Security. They discussed reauthorization of a surveillance law known as section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and warrant requirements for collecting data. The 50minute hearing is chaired by North Carolina republican richard burr. Id like to call this hearing to order. Id like to welcome our witness, john demeres. President trumps nominee to be the next assistant attorney general for National Security at the United States department of justice. John, congratulations on your nomination. I would like to start by recognizing the family that you brought here with you. I understand your wife sydney is here as well as your children, elizabeth and matthew. Senator warner will sign a slip for you to take to school and get extra credit. And also, your sisterinlaw sue. In a statement for the record, john speaks strongly about the support each of you have provided him over the years. I know from personal experience just how important a supportive family is and to each of you, i thank you for the sacrifices you make. Our goal in conducting this hearing is to enable the committee to consider the nomin nominees qualifications and to allow for a thoughtful deliberation by committee members. You have provided substantive written responses to over 30 questions presented by the committee, and today, of course, members will be able to ask additional questions and hear from him personally in open session. He is a graduate from the college of holy cross and harvard law school, served as a clerk in the United States court of appeals from the ninth circuit court, and then for the late honorable Justice Anthony scalia. Mr. Demers served in the department of justice National Security division as Deputy Assistant attorney general where he also served as senior counsel to the assistant attorney general. While at the dojs National Security division, mr. Demers additionally completed a detailed as counsel to the Deputy Attorney general. Following his tenure at doj, john joined the boeing company where he served as Vice President for international affairs, Vice President and assistant general counsel for global law affairs, chief counsel for network and Space Systems and currently as the environment and assistant general counsel for regulatory law. Hes also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University law center. John, youre being asked to lead the justice Departments Division responsible for our National Security related investigations there in a period of significant debate about what authorities and tools are lawful and appropriate. As you know, the committee recently reported out a bill that would renew fisas title seven authorities for eight years with additional privacy protections for u. S. Persons. Im hopeful that this bill will pass the senate and ultimately be signed into law as it provides the department and the Intelligence Community the needed tools and authorities. Im also hopeful moving forward youll be in an influential youll be an influential and forceful advocate for those foreign intelligence tools you believe are necessary to keep citizens safe, like section 702. As i mentioned to others during the nomination hearing, i can assure you this committee will faithfully follow its charter and conduct vigorous and realtime oversight over the Intelligence Community, its operations and its activities. Well ask difficult and probing questions of you and your staff, and we will expect honest, complete, and timely responses. You have already successfully negotiated one hurdle having be favorably reported out of the Senate Judiciary committee 200 on october 19th, 2017. I look forward to supporting your nomination and insuring its consideration without delay. I want to again thank you for being here. I would notify members that were under a fairly tight timeframe, so its my intention to move this nominee as quickly as we possibly can. With that, now i recognize the vice chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And welcome, mr. Demers. Congratulations on your nomination to serve as assistant attorney general for National Security at doj. I have reviewed your statement, questions for the record, and testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee on october 4th. I appreciate your candor and forthright responses to the questions. I also appreciate the broad amount of bipartisan support youve got from doj officials in terms of your nomination. If confirmed as assistant attorney general for National Security, you will lead an organization that was established after 9 11 to insure that our counterterrorism intelligence and counterintelligence activities are properly and sufficientabilitily coordinated across Law Enforcement and intelligence communities. As youre aware, another Critical Role of this position is to shepherd the departments review and approval of the requests of the fisa courts for surveillance activities including section 702. As the chairman just mentioned, we had a productive session on 702 last week. And last week, the committee supported a bipartisan bill to reauthorize 702. It seeks to maintain its operational capacities while increasing the privacy and civil lib rarity protections of u. S. Citizens. This includes strengthening judicial and congressional oversight of the governments queries of lawfully collected u. S. Persons data. I will be interested in your comments on the 702 program, in particular ill be listening closely to your responses to be assured that you recognize the need to conduct reviews in a matter that in a manner that protects these privacy concerns. In your written responses to this committee and to the Judiciary Committee, you wrote, quote, that your loyals with the constitution and you would tell the president or attorney general no if asked to perform any task contrary to the constitution or laws of the United States. I very much appreciate these words, and well try to hold you to them. Mr. Demers, i would also like to hear your commitment that you will always seem to provide unbiased, unvarnished and timely responses to the president , his advisers, his cabinet, and congress. Facts are facts, and i expect you to be truthful to them while in service to the nation. Youre also aware that this committee is conducting an investigation into russian interference in the 2016 president ial election. This morning, i will ask you during the question and answer session, i want to hear your assurance that you will fully cooperate with this review and provide this committee with all the information requested in a timely fashion. I will ask you i will ask that you faithfully inform this committee if you become aware of additional relevant information in your course of your duties if youre confirmed. I believe yesterdays indictment of president Trumps Campaign manager and deputy Campaign Manager by the special counsel and the guilty plea by George Papadopoulos is further evidence that these investigations are serious and that this country needs to hold accountable any of those who do a disservice to our nation. This investigation, let me make clear, is not about relitigating the election or playing gotcha with the reds. Its about following the facts where they lead and insuring the sanctity of our democratic principles through free and Fair Elections untarnished by foreign interference. Again, congratulations on your nomination. I look forward to this mornings discussion. Thank you. Mr. Demers, would you please stand and raise your right hand . Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do. Please be seated. Before we move to your statement, ill ask you to answer five standard questions the committee poses to each nominee who appears before us. They just require a simple yes or no answer. Do you agree to appear before the committee here in any other venues when invited . Yes. If confirmed, do you agree to send officials before the committee anddiesinated staff when invited . Yes. Do you agree to provide documents or any other materials requested by the committee in order to carry out its oversight and legislative responsibilities . Yes. Will you both insure that your office and staff provide such materials to the committee when requested . Yes. Do you agree to inform and fully brief to the fullest extent possible all members of the committee of the intelligence activities and covert action rather than only the chairman and vice chairman . Yes. Thank you very much. Well now provide to Opening Statements after which ill recognize members by signeniori for five minutes. I will once again remind members that pursuant to Senate Resolution 400, the Committee Received this nomination on referral from the Judiciary Committee and we have 20 calendar days within which to report this nominee to the full senate. Its my intention, again, to move through this as quickly as we can in a business session. With that, mr. Demers, the floor is yours. Great. Thank you very much, chairman bur, vice chairman warner and distinguished members of this committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you here today and for considering my nomination. During my last time at the National Security division, i worked closely with this committee to draft and negotiate the fisa amendments act of 2008. Should i be confirmed, i hope this hearing will be only the beginning of working with you again on issues critical to the nations security. Issues best addressed when the congress and the executives work constructively together. Public service is never an individual endeavor and i would like to thank my wife cindy and children lizzy and matthew who are here behind me and have graciously agreed to join me in the next chapter. The love and fun we have together provide be always with a focus and sense of calm i think will be needed. Id also like to thank my parents whose example and encouragement have inspired me to be here today. My sisterinlaw and friend sue is here as well, and im grateful to her and the other Close Friends and colleagues here and watching remotely for their love and support. And because i come from a family of teachers, i would do well to thank all of the teachers i have had along the way. I owe them more than they and i will ever know. Im grateful for and humbled by this opportunity to return to the department of justice. And to the National Security division. Protecting the National Security is at the highest priority of the department and the National Security division is at the forefront of these efforts. Although the thinking behind the division may seem obvious now, those of you who have worked these issues since before september 11th know that the reorganization that created the division was revolutionary. It brought together the lawyers prosecuting terrorism and espionage offenses with those working on intelligence investigations. And it created a strong link between the department and the Intelligence Community. More broadly, it recognized the effectiveness of this combination of Law Enforcement and intelligence efforts in combatting a variety of threats and the danger of drawing lines and building walls between criminal and intelligence investigations. Since that time, the capabilities and the mission of the division have broadened to confront new manifestations of old threats. The women and men of the division have worked tirelessly with the Intelligence Community and the other parts of government to help guard our security, regardless of whether the threats come on airplanes or over the internet. The dedicated lawyers and professionals of the division understand that without the security, the promise of liberty enshrined in our founding documents would be an empty one. They also understand that without liberty, security has no purpose. And they recognize that the guarantor of both is the rule of law. Having worked with many in the division and followed the Division Since i left, i know this firsthand and would consider it an honor to return to serve with them. Critical to our security and our liberty are the statutory and other authorities that the investigators and prosecutors use every day. I look forward to working together with you and your colleagues to insure that the Intelligence Community and prosecutors have the tools they need and that thesis tools keep up with changes in technology and the threats that face us. I also understand that the only way to keep the confidence of the American People in these tools is to use them lawfully and wisely. Thus, i look forward to furthering the oversight function of the division and supporting the proper oversight conducted by the congress and the foreign Intelligence Surveillance court. The threats we face are real. The objectives of orour advery sayers are plain. Indeed, to undermine the very idea of america. I appreciate that you have always taken these threats seriously. I look forward to working with you to insure that this country continues to thrive and that all americans enjoy both liberty and security under the rule of law. Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today. I look forward to answering your questions. John, thank you very much. Ill recognize members based upon seniority for up to five minutes. The chair would recognize himself first. Mr. Demers, leaks of classified information are deplorable and put sensitive sources and methomethod s at great riv. Im increasingly alarmed at the number of individuals who feel they can safely disclose classified details to the press under the cloak of anonymity, which seems to be the most common last name in america today. How do you plan to proceed with investigations and prosecutions of those who leak classified information . Thank you, senator. I agree with you that the leaks of classified information present serious threats to the National Security. As you mentioned, in particular to the sources and methods we use, and also to revealing what we know to others, what we know about them, and lets make no mistake, sometimes the sources are human beings. The cases themselves, the investigation needs to be pursued fully and on the facts. Following the facts wherever they may go, and then the prosecutions need to be considered carefully as well, taking into account, of course, the equities of the Intelligence Community as well as the need to deter and incapacitate folks who are leaking now and also deter future leakers as well. Ill work closely with the career attorneys at the department who have been doing these cases for many years, who continue to focus on them today, and just follow the facts wherever they lead us. Will you commit to communicating with the committee on the progress of investigations and potential prosecuti prosecutions . I think within the bounds that i can, that is as long as its not interfering with the investigation itself, i will. Good. We mentioned fisa title 7 authorities including what is well known as section 702. And they expire at the end of the year, as youre aware, the committee has Significant Interest in reauthorizing these authorities. Based upon your experience, how critical is reauthorizing to our nations National Security . Well, senator, i saw the world before the fisa amendments act of 2008. I saw what it was like without this authority. And it was very difficult for the Intelligence Community and very difficult for the lawyers that the Justice Department. And we were focusing a lot of our resources at that time on folks who, you know, nine u. S. Persons outside the u. S. , folks without constitutional rights. And i saw in the very early days the implementation of this law. I followed it, of course, on the news since then. I understand the Intelligence Community considers it to be a critical if not one of the most critical tools it has in the work that it does. I have also seen the review that the privacy and Civil Liberties board did of this authority. And i take note of the fact that they have found no intentional misuses of this authority. So it strikes me that as best i can see from the outside, this is a critical authority. I support its reauthorization, and i look forward to working with the committee on that if im there in time. If not, then working with you on your oversight efforts of the authority to make sure its used effectively and well. I thank you for that. Deputy attorney general rosenstein called cybersecurity attacks and threats against our nations security and infrastructure as one of the departments highest priorities. How do you foresee furthering the departments cybersecurity efforts from within the National Security division . So i think the cybersecurity is the