Sen. Bernie Sanders Criticized as a National Security Threat

WASHINGTON – Rick Crawford, the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has labeled Senator Bernie Sanders as a “threat to national security.” This statement came ahead of a panel discussion that Sanders is organizing, focusing on anti-artificial intelligence initiatives with leading China experts.

Crawford, a Republican from Arkansas, pointed to Sanders’ historical ties to far-left communist and socialist movements, claiming that Sanders’ position against AI poses a risk to U.S. interests both geopolitically and in terms of security. He remarked, “The last U.S. senator, Sanders, was a communist who visited the Soviet Union,” during an appearance on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria Bartiromo.”

He further elaborated that, “Back in the Cold War, Americans typically avoided travel to the Soviet Union, but for him, it was a vacation spot.” Crawford concluded with a rather provocative analogy, emphasizing, “If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

Sanders and his wife Jane reportedly took a trip to the Soviet Union shortly after they married in the late 1980s. At that time, he was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, visiting to establish a sister city relationship with Yaroslavl, which he later referred to as a “very strange honeymoon.”

This Wednesday, Sanders is set to convene an AI committee on Capitol Hill to discuss the rapid advancement of AI technologies, expressing that policymakers are falling behind in addressing potential risks.

The committee is expected to feature notable figures such as Xue Lan, a professor from Tsinghua University and chairman of a committee aligned with the Chinese Communist Party focused on AI governance. Another attendee will be Zeng Yi, the director of the Beijing AI Security Governance Institute, which shares similar affiliations. Critics argue that involving Chinese experts may be a strategy to hinder the U.S. AI development in favor of China’s progress.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent voiced strong disapproval of Sanders’ actions, stating that the U.S. is home to some of the world’s top AI researchers. He criticized Sanders for bringing in foreign opinions, saying, “That would be akin to asking Hugo Chavez for economic management advice. Oh, wait, that’s what the Vermont senator did 20 years ago, too.” He stressed, “The real threat to AI security is allowing other countries to set global standards.”

Sanders has previously shown skepticism towards rapid AI advancements and has pushed for a pause on AI development to allow lawmakers time to catch up with its implications.

In a recent statement, Sanders expressed, “Uncontrolled AI poses grave risks to all humanity. I will be hosting a discussion with leading AI scientists from both the U.S. and China on the necessity for international cooperation against this existential threat. This is a very important issue.”

Attempts to reach out to Sanders’ office for further comment have been made.