National security experts told the US House Intelligence Committee on 22 July that the country faces a fundamentally transformed threat environment nearly 25 years after the September 11 attacks, with China and artificial intelligence now driving the most serious dangers to the American homeland. Witnesses cautioned that while terrorism persists, the threat landscape has expanded to encompass hostile states, disruptive technologies, espionage, and coordinated foreign influence operations.

China as the Primary State-Based Threat

Seth Jones, a national security expert, told the committee that Beijing poses the gravest state-level danger the United States currently faces. 'China and the Chinese Communist Party presents the most serious state based threat to the United States, including in the homeland,' Jones said. He detailed how Chinese intelligence agencies are conducting extensive collection operations inside the US and broadening their overseas footprint — including signals intelligence platforms in Cuba and ground facilities in Argentina.

Jones also warned that the era of geographic sanctuary for the American homeland was effectively over. China, Russia, and North Korea, he said, now possess intercontinental missile capabilities, while advances in drone technology have made long-range precision strikes increasingly accessible.

An Axis of Hostile Aggressor States

Former White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster described what he called an 'axis of hostile aggressor states' anchored by China and Russia, working in concert to dismantle existing international rules and replace them with arrangements that favour authoritarian governance. McMaster identified a cluster of emerging technologies — including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, bioengineering, hypersonic weapons, cyber capabilities, and autonomous systems — as being actively developed for hostile purposes by these states.

The Homeland as a Contested Operating Environment

Homeland security expert Frank Cilluffo told lawmakers that America's principal adversaries are increasingly targeting the systems on which modern society depends. He listed energy grids, communications networks, transport infrastructure, financial systems, space-based assets, and undersea cables as priority targets. 'The homeland itself has become a contested operating environment,' Cilluffo said. He added that cyber operations have become a primary instrument of strategic competition that falls below the threshold of conventional armed conflict.

AI Outpacing Government Adaptation

Former White House special adviser for AI Benjamin Buchanan warned that artificial intelligence is advancing faster than government institutions can adapt, compounded by the fact that its development is overwhelmingly driven by private companies rather than the state. Buchanan said AI has already been deployed in automated cyberespionage, malware campaigns, ransomware attacks, and strikes on critical targets. He noted that major US technology companies plan approximately $700 billion in capital spending this year, the vast majority directed at AI infrastructure. Cilluffo added that AI would further compress decision-making timelines, expand the scale of cyber operations, and lower the barrier to acquiring sophisticated weapons capabilities.

What This Means Going Forward

The hearing reflects a broader reckoning within the US intelligence community about whether its post-9/11 architecture — built primarily around counter-terrorism — is equipped to handle a multi-domain competition with near-peer adversaries. Lawmakers signalled that reforms to intelligence collection, technology governance, and critical infrastructure protection are likely to follow. With AI capital investment surging and adversaries accelerating their own capabilities, the pressure on Washington to adapt its security posture is set to intensify.