Friend,

With a new Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, I recently became the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. I'm proud to follow in the footsteps of my friend and mentor, former Virginia Senator John Warner (no relation) to become the first Virginian to chair a Senate committee in over a decade. The committee oversees the entire U.S. Intelligence Community: from the CIA to the Defense Intelligence Agency to the intelligence elements of our Armed Forces. Many of the brave men and women who serve in our intelligence community live and work here in Virginia.

This is not a job I take lightly, especially given the events of the past four years.

The previous administration spent their entire time in office undermining and politicizing the Intelligence Community, which threatens lasting damage to America's national security. Furthermore, in recent years we've seen an alarming rise in anti-government extremists and increasing cyber espionage conducted against the United States by hostile foreign actors.

In light of these grave threats, I have several top priorities for the Intel Committee:

1. Rebuild intelligence community agencies and departments that were understaffed and under-resourced in the previous administration.
2. Depoliticize our intelligence-gathering apparatus, so these tireless and patriotic public servants can stay above the partisan fray and focus on their jobs: safeguarding the American people.
3. Root out anti-government extremism, including the white nationalist militias that participated in the January 6th insurrection at our Capitol.
4. Strengthen America's cybersecurity capabilities so we never have a repeat of cyber attacks like the 2020 SolarWinds cyber espionage campaign.

I am honored to serve as Senate Intelligence chairman. So, here is my promise to you, to all Virginians, and our career intelligence professionals on the front lines: I will not let you down. To the best of my ability, I will work to rebuild and depoliticize our Intelligence Community, tackle extremism and foreign cyber espionage, and always strive to maintain the committee's reputation for bipartisan work to protect America's national security.

You can read more about my plans as Senate Intelligence Committee chairman in this recent article from The New York Times.

Thank you,
Sen. Mark Warner