Intelligence panel's top Democrat: Afghanistan shows 'limits of state-building'
Rep. Adam Schiff on Tuesday sized up US operations in that country, as well as the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Libya.
Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, speaks at a Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters on Feb. 2, 2016, in Washington, DC.
Michael Bonfigli/海角大神
Washington
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, on Tuesday sized up the challenges in the fight against terrorism abroad and against homegrown radicalism.
As the United States has tried to turn more responsibilities over to the Afghan government, 鈥渢he situation in Afghanistan has sadly deteriorated,鈥� said the California congressman at a Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters. 鈥淚t shows the real limits of state-building and institution-building,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is almost impossible to be militarily successful if that requires you to build institutions that might take a generation to do.鈥�
President Obama announced late last year that the US will keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through 2016 and 5,500 in 2017 in a train-and-assist role. 鈥淒rawing down troops further to what the president hoped is looking increasingly unlikely,鈥� said Representative Schiff, who is among the most thoroughly briefed congressional officials.
In the battle against the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS) in Iraq, Schiff noted that its 鈥渟pace in Iraq has diminished by 40 percent,鈥� but 鈥渢here is still a long road ahead,鈥� he added. Falling oil prices pose a major problem for the country: 鈥淎s long as oil prices continue to fall, Iraq is on very shaky ground.鈥�
Schiff warned that the US should not wait for a new unity government to be formed in Libya before taking action against IS fighters there. Last month, Libya's parliament rejected a United Nations-sponsored unity government 鈥� the latest setback in months of efforts aimed at bridging a political divide that has undermined the fight against Islamic militants.
鈥淚f we are not careful and we not proactive, you could see an Islamic state in Libya,鈥� Schiff said.
鈥淲e need to continue to maximize efforts to form that unified [government], but I don鈥檛 think we can afford at this time to put off actions that might interrupt ISIS鈥檚 operational capabilities [and] take out some of its leadership,鈥� he said. He described the fight over the government as 鈥減rolonged.鈥�
Schiff praised efforts by the Obama administration to improve cooperation between federal and local officials in dealing with domestic radicalism that has been inspired by IS. But he also identified weaknesses.
鈥淭he area where we have really fallen down is in the area of countering the [IS] message, for two reasons,鈥� Schiff said. First, he said, the US government is not the right messenger to talk about Islam. And the government is 鈥渘ot really good at social media,鈥� he added.
A solution, he said, is to do a better job at enabling more credible messengers to talk about what Islam is and isn鈥檛.
Schiff also disputed the results of a new study that plays down warnings from FBI Director James Comey and other intelligence officials about the magnitude of the danger caused by terrorists鈥� use of encrypted communications 鈥� the so-called going-dark phenomenon.
The study 鈥� by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, first described by The New York Times 鈥� asserted that 鈥� 鈥榞oing dark鈥� does not aptly describe the long-term landscape for government surveillance.鈥� It notes that a variety of items with connections to the Internet 鈥� including cars, toasters, televisions, and wearable items like watches 鈥� give intelligence agencies new ways to track suspects.
The California Democrat said he took issue with the report鈥檚 central conclusion, but he agreed that technology has opened up new avenues for data collection by the intelligence community. Still, he said, the fact that some Internet-connected TVs accept verbal commands 鈥渋s not a substitute for being able to decrypt communications between terrorists using a platform they know is secure.鈥�
鈥淚f I am planning an attack in Paris or in Brussels ... I鈥檓 probably not going to be talking to my TV,鈥� he quipped.
鈥� Material from the Associated Press was used in compiling this report.