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At the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual Worldwide Threat Assessment hearing, US Senator James Lankford did what lawmakers do best: ask questions that make you wonder how bad things actually are. The Oklahoma Republican zeroed in on international scam operations now supercharged by artificial intelligence, warning that everyday Americans, not just governments, are squarely in the crosshairs. According to the FBI, scam losses in 2024 approached $17 billion, with some estimates ballooning to $50 billion. In other words, your spam folder isn’t just annoying anymore, it’s potentially a multi-billion-dollar crime scene.

Responding to concerns, FBI Director Kash Patel outlined efforts to dismantle overseas scam networks, particularly compounds operating in Southeast Asia. Officials say operations in places like Cambodia and along the Thai border have already been disrupted, though the tone suggested this is less “mission accomplished” and more “mission ongoing indefinitely.” Patel also emphasized efforts to curb AI-driven fraud domestically, describing a mix of online crackdowns and international cooperation that sounds promising, assuming the bad actors don’t evolve faster than the task forces chasing them.

Lankford also shifted focus to fentanyl trafficking and terrorist financing, two topics that rarely make anyone feel better about the state of things. The FBI reported seizing enough fentanyl in 2025 to kill 178 million Americans. That’s more than half the country, yet overdose deaths have dropped by roughly 20 percent. In Oklahoma alone, officials say seizures equated to enough to kill 500,000 residents, which is the kind of statistic that sticks with you whether you want it to or not. On terrorism, Lankford pressed intelligence leaders about funding tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe asserting recent counterterrorism gains have outpaced prior years. Comforting, perhaps, but as with everything else discussed in the hearing, not exactly a cue to relax.