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[indiscernible conversation] i call this hearing to order. I would like to welcome our witness. Besident trumps nominee to the next director of National Intelligence. Dan, congratulations on your nomination. Welcome back. I am sure you did not expect to be welcomed back to these holes so soon after your retirement. I would also like to welcome back your wife and my good friend, marcia, and i would like to thank her for sharing you with the rest of us. Ive known both of you for many years and seen firsthand the strength of your relationship that you so thoughtfully described in your statement for the record. Our goal in this hearing is to direct the committee to consider tor coates for the consider him for the nomination. He is already responded to more than 100 questions. Today, of course, members will be able to ask additional questions in both open and closed sessions. Withoats comes to us Honorable Service in the house, the senate, and as an ambassador. Those of us who have had the good fortune to work with them know the depth of his commitment to the Intelligence Community and more importantly to its work force. Senator coats, youve been asked to lead the Intelligence Community at the time of profound threat and challenge. Were facing threats from state and nonstate actors alike and are engaged in a robust debate at home on the scope and scale of intelligence collection and what authorities are right, appropriate, and lawful. I expect you would be forceful advocate for the Intelligence Community in those discussions while maintaining an unwaivering respect for the rule of law. I have complete trust that you will lead the community with integrity and ensure the intelligence enterprise operates lawfully, ethically and morally. One of your tools is the authorities under the surveillance act scheduled to sunset later this year. They enable the Intelligence Community to protect our troops, anticipate terrorist threats and mitigate cyberattacks all while safeguarding privacy and civil liberty ests American People. Simply put it is essential that congress authorize these authorities to help keep the country safe while protecting our constitutional rights. I look forward to working with you and all of my colleagues to reauthorize fisa as soon as possible. Dan, ive known for many years, and believe your years of service to our nation and unique experience make you a natural fit to lead our Intelligence Community. Natural fit to lead the Intelligence Community. As mentioned in the directors nomination i can assure you the committee will continue to faithfully follow its charter, conduct vigorous and realtime oversight over the Intelligence Community, its operations and activities. We will ask difficult questions of you, your staff and expect honest, complete and timely responses. I look forward to supporting your nomination and ensuring it consideration without delay and i want to thank you for your years of service and i look forward to your testimony and recognize the vice chair for any comments he might make. Thank you mr. Chair and i also want to welcome you. Congratulations to your nomination as the director of the National Intelligence. Weve known each other for many years and i believe the president has made an excellent choice and asking you to serve. He also echoed the chairmans comments and acknowledging your wife marcia. I remember the wonderful trips we have had together. I would point out that the only thing i might potentially hold against you is that your socalled sherpa that you brought along raises some questions of judgment in my mind that i wont hold that against you throughout the whole hearing today. Senator coats is wellknown to the committee. He served as a Senior Member of the committee for men to become many years and has been an advocate for the oversight of the committee throughout his tenure. He firmly believes in the value of intelligence and the importance of its timely, relevant and absolutely free political influence. As the nations chief Intelligence Officer, your job will be to find and follow the truth regardless of where it leads. It all comes down to the obligation we talked about on the committee when we served together. Tell truth to power, to the president , the power of the executive branch, members of congress, maintaining your integrity and independence even in the face of political pressure is an absolute requirement of this position. The job for which youve been nominated as many rewards and possibly any to become even more challenges. You will be expected to lead the enterprise as we talk about as 17 diverse intelligence agencies and in some areas you will have authority to direct actions as we know in most areas they have to also convince rather than simply direct authority. You will be expected to serve as the top Intelligence Officer ever to coordinattocoordinate ae community activities, to lead the work to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the intelligence enterprise and ensure the integrity of the analytical product. These are just a few of the many issues. I need to make clear even in my Opening Statement when of the first challenges i will ask you to take on is to support our efforts to understand the rush was interference and 2016 president ial election. As you know the committee is conducting an investigation into that interference. We are also looking into what are individuals associated and campaigns in appropriately inapy engaged with officials of the russian government and we will seek to determine what the intentions of those interactions were. We take this matter very seriously. The chair man and i as well as members of the committee on both sides of the aisle have made commitments that the outcome of this investigation will not be prejudged and the committee will follow wherever the information leads. We need to get it right. Its my intention that this investigation will remain bipartisan and seek to be as transparent as possible. And it will remain free of any political consideration or interference and including interference from the white house. I will not accept any process that is undermined by such political interference. This will be thorough and exhaustive because at the end of the day with ego boost his answer to the American Public. You know how important it is. Its not about being a democrat or republican or reiterating the election. It is about upholding the values and the sanctity of the democracy that all americans hold dear. Our plan is to review the intelligence and to understand how the community made its conclusions on the russian interference. And i will ask you today again to connecto pay againto connecte kennedy that he will fully cooperate in this review and that you will direct all the Intelligence Community agencies to provide all the information we require including the wrong information to make sure that we get it right. On other topics, you and i have a good conversation in my office a few weeks ago where we talked about the fact we didnt think he would be back in so quickly. I very much appreciated the conversations. You assured me there you will not support the return of waterboarding or other socalled enhanced Interrogation Practices nor will you support reestablishing secret detention sites operating. You also assured me you always will present to the president an,his cabinet and advisors and congress the unvarnished facts as represented by the best judgment of the Intelligence Community. Whether that analysis is in agreement or disagreement with the views of the president or for that matter anyone else, again i will ask you today to reaffirm those commitments you made to be and make them publicly to the American Public. Finally, if confirmed, and i look forward to supporting you, you will have a unique challenge of working for a president whose comments i believe the time has denigrated some of the work of the Intelligence Community for whom it is an incredible Important Role to make sure the men and women that serve us often in anonymity that you will have their back and make sure that the morale is increased in this respect it to the. Thank you for being with us today and for your willingness to serve. I look forward to working with the chairman as we go through the hearing. I would now like to recognize the former colleague in the former vice chairman of the committee on intelligence and my good friend saxby chambliss. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. [inaudible] put on the microphone, with you. I know its been a long time. [laughter] when i was in the senate, someone did all this for me. Ive had to adjust to a lot of things like that. It is good to be back in front of so many friends on the committee and as much as i miss each of you individually i have to tell you im happy to be on this side today. Im here today to introduce to you a friend of all of us. Senator dan coats who has been nominated by President Trump to be the fifth director of the National Intelligence. S. 2465 was introduced by senator feinstein, rockefeller and bob graham on the 19th of june, 2002. Then after two and a half years of discussion and debate, the intel reform and terrorism prevention act of 2004 was passed overwhelmingly by both the house and senat the senate d signed into law by president bush. That act created the office of the director of National Intelligence and placed all at the head of the 16 member intelligence agencies. The dnr was charged with directing and overseeing the National Intelligence program and to serve as an advisor to the president in the executive officeand the executiveoffices y council and the Homeland Security council about Intelligence Matters related to the National Security of the United States. Today i understand that odni has somewhere around 2,000 employees who support the dni oversight responsibility for the entire National Intelligence program of some 53 billion. Some have recently questioned the structure and effectiveness of odni and perhaps after 12 years of the creation of a new agency, particularly one as sensitive as this, perhaps a review is in order but there is one thing that cannot be overlooked and that is during 12 years with strong leadership from a commitment of security by the dedicated employees, theyve produced intelligence to the customers that have prevented another largescale attack against america on u. S. Soil. We all know the world is a more dangerous place than ever today. Bad guys are greater in number and more sophisticated in their operations than ever before, thus the strong leadership is more important today than ever. No one is better suited to give the leadership as our friend and former colleague dan coats. As ambassador to germany, he was a customer. As a longtime member of the committee, he participated in conduct an extensive oversight. Now he will be providing the intelligence that is to be subjected to that oversight. His experience prepares hi prepl for these new roles. Ive traveled the world with him many times visiting our counterparts, our allies as well as World Leaders and while for the most part we all know they are friendly and easygoing, i have had the opportunity to observe him and became very firm and direct in addressing sensitive and difficult issues with all of those individuals that we have visited and doing so in a very professional manner. Hes been in Public Service since 1976 when he was the district director for the then congressman dan quayle. He then served in the house of representatives United States senate ambassador to germany and then again in the u. S. Senate. Now after that remarkable 40 year career, he is willing to continue to serve his country as the dni. Lastly, let me say that a lot of this strength comes from his constant support received from his wife, marcia and to whom hes been married over 50 years. I believe it to him to introduce her but suffice it to say she has been a great teammate. Using a little sports nomenclature there since i still have my topsecret clearance, i get some pretty good intelligence from time to time and one piece of intelligence i picked up on is that h hes a he chicago cubs fan. Felt pretty good last fall. Thats one other thing i found out about him is the day after he and marcia were married, he took her to a cubs game and the marriage still survived. [laughter] its my pleasure to introduce senator dan coats and i urge all of you to send the nomination to the floor of the Senate Quickly and to very quickly confirm him as the new director of National Intelligence. Thank you. If yo you would stand pleas and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear to give the committee the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do. Please be seated. Before we move to your statement, i would like to ask that the answer five questions the standard for the committee that we posed to each nominee that appears before us that just require a simple yes or no answer for the record. Do you agree to appear before the committee and at other venues when invited . If confirmed to agree to send officials from her office to appear before the committee and designated staff . Yes. Do you agree to provide the documents or any other material requested by the committee in order for us to carry out the oversight and legislative response of these quick yes. Will you ensure that your office and staff provide such materials to the committee when requested quick yes. Do you agree to inform and bring to the fullest extent possible all members of the committee of intelligence out of activities and covert action rather than only the chair and vice chair man when appropriate . Yes, where appropriate. I want to thank you very much and we will now proceed to the Opening Statement. You are recognized. I have remarks thanking saxby, he has to leave and i want to jump ahead of what im going to say in my written remarks to you just to thank him. A great friend and someone i had the pleasure of serving under this committee. He has left his mark in many ways including friendship among his wife and between my wife and me and i just want to thank him for being willing to come today to make remarks on my behalf. Members of the committee, i am honored to appear that for you as the nominee for the position of director of national directol intelligence. It is a great privilege to have served on the Senate Select committee on intelligence and to see up close the great work done by all the members of the staff and their supporters. I will admit however the view is different down here than from up there. I recall many days sitting up there looking to whoever was down here and say im glad i knocked down there. Well, here i am a grade i would like to begin by thanking President Trump for nominating me for the position. Im humbled by his confidence in me and i will work tirelessly to believe what i believe and most believe is the finest intelligence enterprise in the world. I would like to also thank the Vice President , my indiana colleague and someone im honored to cali amhonored to cas support. I deeply appreciate his faith in me. Id also like to acknowledge the work of the previous gmi. Christie 69 jim clapper and stephanie sullivan. The stewardship of the community over the past years has been commendable and the guidance and helping me to prepare for the position has been most helpful. Ththey left in place and experience in the team that has beebut hasbeen instrumental in a smooth transition for the odni. And also i want to recognize my fellow hoosiers who elected me several times in the house of representatives and to the senate in the past year. Ive always done my best to represent them and i i am honod by the confidence that theyve put in place time and time again and while i will always be a hoosier at heart if confirmed as the next director o director ofl intelligence, i will represent the dedicated men and women of the office of the director of National Intelligence and the broad Intelligence Community to the best of my ability. Finally, saving the best for last, i would like to thank my wife, marcia, my children were here today. Together my children have produced according to our observation, ten almost perfect grandchildren. My career in Public Service is a direct reflection of my families support and love and without their encouragement i wouldnt be sitting today. Its been a long road of Public Service thats brought me here today. After 34 years of service in the house and senate and as ambassador to germany, i was ready to make a transition and planned to mov move onto on to t chapter of my lifelong journey back home again to indiana. But as ive learned over those 34 years, life doesnt always work out the way you think it is going to work out. Ive been called upon to consider the positio position mt console to play most important advisor my wife marcia as i examined the responsibilities of such a significant office. As a former teacher and family therapist, she understands me probably better than anybody, and the importance of Public Service. She is the rock that provides stability an and counsel, shoulr to shoulder with me in every aspect of my life. While im no longe i am no longg from Public Service but i am retiring as i sit here today is my policy had. A hat i wear proudly as they represent the views of my constituents, offer policy proposals, judgments and cast votes in the committee and on the floor. It will be replaced but if confirmed they will put on a new one. Just as the government transitions to a new leadership i also hope to transition to the role of principal intelligence adviser to the president and all the duties that come with it. In this role wil it will be my responsibility to present the president senior policymakers throughout the administration that views a congres the congree most objective, nonpolitical and timely intelligence as you consider policies in the future for the greatest nation. The president and i have personally discussed my potential role as his principal intelligence advisor, and we both recognized this position is frequently the bearer of imprisoned to be too unpleasant news. If confirmed, my responsibility to provide him the most accurate and objective political intelligence possible. In my various conversations with many of you prior to this hearing i was asked about how i see the larger role. Those that know me, and saxby reference time and avid sports fan and evermore in this past year as i celebrated the seemingly impossible accomplishment of the chicago cubs after 108 years of effort winning the world series. Allow me to compare how i see my role using not a baseball analogy that if but if a tall. On a football tea team but plays are guided by a variety of coaches to see them standing along the sidelines and wonder how many there are. One time i counted and thought there were 17 and thought that meant something relative to the number of agencies we work after. There is a coach for offense, defense, special teams, the offense is whoffense of mine goe line to the quarterback and on and on it goes. But every team has a head coach and that leader walks to sidelines and though not dictating to the assistant coach out to do their specific job pulls each of specialists together to form a seamless and focused team. I see the role of the director as a analogous to the head coach role for the Intelligence Community integrating and leveraging all the expertise of the committee. We have immense talent rather than the agencies across the icy. Each one contributes unique capabilities of expertise necessary for a team to be as a whole successful. Unique access of our human intelligence sources and the Detailed Analysis from the Central Intelligence agency the important input from the Defense Intelligence agency, the expertise of the National Security agency which i believe is second to none. The spatial mastery demonstrated by the National Geospatial intelligence agency, the acquisition proficiency of the satellite specialists at the National Reconnaissance office, the force multiplier, the intelligence elements of the Armed Services bringing to the team effort, the domestic counterterrorism and counterintelligence work done by the federal bureau of investigation and the specialized skills of the elements rather than in the departments of state treasury, justice, Homeland Security and energy. Like a head coach, i see it as my job to pull all the team members together under the same game plan to produce the best coordinated and integrated intelligence we can find to make it of the parts. Given the complicated threat environment that we face in the country and around the world now more than ever they must work as a team. The threats we face today are more challenging, dynamic and diffuse than ever before. Allow me to address in no particular order what i see as the most challenging issues we face, and i could spend a lot of time on this so i will abbreviate and talk about only a few. The rising Cyber Threats must be highlighted. Cyberspace is a resource and liability and increasingly connected world that creates tremendous opportunities and also many vulnerabilities. Not unrelated i would also highlight the threat of radical islamic terrorism which continues to be a significant threat to the United States and its allies abroad. They are spreading a message of fear and hate through cyberspace in mobilizing the venues beyond the selfdescribed caliphate. Chinas continued regional activism including the disputed territorial claims is troubling and will be a longterm challenge for the United States. States. Russias assertiveness and Global Affairs is something i look upon with grave concern, which we need to address with eyes wide open and a healthy degree of skepticism. In north Koreas Nuclear ambitions and quite frankly publications are something the Intelligence Community needs to be laser focused on. The list continues with challenges including those of iran, syria, afghanistan and other hotspots around the world. In order to address these threats, i will bring my years of experience on how to execute on the plan and bring together teams of people for a common goal. As the ambassador to germany from 2001 to 2005, i oversaw the activity of more than a dozen federal agencies at the american embassy. I trust that my experience is coordinating and integrating that many departments and agencies overseeing their activities, leveraging the strength and bringing them together under a single strategy that will serve me well as bni. As a member of congress in both the house and senate i always had a keen interest as hopefully you know in ensuring that we are responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. In evaluating federal programs i always made it a point to ask questions about what works and what doesnt and why. I also believed it was important to assess how we establish priorities. We must ask ourselves in a time of tight budgets with programs are truly essential and which may no longer be necessary or only partly necessary or lower priority and how does each Program Support our overall goal or strategy and is it duplicate of another effort . I will be looking to ask these and many more questions if confirmed. In the vein of efficiency there has been much discussion about the role of the dni in office. Let me share what ive learned in preparation for this opportunity. Over the past 12 years since its inception, the odni has been tasked with a variety of responsibilities in statute, many in statute and executive orderorders and president ial memoranda along with recommendations coming from a the 9 11 commission in the commission of the wmd. The people supporting these directives are hard working folks from all across the icy and ive noted significant portions on rotation from other agencies. As you know also, the mc tc, an organization of 750 people created by the law enacted in 2005 is counted in tha the numbe have purchased less than 2,000 less than a third of the number of members from the Armed Services so that may put it in some perspective. It was established to counter the stove piping by the individual agencies and to ensure collaboration and integration across the intelligence elements. People who are supporting these directives are hard working folks from all across the ic. Odni brings together talent from across the community to integrate intelligence to connect the dots. Not just specific dots from specific agencies and special teams but in keeping with my earlier football analogy, you cant play a complete game with just a star quarterback and wide receiver. Maybe the new york patriots can pull that off once in a while but i dont think it happens very often. In the past, strong offensive line, special teams and a talented placekicker with other players to be the best in the business. Not every player on the Football Team is to be the mvp. But they are a team nonetheless and everyone plays a critical role. When we succeed, we succeed as a team and if we come up short, we fail as a team and we use that experience to address it so it doesnt happen again. As i look at the requirements of the office reflected in various walls, orders and recommendations ive been impressed by the responsiveness to these tasks within the reasonable resources that they have. Recent commentary and the size of the odni doesnt mesh with what ive seen firsthand and i believe it is a disservice to the committee and your efforts to keep the size of the odni in check which is your obligation and my obligation. That said as i discussed earlier, i believe every Government Agency must review its operations and i will be taking a look at not only the office of the odni that the entire to see how we can do things more efficiently and effectively. We dont have a choice. Much has been made publicly about the role of the intelligence enterprise and how it will fare in the future. Im encouraged by what i see with a Leadership Team in place at the agencies i know the community will continue as the worldclass intelligence enterprise it is today. Before going to questions, let me share with you the goal but if confirmed i will share. I intend to push it to be the best it can and cannot accept the status quo when it comes to the challenges facing the nation. I intend to ask to be innovative in the approach to hard problems and solutions to solve them. We intend to be a champion for the hardworking men and women, to be there for them in the ladies were here for all of us. Every day for men and women are working tirelessly on the front lines often in the shadows, often times in dangerous situations with a common goal of keeping america safe and secure. I also intend to work with all of you as a former member of the committee to ensure you that they havthey have the support is to tackle whatever the opposing teams bring our way and to ensure the congress and the committee have access to the information you need to conduct your oversight responsibilities. I am honored by the opportunity to be here today and thank you for your consideration of my nomination and with that, i look forward to answering questions. I will recognize members in order of seniority for fiveminute rounds. For those that need, we will havit, we willhave a followup r members of timing we will go from the open hearing immediately when complete to a closed hearing for whatever period thats my take and that will be in our normal hearing room. With that, let me recognize myself for five minutes. You had a good deal with retirement. You were really excited, 34 years. Now you have agreed to get a job as many have called thankless. Why . Ive been asked this question many times every step of the journey. The response always comes down to a sense of duty. When asked to serve the country, whether it was in uniform were chided for two years or whether it was in the congress or as ambassador to run for the senate again after quite a hiatus and then to say yes to this child, i was reminded of the phrase that runs through my mind. I dreamt and believe that life was a beauty and i think that is what i was looking forward to. I awoke and found it is so i believe when asked by your leader of the country to serve the country again, the answer needed to be yes. I note you understand wealthy and your experience in the committee how valuable the role of intelligence can beat the oversight process. If asked by the committee would you provide the intelligence on a product and assessments . I absolutely believe that its my responsibility to provide what the committee needs to do to do its oversight properly. I noticed a in your statement you highlighted a position proficiency of the satellite specialists at the National Reconnaissance office. Im sure you probably agree however that the requirements in the Development Process for the satellite is in need of significant reform. Will you work with the committee to streamline the process to make sure that we can more quickly get to the design, build and launch . It is in this rapid technological change and i believe now in 11 nations have the capacity to launch instruments into space. I was shocked the other day to read the nation of india on one rocket launch deposited more than 100 satellites in space. They may be small in size for different functions that one rocket could send i think 111 platforms. We cannot afford to be behind the curve in terms of development of both the offensive and the defense of capacities do we put up into space. For streamlininthe streamliningn process is not something that should be done. It is an utmost necessity that it has to be done. Way the vote on the data came out on mccain amendment, i was one of the few who did not support that amendment. I will follow the law in every aspect, regardless of what my personal thoughts maybe. I only have one reservation, i could not reconcile in my mind, and i did not vote no because i did not think that is where we needed to go, i thought we needed a discussion about what do you do in a situation when you have the necessary intelligence to know that something terrible will happen to the American People in a short time, and you have a legitimate individual who can tell you where that biological material is and you do not have time to go through the process that the Army Field Manual requires. Said, i saying as i took off my policy hat and im not engaged in that process, i follow the law and ensure that the ic follows the law and absolutely to answer your question. I think it is worth discussing, relative to the situation that may occur where we may have to hopefully, with some special authority, may have to go outside that. I do not have a prescription for that and i will not advocate for that, i am trying to define what it was going through my mind when that amendment came up. I thought we needed more discussion. That was on the policy side. That hat is gone. You intend to ask the Intelligence Community to be innovative in its approach to heart problems. Hard problems. I have been pushing them to innovate for many years and look forward to working with you in supporting this endeavor to change the ic community that looks forward with innovation as an opportunity. As has many on this committee. I turned to the vicechairman. Thank you and let me echoes what the german has said about what thelites chairman has said about the satellites, we have to make changes and make much more future oriented and recognizes both other nations moving in and tremendous areas within the commercial space so i appreciate your answer within that. As i mentioned, i want to get you back on the record on a couple of items that are important. An issue ofart with great importance to me and i believe this committee, that is our current investigation into the russian hacking attempts. Do you promise to fully and completely cooperate with the committees investigation of the Russian Election hacking, including by turning over all requested cables, intelligence products, and other materials to the committee as probably as possible . Sen. Coats it is our responsibility to provide you access to all you mentioned. Do you plan to continue investigations the ic is carry out or may carry out regarding russias active measures, especially as they refer to interference and in elections in our country or countries around the world . Sen. Coats this is something that needs to be investigated and addressed, i have not seen the classified information and as my colleagues may or may not you lose your classification when you leave the senate and have to start over at zero. It took much longer than the anticipated and so i received it last thursday. I was in indiana last week trying to close things down to return here and i have not had the opportunity to be briefed on what the classified version of that investigation has come up with. Yes,swer to your question, russia has a long history of propaganda in trying to influence various nations cultures and elections, it is happening in europe as we speak. They seem to have stepped up their game. They are using sophisticated methods they did not have before. That wekey issue understand fully what has happened. And how it is happened. And have a full report. Produceske sure the ic the intelligence access you need to do your job. I appreciate your answer. One of the Core Functions of the ic and you will have to coordinate this as the analogy back to the coach, of making sure you speak truth to power. You have a remarkable background , but you will be the first dni who was not career military, career intelligence, or a career professional diplomat. , bringing mike pompeo more of a political or policy advocate, how will you ensure that the Intelligence Community will continue to provide unvarnished assessments to the president and his administration, regardless of politics . Sen. Coats that is our responsibility and that is my primary responsibility which is to make sure the Intelligence Community knows what our standards are and what we can do and what we can do. I want to make it clear to all elements of the Intelligence Community that our job is to do our job. Our job is not to formulate policy or influence intelligence in any way for political reasons. Our job is to present the truth. To those who make policy decisions about where we go. I will not tolerate anything that falls short of that standard. The german raise the issue the chairman raise the issue around the u. S. Army field manual on interrogation. I would point out that every day, in one form or another, the military deals with some form or another of socalled ticking time bombs scenario. Haslieve general mattis appropriate reported out he would not stray from the Army Field Manual because he feels the enhanced interrogation techniques do not work. I would hope that you would echo what you said, you would commit to following the law and not an effort to change the law. Sen. Coats i have no other obligation except to follow the law. I greatly respect the views of john mccain who is not only who not only understands this but is subject to it, and general mattis and his years of experience. Ive expect both of them respect both of them and look forward to working and talking with them but the goal is clear and the law is clear. Following what the law is is my primary responsibility and i will adhere to that. Senator rich . I do not have any questions for you, you set here and i know what your decision is life and we wrestled with some death decisions and i know what your analysis is like. I have confidence. A great appointment by the president. Thank you and marcia for agreeing that you could do this job. America appreciates it. Thank you for your willingness to do it. Sen. Coats i have been looking at that empty chair. Who died . [laughter] it is senator rubios chair. Sen. Coats i hope he is not watching cspan. I will not comment on the trade. They are remodeling your office, it is next to my on the fourth floor, it is a map mess. The coats did you seize room . I did not. Senator wyden . Good to see my former finance Committee Partner in the cause of bipartisan tax reform. I was baffled and all the football, the hoosiers, my game, basketball. In january of 2017, the Intelligence Committee issued a written assessment that Vladimir Putin and the russian government developed a clear preference for president elect trump. Utins preferences, how will you show our allies with elections coming up, that the Intelligence Community will support them against russian efforts to influence their elections . , russiats as i said has a long history of doing this although they stepped up their game and are using more sophisticated tactics. Seeno said that i have classified versions of this. I think it is publicly known and acknowledged and accepted that russia definitely did try to influence the campaign. To what extent they were successful, i do not think they were we know. Informing our allies of what we have experienced and what they will experience, gives them the ability to better understand what the russian efforts are. I think the transparency of what has happened is necessary for the American People so that when they make adjustments about future future elections, they understand that there are outside forces trying to influence them in one way or another. I do think this is an issue that should be looked at carefully. Response. S to be a Vice President pence at the munich security conference, i was not there but read his remarks, said there needs to be consequences for rep the russians did for what the russians did. Because people are concerned about what happened to us and it will happen to them, that you will make intelligent sharing with these countries a priority. Sen. Coats i think that is already being done and needs to be done. I wanted to hear it from you but we will move on. Confirmed, theif reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would be your top legislative priority. For years, i and members of congress have been asking for an estimate of how many innocent lawabiding Americans Communications are getting swept up in this collection. Will you commit to getting this number to this committee and the public before reauthorization . Sen. Coats yes, i do, i will do everything i can to work with admiral rogers and nsa to get to that number. I have been told it is a complex process for a number of reasons. Without a classification, i do not know what the reasons are and i need to learn the reasons. I also need to share with admiral rogers the need to get this committee, not just those numbers, but all the information they need to make a judgment as to the reauthorization. The Intelligence Community believes the reauthorization is extremely important. Provided ahat has significant amount of intelligence, relative to what Foreign Agents or individuals are trying to do to harm americans. Oversight at of all three levels of government. By thebeen examined privacy Civil Liberties board, overseeing board. It is supported by the fisa court. But this is something you will be going to this next year and we want to make sure you have the information you feel you need to make whatever adjustments the congress decides to make. You will commit to making sure we have the number of innocent americans being swept up before reauthorization . What you commit to declassifying any secret legal interpretations related to fisa . Sen. Coats that is something i will have to continue to work with you on. I will commit to doing everything i can to try to get to that number and i need to find out why it has taken so long, what are the complications in getting the number. I think it is important this is the classification sen. Coats as long as it does classification, if there are sensitive the sources of methods that could be exposed , that have negative consequences to our intelligence agencies, we have to classify those but those weekend de classified, we need to. If i could take a few more seconds. I point is i appreciate what senator coats is trying to say, we need that number, we have sought it for years. More and more americans are getting swept up in the searches. We are trying to legitimately go after foreign targets that are a threat but as Telecommunications Systems become globally integrated, we are getting more lawabiding american swept up, so we need that number. Look forward to working with you. Back, senator coats, we are delighted to see you. As the author, along with former senator joe lieberman, of the w that created the nest director of National Intelligence, i have a special interest in your nomination. I am delighted that the president has chosen you for this important position. I believe he could not have made a better choice. About thetalk to you importance of the dni serving as the law provides, as the principal intelligence advisor to the president. Reportscerned about that the president has changing is changing the composition of the socalled Principals Committee on the national Security Council by adding his chief strategist and downgrading, or so it appears, the role of the director of National Intelligence. How will you ensure you can fulfill the statutory mandate to serve as the president s top intelligence adviser at national Security Council meetings, if this proposed reorganization goes forward . Sen. Coats that is a question i have been addressing directly with the president and his staff. I was informed that the dropping of that executive order was not intended to not have the director of National Intelligence as part of the principal committee. President fore by the the president Bush Administration before the dni was stood up. It took language from that, never intending not to have the dni be part of the Principals Committee, i have been reinsured time and time again from the president to his advisers that i am welcome and needed and expected to be a part of the Principals Committee. It is essential to the process of being in a position to know what is moving on up to the national Security Council. Relative to the team. I have great confidence in general mcmaster and terms of his putting together a team that he knows will be the most nsc team he cant and relative to who is added or not added to the team will be under his jurisdiction and that i have great confidence that he will put that team in place that he thinks can best serve the president. Thank you. That is very reassuring since i onnot imagine the deputy dni the Deputies Committee and not having the dni on the Principals Committee which needs to resolve issues that are of the highest level that the deputies could not resolve. Shortly the president should want to have his principal advisor on Intelligence Matters present at the very important meetings as. Sen. Coats i wasnt sure that was the intent i was told that was the intent. The second issue i want to raise with you is that president an individuald who runs a private equity firm to lead a broad review of the u. S. Intelligence agencies. As far as i can tell, this individual does not have National Security experience, nor does he appear to have experience in intelligence. As you are well aware, the president can receive independent advice from the president s intelligence Advisory Board which can provide outside of five regarding a full range of intelligence activity. ,o have this additional review particularly from an individual who does not appear to have the requisite background, appears to be a textbook definition of waste and duplication. Statement, you talk to very eloquently about the to bringility the dni the intelligence agencies together to review and make sure they are working effectively. And efficiently. My concern is that an outside review by an individual without experience can result in recommendations that are essentially armchair quarterback quarterbacking of the leadership of the Intelligence Community. Do you look at it as your job to review the operations of the Intelligence Committee . Sen. Coats i do and i made that clear to the president and his advisers that is where i stand. As i said, every agency needs to review its self, particularly at a time when Budget Resources are restrained. At any time, whether they are or not, we need an efficient government. In terms of looking at that and assigning someone to that position, if it involves the Intelligence Community, i think it needs to be under my authority and i made that clear. I believe that is what the case will be. I know mr. Feinberg and think he is a patriot and wants to serve his country. He brings many talents. I do not think that translates into reporting to the white house. And not being under the control office. Ational security the dni, isorry, should have it down pretty well. I want to assure you that is an issue i have been engaged in and apple confidence that that is the way it will turn out. Thank you very much and i wish you the best. Welcome back. Sen. Coats thank you. I want to go back to what senator collins covered. I think most of us agree with your analogy and want you to be the head coach. We are concerned that sometimes the owner of the team may rather hear from me offensive coordinator right now. Some of these things with regards to the executive order, with mr. Feinberg, the appointment of director of the cia to the committee, they open a love of questions for how you are going to maintain dnis leadership role and the structure that has served the Intelligence Community so well after a time when we really realized i want to make sure i understand what you said to senator collins. Do i understand that the executive order that came out that seem to remove the dni from the Principals Committee was a recycled Bush Administration executive order that did not reflect current law and historical president . That is my understanding but i was not there and had no participation. That is my understanding. I cannot fully say that is what exactly happened. What has been told to me is that the intent was never to not have the dni as part of the Principals Committee and they they werethat thinking there may be an occasion where the committee is dealing with something that does not involve intelligence, perhaps a flood. You would not be forced to a ituation we want to be am reassured with regard to your position, i am not reassured to the process that these executive orders have been going through, given what i see as a pretty enormous admission. Issue move on to another with regard to encryption. We have had this conversation a lot when you are on the committee, something you will have to deal with, and evolving situation moving forward. Nsa director at the rogers called encryption the foundation to the future and secretary carter called encryption withutely essential regards to the department of defense and said, i am not a believer of backdoor or a single technical approach to what is a complex and complicated problem, i am just not. I do not think that is realistic and not technically accurate. Other former ic leaders, Michael Chertoff and others have all made public statements of strong support for strong encryption. Opposition to socalled backdoors because of the risks inherent to them, do you believe that strong encryption is an essential tool for the American Public and private sectors to protect personal, business, Financial Data from hackers, criminals, and malicious governance governments . Sen. Coats yes i do, Government Entities are aware of attempts to break into systems that deal with defense, financial resources, any number of things. Encryption has a very positive effect and is needed. We have the responsibility of trying to understand what those who are not using the internet for the right purposes. By two to be separated wide oceans and thought we were safe and can always be ready for something coming our way. In fractions of a second now someone can hit a button and cause incredible damage to the United States in many ways all across the spectrum. There are those occasions when whento think about we have Legal Authority to address a situation where we need to get information, cooperation from the Public Sector would be helpful. That conversation would needs to continue, the ceos of companies that are making devices and guaranteeing their buyers encryption, they worry about their families and their communities, they worried about attacks on the United States. I am not in a policy position to decide how this happened i do think it needs to be an ongoing discussion among policymakers in terms of what legal authorities. In the end, we follow the law, regardless of personal opinions. Thank you. Great to have you back and great to have been on this committee with you and know that and, in an important many ways, unique sense of these issues. Also, we have watched as a committee and is a congress, the whatperation grow beyond at least i initially thought it would be. As you have had a chance to think about this, why do you think that has happened . And how much is a result of the congress taxing the dni with specific assignments, rather than letting the dni letting each agency decide who should have that assignment. How does your review of the other agencies involved a review of what the director of National Intelligence, and that entire operation, under your daily management would look like . Sen. Coats i have been asked asking that same question in regards to this. I have found that statutory requirements, executive orders, directives, have added functions to the dni that are mandated either congress or the executive branch. , i think people do not understand thatnctc nctc is part of the dni with 750 employees. I do not hear anybody calling for not having an nctc. But by statute, it was made part of the dni. 40 ave rotations that come, of the people are rotated through, much like what the military has tried to do with their joint exercises. They want navy to serve with the army at a certain point and the air force at a certain point so they are familiar with the whole. And can perform better service, they are not so fight. Stovepipe. It is more complicated than just the number, 1750 people, why do we need that many . Those factors have played a major role in that. Having said that, it does not mean we cannot take a hard look at that, how can we streamline and be more effective . Simply taking a number of people here and putting them over there does not change the dynamic, if the reason they are here is for integration process, coordinating process. To finish my remarks, if you will integrate information that is coming from 16 different agencies, you have to have numbers from some of those functions that know what is coming so that they can be part of the integration solution. Do you think that the congress has rightly or wrongly created all those specific assignments for the dni, as opposed to letting the dni determine who had the assignment, or making a assignment to one of these is difficult agencies that specific agencies, knowing the dni what have oversight . Sen. Coats probably a good question to ask senator collins, her intent initially was to work through the process of becoming law. About an interesting book what that 2. 5 years was like in order to achieve that. Many times we have a vision and we have our staff right to do law law write it up into and we sometimes do not recognize it when it comes back with the decisions that have been made to make adjustments so certain entities have this authority and that authority. In the airme fog about the exact authorities of the dni. Clearly, see her overseer, clearly defined authorities but not dealing with their operation. Topic, nobody is in a better position to work with the relevant committees of congress to try to go back and take a look at the law, what it was intended to do, what has it achieved, the advice you may have as you have a chance to look at this from both perspectives of what the next dni may be able to deal with because of performance and efficiencies that you build in while you have this job. I look forward to you being a part of this committees activities for the next several years. Sen. Coats 12 years on and probably time to look at it and see what works and what doesnt and why and what changes we 10 make to make it be better. I would like that to be your major goal. Sen. Coats that is one of my major goals. Thank you. Senator coates, i would take issue of your analogy, i can assure you that the assistant coaches of the new England Patriots would be astonished to think that Bill Belichick is as passive as he would portray him. You have to be more aggressive. This is not a passive role. To my only on concern about your nomination. You are one of the most likable, affable, easygoing people i have ever met. I like traveling and working with you on this committee. Sure likability and stability are the qualities i want in this position, i want some of, mean, tough, because you are writing on 17 agencies that want to go in different directions. You will be reporting to a president who may or may not want to hear what you have to say. That not only me are you changing hats when you go into this job, but you are going to be hard in terms of i thinkcution of this, the second most important job in the United States government right now . The level achieving of Bill Belichick may be tough, i have never seen any nfl coach achieve his level. Attitude and success. Sen. Coats i fear what you are saying and i think the Office Demand it and the times demand it. We are clearly we are not in a passive situation from a world threat standpoint. It has reached the level that we cannot afford not to go at this with everything we have. To put a point on this, the three most serious foreignpolicy mistakes in my lifetime are the bay of pigs, vietnam, and the invasion of configuringsed on intelligent to meet the desires of the policymakers. That is the Common Thread that runs through. The pressure on you to try to meet the demands of the and it just happened on saturday when allegedly beat donald trump administration, the white house, put pressure on the department of Homeland Security intelligence and analysis to come up with a justification for the travel ban, rather than asking what is the story on people from these countries. They gave them the answer and said, give us the evidence. Have you heard about this incident that was just reported this past weekend . Sen. Coats i read that in public media, yes . Does that concern you . Sen. Coats as i said, what i will tell the president and executive ranch, you need to fully understand my role which is to provide you with intelligence to formulate policy, not formulate policy, not be a spokesperson for any political decisions that are made. Clear, ive made this will continue to make this clear, i cannot go outside the bounds of my authorities. I believe those authorities have me doing that. Do you need this job . Sen. Coats i do not. One of the benefits of being in your generation as i look at the panel i dont know what youre talking about. [laughter] sen. Coats we go back to the bay of pigs and vietnam. If we have not learned anything from these incidents, shame on us. That is right and i want to to remember, there will be a moment when you have to say, i do not need this job, because i am being asked to do something i should not do. I am not predicting that could happen, this is not about this president or any other president , this has happened over the cost 40 years. A couple of questions on National Security. I do not know where the language came from but it says that, you are invited where incidences pertaining to the dni responsibility and expertise to be discussed, i cannot imagine a place where that will not be the case. You said if it is a problem, we will fix it, it should be fixed now, you should not be welcome at these meetings, you should be part of these meetings. I would urge you to talk to the white house about this executive order that was issued barely a week after the president was in office about correcting that fault. The second fault in that was to put steve bannon, the president political advisor on to the national Security Council. I understand that president bush forbade karl rove from going to national Security Council meetings, let alone and being on it. I hope you will take that message, admiral mullen says this is politicizing intelligence from a National Security National Security from the beginning and i think that is bad practice. Sen. Coats i will take the message back to the president. Thank you. It is great to see you. I satr kings concerned, next to you for a couple of years, and i found it to be an unpleasant human being on many occasions. [laughter] everyone who knows you knows that is not true and we are grateful you are continuing to serve our country. The three topics i want to touch, this unusual situation we now have regarding counterintelligence in particular, this synergy that combines the strategic placement of illegally accessed manymation, the use of organisms under the control of Foreign Governments, sputnik and the like. There has always been an element of propaganda in politics but the synergy between propaganda, counterintelligence, for purposes of interference and, influencing, manipulating, policymaking in Foreign Countries has reached a level that, in many places, in europe and i believe in the United States, is unique. You may have touched on this earlier, this is a challenge that is different from what we have been dealing with in the Intelligence Community over the last decade and sent post 9 11. Not just that Foreign Governments have intelligence agencies that target us, but that they strategically use information potentially to have influence over our policymakers and policymaking, and potentially elections. , how do youamic view the multiple different agencies synergize and all of that to confront this new element i still think we are grappling with . Sen. Coats i did mention earlier that the advances in technology have raised the games of those who want to use those techniques. Of the worldion and the links through a worldwide internet have been marvelous advances for mankind. They have extreme vulnerabilities also and can be taken advantage of. We need to educate our public to these types of things are happening so that, and they are factoring in, their decisions relative to government and governments functions and elections. They are well aware of the fact that they cannot believe everything they hear, and everything they read. There are these efforts to undermine who we are as a ,ountry, undermine our values cause us to lose confidence in our governments ability to protect their privacy, etc. I do think that requires much more agility. Much better means of intercepting these and putting not only defenses in place but a response and so those who do this note there are consequences. Given the fact this touches upon the Intelligence Community so heavily, this tension between allowing the American Public and our allies to understand what is happening, and yet allowing the Intelligence Community to continue to work in ways that do not divulge more than is necessary. That tension is always there and an important part of the element we should take into account moving forward. In many ways, one of the greatest offenses towards any effort to interfere with our political process from outside the country would be to allow the American People to be as aware as much as possible of what the efforts entail so they understand the source and motivation behind things they may be reading, seeing, etc. Throughout the process and i think that will be a big challenge for the Intelligence Community and i think you have a key role in synergize in that across the different agencies. The second issue i want to talk about is our detention policy. I am troubled by the direction it has taken. An opensource reporting say that a number of former gitmo detainees have rejoined the fight against us and american citizens have been killed. What is your view of our detention policy and do you have use about what you would advise the president in terms of how we should what our detention policy for terrorists and him and he enemy combatants should be in the new administration . Withcoats i have traveled sen. Burr other members of the these questions have been asked of intelligence agencies in terms of what has happened to those that have been released from guantanamo, are they running a starbucks in yemen or have a rejoined the fight . A significant percentage of those cap rejoin the fight. Have rejoined the fight. Place that canin look at the situation and make these determinations as to who may or may not be released. This is an ongoing conflict. The last thing we want to do is have tell the American People we are sending someone back to become once again our adversary. I have been a supporter of the tension, the tengion, which i ntion which is done in a lawful way. Sending everybody home is not a solution. I believe the last starbucks and yemen closed last week. On a serious matter, robert levinson, the former fbi agent disappeared from iran in 2007 and believed wylie to be held by iran, elements of the iranian government, he and his family are from florida, i would ask you to help locate him and bring him home. , andcoats in my closing the senate, i was also advised why someone else put in a similar situation, this one in turkey, our office have been trying to determine what the basis of this was to get him released. I am well aware of the situation. From a more personal basis, in terms of our needing to address these issues. Im new to this committee and we are trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible. I think i would first ask, i think the question was asked to you by Ranking Member about would you be able to turn over the information and make sure we had access to that information and you said that was your intent. Do you have the authority to make sure if if were getting what we consider slow rolled, do have you that authority to make sure we are able to have that access, whether it be any 1 of the 17 agencies to conduct a full investigation. Yes. I hope i said more than intent. Thats my authority, my obligation. You have the question or no . Timely is the equation here. And it needs to be given to you completely, timely, unvarnished. So we can count on that . Yes, you can. A lot of people are frustrate frustrated. Yes, you can. I have no intention to hold anything back from this committee that they need. In 2004 when the dni was created, who lost faith, who lost confidence . Why did we need the dni to be formed . Have you evaluated that . I have. Ive done evaluation and reading and discussions with members and some of those who were part of that process from the beginning. I served with both senator leiberman, senator collins, and i know their role in this and others. We didnt reduce any of the 17 agencies. We still have the 17 agencies. What happen said this socalled stove type process. Pipe type process. They werent sharing information. Everyone put out their own. Some dismissed. We had more faith in this agency than that agency. You didnt get a complete picture. I view this as making a puzzle. You got 17 pieces that all need to come together. You want input from those 17 to be put in the right place but you want that all to come together in into one picture. Will there be dissenting views in there . Yes. Dissenting views from this agency or that agency or different views about the level of what the intelligence is, that you need to know that. But what the committee needs to know and what president and the customers and executive branch need to know is that to the best of our ability this integrated intelligence is provided to you by all 17 agencies pulling together every little piece of that puzzle. You think the 17 agencies believe have you the authority or the dni has that authority to remove them, remove that director . Or take an extremely strongly by the president for that person to be remove fed they arent doing their job . Taken to the president , these are president iallyappointed positions. What im saying, thats who they are answering to . Thats their boss . Well there is collaboration and other authorities, we add discussion with that earlier. About the initial views of those who are putting it together and were for various reasons a modified as it moved itselves through legislative process. Over the executive branch, you know, coming in and making recommendations. You think with all of the additional news media, the social media, everything going on today on the internet, socalled fake news, if you will, do you think the dni has a responsibility to speak up and say this is hog wash . This has no credibility to this whatsoever, for the American Public to figure out what is real and not real . We have a role to provide intelligence. But making decisions relative to policy, and we can make analysis to provide to you and our policy makers but it was mentioned earlier truth to power. Our job is to provide the truth. And power goes to those people who are in a position to make those determinations, make policy, make corrects, make laws. Et cetera. And thats what we bring to you. Were not spokesmen. You dont believe the socalled New York Times article whether what side people might be on that you should give any clarity from the dni . We provide that information. I dont envision myself as going on cnn every night and saying here is what we have done. I envision giving that information to policy makers. Many identified russia, china, iran and north korea to the top of the United States have you chosen one who you think is our top Security Threat . This is an all of the above category. Given the diverseity of threats we have. I mentioned early on that cyber, because it effect almost everything we do in this country, in terms of peoples safety, financial, commercial, our national defense, intellectual property, on and on you can go. Most capable you are concerned about . You know, i would like to take that to closed session. I have strong thoughts about that. Thats fair. Thats fair. That could turn into something we need to do in closed session. Thats fair. Thank you for your continued service and willingness to serve. Thank you. Senator lankford . Dan, great to see you again. Good to be on that side of the desk. You cant get up when you need to. Take a call. You are stuck. Great to see you. I want to follow up on a conversation that senator king had with you. I have the same line of questioning to close the loop on. Youre one of the nicest people ive ever met. Thank you. And that is to your credit. Not only to your faith and your family, but the people you have served for a long time. But i really want the dni to be able to be tough when it requires to be tough. And to be clear when there is time to be clear. Because the policy makers around you need clarity, need straightforward facts and i need the fact that they know they can trust and we will deal with nice in the hallway when we grab a bottle of water together and get the chance to chitchat. But i need to hear clarification from you again, that when the moment comes, and its crunch time you can be as tough as you need to be. James, i think thats a senator, sorry. James is always good. You said such nice things about me. I just fell into our friendship. Thats ok. Senator, i absolutely understand that this role demands someone who can stand up to the pressures that will be placed upon him. Political pressures, we have 17 agencies. Not everyone will agree in terms of the way to go forward and there needs to be a director who can assert that authority. I have been blessed to have scott who backs me up with good wise counsel. But i recognize the need for that. Given the situation we are facing worldwide in terms of these threats, we dont have time to just be the nice guy. We have to go after it. I have often said to people in my state that say im too nice that i say i can say no with a smile. I know you can too as well. You are will be an area pushed on. Some pressure wont be just from policy makers around pup thereyou. There a tendency of us in the political world to somewhat chase the priorities of the headline of the latest news story and that becomes the ic priority. For many in the ic community, they saw the cyber issue a long time ago. The media is only recently catching up to real threats we face on cyber. One of the things we need from you in days ahead is to keep the agencies on focus to where the real threats are, not just where the meadeheadlines are. And a good for instance of this is, it is amazing to me how little we talk about narko terrorism any more and we have tens of thousands of them that die through either the trafficking individuals of drugs or from overdoses as a result of that, that are americans dying all the time. And it is one of the constant threats we have. But the news doesnt talk about it much any more. So it drifts to the background. You have the responsibility to make sure that it doesnt drift to the background among our Intelligence Community that we stay on focus ones that the that we face all the time and that when the issues come up we are on top of them. Let me ask you a strange question for us. When we get a chance to visit together, will we still be able to talk about the coats waste of the week . Will you still focus in on an area i found that we need to resolve. You know as much of us do on this dais, if there are things that need to be fixed, there is some other entity that sees it but the practitioners in the agency actually see the problem. We need help in oversight part of it that when you see something in any of the 17 entities or your own office, can you help us be able to see some of those things as well to know what it fix legislatively . Yes, i intend to do that. I went some passion every week to the senate floor 55 times to assert the waste of the week. I have looked around a little bit and said maybe that fits a category. The week lets investigate that. Obviously i have to be confirmed before i start that process but im committed to doing that. I want itto reflect on what you said about the narcotic terrorism. You and i have talked about this personally. I think each of us with the experience talking to families who tragically lost a member of their family because of maybe 17yearold going to party and someone says here try this. And they end up in the hospital and many of them parish. It is a scourge cutting across america. Have you it in indian. We have it in our state and it is not something to ignore or push aside. It is undermining the very essence of this country. And it is, effecting families and communities in ways that havent made the headlines as much as they should. It has to be a component and intelligence does play a role in terms of how these things are brought into our country or within our country manufactured. Thanks, dan. Senator . Senator coats, i enjoyed our time together. Thank you, i did also. I know many colleagues raised the issue of the national Security Council. Im sure you agree is t is critically important in terms of National Security. As has been mentioned, president s executive order issued on january 28th, which basically put the director of National Intelligence in a place where he or you if confirmed would not be included necessarily in the national Security Council meeting and Principals Committee meetings. If confirmed as director of nci, do you believe it is critical to have a permanent role in those meetings. Yes. Have you led the president s staff know it needs to be modified . I have, and it hasnt been addressed yet, but i have been reassured over and over and over by the president and their staff that thats their intent and they expect me to be there. Have they given you the date it would be modified . Will it happen before your confirmation . They havent given me a date. I cant answer, i dont know of a particular date. My understanding that executive order was modified on january 30th. Correct. And modified to include the cia director. Is that correct . Correct. So you mentioned earlier that the executive order was something from the bush era that was resuscitated but modified since it was issued. You agreed to that, is that correct . I think the 30th i need to its been modified since issued under this administration. No, it has not been modified. When was the cia director added to that . That was part of the original no, it wasnt. Oh ok. The press conference statement. It was not a an action taken. Ok. Because i have a copy of that here. And it was added back to national Security Council. So the point is, that this bush era document has been modified since issued to include cia director but did not put back in ndi. I may be wrong in saying it was a bush era you indicated thats what administration told you. I said it was my understanding is that it was taken from an executive order taken under the Bush Administration and that was issued before there was this position of dni. And i have been told verbally that the intent was not to leave the dnis position off, just that apparently someone drafting that language didnt realize that language didnt include the di because there was no di that particular point in time. The bottom line is that i have full 100 confidence that i will be part of the Principals Committee. Yes, the my concern is not about, on this point about your qualifications, my concern is what environment youre walking into. Ok. And in particular if confirmed whether or not you will have a seat in that body. If the administration is telling you that it was some document that was issued at time gone by, we know that it has since been modified to include the cia. It did not include joint chiefs. And it has been replaced the position for which you are here to testify. So my concern is that there has been no indication or assurance given that you will, if confirmed, actually be a member of that body. And i would like to know from you, if that does not happen, are you prepared to still assume the responsibilities without the authority that you would have if you were a member of that body . Im fully prepared to assume responsibilities. Even if the executive order is not modified . Yes, i am. Ive been assured that i have the authority to be a member of that committee and be that committee and every one of its meetings. Wouldnt you agree the assurance would be sealed if the executive order is modified to indicate that the position that you now seek is actually entitled to be a part of all meetings that relate to National Security . As ive indicated before, im going to take that message to the administration that the question was raised here. Im perfectly comfortable with it because i trust them and i believe what they have told me and i intend to do this. Im concerned because it was said it came from the bush era. But i appreciate your service and your candor. Mr. Cotton . Thank you, dan, for once again answering the call of service. Thank you. Marcia, once again standing beside dan as the call of service. I congratulate you on your service. We have spoke about the challenges of integration all 17 agencies that you will face as dni. Youre obviously very familiar with them and familiar with the kind of intelligence products that each produce and priorities that they each have. Have you any thoughts on what actions can be taken in the very short run to make that process work more efficiently and to produce coherent picture for policy makers whaen isand what is happening in the world and as dni . In your role theres a lot i need to learn. I want to get acquainted with various leaders of the agencies. But as i have said before, given the nature of the threats that we face that we need to act sooner rather than later. I believe that getting the right people in place is what can best execute doctrine and in achieving goals you want to achieve. And so we will quickly, if confirmed, move into that mode of filling that up. I did recognize earlier on that previous leaders of the odni and the smooth transition that they have arranged by ep suring that theres continuity during this gap period, period of time. But this is one of the this rises to early responsibility. One of the original purposes of the odni was to take the desperate kind of intelligence collected, be it human intel intelligence, bank records, email telephone passenger manifest and synthesize them together to create a coherent picture. I think thats important function and still can play that function and part today. One thing i have heard on occasion from my visits to the various agency answersies and talking with their front line personnel is there have been bureaucratic mandates on the reporting requirements, hr requirements and so forth that get their core collectors or analysts out of the business of core collection and analyzing and spend too much of their time focused on fulfilling those bureaucratic mandates. Have you seen that in your preparation and do you have thoughts about that and how can you keep the constituent agencies of the ic focused on their original mission . Well, i havent had enough experience to evaluate that. I will certainly take that as an issue to address. But you know, without the confirmation, i havent had the opportunity to engage with the other 16 agencies except to begin to formulate some relationships with a few of them, starting with the director of Central Intelligence. Weve had a number of occasions to talk to each other and share what we think the concerns are and what we think we need to do. I think that is a very important relationship. Maybe the first important relationship. So we are already working to establish that. Thank you. Finally, you mention the Rob Silverman commission in your Opening Statement. That was a commission of expert task to recommend ways to ensure the Intelligence Committee is sufficiently authorized, organized, equipped, trained and resourced. What kind of lessons, if any, would you take away from that report . Not all of those recommendations were implemented. I think it is worth going back and looking at the original intent. Then the reports from Rob Silverman. They made a number of recommendations which were constructive. But i just think after 12 years or so, the agency clearly has evolved into what it is today. But taking a look back at where it was intended in the first place to go, and as i said, this was a compromised piece of legislation, like most splags legislation. It was interesting in the articles i was reading. Total of eight people who were in a position to make an assessment as to what exactly the authorities of the dni were and there were eight different answers. So i think that alone is a signal that we ought to perhaps go back and look and see if we want to make some adjustments to the law. That would have to be done in conjunction with the congress, of course. But at some point i think maybe sooner rather than later that would be something we ought to look at. Thank you, and congratulations again. Thank you. Senator cornyn. Senator coates. Congratulations. Thank you for answering the call to duty once more and particularly your wife marsha whos always supported you through your service. This is a great contribution and i want to thank you for that. I want to ask you about two subjects. One is to ask for your help in your new job once you become confirm. I would be concerned the foreign registration act which originally passed in 1938 needs to be updated. For example, we experienced during the time that Congress Passed a bill called the justice against sponsors of terrorism act that once congress voted man unanimously to pass that, the president vetoed it, congress overwrote his veto that a Foreign Government spent untold amount of money to try to lobby the United States congress. It troubled me because im not sure many people knew what the source of the funds or the source of the lobbying effort was. It just strikes me as really important, particularly in light of the russian activities that are going to be the subject of investigation here that we look at the Foreign Agent registration act to see if it needs to be updated so that congress and the public can see where money is coming from by Foreign Countries, perhaps hiring lobbyists on k street to try to influence domestic legislation. So id like to ask for your help to work on that. Well, you have that. I want to do that. I think more transparency needs to be offered to the public as to what this is and what this isnt. Absolutely. Absolutely. I want to go back to a comment that was made by one of our leagues, my friend from oregon, whos asked you to and others to produce the numbers of innocent americans swept up in intelligence gathering operations. I just want you to talk, if you will, briefly about all the various minimization procedures to suppress incidental or inadvertent communications. First of all, it is illegal to target american citizen. Correct . That is correct. Without a search warrant. That is correct. So what we are talking about primarily is targeting foreign intelligence persons overseas. 702 is specifically designed for that purpose. By the way, i was the director of the fbi as recently as yesterday in my presence referred to 702 as the crown jewels of the Intelligence Community. Would you agree with that characterization . I would and the Intelligence Community also sees it that way. The entire community. So we saw what happened over the course of the debate over the usa freedom act which ultimately i voted for, but im concerned that we not let the debate on the reauthorization of section 702 get caught up in that same sort of hysteria where some people were worried that their own government was spying on them when that decidedly was untrue. But thats history. But i want to make sure, given the importance of section 702, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to our Intelligence Community, that we make sure that we do everything possible, first to educate every are one so they understand what is authorized and what is not authorized, and then to work with the congress to come up with an orderly way to make sure that these crown jewels of the Intelligence Community, this section 702, is authorized. I want people to understand that people arent targeted, even Foreign Agents overseas, without court approval. And there is judicial review from time to time. There is oversight and review within the executive branch and heaven knows there is a lot of oversight here in the congress over this. As well as in the various intelligence agencies themselves. There are layers of protection to make sure that no american has to worry about their own government spying on them. In fact, every conceiveable effort is is being made to prevent that and protect the privacy rights of americans which we all agree is important. So i just ask for your continued help. Obviously you know a lot about the topic. But given the particular importance of the reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, that we Work Together early to try to educate people to try to better inform everybody involved so that they can be reassured that proper balance between privacy rights which we all agree are important, but National Security that exactly the right balance is struck. Well, senator, i couldnt agree with you more. My colleagues have heard me talk on when i was a member of the committee on finding that balance. I think from one end of the spectrum to the other end of the spectrum, we are all on the same page, that we cherish our private rights in this country. They are constitutionally provided to us. We wants to do everything we can to make sure those private rights are secure. But we also want to make sure and know the constitution provides for the common defense. We are under attack through a number of sources, whether through cyber or any other of a number of ways, United States is vulnerable to attack. And they want us to do everything we can to keep them safe. So finding that balance so that we dont take away private rights, and at the same time use the necessary tools to determine what the bad guys are trying to do. Thats important that we find that balance point so we can accomplish both of those. 702 is designed to go after for foreign bad guys. It is lawful collection. That that process, there is some incidental what is called incidental names of americans, potential names of americans, some bad guy might have on his laptop the names of 40 americans. And so if hes targeted for something, all of a sudden 40 american names, we put a process in place in devising this law that there is a minimization of this. I wont go into all the details of minimization because i cant explain it as well as other can. But it is a process that understands that were not targeting these people, but incidentally they came up, because they were on this guys email, or on his phone list. The level of oversight here is all three branches of government, and it is significant to try to secure those privacies. Theres a query practice, and that is. But all of these are authorized. All of these are under court review. And oversight review. And so this is such a critical tool. I think it deserves full transparency to the level that we can while still protecting sources and methods and classified information. We need to ensure that the public is not led into a situation where they think theyre, you know, in deference to my colleague from oregon, sweeping up information about them. We are trying to sort it out so we can find out if that bad guy in syria, or wherever, is talking to someone in the United States. We kind of want to know what theyre talking about. And so and there are processes there that protect rights and sort that down. Theres procedures to go to court. There are procedures to go to court. If content needs to be secured and you have to show probable cause and a court has to issue a warrant. All of that. All of that. I worried when i went back home on the issue of bulk collection and meta data. Now thats been resolved. 215 of the patriot act has been involved. We dont do that anymore. I was constantly asked by people back at home, what about this mega data . I said, no, its not mega data. Its meta data. No, its mega data. Theyre collecting everything on us. Theyre listening to all our calls. I asked then Keith Alexander who was head of the nsa, he said, well, if we were listening to everybodys calls wed have to hire 330 Million People to work 24 hours a day. Thats impossible. Were not. Were just trying to sort out the bad guys from the good guys. Now that is a discussion that we dont have to have. It is done, it is the law. Were following the law. We have a new system now. It would be up to policymakers if they want to make any adjustments to that. But the 702 is such a valuable law too many regarding what foreign bad people are trying to do to americans that i think the Intelligence Community feels very strongly about it. It is your decision. We need to provide you with the information that you need in order to make decisions as to how to go forward with this program. Im sorry, i went into a servant sermon mode there. Thats a little bit over the top. I used up your time. Your wife was giving you this that wouldnt be the first time, richard. Senator wyden has asked for one additional question. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I think we do need to clarify this 702 issue, because it is critical, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Lets stipulate that i and every member of the senate wants to go after the foreign threats, or as you correctly call them, foreign bad guys. No question about it. What has happened because communications have gotten so sophisticated in globally integrated, an indeterminate number of americans have their data being collected under section 702 and the government can then conduct searches for their communications without even a court order or even a particular suspicion. To step back from our twopart question, i asked if you would get the number of the public, innocent lawabiding americans, are being swept under fisa 702 collection. You said yes. And then you went on to say it was hard. So my twopart question is, is the answer still yes, you will get us the number . And since we have been trying to get this for years and years i mean literally. As you know, from being on the committee. Will you commit now to getting us a report every 30 days until we get this number . We need it for reauthorization. And it goes right to the heart, frankly, of how you do the balance youre talking about. Foreign bad guys . Absolutely but an indeterminate number of people are being swept up because Global Communications are now so sophisticated. So, twopart question. Will you stay with your earlier answer and say you will get us the number of innocent americans who are swept up before reauthorization . That is a yes or no. Before you answer yes is the answer still yes . Its a yes or no. Senator, i cant answer that with yes or no because i qualified my yes with you. At least that was my intent. Let me just explain. I qualified it because i said it has been extremely hard to come up with that number for various reasons, which i dont fully understand. I said i would want i wanted to talk to director rogers. I wanted to talk to nsa in terms of whats the problem here . Why cant we . And what is since my question what is the right definition in terms of swept up . And the numbers. Basically what i hope i said, and i want to clarify the record for this, is that i will do my best to work to try to find out if we can get that number. But i need first to find out about why we cant get it. I dont think anybodys trying to withhold it. Lets go to my second part. Will you commit now to getting us a response every 30 days until we get this question answered . Because this has gone on literally i say this to my friend. This has gone on for years. And it has been sort of one reason after another. And these are law abiding americans. So will you report to us every 30 days until we get this answer . Thats a yes or no. Well, i dont see that as a yes or no either until i get the answer in terms of whether thats even possible to i mean i can call up admiral rogers once every 30 days and say where are we . But i would like to first understand why it is what the issue is here in terms of getting that exact number. I dont want to come up with a number that, once again tells the American People something that nobodys ever come up with a number here. Weve had years of stalling on this. This is a legitimate question. Youre a friend. I need to know the answer. I need to know the answers to those questions before we have a vote in here because there is central to your key priority which is reauthorizing 702. Youve get me at hello on going after the foreign threats. But im not there with respect to these answers on innocent americans. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The chair would ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter to the committee, senator warner and myself, from the electronic privacy information center. Without objection, so ordered. Dan, one last question. Just to make it clear, the executive order which was National Security president ial memorandum number 2 has not been amended since it was issued. Correct . That is absolutely correct. There was a question that it wasnt clear in my mind exactly how it was answered. And i just want to make sure that we cleared the record. At this time it the open hearing will adjourn and we will reconvene in a closed hearing upstairs. [gavel pound]

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