A delegation of the Parliamentary Committee on the Security of the Republic (COPASIR) for institutional meetings with U.S. counterparts visited Washington, D.C. last week (ending June 16). The delegation included COPASIR Chairman Sen. Adolfo Urso, Vice Chairman Hon. Federica Dieni, and Sen. Paolo Arrigoni, Hon. Enrico Borghi, Sen. Claudio Fazzone, and Sen. Ernesto Magorno.
The delegation had a busy schedule, including with the Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the Pentagon Department of Defense, the National Director for Cyberspace at the White House, John Christopher Inglis, the State Department, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) at the Treasury Department and the Department of Energy.
The delegation with their parliamentary counterparts, compared control mechanisms with regards to the U.S. intelligence community. Later, it held meetings at the Pentagon, with Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security, Ronald S. Moultrie, and the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Director lan Goldenberg, responsible for international security affairs for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. At the State Department, the party met with Shawn Crowley, new Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Rome; Howard Solomon, Director for Western Europe; and representatives of the Global Engagement Center, the facility that coordinates action against foreign disinformation. At CFIUS, a body composed of representatives from various ministries and different agencies of the intelligence community, the delegation discussed the monitoring of foreign investments which are potentially risky to national security. Finally, during the meeting at the Department of Energy with Director Michael Considine, the delegation focused on the consequences of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on natural gas and oil supplies.
