Iran War and U.S. Intelligence Oversight

Senior Trump administration intelligence officials will appear at back‑to‑back Senate and House Intelligence Committee hearings starting Wednesday, with lawmakers set to press them on the Iran war, a U.S. missile strike that hit an Iranian elementary school and killed more than 165 people, and the FBI’s ability to stop attacks on U.S. soil. The article reports that outdated targeting data from the Defense Intelligence Agency likely contributed to the school strike, and DIA Director Lt. Gen. James H. Adams will be among those questioned, while the White House says its investigation is ongoing. The sessions will also probe internal dissent after National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned this week, saying he could not back a war he believes was not triggered by an imminent Iranian threat, a position the White House has publicly rejected. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe are expected to face questions about assessments indicating U.S. strikes are unlikely to topple Iran’s regime and that some prewar imminent‑attack claims were shaky. FBI Director Kash Patel, under criticism for firing dozens of agents and for a video showing him partying with U.S. Olympic hockey players, will be pressed on whether his leadership has weakened the bureau even as recent incidents in Texas, New York, Virginia and Michigan highlight what officials describe as an elevated terrorism threat. The hearings will test how much Congress can pry out about faulty intelligence, internal disagreement and war‑on‑terror tradeoffs at home at a moment when the administration is selling the Iran campaign as necessary and under control.