Good morning. If i can ask everyone to please put their phones on silent mode and let me welcome you to the campus of George Washington university. It is a real treat, a real trip pleasure, and a privilege to once again host chairman mccall on campus. He has been chairman of the House Homeland Committee since 2013. At a time when there seems to be quite a bit of gridlock in washington, d. C. , i can say without any exaggeration that he is one of the most prolific and more important, effective legislators in d. C. Right now. Focused on a host of National Security issues, and also chairs his committee and a genuinely i partisan kind of way, which is very true to the issues our country faces on national and Homeland Security. I am going to be reef which is rare for me, since i have never had an unspoken thought but i will turn it over to the chairman. Afterwards, we have an amazing panel. When you think about embers of congress, you do not think cia, you do not immediately think National Counterterrorism center. You do not immediately think prosecutors working some of the most important issues racing our country. I am proud tocongress, you do n, you do not immediately think say we have got three of the best members who have done just that following this discussion. Mr. Chairman, thank you and thank you for being a great friend to the center, thank you for being a great friend to myself into George Washington university and most important, thank you for all you do for our country. Mccaul thank you. Special thanks to George Washington university for hosting me. It is an honor to be here. I want to thank the students for attending this session. I see a few of you out there. Collegewo daughters in and triplets in high school. When it comes to Homeland Security issues, i have some personal experience as well. Education is really the key. That is why i am here today. You are the thought leaders of and on these most pressing issues facing the United States. The state of u. S. National security. I believe american strength is a pillar of global peace upon which our allies and partners depend and our enemies recoil. As i reflect on my time as chairman, i saw the rise of isis and then i saw the collapse of the caliphate. I am disturbed by the evil that has emerged over the last decade under retreating American Leadership. Im encouraged by the progress we are making in eradicating this evil that has entrenched itself around the globe. As an internal optimist, i am confident our nation is finally heading in the right direction. Moving forward, it is critical that we continue to reclaim our sovereignty. This includes enhancing security along our southern border, addressing boehner abilities in our current immigration system, encouraging responsible use of cyberspace, improving Aviation Security and defending against malicious ideology and actions of our enemies. On the southern border, for too long, and i come from the state of texas where i was a federal prosecutor with the jurisdiction of the texas mexico border and for too long, it has been a opendoor which has had Transnational Criminal Organizations like ms 13, dangerous opioids and drugs coming across, trafficking women and children, destroying lives, shattering families and ravaging our communities. Despite Law Enforcement entities and advocacy groups and government agencies, human traffickers continue to exploit thousands of continue to exploit thousands of migrants making their way into the notice United States. Security along the southern borders is critical. There are glaring on her abilities in the immigration system. Legal loopholes. I was in the white house, a surreal moment at the table with both senators and congressmen, democrats, republicans as it was covered on live tv for almost an hour, discussing how to resolve this Current Situation we find ourselves in. We agreed to the four pillars. Border security, fixing chain migration, the visa lottery system and finally, fixing daca so these children can stay in the country legally. I would argue our Nation Security has been weakened by chain migration and the Visa Lottery Program which is random. These programs risk exploitation from those who do not share our values and actively work to undermine them. Look no further than the two terror attacks we saw in new york city. These programs allow terrorists to legally enter our country and reach havoc on our way and wreck havoc wreack havoc on our way of life. He mowed down by vehicle innocent americans, argentinians and a belgian in new york city. In december, the bangladeshi who entered the United States as a young adult through chain migration intended to blow up a new york subway terminal in times square. I happened to be in new york that morning, just a few blocks away when the attack occurred. I was promoting my congressional Childhood Cancer caucus. I remember being notified by nypd about the attack, and it reminded us that there is still a serious threat. Securing americas future a bill introduced by the house of the the chair of the house judiciary and myself, to close these legal loopholes. This legislation authorizes the construction of a border wall system to stem the flow of illegal immigration. It also provides effective technology, infrastructure and manpower to defend our border. 5000 Additional Border patrol agents, 5000 customs and Border Protection officers, including the authorization of the National Guard to provide air support to Border Security operations. In addition, we demand the use of the mandatory entry exit system at all points of entry to address these overstates. Why is this one a point important . The 9 11 hijackers came in legally and then overstayed their visas. The 9 11 Commission Recommended we had a biometric way to determine when people come in and when they leave. Until we do that, we will never be secure. The statistics i have, up to 40 of the people here are here illegally, these overstates. We call for an end to chain migration to protect the Nuclear Family and the visa lottery system to defending its further explication to our homeland. We propose a meritbased immigration system to attract the best and the brightest, not pulling a number out of a hat. Finally, the securing americas future act allows daca beneficiaries to receive a threeyear renewable legal status while ensuring that gang members, individuals with criminal convictions or convictions in Juvenile Court for serious crimes are not eligible for this legal status. With respect to jihad and threats, our american way of life has been under attack well before 9 11. 1979 was the year that changed everything. In 1979, the revolution in iran brought the ayatollah to power where he still remains. That same year, the soviets invaded afghanistan and the mujahedin rose to power, allowing Osama Bin Laden to become a force to be reckoned with. Now, 39 years later, the Threat Landscape remain serious. My committee has been focused on the threat of foreign fighters leaving the caliphate and vetting procedures. I established two taskforces to address issues specifically and we enacted over 20 bills to make america more secure. Mike gallagher is going to show up. We passed over 60 bills in this congress, many of which were just sitting in the senate. These two recent terror attacks last year in new york, i believe underscore the threat that we face from a determined enemy that does not sleep. Our homeland, our allies, partners, friends are confronted with a stark reality and will be for years to come. Since 2013, we have had 150 homegrown jihadist and terrorist cases in the United States and 179 isis linked incidents in europe. I would believe that europe is in far more danger from the foreign fighter threat. These stats are alarming when you look at them and they are a demonstration of why we must remain vigilant in our quest to expel violent islamic extremism from the earth, by destroying the roots from which it came. This threat manifests itself in the unstable ground upon which jihadist ideology spreads, whether it is the middle east, north and sub sahara africa, the philippines and elsewhere. We must deny these combatants from achieving their jihadist glory. The memories of september 11 and the images of the planes striking the twin towers are never far from our thoughts. While we are almost 17 years removed from this, let me assure you, americas aviation sector remains a crown jewel of isis and other terrorist groups targeting our homeland. Late last year, the director of the National Counterterrorism center testified before my committee that they are seeing a surge in terrorist activity against commercial airlines. Recently, we discover that terrorists have the capability to create bombs from laptops and remember the printer bomb plot in 2010. Tsa has struggled to deploy Innovative Solutions and it can be effectively deployed at airports. This technology is like moving from a twodimensional xray to a threedimensional m. R. I. You can see a lot more with a m. R. I. Than a xray and it provides a much clearer picture for screeners to detect these threats. I have seen these devices, they work. The request was cut in half by omb to deploy 300 machines. That was cut in half. 150 million to do this. That is a lot of money, but in washington, we talk about billions of dollars. 150 million to protect americans at the last 20 departure airports in my judgment is worth every penny. I am not going to have that all my head and we made our quest to the department. I talked to the appropriators to get this funded and fully protect americans in aviation. This is also been bogged down in bureaucratic delays. Each day, we fail to effectively mitigate evolving threats to Aviation Security. Additionally, we have seen Insider Threats to Aviation Security grow ever more secure concerning in the wake of the metro jet bombing in egypt. Despite dhs efforts to enhance security measures for flights to the United States, they continue to be vulnerable. In recognition of this glaring vulnerability, when active legislation to enhance tsa security procedures we enacted legislation to enhance tsa security procedures, particularly screening employees at secure access points. We must continue to close gaps, most critically istanbul and cairo. I can tell you that these are not secure airports. High volumes of american travelers come out of these airports and i have seen these border abilities, firsthand these vulnerabilities firsthand. These threats are only one flight a way into the homeland, but as we all know, the threats are not restricted by physical boundaries. We have cyber as Suzanne Spaulding knows so well. I want to applaud you for your service to the department. You did such a great job. [applause] rep. Mccaul as suzanne knows, our adversaries threaten us around the clock in cyberspace and whether it is north korea launching a global cyber attack, crippling infrastructure to china stealing our nations valuable intellectual property to russia conducting misInformation Warfare campaigns to sow discord among the people, to iran attacking our financial institutions, to terrorists spreading evil propaganda over the internet or criminals taking our financial and personal information, we are all exposed to harm. I was one of the millions victims of the opm data breach by china in 2015 which resulted in over 20 million stolen security records including Social Security numbers and fingerprints. To mitigate the threat, we must improve our cyber resiliency and protection. The house passed and i authored the deck directorate to a director level position and rename it the directorate for the Cyber Security and infrastructure security agency. In other words, create a Cyber SecurityAgency Within the department of Homeland Security to help the priority and the missing. I hope the senate will pass this legislation, soon. The house just put it on legislation introduced by Foreign Affairs chairman ed royce proposing the creation of the office of cyber issues at the state department. This legislation will establish a highlevel ambassador for Cyber Security to leave the lead the departments diplomatic cyber efforts. We must enforce our norms in cyberspace because right now, we dont have any norms. There are no rules of the game. That is a problem. Not to mention what would happen if a nato ally was attacked in cyberspace. We must eliminate the legal barriers our private sector conference from other countrys Cyber Security laws including the mandatory requirement 11 allow a Foreign Government to review a companys source code. This puts us at a major disadvantage both competitively and from a security standpoint. We must also build products that are secure with the growth of the internet of things, we are more vulnerable than ever. We are the largest chipmakers in the world. These threats are real and impact all of us. I believe now more than ever that securing the nation at home requires protecting american strength abroad. North korea is a good example. Nationstate adversaries have expanded their influence at the expense of our own. In north korea, kim jongun has marched down a path of nuclearization, absent American Leadership. He is now on the cusp of obtaining the ability to conduct a successful nuclear icbm strike anywhere in the world, including against the notice states. This is unacceptable. That is what the president and his a administration have begun to lead a maximum Pressure Campaign against north korea to compel him to retreat from this destabilizing nuclear ambition. These efforts include working with International Partners to forge a diplomatic solution, to isolate the regime by increasing economic pressure on the north korean economy through sanctions and refusing to take military force off the table unless kim jongun reverses course. Further chinese and russian efforts to undermine National Sanctions on north korea at the expense of Global Security must not go unheeded. The United States and our partners must confront them head on. You must be clear and decisive in our actions, which takes me to the next country hotspot, iran. As north korea marches on with their destabilizing behavior, so does iran, the world ticket leading sponsor of terrorism the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism. They must not be allowed to ever have a nuclear weapon. As negotiated by the previous and administration, the Iran Nuclear Deal known as the joint conference of plan of action injected the Iranian Regime with billions of dollars. From yemen through iraq and syria all the way to lebanon and the mediterranean, iran continues to solidify its influence in the region through what the president what from minister netanyahu of israel calls the crescent. This land bridge connects iran to its destabilizing proxies throughout the region such as a lebanese faith based hezbollah. Irans actions are a direct threat to our regional stability. Worse yet, the regime funds expansion with domestic Financial Resources siphoned away from the iranian people. While inflation soars into ron, the regime brutally suppresses any dissidents to its irresponsible policies, but i believe there is light. We see iranians pleading for freedom, protesting openly in the streets, and i believe that we as americans have a duty to support them. We must stand with them. In january, i introduced legislation backing the iranian people as they demand reforms in the country. This legislation requires the president to determine whether senior members of the government of iran are responsible for or complicit in human rights abuses, corruption or censorship. It also calls out the iran regimes practice of taking americans and other foreign nationals hostage as a crime against humanity. Lastly, it outlines several steps the administration to take in conjunction with our allies, to stop this practice, including imposing sanctions on iranian officials responsible for unjust intentions. I think the iranian people want, need and deserve better. When it comes to russia, putins regime continues to hinder american efforts at peace on the Korean Peninsula by covertly supporting the regime economy which ultimately helps further their nuclear ambitions. Across europe and the americas, putin continues to engage in hostile disinformation campaigns intended to sow discord among our people. Divide europe and drive a wedge between our nato allies. I was recently in the ukraine and they were right on the border of russia and the Cyber Attacks are fierce and intense and the campaign a dis