The hearing will come to order we will look at and linkedin but hopefully we can resolve that at some point sebecause former diversification board discussed the declassification policy and in particular to protect their classified material and safely they can get their moment in the sun. I prepared to defer my Opening Statement because there is a chair hearing at 330 and also has to go in between so is it okay if i give my time so he can open with comments that way he can share on chair his hearing at 3 30 p. M. And i reserve a special favor do you want to see your comments and not miss your hearing . To make it is a privilege to testify to be in front of this committee and i recognized it is Important Role to secure the safety of our citizens and i appreciate that consideration you and senator warner gave in the timing. Members of the committee they give her the opportunity to advocate for declassification reform and for having an open setting as you may be aware i am a sponsor along with a member of this committee senator wyden senate bill with the declassification reformat. We worked on this issue for a long timeatat. Tr. It is surprising to me the end result is so straightforward and relatively simple. It is an attempt to begin the process to modernize declassification but all those relating to declassification. The bill rest on another and so i appreciate the discussion of this bill is but that process that guides the release of declassified information are antiquated o and an end able to come up with the data that is classified on a daily basis. Congress has told the system is unsustainablest. The old election but it is unsustainable and wearing modernization. In 2016 and no longer able to handle the current volume given the exponential the four years later its on a path but those that no longer require classification but those land policymakers as well. The senator push me in 2018 in january to craft a solution that would be important on this regard so there may be the question of why there is an interest and certainly the ability to save taxpayer interest in her transparent to the public. Tending third to those transparency transfers but also the National Archives and other outside experts and officials from the nations intelligence agencies and we know individual agencies are taking this on s steps that the and those from the Public Interest declassification board. And then to have that declassification reform act and their other ideas i can facilitate reform. I am pleased we will flesh out our bill and other ideas where the resources will be necessary to implement please consider me an ally but what is overdue and protects american this and thank you for having this open history. I will condense my Opening Statements and with the Public Interest the review really but that recommended sweeping changes the way we declassified witnesses. We look at our across the Solutions Works to the longest the backlog for moving documents to review was completely outdated and inconsistent with the National Security establishment. The recommendations dont align with the current role to serve as the leader for the entire government and they should not be in a position to set those declassification rules for the Nuclear Programs with that declassification process with the process with the authority. And separately the subject allows us to emphasize the difference between the process of declassification and secrets that dont need to be secret. The reason we classify things not to keep things from people because it is revealed you will reveal how you learned about them and those entities rely on realize you have access and will cut you off. Balance with the default balance with the default position no trans. Government sanmama so it has toe balance between these two equities to learn valuable information needed for transparency. In a matter where we fall on the issue and with these sorts of things but and with that responsibility to withhold classified information and then to lead our nation blind and deaf and then to heard about the brave men and women to prevent the next terrorist attack these are the secrets that al qaeda and china and iran and russia and other seek to do us harm. These secrets need to stay secret but not forever and with that process that allows secret documents and the done responsible i so to make sure that happens with the Intelligence Community. But some are not willing to play by the rules and they deserve better and with the New York Times and Washington Post because a bureaucrat or politician wanted to score cheap political points our nation deserve better than that theyr pay taxes so they provide for common defense and they spend those on Technological Breakthroughs clever Computer Scientist i could make ten times their salary working else and those that keep a safe from a terrorist attack or to stop the oligarchs plan and then to see that evaporate that they are above the Higher Mission to score a political point and then allies suddenly consider a Security Risk and no overstatement to say that people died. The American People suffer for and wholfish acts benefits . But the real winner ultimately is our adversaries. All that said i went to think that professionals those of the declassifications decisions our brief are has represented a small group of people that are a vital part of the committee after working with the Intelligence Committee to make sure were doing no harm all five volumes and we greatlyy appreciate their effort to protect secrets and ensure the American People are able to see our work. Thank you to senators sass for his leadership to ensure if done properly while protecting our investment. With the vice chairman has a interest in this and especially senator wyden who has been the leader to reform the id classification process. Thank you for being here this is the First Experience with webex and me will do the best we can i ask everybody for their patients. System i, slow, bulky, costly and hopelessly inadequate in the digital age of eigh he agenciese using a fragmented system that lacks the resources uniformity and technology to keep pace with the exploding volume of digital records. This leads to errors and erode the trust. If while its important for the operations, policy discussions and weapon systems have significant consequences when the public cannot be engaged in the debate which is timely in terms of election security. Po when policymakers are not informed them that the government cannot be held accountable forrn its actions. The resources from protecting those secrets that must be kept i agree with the chair then it must be kept and honored at a greatein agreater way but my fen todays digital age if anything the new solution seems worse, the ease with which tens of millions of new documents are classified every year so im going to be anxious to hear from the assistfi on how the system s functioning and im sure we will fuhave questions. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. I especially wantou to thank my cosponsor who i know is getting out the door and open hearings are rare so i appreciate him doing that. When the countrys safety is at stake there is a need to classify documents. Its a dilapidated out of control system that costs the taxpayers more than 18 billion a b year. And get this, they cannot even distinguish between what should and should not be kept secret. The classification system is so outdated and dysfunctional but when it comes time to declassi declassify, the agencies have to sign off and dont have the ability to communicate about it securely online at. Watching these intelligence officials march around with their documents might make for a fight funny skit that its damaging to the democracy. Documents that shouldnt be classified are piling up in secret databases. The only thing missing is someone to take responsibility and get it done. So that is what we are doing that would implement the recommendations and direct the director of National Intelligence to take the leadership role. Within the Intelligence Community and at times through the Government Solutions to this longstanding problem. You raised the central concern. It doesnt put the dni in charge of deciding what the dod secrets are declassified. Its about modernizing systems for declassify information that the department of defense and other agencies have already determined are no longer classified. Im sure we are going to have a good discussion. Thank you for your courtesy and opportunity to be here. We would open up for your Opening Statements you might have members of the committee it is an honor to appear to present a perspective on the declassification reform. Im grateful for the opportunity to discuss the classification one of the most important overlooked oversubscribed areas of the program. We propose a definite wide reform with the level of effort but it will require. The u. S. Governments declassification review processes that require significant change to pay for the increase in the Digital Information eligible. Is the exceeded 4 million. Facing those numbers they undoubtedly needed to classification reform. Modernization must occur to meet the demands while safeguarding the nation they become National Security information. They worked diligently to this is true related to the department. On a wide range of topics you. They invest in and continue to prioritize because the important to the understanding of the challenges facing the nation could they continue to work across to improve internal declassification processes and systems. We appreciate the goals and objectives of the classification reform act. Any proposedan reform must be consistent with the obligation to protect sources and methods from unauthorized exposure. They must also address individual agencies such as the department of defense and energy which hasme significant efforts. Additionally the required investment in whole of government change in the legislation in force requires more for an analysis to understand and account for all equities. They agreed the modernization and look forward to the price tag of the proposed legislation. Responsible for all processes of the government. They believe such approach takes it well beyond the role. They delegated the authority to classify as other agencies with executive order. The declassification applies to intelligence located throughout the federal government. It generally doesnt extend beyond. The government liabl governmente declassification does not only resource intensive but suppose all information is treated the same they do not have the or expertise to held by the entire federal government. As such protecting its methods andro activities. This role for the odni complex contrary to the smaller integration body rather than a organization. Onal the enormous and effort to endem the likelihood of success cannot rest in any structure in which individual experience and authority over the classified information. With the concerns outlined in the role we also believe they are not wellsuited to chair the committee over the governmentwide declassification efforts. While they would welcome the discussion on the creation of the executive committee on declassification programs, they recommended the committee engage with other federal agencies with longstanding declassification programs. The way the commission is changing fundamentally as i mentioned, the overall volume of information required in the preview is growing exponentially as agencies produce more and more Digital Information. With such a flood, they agreed the investments will be required in the digital age along with many years worth of Digital Holdings that they hold valuable historical insight. There are opportunities to apply technology such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Incorporating new technologies would have laborintensive steps to support consistency and befuddled during the process. Human expertise on this holding routinely validating that the technology will only bee necessary. On the network and platform so they can occur smoothly and securely they have their own systems bringing these networks together beyond the level of exchanging emails will be a Monumental Task that require significant resources to deliver the proper environment and even more will be needed for both the u. S. Government. While they continue to work to address the consistency in the review process beyond the infrastructure to support it simply wouldnt work. The challenges are immense and agree thaagreed that the need fm cannot be ignored. Stability and obstacles to make mait for the declassification we look forward to working with the committee and ways that we can connect to meaningful reforms. Members of the committee, thank you for your time and attention to. I want to thank you for the opportunity of modernizing the National Security classification system. He went it creates this in 2020 we recognize the role w they should play at the plate in improving the classification and declassification system. Cosponsoring and introducing the declassification reform act of 2020. The recent report entitled the classification system is. Authorizing and looking forward to continuing our advocacy of the antiquated classification to operate effectively in the digital age is a big made little progress. For these agencies to innovate them into a governmentwide solution they would share interoperability into declassifying the volumes and the recommendations aligned with theig administrations informatn to a few modernization they align with the strategy to do things differently. They remain much the same for what they were when first developed in the administration they were secured in space and that reform i will share one example. They hav had the classified data every 18 months. This is the equivalent of 1 trillion pieces of paper. It would take one year to review this line of information. This is one agency eight years ago. The problem is that its grown exponentially since 2012. Just as the declassification system is about to collapse harming the Operation Space commander testify the Lieutenant General the president s nominee to lead the command testified before the committee that overclassification was making it more difficult for us. This example not only affects obligation divisions that could lead to duplications in the systems, limited innovation and reduce the development of new technologies on projects that could aid the u. S. Dominance. Es agencies left to reevaluate the needs of their customers [inaudible] for example the Geospatial Intelligence created a guide that uses the technology to automate the needs. Technology such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are revolutionizing the operations. The tools and technologies exist at the agencies now. They can and must be used to. They are duplicate event focused on identifying and reviewing their own equity information. Many lack the ability to communicate with each other and putting the national classification. This leads to add to the cost to the processes. We recommend the agent. First the authority to oversee implementation of the policies and processes across the agencies including across the agencies we believe that the indies organizations that comprise the Intelligence Community and they are a proven leader in implementing and managing the acquisitions and operations across the agency. The odni is the leader in overseeing and managing the resource and technology, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies and it can leverage expertise and intelligence and defense featured projects, National Security, Central Intelligence agency, other community agenci agencies. Lastly we have the statute to bring about change. They can also provide opportunities to gain efficiencies you. The strategy is already in place to improve the classification. The impact of the failure to reform the declassification system will be felt in our democracy and National Security they have been led to the effort of the declassification of the digital age. They report to the congress on its plan for the declassification processes and what it is doing to reduce the declassification backlog. Theres also unanimity the system will not work in the digital age recognizing theres a t problem. Refer to support the nomination and are grateful to the committee for holding this hearing. These are also important steps forward. The government is modernizing the technology practices. The legislation and the next stepsgh the plaintiff it will bring his experience and expertise to facilitate the development of the federated Systems Approach across the agencies who will facilitate the integration of advanced Information Technology into new classification processes. The time for action is now and its too costly or some other agency should be responsible. For thfurther opportunities form and possible solutions to engage with stakeholders should truly address the challenges and identify solutions and implement them. Thank you for your interest and support and i look forward to answering question. Thank you both for being here. I have a couple of questions for. M