Transcripts For CSPAN Federal Officials Testify On Drug Cartels And Border Security 20170217

But i trusted him. Sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans q a. Next up, a hearing on drug cartels, the house humanitarian subcommittee on border and Maritime Security heard from officials with the coast guard and Homeland Security and state departments. Its chaired by arizona congresswoman martha mcsally. He hearings 90 minutes. Ms. Mcsally the subcommittee on border and Maritime Security will come to order. Let me first apologize for being a little bit late. Need to clone ourselves around here. I was in an Armed Services committee hearing. Very important on the f35 and the way ahead for our troops. So appreciate your patience. The subcommittee is meeting today to examine the threats posed by drug cartels. I recognize myself for an Opening Statement. First, id like to welcome the newest member of our subcommittee, the gentleman from florida, mr. Rutherford. Welcome. I look forward to working with you and the other new members of the committee. As we begin the 115th congress, let me be clear from the outset, i hope that over the course of this congress we can engage in thoughtful and productive conversations that lead to legislation that will help secure our homeland. One of my goals this year as chair of this subcommittee is to drill down on the threat that an unsecure border poses to our fellow americans, which will be the focus of our conversation today. At our next hearing, we will hear from the leaders of the Border Security joint task forces, authorized by this Committee Last congress, to examine the nations counternetwork approach to combating the threat. Protecting our borders is a multifaceted effort. The job of securing the land border falls primarily to the u. S. Border patrol, while it is the job of the u. S. Coast guard to secure our maritime border. We do have office of Field Operations has the Important Role of securing more than 300 ports of entry while air and Marine Operations carries out air and maritime environment missions to detect and interdict unlawful people and cargo approaching our borders. Finally, h. S. I. , Homeland Security investigations supports National Security through its investigatory authorities and responsibilities. These are not simple or easy tasks. The southwest border is a dynamic place with unforgiving terrain, rugged mountains, scorching desert, high cliffs, canyons and more than a thousand miles of river. The maritime border is more than 4. 5 million square miles of vast ocean, patrolled by a limited number of assets, providing cartels with enormous expanses of territory in which to conduct illicit activities. Congress has appropriated billions of dollars to shore up our border defenses. Today we have an impressive array of technology, infrastructure and personnel deployed to keep the nation safe. Despite our best efforts, we have seemingly made little progress over the last few years to secure the border. Most recently reports and testimony suggest that, between our ports of entry, we are little more than 50 effective at stopping people from crossing the border illegally, and narcotics continue to pour into our communities unabated. But on the other side of the border, the adversary, the mexican drug cartels, operate a wide reaching network. Nothing moves in or out unless the cartel plaza boss says so. Cartel presence, influence and power throughout mexico is ubiquitous. Corruption is endemic, and local Law Enforcement in mexico often find themselves illequipped to handle the vast amounts of cartel activity. Smuggling drugs and people is a billiondollar business and the individuals in charge have one goal in mind, make as much money as possible delivering illicit narcotics and people across the border and into the United States. Obscene profits incentivize the cartels to be entrepreneurial and innovative in the tactics they use to successfully smuggle their illicit cargo. For instance, we know that they conduct extensive ountersurveillance against our agents. They place spotters, or scouts, on mountains, and use the high ground to guide the drug loads away from agents and other detection assets. Sophisticated and deep tunnels that include the use of ventilation systems and rail cars to expedite the smuggling of drugs have also been used. We have also seen the use of propanepowered Double Barrel cannons to shoot hundreds of pounds of drugs over the fences and barriers. Ultra light aircraft, difficult to detect on radar, have been used under think cover of darkness to drop drugs over the border. In my district, authorities broke up a complicated smuggling bring. They cross remote parts of the border. They use scouts, cryptic communication and it was not an amateur operation by any means. It was a sophisticated enterprise with advanced tactics to thwart Law Enforcement at very turn. Im sure well hear about that from you today making them more difficult to track and interdict. Semisubmersibles, painted blue to blend with the ocean, barely visible above the waterline have been used to deliver multiton rug loads from mexico. Cartels will not sit idly by as we adjust our strategy. They will adapt, they will innovate and just plain outsmart us if we do not leverage the fuel power of all of us ogether. I ask unanimous consent that mr. Katko be allowed to participate n the hearing. We look forward to being able to achieve our ultimate goal which is to have as much do as much as we can to impact the negative work that the cartels do in south america, mexico and all throughout the United States and at the same time do what we can to take drugs off our streets. I would like to introduce our new members, congresswoman val demings represents floridas 10th Congressional District and previousry served as chief of the Orlando Police department, the first woman to hold that position. Congresswoman nanette baragon, represents the 44th Congressional District which includes the port of los angeles. Id also like to recognize my colleague mr. Richmond, our Senior Member in the committee and hes joined us on this subcommittee for the first time. I look forward to working with all of you because each of you bring a unique look to our subcommittee. Our subcommittee hearing today is one of particular interest today given that like congresswoman mcsamly i represent a border district and mine is in the Rio Grande Valley by texas. For years now, the state across from my Congressional District has been coping, we have serious Security Issues due to cartel iolence. My colleagues and i will be launching a social media effort to help promote the idea of bringing peace to the state there. As mexican caffer tells have fought for control of smuggling corridors within mexico and along our southern border, communities on the mexican side have seen record levels of drugrelated homicides and violence. The threat is not con tined confined to our southern border. Cartels use Networks Networks within the United States to smuggle drugs, weapons and other contraband. The safety of our communities and so many communities across the nation depend on security across the border. I want to continue to be supportive of United States efforts to that end. Im also appreciative of secretary kellys recent comments with respect to what he would like to do to address the issue of demand in this country. I hope to hear from you today about how the various components within d. H. S. Are coordinating with our counterparts in Central America and mexico to combat Transnational Criminal Organizations and enhance Border Security. I would ask all of our witnesses to speak to the subcommittee about how the threat has evolved and changed over time, what you need to address this threat, and what we as members of congress can do to support all of your efforts. Border communities like the ones that many of us represent and our neighbors in mexico are counts on us to get this right. Madam chairman, thank you for holding this hearing and i appreciate our witnesses joining us today. I look forward to a Productive Congress with you and all the members of the subcommittee. I yield back the balance of my time. Members of the committee are reminded other Opening Statement hay be submitted for the record. Were joined by four witnesses. O discuss this vice admiral ray has served as pacific area commander and in iraq. Commander paul beeson is commander of joint task force west, arizona. As commander of jtf west, hes responsible for offering strategic guidance, through command, control and coordination of operational if you thinks within the constituent of arizona. In addition to that, commander beeson has oversight of the tucson secor, overseaing overseeing eight stations. Mr. Matthew al season assistant director for investigative programs for Homeland Security nvestigations. Hes responsible for National Policy implementation and the cooperate an execution of initiatives. Mr. Allen served as special agent in charge for Homeland Security investigations where he had oversight of the full spectrum of i. C. E. And led more than 500 personnel around the state. Ambassador luis arreaga was appointed Deputy Assistant secretary of state for the bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement afares in 2013. Hes responsible for state department programs, come batting ill list drugs as well as support for Law Enforcement and rule of law in the western hells fear. Prior to his appointment, ambassador arreaga served as ambassador to the republic of iceland from 2010 to 2013. He witnesses full written statements will appear in the record. Admiral raycognizes for testimony. Admiral ray im plarly pleased to testify alongside three of our most important partners in the fight against transnational crime, c. B. P. , i. C. E. , and department of state. d like to thank chief beason, inspector allen and assistant secretary arreaga. When i talk about the transit zone im generally speaking to that and the when we speak of the maritime transit zone its that area between south america, Central America and southern mexico. We continue to face a significant threat from Transnational Criminal Networks whose drug transit routes lead to the southern approach of the United States. Coast guard protects the maritime border not just here at home but also off the coast of south and Central America as part of our layered security strategy. As secretary kelly stated just a few days ago, the defense of the southwest border really starts about 1,500 miles south of there. When Transnational Criminal Organizations are violent transnational organizations harm economies and threaten citizen throughout the hemisphere. They engage in all manners of ill list active and destabilize latin america. The widespread violence they employ has reached epidemic levels and drives the continued flow of my grants from Central America and mexico who attempt to ill locally enter the United States. As one of the nations five armed forces and the only one with broad Law Enforcement authority, the coast guard is uniquely positioned to attack these criminal networks where theyre most vulnerable, at sea. The offshore transit zones we employ a cutter and airborne use of force capable helicopter, High Speed Pursuit boats and highly trained boarding teams. We seize multiton loads of drugs at sea before they were broke intoon small quantityities which are extremely difficult to detect and cause devastation at each step of their journey as they make their way to north america. Beyond our own capabilities, we leverage over 42 maritime law enforce. Hi lateral agreements, 29 of sch are in the western hemisphere, to enable interdictions and prosecuted. In many areas were the only maritime presence to enforce criminal statutes with our maritime neighbors oumple coast guard personnel assets are effective. Weve interdicted more cocaine at sea in 2016 than was interdicted in all the land by federal, state and locals bined. Because we get it in bulk caunt question quantities offshore. Sometimes in the thousands of kilo. In doing is we push the border south and significantly impact criminal organizations. Beyond demonstrating our effectiveness, these statistics indicate that cocaine and ill list trafficking of all kinds are on the rise. However, resource constraints and lack of assets allow the u. S. Coast guard to only attack or target 30 of the known cases that we have good intelligence. Really high confidence intelligence. As a result of ladge of resources last year, we were prevented from getting after 580 known smuggling events and those shipments made their way north. Other significant National Security demands on our great navy preclude their participation in this area of operations. In his testimony before the committee, secretary kelly noted there hasnt been a significant sustained Navy Presence in the caribbean an eastern pacific for almost four years. In that time our coast guard has doubled down, our presence doubled down our presence in the region and we are your force in the maritime approaches to the u. S. We continue to look for ways to increase our offshore cutter presence and as ive said we dont have the assets to address all the intelligence that we have. For that reason, recapitalizing our cutter fleet with our offshore cutter program is a must to enable the coast guard to meet mission demand. We appreciate the thus far and continued support from this congress will be essential as we move on to commission our first offshore patrol cut for the 2021. These new assets will make us more effective. Just like the other armed forces, were also facing significant Readiness Challenges with infrastructure and strained work force. Our commandant says he beliefs it will stay this way as long as the budget control act is in effect. Well continue to use riskbased approach to allocate resources. We have an outstanding dedicated group of women and men as evidenced by the 201 metric tons of can cocaine we seized in 2016. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today and for all you do for the women and men of the coast guard. I look forward to addressing your questions and concerns. Ms. Mcsally thank you, commander ray. The chair recognizes congressmanner beason to testify for five minutes. Commander beason good morning. Chairwoman mcsally and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to aper today on bf of u. S. Customs and Border Protection to discuss the evolving drug smuggling tactics and techniques used by Transnational Criminal Organizations and how c. B. P. Is working to address this threat and secure our nations abort borders. I began my career as a Border Patrol agent in 1985 and in my 32 years of service i have seen the border change. From just a barbed wire fence and a few Border Patrol agents, to today with 600 miles of fencing and 2,000 Border Patrol agents on duty. The border has changed and become more complex. Over the course of my career, i have seen the creation of the department of Homeland Security, funding increases and decreases, and the committed evolution of criminals who seek to exploit our borders. I have also seen c. B. P. And the legacy offices that make up c. B. P. , worked with corning to ill prove the border environment. Personnel, resources, technology, and tactical infrastructure have shaped the border we see today. We have realized greater situation awareness and significant reductions in activity from a high of over 1. 6 million arrests in fiscal year 2000 to just over 400,000 arrests last fiscal year. Throughout my career, i have seen t. C. O. s demonstrate unending resolve in their intent to exploit the border for their own gain. They have used nimble and innovative tactics to illegally cross our borders and smaugle smuggle both people and contraband. T. C. O. s operate throughout the border environment including at and between the ports of entry and the various domains such as land, air, and see. C. B. P. Has met and combated these illegal activity bus t. C. O. s continue in their intent to circumvent Border Security measures. Drug smuggling is part of many t. C. O. Enterprises and today these groups smuggle drugs by foot, vehicle, air, tunneling an even through the use of projectile type systems. T. C. O. s also rely on scouting and countersurveillance, concealment and Logistical Support to further their illegal drug smuggling operations. While illegal drug smuggling still occurs, c. B. P. Continues to take steps in combating their efforts. In fiscal year 2016, c. B. P. Officers seized or disrupted more than 3. 3 Million Pounds of narcotics. In addition to interdictions and seizures, c. B. P. Has also disrunned the man for the which t. C. O. s attempt to smuggle drugs. As an example, prior to fencing and Technology Deployments in the tucson sector area of operations, over 1,000 vehicle drivethroughs were recorded in 2006 and last year, only 18 such events recorded. While ramping and drive through still occur, the efforts of c. B. P. Have diminished their probability of success and shaped these ill list operations. What i have seen in over 30 years of Law Enforcement is that t. C. O. s remain persistent in their intent to engage in illegal cross border activity. I have also seen c. B. P. s through collaboration an coordination with Law Enforcement partners make progress in improving the security of our borders. This is the result of investments over the years in our Border Security and in the blood, sweat, and tiers of the men and women who are engaged and tears of the men and women who are engaged in the daily battle to secure our borders. With continued support from congress, c. B. P. In coordination with our partners will continue to further refine and enhance the effectiveness of our detection and interdiction capables capabilities. And while t. C. O. s may be intent in their smuggle operations, c. B. P. Is noless determined to safeguard the borders of this great country with vigilance, service and integrity. Chairwoman mcsally, Ranking Member vela and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, commander beeson. Mr. Allen thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on the efforts of the u. S. And Customs Enforcement to target and disrupt these criminal elements. I. C. E. s vide perspective on this and what we do to address t. C. O. s. Before contraband arrives at our borders and even once it makes it to the interior of the United States. I brought with me a troubling graphic that represents the interagency assessment of the areas of influence of the major mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations in the United States and i want to thank the Drug Enforcement administration for sharing that for and its use today. The mexican cartels, notably generation isco new stretch across the border operate through networks and loose affiliations with smaller organizations throughout the United States. As many of you know firsthand, the southwest boarder is a very diverse environment with vast maritime and land border areas where the cartels have adapted their methods and the cargo to the local environment. From an operational point of view, this means that there is not a single strategy, tactic, or technology that will succeed in eliminating the smuggling threat on every part of the southwest border. To give you a sonchese the variety of smuggling challenges that we collectively face, it is important to start by talking about the specific drug threat such as heroin, fevent nil, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Mexican produced heroin is the latest. The purity of mexican produced heroin is remarkable because it means it can be smoked or snorted as well as injected intravenously. The smugglers include fentanyl in contraband loads also containing heroin, reinforcing the poly drug nature of the cartels. Mexico is a Transit Company for south american sourced cocaine which is most exclusively seized at ports of entry in modified compartments of privately owned vehicles or deeply concealed in cargo vehicles. The methamphetamine in the United States is produced in mexico, using chemicals from asia. Its almost exclusively seized in privately owned vehicles, the second most common method of smuggling methamphetamines is using pedestrians. Lastly, marijuana, mexico is the largest supplier of marijuana to the u. S. Drug mark this e majority seized is seized as its being smuggled between ports of entry. When marijuana is seized at ports of entry its most often found concealed among commercial cargo. Recognizing that the border in Southern California is different than the board for the arizona, new mexico, and texas, the carnells cartels adapt their smuggling methods to suit a specific area in order to avoid Law Enforcement attention. They focus on u. S. Customs and Border Protection operations at and between the p. O. E. s. As the department changes ctics and tech neengs or the cartels adapt. One of the major factors allowing car fells to sustain their existence and plo live rate is public corruption in exico and the United States. In response, i. C. E. Has assigned more than 1,500 special agents and 150 Research Specialists to our southwest border offices. Additionally i. C. E. Leads and participates in a number of task forces focused on investigating this criminal element. Our relationship is also important in the fight against. C. O. s. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and for your continued support of i. C. E. And its mission. I look forward to your questions. Ms. Mcsally thank you. The chair recognizes ambassador arrea fwmbings a for five minutes. Mr. Arreaga thank you for the opportunity appear before you to discuss the department of states efforts to combat transnational organized crime in the western hemisphere. With your permission i have a formal statement which id like to submit for the record. As this committee knows well, transnational crime undermines our Border Security, inflicks harm in our communities and threatens the rule of law. The department of states i. N. L. Which i have the honor to represent leads our countrys efforts to combat crime verseas. We are working to strengthen the capacity of mexican institutions to investigate and dismaventle criminal networks, to uphold the rule of law and protect our shared border. Since 2007 the United States has delivered nearly 1. 6 billion in assistance. This includes inspection and detection equipment which is now deployed along mexicos border, as well as training and equiping to enhance the capacity of mexican officials to identify and dismantle drug laboratories and carry out complex investigations of organized crime. Our investment, and i emphasize this, has fostered unprecedented collaboration between american and mexican Law Enforcement authorities. In Central America, violence from gangs and other Drug Trafficking criminal networks are driving citizens to leave their home in search of safety, opportunity, and Family Living abrd. Many travel through mexico in an attempt to reach the United States. Our programs in Central America help strengthen Border Security and fight narco traffic evers and human smugglers. In 2016 Central American security units, many of which are supported by u. S. Law enforcement agencies reported seizing over 116 metric tons of cocaine. On the corruption front, honduras fired nearly 2,000 corrupt Police Officers while in guatemala the tonchinge is bringing corruption charges against former and current high level government officials. In the caribbean, approximately 10 of cocane movement destined for the United States. Our programs support maritime swer diction by training and equiping Law Enforcement agencies in partner countries. In 2015, reported cocaine seizures in partner countries reached 24 met reck tons, 152 increase over the previous years. Let me conclude with colombia. Colombia remains the Worlds Largest producer of cocaine and is the origin of approximately 90 of the amount seized in the United States. In light of the troubling increase in Coca Cultivation since 2013 we know we need to deepen our collaboration with colombian partners. The good news is that colombia with our support has intensified their interdiction efforts. In fact, cocaine seizures increased 42 in 2016. The colombian government has been our partner for years. We are confident this partnership will endure. Let me close by reiterating our commitment to continue working with our partner governments to protect our homeland. It must be said that achieving lasting change will be neither easy nor quick. We are encouraged, however, by results today and remain confidence that a sustained investment will benefit the security of the United States. Chairwoman mcsally, Ranking Member vela, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and i look forward to your questions. Ms. Mcsally thank you, ambassador. I recognize myself for five minutes for questions. Since we started late, i start off by yielding to my vice chair, mr. Hurd of texas. Thank you, chairwoman. To our esteemed panelists, appreciate you being here today and for all the work that you and the men and women in your organizations do. I recognize the difficulty of the task. Admiral ray, my first question is to you. In your opening remarks you talked about how 30 of the intelligence of action is high confidence intelligence. What would you need to get that number to 100 . Admiral ray sir, thank you, i dont know that well ever get it to 100 but to raise it to the levels wed like to see it is pretty straightforward. You need more coast guard cutters on the water and the package that goes with them, the airborne use of force helicopter, the overhead aircraft. Our current number is dun in that transition region are about 6. 0 cutter presence, usually have four airborne use of force helicopters. Thats what to raise it up, double that and youd make a pretty good dent. Thats why our offshore Patrol Cutter Program is so important for that. Can you give us some context in how it would, lets say you were able to get double your resources. How long would it take to actually make that operational . Admiral ray the first offshore patrol cutters with the support of the congress weve got it in our budget, on contract, and shell be commissioned in 2021. Thats a fleet of 25. Now theres more bills to pay on that, thats why we appreciate your support in advance. And the as soon as theyre commissioned, we put them down reaning. Thats our highest priority mission. We have the folks, we have the people . Admiral ray we would be building the force as the ships came on line. My next go is question is to chief beeson and mr. Allen. My sense is when it comes to whats called the ground war, were having the opposite issue, where the level of intelligence thats coming out of the t. C. O. s and Group Operating in mexico an the rest of Central America can be increased. Ive always said when you look at the 19 criminal organizations operating in mexico alone, that were not making them a National Intelligence priority. Do you disagree with that assessment . Would you like to see more n. S. A. Collection, more c. I. A. Collection to drive your operations . Chief beeson, ill let you go first. Chief beeson thank you, congressman. We do work with the Intelligence Community to get information. Were so my experience most recently has been as the chief of the dueson sector and as commander of that task force there in tucson. And we have been able to synthesize if you will, if thats the right word, the intelligence that we received from the Intelligence Community and then take action against it. We work closely with Homeland Security investigations, they have personnel assigned to our facility where we handle that type of information. Were when theres an interdiction based on that type of information that we have been able to do parallel con instruction on and such, well hand that off to them and they will of course take it to fruition with regard to the investigation. Were always looking for ways to improve on our intelligence capabilities and thats something that we continue to work at is to get better and etter with the intelligence. What would be helpful to improve intelligence collection . Mr. Allen no one is going to turn down more assistance. I think our biggest challenge, what were seing in our investigation that we have that i think the inch c. Could help us with is what i would call Network Identification and i identifying the networks that are out there. More and more i think the challenges that we face is the ability to kind of illuminate the network and figure out, connect people and events in ways we can use in prosecution. I think theres always been a challenge in turning intelligence into evidence because in the end, you know, our primary the us focus is criminal investigations and our goal is to present cases for prosecution and while its great to know and theres a no so fine line difference between intelligence and evidence. In our world, we need to be able to turn intelligence into vidence. Ms. Mcsally the chair recognizes mr. Vela for five minutes. Mr. Vela admiral ray, i want to point out your personnel have been tremendous on the last four years as ive been on this committee. Theres nothing like seeing it for yourself and theyve consistently worked with our office and reached out to show us what they do and i would just let you know what we respect you are newer members to the extent that you can do the same thing in the regions that they represent that it is a very helpful experience, thanks for everything you do. I think my first question is for chief beeson and mr. Arreaga. If you could comment, you referred to the eradication efforts in colombia and if you could, maybe go first, chief beeson, just generally summarize where we are with respect to eradication efforts in colombia and the other two south american countries where we see cocaine production and then maybe briefly comment on that as it pertains to poppy production in exico. The Border Patrol, customs and Border Protection, were working on capability. Were working to interdict the narcotics, the contraband, the things like that that are being smuggled across the border. Were not heavily involved in eradication. Im going to punt to mr. Vela yeah, i was going to suggest that. On the issue of mr. Arreaga on the issue of coca plantings in colombia, theres been a doubling of the area cultivated since 2013. This is a result of a number of factors. Number one, there was a w. H. O. Report which the colombian courts used to ask for the end of eradication. Another important reason is the aerial eradication continues quite successfully, the coca planters took countermeasures to cultivate where aerial eradication was difficult, where aerial eradication was not allowed, some of the indigenous areas, some of the mountain areas. Then the third factor is we believe the farc actually encouraged farmers to plant, anticipating that perhaps there would be a Peace Process where coca farmers would be compensated for eradicating their crops. Those are the main reasons as to why there was an increase. Nonetheless, the Colombian Authority are very much committed to eradicate manually, to eradicate voluntarily and we are in very intense conversations with them to figure out how we can support those efforts. Theres also the interdiction part. But that refers mostly to the actual producing cocaine. Mr. Vela in the future id like to talk about that issue and compare eradication efforts in other countries, but ill go ahead and move to my next question for mr. Allen but i think this is something that perhaps is probably deserve of a hearing in and of itself. Mr. Allen, my question for you is how would you with respect in ur cooperative efforts mexico and with Law Enforcement in mexico and the United States, how would you describe the state of that cooperative effort today and what would you like to see in the future . I think the one word answer is good and i would expand on that by saying growing. You know, i talked earlier about our goal being criminal investigations and criminal prosecutions. The largest h. S. I. Presence outside the United States is actually in mexico. Thats where we had the largest number of agents deployed internationally. And i think if were going to become more effective and impact the t. C. O. s and cartels in particular, we need to grow that presence and the relationships we have with the Mexican Federal police work mexican customs work the mexican military and not only in mexico that focuses on migration through the mexico to the United States. So i think we have a Good Relationship but we need to continue to work to grow it. Real quickly, chief beeson, on the t. C. O. Chart on the influence of mexican t. C. O. s across the United States, i notice i it looks like the Sinaloa Cartel has quite a presence along the east coast. Can you tell us about that . Ow do they extend that deeply . Chief beeson its through the use of networks. Theyre leveraging their networks, transportation nfrastructure. Ms. Mcsally the chair will now recognize other members of the subcommittee. The chair recognizes mr. Rutherford from florida. Mr. Rutherford thank you, madam chair. Thank you, panel, for being here today. Thank you for all the service that you have provided in the past and will in the future to keep our country safe. I want to shift the focus just a ittle bit, though, if i could. Admiral ray, you know, weve talked a lot about the drugs and the harm that that brings to our country but also the United States coast guard interdicted several migrants from former eastern bloc countries in fiscal year 015 and 2016. Could you please discuss how its not just south and Central Americans that these cartels are smuggling into the United States but also people from other countries and in addition to that, could you address the potential of Foreign Terrorists utilizing these cartels to utilize the maritime domain to gain entry to the u. S. And to us harm. Thank you, thank you for your years of Law Enforcement service, its an honor to take a question from you. The coast forward last year, we interdicted several thousand primarily cubans at sea. Mostly near florida and a handful on the west coast. It was a big year, the biggest year since 1994. Primarily cubans. Admiral ray what we call special interest aliens, small numbers in the maritime approaches right now. Less than 20 over the course each year of the last couple of years. Not a great threat factor there at present. However, to address your kind of the real question is, are those Transnational Criminal Organizations capable and would they . Theres no doubt in my mind. Theyre sophisticated smuggling organizations which started in the southern reaches of our they work for property. They done check for passport. Theyll do anything for a profit. We have not seen evidence of terrorist connections right now. Last week, we had a boat off the bahamas that had a dozen Chinese People on board. The tales of these migrants that come from all over the world, trying to get to america, heres plenty of them. He brought up the gap create between our abilities now and the recapitalization of the fleet and your capabilities down the road. We certainly have a gap there. Thats one reason i want to salute madam chairman the United States navy. To ro kate the try dent program in jacksonville to give us the ability to fill some of that gap that was created when the navy did away with their Frigate Program which you know certainly increased the gap. O i bring that up to also ask, following up on mr. Hurds the navy will be rebuilding 350 plus ships. Many of the ships are very, very old. The valiant in voovel is 50 years old. That wasnt 2019 we were talking about, correct . Thanks for the question. The offshore patrol cuttering weve got them under contract now, its a multiyear contract. The first one is supposed to be commissioned in 2021. We are maintained our medium endurance cutters. Some of them in fact almost all of them are older than the paraphernalias of the young men and women serving on them. Thats just kind of a data point. Weve got other medium endurance cutters that are averaging 35year length, well be able to stretch those out until we get on board. Thats why our offshore patrol cutter is back on board. Ok, it sounds like it will be of great assistance to you as well. First of all, gentlemen, i appreciate you being here today. I represent Southern California, im a father of four children. So to me, drugs and keeping that poison away from our children is top priority. Ive been blessed, my children have avoided those scourges, but a lot of my neighbors have not. You know, drugs, something we can all agree on, stopping them from getting to our communities, yet as i look at our mexican border, when i was state senator i chaired the californiamexico select committee. You begin to realize the tremendous, huge Trading Partnership we have with mexico. Our biggest, our second biggest trading partner we have in the world. That border is the most traveled cross border in the world. And ive always advocated for smart borders, meaning you can check folks, check merchandise before it gets to the border so we can make sure things flow smoothly, effectively and we stop the negativity. Vice admiral ray, you said something that really boston ert me. And that is that you had intelligence on 500 events, 50 events. And you 500 events and you did not have the assets to stop them from possibly reaching our shores. So im going to repeat the same question thats been asked of you, what do you need and where . I look at that chart on the side, i look at those red lines. Fwitch that colombia is now at peace with farc, i think those red lines are going to get thicker and theyre in the very near future. So where do you need those assets . Do you need them in the snust somewhere in latin america to stop all of that cocaine production from coming into our shores . Admiral ray those assets would be based in the United States, hopefully in one of your districts and sale from there and go anywhere we need them but primarily right now where we need them and where they could be most effective is in that area between south america and Central America and thats a huge area. As big as the continental United States. So covering that is difficult. However with the intelligence we have now, thats what let us know who is out there. We know on a given morning and we do this on a 24hour cycle, we create these packages and know who is there, who we can get after. Of those, we literally had to let 580 of them, couldnt take a pass at them because we didnt have sufficient assets. As i mentioned to congressman rutherford earlier, or congressman hurd, doubling down on the amount of assets we have in that transit zone, thats how you get after them, thats how you affect them. That would be your priority in terms of investment. Mr. Allen you also mentioned you have a tremendous working relationship or better working relationship with the mexican government. Number of years ago, i had the opportunity to go down to mexico city and look at one of their Central Intelligence monitoring stations where they were looking at almost every vehicle coming across the southern border that information would be digitalized, sent to mexico city and i presume it was sent eventually to langley, virginia. My question is, what else do you need . What do we need to do to increase, enhance our partnership with mexico to make sure that these drugs dont reach our shores and our borders. Building the capacity of mexican agencies and you know, increase the rule of law in mexico is a key part of that. Our role is a liaison role an increasing our footprint in mexico and making sure we can have good, productive relationships with our what do you need from us to do that . More people. One of the things we havent talked about today is the president s executive orders which calls for 10,000 more i. C. E. Employees, some of those i think if the secretary gets his way will be special agents and our plan would be to deploy some of those outside the United States and so outside the United States and within mexico and other countries as well . Absolutely. Yes. Final question to chief beeson. In terms of folks, people of interest, do you have a number of how many of those have been apprehended crossing the southern border versus the northern board her mr. Beeson when we talk about, we use the term interble interest northern border . Mr. Beeson when we talk about special interest, we know about those individuals. That is information we keep, i do not have it with me here today so id have to take that back with me for the record. Ms. Mcsally the chair recognizes myself for questions. I mentioned in my Opening Statement a sophisticated drive through Operation Broken up in cochise county years. Looks like they successfully smuggled large quantities of drugs through arizona for years. Not days or weeks or months but for years. Before they were actually caught. These drive through operations are something that i hear from my constituents, border residents often about. Weve seen encrypted communication, special code words, other tactics to avoid detection. The last breach i personally saw on the border was where they used sophisticated blow terge and Welding Equipment to be able to cut through basically a gate in the barrier with hinges so they were able to prep that in advance through their spotters and scouts, they knew when they werent going to be detected, where they werent going to be detected. If you went by it, you wouldnt be able to see the breach. At the time and place of their choosing they open it up with the ramp, drive through, and go through essentially undetected. So just giving that case study of them being able to conduct these operations for years in cochise county, do you think this is the level of sophisticate sophistication is the new par for this, this is the new normal for Cartel Operations . Are there additional tools or authorities that we need to give you in order to detect and interdict these types of operations so they dont go on for years before theyre detected . And i congratulate them being rolled up and the number being prosecuted right now but what can we learn from it and do you need additional authorities . Mr. Beeson we do have this phenomenon, if you will, of the Drug Trafficking organizations and their smuggling and they certainly are a very they certainly are very sophisticated in their approaches, they have the benefit of time. They have plenty of time to wait, seek the right opportunity to engage in their illegal activity. They use scouting networks, as you have mentioned. They utilize encrypted communications. Theyre utilizing of course these vehicles, sometimes very rudimentary vehicle looks like a car carrier, and use toyota ramp over the fence. For us to combat that, were continuing to work on Situational Awareness, making sure that we are improving our Detection Capabilities along the southwest border, very critical for us to continue to engage with our Law Enforcement partners, certainly with Homeland Security investigations, to make sure that we are all sharing the same information, know about who the networks are, who is operating in the area, and then of course getting information from the Intelligence Community thats going to provide us with the preevent intel so we can take action against these folks as theyre out there. Ms. Mcsally are there any tools related to cracking the encrypted comms . We introduced a bill last Congress Related to the scouts that oftentimes when you roll them up, you cant prosecute them for anything unless you tie them to a specific drug load. We made that a federal crime. Didnt make it into law but were going to keep pushing that issue are there additional tools or authorities you need to get out in front of their decision loop and their techniques . Mr. Beeson we have had some success against scouts, as you mentioned. We have been able to prosecute some of them. Does require some effort, right. Good, solid police work to sit there an investigate and do that. Were certainly happy to do that and do that very well, i think. And weve been having what i think is a really Good Relationship with u. S. Attorneys office in terms of being able to present these cases and for them to take a prosecution on individuals that really dont have any narcotics with them but theyre still able to prove conspiracy and take those cases. Were going to continue to plug away on technology, certainly on the tactical infrastructure, the barriers, and we need to keep applying those things to really improve the Situational Awareness we need along the border. Ms. Mcsally mr. L allen . Mr. Allen one thing i would add is the foreign piece. There was a good example last year south of your district, or in your district but on the mexican side where by having a Good Relationship with our mention can counterparts, we were able to make sure that the border was not actually a barrier and when we had information about a failed drive through or drive through that had been thwarted we were able to cue mexican Law Enforcement to go and take Law Enforcement action on the mexican side. Thats another piece we immediate to continue to work on to make sure that, you know, when we do develop intelligence about a drive through, you know, we can, if we cant action that on the u. S. Side of the border, we can action it on the mexican side. Ms. Mcsally can i follow up on that . In all of your testimony you talked about better coordination with mexican authorities yet endemic corruption through their government and Law Enforcement. How do you balance those two and cooperating but not tipping them off related to the element of corruption involved in your Partner Agencies . Ill start on that some of it, first of all, you have to go in with your eyes wide open and acknowledge that corruption is challenge. But it comes down to who you talk to and where. And at what level of the government. Our best relationships are often in mexico city, away from the border and as an example to kind of demonstrate how important that can be, last year h s. I. And c. B. P. And state and local Law Enforcement authorities in arizona did a somewhat unprecedented operation in which we identified targets in northern sonora that we had indictments on the United States and we wanted to go get. We enlisted the support of the Mexican Federal police and got home to send more than 100 Law Enforcement officers and stage on the u. S. Side of the board for the arizona and conduct frankly an air mobile assault into mexico from the United States, fully armed, coordinated amongst all the u. S. Agencies from the state department through all Law Enforcement, very successfully. And it was not compromised because we worked with, you know, u. S. Trained, u. S. Vetted Law Enforcement units that made that possible. Thats the way we want to continue to move. Ms. Mcsally greating thanks. Ill have another round of questions but my time is expired. The chair recognizes ms. Barragan for five minutes. Ms. Barragan thank you. Thank you for your service an thank you for being here today. I want to start with you, vice admiral ray, theres been a lot of talk of building a wall on the southern border and investing 25 billion or so in it. If thats done do you think thats going to increase and shift more focus onto the seas and our maritime ports of entry . Admiral ray i think theres a high likelihood of that, maam. When we found that when determined illegal traffickers are meet a hard barrier on the land, theres a percentage of them that will go to sea an try their hand there. We see it on both sides of the country when it comes to illegal smuggling and when it comes to Human Trafficking. I think theres a reasonable potenl potential for that. You also testified about if you had resources it may be a good place to put it in the seas between, i guess the u. S. And central and south america. What about do you foresee increased threats coming into the west side of the u. S. Coast . Or is that is there a greater ed down in that area uh yo mentioned . Admiral ray we would do beth. We have an ongoing operation south of l. A. From san diego north. Where we work with our Partner Agencies. And weve had a big effect and quite a few seizures of marijuana trafficking going along there and illegal smuggling. We have been doing that ongoing for the last four years. Thats an ongoing right at our border operation. When i talk about the down range, further down, closer to Central America, thats where we have the effect. That cocaine is bound for Central America. Where it causes all the unrest and criminal activity and its just fuel for the fire there in those violent countries. Thats what drives the young people out of there. So its both of those. And the last question i have is for everybody. Weve been hearing a lot from all the panelists talk about the importance of the u. S. Mexico relationship. The importance of the role they play in helping us address and deal with the drug cartels and the criminal organizations. Yet, weve been hearing from this administration, lots of talk about building a wall, about having mexico pay for the wall. Even about talks of a possible tariff of 20 on mexico. One of my concerns is all this talk is going to weaken the cooperation between the u. S. And mexico. Having us become less of a partner. Between the two can you comment on what would be the impact if we had that . If we had the u. S. And mexico weaken the cooperation, what that will do on the impact to the drug cartels and us having the ability to fight that hreat . So i will just say, ive been doing this job for a long time now, over 30 years. And its certainly we have enjoyed throughout the course of that time what i think is a Good Relationship with the government of mexico. And that relationship has gotten better and better and better, throughout the years. A number of operations as the ones director allen mentioned. We engage with local authorities on a regular basis to address border violence. To address Cross Border Communications so we both understand what the threat is thats operating in that area. We both want a secure border. We look forward to continued relationship with the government of mexico, its important for us. And what were doing from a Law Enforcement perspective is paying dividends on the Border Security front. I just want to make sure you answer my question and that is, what will the impact be if theres less cooperation with the u. S. And mexico because i understand what youre saying, i completely agree with you. My concern is that a will the of the rhetoric were hearing from this administration only leads to less cooperation and i want to know what the harm will be on less cooperation to this fight, this very important fight against the drug cartels and the criminal organizations. Can you address what that impact might be . It would hurt it. As chief beeson mentioned and our experience would show as well, we have weathered similar storms before and we have dealt Law Enforcement to Law Enforcement with our mexican counterparts and never seen a did he gradation in our relationship and will be able to make our way through it. I agree with my fellow panelists and not detected any deterioration. Mr. Arreaga our governments want to work with us. Without it, we couldnt accomplish much. Ms. Mcsally the chair now misdemmings from florida. Mrs. Demings thank you for your service and the men and women who also serve with you. Mr. Allen, we have heard quite a bit of talk and i believe we have a strong relationship with mexico and im thankful for that, but what about our working relationship with your counterparts in Central America. Could you talk a little bit bout that . Mr. Allen h. S. I. Has offices throughout Central America and a lot of the same relationships that we enjoy. And in my written testimony, one of the things we talk about are transnational investigative units and work cooperatively with u. S. Trained investigators from host countries that allow us to project our priorities and our authorities into the areas provide that land bridge, the United States, whether its Drug Trafficking or illegal migration. And we see those relationships just as important as well as our relationships with mexican counterparts because the further we can push out that border and identify bad things and bad people coming to the United States, the better off we are. Mrs. Demings what do you think could be better to improve or enhance that relationship. You talked about the number of agents on the ground in mexico. What could be done . Mr. Allen help them build their capacity and working with the department of state and i. N. L. Who funds our relationships and the u. S. Training that we provide is funded through i. N. L. Increasing the ability to help them improve their capabilities which helps us protect our border which is key. Mrs. Demings chief beeson, many agents have complained or requested Communications Systems that would allow them to better communicate and share information with their Law Enforcement partners. Is this still a challenge for you and if so what can be done to improve intercommunications between those part nears . Chief beeson we work, i think very hard at improving relationships with our Law Enforcement partners. I mean this is really for us. We look at it as a whole of government approach and make sure Law Enforcement agencies that are able to work with us on these Border Security issues that we have the communication. We will engage in Task Force Operations with them. Oftentimes those task forces are led by Homeland Security investigations. Of course we do have cartocar communications, assuming that our radios compatible. There are some challenges with compatibility on radios. Oftentimes we are able to overcome that now with the advent of cell phones and things like that. Always working on ways to improve communication. We enjoy what i think is a very Good Relationship with the Law Enforcement community and something that we look forward to continuing in the years to come. Mrs. Demings have you had any challenges with the security of the communications . Chief beeson our communications are encrypted and we are continually assessing the viability, the encryption and looking forward to we want to make sure they remain that way. We do lose radios from time to time or they get stolen and when that happens, we are able to inhibit the radios as long as we are aware that happened. But thats something we are always looking at. Mrs. Demings i yield back. Ms. Mcsally the chair recognizes mr. Katko from new york for five minutes. Mr. Katko i allow the chair allowing me to ask a few questions. I was a federal organized crimes prosecutor in el paso, texas and i saw the profound problems that we confront. And i finished my 20year career on the northern border and my concern at times is that there is not enough attention being paid to the northern border and there are recent articles to that effect. Everyone is focusing on the southern border and no one is paying attention to the northern border. I say from our standpoint. The northern border we have indian reservation in the Northern District of new york and hundreds of millions of dollars in cocaine and muren and smuggling of aliens. People view the northern border more vulnerable. With that being said, the chairman maybe schedule a hearing to dedicate a hearing to the northern border issues because they are different from the southern border but do merit more attention. Im the chair of the Homeland Security subcommittee for aviation. And as you saw this week, there are still gaping holes in the Drug Trafficking components at our airports. We saw a case in puerto rico that expand more than a decade and smuggled more than 20 tons of cocaine on to aircraft from colombia into the u. S. And that is a profound problem and that is another bordertype issue. I would like to hear from h. S. I. Whether you have enough resources to fund these types of investigations at our nations airports. This is not the first time with h. S. I. And im concerned. How can t. S. A. And local Law Enforcement support your efforts. I dont mean f. B. I. To be at odds with you. If you could answer that, i would appreciate it. Mr. Allen im happy to talk about what is referred to as internal conspiracies and looking at the insider threat. And you are correct, they present a tremendous challenge for Law Enforcement and from everything from a counterterrorism point of view, he ability to get a firearm or other explosive device, certainly falls well within the scope of our counterterrorism responsibilities at the department. From a Drug Trafficking point of view, we are well that Drug Trafficking organizations once use that ability to move commercialally to get their products from point a to point b. In terms to your question about resources and our ability to work on that challenge. The vehicle that we use for that is the Border Enforcement Task forces and we have been expanding the best. Mr. Katko i have seen that. Mr. Allen we have four airport focus bests, one of them in puerto rico that are to focus on that. Our goal would be to expand them and increase the numbers that can focus on the physical land borders and also on other choke points. In this case in airports and seaports. Mr. Katko i know the f. B. I. Has headed up some major nationwide operations and the dallasfort worth case and multiairport case there. Ow would you make it better . Mr. Allen it comes down to coordination and one of the things i have seen change in my career certainly after 9 11 is the willingness and openness of agencies to coordinate and deconflict investigations and as long as all of us are doing that and we know someone is working an issue and if resources are needed from the bureau or the bureau Needs Resources from the d. H. S. Components, we can do that. As long as we are talking, we are on the right track. Mr. Katko i have to ask a northern border question, the Ship Rider Program has been a good success and you marry the canadian Law Enforcement with american Law Enforcement. How is that program doing and is there any discussion about possibly expanding it . Vice admiral ray they have done 900 boardings since that been stood up and closes seams on the border. The Royal Canadian mounted police, we are proud. Its more people and Important Team members carrying a gun and operating with the canadians and thats what we are short of. Mr. Katko i want to note two things for the record. Two reports two articles f. B. I. Reports show terror suspects coming from canada while trump looks at mexico. And illegal rough few geese are streaming quoose the new yorkcanada border. Ms. Mcsally look forward to working with you and potential discussions on the northern border. Vice admiral ray, can you share some perspective on increased sophistication of Cartel Activities in the maritime domain . They are armoring their engines or using night vision devices. Can you share some of their evolving tactics. Vice admiral ray what i can talk about in this setting, without a death as the Panel Members have said, they are innovative, adaptive, acknowledge i will organization and as you said, a sophisticated organization. If you buy it in the open market, they have the funds. And anything to do with locating illicit goods, communicating via satellite, they are doing it. When it comes to their ingenuity on the maritime, its impressive they can build in a jungle in ecuador, a craft capable of sailing about the distances going from florida to Washington State and carrying about 700, 800 pounds of cocaine. Thats pretty impressive. So so incredibly innovative and incredibly resourceful. Thats what makes the problem so tough. Ms. Mcsally we talk about Situational Awareness and operational control. On the land border, there is discussion about pushing the border south and thats an important part of the strategy. As any sort of breaches come to the border, over, through, under or around, we have to make sure we have the Situational Awareness that those breaches are happening and then the ability to have operational control to intercept those breaches as close to the border as possible. And in a previous hearing last congress, acting chief said the Situational Awareness on the 2,000 mile border, if something breaches, being able to see it realtime is 50 . Do you agree with that number . Any of that changed . And what do we need to do to increase Situational Awareness so that if something moves, you see it . Chief beeson the chief was talking about deployment density and how you are putting down your resources and things like that. From my perspective, that has gooten better. We have implemented fixed towers in no gales. We have a system coming online in your district and should be operational in douglas and another system going operational in the near future and the value of men and women on the Border Control and customs and Border Protection and field offices being on the line and being able to observe and report what theyre seeing. And theiers we deployed technology we have deployed, all of that has to have a response element built into it. And thats the men and women and make sure we are continuing to deploy personnel and certainly our objective is to get them down as close to the border as possible. Obviously, we want to push it south and get the traffic before it gets to us. Absent our ability to do that, we want to get it at the border. But dont want the border to become a single point of failure but we need to respond appropriately. Ms. Mcsally you talked about areas, egy of rural where we have six checkpoints have no real measurements of effectiveness but allowing them to traffic through communities for hours, days, miles, before they are potentially intercepted, which is a Public Safety threat. Is there going to be a fresh look at that strategy and trying to, you know, push closer to the 50 as opposed to where of the tucson intersects and there are a lot of people that live in that area and that is a Public Safety concern. Chief beeson we are constantly looking at our strategy and looking for ways to improve upon it. Our objective, we want to work and push the border south as far as we can. I think we have had pretty good success stories, a couple of which director allen mentioned today, working with the government of mexico to get some of these bad things before they are crossed into the u. S. We are continuing to deploy the men and women down to the border with the objective that we are going to make the arrest as close to the border as possible and on the whole when you look at it, thats occurring in a wide number of areas. There are some areas where we have challenges with access to the border. There are some environmentally sensitive areas. There are areas where there are no roads and those are areas where thats a challenge for us. We are continuing to work really, we want them as close to the border and prevent it in the first place and then of course absent our ability to do that, which does happen, we want to make sure we dont allow the border to be that single point of failure. We want to make sure we have the capability to interdict anything that comes across. Ms. Mcsally lets talk barriers. 2,000 mile southern border, 700 miles is land and 1,300 is water and some level of barriers in 654 miles. Secretary kelly testified last week that he would be listening to you and troops on the ground to see where bar years needed to be replaced or added. Where do we need additional types of barriers . Some of the replacements going on in my district are causing some responses from local residents who are living on the border and theyre concerned. Could you comment on your perspective which secretary kelly said he would be listening to you. Chief beeson secretary kelly did come down to the border and has been to my sector and went to san diego and did receive briefings from us on what our current laydown is and some of the areas we would look to enhance that when given the opportunity. Customs and Border Patrol, we ve a process is the seagap analysis. And what we are doing with that is looking at what our critical needsr where there are gaps and the sure that we have plans moving forward on where we want to put these things. Can provide you with another briefing to give you a better idea of where exactly we would like to can put our barri ms. Mcsally the chair reck kneeses the gentleman. During the obama administration, we had a Record Number of deportations under obama. And so my question to all of folksts my understanding coming north has slowed down. How much is due to a growing Mexican Community to provide for folks to stay and find a living in mexico . Mr. Allen that is an economics question and outside my area of expertise. So i pass on that one. Mr. Correa its a relevant question and its really a Monetary Policy that could reduce Economic Growth south of the border. But the other question i have is a sensitive one which is on the issue of corruption on our side. Do we have any reports . I know we have had some newspaper articles in the past about some of our Border Agents unfortunately looking the other way. Any update or status of corruption on our side of the order . At the same time, only takes the opportunity to thank all the men and women in uniform who do protect our country. My final question is kind of a comment, got a chance to go into mexico four, five months ago and went to small villages and the issue of Public Safety is a big one. Folks wont go out of their homes after the sun goes down because they fear for their lives. And a few days before i got there, the Mexican Marines came in and swept up the whole area. Unofficial about 40 casualties, the bad guys were taken out. Cooperate with mexican authorities. When the Mexican Marines go in with u. S. Leadership, they do make a difference for people who are living in small villages throughout mexico. Please continue to do a good job. Ms. Mcsally just a few more questions. Can you share any changes in changes in the policy . Vice admiral ray as i said last year, it was a record year in terms of growth of cube and growth since 1994, the biggest year we had. And after the program was repealed, last month, we saw a dramatic downturn. This isnt really the season, this time of year with the weather and other things. Were not certainly not letting our guard down now because there is always the threat and certainly the conditions havent changed. We see the threat is still out there, but the facts on the water as of right now since that was appealed is a lot less attempts we have seen thus far. Ms. Mcsally can any of you comment we have had a number of states in the country legalizing marijuana and impacting the Business Model of the cartels and changing from marijuana to other drugs or Human Trafficking related to the supply and demand issue . That is called the intelligence gap and when we talked to larry in heroin, there is no mistaking the explosive growth and cultivation of poppies and heroin as one of the primary drugs they are coming to the United States. Ms. Mcsally there are a couple of different elements. And i do want to talk about it. Despite the amazing efforts you gentlemen represented today and all the individuals that are doing the job every single day in order to defeat these networks and intercept activity, we still have a drug epidemic going on in our country and price of drugs is still unfortunately affordable for people to be ruining their lives. That has not changed. The hard drugs coming through the ports of enti primarily, most of you have testified to. Mr. Allen, what else do we need to do at the ports of entry related to these hard drugs that are making their way through . Pretty innovative tech next that many of you have testified to. Mr. Allen c. B. P. Has done a great job and focusing more resources on that problem set. The reality is c. B. P. And those on the border have a very short time to make a decision whether they should admit somebody or refer a vehicle or person for secondary inspection. Giving them the resources and capabilities to target as effectively as they can in their own vehicle and commercial cargo is key to that and thats an interagency. Information that helps refine targeting, but giving them as much as great information to use to target. Ms. Mcsally is there additional technologies needed or technologies that are proven that have not been deployed to he ports of entry . Brees chief beeson i will have to take that back for the record. Ms. Mcsally i agree with many of the comments made by my colleagues here today we have to make sure that the legitimate Economic Activity that comes north and south continues to be able to flow while we are intercepting the illegitimate activities and the drugs and human smuggling. That happens between the ports of entry and at the ports of entry and if we are talking about Border Security, we have to look at the maritime domain, air domain and land domain but at the ports of entry. We have seen in my community, douglas port of entry is one that is old and not capable for addressing the commerce, but also a security issue because they need upgrades to address the illegitimate activity. We had a hearing on this last time, but upgrades to the ports of entry, they are involved in other federal buildings and priorities related to g. S. A. We need to look at this as a security issue and infrastructure issue, we need to be focused both for economic drivers and security drivers and i dont think that should be lost. More of a statement. I dont know if anyone has a comment on that. We often talk between the ports of entry but security at the orts of entry is just as critical. I want to thank everybody for being here today and i concur with our chairperson very good discussion. Learned a lot today. I wanted to leave focusingic with our chairperson, ports of entry inland ports, this is a concept i picked up from my colleagues in texas that checking our cargo, checking those things that are about to cross the border, a few miles before the border be sealed. Once you get to the border, your job is a whole lot easier. Has there been any further thought of working on those nland ports of entwri . Chief beeson c. B. P. Has engaged in several pilot programs. The one you are referring to was in california. Most recently in arizona. They have a Program Joint Customs Program with mexican customs that have been working quite well for them and speak very highly of it. Its something we continue to assess. Ms. Mcsally i want to thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the dialogue and the questions and answers today. And i thank the members for their questions as well. Members of the committee may have additional questions. Respond to these in writing. The record will be open for 10 days and without objection, the ommittee stands adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org look forward to your calls, comments and tweets sunday morning on washington journal beginning at 8 00 eastern. Is weekend on newsmakers, congresswoman crowley will talk about former National Security adviser and the trump administrations potential ties to russia and immigration raids in attempts to repeal the Affordable Care act. At is sunday at 10 00 a. M. I had a piece of information that bob woodward wanted. I didnt articulate it to myself. When i looked back and i looked back at why i did this stupid thing. Sunday night, Georgetown University professor talks about working as a researcher. N her book, pretend im not here how i worked with three newspaper icons and dig myself out of the washington swamp. I resisted and i spoke in general terms what it was like being in the white house and i told them the story about being in the room during this unusual exercise. I told him you cant use it. There were only two women in the room who were doing this and there was one or two staffers and mrs. Clinton. If you use it, everybody will know that i was the source. And i was very worried about that. But i trusted them. Sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Up next here on cspan, a conversation about the