A Look Ahead: House Foreign Affairs Committee
Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced the following upcoming Committee events:
Tuesday, March 19
1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19 in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Chairman
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman
Invited witnesses include:
Seth G. Jones, Ph.D.
Associate Director
International Security and Defense Policy Center
RAND Corporation
Kimberly Kagan, Ph.D.
President
Institute for the Study of War
Mr. Peter Bergen
Director
National Security Studies Program
The New America Foundation
Daniel S. Markey, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia
Council on Foreign Relations
Chairman Chabot on the hearing: “U.S. national security interests in South Asia are both dire and immediate. The 2014 withdrawal plan from Afghanistan is strategically risky and threatens to plunge Afghanistan into a state in which terrorists will once again thrive. At the same time, the U.S. relationship with Pakistan has deteriorated dramatically and falters over Pakistan’s involvement with terrorist organizations and the drone war in the tribal bad lands. While Islamabad claims U.S. and Pakistani interests can be brought into alignment, we must remain skeptical of its internal divergent interests that risk undermining U.S. interests, the relationship with India, and the chance for a stable, peaceful, and independent Afghanistan. This hearing is an important opportunity to examine the President’s hasty withdrawal plan from Afghanistan and evaluate how events in Pakistan over the next year may affect U.S. national security interests throughout the entire region.”
Chairman Ros-Lehtinen on the hearing: With President Obama’s announcement last month that the U.S. will draw down our forces in Afghanistan by the end of this year without a clear withdrawal plan, it is necessary to have a hearing that will examine the security implications of this decision and analyze the capacity of the Afghani and Pakistan government to address crime and corruption while ensuring secured territories in their countries. This is imperative particularly in light of recent inflammatory accusations made by Afghani leader Hamid Karzai which have further strained U.S. – Afghanistan relations and put our troops at greater risk. We must do everything we can to prevent al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other extremist militants from taking over and undoing the efforts and sacrifices made by the U.S. and our allies for over a decade.
Wednesday, March 20
Hearing: Crisis in Syria: The U.S. Response
9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, March 20 in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building
Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman
Invited witnesses include:
The Honorable Robert S. Ford
U.S. Ambassador to Syria
The Honorable Anne C. Richard
Assistant Secretary
Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration
U.S. Department of State
The Honorable Nancy E. Lindborg
Assistant Administrator
Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance
United States Agency for International Development
Chairman Royce on the hearing: “Unfortunately, we are watching conditions in Syria continue to deteriorate precipitously. The Assad regime has killed tens of thousands of Syrians. Millions more have been displaced or have fled to neighboring countries increasingly strained by their influx. This is a regional crisis. It’s time for the Obama Administration, which has struggled on Syria, to present and defend its policy on all fronts, including its humanitarian efforts. The Committee will focus on how the U.S. can best protect its vital national interests and effectively promote a stable and peaceful Syria.”
Wednesday, March 20
Subcommittee Hearing: Hezbollah’s Strategic Shift: A Global Terrorist Threat
1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20 in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade
Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), Chairman
Invited witnesses include:
Mr. Will Fulton
Research Analyst
American Enterprise Institute
Matthew Levitt, Ph.D.
Director
Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
The Honorable Roger Noriega
Visiting Fellow
American Enterprise Institute
(Former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and Former Ambassador to the Organization of American States)
Chairman Poe on the hearing: “Next week, the TNT Subcommittee will bring together experts to discuss the evolution of Hezbollah. Hezbollah has historically been a terrorist organization whose activity has been isolated in the Middle East. Hezbollah is the puppet of Iran worldwide. Under the guidance of the Iranian regime, this jihadist group has expanded its reach and shifted its strategy to operate in virtually every corner of the world including Latin America and Europe. I look forward to hearing testimony about the relationship between Hezbollah and the Iranian regime, how this threat has grown in recent years, and what implications this dangerous alliance has for U.S. national security.”
Thursday, March 21
Subcommittee Hearing: Cyber Attacks: An Unprecedented Threat to U.S. National Security
9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 21 in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Chairman
Invited witnesses include:
Mr. Richard Bejtlich
Chief Security Officer and Security Services Architect
Mandiant Corporation
Mr. Greg Autry
Senior Economist
Coalition for a Prosperous America
Chairman Rohrabacher on the hearing: “In his State of Union message last month, President Barack Obama warned of the threat of cyber attacks to both our infrastructure and our economic competitiveness. A week later, the private security firm Mandiant released its report on a unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army that has targeted both strategic and industrial targets on a massive scale since 2006. While many of the details in the Mandiant report were new, the fact that Beijing uses cyber operations as part of its larger espionage effort has been known for years. And China is not the only threat. The commander of U.S. Cyber Command, General Keith Alexander, estimated last year that computer hacking from overseas cost the US economy $250 billion a year. He called it ‘the greatest transfer of wealth in history.’ Our hearing is not about the technology used in cyber warfare, but the diplomacy that is needed to let foreign hackers, especially those supported by governments, know that they will not be allowed to get away with their crimes without dire consequences.”
***See foreignaffairs.house.gov for updates.
***Coverage note: All Foreign Affairs Committee proceedings are webcast live at foreignaffairs.house.gov/live-video-feed.
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