Earlier this year, during hearings of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I had the chance to ask CENTCOM Commander General Lloyd Austin and the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about the risks of arming and assisting rebel groups in Syria.  Their responses were very troubling.  As the president shares his plan for how to address national security threats in the Middle East, I hope to find his plan takes into account the concerns raised by these high-ranking officials.

The following is a question for the record that I submitted to General Austin and his response:

Senator Lee Questions General Austin on Providing Assistance to Syrian Rebels

This is a video of my exchange with Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper:

Here is the transcript of this exchange:

LEE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for joining us today. Director Clapper, you said in an Intelligence Committee hearing in January that one of the extremist groups operating in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, has aspirations for attacks on the United States. I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on this, and tell us whether or to what degree Al-Nusra has the capability or is close to developing the capability of attacking the United States?

CLAPPER: This has been a tenet of theirs ever since they formed up, is ultimately planning for and attempting to execute an attack on the homeland. I think right now this is more aspirational than operational. We have seen evidence of the emergence of training camps, for example, that have the familiar signatures from Afghanistan days. Probably of greater concern, as I mentioned in my opening statement, are some Al Qaida veterans from the Afghanistan-Pakistan area, a small nucleus of them who have also moved to Syria, which has served as a magnet for many of these extremists. And they do harbor designs on -- and this is separate from Al-Nusra -- harbor designs on attacks on the homeland -- in Europe and the homeland.

LEE: So there are other groups there that potentially present a threat to us?

CLAPPER: Yes.

LEE: What proportion of the rebel fighters in -- in the Syrian conflict would -- would you and others in the intelligence community characterize as extremist? And -- and what level of influence do you think they have on the entire group?

CLAPPER: The number is somewhere in the neighborhood of, altogether opposition fighters, somewhere in the neighborhood of the low range of 75,000 to 80,000, maybe to 110,000 and 115,000. And somewhere in the neighborhood of between 20,000 and maybe up top range of 26,000 we regard as extremists. And they are disproportionately influential because they are among the most effective fighters on the battlefield.

LEE: So would you say that there is -- there is a significant relationship, then, between the Al-Nusra Front, especially when you add in other extremist elements, and what many people refer to as the more moderate -- the more moderate elements of the rebel forces in Syria?

CLAPPER: In terms...

LEE: Yes, so the question is, is there a significant relationship, then, between the extremist elements and what we're calling the moderate elements?

CLAPPER: Well, they are an agreement of convenience, I would say. Oftentimes, these groups will apparently -- which are quite fluid, by the way -- may disagree ideologically, but will, if it's convenient for them in a tactical context, will -- will agree to work together.

LEE: Sure.

CLAPPER: Of course, we've had the falling out now with the ISIL, and where the -- they are fighting other opposition groups.

LEE: But given this relationship of convenience, as you describe it, there is, I assume, frequently coordinating going on -- sharing of information; perhaps sharing of equipment that goes on between extremist elements and moderate elements.

CLAPPER: Well, that's -- that's hard to say, sir. I mean, this is a very fluid kind of thing. There are some 1,500 or 1,600 of these groups, various fighting groups. And they align themselves and realign themselves constantly. So it's very hard to make generalized statements about that.

LEE: Warehouses of items provided as assistance to moderate rebels were, as you know, seized by some Islamist groups in December. Was Al-Nusra involved in that seizure?

CLAPPER: I'll have to research to see which groups were involved in the warehouse seizure. I don't know off the top of my head.

LEE: And to your knowledge, is there anything that -- anything that was seized in connection with that -- that raid in December that has subsequently been used by Al-Nusra or by any of the other extremist groups?

CLAPPER: We don't know. I -- I can't say, sir.