OCTOBER 31, 2023
FBI Director & Homeland Security Secretary on Threats to Homeland
FBI Director Christopher Wray, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro 
Mayorkas, and National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine 
Abizaid testified on threats to the homeland before the Senate Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Director Wray said foreign 
terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Hezbollah, were 
calling for attacks on the United States and the West amid the 
Israel-Hamas War. Senators also asked about rising levels of 
antisemitic and Islamophobic violence as this war raged on. Secretary 
Mayorkas called for Congress to pass President Biden's new funding 
request for the Homeland Security Department in order to more 
effectively handle fentanyl trafficking and high levels of migration.

OCTOBER 31, 2023
Secretaries Blinken and Austin Testify on Emergency Aid for Israel and Ukraine
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin 
testified on President's Biden's $106 billion emergency aid request 
that would provide military and humanitarian assistance to Israel and 
Ukraine. They took questions on the wars being fought by both 
countries, the military-industrial base, and about security concerns in 
the Indo-Pacific region and at the U.S. southern border. The hearing 
began with multiple protesters interrupting Secretary Blinken's opening 
statement as they called for a cease-fire in Israel.