Transcripts For CSPAN2 James Clapper Testimony On Global Threats 20160210

Presence particularly inside the eastern part of afghanistan. They continue continue to work with the taliban as well as with the and they present a threat to the Afghan Government as well as to our u. S. Personnel inside of afghanistan. Thank you. Thank you very much gentleman. My view is you cannot have passionate debates in this room without the great work that the men and women of the Intelligent Community do to preserve our freedom. I just want to start by saying we are very grateful for that. Director brennan, and 2014 the cia conduct an unauthorized search of a senate file including the emails of senate staff investigating the cias use of torture. The cia Inspector General later stated that the search involved improper agency and access to senate files and a review board that you appointed concluded that the search resulted in inappropriate access to the committees work. You initially denied the search took place but the reports of both your Inspector General and the review board show that this denial was the fact. After it was expose the cia wrote an apology letter that you do not send. His senior senior official from the nsa, the fda, fbi all testify that you would be inappropriate is certainly search files without external operation. We still have not gone an acknowledgment from you. So i think it would be important, i would like to hear from you, id like to set the records great that this would never happen again. Would you agree that the cia 2014 search of senate files was improper . This is the annual threat assessment is it not . I think senator as you know there were unique circumstances with that. These were cia computers at a cia police facility, with, with a cia network that was shared between Senate Staffers conducting that investigation for your report as well as cia personnel. When it became quite obvious for cia personnel that staffers had unauthorized access to an internal draft document of cia, it was an obligation on the part of cia officers who had responsibility for the security of that network to investigate to see what might have been the reason for that access that the Senate Staffers had for that document. They conducted that investigation, i spoke to the chairman and vice chairman about it. I try to make sure they understood exactly what the challenge was that we had. We conducted an investigation, i then referred them to the ig, when the Senate Leadership was concerned about the action of cia officers. I also subsequently convene an accountability board. I think if you were to read those reports, including the accountability board you would see that it was determined that the actions of the cia were reasonable given the very unclear and on written or on specific understanding between the committee and cia at the time. In terms of. Mr. Director my time is short but that is not what the Inspector General. I respectfully disagree. I would like to read the exact words of the review board were. It resulted in inappropriate access to the work product. The Inspector General reached the same conclusion. So the question here is, is when youre talking about spying on a committee, responsible for overseeing your agency, and my view that undermines the very checks and balances that protect our democracy and it is unacceptable in a free society and your compatriots in all of the sister agencies agreed with that. Now you disagree. Yes, i think he was characterized by their comments as well as what is in the reports. I apologize to the chairman and vice vice chairman about the access the made to five emails during that investigation. I apologize to them for that very specific, inappropriate action i was taken as part of a very reasonable investigative action. I do not say we spied on Senate Computers or files. We did not do that. We are fulfilling our responsibilities. I read the exact words of the Inspector General and the exact words of the review board, you appointed the review board. They said nobody ought to be punished but they said there was improper access. My point is, in our system of government we have responsibility to do vigorous oversight and we cant do vigorous oversight if there is improper procedures used to access our files. My time is up. Senator i would not agree with that there is improper access Senate Staffers had to cia documents. Was that not inappropriate. I can tell you having talked at length to our staff, everything that we determined they did was appropriate but i asked about cia conduct into reviews, Inspector General and your review board said it was improper. Yes, im still waiting to review what was done by the senate to take a look at what the staffers actions were. Separation of powers goes both ways. As i said i apologize to the chairman and vice chairman for the very specific, inappropriate access that Agency Officers that were investigating this incident made to those emails. Very limited, inappropriate actions. Overall that investigation was done consistent with our obligations, consistent with obligations, consistent with the law, consistent with our responsibilities. I do think youre mischaracterizing the full tenure of both the accountability board emmy Inspector Generals report. Pretty hard to mischaracterized word for word quote. I will exercise something here and recognize senator. I want to start by thanking our panelists were being here for the continued excellence work for their respective agencies do every day and providing worldclass strategic analysis and keeping our country safe. The world and growing and complex threats that have been laid out today the work that is done by your agency is critical and i want to thank the men and women of those agencies to continue to do excellent work. I want to think the chairman for holding this hearing. Its been two years since we have had one. I hope we dont like that longneck sign. I think its important the American People have a chance chance to hear from these officials directly. Especially since many of our actions with these threats take lace behind closed doors. While that certainly appropriate most circumstances, public debate benefits tremendously from transparency. I appreciate the opportunity today. I. I want to start with admiral rogers. As you know the world has seen a truly alarming increase in attacks on Critical Infrastructure. For example, in december dhs reported a 20 increase of Cyber Incidents between fy 14 and fy 15. While critical manufacturing was the most targeted sector and that, energy rank second, and the number of incidents with water and wastewater systems coming in third. On top of that, we we have seen recent attacks against turkish banks can ukrainian electricity providers and recently revealed that iranian packers infiltrated dam just north of new york city. My question for you is this, particularly an essay did they have sufficient insight into Cyber Threats into u. S. Critical infrastructure that we are seen by porn actors and what can we do to better position ourselves because those threats specifically to Critical Infrastructure question what. You never have all the site you like. I dont think youre going to hear an intel professional say look i could use more. I think the biggest challenge in some ways is not so much the level of insight but it is how do we generate action and make the changes that i think we believe is necessary given the dynamics of the world that you outlined that i do not think our shortterm trends. I dont see this changing the future. I see this as a nature of the world where living in and will be likely to be living in percent. Of time. The challenge is how to take the insights and generate action. Thats the biggest challenge. Have you thought about particularly given the focus of those Something Like electrical generation and water and wastewater systems, the ramifications of some of the changes within those fields of distributed approaches and resiliency as opposed to the very traditional approaches of sort of oneway generation and largescale transmission . You are watching most of the sectors in the area trying to go that way. How can you build resiliency, ive talked to several moments of power of water over the last few years and you can see them trying to go that way. Just given the breath of infrastructure, the amount of time it is going to take to do that it crossed the in tire nation, that is not an insignificant challenge. Would you agree that some of the Movement Towards more distributed purchase per particularly in electrical generation, things like micro grids, island microgrids, distributed storage and are helpful. Yes, i think that should be a foundation an element of a broader strategy. I try to remind people there is no critical goal. Is a smart senator said sometimes theres a silver buckshot when you dont have a silver bullet. While the United States is obviously not addressing the isil issue alone in syria and iraq, the reality is that many of our foreign partners in the region right times heavily distracted by unrelated conflicts that are sometimes counterproductive to that fight. For example, example, as you are aware turkey is targeting the kurds have been some of the most engaged fighters in the battle against isis. Saudi arabia putting money into equipment in the fight in yemen instead of focusing on isil and syria. You spent time in the middle east over the years, what has the cia done and what might else be done to get a regional partners more focused on confronting the threat. As you point out in the middle east right now its wracked by instability and violence than we have seen in the past 50 years. The amount of bloodshed and humanitarian suffering is unprecedented. We work very closely with our partners throughout the regions to make sure the Intelligent Services are fulfilling the responsibility professionally as far as making sure that we can share information with them about the flow for fighters in particular, given there is such a difference among these countries and individuals who might go to syria, iraq and onto libya or egypt. I tried to make sure we give them the intelligence they need, the training they need, and also give them the professional training that is required. There is a tremendous application on them to make sure they can carry out the responsibility want the same time respecting human rights rights obligation they have a security services. Trying to do a serve as a interwith one of them and enhance their relationship. Sometimes we have intramural conflicts among some of these countries. Building these services up and making sure they carry out the responsibility professionally is very important. Thank you. The chair would also make a note that the senators correct we did not have an open threat last year we had a close one. Last year we had open hearings with directors from the fbi, and and others and we had one scheduled with doctor brennan and were blitzed by a snowstorm. Baby had we had him and he would not have fallen and wrecked his knee. It is the intent of the chair to continue to allow every agency the opportunity not just to be here for worldwide threat here hearing about to come in and share about what you do and why you do it and why the American People should care about your success. Todays drinking out of a fire hose tried to address the entire globe at one time. The rest of of it is good to be more constructive. I think the committee has attempted to increase the amount of open exposure with a degree of specificity that we havent had in the past. Thank you mr. Chairman. I note on the very first page of the statement for the record you say the order of topics presented in the state that there is not necessarily indicate the magnitude of the threat of the Intelligence Community. My my question is is this because were dealing with such a complex and everexpanding level of threads and is difficult to prioritize or is it because we ought to be talking about this in a closed session. If thats thats the case please tell me. If you had to prioritize, we have to make decisions here we have budget limitations, your budget limitations, we want to try to address all of these threats equally. That equally. That is not always possible. It seems to me that as a Committee Member and is a member of congress we need to know how to best allocate our budget toward what you mean. I know this can be everchanging but wanted to response to that how should we best address that. The more i spend doing this the harder it becomes to write threats. Any of them can leap up and bite us. So we dont have the luxury i dont like to mislead people that this one threat is the one that were going to focus on at the expense of others. So thats why the statement there. What does that that mean from a resource standpoint . In terms of funding and resources we are to do our job. Weve taken what i those resources that enable resilience and agility so that we can respond and hopefully anticipate and then respond to a variety of threats. That is one thing that i have said this before an answer to a question this morning, again in my time i do not recall a time when we have been confronted with a more diverse array of threat. Whether it is the nationstate threats posed by russia and china, particularly their Nuclear Capabilities or nonnationstates of the likes of isil, al qaeda and et cetera. All of these threats are serious whether it be terrorism, cyber, or others. As pointed out we are facing an array of threats one area im concerned about is the increasing concern about vulnerabilities in the Digital Domain is cyber. I think we as a country need to make sure we understand what those liabilities are. I think to jim and other points we need to make sure the Intelligent Security Services in this country have a role to help and protect that environment. Our way of life, our future depends on making sure that a strong. We have adversaries overseas that have capabilities to carry out attacks. The other part of this if i made, just a thought is that mixture, the combination of threats posed to us in the cyber domain and the connection of that with terrorism. So that makes ranking these discrete threats very difficult. Maybe that is why you have Cyber Technology is number one, i just assume and i appreciate the response and i. I would like you to comment on that as well because this is your domain where we stand on the. For me, my counterparts on the panel i tell her team i am always leery about this hierarchal approach of doing business. I watch it. We focus on number one. They would think about number two in the number three. The world around us does not work that way. For me the way i try to bend it with our teams protection of u. S. Persons and u. S. Infrastructure is priority number one. I look at this and i see cyber and counterterrorism world in particular bringing those together in a very concerning way as you heard from director clapper in his Opening Statement. Cyber and his Opening Statement. Cyber remains so foundational to every aspect of our daily lives. In a way that we have not necessarily seen as much in the past. It represents an opportunity for us as a society but also potential for great impact. To follow up on that point, i was a governor in september 11. Shortly afterwards we had our state please go to all of our vulnerable pieces of infrastructure in our stay, electrical, electrical, chemical plants and those type of things. And assess their level of vulnerability and read to them about how they could be attacked. Do we that with our Critical Infrastructure . It seems to me you could create a team to go to our water, gas, utilities, Financial Services and say look this is what could happen to you. Have you you. Have you thought about this . You dont really need legislation to do this, and another was more proactive, trying to alert them to the risk and to some of the protections that may be available. So now youre really talking about outside my lame and more into the department of homeland security. I share your concern. Its one reason why speaking within my lane of the dod we can do just that. We attempt to make sure that we understand our structures and to keep our mission and their vulnerability. We we do Penetration Testing and red teams, we do know notice inspections. Seems to me we are to talk about be more active and not just wait and hope they are doing the proper defensive measures but to alert them to wear their phone and then to help them figure out the defensive measures. The research the subject for a moment to heroin which is an epidemic. Ten or 12,000 people per people per year now die. The number is accelerating astoundingly and tragically. Director clapper talked about mexico and thats what seems to be coming from. Specific question, one of the problems with heroin that we are seeing is its laced with fentanyl. That makes him more potent and dangerous. Where does that come from . Do we know . To have until june sunwear do we have intelligence on was coming from . We have a sense that a lot of it is may be manufactured in china and other places in the developing world. So dea and fbi are spending time trying to understand where the sources are. I think we should know that and should be publicity and we should name and shame those countries. This is entirely unacceptable. I would hope that there be for the analysis of that and also analysis of the trade scheme that allows it to get to mexico or central america. Second question, do we have adequate resources in terms of intelligence also in terms of interdiction in mexico and central america. My understanding is is that we have a small number of people and some of those Central American countries which is also contributing to this. Do you feel as an Intelligence Community that you have adequate resources to understand this trade and were comes from, whos behind it, and then that leads to interdiction and ill follow up with that. Surely not given the size of the title wave of heroin that is washing over from mexico. Theres two waves, we talk about the heroine way for good reason, theres another wave which is methamphetamine from mexico. The two waves are now crashing together in the middle of the United States. So surely not as the honest answer. We have built much more effective relationships among ourselves and focusing on the problem and with our partners in mexico and central america. Honestly, its not good enough given the size of the threat. Another question is how is it getting in . Do you know how much by land and how much by water . My understanding is a great deal of this is coming by water. One of the problems is a lack of adequate interdiction resources both in terms of military and the coast guard. Large amount comes by water. It tends to switch from both sides of the north and Central American landmass, the pacific or atlantic side. Director clapper, i suspect this may be your last public global threat hearing before our committee so let me join with our colleagues to take you for your decades of service. You and i first met in 2004 when lieberman and i wrote the laws and i take special pride in the work that you were doing. Headaches for all of your years of service. The key is senator collins. And with those actionable intelligence that would allow was to disrupt and interdict moreover the fed general least herewith the coming in from mexico that we are able to act on because of the operational constraints . The testimony of recent retired i heard him say on more than one occasion of the drug flow in the United States was limited because of lack of operational resources to react. And they do magnificent work of a building and deploying and then specifically the submersible vehicles that they are using to ship large quantities. To get the drugs off the street. Director you talked about how difficult it is to make the job of Law Enforcement efforts to detect improvement terrorist plots in said that encryption in this at the center of the terrorist tradecraft but yet the administration has not submitted to date and the legislative proposal to deal with encryption. I would like to know if any of the three of you have made recommendations to the president that he said the legislation with the encryption and problem for the encryption problem. With those recommendations is encryption and is also a great faith that in mind is the challenge and that the private sector was struggling so much and i was optimistic but i cant quite clearly see what the future looks like ive not comfortable talking about those deliberations. I will change the question is do you think we should pass legislation with encryption . I will dodge that it is not the fbis job. Congress and the American People have to grapple with this because there is a collision inhouse with public safety. You dont have to be careful in case you are retiring in. [laughter] i am not sure we have exhausted all possibilities technologically. I am not and i 80 expert by any means i would hope that we have not exhausted all options it is the good thing for all kinds of reasons for privacy but at the same time is a neighborly nefarious activity with the National Security rigo. And we are losing information because of it. My hope is the technological solution and i would also asked to comment. Encryption is foundational to the feature. Is unrealistic. It is foundational to the future what is the best way to meet with these imperatives . For their protection in alien to safety is incredibly important. The challenge i have seen is three years spending a lot of time talking about will be keen to do i think were the most innovative technologically of the installation in the world. Lets think about what can you do. Thinks first of all, for your service. That the drug threat to is growing in our country. And i suspect were not put date their resources into the prevention side of the equation. With data Missile Defense system to say to provide a greater deterrent against north korea aggression . But having said that with the discussion of the Missile Defense that it not be deployed but the North Koreans make dash hard to sustain in that position. To that extent there are forced displays of Missile Defense it could have been a defect but invite the to do more stick it is hard to tell which way they would go. And we will monitor compliance to space the support cyberwith competitive advantage and private Security Experts have a limited john billy cyberactivity to have verified state sponsorship for data for commercial gain to understand but can you help me to understand how this is helpful if you came in to monitor compliance. But there has been a decline we need more time to assess if this is a case of the state sponsors of those elements have actually reduced activity and we will need some more time to assess that also that challenge that it is used for economic and vantage. I would agree there is no doubt that we could show with the past where that was the case with its desire with the counterparts and we have to work our way through this with the use of the powers of the state to use cyberas a tool. In a dozen we have seen some activity but as a result for the chinese counterparts. Will they ever be able to resolve this dilemma . Would you care to comment . North korea has realworld objectives the second is to deter u. S. Actions on the Crimean Peninsula is to separate the u. S. From the south korean ally. To show that we still have a string band will not be deterred and it will be very beneficial however is unpredictable so we should do everything we can to maintain our relationship but is still the unpredictable wild card. Into also have an impact on china could be another answer . For us to put together a fairly good picture it is getting harder, not easier trying to hurt or diminish with the specific actors. Could you like to add to that . [laughter] correct answer. Let me start by thanking you for your service it for those who work to keep the country say if and the fact we have the office to see a fight california and a series of other entities and the fbi as well. And i hope you will relay that message that they dont get the credit that they deserve. I want to commend you on your testimony today and the recognition talking about encryption with Artificial Intelligence in the tools issues that sedgy he is out of the bottle first to commend those comments to we litigate the origination of the encryption and that is appropriate 2. 0 of the intellectual capital with other types of the intrusions is announced that bin potentially a liability. I fere it is just on this piece other then Digital Security with this notion i guess director clapper my concern is with all of these competing interests with Civil Liberties security i am not sure all these competing interest could all come to gather to try to challenge innovation and how to get this back had information in Security Specialist for privacy and Civil Liberties id like to see if we have a thoughtful approach to the debate. Debt would. I feet you gave to those of the key constituencies. For the for security in other lawenforcement with the Civil Liberties concerns therein is countervailing interest in we try to sort our way through those competing equities after 25 years and the Telecom Industry but the notion of that topdown solution but that will be constantly evolves being challenged and the response will be constantly transitioning with the peace on encryption but it is a much broader issue as you have laid out a to be part of this conversation did fly time is running about but the chair has been very helpful as to think about overhead satellite issues on commercial satellites one company alone has 250 this year would be spent a moment how all that fits in overall . I have then a huge proponent since 1911 and is a crucial part but is also important that these commercial entities remain viable if they have the product or service that they can use we should take advantage of that blood is thats and also for resilience but i dont take it is good to be completely dependent on the government so we have to find a balance ciller to be sure that is secured to for. Senator . And those that work for us and i will mention at couple of questions with your leadership with a the workforce of the future so one thing i will ask a question for all of you is with engineering and technology and math are we doing the kinds of things we need to do to identify people to do these jobs generally is administration would be helpful. But to be more appropriately aston a closed setting and i will do that later but in that regard with the transfer of money that occurred when it did with 400 million from the past military sale we have had a given that coincidentally at the same time those three hostages were released this is money that Congress Said had to go to victims of the iranianbacked terror. Like the Church Business meeting we have of 1,000 deficit what should we do . With give half to the pta and half to the girl scouts. This money is gone but it was an excuse i think to do the right thing in the wrong way. You said that secretary kerry said in the last few days undoubtedly some of the money returned to iran would go to a terrorist groups in e. Verify today you see no real change of behavior of state sponsor of terror. Are we doing any analysis . What do we think happens when suddenly everyone gets 100 million or 50 billion so what happens in places that dont have very much money has bad activity . 400 million could make a lot of bad things happen and reevaluating what happens when the taliban get the new infusion of money that i think everybody understands they are about to get . Hi will show constraint about what could be said publicly but we are watching to the best of our ability with our insight to on where this money is going. Most of it so far has been taken down each with loans and other needs those fall mainly in uh economic arena and if they do something with that they have a lot of debts they need to pay weakened go into more detail in a classified setting but there hasnt been much so that period of heavy sanctions specifically to be funded in the every indians found the way to sustain them and they have businesses they generate their own income. That last point is the best point so they attempt at the 100 billion even if they didnt have money they could find terrorism whatever percentage comes back the argument that we hear they will screw us but they could have done all of those things and they still found monday to finance care efforts all over their neighborhood. Thanks for appearing here. I will associate myself natalie for your service but for the men and women that you represent. Director, you stated earlier we have not seen as much violence and instability in the time period was your lifetime . [laughter] what are those key drivers . I think it has been five years since the arab spring took a rich with had a very dramatic impact on governments throughout the region and as the streets became alive and as organizations that did not trigger that it took full of vintage so that instability we see in syria and yemen was an outgrowth of the arabs period the turnover from libya and yemen. These are individuals from different areas of the country with the sectarian tensions playing account because of the authoritarian governments never in power for many years. So this popular reaction is basically civil war and challenges against the government they dont have those Political Institutions nor the ability to address the challenges in the region and therefore the various backgrounds are now finding ways to fight among themselves. By want to address Electronic Communications the legislation would clarify to specify a Electronic Transaction records so what a short position of the fbi . We need that very much it is an ordinary fix it is necessary because i believe it is a typo in the statute that has led to some companies interpreting it in the way congress was never intended it affects our work in a big rand practical way. I want to return to the north to rea test how much of that treaty with any other particulates . [laughter] i have 10 questions and that is not one of them and then i would like to the answer but i appreciate the opportunity. What does this tell us about north korean vessels and technology . With the building capacity and have a bite you talk about this in a closed hearing. I believe we will have the chance to do that. Director, you mentioned the document in shared space of violation has any member ever apologized to you over that document . No senator. Was that in violation and what this committee had . To make it was inconsistent of that understanding. As the document and return to . I will check on that. Classified information is a serious matter. Yes. We will have a second round starting in the first as the order is the first consisting of one question or two minutes whichever is fastest and we will be out of here shortly. General you were recognized too soon because i have a question i dont think it is one you like to be answered but assessing where we are today in iraq share with the weather looks like its the end of this year as a relates to be different if at all. The kurds solidified their positions they probably will not move any further south because that is not in their interest. The militia will take control over the central part of iraq. We consolidate our gains in raimondi and to we begin the move meant to secure the borders and to possibly beginning the isolation and effortt of iraq i am not optimistic we have done much to move the forces out of the region. I am not betting on that. Will be very difficult to isolate. Faq you are a bit of principle standing up for what he believed. Last year some of us received a report from the fbi that show the individuals on the terrorist watch list and attempted over a 10 year period to buy a gun or an explosive and they were successfully 91 of the time. Could you describe that standard that all the individuals who pose a threat to National Security are placed on the database . Will try to do that briefly there is the extensive process to see faye believe there in terrorist activity to put them on the watch list but to make sure in the suit americans are not placed on the database stick we have to make sure our records are accurate and then department has readdress procedures if anyone thinks there were wrongly placed there is a process they can challenge that. Want to go back to afghanistan. Talked about the al qaeda presence in the deficit is increasing and the influence and how probable is that other merchants in afghanistan . There is 100 members the leader there is a individual who has very depp with other organizations including the taliban they continue to apply their trade but they are concerned that al qaeda and us can regenerate why we need to maintain as well as working with our partners. Isil mckewon take it vantage so it is seen as the threat by afghan officials and it was one of the real concerns that they had it is plenty of a flag in different parts of afghanistan now seen as a competitor. Stop there. How are you recessing . Not the methodology but how big of a deal is that . It is a concern as several hundred members and it is distributed going up against other organizations but it is a concern in places like indonesia. We did that four quarters intelligence strep in we had the privilege to spend time with women parliamentarians and that the taliban will not come back and then it goes up and up with terrible things with schoolchildren do happen to be girls and wondering if we can and make sufficient progress. The Afghan People there are thousands of afghans your given their lives thats why you want to work very closely with them. The host challenges that foreign assistance is important as well as the economic side. But they need to make sure they can address the concerns of the Afghan People there some of the greatest people. The vice chair has worked five questions in to the one question ground. [laughter] i will not incur the wrath of the chairman but director written by the independent group the title is dont panic can match olson to we have enormous respect for from the National Counterterrorism Center Getting into the nuts and bolts of the encryption that is available all over the world very cheap the basic thesis is with sensors and the like to have more opportunities to prevent our country from going dark. Because of the experts involvement i would like to have your team take a look to give us an analysis of 60 days to have the unclassified version would that be something that did say breakthrough report with a Cross Section of experts is that something you can do . Sure. One quick comment there has been a lot of praise upon new today studying american in history i appreciate washington not this early presiding over that Constitutional Convention to establish precedents and how the whole enterprise is would function. I know youre not the first director but with the intelligence and for that to i want to profoundly complement to help create an institution now will serve this country well for some period of time. My question is very broad broad, and you commented your report to be on the upward trajectory since the 70s were groups have a safe haven than in the other time in history would kill 20,000 members of isis to yet more foreign fighters have gone to join them. It is a hydra we cut off one and to grow back. Is it time to stop to say do we need a new strategy other than trying to kill enemies as they arise and i am thinking of the strategy of containment not that that is right but there was of a comprehensive strategy rather than an ad hoc to deal with each individual attack for crisis i would suggest it seems to seek how to read deal with that extremism toward those that deal with other countries to get at the roots instead of the tactics with the very important and Crucial Point and to try to track down terrorist end to be focused of the fundamental systemic conditions to give rise the you can rattle off those spaces with of population bulge of the frustrated bales to whom such propaganda appeals. What has to be caught in a fundamentally is to collect intelligence and to give rise to the phenomenon. One question or two minutes which ever is lager . Launder . [laughter] i will address briefly section and that expires next year to deter ged nonu. S. Persons for purposes of acquiring foreign intelligence. Sections of the attitude is a vital tool as multiple layers of oversight after requesting a stray reauthorization do you believe congress should have that straight reauthorization . I do believe ready to continue as the mecca but adversarial questions into a speech and asked if he agreed with my speech. [laughter] the committee will take up 72 very quickly from the standpoint of the preparation to educate to have them bring us up to speed on the usefulness with any tweets that may have to tune be made but this something that director clapper has said we cannot go without this it is crucial that the centerpiece before we end go back to encryption i have had more district attorneys come to me about that encryption issue because theyre getting into a situation they cannot prosecute cases town by town or city by city or state by state sanders ranges from the york to a town of rural birth carolina in sundays we need to take seriously. Want of their responsibilities is to beecher dash make sure it has the tools to authorize what you need traditional tools i see no different reedy to provide a tool to have access to that information i could care less how that is accomplished it is the priority of both of us to be voluntary but if it is something we cannot achieve the balance voluntarily then it is the committees responsibility to pursue in any fashion and that we can because it isnt valuable to our future and i fear this isnt the toughest decision we will make with how technology might impact the world we are in. The American People expect us to exceed 72 individuals. You are on track to probably do that i am not sure we can turn around to see we have 11 because we cannot see inside the communications we wont stand for that. I hope the work with the administration towards the save end goal. I want to take one last opportunity to take each of you for those who work for the American People at any given point in time the work force has been challenged to address of etfs over the of holidays and cannot imagine you were going through to track down the number of threats i dont think anybody had a comfortable Holiday Season in this year but we got through without any event in we dont take that would have been the outcome but now were focused on tomorrow and not yesterday. We will continue to do that successfully in this hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] in this thing to hear sure that first to the nations primary that has a history than the moons south and then to the party a caucuses more than likely we will see candidates dropped out of their race so the field will narrow than remove to super tuesday with the delegate count will be critical to get as a better sense the foods the sigil is resonating. Diamond decided right now i am also a Union President and one of the fees that should be talked about the help the candidates will talk about that. Bernie sanders he is the only candidate who will make major changes we need to get our country back on track. The system is fixed we need to make a right for the average american and speaks the truth. We are the ones to be affected by it. Every election cycle reminds us. A home for political junkies a lot of cspan fans on the hill spirit there is so much more to make sure what is going on inside the Dir National Intelligence agency ir testified about Global Threats at a hearing at the Senate Arms Service committee. He said attacks by isis are the main concern, they talked about north korea and the civil war in syria. Senator john mccain chairs this two hour hearing. Good morning. We meet to receive testimony on threats as part of the oversight of the president s Defense Budget request. Terabytes to welcome back James Clapper is the director of the Defense Intelligence agency. This is likely his final appearance. I would like to stay in camp for over five decades of service to protecting our country. In particular thank you for leaving the men and women have to analyze the information that helps keep america strong i have had the honor hot dash sea otter of knowing youll long time and a nobel individual who serves with more distinction and honor in the year grateful for your service and rigo that will continue in the years to come. In afghanistan 9,800 troops are in harms way and the Haqqani Network continues to threaten our interest and now isil is on the battlefield. As they receive sanctions relief then it will only increase to continue to destabilize. And it is undermined negotiations and to develop the arsenal in want it tested this weekend in violation of multiple resolutions. Head while taking course at the time of this hearing last year tried to reclaim the total of 400 acres that was a staggering 3,200 acres and a look forward to the assessment and to prioritize those threats that we face. We looked at timely and Accurate Information with the threats that we face and the intentions of adversaries we have High Expectations as we should the lever we cannot afford to believe that they are omnipresent after years of our richer a budget cuts to energy our intelligence just like the national defence. And those politicians are seeking to justify their policies. During the iran deal weaver told the United States has absolute knowledge about military activities that guarantees if fat purse is to compromise the integrity over important questions and americans must now that intelligence is not like the movies. And not every terrorist show call would be intercepted read their activities on the border were movement of terrorist groups across the world or any of the other hard targets we expect to penetrate and understand real model is now have the Big Decisions in through policy decisions to limit the effectiveness. That capability is just like anything else to be constrained by limitations of resources in the limited understanding of isil a lot of that was diminishing significantly read we lost some of the boots on the ground deal but simply with National Leaders decide not to be present we should not be surprised later of those threats that our either merging we must remember it is the responsibility of policy makers to invest in cutting edge capabilities as well as provide intelligence professionals with a sound policy decisions to unable to perform important work on behalf of our nation if we fail to make these equipments we will be surprised by events at the ever increasing cost of National Security. Your long service to the nation is praised i will echo the comments by your distinguished and continue service. We live in a time when there is a complex array of threats facing the United States is a challenge to decide how to allocate our resources to address those threats. Your testimony will provide immediate insight on those challenges. So the environments remain challenging with the Afghan Security forces by a increasing their tempo especially in rural areas. And injury the battlefield whole hot pakistan the operations have added to push other bad actors in pushing them into ruth afghanistan. Those prospects for reconciliation between the government and the taliban. Isil controls territory it is a significant threat to between the United States and our allies. There are a number of questions we must ask. What if they are removed from the surrounding areas . How will turkey respond . Well our partners react as it is put under increasing pressure . This was factor into this plan the efforts and again and look forward to those assessments stated that joint comprehensive plan of action with the Nuclear Program with the most but then, with their assessment with their term. Its return to the economic community. To use to support places like syria in the gulf. They also choose to use these resources in with our forces across the gulf and then i welcome to talk about the proxy and and conventional forces and then the misuse of the we continue to monitor. Into the Insurance Initiative but the campaign has been into crib area greybeard crimea and while simultaneously running operations campaigns to show they are against the islamic state. To play and in daily headlines to support the Syrian Regime to get under out of the role of the saudi regime. Looking forward to how they see this situation. Northridge is an immediate and present danger with the rocket launch of todays ago and violation of multiple resolutions following the nuclear test. And to be reading on good terms without chinas cooperation with the nuclear and Ballistic Missile capability. And then to deny access to others with the lowes certificate challenges in recent memory. Sea despite the protest of its sovereign neighbors. It is critical we enhance our partnerships with Others Congress to region to bring china into the rule of law based on a global regime that will guarantee piece and prosperity across the region. It is also critical we use all of the nations tools to make sure mine chinas intellectual property is halted. Another equal area of concern is cybersecurity. Protecting our networks and our intellectual properties and action against certain ad visaries who utilize the internet for propaganda and recruitment and control. We look forward to your assessment of these services. Let me thank you again for your service and we look forward to your testimony. Director clapper . General mccain, Ranking Member, and members of the committee, thank you both for your acknowledgment of my service. Last week marked 55 years since i enlisted in the marine core reserve. I was very proud of that. Proud to be sitting next to one. And an auspicious beginning. I want to thank you, chairman mccain, of the acknowledgment of the great men and women who work in the Intelligence Committee for both of us. I also appreciate your i thought very accurate statement about the capabilities of the intelligence communities and what we can and cant do and what is reasonable to expect and not expect us to do. General stuart is here to update you on some of the pressing intelligence National Security issues facing our nations. After listening to both of your statements i think you will hear some ecos here. In the interest of time and to get to your question we will cover some of the wave tops. As i said last year, in predictability instability is the new normal and the trend continues for the continued future. Violent extremist are active in 40 countries, seven countries are experiencing a collapse of government, 14 others face regime violence or instability or both. Another 59 face significant risk of instability through 2016. The Record Number of pligrants, one million, is likely to grow fourther. Migration and displacement will strain countries in europe, africa, asia and the americas. Extreme weather, climate change, environmental degrading, wiseing demand for food and water, poor policy decisions and inadequate in infrastructure will continue to cause problems. The zika virus has reached the u. S. And it is projected to cause up to four million cases in this area of the world. I want to comment on technology and cyber. Technological innovation during the next few years will have a more Significant Impact on our way of live. This innovation is central to our Economic Prosperity but it will bring new security vulnerabilities. The internet will connect devices that could be exploited. Artificial intelligence allows decisions about data and physical systems and potentially disrupt labor markets. Russia and china continue to have the most sophsophisticated systems. Iran and north korea continue to conduct Cyber Espionage as they enhance their attack capabilities. Isil uses cyber for recruitment and propaganda but also to hack and release Sensitive Information about u. S. Military personal. As a nonstate actor isil displays unprecedented online proficiency. Cyber criminals remain the most pervasive threat to the Financial System using cyber to conduct theft and extortion and other activities. There are more extremist groups and members and save havens than at any time in history. The rate of travelers going to syria and iraq in the past few years is without president. At least 38,200 fighters have traveled to syria from at least 120 countries since the beginning of the conflict in november 2012. As we saw in paris, returning fighters with battlefield experience pose a dangerous threat. Isis demonstrates a sophi sophisticated tactics. Isis has become the preeminent global threat conducting scores of attacks outside of syria and iraq in the past 15 months. Isis strength worldwide exceeds that of alqaeda. Isis wants to target the homeland. Isis external operations remain a critical factor in our threat assessments for 2016. Alqaedas affiliates have proven resilient despite a decimation of the core leadership in afghanistan and pakistan alqaeda affiliates are positioned to make gains in 2016. The alqaeda chapter in syria is the most capable branch. The increased used of encrypted Technology Enables terrorist actors to go dark and serve as undercut intelligence and Law Enforcement effort. Iran continues to be the fore most sponsor of terrorism. Through the islamic club force its terrorist partner hezbollah and proxy groups. Iran and hezbollah remain a continuing terrorist threat to u. S. Interest and partners worldwide. We saw the threat posed into the United States in homegrown extremist with the attack in chattanooga and attack in san bernardino. In 2015 the number of isis supporters increased five fold. North korea continues to conduct and test activities that concern the United States. On saturday evening they conducted a satellite launch and claimeded it was successfully placed in orbit. And they claimed they had a Hydrogen Bomb but it was too low to be staged as a nuclear device. They continue to develop a submarine launch Ballistic Missile and they are committed of developing a longrange Missile System that imposes risk on the United States. Russia continues its aggressive military modernization military program. They have the largest and most capable Nuclear Ballistic Missile Force. It developed a missile that violates the inf treaty. China, for its part continues to modernize its Nuclear Force and it is thriving for second strike capability but continues to profess a nofirst use doctrine. The jcpoa provides transparency into irans production and increases the time they would need to produce enough enriched uranium from a few months to a year. Iran probably reviews this as a mean to remove sanctions while preserving Nuclear Capabilities. Iran will dictate their level of adherence to the agreement over tile. Chemical weapons continue to pose a threat in syria and iraq. Damascus used chemical weapons on multiply occasions. Isis has used toxic chemicals including mustered gas. The first time a chemical has used a Chemical Warfare in attack since 1995 in japan. Space and counter space. 80 countries are engaged in the space domain. Russia and china understand how our military fight and how heavily we rely on space. They are each pursuing disruptive systems. China continues to make progress on its ni satellite program. Moving to counter intelligence, the threat from foreign Intelligence Energy is state and nonstate and persistent, complex and evolving starting a collection of u. S. Political, military information by intelligence Foreign Service continues unabated. Russia and china pose the greatest threat followed by iran and cuba on a lesser scale. And the threat from insiders taking advantage of removing National Security information will remain a persistent challenge. I want to touch on one transnational issue including drug trafficking. Over 10,000 people died of heroin overdoses in 2014 much of it laced with fent naul when is 3050 times more potent than heroin. 28,000 died from opioid overdoses and cocaine production from columbia which supplies have increased significantly. Let me quickly move through a few regional issues. In east asia china leaders are pursuing an active Foreign Policy and dealing with slower economic growth. They embarked on the most ambitious military reforms in the countrys history. Russia has demonstrated its military capability to project as a global power and gain support from the west and advance russian interest globally. Moscows objects will probably not change including influence over kiev. Putin is the first leader since stalin to expand russias territory. This marks the first use since the 4a in afghanistan of significant combat power outside of the soviet space. This shows the confidence in using. Moscow faces the reality of economic recession driven in large part by Falling Oil Prices as well as sanctions. Russias nearly 4 gdp contraction last year will probably extend into 2016. In the u. S. And south asia there are more operations underway in the middle east than at any more time since the arabisraeli war. They will make gains through the spring. Isil is somewhat on the defense and territory an and manpow er s declining but it remains a threat. There are significant gains in the north and southern syria. Manpower shortages will continue to undermine the Syrian Regimes ability to accomplish strategic battlefield objectives. The opposition has less equipment and have competing battlefield interest and fight among themselves. Some 250,000 people have been killed as this war has dragged on. As of last month 4. 4 million syrian refuges and together represent half of the preconflict population. Establishing authority and security across the country will be difficult with hundreds of militia groups operating throughout the country. Isis established its most developed branch outside of syria and iraq in libya and maintains presence in areas of the country. The yemen conflict will probably be stalemate through 2016. Affiliates in yemen have exploitedexploi exploited the conflict. The countrys economic and humanitarian situation worsens as well. Iran deepened involvement in the syria and iran issues and highlighted by battlefield alliance. Irans Supreme Leader continues to view the United States as a major threat. We asses his views will not change with the detainees and release of the ten sailors. Political cohesion and power brokers and financial short falls and sustained country wide taliban attacks are eroding stability. There are many more threats to u. S. Interest world wide and we can address more of which are covered in the statement for the record. I will stop my litany of doom here and past to general stewart. Chairman mccain, Ranking Member reid and members of had committee thank you for the opportunity to provide the assessment of Global Security environment and the threats facing the nation. Mr. Chairman, my statement details multi faceted challenges, threats and transnational terrorist networks. Taken together these issues reflect the diversity, scope and complexity challenges to todays security. I would like to highlight a few of these. The islamic state. Gia is helping the war fighter and our policy makers better understand both the ideology and the capabilities of isis. Isis as well as likeminded extremist are born out of the same extreme and violence sunni ideology. These jihadist are determined to restore the caliphate and are willing to justify extreme violence in their efforts to impose their social order on others. As the paris attacks demonstrated isis is the most significant threat to the United States and our allies. In 2015, the group remained entrenched in iraq and syria and expanded globally. Attacks demonstrate isis relevance and reach. Isis will try to attempt additional attacks in europe and direct attacks on the u. S. Homeland in 2016. Isis foreign fighters are tieded to tied to the externexter external capabilities. On the ground in syria and iraq isis continues to control large swaths of territory. The ability to operate openly was impeded on in iraq and syria and they forced them to lower their profile. In 2016 the growing number of antiisis groups will challenge isis ability to govern in iraq and syria but the group will probably retain sunni arab centers. In afghanistan, Afghan Security forces increasingly conducted independent operations but those forces struggled to adapt to the lack of coalition enablers and uneven execution of operations. Insurgeance expanded influence in rural areas and limited the extension of government control. The deployment of afghan specialized units and their enablers will be necessary to continue to secure and keep population centers. In russia, Russia Military activity is continued at a hist historic high. Moscow is conducting operations in syria, sustained involvement in the ukraine and expanding military capabilities in the arctic. They continued their robust exercise schedule and aggressively and occasionally provocative out of area deployments and we expect similar activity in 2016. China is pursuing a longterm military Modernization Program to advance its core interest which include maintaining its sovereignty, protecting its territory, and projecting its regional influence particularly in the south china sea. They have undergone reforms including increasing the number of navy, air force, and rocket force personal and establishing a theater joint command system and reducing their current military regions down to five joint theater of operations. Klein china has the largest and most complicated Missile Force and prioritizes regional and ballistic capabilities to expand against forces in the region and feel ship missiles which provide the ability to attack u. S. Aircraft carrier in the western pacific ocean. China displayed a new intermediate range cape able of attacking guam. They are a continue threat. North korea issued a statement claiming it had successfully carried out a nuclear test and a couple days ago they conducted their six space launch. It was a second launch to place a satellite into the orbit. They displayed a new or modified mobile ibcm during its recent parade and the test of a Ballistic Missile test further highlights the commitment to diversify the Missile Force and Nuclear Delivery options. North korea always continues the effort to expand weapon grade material. In space, china and russia increasingly recognize the Strategic Value of space and are focused on diminishing our advantage with the intent of denying the u. S. The use of space in the event of conflict. Both countries are conducting antisatellite research and developing anti satellite weapons making the space domain competitive, contested and congested. And the growing concern of russia and china which are actors that target personal, networks, supply change, research and development and Critical Infrastructure and information in cyber domain. Iran and north korea also remain as significant threats are conducted. Non state actors use of cyber space to recruit, propagandize and conduct open Research Remains a significant challenge. The men and women are providing unique Defense Intelligence around the world and around the clock and the war fighters, defense fighters, defense acquisition community, and policymakers, to provide warning and defeat these and other threats. I look forward to the committees questions thank you very much general. Director clapper in all of these many deck aped decades you have served the country have you ever seen more diverse conflicts to the security . No, sir, i have not. I have said that every year i get up here. This is my fifth or sixth time i have been up here. In my 50plus years in the intelligence business i cannot recall a more diverse array of challenges and crisis that we confront as we do today and your job has been made more difficult because of sequestration . Yes, sir, it has. I think the biggest problem with it over time is the uncertainty that it injects in a context of planning and particularly plays havoc with system acquisition. It is the uncertainty factor that we now have that has also become a normal fact of planning and programming thank you. Just in the last few days the issue of torture has risen again. General David Petraeus made a statement i would like to quote to you he said your nation has paid a high price in the recent deck apeds for information gained by the techniques and in my view that price far outweighed the information gain through the use of techniques, irks ie water boarding do you agree with general petraeus assessment . I do. I believe the Army Field Manual is the standard and that is what we should abide by. It services the purposes of providing a framework for the elicitation of valuable intelligence information and it comports with American Values. That is the point, i think. Isnt it the fact American Values are such that no matter what the enemy does we maintain the higher standard of behavior . And when we violate that the consequences are severe . Yes, sir. And an erosion of our moral authority. I would agree with that. Isnt it already proven that mr. Baghdady is sending people with this flow of refuges that are terrorist that in order to inflict further attacks on europe and the United States . That is correct. That is one technique they have used and that is taking advantage of the torrent of migrants to insert operatives into the that flow. As well they also have available to them and are pretty skilled at phony passports so they can travel extensively as well. And they are pretty good at establishing secure site for them to continue to communicate . That is true. I alluded to that in my Opening Statement about the impacts of encryption and the growth of encrypted applications which is having a negative impact on intelligence gathering. I recently traveled to texas and this was affecting not only us in the National Security realm but the state and local officials as well. As you know in addition to the atlas rocket that uses the Russian Rocket engine the United Launch Alliance maintains an american rocket with an american engine. As we continue to have the support and debate about how to break our nations dependency on russia for National Security space launch do you believe we need to look seriously at the delta as an alternative way to get off the rd180 and encourage competition from other organizations capable of providing us with this ability . I am a customer, general mccain, of the launch industry in the United States. I am trying to see our overhead is replenished and replenished on time. There is a capability with it delta that as you allude which is we think from our standpoint since we pay the freight when we use these systems which is both effective and cost efficient. I certainly do agree on fundamental american tentative competition. That is why i am quite encouraged by the aggressive approach that space x has taken. Our plan is to certify spacex to Carry National payloads into space. It isnt to your benefit to continue to depend on russia for rocket launches . We are more dependent on the rd180. We have been and they work for us. My interest though is getting those payloads up on time. Thank you very much, senator reid. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. General clapper, today what is your assessment of the compliance by the iranians with the jcpoa . I think the key milestone is implementation day on the 16th of january and the iranians did comply with the requirements they were required to live up to. I think we in the Intelligence Committee are very much in the distrust and verifying mode. There are half a dozen or so ambiguities in the agreement we have identified and will be vigilant about iranian compliance. Well that is exactly what you should be doing. I commend you for that. Just going forward, are you confidant that you could detect a serious deviation from the agreements in sufficient time to give the executive options . Yes, sir, i am confidant. My fingerprints are on the infamous National Integration assessment in october of 2002. I think we approach this with confidence and institutional humility. The russians are facing low oil prices that seem to be continuing. Has the Intelligence Committee made an assessment of the impact medium to longterm on this . On the ability of the russians to maintain their military posture and provocative actions . Well the falling price of oil has had huge impacts on the russian economy. The price of euro crude is running around 28 a barrel. The russians planning factor for their planning and programming for their budget is around 50 a barrel. So this is causing all kinds of strain. If you look at all of the classical measurements of economic measures inflation, the value of the euro, stresses on the welfare system, unemployment, and etc. That said the russians appear to be sustaining their commitment to their aggressive Modernization Program particularly with their strategic missiles. Looking ahead is there any indication or is this an area you are picking up information through many sources that are reflecting great concerns by the russians and their ability to keep this up. Well, that determination will be made by one man. I think for lots of reasons you will sustain the expeditionary activity in syria. Although i think perhaps even the russians are seeing that this is headed for stalemate in the absence of a substantial ground force incertsuinsertion. In afghanistan, multiple challenge, the president is trying to pursue a reconciliato reconciliatory reconciliation with the taliban. Anything about this action . I think the taliban position has consistently been not to do that; not to negotiate. They are the precondition they always ascribe is the removal of Foreign Forces and i dont see them changing that position. Thank you very much. General stewart, thank you for your distinguished service. Thank you, mr. Chairman. It is a very accurate litany of doom you covered a lot of stuff in a short period of time. We will have to go back and reread that. When you look at what right now we are in a situation where russia is pursuing new concepts and exploring weapon strategies and that is a quote from the u. S. National intelligence consul. You covered that in your opening remarks briefly. When people outside say you have russia saying they will make advances and modernize and we have a policy where we are not doing. What kind of justification and answer can we give people asking that question including me . That is a policy issue i worry about. I worry about the advarsaries. We are just down in the engine room shoveling the coal and the people on the bridge get to decide where the ship goes and how fast and and arrange the furniture on the deck. That is a policy issue that others decide. Well, i personal dont think it is a good policy but we all have opinions on that. I was fortunate enough to be in the ukraine back when the parliamentary elections were happening and for the first time in 96 years there was not wub one communist in the party. That was exciting. Although i was upset with putin coming in and killing people and our lack of support at that time as a policy for the ukraine. As we are looking at it now, and there has been statements made from russia saying as nato becomes more aggressive and we become more aggressive does it look to you like that is going on right now . What is the endgame . To answer your last question on what the endgame is i dont know. But i will say that the russians, i might ask you to comment on this, but i think the russians are fundamentally paranoid about nato. They are greatly concerned about being contained and of course very concerned about Missile Defense which would serve to neuter what is their essence to the great claim of power status which is their nuclear arsenal. A lot of these aggressive things that russians are doing for a number of reasons, great power status, to create the image of being weak with the United States, and etc, i think could possibly go on and we could be into another cold war like spiral here. Cold war. I was thinking of that at the time. Isnt that what went through where you had russia or the ussr making the statements and preparing themselves and wanting to outdo us for the image . I see something similar to then. Dr. Clapper in your statement you said u. S. Air campaigns have made significant gains on isil and we have reports the u. S. Fights against isil is actually benefiting alqaeda. What is that relationship between alqaeda and isil . Y i have seen that. I dont know that i could say airstrikes against isil are somehow benefiting alqaeda because we are still keeping the pressure on alqaeda. You are familiar with those reports . I have read them. But i am not sure i would subscribe to them. There have been, you know, i think there has been progress made against isil in its iraqsyria incarnation because it assumes some of the characteristics of the state and that makes vulnerabilities we can exploit. The important thing is to keep the pressure on on multiple fronts and keep attacking those things which are near and dear to isil which is the Oil Infrastructure that it owns and its access to money. One last question. My time is expired. But the rd180 issue is one we are all looking at and i think there is a recognition we need to keep using for a period of time as we make any transition that might be in the future. In the Defense Authorization bill of 16 we talked about nine additional ones and i think the air force has requested at one point in some form 18 additional ones. What is your thinking about that . I tell you, senator, my position here is i am a user or a customer. I have to have certain payloads delivered on time to sustain the health and viability of our overhead reconnaissance which is important to the nations security. I dont get into it other than i have to pay the bills because i pay the air force whatever we avail ourselves for their launch services. How they design their systems is up to them. I am interested in delivery. The delta has worked great for us. It appears to be costefficient and it is effective in terms of when we used it it delivers. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to join my colleagues in thanking you for your Extraordinary Service to the nation. Director clapper, you made the point in response to senator reid and in your testimony that the International Community is in your words well postured to detect any violation by iran of the nuclear agreement. Has there been any indication so far that it is moving toward a violation . No. Not yet. No. We have no evidence thus far they are moving toward a violation. And i am sure you would agree this nation and the International Community need to be vigilant and figurous in enforcing this agreement . Absolutely. I think we in the u. S. And others are in the distrust and verify mode. And that includes the iaea and other investigative tools you have at your disposal . Absolutely. Going to the Ballistic Missile issue which i believe is profoundly important and general stewart makes this point in his testimony as well. I urge the president to impose sanctions and enforce them as a result of irans continued development of Ballistic Missiles which are a threat not only to the renal region but our allies in europe as well. Unfortunately he has heeded those request. How important is it do you think we continue to enforce sanctions on iran . I think it is important sanction be enforced not only for missiles but other things covered. The iranians have a missile capability they continue to work on