House Intel Chair: ‘Joint service environment’ needs to prepare for future conflicts

House Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) on Wednesday said the intelligence community needs to buy into a “joint service environment” in which the lines of communication are open and fluid.

He referenced the joint effort after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a similar environment officials should be operating under as the U.S. tracks drone threats and other dangers globally.

“The whole 9/11 Commission said we suffered from a failure of imagination. We now have AI and drone warfare. We’re behind the eight ball a bit, according to many military experts, when it comes to drones. AI is like the big unknown right now,” Crawford said Wednesday on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

“We don’t know what we’re unleashing as we create it,” he added.

In reference to drone threats, Crawford says the U.S. can spur better military readiness by communicating frequently.

“I think what this calls for is recognizing what we did right, and what we did right was to sort of break down the walls that were preventing our agencies from communicating,” he said of conditions after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“So there are some things we need to do further with that. We need to foster a joint service environment, a culture in the IC, the intelligence community, that understands, much like the military, the military was better because they recognized the need to work together because not one single branch can do it all,” he added.

The leadership of the U.S. national security policy remains in flux after a Signal scandal last year resulted in reassignment of former national security adviser Mike Waltz.

Waltz now serves as an ambassador to NATO, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio serves in the interim as national security adviser.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also resigned in June to help take care of her husband, who was diagnosed with cancer.

Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton took Gabbard’s place this month after being approved by the Senate in a 51-47 vote.

In June, reports emerged that the CIA stopped sharing information with the Office of National Intelligence following a dispute over their responsibilities under Gabbard’s leadership.