Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150318

He resigned less than 12 hours after politico raised questions about tens of thousands of dollars in mileage reimbursement he received for his personal vehicle. They write he build the federal government and is campaigning for miles on his personal car but when he sold that car, he had roughly 80,000 miles on the odometer. The documents indicate he was reimbursed for 90,000 more than his car was driven. Read the entire article and more on politico. Com. Here is what is ahead the secret service has been under security scruple because of a number of Security Breaches at the white house. The head of the secret service took questions from lawmakers on capitol hill. That is next. After that fcc neutrality rules. And now secret Service Director joseph gravity testified before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security. It is chaired why representative john carter of texas. Rep. Carter today we welcome joe clancy. His first appearance before our subcommittee. Director clancy, welcome. Thank you for your willingness to serve dhs and our nation. Fiscal year 2016 budget of the secret service is 1. 9 billion. An increase of 273 million from fiscal year 2015. This increase is due in large part to the preparations for the upcoming president ial Campaign Cycle deployment of obama detail, and additional funds based on recommendations of Mission Panel the Mission Panel that reported out of december on the need for significant reform and service. Director, we look forward to the discussion of these increases with you, learning whether you plan to adjust the recommendations today with various reviews of your service that have occurred over the past few months. I want to address an instance that was news last week. According to reports two senior secret agents arrived at the white house public checkpoint in a government car after allegedly consuming alcohol. Have agents proceeded through the checkpoint and drove to the scene of an active investigation. The violation of behavior was not reported to headquarters until days later. For an agency tried to restore its reputation three years after wellpublicized scandal, this leaves embarrassment and renewed scrutiny of the secret service. Simply put, this conduct should not to be tolerated. Congress is disappointed to see it on display again. Director, i look forward to hearing your comments. First, i would like to recognize our new distinguished Ranking Member. Representative congratulations on your appointment as director. You make efforts to make the secret service the best it can be. The agency has in do it significant criticism over the last several months, indeed over the last few years. Unfortunately, most of it has been justified. I would like others on that committee i and others on the committee were disappointed with conduct. This time it included senior personnel, a member of the president s protective detail allegedly after consuming alcohol. Perhaps more disturbing, if true, it is an allegation that a supervisor overruled an initial decision by officers on duty to conduct a sobriety test. I applied your quick notification of the Inspector General in this case, but hope you wont wait for the conclusion of the ig investigation to start addressing what went wrong. If the allegations of this conduct are accurate, i worry that they may be indicative of a larger cultural problem at the secret service. We will be discussing that incident this morning. I dont want to overshadow the good work that the vast majority of secret Service Officers and agents are doing every day. I saw that work firsthand when i visited your Los Angeles Field Office last week. I was impressed by the quality of a staff briefing in which u. S. S. Personnel were discussing the final security plans for the president s visit to los angeles the next day. And interest of time, i wont elaborate on everything i saw. I want to have at one program the Los Angeles Field Office is implementing in an impressive way. Bell essentials Electronic Crimes Task force. The los angeles Electronic Crimes Task force. They are to investigating and deterring cyber crimes. It is a roundtable concept comprised of local, state, and federal law horsemen partners. Enforcement partners. They shared common strategies. Im proud to say they were selected out of 80 nominations to receive the 2015 award for excellence in investigations from the Peace Officers Association of the los angeles county. Director clancy, we want to help the secret service on behalf of our country. Thank you for joining us this morning. I look forward to discussing your proposed budget for the coming year, as well as your plans to point the secret service in the right direction. Rep. Carter now i would like to recognize the chairman of the appropriations committee, mr. Rogers for any comments. Mr. Rogers thank you for being with us this morning. This constitutes the first hearing of this subcommittee. Im immensely pleased that we finally managed to pass a full your spending bill for the department to support our men and women on the front lines and bolster critical agencies and fund the joint antiterrorism and Law Enforcement efforts on our home turf. Unquestionably, your organization is a vital piece of this. A dual mission of protection and investigation. The investigative component of your charge is essential for the financial infrastructure of the country. Your mission is to protect our president , his family, and other dignitaries from a host of potential threats. That requires discipline and dexterity, unparalleled skill and professionalism. Unfortunately, service has been beleaguered by a series of embarrassing and on acceptable lapses in security and other missteps. This will not stand. Just when we think we have assessed the problems associated with septembers White House Incident and developed a plan to close existing gaps in security moving forward, news broke that two agents drove around a security barricade at the home where the president lives during inactive bomb investigation. An active bomb investigation drunk. You personally committed to me and others and leveraging your lifetime of service to this organization to restore the service to its once stored reputation. I want to take you up at your word. Give you every chance to achieve that goal. Incidents like these demonstrate just how far you have got to go. And how short of a time you have got to do it. We will find the Adequate Funding for your agency. We expect results. Your fiscal year budget request includes 1. 9 l. A. And dollars 1. 9 billion dollars. In addition to the president ial protective service the supports the Services Network of 42 domestic field offices, 60 resident offices and president agent offices and 24 offices abroad. Notably, this request includes a significant increase to accommodate the responsibilities leaving leading up to the 16 election and when present obama transitions out of office. 87 million pursuant to the recommendations of the protective Mission Panel. Mr. Director, we look forward to hearing how you intend to use this money right the ship, so the sick or service can focus. Thank you for taking on this chore so the secret service can focus. Thank you for taking on this tour. Rep. Carter thank you. Now the distinction Ranking Member of the appropriations committee. Representative thank you very much for holding this important hearing today. Welcome, director clancy. Thank you for joining us. The secret service has had a long and start history of professionalism. Recent incidents have diminished its reputation over the last few years and raised serious questions about its ability to protect the president. Clearly we have a lot to discuss. Last july through a report accompanying the house funding bill, and this committee expressly stated that it was deeply disappointed of recurring allegations and misconduct within the secret service. You withheld a substantial amount of headquarters funding in the fy15 appropriations bill until new guidelines were submitted. It is hard to believe here we are again. Not only were we rocked i the white house fence jumper last september, but now we are confronted by yet another unfortunate incident that appears to entail significant misconduct. On march 4, two intoxicated agents drove a government card through an active investigation. According to news reports, no righty test was administered. The agents were not arrested. They were allowed to leave the scene. The president s budget request nearly 87 million for protective Mission Enhancement in the wake of recent secret service missteps. I agree it more resources are necessary for security enhancements. Hiring, training, and funding alone wont be enough to solve the secret service problems. This latest episode seems to be more evidence of a cultural issue that has not been adequately addressed by changes in senior management. Director clancy, you recently assumed your position, but you have been with agency for an impressive 30 years. We want to work with you to restore the publics confidence in the secret service. We want to support you with the resources that you need, but the responsibility is ultimately yours. You must provide the leadership and insists on the accountability that is necessary. I look forward to a productive discussion this morning. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Rep. Carter director clancy is this on . We recognize you for your opening statement. I will ask you to keep it to five minutes. Director clancy thank you. That morning, chairman carter, Ranking Members, and distinguish members of this committee. Im pleased to appear before you to discuss the president s 20 16th budget for the secret service. As the newly appointed director, im honored to lead the men and women of this Important Agency through this challenging time despite allegations of miss conduct involving misconduct involving two agents, i have been impressed by the selfless dedication of the workforce as a whole and our peoples willingness to take on necessary reforms in the betterment of the mission. With respect to these recent allegations, the secret service has turned over the investigation to the department of Homeland Security office of Inspector General to ensure a thorough and independent review of this incident. I have committed full cooperation and eagerly await the oigs findings. Turning to the budget, i want to thank all members for your work on the 2015 department of Homeland Security appropriations act. This subcommittee worked diligently to provide the secret service with Additional Resources to support our staffing, training, and operational needs. In addition, the 2015 bill includes 25 million to begin the necessary enhancements associated with the protective panels recommendations that were included in a report to secretary johnson on december 2015 2014. The recommendations rot focus to training and leadership deficiencies in the brought focus to training and leadership deficiencies. However, the secret Service Mission uncommitted to im committed to determine the full extent of our operational requirements. The 20 16th budget bill 2016 budget bill my statements provide a euro overview. I would like to highlight a few areas. 86. 7 million for quested to adjust specific could be broken down into four categories. Training center improvements. White house security infrastructure improvements. Protective technology upgrades. My priorities are to staff the agency at a level commiserate with the mans with the demands of the mission. This includes critical and Service Training for agents and ethics and leadership development. One of the biggest missions demands will be associate it with the Campaign Protection to less than two years remaining before president obamas term in office comes to a close. The secret service is preparing for Campaign Protection requirements. During every campaign, the secret Service Budget temporarily grows to accommodate the search in protection requirements. Of the money requested in 2016 for Campaign Protection and related items simply reflects anticipated time special agents will work in protection hours in support of the campaign. When people ask how it is the secret service can protect multiple candidates traveling which are different cities and states in a matter of hours, i point to special agents who serve in the field offices around the country. Without the support of highly trained special agents have experience with investigations and protections, the secret service would be unable to handle the surges associated with president ial campaigns and other major events. Securing the two nominating conventions is one of the most challenging aspects of Campaign Protection. These typically last three to four days and attract thousands of participants each. The secret Service Began to work months in advance to plan comprehensive Security Operations to identify and mitigate threats. A good cause harm it could cause harm to those attending these events. To mitigate the risk of cyber attack on critical distance a key infrastructure that could affect the security plans special agents have trade in the critical protections im sorry there are responsible for protecting venues that are automated and interconnected. The secret service recruits from within the agencys electronic crimes special agents program. The Computer Forensics responder disciplines. Special agents trained in these areas are responsible for the successful investigations into many of the largest known data breaches in recent memory. Last month, secret Service Services led in the arrest of a Russian National who will face charges as he allegedly conspired in the largest hacking and data breach scream scheme in that u. S. We need superior leadership. I have worked open the lines of communication between the rankandfile and their supervisors. I made significant changes in top leadership positions across the secret service to inspire a renewed focus on staffing, training, protective operations, investigations, and professional responsibility. Im in the process of restructuring the secret Service Second and leadership to better leverage the expense of civilian professionals while allowing Law Enforcement arsenal to focus on their core areas of expertise. With the support of the department and congress over the next several years, im confident you can put the secret service on a path to success for many decades to come. Chairman carter, Ranking Members, this concludes my testimony. I welcome any questions you may have this time. Rep. Carter thank you for that report. Lets start with the 800 pound gorilla in the room. What happened the other night at the white house . I was in ukraine with a subcommittee of this body when we learned of this back home. Considering the discussions we have had first of all, give us a picture of what you think happened. It sounded like they crash through a barrier or a gate and ignored crime scene tape due to intoxication. It requires it may not be that picture. Give us a picture of what happened. Id like to talk about protocols that may or may not have been violated and what protocols are in place to cover the situation here. Alcohol is part of a stressful world a lot of people live in. There was a cartoon on the wall. The judge is addressing a young trial lawyer. The most important Due Diligence of the law relative to trial work is caffeine by day, alcohol by night. It was meant to be a joke. It is a tragic truth. Stressful jobs. Those two become a major part of how people get through the day. But alcohol as we all know messes up your judgment. There have got to be protocols that address this. We have to deal with it. Sometimes it is part of the life we have. We are protecting the face of the earth. It is your job whoever sits in the white house, he or she is the most important person on earth politically in this world. More power than anybody else. Therefore, more enemies. Talk to me about what happened. Lets talk about protocols. Director clancy yes mr. Chairman. On march 4, 2015, our understanding is two seniorlevel special agents came to the white house. The initial report i do not hear this incident until monday on wednesday night i found out on monday i found out. Once i found out monday, the initial report was from an anonymous report. Two seniorlevel agents had crashed into the white house. They were inebriated. I had not heard about that. I asked my staff if they had heard about that. They had in. I asked them to get as much they heard they had not heard about it. I asked them to get as much information about it. I decided to send it over to the department of Homeland Security office of the Inspector General. I thought it was important we have an independent investigation. There be no perception that we were involved. We wouldnt do any interviews. We would give that case of the investigation to the ouig. I will also say that i brought my staff in on monday. We discussed why i did not know prior to monday of this of then. We had a good, stern talk about that. I instructed his staff to go after their management to ensure that these events, any event of misconduct or operational hours have to be relayed up to the chain. I will say that it will take time to change maybe some of this culture. There is no excuse for this information not to come up the chain. That is going to take time. I will have to build trust with our work orders. The best way for me to earn that trust with our workforce is by my actions. I know im eager to hear the results of this investigation. I dont know how long it will take. Im committed to due process. I have removed those two seniorlevel agents to nonsupervisory positions. Theyre not working at the white house. Theyre outside at the offices. We will leave the findings of the oig. Rep. Carter on the issue of drinking, are the protocols set up to discuss the fact that everyone of your people are carrying a weapon . This is purely hearsay. Someone told me that the person they knew if you know you are going to a place where alcohol is going to be consumed and it is a retirement target were more than one drink might be consumed, they expect their agents to report that to their superiors to leave their weapons at home and tell their superiors that they will no longer be available on call. They may not be in a condition to be available for call. I dont know if that is true or not. That is something that was told to me. This was a Retirement Party for a member of your group. It was a party. People were expecting there would be drinking at the party. Do you have any protocols like that in the secret service . We do have a 10 hour rule. You are not permitted to consume alcohol 10 hours prior to your duty assignment. Offhours, we dont have protocols for off our going to party or perception reception or what have you. Our protocols for driving a government vehicle. You cannot be under the influence. You cannot be exhibiting any indication that you are under the influence of alcohol and driving a government vehicle. That will be looked into with the office of Inspector General. I saw a short video footage of the incident that evening. I saw the vehicle the agents traveled in. They drove it at a low speed. That is something the oig will have an investigate. Rep. Carter going forward, when you look into protocols that affect the situation like this . Director clancy yes. Anytime we have an incident of this level, with a look at total calls, policies. Are they sufficient . We have to look at protocols policies. Are they sufficient . They will have to be addressed. Even after having one beer or one glass of wine, that is something we will have to address. Rep. Carter dui laws are pretty rough. Director clancy yes, sir. Rep. Carter it breaks my heart to think that one of the agencies that has been a legend among the American People in the last six years has just come downhill substantially. Its a crime. Our people need heroes. You are an agency that was considered heroes that protected every president matter what party theyre in and did it in an effective and efficient job. This is heartbreaking to have this continued misconduct. I know you are new but i told you, you have a big job. Youll have to make heads roll. If theres a place to send people, the home hobby desert the mojave desert, so they know their behavior is unacceptable. Inc. About all that. Think about all that. The chairman has got plenty of hearings to attend. Rep. Rogers why did you not learn of this incident immediately . Director clancy that is what we are trying to find out. Rep. Rogers you are in charge. This is an administrative problem you have got. Why did you not get word from your subordinates about this incident for five or six days . Director clancy yes sir. Not knowing all the facts first of all, you are right. I should have still been informed of what transpired that evening. When a senior detail has allegedly come through a secure area, i should have been informed. We are following up on that. There will be accountability. Our workforce is listening today. Theyre waiting to see how people are going to be held accountable. This is my first test. We will wait for these facts to come out. We will go back to the reports that were written that evening and the oig will interview these supervisors and going up the chain. You are absolutely correct. This goes through a culture of trust. Do you have the trust in your leadership that you can bring this to your leaderships attention . Ive got to work to earn that trust and i will do that to my actions. Rep. Rogers your actions should be punishment. Termination. Firing people who have subordinated their command you cannot run an agency like this, for god sakes, or any agency. You need discipline in the ranks. This is a breakdown, to put it mildly, of discipline within the ranks of your agency. That is a cancer. It will consume you. Were these people given a sobriety test . Director clancy they were not from my understanding. Rep. Rogers i cannot answer that. Director clancy who said to do that rep. Rogers who said to do that . Director clancy i cannot answer. I have do not have the facts of that email. Typically an event like that there would be some chatter. There would be discussion if it occurred the way it had been described. Rep. Rogers who was the agent in charge at the time . Director clancy a watch commander. They would have been in charge of the white house complex at that time, certainly during the incident. Rep. Rogers who is that . Director clancy by name . Rep. Rogers bronson . Director clancy brawn. I believe the staff can correct me if i am wrong. Rep. Rogers he was in charge at that time . Is that correct . Director clancy yes sir. Rep. Rogers did he report any of this activity to anyone else . Director clancy no, sir. Rep. Rogers have you talked to him . Director clancy i havent. It is frustrating to me to have to wait to do this. Rep. Rogers why do you have to weigh . Director clancy i dont want to interfere with this investigation. In the past when we sought investigations were different people interviewed witnesses stories were perceived differently. I dont want to have any impact on that investigation. Rep. Rogers have you asked around on what happened . Director clancy i have asked to see the report and i have seen nothing that indicates any written report indicating that this event as described had occurred. Rep. Rogers what kind of their kid was it that they broke what kind of barricade was it that they broke . Director clancy an orange type barrier. On 15th street and e street this orange barrier didnt allow the vehicle to go through. They nudged this barrel out of the way. It didnt fall over. They moved up to a checkpoint when officer typically would be positioned. It appeared they were showing their badges to go through the checkpoint. That is the extent of the video we saw. Rep. Rogers why were they there . Director clancy my understanding is the passenger in the vehicle was returning to get his vehicle. They had been at a reception. They left together. The passenger had his vehicle parked at the white house complex. Rep. Rogers needless to say you want to get to the bottom of this right away. And is appointed that you havent raise your own figures tough investigation your own vigorous, tough investigation. The agents appeared to be inebriated. To say you are not investigating and one the Inspector General to investigate is hogwash. What do you think . Director clancy sir based on my limited experience and i came back, i read the report on 2011. The shooting on constitution avenue, one of the officers this individual was interviewed three different times by our agency, by the oig, by the federal bureau of investigation. My recollection is each of those interviews was different. If distorted the facts. What were the facts . What did that opera are truly see and hear . That officer truly see and hear . I didnt want any perception that it can be intimidating if someone from my staff goes to one of these officers and what to do here and see . What happened . They may tell me and my staff one thing and another to the oig and they may have a different perception of the spoken word. Im frustrated. Im very frustrated that we didnt know about this. Frustrated that i cannot act until we get all the facts. I dont want to act improperly too soon. The president s family is safe. We have moved these individuals to nonsupervisor positions. We can still get work out of them. Rep. Rogers they are still getting paid. Director clancy yes. Rep. Rogers no penalties financial or otherwise, right . Director clancy no financial penalties. Sir, i would say im sure theyre playing paying a penalty right now. Rep. Rogers unfortunately, this is the last in a long line of episodes somewhat similar drinking, on and off duty, that this agency has suffered these last few years. It is not working right. We have got to have some changes. You have got to be the one that makes those changes. I dont sense at this moment that you have the determination to make that happen. Am i wrong . Director clancy sir, i would disagree with you with all respect. There is an element within our agency that does cope with the stresses that many of you have mentioned today by using alcohol. Theres no question we have that element. You also have other elements in our agency that go a different route. Some exercise. Some go to the family. Some go to religion to cope. We do have a section that goes to alcohol. We kicked off an initiative of work life to look at the stresses that our people are under. They are considerable. There is no excuse for these actions. There needs to be self accountability. We have got to find a way to help some of these people who are going towards alcohol to solve their coping mechanism. Rep. Rogers im concerned about their health as well get a more concerned about the health of the president of the United States and who is protecting him from harm. If we have got special agents on the grounds at night in the white house ramming a barricade drunk it seems to me that the only discipline that you could exert would be caused by the ability of you and your staff to did to terminate so that every other agent knows, i dont want to go there. That director will fire me. That is what makes the mind work. What do you think about that . Director clancy i agree. I think deep down within our agency and others, people want to see discipline. People want to be disciplined. People want to be held accountable. I want to respect the due processes cause frost as frustrating as it is. The let my actions speak for how were going to move forward. Rep. Rogers we will be watching and waiting. Director clancy yes, sir. Rep. Lowey thank you. There are so many hearings today. I want to follow up weekly. With all due respect, im shocked by your testimony. First of all, you said it wouldnt have been reported to you other than a whistleblower. There was an someone in the chain of command that reported it to you. And you said what really shocks me is it will take time to change the culture . I dont understand this one bit. It seems to me it should take time to help people who think this is the culture to go get another job. How can we as members of congress have respect for an agency that feels it is ok . Were not talking about someone drinking and partying. Were talking about a respected member of the secret service who was absolutely drunk. How many people do you know, how many friends do you know who go to a party and then take a car and ran it into a fence or some other barricade . I find this testimony shocking. Following up on my colleague, i dont understand it. I would think it would take five minutes to change the culture before you even know the facts. Based on allegations, if you are not aware of this kind of activity is inappropriate for a member of the secret service you better get it now and go find another job. I cannot believe you said it would take time to change the culture. Can you explain to me why it is ok remember the secret service to get so inebriated that they can take a car and run it into a barricade . Director clancy if those are the facts and they may come out exactly as you stated them, then you are correct. We have a panel of table penalties of how they can be disciplined. When i said the culture will take time to be changed specifically im talking about if there was an event as described. Why wasnt that reported . Why wasnt that reported to my office . I think that is a longstanding process possibly where people dont want to relay that information. We have to prevent that. To your point, we are right that my actions will determine how that culture is changed. I dont have the ability to just fire people at will. My understanding is you cannot do that. It doesnt mean rep. Lowey maybe my statement is not clear. I understand due process. But think of the inappropriate but do you think it would be appropriate that this sending out a message that this kind of behavior is inappropriate, can you do that . Director clancy we have reference that. We put out a statement saying there is accountability. This activity is not tolerated. We have got to shape the future of the service. Rep. Lowey i guess i dont understand. And my time in congress, which is 26 years, i have had enormous respect for the secret service protecting so many of our people in public life, including members of congress. I dont understand even offduty how a respected member of the secret service could get so inebriated that may would take this kind of action going into a fence and knocking down a barricade. Item get why it would take time to change the culture i dont to get why it would take time to change the culture. I hope it is clear that if they are off on a thursday and not on duty, they can get so inebriated that they can go into a fence when they are on duty, they understand this behavior is unacceptable. I dont want a member of the secret service frankly who is capable of getting so inebriated that this kind of action can be accepted. It can be expected when off duty, but not on duty. This is why im puzzled. There is no doubt that this action took place. Is that correct . Director clancy correct. Rep. Lowey is it clear now that it will not take time to change the culture . Do you understand why that doesnt make sense to someone like myself has respect for secret service . We dont want this person in the secret service. Whether on duty or off duty. You dont want them behaving this way at any time. That is not the person you want in the secret service. They can find another job frankly. Can the culture change immediately . Or do you still believe it will take time to change the culture . Director clancy i cannot terminate people this afternoon. Rep. Lowey i understand, can there be a clear directive that if you are a distinguished member of the secret service whether on duty or off, you cannot get so in neighbor rated enumerated that you are taking a car and going into a fence and possibly killing someone on the street. These are people with guns. Director clancy i agree with everything you are saying. The workforce is hearing a message loud and clear today. We have been stressing this through training, mentoring, coaching. This discipline we put an oneyear xhosa people know the rules. It is up to individuals to conduct themselves in a professional manner one year ago that people know the rules. It is up to individuals to conduct himself in a factional manner. Rep. Lowey i hope you send and a professional manner. Rep. Lowey i hope you send a message and make it clear that it should be business as usual even if they are off duty because i know to go get so inebriated that you are going to take a car and go into a fence you need to be pretty enumerated out there integrated inebriated out there. I understand you cannot accuse anyone until an investigation is complete, but you can make it clear whether under their off this kind of behavior is unacceptable for distinguished member of the whether on or off, this kind of behavior is unacceptable for a distinguished members of the secret service. Representative i have to say im equally concerned by some of the responses you have given today. I hope i Miss Understood you in terms of use saying that you needed to wait for the ig report to take action. It seems to me there are many things that can be done now and actions that you can take now before that ig report. It is quite obvious there are lots of problems within the secret service that the incidents at the white house and other incidents are indicative of those problems. I want to give you an opportunity to elaborate a little bit on your opening statements. I think it is important that we in the public hear loud and clear that you not only acknowledge that there are problems in the secret service, but that you are actually implementing an effective plan in turning things around, things you can do now. Right now you can demand a discipline that you are immediately notified of any other incidents. Hopefully there wont be such an incident. There are things that you can do now. As your answering that question, ask what youll be doing over the next weeks or months to reassure the secret service personnel, white house congress, and the public that you are moving in the right direction. If you could also talk about what you are doing in terms of sending a message of discipline, in general, that certain things are not acceptable and that there will be consequences. As reported in the paper, if true that the incident at the white house, those involved were given a less stringent approach, then the service has taken in the past if that is true, why . I want to give you an opportunity to respond to that as well. Director clancy consistency is very important. Im not aware of how the discipline or action that taken so far will differ from the past. I have been briefed on some recent incidents. I talked to our legal counsel. To see what options we have in the first steps in regards to this incident. I will tell you in general we are going through a restructuring within our organizational chart. That will be a subject may be later during this hearing. The idea of discipline before every trip, every agent on that trip is given a briefing on ethics and what is expected of them before our personnel meetings in any city. Agents working that visit our briefed on professionalism as well as operational aspect of the visit. These topics are constantly brought up. Unfortunately, we have an element and i would argue it is a smaller element. We have an element that is causing the agency great distress. I can tell you those agents and officers and our personnel who go home to their families, go to their church, exercise, or as distressed about this as all of you. It is the reputation. They worked 81012 hour days under great stress. It is a stressful environment. Then you go home. You see the immediate reports that we are alcoholics. That is something that we have a work Life Initiative that we kick off a few weeks ago to try to adjust the stresses and how to handle people that go in the wrong direction. Ultimately goes back to what actions do i take . What actions does agency take . Rep. Roybalallard that was my question, director clancy. What are your plans now to address these issues . Separate and apart from the incident . How are you getting that message across . I want to highlight what chairman rogers said. The best way to make sure these things dont happen and to weed out those who are the bad actors is a hard and swift disciplinary action. It could mean immediate dismissal. What is it that you are doing now to start addressing the problems within the secret service . Specifically, what are you doing now . Director clancy some of these measures were put in place prior to my arriving. For example, the office of integrity reports directly to the director. Rather than in the old days, if theres an issue of misconduct in a local field office, there may be inconsistencies on the way discipline was handed out. Just over a year ago, this office of integrity stood up to ensure consistency. Within that office of integrity is a table of penalties. It is modeled after other agencies so we are not stand alone. Were looking at the best practices in the industry. Rep. Roybalallard can i stop you right there . Obviously whatever has been done a year ago is not working. Things are not working. The question is, what is it that you are planning to do to make whatever the systems that are in place . To reevaluate them to make sure they are working so we dont have incidents like this so the message is loud and clear . The secret Service Agents drinks or whatever the violation is that there will be immediate and quick disciplinary action. Something like you are dismissed. Period. Whatever has been put in place it is not working. I guess my question if youre not able to answer it now, for the record what are the plans that you are considering or putting into place that will make the system work and send the right message to the secret service so they know there will be a harsh penalty if they violate whatever the rules are . That is my question. You can cement it summit it if you dont have all the information now. Whatever was done in the past obviously is not working. Director clancy i agree. It is not working. I prefer to put together a document spelling out what we are legally able to do and what we cannot do and where we would move forward and try to rep. Roybalallard legally can or cant do are you saying when someone violates rules, is d runk, whatever, they have you dont have the authority to dismiss them . Director clancy i dont have the authority to dismiss them on the spot. Rep. Roybalallard on the spot. There are rules in place. Director clancy there are. There is a process in place we you can make a proposal. The individual has a chance to appeal that proposal. It is a somewhat drawn out process. Rep. Roybalallard you need to look at that as well. Thank you for coming here. I will cut you that i recognize that you and most of the agents that have served under you are driven by love for country and theyre trying to do the right thing. Leadership is taking care of the problems. And you have enormous problems ahead of you in my opinion. As a former military guy, i am stunned by this environment and this colder culture. I think there are two problems. One is, we have is behavior of drinking and driving and theres a lot of examples of it. I have three pages i could go through. I get that. I understand that little bit. It happens. That is troubling but it happens. We have to deal with it. But i think a greater problem is the fact that there is an officer who was aware or many officers, at least one aware of this and took steps to protect their friends rather than hold them accountable. If anyone is aware of this and they did not tell you, they have lost their your trust. How can you trust them again . He may not be able to fire them but they have lost your trust and the trust of the American People. They have shown loyalty to their friends and coworkers rather than loyalty to their sensibilities. I dont know how you say any differently than that. I was a military man for many years. I hear you say, people are coping with stress. I have to say, i go oh please. Military members experience acute stress and they would never do behavior such as this. I can give you many examples from young airmen to senior colonels and some cases generals who were caught and eli on base and they were gone. Who were caught dui on base and they were gone. And the military was better because we knew that was the role and we knew we would be held accountable for that and the American People are better and our nation was better protected because we had a culture that we simply dont entertain this. For someone to have done it and do have one of their peers or a supervisor protect them is hard for me to imagine. In our cases, we are dealing with topsecret information as are you and your agents. The most highly classified information this nation has, they have access to. They cant ability just simply is not measuring up to the responsibility they have. I guess i would ask you to respond to that that i dont know what else you could say other than what you have already said. Except for this idea of changing the culture. He said, mr. Director, and i understand what youre trying to do. But when you say, you have to set an example, you dont have to earn their trust. You are their boss. They have not earned your trust. The way you earn their trust is you hold them accountable and then the others who are not out there driving through barricades and laying drunk and core doors of hotels overseas, corridors overseas, they know they will be held accountable. That is trusted my opinion. I am not berating you, i am berating the culture. If you would like to respond please do. Director clancy thank you, sir. We have had incidents in the past and previous directors after due process have moved these people off the job. They are gone. I believe we lost 10 people. They were terminated. There is an indication that a history where we will discipline people but again, i cannot do this on day one. I am frustrated that the agency is taking this and rightly so, but i have to allow this due process to take place and that will be our first indication of are we serious upholding people accountable. Maybe it is good that it happened early in my tenure so we can set a town as tone as we move forward. I cannot say any more than that. Rep. Stewart you have the opportunity to lead and show what your expectations are of these agents. T say, i recognize that. Most of these agents are good people were trying to do a a difficult job. The willingness for some of them to protect each other rather than being loyal to the old they have taken, it is hard for me to respond to that. It is foreign to my experience. Director clancy i honor that. Again, the workforce is listening to this testimony today and i think the message is being broadcast loud and clear that is not acceptable. Rep. Stewart thank you director. Thank you for taking this job in the first place. We offered other directors say we will take care of it. Have heard other directors say we will take care of it. What will you do that is different . We have heard this before and with all due respect, how do you convince us that what you will do will be different . Director clancy i cannot compare myself to the previous directors but i will tell you that my focus is first accountability. This will be our first task. Also, listening and communicating with the workforce. I know that sounds like101 101 leadership but our people want to be heard. That is why there is some of his frustration out there that we have not done a good job of listening to our people and showing them the respect. We have to see what the facts are for this case. In general if a young agent sees something that is wrong, he has got to feel that when he moves up the chain, that will be respected. That information will be respected. As we move forward, i have to ensure that those midmanagers listen to those younger agents and officers and act upon them. Too often information is passed up and nothing is done about it. The younger agents and officers assume nothing is going to be done. If i relate something to midlevel management, nothing will be done. We have to correct that. There have been circumstances, just yesterday and sat, id take an action where an individual was not adding her. I walk by the white house every day and the young opposite was not being heard on some recommendations he wanted to make. I brought in upper management, we immediately responded to that officer in writing and sat down and went through each concern. We have to do more of that. I dont know if it has been done that way in the past or not. Got to look at the morale of employees but at the same time you have to provide discipline what you have to provide discipline. I yelled be confined the balance quickly. I want to be supportive of that. The Committee Wants to be supportive. I do have other concerns the other concern is the popes visit will coincide with the 70th anniversary of the United Nations general assembly, a busy time. How would the popes visit impact the number of foreign heads attending the u. N. General assembly this year and my second question is, you want to build an 8 Million White House replica for training. I have concerns about that. Not that i dont want to be supportive but i have concerns about 8 million for a replica. Talk to me about the pope first. Director clancy with the popes visit, he is confirmed to come to philadelphia for the world meeting of families. We are planning for new york and washington. In philadelphia, we expect upwards of 2. 1 Million People to attend those events. At the same time, in september of 2015, we anticipate we will have the u. N. General assembly. We expect 170 heads of state to come to that event because it is the 70th anniversary of the u. N. It would not surprise us at some of those heads of state travel to philadelphia to be of those events. It is going to be very taxing to our agency. We have already started a meeting. The local field office and washington have been working with our local partners as well as the vatican and other federal agencies to start to put together a good plan. Philadelphia has been designated. There is funding for that. We use some of the money left over tomorrow left over to help us with the visit. We will be prepared. A lot of those 12 hour days for agents and officers. We reach out Tour Department department of Homeland Security partners, tsa, coast guard for support. We are well on our way to a good plan for the popes visit. Rep. Cuellar the other question we will do in the second round because my time is up. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here today. He talked about a thorough review needing to be done and a process needs to be done to determine how people will go. How long does this take . If you dont have slipped action, and even builds more to this low morale, this morale of complacency we hear about. If it is not swift what is the point . You dont hear about it in the end but what is the last time the secret service did fire someone because of their actions . Director clancy in the netherlands, there was an individual drinking on the trip and he has been removed as well. How long to that process take . [inaudible] i am surprised these officers who drove drunk through a barricade had not stood up and say we are resigning. What do you do with them if you dont let them go . Do you trust them . Where would you put them . Director clancy as it is now they are in nonsupervisory positions outside of their original offices. Both have desk jobs at this time. Once the process goes through, we will have options towards removing their security clearance. If we do that, termination would be a factor. It seems like a long and drawn out process. If we have problems with a staffer here on the hill, we have the ability to immediately let them go. I am wondering where all of this comes from. We will find out i am sure through the committee what the process is but it is amazing to me. Below morale issue we care about him i understand it is a stressful job. You talk about maybe you are not hearing her officers but it has got to go deeper than that. There has to be a culture you have to uncover that is interpreting. How is the low morale affecting staffing needs and people wanting to come work for the secret service . Director clancy with the morale, you are right, sir. Staffing is our primary concern. We dont have a Proper Staffing although we are working diligently to get but up to speed. Thank you for the funding. We are building up our staffing pretty quickly. We have added additional personnel in our Hr Department brought in contractors so we can build up this staffing. We are anticipating over reaching our goals in terms of hiring a fiscal year rep. Carter 0 director clancy rep. Roybalallard fiscal year 2015. The travel will be set back because there are more people we can use. The most important thing with the staffing is the training. When we get more staffing, we can get more people out to our training facility. Since september, we have taken a big step in that regard. With additional step in, better quality of life, more training. That will help morale. As well as accountability. When these accounts occur accountability is critical. This is not unique to the secret service. The way that we are handling this particular incident. Dont believe other agencies under title v they cannot terminate people at will either. That is my understanding. Thank you very much. I want to see you succeed. I really do. We here at the Committee Want to do what we can to be helpful. We can only do so much by making sure we provide the necessary funds and exercises you need and training and all that. It has to come from within and you have to dig down and find the root of this problem. I hope you succeed. The secret service has an immensely important job. One of the most important jobs. Good luck to you. We are here for you as well. We do demand some accountability. Thank you. Mr. Gone, our employees mr. Young, our employees are at will. Their employees are not at will. That is one of the differences. Mr. Director, thank you for your distinguished career in the secret service and for stepping up and taking over this agency at such a difficult time. When i was young, i always looked up to the secret service. I would just think about protecting the president , the Important Mission you all have. I shared the sentiments with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. We want you to succeed. This is something that is important for our country. It is a difficult time. We have heard about the different problems that the individual agents have had. I just after listening to some of the comments, want to ask you this. At the fundamental base of any profession once someone is going through training, we are from one of our colleagues in the military, i was trained in the profession of law. There are certain fundamentals that are in the recruitment and training process. You have inherited this. I guess my question for you is how do we impart the good inherent values of the secret service to the recruits and bring that to the training process so when an agent comes to the point of becoming an agent, these issues are something that he or she would stand up and say no to. I think that seems to be one of the fundamental problems we have inherited. I would like your thoughts on that. Director clancy you are exactly right. In terms of our hiring and recruiting process, it is a 79month process. Everyone gets a polygraph, background check. Then, when we get them into training, they are given classes on ethics come, professionals and. Some are after that training is where we lose them. Somewhere, we lose them where they forget those lessons learned. I think the only way we get that back is by again the accountability we drive home so people realize there are consequences to individual behavior. I hearken back to the different professions. There is continue training for those professionals to go through annual or semiannual updates as to what is expected of them. Is that going to be part of the process . Director clancy we do five your updates to go back into neighborhoods and make sure they are good citizens. We do continuously do training throughout their careers. In many ways, it comes to individual accountability. Each of us come if you see someone in your presence not performing properly, we have to step up individually and corrected. As well as his supervisors have to do it. As an agency, we have to Work Together to try to get through this. One can be committee expect your report on the reviews of professional standards as required by the conference report in fiscal year 2015. As a followup, do you intend in that report served to address concerns raised on both sides today . Director clancy i am sure that will be addressed in the report. I dont have a date. In the near future but we will give you a more definitive date when we conclude the hearing. Thank you. Director clancy, i wish you success in every endeavor. I have been looking at some numbers over here while we were talking. You have about 4600 people in your agency who is carrying a weapon or are eligible to carry a weapon. Director clancy yes, sir. Rep. Carter you are not in the army, the military, but you have an armed force under your command. 4600 armed men and women. Director clancy yes, sir. Rep. Carter that is a huge responsibility. The kind of responsibility cheese of police in major cities have. The chain of command has to be rigid to maintain the kind of discipline necessary to handle an armed force. Just how simple it is dangerous by definition. Whether it be the Houston Police department or your force. The concern we hear is that let me say something. I know why you did that. You want to make sure this is a clean investigation from the start. But, having dealt and im not criticizing. It can be a place to put something to go away for a w hile. They can take an awful long time with an ig investigation. A lot can calm things down. In our veterans are messaging, some ig investigations and the results, they can be disappointing. I dont want this to be a policy of wealth. We have a problem. I will not forget about the problem. I dont think anybody up will forget about the problem. The ig i hope has been telling them they better burn a fire under themselves and give us a response probably. Promptly. In reality, you have people above you but you are in charge of these armed people. Director clancy yes, sir. Rep. Carter there has to be a straight chain of command. The managers of those people should be all over them today. If these people were senior management, you should be all over them today. I realize you have union contracts. Civil Service Issues and all of those issues to protect the worker sometimes to the detriment of the agency. It is a weakness i find appalling. One of the thanks if i could wave a magic wand to fix in washington, i would think the ability not to terminate someone for dangerous for bad behavior immediately is quite honestly i think unacceptable. But it is not your fault. That is the way it is. I recognize that. But in turn, you are in command. You are the star. You have division under your command. You have to make sure that everyone in your command control structure is meeting that obligation. If everybody is just sitting around and watching television to figure out what it is, that is not my job. That is your job. It eats to be done needs to be done. I think it is a barrel bump. The question is, you are both holding badges. Why dont you get out of your car, walk through the crime scene and say, what is going on instead of being arrogant as to think you can intrude on a crime scene . That is another issue if they were stone sober. That is an issue you have to ask them. You are such a big shot you think you can drive through one of my taped off crime scenes . Director clancy yes, sir. Rep. Carter if they were sober, they were arrogant. You can have an agency like you have, people dont think they put their pants on one leg at a time at everybody else. They are supermen so they can act like it. But, they cannot. That is what we really are all talking about. Your job right now, and you know some of these outside reports told the president not to hire inside the agency. You have a big responsibility because you have 30 years of friends. When i met you, i believe you were the guy who could do it. I still believe that. Recognize what your authority is an exercise that. That is not a question. I just wanted to say that because i think sometimes, we get off acting might bureaucrats acting like bureaucrats. As dangerous people, you have to be within a set of chain of commands, regulated from top to bottom. Or something dangerous will happen. Director clancy yes, sir. Rep. Carter that is what we are worried about. We dont want anyone to get word or hurt or allow someone they are rejecting protecting to get hurt. Those are big responsibilities and i think your chain of command is haywire. Work on that. Director clancy yes, sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me associate with my comments made by the chairman. I do believe that you are up to the task and can do it. Last december, the protective Mission Panel made a number of recommendations for staffing training leadership, protective enhancements at the white house complex. I have a few russians related to that. What can you tell us about questions related to that. What can you tell us about fulfilling recommendations . Is the budget request sufficient to allow you to fulfill all of the panels recommendations as expeditiously as possible . Director clancy the budget request is definitely a good step forward. The recommendations from the Blueribbon Panel the ones we can do short have been completed such as adding additional we are in the process of the new structure to protect the complex. With National Park service, we make a decision on where to go with that. Even after we pick and choose that option, we go into a design stage. Then, a procurement stage, then the construction phase. It will take 1. 5 years to complete the project. We have been testing at our facility some interim measure for the offensi for the fence. We recognize that is a long time to wait. We are looking at an interim measure to go and place this summer if we can get the proper approvals. Rep. Roybalallard the Mission Panel also recommended that the next director, which will be you, conduct an honest top to bottom reassessment of the agency and that he move the service afford into an era and drive change in the organization. What are you putting into place to help you look more broadly at the agencies practices processes, activities to identify places where improvements are needed so that the initial training of new agents isnt lost and senior members help to reinforce the ethics and training that young agents get rather than whatever is happening today . Director clancy we have begun a restructuring of the executive staff. With bringing in new staff members, with new ideas and reinvigorating some things we want to do, but additionally, we are empowering and elevating our civilian professional subject matter experts. Just as an example additionally, the secret service has had a director and a deputy director. We now have a Vacancy Announcement for a chief operating officer who would be on the same level of the deputy director. That officer would ensure the business is run correctly, efficiently. We have put under this chief operating officer of visions that traditionally have been agent help of visions agent held positions. Traditionally, the chief Financial Officer has as a to an agent. Yet elevated that position so we do a better job in the budget world. Same with our technology. Typically, that director was run by an agent. We have moved our engineer to run that directory. Same with a nationwide search for a civilian private sector cio. We want to leverage their experiences, their professionalism, their subject matter expertise in our agency. Additionally on the operation said, you mentioned the training piece. Previous to me being named director, hr and training director was one director. I have split them to provide focus on training and the hiring process. Specifically, the training now we are spending a lot of time in sharing ensuring people get the training they need. Training has been increased 110 . Agent training has increased 78 . We have to sustain that and that is why we have this new director for training to sustain that level of training that our people that they need. In general, we are restructuring the management of the agency. Rep. Roybalallard i see my time is up. Mr. Chairman. Rep. Cuellar thank you, mr. Chairman. The department of homeland Inspector General and i think the professional reinforcement working group have come up with different recommendations. I know you up lamented some of them but have you unlimited all of them or are there still some missing . What still needs to be done on those recommendations . Director clancy the longerterm projects for example, you mentioned earlier the training facility. The mock white house, we feel that is important. Right now, we use, we train on a parking lot. We put up a makeshift fence and walkoff the distance between the fence of the white house and the house itself. We dont have enough parking lot, the bushes, the fountains we dont get a realistic look at the white house. Even our canines are responding on hard surfaces rather than grass. We feel it is important to have a true replica of what the white house is so we can do a better job of integrated training. One image and tactical teams, i think special forces before they go out to do an operation. Typically, they have a model first and that is where we would like to be. We would like a mock up where we can train efficiently. Rep. Cuellar when you look at the secret service, you look at the employees there and the employees that will be there. That is hopefully a diverse hiring process. How are you focused on the folks there and on the new hires that will be coming in . To make sure you dont compound the problem . Director clancy there is continual training. We have continuous training. We had it hard and our first seven months of training when they are first hired as well as the background check. We look for any deficiencies in their background and the polygraph. We lose a considerable number of candidates because of the polygraph. We are looking for those people with the best character. Then we go through the background check is that we think we are hiring very good people. Then we go through the sevenmonth training with ethics and professionalism stressed as well as the operational piece of our job. Although we continue to train and give classes on ethics and professionalism throughout their career, i think as much as anything, it is how we react to these mishaps misconduct. How do we hold people accountable . That is the piece that may be missing. That is my responsibility to ensure we help people accountable. We lose a lot of people by attrition. More recently, i would say because of their quality of life. When you are working 12 hours a day and you think you have the next day off and it is canceled, the amount of travel they do. The stress we are under. People dont want to hear us talk about rep. Cuellar do you lose them to other agencies or to the private sector . Director clancy we lose them to other agencies but what i have done society come here is i have encouraged and assisted that these Uniformed Division officers who want to roll over to special agent positions, we have to make that happen. We cannot do it all at once but we have to make more of an effort to let them become agents because they want to experience that side of her agency. If we dont, we have invested a lot of money in them. They will go to other federal agencies or the private sector. We dont want to lose them after all of the investment you have supported. Rep. Cuellar in the hiring process, do you work with historically black universities or hex annex or hispanic institutions to expand the pool . If you expand the pool do you work with those universities to help expand to look for potential recruits . Director clancy part of this will have to go on memory. I know we did. Over the last two years, our hiring process has been limited. Now, we are back on track and we will go out to those colleges. This fiscal year we have asked for additional money so we can have these hiring fairs at these universities and in the military as well to get a good, Diverse Group of people. Rep. Cuellar quickly, the secret service has a tradition. Lately it has taken a black eye. How do you expect to turn this around quickly . We have heard other people exactly where you are at. How do we take this initiative to say this will be different this time . Director clancy it has to start with building the trust. Part of that is how we will people accountable. Peoples views matter. We are listening to whether you are a brandnew agent officer professional, we are listening to your concerns and we have to act on them. If we dont, they are going to lose interest and we will have these problems. We have to do a better job of communicating, mentoring teaching, and each of us, whether you are a supervisor or not have to take the sensibility to ensure these types of events dont happen. Rep. Cuellar i wish you the best. Director clancy thank you. You mentioned zero based budgeting. There is a need for new budget dr. That is missionbased as subject matter. How is this different from the budget from fiscal year 2016 . What type of budget form is being considered and how would it be implement it . How might a new type of budget drive future funding needs . Have you are the identified gaps in funding based on initial reviews of the budget . I can go back over those again. Director clancy thank you, mr. Chairman. This budget is one that i inherited. I think it is a good budget. It is definitely a step forward in a positive direction. We are in the process now of identifying from top to bottom where our deficiencies are. That budgeting, which are cfo has experience and, we are going director by director to see what those needs are so we can best have our people trained, staffed and give them the proper equipment. We are compiling a list of those priorities, things we really need. Rep. Carter mr. Cuellar has told me how they do things in the great state of texas. When you are defining what it will cost to do a certain mission, we can see where the failures are in each mission and we can budget and make changes accordingly. Isnt that what you have been pushing me with . That is what you seem to be proposing, which i quite honestly, gives us a clear picture of how the agencys functioning. I like the idea. I hope you do well. Director clancy thank you. We are constantly looking at emerging trends. As we talked before about what we need to address. That is all part of this. Rep. Roybalallard can you tell me what the time line is for completing this type of analysis . Director clancy initially, we hoped we would get my cfo just gave me an answer. In 2017 coming can expect a Mission Driven Program Identified budget. By 2017, we will be well on our way to a zerobased budgeting. Rep. Roybalallard great. What are the central recommendations the in a was to hire an additional 200 officers and increase the number of protection agents by 85. The panel described this new hiring as an entrance step while the agency does the necessary analysis to match Personnel Requirements with needs. Im aware the secret service has struggled in recent years to keep attrition from outpacing hiring and every silly taken steps to address that. My question is and you have recently taken steps to address that. Are you satisfied that you have overcome the shortcomings in the hiring process and you anticipate you will be able to meet the hiring goals for fiscal year 2016 . Director clancy in short, yes. We recommend 85 agents come to be president s detail. We have 30 that have been reassigned to the president s. Thanks to your good work, we can transfer more people to washington so we can fulfill that 85 number requirement. In Uniformed Division, we are working with your staff to look for retention measures that may allow us to keep some of these people that are closer to retirement or maybe looking at other opportunities. The retention piece is important because we will surpass our goals in hiring. Initially, we planned to have six classes of agents. Now, we anticipate nine agent classes. Rep. Roybalallard ok. My time is up. Rep. Cuellar no further questions. We want to work with the director. Thank you. Rep. Roybalallard the budget proposes to eliminate 8. 4 million for exploited children investigations, including funding that has supported activities at the National Center for missing annex waited children. The justification for missing and exploited children. The secret service has a Longstanding Partnership with the National Center for missing and exploited children going back decades. While we understand there may be a need to prioritize funding for activities within the agency, it seems we should be wary of weakening that partnership. What would be the specific impacts on the National Center if we were to appropriate no funding for the support program in fy 16 and what are the benefits from the secret service for the existing partnership . Director clancy we understand this is a passthrough grant through the department of justice. This is a very Important Mission to us. It has so many good things. It is such an important job. We offer a lot to our local Law Enforcement partners with the forensics we can do, the polygraphs we can do for them. We can bring a lot to the table to try to help with this very Important Mission and we are very thankful to be able to do this. Rep. Roybalallard ok. Rep. Carter if no one else has any questions, i guess we end this hearing. I want to say this has been a tough way for you. It is all a learning process. Once again, we are part of that chain and where willing to help. Director clancy yes, sir. They could, mr. Chairman. Rep. Carter thank you. Fcc chair nominee will or took questions today about the newly approved tom wheeler took questions. House republicans layout of budget plan. Later, president obama meets with the irish prime minister. On our next washington journal congressman Scott Garrett talks about the republicans budget loop rent for 2016 blueprint for 2016. Then, reaction to the gop budget plan with democratic representative mark pocan. Later, a look at a recent article on alternatives to walking up juvenile defenders. Plus, your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. Washington journal is live each morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. This we can come of the cspan city store has partnered with media come to learn about the history and literary life of columbus, georgia. Here are remains of a confederate ironclad. This is an ironclad built in columbus during the were. Those oval shapes are gone for its of jackson. Gun forts of jackson. This is one of the gods built specifically for the jackson. It was cast at the selma mabel works and completed in january 1865. The row claim to fame is directly connected to the fact there are only four ironclads from the civil war we can study right now. The jackson is right here and this is why this facility is here. It is first and foremost to tell the story of this particular ironclad and to show people that there are more than one or two there are many. Watch all of our events from columbus saturday at 2 00 eastern and sunday afternoon at 2 00 on American History tv on cspan3. The head of the federal Communications Commission was asked about nude Net Neutrality rules and whether the white house pressure the fcc on the division. Tom wheeler testified before the House Oversight committee. The chair is from utah. Good morning, the committee to come to order. The chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. We are here to examine the fcc rulemaking process and the agencys commitment to transparency. The fcc approved a new rules that will dramatically increase the regulation of the internet. Americans only got a chance to read them last week. In reality, the current process making changes to internet roles is far less transparent than what occurred with the equally controversial media ownership rule changes in 2007. Senator obama strongly requested the fcc put out any changes they intended to vote on on a new notice. Senator obama believed to do this. Chairman martins said because of his desire for an open process, you wanted to make sure people have a chance to review any proposals prior to any action. That is not happen in this case. To suggest there is no precedent for this is untrue. Chairman martin might even further and in december 2007 testified before congress more than once about the rule changes. We invited the commissioner to come before us and he refused. Did not have any problem meeting at the white house but did have a problem coming before congress. In todays case, chairman willard of the opposite, failed to provide this type of transparency. Chairman willard did not make the rule public and declined to appear before this committee. We find that unacceptable. Further, it appears the fcc has been concealing communication from the public without without legal basis. There are several reactions from comments made request. We have that slide. I guess not. I will keep rolling. Organization to gain insight into agency decisionmaking, the sec track record and responding to former requests is weak at best. The fcc denied 140 of all requests. Denied more than 40 of all requests. Some blackout entire pages of text. The committee has received 16 pages of unredacted in all traffic reviews the reply previously provided. Today, we compare these communications to understand what legal justification mr. Wheelers agency used to prevent this from becoming public. We will examine the series of events resulting in the highly controversial vote to use title ii to regulate internet like a public utility. In may of 2014, the fcc proposed internet regulation that indicated broadband and mobile services would remain classified under title i. Public statements made by chairman wheeler and to medications received demonstrate this was the chairmans intent during this time. In october 2014, media reports indicated the chairman intended to finalize a hybrid approach to that that continue to classify broadband and mobile Internet Services under title i. Days later, the present appeared in a Youtube Video calling for a radically different proposal. All title ii reclassification. Full title ii requests vacation. This came as a major surprise to the sec staff, including mr. Wheeler. Chairman willard announced the sec would radically alter the fcc would radically alter the course. The comments were not made in the context of fully changing this to title ii. The fcc adopted the change on february 26 and a threeto vote. A the lack of transparency leaves us with a lot of questions. This is a factfinding hearing. This committee remains committed to ensuring full transparency across government. I look forward to hearing more from chairman wheeler today. I will now recognize the Ranking Member from maryland. Rep. Cummings we are here to discuss Net Neutrality. The rule adopted last month by the fcc. There are strong opinions on all sides of this issue. No doubt about it. On one hand, Internet Service providers, including comcast at t, verizon, and time warner oppose the rule and lobbied against it. They argued that additional regulation would increase fees, reviews investment, slow network upgrades, and reduce competition and innovation. On the other hand supporters contend we should not be allowed to discriminate based on content. They believeisbs isbs should be allowed to act like phone companies. Consumers, social media entities, and Companies Like facebook, netflix, and google favor open internet policies because they do not want to be charged higher prices to provide their services. The question before the committee is not which policy we may prefer. But whether the process used by the fcc to adopt the rule was appropriate. Republicans who oppose the new rule assert president obama issued under process. We have seen no evidence to support this allegation. Instead, the evidence before the committee indicates the process was thorough, followed the appropriate guidelines, and benefited from a Record Number of public comment. I welcome chairman wheeler here today to discuss the process used by the fcc. I would but to make several points for the record. First, the fcc received more comments on this rule than any other in its history. That is very significant. As i understand, the fcc received about 4 million comments. This Grassroots Movement was highlighted when john oliver, a popular latenight talkshow host , encouraged his viewers to go on the fcc website to comment on the proposed rule. The number of comments was also extremely high because the fcc established a 60 day comment pe riod twice as long as required by the administrative procedures act. The president has a right to express his position on proposed rules. He did so forth fully in this case. In november, he made remarks in support of an open internet rule, arguing that it is ess ential to the american economy. He said the fcc should create a new set of rules, protecting net the trolley and ensuring neither the cable nor phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper restricting what you can do or see online. When he gave this speech, the president ensured his office submitted the appropriate filing. He did this for the National Communications and information agency, which is tasked with dividing the fcc with information about the administrations position on policy matters. The president s routinely make their positions known to independent agencies. President reagan, george h. W. Bush, clinton, and george w. Bush all expressed opinions on sec regulations during their presidencies. Fcc regulations. For this rule, there were more than 750 filings from individuals, Public Interest groups lobbyists corporations, and elected officials, all of whom had an opportunity to make their views known. Finally, if the committee is going to examine the actions of chairman wheeler and his communications, we must also examine the actions of the commissioner and others who oppose the rule. Double press accounts indicate they have been working closely with republicans on and off capitol hill to affect fccs work and we should review their actions with the same level of scrutiny. I look forward to your testimony and i yield back. I held that record open for five legislative days. I will now recognize their written. The honorable thomas wheeler, we welcome you here and im glad you could join us. Pursuant to committee rules, if you will please rise and raise your right hand. D solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth . Thank you