 --> 00:20:01.710 over secret budgets, and the very human flaws 00:20:01.710 --> 00:20:03.730 of the people tasked with watching the watchmen. 00:20:03.809 --> 00:20:05.849 Keep questioning the systems around you, and 00:20:05.849 --> 00:20:08.369 most importantly, stay insanely curious. We will 00:20:08.369 --> 00:20:09.430 catch you on the next one.