ICYMI: Lankford Raises Concerns on AI Scams, Fentanyl, and Terror Financing at Worldwide Threats Hearing

WASHINGTON, DC - US Senator James Lankford (R-OK), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned intelligence community officials during the Committee's annual Worldwide Threat Assessment hearing, raising concerns about the rise in international scams targeting Americans, coordination with state and local law enforcement to combat narcotics trafficking, and terrorist networks, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Excerpts:

On international scams and AI-enabled fraud:

Lankford: "A lot of Oklahomans I talk to, and quite frankly folks even outside the state, when they think about threats… they think about the threat to their family… a lot of it is international scammers that are now reaching into the United States to be able to gather data or to be able to steal money from them."

"FBI had noted that in 2024, it was almost $17 billion that was assumed lost to scammers… some estimates are as high as $50 billion on it."

"This is accelerating at a pace that's pretty dramatic with the use of AI on this."

FBI Director Patel: "What we're doing on the homeland is going out into the streets of America, on the online platforms in America, and shutting down those networks and shutting down the capability of AI to interfere."

"The scam center compounds are largely located in Cambodia and Burma and on the Thai border… we've… eliminated and scuttled… numerous compounds… and… go into those countries and shut down every single scam center compound."

On counter-narcotics and law enforcement partnerships:

Lankford: "The counter-narcotics work has been phenomenal… What I'm interested in is how are you partnering with local law enforcement to continue to accelerate this process?"

FBI Director Patel: "The counter-narcotics mission can't be complete without state and local law enforcement. We are embedding more task force officers across the country… and… stood up… the Southern Border Intelligence Center…"

"We seized enough fentanyl in 2025 to kill 178 million Americans… Opioid overdose deaths… dropped 20 points… and in Oklahoma… enough fentanyl to kill 500,000 Oklahomans."

On terrorist financing and the Muslim Brotherhood:

Lankford: "The annual threat assessment highlights this year the Muslim Brotherhood in particular… How is the Muslim Brotherhood financing itself… and is there something that we need to do here to… protect Americans?"

CIA Director Ratcliffe: "With regard to the Muslim Brotherhood… the CIA is very focused on the counterterrorism front…"

"We've accomplished more in the last year than in the four years of the prior administration combined."

You can watch Lankford's full exchange HERE. You can download it HERE.

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