Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner highlighted on Tuesday that he is being prevented from attending an oversight meeting due to interference from far-right activist Laura Loomer.
Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, stated that a meeting with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency planned for Friday was canceled following Loomer’s public criticisms directed at him and the agency’s director, Vice Adm. Trey Whitworth.
Warner expressed in a statement, “This blatantly political move jeopardizes the committed, impartial workforce at NGA and endangers the principle of civilian oversight crucial for safeguarding our national security.”
He continued, “Congress members regularly conduct meetings and visits with federal employees in their regions; hindering these engagements by imposing arbitrary conditions sets a troubling precedent, suggesting that oversight is only permissible when it aligns with the far-right’s approval.”
Warner said that the meeting was scheduled weeks ago and that it was an unpublicized and classified visit.
Loomer took credit for the cancellation on X. She demanded that Whitworth be fired for having planned to meet with Warner.
“Whitworth’s scheduled September 5th fireside love fest with anti-Trump Democrat Senator @MarkWarner Mark Warner has been CANCELED!” she wrote.
She wrote that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “should fire Trey Whitworth for insubordination.”
Whitworth assumed leadership of the intelligence agency in 2022 during President Joe Biden’s tenure. Prior to this role, he served as director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The NGA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Warner noted his long-standing practice of visiting U.S. intelligence agency offices across various administrations, both Republican and Democratic, and remarked that such visits have never been scrutinized until the current situation.
He said the cancellation should concern members of Congress from both parties, because members routinely meet with officials in federal government.
“Blocking and setting arbitrary conditions on these sessions sets a dangerous precedent, calling into question whether oversight is now allowed only when it pleases the far-right fringe,” Warner said. “This should concern Republicans as well as Democrats: if routine oversight can be obstructed for political reasons, no member of Congress is immune.”
In April, the director and the No. 2 official at the National Security Agency were ousted from their positions, and Loomer took credit for the dismissals. She had met with President Donald Trump that week and thanked him for “being receptive to the vetting materials provided to you.”
