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ByDebRiechmannand Eileen Sullivan The Associated Press WASHINGTON A simmer- ing dispute between leaders of the House intelligence committee spilled into the public Monday over an in- vestigation into whether President Donald Trump has ties to Russia, even as they pledged to conduct a bipartisan probe. The Republican commit- tee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, said he has heard no evidence so far that anyone in Trump's orbit was in contact with Russians during the presi- dential campaign. The top Democrat on the commit- tee, Adam Schiff, also of California, said the com- mittee's investigation was hardly off the ground and it was premature to make any conclusions. The nature of ties be- tween Trump's associates and Russia has dogged him throughout his nascent presidency, and Monday brought renewed calls for a special prosecutor to in- vestigate the unusual situ- ation. Federal investigators have been looking into con- tacts between Trump advis- ers and Russia for months, along with Russia's role in political hacking during the campaign aimed at Demo- crats. Trump, on Monday, said he hasn't called Russia in 10 years. The House and Senate intelligence committees are conducting separate investigations. But reve- lations last week that the White House enlisted the chairmen of those commit- tees to push back against news reports have intensi- fied concerns over whether the congressional investiga- tions will be tainted by po- litical influence. The issue was likely to come up at Tuesday's Senate confirma- tion hearing for former Rep. Dan Coats, Trump's pick to be the next director of in- telligence. Speaking to reporters Monday, Nunes — a mem- ber of Trump's presiden- tial transition team — said Congress should not begin a McCarthy-style investi- gation based on news re- ports that a few Americans with ties to Trump had con- tacted Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. "I want to warn all of you," Nunes said. "We can't have McCarthyism back in this place. We can't have the government, the U.S. government or the Con- gress, legislative branch of government, chasing down American citizens, hauling them before the Congress as if they're some secret Rus- sian agent." Former Sen. Joe McCar- thy led a hunt for commu- nists in the 1950s that was fueled by anonymous in- formants. Nunes said if ev- idence surfaces, the com- mittee will investigate. Schiff, who worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for six years, said it's not proper to start an investigation by stating your views of the outcome. "The committee has reached no conclusion on whether the Trump cam- paign colluded with Russia, Russian officials or any Rus- sian contacts — nor could we," Schiff said. "We have called no witnesses thus far. We have obtained no docu- ments on any counterintel- ligence investigation and we have yet to receive any testi- mony from the FBI of poten- tiallinksbetweentheTrump campaign and Russia." White House spokes- man Sean Spicer said Rus- sia's activity with regard to the 2016 election has been "investigated up and down." "If there's nothing to fur- ther investigate, what are you asking people to inves- tigate," Spicer said. Trump was asked Mon- day whether he would sup- port a special prosecutor to investigate Russia's influ- ence on the 2016 election. Instead of answering that question, he said, "I haven't called Russia in 10 years." Trump did not say why he called Russia a decade ago. According to a White House description, the last time Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin was Jan. 28 and the White House said Putin had initiated the call. Trump also traveled to Rus- sia in 2013 for the Miss Uni- verse beauty pageant in Moscow. Trump has denied know- ing that any of his cam- paign advisers were in con- tact with Russians during the campaign. He has also said he has no financial ties or other connections to Russia. Previously, mostly Demo- crats have requested a spe- cial prosecutor, but Repub- lican Rep. Darrell Issa late Friday said Attorney Gen- eral Jeff Sessions — who worked on Trump's presi- dential campaign — is not in a position to oversee such an investigation and urged the administration to ap- point an independent pros- ecutor. Issa became the first Republican to break ranks on the subject, although House Speaker Paul Ryan said again Monday there should be no special pros- ecutor. "The proper place, in my opinion, is the intelli- gence committees. They're the ones that have access to methods of intelligence gathering." Sessions on Monday told reporters the FBI and Jus- tice Department will re- main independent. "I would recuse myself from anything that I should recuse myself on," Sessions said. "That's all I can tell you." Democratic Sen. Rich- ard Durbin, of Illinois, also said a special prosecutor was needed. Durbin noted on MSNBC that any report the intelligence committees produce as a result of their investigations would likely be initially classified. CONGRESS HouseprobeintoRussiatiestoTrumpofftorockystart J.SCOTTAPPLEWHITE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is questioned by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. By Robert Burns and Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press WASHINGTON Defense Sec- retary Jim Mattis on Mon- day gave the White House a plan to "rapidly defeat" the Islamic State group, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday. The strategy in- cludes significant elements of the approach President Donald Trump inherited, while potentially deepen- ing U.S. military involve- ment in Syria. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said Mattis, who traveled to Iraq last week to help inform his thinking, presented the re- sults of a 30-day strategy review at a Cabinet-level meeting of the National Se- curity Council. It's unclear whether the meeting in- cluded Trump, who said last week his goal is to "obliter- ate" IS. White House press secre- tary Sean Spicer said Mat- tis was ensuring that he had input from other Cabi- net agencies. "That can help guide where we go from here," Spicer said. Davis said details of the report are classified secret. "It is a plan to rapidly defeat ISIS," Davis said, using the Pentagon's pre- ferred acronym for the group, which has proven resilient despite losing ground in its strongholds in Syria and Iraq. Officials familiar with the review have said it will likely lead to decisions that mean more U.S. mili- tary involvement in Syria, and possibly more ground troops, even as the current U.S. plan in Iraq appears to be working and will re- quire fewer changes. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly about the document and demanded anonymity. Davis described the Mat- tis report as "a framework for a broader discussion" of a strategy to be developed over time, rather than a ready-to-execute military plan. In a Jan. 28 execu- tive order, Trump said he wanted within 30 days a "preliminary draft" of a plan to "defeat ISIS." Davis said the report defines what it means to "defeat" the group, which he wouldn't reveal to reporters. It also includes some in- dividual actions that will require decisions by the White House, Davis said, "but it's not a 'check-the- block, pick A or B or C' kind of a plan." "This is a broad plan," he said. "It is global. It is not just military. It is not just Iraq/Syria." Beyond military op- tions, the officials famil- iar with the review said the report increases em- phasis on nonmilitary ele- ments of the campaign al- ready underway, such as ef- forts to squeeze IS finances, limit recruiting and coun- ter propaganda that is cred- ited with inspiring violence in the U.S. and Europe. Marine Corps Gen. Jo- seph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week the emerg- ing strategy will target not just Islamic State militants but also al-Qaida and other extremist organizations in the Middle East and be- yond, whose goal is to at- tack the United States. He emphasized that it would not rest mainly on mili- tary might. Dunford's comment sug- gests Pentagon leaders may have a more nuanced view of IS than is reflected in Trump's promise to "oblit- erate" the group, as he put it on Friday. Dunford said the U.S. should be careful that in solving the IS problem, it does not create others. Among sensitive questions are how to deal with Turkey, a NATO ally with much at stake in neighboring Syria, and Russia, whose year- and-a-half military inter- vention has propped up Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. WAR ON TERRORISM Pentagon chief presents counter-Islamic State plan to the White House By Hope Yen The Associated Press WASHINGTON The De- partment of Veterans Af- fairs said Monday it would boost employee drug test- ing and inspections amid rising cases of opioid theft and missing prescriptions, acknowledging gaps that had allowed thousands of doctors, nurses and other staff to go unchecked for signs of illicit drug use. Testifying at a House hearing, Carolyn Clancy, a deputy VA undersecre- tary for health, said the de- partment was moving ag- gressively to stem VA drug crimes. She said the VA was adding some inspectors to help check drug invento- ries across a network of 160 medical centers and 1,000 clinics. Computer systems also were being fine-tuned to ensure that all employees subject to drug testing were flagged for monitoring. In the last week, she said, the VA held a conference call withhundredsofhealthclin- ics to develop action plans of improvement. The depart- ment was also consider- ing more internal audits to makesurehospitalsarecom- plying with VA policy. "The use of illegal drugs by VA employees is inconsis- tent with the special trust placed in such employ- ees who care for veterans," Clancy told the House Vet- erans Affairs subcommittee on oversight. "We actually need to up our game." The panel held a hearing Monday aimed at the VA's efforts to deter drug theft. The Associated Press re- ported last week on govern- ment data showing a sharp increase since 2009 in opi- oid theft and drugs that had simply disappeared at the VA, amid rising opioid abuse in the U.S. Reported incidents of drug losses or theft at federal hospitals jumped from 272 in 2009 to 2,926 in 2015, before dipping to 2,457 last year, according to the Drug Enforcement Ad- ministration. "Federal hos- pitals" include the VA's facil- ities as well as seven correc- tional hospitals and roughly 20 hospitals serving Indian tribes. Out of those cases, only a small fraction of VA doc- tors, nurses or pharmacy employees were disciplined. About 372 VA employ- ees were dismissed, sus- pended or reprimanded for a drug or alcohol-related issue since 2010, according to VA data obtained by AP. Roughly translated, VA em- ployees were disciplined in 3 percent of cases. Adding to the problem is that some VA hospitals have been lax in tracking drug supplies. Congres- sional auditors said spot checks found four VA hos- pitals skipped monthly in- spections of drug stocks or missed other requirements. Pressed to estimate what percentage of VA's total fa- cilities likely had notable problems with inspections, Randall Williamson, health care director at the Govern- ment Accountability Office, cited between 85 percent and 90 percent. He referred to "not a great track record" of accountability at the VA. Rep. Jack Bergman, R- Mich., who chairs the House panel, said he was troubled by the reports, coming af- ter repeated audit warnings dating back to at least 2009 of gaps in VA's monitoring programs. "Unfortunately, the news has recently been filled with story after story of drug di- version within VA," Berg- man said. "In case after case, what we see are exam- ples of drugs being diverted for personal use or personal gain, yet there does not seem to be much progress being made by VA." "We are in the midst of an opioidepidemic,anditistime for VA to start making effec- tive changes to avoid putting veterans and the employees who serve them at risk." Rep. Ann Kuster of New Hampshire, the panel's top Democrat, said she worried that the VA may not be re- ceiving adequate resources to stem drug theft. She pointed to President Don- ald Trump's federal hiring freeze. "Without adequate sup- port staff in place, VA med- ical facilities will struggle to comply with the proce- dures and programs they must follow to ensure our veterans receive safe, high quality care," she said. VA acknowledged it has had spotty compliance with drug inspections and employee drug testing and said most reform efforts were already underway. Among other problems, the VA inspector general's of- fice found the department had failed to test 70 percent — or 15,800 — prospective employees over a 12-month period who would serve in sensitive VA positions such as doctor, nurse or police of- ficer. 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