The committee appreciate you taking the time out to explain what has been happening and answering our questions. Your full testimony will be entered into the record. Part, i will read my Opening Statement and then there will be a twominute video at the tail end of my statement. The federal protective Service OfficerDavid Patrick underwood was 53 on may 29 when he was shot dead guarding a Federal Building during a protest. His partner was also shot but thankfully survived. News reports of the protests involving a thousand people turned chaotic and violent as demonstrators smashed windows, looted stores, and broke into a bank. Suspect that killed the deputy. His antipolice views drew him to oakland. He saw the protest as an opportunity for more bloodshed. David dorn was a retired police chief in st. Louis. He responded to the alarm going off at a shop owned by his friend during a night of antipolice protest. , 77 years old, father of five, grandfather of 10, died on june 2 in the anarchy unleashed in st. Louis. Unfortunately, the violence did not end there. Yesterday morning, protesters in portland broke into a Police Association building and started a fire inside. Protesters flashed tires. Ofwas the 69th straight day what we are told are peaceful protest. According to the department of Homeland Security, 277 attacks on police and federal officers have occurred during these feeds these peaceful protests. At least 140 officers have been injured in portland alone. 113 officers have suffered injuries to their site after protesters deliberately attempted to blind them with lasers and other weapons. At least 930 nonfederal Law Enforcement officers have been injured. One has died. At least 38 federal officers have been boxed in portland. Personal information about them were put online as a means of intimidation. Housest 21 federal court been vandalized the summer. Protesters in nashville broken to city hall and lit fires. A woman charged this week was caught on video holding a poster police. F the protesters in denver broke into a courthouse amplifiers. Protesters in minneapolis burnt down a police station. The same thing in seattle. A peaceful protest in oakland in protestsnsified after set fire inside of a course house. During a peaceful protest in madison, at least one individual world the gasoline bomb into the City County Building which holds the cities 911 dispatch center. That included the beating of two individuals. One of them is a state lawmaker. These peaceful protests include arson and assault. They have left a mark on our cities chemical to, and country. Wrote,urnalist recently for large metro areas like chicago and minneapolis, to small cities like fort wayne and green bay, the number of boarded up, damage, or destroyed buildings i have observed, commercial, civic, and residential, is staggering. Keeping count is impossible. One might think a major Media Organization like the New York Times would use their journalist resources to tally up the wreckage for posterity. , such asix weeks later tally is nowhere to be found. Were tied up with peaceful protests, homicides elsewhere were skyrocketing. By the end of july, homicides are up 53 in chicago. In minneapolis, murders are up 86 . In milwaukee, 84 . New york, 29 . Seattle, 42 . Philadelphia, 33 . New orleans, 36 . Denver, 46 . Those numbers measure the loss of human lives. Many are black lives that dont seem to matter much to the movement. Some are children. Some are children. Their lives have been cut short. Children whose lives matter. Their names matter. In chicago alone, child victims , another 15yearold 15yearold was shot in the head. 14yearold rhonda jones junior, 10yearold lena nunez, sevenyearold natalia wallace, shot in a backyard party. Threeyearold nick i james, killed when someone shouted her father in traffic. Whenyearold sincere gaston, killed when somebody shot his mothers car. That is just since memorial day. In one city. These people died because criminals kill them. They may have also died because police were constrained and prevented from doing their job to protect them. When you encourage disdain for police, you encourage criminals. When you do little or nothing to stop riots, you unleash anarchy. When you encourage criminals and unleash anarchy, people die. All of us suffer. With that, i have a twominute video i would like everybody to watch. Its not easy to watch. T shows the reality [inaudible] in milwaukee democrat was assaulted by protesters. I had my bell rung. 10 people punched and kicked the politician while he was on the ground. Video shows carpenter later collapsing near the capital. [inaudible] senator peters. Thank you. I appreciate you being here today. I know you have an awful lot on your plate. I appreciate that time is precious. You have a very challenging role , especially in these unprecedented times. Im extremely disappointed with some of the recent actions this dhs has taken. They have put at risk your ability to effectively protect the homeland. However, dhs chose a response to the situation on the ground that is an acceptable. Instead of working together with state and local partners, you sent a surge of federal agents who did not have proper training to deescalate the situation. Their tactics caused additional tax chaos. Focus oned that the federal property is distracting the threat posed by domestic terrorism. Heldyear, the committee the first ever hearing focused on White Supremacy violence and domestic terrorism threats. We have seen far too many attacks in this country at the hands of white supremacist terrorists. Attacks that have taken the lives of our far too Many Americans. Americans were murdered in Shopping Centers or wallet worship by domestic terrorists with ties to white supremacist movements, your department failed to respond with the same urgency that we saw on the streets of portland. When one federal Protection Services officer was tragically murdered and another was seriously wounded in the mind of duty earlier this year, it was by americans with ties to boogaloo boys, a movement rooted in white nationalism. You still have not released a complete plan to combat white supremacist violence, nearly a year after a released of the strategic framework for countering terrorism and targeted violence. I want to know why your agency is not focusing on the threat posed by whites as premises violence with the same sense of urgency. I want to know why you run office of intelligence has no trouble sharing intelligence on journalists with police in portland but makes excuses for not being able to keep tabs on suspected domestic terrorists who frequent White Nationalist forms online. The department of Homeland Security and decisions made to keep our communities safe should not be driven by politics. Terrorism is terrorism, whether it fits the ideological narrative of dhs leaders or not. Must not let politics overshadow the truth about the Security Risk that are facing our countries. Instead of aligning your resources, personnel, and mission to tack the what the premises threat, you have chosen to focus on optics. I know our lawenforcement personnel put their lives on the line every time they go to work. I applaud congress to make sure that they have the resources they need to stay safe in the line of duty and return home to their families safe. Let me be clear. The decisions the administration has made in recent months have put dhs personnel at unnecessary risk. Because you chose to escalate conflicts, you risk officer safely, the safety of american civilians. More than ever, we need leadership at the department of Homeland Security. We need coordination with state and local officials. We need to focus on the most prevalent and deadly threats that are facing our country. I continue to hold the department can juggle its complex mission. What i have seen so far, it calls into question the administrations priorities when it comes to National Security. I look forward to speaking with you today and continuing to Work Together to protect our National Security and the security of the American People. Thank you. Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony that you give will be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so hope you got . Please be seated. Chad wolf is the acting secretary of the department of Homeland Security. Hes been serving in this position since november 2019. This role help he held acting surgery will. You again for the opportunity to testify today. While Many Americans are aware of the missions of the ,epartment of Homeland Security many are not as familiar with the Important Mission of the federal protective service. It protects federal property for almost 50 years and does so at 9000 Properties Around the country. This responsibility was provided through the secretary of Homeland Security by the United States congress. Portlandroperties in have been attacked by violent criminals, opportunists, and anarchists. I want to be clear. And went, we see nonviolent protests. The department is aware of the National Dialogue taking place around racism and Law Enforcement practices. We continue to support and defend every americans right to exercise their First Amendment rights. The violent activity i will refer to today is not associated with those protests. The violent activity we see occurring between midnight and 280 began roughly around may with the mayor of portland announcing an 8 00 to 6 00 curfew from a 30th to june 2. On june 1, due to the level of violence, the portland mayor asked the governor of oregon to activate the National Guard to help protect facilities in the city. Over the course of june, dhs monitored the situation in portland closely, began deploying additional officers into portland to protect federal facilities. Despite surging 20 additional officers throughout june, it was clear we were overmatched. Ofearly june, at the request officials in portland, i directed additional Law Enforcement aspects to protect federal properties and officers. Our officers have faced assaults from bricks, baseball bats, sledgehammers, molotov cocktails, fireworks, excel or rinse, ieds, and other violent weapons. Federal officials in portland have made 99 arrests. Dhs officers have experienced 277 separate injuries. They range from minor to serious to include several who may have permanent eye damage. I would like to play a short video of what our officers have faced. [inaudible] unfortunately, what was absent was the help from local Law Enforcement personnel. There was little to no assistance provided to protect federal properties. Was little o assistance provided to protect federal properties. State officials did not allow local Law Enforcement to police the area immediately around federal facilities. A nightly assault on the courthouse. Local and state officials did not allow Law Enforcement to make any arrests directed. 17, Law Enforcement agents were prohibited from accessing the Portland PoliceBureau Operation center. Portland citye council issued resolutions for all members of the portland give anyreau to not operational support. Officers, Law Enforcement officers were abandoned due to dangerous policies by local officials. We briefly addressed a statement from portland. Notenforcement officers are serving a general Security Agency. They have been deployed for an extensive period of time to one city that is portland. Law enforcement officers are not storm troopers. They are simple Law Enforcement officers in clearly marked uniforms, properly trained in using procedures and practices. To suggest our Law Enforcement officers should not be in enforcing federal law. Unlike local Law Enforcement, we cannot be directed to ignore. We will not shy away from our duties. The mayor of portland and the governor of oregon received phone calls. Stark no was thank you and please remove all dhs officers from portland. The governor reached out 2. 5 weeks later for state police support. As of today, Law Enforcement officers remain in portland. They will remain until we are insured the federal courthouse will no longer be violently attacked. We have seen a noticeable decrease in violent activity directed to the courthouse, make no mistake, there continues to be violence in portland. Over the last seven days, Portland Police have declared a riot on four different times. Numerous arrests have been made. Dhs Law Enforcement officers remain on alert. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and i look forward to questions. Thank you acting secretary wolf. We hear about three things. Do you think it is a peaceful protest when people use lasers toward Law Enforcement officers . Sec. Wolf absolutely not. Is a peaceful when people throw bricks at Law Enforcement officers . Sec. Wolf absolutely not. Call the attack on the building a peaceful protest . Sec. Wolf no. Do you have an obligation with your job to save federal property . Sec. Wolf we shall protect federal facilities, we do not have an option. We do see people protest in portland every day. There are no arrests, no no injuries. All of this protesting was more peaceful. You see the video, you see what is happening to Law Enforcement officers. Very strong have feelings about that. Whether it is official or unofficial, people are confusing peaceful protests and violent activities we see therefrom midnight to 5 00 a. M. Every morning. Our officers are doing their best in very difficult circumstances. Time, theyjority of only come out when the courthouse is getting attacked. I think most reasonable americans and almost all Law Enforcement relies that is happening. Theere you surprised when mayor and the governor did not provide support to do the job of protecting federal property . Sec. Wolf i was. I think everyone understands oregon, portland, there is an environment there that we appreciate. Becoming very, very violent. If you dont hold individuals coming back to the courthouse night after night, it dhs icevironment facility for 28 days for individuals. Local officials did nothing for 28 days. [indiscernible] the green laser is a new tactic. We see it in portland. Cat is not the laser your or dog chases on the ground. This is a powerful laser. Permanent eyeou damage. Protection,wear eye we have several officers who will lose a portion of their vision. Have you heard any of them say, i am worried . Passionatelyfeel about what we do in portland. Law enforcement officers are putting their lives in danger. I thank you for that. They did not mention dhs Law Enforcement officers injuries while protecting the federal courthouse. That is all we are trying to do in portland. Sec. Wolf from a dhs underwood, officer protecting the courthouse, we have that injuries across the country that are not just specific in portland. Thank you. Thank you again for your testimony. [indiscernible] mr. Chairman, we heard ranking retary wolf talk about its hard to believe. [indiscernible] we are going to be looking into the reaction in portland. [indiscernible] question, would you agree critical in this complicated mission you have . Officials andl wide range of topics with election security, protecting our borders, cybersecurity, natural disasters, all of those things are under your purview, that we need to have a relationship with local officials to effectively conduct that mission . Why does not not occur here . Sec. Wolf we have been talking, over 60n oregon for days. We continue to ask them to get involved. What we see is local police making arrests. Directed at is Portland Police facilities or city facilities. They would not engage, they would not make arrests. These violent individuals are staging in city blocks. That onght they have city streets. They are attacking the courthouse. We continue to engage with them. We have over 60 days. The city Council Passed resolutions that prohibited Portland Police from coordinating with federal Law Enforcement. Police an area where hold together to d econflict, that is not happening in portland because of some of the city resolutions passed. [indiscernible] there was no respect for coordination with the wishes of local authorities. [indiscernible] sec. Wolf walking through the coordination we try to do with Portland Police. The mayor, the south mayor on several occasions. The events that are occurring , 00 to 5 00 a. M. Every morning that they have commented on dhs actions show they know what is going on in portland. They confuse people protesting between 6 00 and 7 00 p. M. Until 10 30 at night. See at midnight to 5 00 a. M. Is violent