Erin Banco

Burns addressed the Israel-Hamas conflict in his testimony at the intelligence community’s annual worldwide threats hearing

Cairo wants help through funding and equipment if an Israeli operation into Rafah sends Gazans fleeing to its border.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 5, 2024. | Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik via AP

Aid groups also say they still don’t have access to roads in northern Gaza where the most vulnerable live.

The president said his grim outlook was based on intelligence reports that he was not at liberty to describe further.

The Biden administration is making a final push to advocate for the reauthorization of government surveillance powers ahead of the final House vote on Friday. CIA Director Bill Burns, who rarely speaks publicly about how the agency uses the program, told POLITICO in a statement that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's Section 702 — which has caused long-running GOP infighting that forced House Republicans to punt on reauthorization three times in the past — has been key to its disruption of illegal fentanyl shipments into the U.S. “The threat to the US posed by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids is real,” Burns said in the statement. “Section 702 is an essential tool in CIA’s mission to protect the American people from a range of threats, including illicit fentanyl trafficking. Without this vital program, CIA simply would not be able to defend our country as effectively in as many dangerous corners of the world.”

The U.S. is expected to lose access to a critical drone base in Niger that it uses to fight ISIS in the Sahel.

Palestinians stand in the ruins of a home in Rafah on Friday after an Israeli strike that killed at least two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16. | Ismael Abu Dayyah/AP

In this photo taken April 16, 2018, a U.S. and Niger flag are raised side by side at the base camp for air forces and other personnel supporting the construction of Niger Air Base 201 in Agadez, Niger. | Carley Petesch/AP Photo

Palestinians flee from the eastern side of the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the Israeli army orders them to evacuate ahead of a military operation, in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on May 6, 2024. | Ismael Abu Dayyah/AP