House Speaker-designee Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has tapped Rep. Sylvestre Reyes (D- Tex.) to chair the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In a statement, Pelosi cited his “impeccable national security credentials” and his long-time service on intelligence and armed services committees and his military service as measures of his bona fides. Pelosi bypassed the intel committee’s ranking Democrat, fellow Californian Jane Harman.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
