Dayton Reporter

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence members recently appeared on the Republican Study Committee’s podcast, "Right to the Point," to discuss oversight efforts and future priorities. Chairman Rick Crawford (AR-01), Vice Chair Trent Kelly (MS-01), and Representative Ben Cline (VA-06) participated in the discussion.

Chairman Crawford highlighted the committee's long-standing effort to obtain a report on the FBI's investigation into the 2017 Congressional Baseball shooting. “That’s basically what we discovered once we got the baseball report, after essentially 7 years of requesting…Our colleague Dr. Brad Wenstrup was on the Committee up until last year and every year he would ask for that baseball file and we never got it until Kash Patel got in there and delivered it. In fact, we made the request in the open hearing and by the time we gaveled out he had delivered the report to the SCIF,” said Crawford.

Crawford emphasized analytic integrity as crucial for intelligence work, stating, “One of the things we talk about on the Intel Committee is analytic integrity and how important it is. It is foundational to good intelligence and good decision-making.”

Vice Chair Kelly addressed concerns about politicization within intelligence agencies: “[Intelligence] definitely has been politicized over time... But you get up to the higher-level management…and they are extremely political.” He stressed nonpartisanship in intelligence work: “It’s not a Republican or a Democrat thing... So these people have to be nonpartisan.”

Representative Cline expressed concerns over politicization under President Joe Biden's administration but remained hopeful about ongoing changes. “We saw on the outside, not being on the Committee, just how politicized the intelligence community had become under Joe Biden... [Joining the Committee] has confirmed that there was bias but I am all the more hopeful with the new team that has come in.”

The conversation reflected a commitment from committee members to restore confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies through accountability and transparency.