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House Homeland Security hearing frames Chinese Communist Party as principal long‑term threat; members call for shoring up cyber and intelligence workforce
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Summary
Members of the House Committee on Homeland Security and four outside witnesses told a committee hearing that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses a broad, generational threat to U.S. national security, and several lawmakers urged restoring or expanding cyber and intelligence personnel and creating new institutional capacity to track China.
Acting Chairman Michael Guest convened the House Committee on Homeland Security for a hearing to examine “the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. national security,” and members and witnesses from across the aisle described the CCP as a long‑term, multi‑domain threat.
Witnesses focused on a broad strategy they said China is pursuing. Dr. Michael Pillsbury, introduced to the committee as a China scholar and author of The Hundred‑Year Marathon, said China pursues a “long term grand strategy to replace The United States as the leading global power” and urged the committee to rank priorities and build sustained measures to compete. William Evanina, the former director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, called the CCP’s campaign “existential,” saying it is “comprehensive” and targets the private sector, academia and critical infrastructure.
The hearing produced direct critiques of recent administration actions that some lawmakers and witnesses said undercut U.S. defenses. Ranking Member Bennie Thompson said, “The Trump administration gutting U.S. cyber defenses makes it harder to protect Americans against Chinese cyberattacks and makes us less safe,” and he and other Democrats faulted reported personnel reductions and personnel actions at agencies such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the CIA and the FBI.
Several witnesses and members urged institutional changes. Dr. Pillsbury recommended that the committee periodically survey what federal agencies are doing that may assist China and suggested establishing regular indicators to measure U.S. performance against China across 20–30 metrics. Multiple witnesses said the U.S. lacks a dedicated, centralized capacity that focuses across departments on the China competition; Pillsbury and others suggested the department or committee consider creating a China‑focused unit or annual White House report.
Lawmakers pressed for tools and legislation. Panelists mentioned a portfolio of statutory and executive tools: outbound investment screening, export controls, targeted tariffs, codifying executive orders such as the information communications technology and services (ICTS) authorities, and sectoral policy proposals discussed in witnesses’ testimony (for example, the Pivot Act and the Enforce Act were named in the record). Members from both parties expressed support for stronger export controls on advanced chips and so‑called military‑grade artificial intelligence technology.
Throughout the hearing representatives repeatedly tied the abstract national‑security concerns to everyday impacts: Evanina and others cited estimates witnesses gave for the economic effects of intellectual‑property theft and data loss, including testimony that technology theft costs the average American family of four an estimated $4,000–$6,000 per year. Members also warned that cuts to federal cyber and intelligence staff would reduce the country’s ability to counter ongoing operations that witnesses said are already underway.
The hearing closed with bipartisan agreement among members that China is a pressing threat, even as witnesses and members differed on specific policy prescriptions and on the proper balance between diplomatic, economic and defensive measures. The committee entered a record of the hearing and adjourned.
