House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) implored the leaders of the intelligence community at a hearing on diversity Wednesday to stay out of politics and focus on defeating enemies.
At the Democrat-organized hearing on “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” in the intelligence community (IC), Nunes said the IC seems to be increasingly focused on issues that distract from its mission to deter and defeat America’s enemies. “Unfortunately, we can’t counter a hypersonic missile launch with better pronoun usage,” he said
“The indications, ranging from trivial recruitment videos to major intelligence estimates, show an infatuation with leftwing dogmas and politicized actions that have nothing to do with deterring our enemies and winning wars,” he continued.
“We see this tendency not just in the Intelligence Community, but throughout the entire national security apparatus—in the military, the State Department, and other bodies,” he added.
He cited seminars at West Point focusing on the dangers of “white supremacy” and “systemic racism” and Gen. Mark Milley’s defense of them; the NSA allegedly surveilling Fox News host Tucker Carlson; a recent National Intelligence Estimate on global warning; the State Department touting “International Pronoun Day” and “Intersex Awareness Day”; the suspension of former NSA General Counsel Michael Ellis for political reasons; and the FBI infamously using falsified information to secure warrants to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page.
“The list goes on and on,” Nunes said. “Meanwhile, the international threat matrix does not take a time out as our national security agencies become enthralled by critical race theory and pronoun etiquette.”
He said China was becoming increasingly aggressive toward Taiwan, in addition to its campaign of intellectual property theft, espionage, currency manipulation, corporate coercion, and cybercrime against the U.S.
Nunes also noted China’s recent hypersonic missile testing, which reportedly took the IC by surprise, and noted the continuing fallout from the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, including empowering the Taliban and the Americans and allies left behind.
“Unfortunately, we can’t counter a hypersonic missile launch with better pronoun usage, and a deeper understanding of white rage won’t help rescue Americans stranded in Afghanistan,” Nunes said.
He also cited the spread of ransomware attacks on U.S. targets, an unknown number of security threats entering America through our southern border, continuing Russian aggression toward its neighbors, and advances in the nuclear weapons programs of North Korea, Iran, and other malign regimes.
“I’d argue that woke obsessions are the proper jurisdiction of faculty lounge Marxists, not our national security agencies,” he said. “The politicization of our national security apparatus is utterly destructive. It has severely eroded trust in institutions that have long received bipartisan support.”
He concluded:
The Intelligence Community, the military, and other national security bodies have traditionally been colorblind meritocracies, where the most capable people move up rapidly through the ranks. The effectiveness of these organizations will unavoidably suffer when merit is devalued in favor of any other consideration.
“I urge all the directors here today to stay out of politics and concentrate exclusively on deterring our enemies and winning wars. As we learned in Afghanistan, America is not unbeatable. We have real enemies and they mean to do us harm,” he said.
“They have no interest in global warming or race and gender intersectionality—they closely watch us every day to find weaknesses that would enable attacks on our citizens and our homeland. Our defense against them rests, to a large extent, on you, and I hope your priorities will match the urgency of this fraught moment in our history.”
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