CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS AND EXPERTS ADDRESS TRANSNATIONAL TERROR NETWORKS AT CAPITOL HILL FORUM

American Hindu Jewish Congress Highlights Need for Greater Transparency, Accountability, and Congressional Oversight Behind H.R. 4097

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, June 25, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The American Hindu Jewish Congress (AHJC) yesterday convened a high-level policy forum on Capitol Hill, bringing together Members of Congress, national security experts, former government officials, and policy leaders. The briefing examined the growing challenge posed by transnational terror networks, foreign influence operations, extremist-financing systems, and foreign-government-linked activities affecting domestic institutions.

The briefing explored emerging vulnerabilities within American civic infrastructure, regulatory tracking gaps in existing oversight frameworks, foreign funding transparency concerns within higher education and nonprofit sectors, and legislative proposals—specifically H.R. 4097—designed to strengthen federal accountability and national security.

The event featured keynote addresses by Congressman Chip Roy and Congressman Randy Fine, both of whom emphasized the importance of congressional vigilance, constitutional governance, and evidence-based oversight in addressing evolving foreign influence challenges.

Keynote Congressional Addresses

"Before Congress can solve a problem, it must have the courage to name it," said Congressman Chip Roy. "Across the world, and increasingly within our own borders, we are locked in a civilizational struggle against radical Islamist movements that use a spectrum of tactics—from dark financial structures and institutional penetration to foreign influence. In Texas, we remember the Alamo; we know what happens when you refuse to stand firm in the face of a gathering storm. For too long, Washington has treated transparency, border security, and national security as separate conversations. They are not. The American people deserve accountability, and accountability begins with transparency."

"When I wore a yarmulke during congressional hearings on campus antisemitism, it was to stand visibly with students being targeted by hate," said Congressman Randy Fine. "Protecting this nation from radical subversion is deeply important to me. I introduced H.R. 4097 because groups like CAIR have operated as a Trojan horse inside our borders for far too long, laundering radical ideologies into our institutions and funneling millions to entities like Hamas. We stopped them in Florida by designating them a terrorist front, and we must stop them federally. The antidote to this subversion is sunlight."

Expert Panel Discussion

A distinguished panel of national security professionals and policy scholars examined the changing nature of modern asymmetric threats, including ideological radicalization pathways, foreign-government influence operations, cross-border financing structures, and the intersection of hostile networks with digital platforms and taxpayer-funded programs.

• Nancy Dahdouh – Director for Counterterrorism, National Security Council, The White House
"The threat landscape has fundamentally shifted from a focus on localized physical violence to a broad spectrum of transnational influence operations. Modern networks move ideas, money, and political leverage across borders faster than legacy bureaucratic structures can track them. Effective counterterrorism policy can no longer rely purely on kinetic responses; it requires deep financial and institutional intelligence to dismantle the support structures before they manifest as a domestic crisis."

• Yehudit Barsky – Senior Research Fellow and Counterterrorism Analyst, ISGAP
"The true vulnerability of democratic societies isn't just physical targets; it is our open institutions. Hostile transnational networks systematically build legitimacy by utilizing domestic nonprofit structures, penetrating higher education, and exploiting gaps in federal financial tracking. They use these platforms to mainstream radical agendas while shielding their foreign funding pipelines from public scrutiny. To protect our democracy, we must expand our visibility to see the entire network, not just its visible symptoms."

• Rajiv Malhotra – Board Member, AHJC, Founder, Infinity Foundation; Author and Geopolitical Scholar
"The twenty-first-century battlefield is not limited to military conflict; it includes ideas, narratives, and institutional confidence. Hostile transnational networks systematically weaponize our open societies by penetrating higher education, utilizing non-profit structures, and exploiting gaps in federal financial tracking. Democracies must develop intellectual frameworks to recognize and respond to these asymmetric influence operations. Congress cannot protect what it refuses to see."

Legislative Focus: H.R. 4097 and Congressional Oversight

A significant portion of the forum focused on H.R. 4097 (The Designate CAIR as a Terrorist Organization Act) and broader congressional efforts to strengthen oversight of foreign-government-linked organizational networks and non-profit entities. Panelists recalled historical investigative precedents, such as the Holy Land Foundation trial, noting the critical importance of ensuring that 501(c)(3) structures are not exploited to facilitate extremist financing on U.S. soil.

Participants emphasized that effective oversight must remain strictly grounded in documented conduct, financial relationships, and transparency metrics while fully respecting constitutional protections, religious liberty, due process, and equal protection under the law. Speakers repeatedly stressed that the objective of oversight is not to target faith communities or lawful political advocacy, but rather to ensure policymakers possess sufficient information to shield democratic institutions and protect taxpayer resources.

"The Hindu and Jewish communities understand from historical experience that democratic societies cannot afford to ignore emerging threats until they become crises," stated Arthur Kapoor, AHJC Chairman. "Modern influence and extremist networks often operate through decentralized, transnational structures that exploit transparency gaps across financial, educational, nonprofit, and digital ecosystems. Congress cannot protect what it cannot see. Effective oversight begins with transparency and accountability."

Core Policy Recommendations

The forum concluded with a unified call for policymakers to evaluate and enact several key structural reforms:

• Enhanced Funding Transparency: Stricter disclosure requirements regarding foreign funding relationships and foreign-government-linked activities affecting American civic and educational institutions.
• Research and Academic Security: Heightened transparency standards for higher-education foreign grant endowments to prevent institutional subversion.
• Taxpayer Accountability: Improved compliance benchmarks and oversight for taxpayer-funded programs and federal grant recipients.
• Interagency Coordination: Enhanced data sharing and intelligence integration between federal law enforcement, regulatory bodies, and defense agencies to track decentralized networks.
• Expanded Congressional Visibility: Proactive oversight frameworks to ensure lawmakers can identify and counter emerging asymmetric and extremist-financing threats ahead of time.

The American Hindu Jewish Congress will continue engaging policymakers, national security experts, community leaders, and civil society organizations to advance an informed, bipartisan dialogue on foreign influence, democratic resilience, constitutional governance, and national security.

About the American Hindu Jewish Congress: The American Hindu Jewish Congress (AHJC) is dedicated to strengthening the strategic partnership between the American Hindu and Jewish communities while advancing democratic values, national security, civilizational resilience, religious freedom, and constitutional governance.

Cheryl
American Hindu Jewish Congress Inc.
+1 908-215-9377
cheryl@ahjcongress.org
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
X

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.