(Tribune News Service) — Leaders of the federal intelligence community were scheduled to start arriving at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Thursday for what is said to be a first-of-its-kind national security briefing.

More than half of the members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence are slated to go to Wright-Patterson for a field briefing Friday. Some will begin arriving Thursday.

Scheduled to join them are leaders of powerful “three-letter” intelligence agencies, including CIA director Williams Burns; Avril Haines, director of national intelligence; and Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and chief of the Central Security Service. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall is also expected to be part of the meeting.

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, who chairs the committee, and the committee’s Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., are slated to hold a media briefing late this afternoon to discuss the retreat.

Wright-Patterson is home to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) and the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC), each serving the Air Force and the Space Force. Both of those missions are on the agenda for Friday’s meeting, Turner’s office has said.

The goal of this trip is to ensure that those charged with making intelligence decisions are fully immersed in what goes on at Wright Patterson and these centers, Turner’s office said.

“It is historic,” Himes told the Dayton Daily News this week. “I’ve been on this committee for 10 years, and I don’t recall the committee ever doing anything like this.”

While the retreat will be closed, it’s expected that participants will discuss the war in Ukraine, the recent high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon and other matters of global and national import.

(c)2023 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

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