Press Releases
House Intelligence Committee to Hold Virtual Open Hearing on U.S.-Saudi Security and Intelligence Relationship
Washington,
September 9, 2020
Washington, DC – On Friday, September 11, 2020 at 12:00 PM ET, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) will convene a virtual unclassified hearing assessing the U.S.-Saudi security and intelligence relationship. This is the fourth virtual hearing that the Committee will have held. There have been numerous momentous events in recent years that carry potential implications for our security partnership, from the December 2019 terrorist attack on the U.S. Naval Air Station in Pensacola and the continued Saudi-led campaign targeting civilians in Yemen, to Saudi Arabia's failure to hold accountable all of the individuals responsible for the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and public reports of a nascent Saudi nuclear weapons program. The Committee recently voted out the FY 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act, aimed at addressing several issues of longstanding concern to Congress. Witnesses will further sharpen the Committee's oversight and inform future legislation on related topics by shedding light on: the benefits of U.S.-Saudi counterterrorism cooperation and the Kingdom’s role in propagating extremist ideologies that have been central to the rise of violent extremism across the globe; how recent Saudi regional policies, to include the Saudi-led war in Yemen, have helped or hindered U.S. national security objectives; and growing public evidence that the Saudi security services, under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are engaged in a global campaign to intimidate and silence critics of the Saudi government, including American citizens. WHO: Bruce Riedel – Senior Fellow and Director of the Intelligence Project, The Brookings Institution Ali Soufan – Chairman and CEO, The Soufan Group WHAT: WHEN: WHERE: |