On Wednesday, Rep. Will Bruck (R-Erie) presided over the first meeting of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Foreign Influence. As the chairman of the committee, Bruck laid out his priorities for the term and what work he expects to accomplish.

“We have seen recently increased efforts by hostile foreign nations to undermine our security apparatus and increase their influence on our most important institutions,” Bruck said. “This committee will investigate those efforts and do our part in putting an end to their invasive behavior.”

As a combat veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 31 years, Bruck has an accomplished history operating in adversarial foreign environments like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. His consequent familiarity with hostile foreign tactics and American efforts to maintain homeland security made him one of the leading voices on the issue of subnational foreign influence last term. Bruck expressed his desire to continue that work into this term and pass meaningful policy.

“I sincerely hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will take this issue seriously and work with us to accomplish substantive policy and investigative work,” Bruck said. “The threats posed by foreign influence are real and ought to be treated as such. This committee will further demonstrate the seriousness of this issue and address it.”