Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Chris Wray declined requests to testify at a Nov. 21 Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing.
The Senate committee had called the hearing to discuss ongoing threats to national security and called on Mayorkas and Wray to address the committee in an open setting.
In a statement, Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said it had been more than 15 years since an FBI director or Homeland Security secretary had refused to testify before the committee.
“Their choice to not provide public testimony about their departments’ efforts to address wide-ranging national security threats robs the American people of critical information and the opportunity for public accountability of what the federal government is doing to keep Americans safe,” Peters said….