WASHINGTON, D.C. – During an open Senate Intelligence Committee hearing today on worldwide threats, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) pressed the Directors of National Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, and National Security Agency to better understand the drug threat facing the country and work together to enhance the country’s ability to cut off the flow of heroin and other illegal drugs entering the United States. Senator King’s comments come as drug overdose deaths in Maine and other states across the nation are reaching all-time highs.

“A tidal wave of death is what we’re talking about, and I appreciate your efforts, but I think we have to realize that this is something that has really exploded in the last three or four years and we have to react to it proportionate to the threat to our people,” Senator King said. “This is killing people right now in the United States – in every state. And it’s not an abstract concern. It’s not a possible virus. It’s happening right now. I commend you on your efforts, but I hope this is something where the community can work together to develop the information necessary but also it’s got to be all of government to take the information and act on it. “

In an exchange with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey, Senator King specifically asked if the Intelligence Community possessed adequate resources to understand and track the flow of heroin and other illegal drugs, beginning with their production through their trade routes to the place of arrival. Director Comey responded that, given the vast amount of drugs entering the country, they did not.

Senator King also pressed the panel of top Intelligence Community witnesses on whether or not they understood where fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate that is often interlaced with heroin, was being produced and how it was making into other countries. Director Comey noted that the largest production of fentanyl originated in China.

“I think we should know that and it should be public, and we should name and shame those countries because this is entirely unacceptable. It’s a trade in death, and I hope there would be further analysis of that and also analysis of the trade stream that allows it to get to Mexico and Central America,” Senator King said.

Senator King’s comments in the Intelligence Committee hearing this afternoon follow questions this morning during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing where he urged Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to evaluate whether he could do more to address the drug crisis.

“The lack of capacity to deal with drug imports, it seems to me, is a real strategic and tactical challenge. We are suffering terribly in my home state of Maine,” Senator King said.

In December 2015, Senator King also called on the nominee for Commander of United States Southern Command, which oversees all military operations in Central and South America, to work to reduce the flow of heroin from those countries into the United States, and in a recent letter to President Obama, Senator King called for increased funding to ensure that the military and law enforcement officials have the resources they need for interdiction purposes.

Today’s open Intelligence Committee hearing focused on Worldwide Threats. Witnesses include: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey, and Director of the National Security Agency Admiral Michael Rogers.

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