Chairman johnson good morning. This hearing will come to order. I want to first welcome and thank our witnesses, the honorable christopher wray, the director of the federal bureau of investigation, bell honorable christopher miller, director of the National Counterterrorism center, and honorable kenneth cuccinelli, senior official performing the duties of deputy secretary. This is an annual threat hearing. When i look at all the threats that this committee has considered and all the threats facing this nation, i think it is pretty interesting how many hearings we have held on so many of these things. Before i proceed, i guess i would ask for consent to have my written Opening Statement to be entered into the record. When you consider these threats, for example, i will just go down the list cyberattacks, ransomware, intellectual property theft, something we are concerned right now as we try to develop vaccines. But the hundreds of billions of dollars of Economic Loss due to intellectual property theft. You know, potential cyberattacks and threats against our Critical Infrastructure. Drug trafficking and the overdose crisis. Gangs like ms13. Emp and gmd threats to our electrical grid. Drones human trafficking, Election Security, and school and other Mass Shootings these are threats that this committee has not only held hearings on, that passed some pretty significant pieces of legislation. One hearing we had talking about school shootings, we had the parents of lou collier and matt shafter come in from parkland, florida, to describe hopefully what could be some Common Sense Solutions to help prevent or minimize the destruction from some of these Mass Shootings. So as we consider all these things, and we will be considering these today in our hearing, i do want to raise the troubling aspect of what is happening currently in the streets of america. As serious as all these threats are just mentioned are, i have a growing fear that what is happening on the streets of america actually represents a greater threat for longterm democracy. As senator peters pointed out yesterday and should point out again today, the Mass Shootings of the last couple of years, instead of being perpetrated by islamist terror, there are is a greater percentage, a majority now perpetrated by White Supremacists. But as acting secretary wolf said in our meeting yesterday, what is happening in terms of Mass Shootings over the last couple of years is completely different versus what has happened in the last four months. I just want to cite a study published by u. S. Crisis project, it was a joint effort by the Armed Conflict location and event data project and princeton university. What this group did is they actually took a look at what was happening in the streets, they analyzed and provided data on the last three months of demonstrations. What they found is there have been more than 10,600 total. They also went back in july of 2019 and said that on average, at least for july, there were 1400 demonstrations in 2019. So, take a look at that and you can extrapolate and say, a normal level of demonstrations every three months would be 4200. This year, weve had 10,600, or an excess number of about 6400. They also analyzed who is protesting, who are the 7750monstrators, and about of those protests have been linked to black lives matter in all 50 states and the d. C. They found that of the 10,006 600, 95 or peaceful. In other words, 5 turned into some kind of riot. The peaceful once or peaceful in about 2440 locations. The 5 that turned violent ended up being a riot, where there was property destruction or loss of life, occurred in about 220 locations. Pretty minimal, 5 turned violent. But that represents almost 570 riots that occurred in this nation over the last three months of the study. Almost 570. And we have seen loss of life, we have seen destruction of property. In my state of wisconsin, in kenosha, the protests turned into property destruction. Dozens of businesses burned down. Downtown all boarded up. In the final night of those riots, two people tragically lost their lives as well. We had just seen in global last night where two Police Officers louisville last night where two Police Officers were shot. We pray for their recovery. Why did those protests turn into riots . They were protesting because they didnt agree with our system of justice, where a grand jury took a look at all the evidence and brought forward and indictment that it just wasnt the indictment they wanted. Rather than accepting our judicial system that has served us well far as long as we have been a nation, these individuals ned to writing, and rioting and destruction. To ask the Senate Recording Studio to show a little video of a supposedly peaceful protest following President Trumps acceptance speech at the white house. [video clip] [shouting] move the [beep] back move back [screaming] [shouting] chairman johnson fortunately, senator paul and his wife kelly and their guests were not harmed, but they were scared unbelievably. They had every right to be frightened by how they were a costed and how they were threatened. That is not a peaceful protest. The fact of the matter is when you look at the statistics from the center, the study found there were no riots in seattles organized protest zone, or c hop or chaz. I is not sure of these statistics, but again, 500 70 peaceful protest turned into property destruction and loss of life. By the way, i can see the point, the majority of the Mass Shootings come from White Supremacists. By the way, i denounce white notemacists, i am defending them in any way shape or form. But of those 570 demonstrations that turned into riots, property destruction and loss of life, those are not being perpetrated by White Supremacists, those are being perpetrated by people of a leftist ideology. They are perpetrating the rioting and the anarchy that we simply cannot allow to continue in this country. The other thing i want to point out before i turn it over to Ranking Member peters, is even a peaceful protest that continues to linger day after day after day, as quite honestly happened in kenosha, where the downtown was boarded up, even if it doesnt result in direct property loss or loss of life, the fact of the matter is those types of protests can turn into sieges that deny other americans of their constitutional right to operate a business or be employed in the business or quite honestly allow themselves to provide for themselves and their families. So this is a serious issue. Off. Nt just slap it so many members of the Mainstream Media continue to just slap it off and say oh, these are largely peaceful protests. I will point out the number again, almost 570 turned into riots and destruction of life and loss of life. I dont like it. Gives me theone, greatest cause of concern right now. I hope we can have a greater discussion of all the threat. I want to highlight how serious the current threats of what is happening in our streets today, what happened in louisville last night, what a serious threat that poses and what ideology, what side of the political spectrum are those protests springing from. Senator peters. Peters thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you to each of our witnesses for being here today. Our committee has no shortage of serious and consequential issues to tackle, our and will threats hearing is one of the most important opportunities that we have to discuss how we can better safeguard our nation. We continue to face a number of security threats both old and new, and over the past year since we last held the hearing, unfortunately that list has only continued to grow. Not only do we continue to face threats from foreign and domestic terrorism, cyberattacks and efforts by Foreign Governments to sow chaos country, we are also dealing with a once in a lifetime pandemic that has tragically taken the lives of americans. 0 this Public Health disaster has also further exposed significant Security Risk embedded in the tools that we use every single day to connect us with the world. As we have moved more of our daily lives online because of coronavirus, bad actors have exploited our technological weaknesses to attack the platforms we use for Remote School and work. Adversaries are working to infiltrate private companies and Government Agencies who are part of the critical race to find a vaccine. Both foreign and domestic actors have also seized on misinformation and disinformation, chipping away at the fabric of our democracy, and sowing discord and mistrust in the institutions we rely on to keep us safe. The scourge of white supremacist violence is a longstanding issue, but is now again one of the largest terrorist threats to American Safety and security. Im alarmed that this administration continues to downplay this threat and the root causes driving these violent ideologies. We cannot be shortsighted when it comes to protecting our National Security. As threats continue to develop and to evolve our national , our National Security agencies must be willing to adapt. We count on dhs, the National Counterterrorism center, and the fbi to Work Together and provide a unified effort to defend the homeland. As we discussed at yesterdays hearing, i am concerned that dhs has suffered because of the lack of qualified, consistent and stable leaders at the agencys helm. And while i am disappointed that the department does not believe the acting secretary can testify alongside his counterparts from the fbi and the National Counterterrorism center on these important issues during this confirmation process, i looking forward to testimony of all three officials here today. Many americans will never know the names of the thousands of personnel that work tirelessly behind the scenes at each of your agencies to keep our country safe. But were all counting on you and your teams to address the no threats to our safety, and anticipate the emerging as well as the unknown dangers our communities will face in the weeks, the months years and even , decades ahead. I am grateful for each of you for joining us here today. I look forward to hearing from you about the threats that america currently faces, what your departments are doing to address each of these threats, and how this committee and your agencies can continue working together to protect our National Security. Thank you. Thank you, senator peters. I think our witnesses or fear that repeatedly, because on a bipartisan basis, we appreciate your service to this nation, and the sacrifice the men and women that work in each of your departments and agencies. It is the tradition of this committee to swear in witnesses. If you will all stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony will give before this committee will be the truth about the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Seated. U, please be our first witness is the honorable christopher wray, director wray is the director of the federal bureau of investigation. On august 2, 2017, he was sworn in as the eighth fbi director. He previously served as assistant attorney general at the department of justice in the criminal division. Director wray. Dir. Wray good morning, chairman johnson, Ranking Member peters and members of the committee. I am honored to be here today on behalf of the men and women of the fbi to discuss our nations top threats from the fbis perspective and what were doing threats. E those i know we all share the same concerns about topics ranging from international and domestic torism, to cybersecurity, the violence in our streets and particularly this year, to the threat of foreign influence in our elections to name a few. I look forward to updating you on these and other important topics. But i would like to begin recovering a few items that have been top of mind for us at the fbi over the past few weeks. First, terrorism remains the fbis top party, though the nature of the threat has evolved significantly since 9 11. We are vigilant in our efforts to prevent attacks from groups like al qaeda and isis. Those groups pose a threat not just americans overseas but also here at home, most notably by those we call homegrown violent extremists, often alone actors inspired by foreign terrorists, self radicalized typically online, and motivated to attack soft targets with readily available weapons. But we are also working around the clock to prevent attacks by domestic terrorists who are inspired by one or more extremist ideologies to commit violent acts. In recent years, we have been laserfocused on threats posed by racially or ethnically , andted terrorists they mobilize quickly to carry out their violent plans. People, like Richard Holzer who our denver Terrorism Task force charges on hate crime last year when he was planning to blow up a synagogue in colorado. As with any terrorism case, we are focused on disruption, making arrests before the criminal can act. Just this year alone, through the hard work and dedication of countless men and women both of the sbi and across our partner agencies, we have successfully forwarded terrorist attacks fothawarted terrorist attacks in oklahoma city, boston, phoenix and other locations. In recent months, we have witnessed protests, and many members of congress have raised a variety of questions about those protests. And although the majority of protesters have been peaceful, we have opened investigations on individuals involved in criminal activity at these protests, some of whom adhere to a violent, extremist agendas designed to sow discord and upheaval. Let me be clear, we do not investigate groups or individuals based on ideology or exercising their First Amendment protected activity alone, but when their ideology leads someone to commit criminal acts and pursue violence, the fbi will not hesitate to take action. Ate that is why we have been working with our federal, state and local partners to ensure the safety of our citizens, including, i should add, the safety of all those trying to exercise their First Amendment rights peacefully. We in Law Enforcement must keep our communities safe and secure while safeguarding our citizen Constitutional Rights and liberties. And as i said before, one need not and must not come at the expense of the other. We also remain focused on other threats. In less than two months, americans are concerned one of their most cherished rights americans will exercise one of their most cherished rights to vote in a free and fair election. Americans must have confidence in our infrastructure and that is why security is and will continue to be one of our highest priorities. We will not tolerate foreign elections. E in our we are working closely with our federal, state, and local partners as well as the to share information, bolster security and to disrupt any threats. Recently we shared threat indicators with facebook and twitter that allow them to take down fake accounts created as part of the Russian Disinformation Campaign before those accounts could develop some kind of broader following. Turning to the cyber arena, we are focused on an increasingly diverse array of threats from our cyber adversaries, from statesponsored chinese i intrusion, to intrusions by russia, iran, north korea, to als trying vulnerabilities for profit. We are urged authorities to impose risk and consequences on our cyber adversaries. We are focusing on impact and that means we are working to enable our partners operations as well as our own. For example, the fbi and nsa recently joined to expose highly sophisticated Russian Military intelligence malware providing the private sector and other partners indicators they need to disrupt that tool. Just last week, our investigations enabled a coordinated mix of disruption actions against five different irani and hacking groups, three of which iranian hacking groups, three of which worked for the government, including criminal charges by the d. O. J. , shanks than and fbi alerts enabling potential victims to protect themselves. We also faced the increasingly blended threat of statesponsored economic extra eskenazi facilitated by cyber intrusions. Indicted twoj. Chinese hackers working on the ministry of state security for carrying out a Global Computer Intrusion Campaign targeting hundreds of the use, including Companies Developing covid19 vaccines, testing technology, and treatments. Of behavior,d china continues to undercut their own claims of being a trusted and effective partner in the international community. Chargesk we unsealed against five chinese hackers targeting victims around the world from their safe haven in china. With our partners, we arrested two of their coconspirators in malaysia and or took down hundreds of the hackers domains. Servers and i have touched on only a handful of the threats we face and only lightly at that. Of course, there are many significant others. The threats evolve in scale, impact, complexity and agility, we are relying on our deep well of expertise, intelligence and partnerships. I am committed to ensuring that the bureau does great work while adhering to our core tenets of fidelity, bravery, and integrity. In these challenging times, i remind my folks that we have got to keep calm and tackle hard, to our coreithful v