Staff Reports
Chairman Rick Crawford is doing something rare: taking the House Intelligence Committee out of secure rooms and onto hallowed ground to sound a loud alarm. Standing in Shanksville on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, he plans to release a roadmap aimed squarely at new threats — AI-enabled drone swarms, bioweapons, cyber attacks, and economic terrorism. This is the kind of plain talk we need right now.
Field Hearing at Shanksville: A Wake-Up Call
The symbolism is deliberate. Crawford’s House Intelligence Committee field hearing at Shanksville is not a photo op; it’s a push to make policymakers and the public think about the next major strike. By releasing a Rick Crawford roadmap at the crash site, he forces a hard question: did the post-9/11 security fixes make us safer, or did they just let us nap with our eyes half open? This House Intelligence Committee field hearing should jolt Washington out of complacency.
AI, Drone Swarms, and Cyber Attacks — The Real Threats
Crawford is right to call out AI threats and drone swarms. What we once thought of as science fiction is now cheap, effective, and scalable. We’ve seen drone swarms used on modern battlefields and AI used to coordinate them. That combination can be turned inward to disrupt airlines, critical infrastructure, and supply chains — classic economic terrorism. Add cyber attacks and potential bioweapon risks, and the “what if” scenarios start looking alarmingly real. Imagining the enemy’s playbook is not paranoia; it’s national security work.
What the Roadmap Must Do — Straight Answers, Real Fixes
The roadmap must be practical and blunt. First, beef up airspace security and rapid-response systems for commercial airports. Second, invest in AI countermeasures and electronic defenses that can spot and stop drone swarms before they swarm. Third, harden critical infrastructure and the defense industrial base against cyber penetrations. Fourth, demand accountability for foreign aid partners when they’re tied to terror — if aid groups act like anything but partners, cut them off. And finally, stop letting bureaucratic turf wars slow down tech adoption for defense. If we believe the job is done, we are already losing.
Don’t Let Memory Become Complacency
Visiting Shanksville and releasing a roadmap is a good start. But words are cheap; action is not. Chairman Rick Crawford is asking Americans and lawmakers to imagine new threats and to act before the bad actors do. That’s the sober lesson of the 9/11 anniversary: remembrance without vigilance is a ritual that leads to repeat mistakes. If Washington takes this hearing seriously, we might keep the next catastrophic strike from ever happening. If not, history will be very unkind — and predictable.
