Shakeup on Senate Intel: Warner becomes top Dem

A shakeup among Democrats has positioned Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) as the top minority voice on the Senate Intelligence Committee, a key role overseeing the nation’s spies.

Warner, who joined the panel in 2012, ascends to the role of vice chairman following Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) decision to replace Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) as ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. Leahy this year opted to become the senior Democrat on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

{mosads}“With a new administration starting to assemble its national security team, I look forward to fulfilling the committee’s primary responsibility to provide vigorous and bipartisan oversight,” Warner said in a statement. “One of things I value most about my service on the Intelligence Committee is the tradition of members leaving partisanship at the door when we enter the committee room.

“In a dangerous world, the responsibilities of the Intelligence Committee are more essential than ever.” 

As ranking member of the panel, Warner will work along with Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) to guide oversight of the CIA, National Security Agency (NSA) and other secretive intelligence agencies.

The panel will have a key role to play in 2017 as lawmakers contemplate whether to reauthorize a key portion of the 2008 update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which undergirds controversial NSA data collection programs.

The position is a natural fit for Warner. Virginia is home to a number of spy agency headquarters and offices, including those of the CIA, the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The FBI’s academy in Quantico and the CIA’s covert training facility known as “the farm” are both also located in the commonwealth.