Trump intel officials testify on threat from drug cartels as Dems press them on leak of attack plans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's top intelligence officials stressed to Congress the threat they said was posed by international criminal gangs, drug cartels and human smuggling, testifying in a hearing Tuesday that unfolded against the backdrop of a security breach involving the mistaken leak of attack plans to a journalist.

The annual hearing on worldwide threats before the Senate Intelligence Committee offered a glimpse of the new administration’s reorienting of priorities at a time when President Donald Trump has opened a new line of communication with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and as his administration has focused national security attention closer to home to counter violent crime that officials link to cross-border drug trafficking.

“Criminal groups drive much of the unrest and lawlessness in the Western Hemisphere," said Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence. Atop a long list of national security challenges, she cited the need to combat cartels that she said were “engaging in a wide array of illicit activity, from narcotics trafficking to money laundering to smuggling of illegal immigrants and human trafficking.”

The hearing occurred as officials across multiple presidential administrations have described an increasingly complicated blizzard of threats.

In the committee room, it unfolded in split-screen fashion: Republican senators hewed to the pre-scheduled topic by drilling down on China and the fentanyl scourge, while Democrat after Democrat offered sharp criticism over a security breach they called reckless and dangerous.

“If this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee said of the exposed Signal messages. Added Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon: “I am of the view that there ought to be resignations.” “An embarrassment,” said Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, who shouted down CIA Director John Ratcliffe as he demanded answers.

Gabbard and other officials did note the U.S. government's longstanding national security concerns, including the threat she said was posed by countries including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

China, for one, has heavily invested in stealth aircraft, hypersonic weapons and nuclear arms and is looking to outcompete the U.S. when it comes to artificial intelligence, while Russia remains a “formidable competitor” and still maintains a large nuclear arsenal.

The hearing arrived against the backdrop of a starkly different approach toward Russia following years of Biden administration sanctions over its war against Ukraine.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy call with Trump to an immediate pause in strikes against energy infrastructure in what the White House described as the first step in a “movement to peace.”

Terrorism, too, featured prominently in the hearing.

“The direction for the FBI is to track down any individuals with any terrorist ties whatsoever, whether it be ISIS or another foreign terrorist organization,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “And now to include the new designations of the cartels, down south and elsewhere."

But the elevation of international drug trafficking as a top-tier threat was a notable turnabout in focus given that the U.S. government over the past four years has been more likely to place a premium on concerns over sophisticated Chinese espionage plots, ransomware attacks that have crippled hospitals and international and domestic terrorism plots.

Tuesday's hearing took taking place one day after news broke that several top national security officials in the Republican administration, including Ratcliffe, Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, texted attack plans for military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic.

The text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” journalist Jeffrey Goldberg reported. The strikes began two hours after Goldberg received the details.

“Horrified” by the leak of what is historically strictly guarded information, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, said he will be demanding answers in a separate hearing Wednesday with his panel.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, joined at center by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, testifies as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, center, is flanked by FBI Director Kash Patel, left, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, left, joined at right by Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., questions Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe about texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, at a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, left, confers with Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., during a hearing on worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

From left, FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Jeffrey Kruse, appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for a hearing on worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

From left, FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Jeffrey Kruse, appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for a hearing on worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, center, is flanked by FBI Director Kash Patel, left, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, joined at right by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, answer questions as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FBI Director Kash Patel, joined at right by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, answers questions as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A pilot and two girls survived on the wing of a plane for about 12 hours after it crashed and was partially submerged in an icy Alaska lake, then were rescued after being spotted by a good Samaritan.

Terry Godes said he saw a Facebook post Sunday night calling for people to help search for the missing plane, which did not have a locator beacon. On Monday morning about a dozen pilots including Godes headed out to scour the rugged terrain. Godes headed toward Tustumena Lake near the toe of a glacier and spotted what he thought was wreckage.

“It kind of broke my heart to see that, but as I got closer down and lower, I could see that there's three people on top of the wing,” he told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

After saying a prayer, he continued to approach and saw a miracle.

“They were alive and responsive and moving around,” Godes said, adding that they waved at him.

The missing Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser, piloted by a man with two juvenile immediate family members aboard, was on a sightseeing tour from Soldotna to Skilak Lake on the Kenai Peninsula.

The three were rescued on the eastern edge of Tustumena Lake on Monday by the Alaska Army National Guard after Godes alerted other searching pilots that he had found it. Another pilot, Dale Eicher, heard Godes' radio call and related it to troopers since he was closer to Skilak Lake and figured he had better cell reception. He was also able to provide the plane's coordinates to authorities.

“I wasn’t sure if we would find them, especially because there was a cloud layer over quite a bit of the mountains, so they could have very easily been in those clouds that we couldn’t get to,” Eicher said. But finding the family alive within an hour of starting the search “was very good news.”

The three were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, Alaska State Troopers said.

Godes said many miracles were at play, from the plane not sinking, to the survivors being able to stay atop the wing, to them surviving nighttime temperatures dipping into the 20s (subzero Celsius).

“They spent a long, cold, dark, wet night out on top of a wing of an airplane that they weren’t planning on,” Godes said.

Alaska has few roads, leaving many communities to rely on small airplanes to get around.

Last month 10 people died when a small commuter plane that was overweight by half a ton crashed onto sea ice in the Norton Sound, near Nome on the state’s western coast.

And five years ago, a midair collision near the Soldotna airport claimed seven lives including that of a state lawmaker.

For this week's rescue, the National Guard dispatched a helicopter from its base in Anchorage.

The initial plan of using a hoist to pluck them from the wing proved too dangerous, as the the smallest girl was being buffeted and blown around by the wind created by the helicopter, said Lt. Col. Brendon Holbrook, commander of the 207th Aviation Regiment. So instead the aircraft hovered to the side and pulled them on board.

Personnel reported that the girls were surprisingly dry but the man had been in the water at some point, Holbrook said: “We don't know to what extent, but he was hypothermic.”

Holbrook said he was told they had basic clothing one would wear on small planes without very good heating systems, but nothing sufficient to keep warm outside in wintry temperatures with cold winds blowing on the lake.

“It was literally the best possible scenario and outcome,” Holbrook said. "Ultimately the crew of that airplane were lucky, because from what my guys told me, that plane was in the ice with the tail refrozen, and if that tail hadn’t refrozen, it would have sunk.”

The 60,000-acre (24,200-hectare) Tustumena Lake, the largest freshwater body on the Kenai Peninsula, is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, with nearby mountains and a glacier.

It has been described by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as “notorious for its sudden, dangerous winds,” with conditions that can cause havoc for both boats and planes.

“The terrain helps turn the winds around, and occasionally they get a little squirrelly,” said Michael Kutz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Anchorage.

Godes agreed that the area is always windy and the water can be whipped up into waves.

“Then just the way it’s placed right there at the heel of that, or at the toe of that glacier where you’ve got mountains on both sides, you know, just a few miles to the west, you’ve got Cook Inlet running back and forth with huge temperature and tidal swings every day,” he said. “It’s just a recipe for chaos and for turbulence.”

There was no indication yet why the plane crashed.

Mark Ward, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska division, said the pilot had not yet reported the accident, nor had the agency been able to contact him. Efforts were to be made again Wednesday to speak to him.

This photo provided by the Alaska National Guard shows an airplane partially submerged into the ice of Tustumena Lake at the toe of a glacier on Monday, March 24, 2025, near Soldotna, Alaska. (Alaska National Guard via AP)