Transcripts For CSPAN3 Homeland Security Chair McCaul On Sta

If i can ask everyone to please put their phones on silent mode and let me also welcome you to the campus of George Washington university. Its a real treat, a real pleasure and a privilege to once again host chairman mccall on campus. Hes been chairman of the House Homeland Committee since 2013. At a time where there seems to be quite a bit of gridlock in washington, d. C. , i can say without any exaggeration, he is arguably one of the most prolific and more importantly, effective legislators in d. C. Right now. Focused on a whole host of National Security issues, and also chairs his committee in a genuinely bipartisan kind of way, which is very true to the issues our country faces on national and Homeland Security. Im going to be very brief, which is very rare for me, since ive never had an unspoken thought. But im going to turn it over to the chairman now, and afterwards, we have an amazing panel. When you think about members of congress, you dont immediately think cia, you dont immediately think National Counterterrorism center, you dont immediately think prosecutors working some of the most important issues facing our country, but im proud to say, we have three of the best members who have done just that following this discussion. So mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you for being a great friend to the center. Thank you for being a great friend to myself and to George Washington university. And most importantly, thank you for all you do for our country. Thanks, frank. I really appreciate it. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you, frank. Special thanks to George Washington university for hosting me. Its a real honor to be here. I want to thank the students also for attending this session. I see a few of you out there. I have two daughters in college and triplets in high school. So when it comes to Homeland Security issues, i have some personal experience as well. And education is really the key. And thats why im here today. Youre really the thought leaders of tomorrow on these most pressing issues facing the United States. The state of the u. S. National security, i believe that americans strength is a pillar of global peace upon which our allies depend and our enemies recoil. As i reflect on my time as chairman, i saw the rise of isis and the collapse of the caliphate. Im disturbed, though, by the evil that emerged over the last decade under retreating American Leadership. But im encouraged by the progress were making in eradicating this evil that has entrenched itself around the globe. And as an eternal optimist, im confident our nation is finally headed in the right direction. Moving forward, its critical that we continue to reclaim our sovereignty, including enhancing security along our southern border of the United States, addressing vulnerabilities in our current immigration system, encouraging the responsible use of cyberspace, improving Aviation Security, and defending against malicious ideology, tlen intentions and actions of our enemies. On the southern border, really for too long, and i come from the state of texas, i was a federal prosecutor in charge of the texas mexico border which has organizations like ms13, dangerous opioids and drugs coming across, poisonous narcotics, traffic in women and children have poured into our country, destroying lives, shattering families and ravaging our communities. Despite the efforts of Law Enforcement entities and government agencies, human traffickers continue to exploit thousands of migrants making the arduous and dangerous journey into the United States. Security along the southern border is critical. As we know, there are glaring vulnerabilities also in our immigration system, as the secretary calls them legal loopholes. I was in the white house that sort of surreal moment at the table with both senators and congressmen, democrat, republican, as it was covered on live tv for almost an hour, discussing how to resolve this Current Situation that we find ourselves in. And we agreed to the four pillars. Border security, fixing chain migration, the visa lottery system, and finally, fixing daca so these children can stay tht country legally. I would argue, though, our nations security has been weakened by chain migration and the Visa Lottery Program which is random. These two programs risk exploitation exploitation from those who do not share our values. Look no further than the terror attacks in new york city. These programs allowed terrorists into enter our country and wreak havoc on our way of life. In 2010, the Visa Lottery Program facilitied the enty of an uzbek immigrant into the United States. On halloween, he mowed down by vehicle innocent americans, argentinians and a belgian in new york city. Then an immigrant who entered the United States as a young adult through chain migration, attempted to blow up a new york subway terminal in times square. I just 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. And i remember being notified by nypd about the attack. And it reminded us that theres still a serious threat. Securing americas future act is a bill that was introduced by the chairman of the house judiciary and myself, to finally secure our border and 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, importantly, effective technology, infrastructure, and manpower to defend our border. 5,000 Additional Border patrol agents, 5,000 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 visa overstays. Why is this one important . The hijackers 9 11 hijackers came in legally and then overstayed their visas. The 9 11 Commission Recommended in their report that we address entry exit, 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 in the briefings are that up to 40 of the people here illegally are actually visa overstays. We also call for an end to chain migration, to protect the nuclear family, and the Visa Lottery Program to defend against future exploitation to our homeland. We propose, rather, 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 the threats, our american way of life has been under attack well before 9 11. 1979 was the year that really changed everything. In 1979, the revolution in iran brought the ayatollah to power, where he still remains. That same year, the soviets invade afghanistan and the mujahideen rose to power, allowing Osama Bin Laden to become a force to be reckoned with. Now, 39 years later, the Threat Landscape remains serious. My committee has been laserfocused on the threat of foreign fighters leaving the caliphate and identifying gaps in u. S. Government informationsharing and vetting procedures. I established two task forces to address this issue, specifically. And we enacted, as frank mentioned, over 20 bills to make america more secure. John catco led that task for us. Mike gallagher led it the 60 times. And we passed over 60 bills this congress, many of which are 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, our partners, our friends, are confronted with this stark reality and it will be for many years to come. Since 2013, weve had 150 homegrown jihadist terrorist cases in the United States, and 179 isislinked incidents in europe. I would argue that europe is in far more danger from the foreign fighter threat, from the refugees coming in, and the homegrown jihadist threat. These stats are really alarming when you look at them. And theyre a demonstration of why we must remain vigilant in our request to expel violent islamist 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 its in the middle east, north and sub sahara africa, the philippines and elsewhere. We must deny these combatants from achieving their jihadist glory. The images of 9 11 and the planes striking the twin towers are never far from our thoughts. While were almost 17 years removed from this heartwrenching morning, let me assure you, americas aviation sector remains a crown jewel of isis and other terrorist groups targeting our homelands. Late last year, the director of the National Counterterrorism center testified before my committee that theyre seeing a surge in terrorist activity against commercial airlines. Recently, we discovered that terrorists had the capability to create bombs from laptops. And we remember the aqap printer bomb plot in 2010. Unfortunately, tsa has struggled to deploy Innovative Security Solutions that can be efficiently and effectively deployed at airports, such as computer tomming on reaf, its like moving from a twodimensional xray to a threedimensional mri. The fact is, you can see a lot more with an mri than an xray. And it provides a much clearer picture for screeners to detect these threats. Ive seen these devices. They work. We have two pilot programs in the United States and yet the request was cut in half by omb to deploy 300 machines is what the ask was. That was cut in half. 150 million to do this. Now, thats a lot of money, but in washington, when we talk about billions of dollars, 150 million to protect americans on inbound flights from some of the most dangerous spots, last point of departure airports, in my judgment, its worth every penny. And im not going to have that on my head. We made our request to the department. Ive talked to the appropriators to get the sufficient funding to fully protect americans in aviation. This has also been bogged down in bureaucratic delays. Each day we fail to effectively mitigate evolving threats to Aviation Security, we risk letting terrorists get ahead in their efforts to harm the traveling public. Additionally, weve seen Insider Threats to Aviation Security grow ever more concerning in the wake of the 2015 metrojet bombing at a Sharm El Sheikh airport in egypt. Despite efforts to enhance security measures for flights to the United States at last point of departure airports, they continue to be vulnerable. In recognition of this glaring vulnerability, we enacted legislation to enhance tsas security procedures to address inconsistencies across the aviation sector, particularly screening employees at security access ports. We must continue to close security capability gaps at these overseas airports. Most critically istanbul and cairo. John catco and i have had many trips over there, and i can tell you, these are not security airports. High volumes of american travelers come out of these airports and ive seen these vulnerabilities first hand. In addition, we must continue to enhance Airport Security at other highrisk airports in the middle east and out of northern africa. Doing so is critical to our National Security as these threats are only one flight away into the homeland. But as we all know, the threats against our homeland are not restricted by physical boundaries. We have cyber. As Suzanne Spalding knows so well having worked at dhs. I want to applaud you for your service to the department. You did such a great job. [ applause ] as suzanne knows, our adversary, both nation state and nonstate actors threaten us around the clock in cyberspace. And whether its north korea launching a global cyber attack, crippling infrastructure, to china stealing our nations valuable, intellectual property, to russia conducting disinformation warfare campaigns to sew 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 of victims and many of you are here in the room, of the opm data breach by china in 2014 and 2015, which resulted in over 20 million stolen security records, including Social Security numbers and fingerprints. To mitigate this threat, we must improve our cyber resiliency and protection. The house passed and i authored to elevate dhss National Protection and programs directorate, to a directorlevel position, and rename it, the directorate for the Cyber Security and infrastructure security agency. In other words, create a Cyber Security Agency Within the department of Homeland Security, to elevate the priority and the mission. I hope the senate will pass this legislation soon. Combatting malicious cyber activity also has a strong diplomatic component. For that reason, the house just voted on legislation, by Foreign Affairs chairman ed royce, proposing the creation of the office at the state department. This leti this legislation will establish a high level ambassador for Cyber Security to lead the departments diplomatic cyber efforts. We must establish closer relationships with our allies and our partners and enforce cyber commitments with other countries. And we must enforce our norms in cyberspace, because for right now, we dont have any norms. There are no rules of the game. And that is the problem. Not to mention what would happen if a nato ally was attacked in cyberspace, would article 5 be invoked in that case. We must eliminate barriers from other countries laws, including a the mandates. This puts us at a disadvantage. We must also build products that are security. With the growth of the internet of things, we are more vulnerable now than ever. Consider the recent assessment by intel, one of the largest chip makers in the world regarding its Semi Conductor vulnerabilities to meltdown, which pose risk to computer chips manufactured over the last decade. These threats are real and impact all of us. But i believe now more than ever that securing our nation at home requires protecting american strength abroad. North korea is a good example. Across the globe, nation state adversary 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 United States. This is unacceptable. That is why the president and his administration have begun to lead a maximum Pressure Campaign against north korea to compel him to retreat from his destabilizing nuclear ambitions. These efforts include working with our 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 the use of military force off the table unless kim jongun reverses course. Further chinese and russian attempts to undermine International Sanctions on north korea at the expense of Global Security must not go unheeded. The United States and our partners in the International Community must confront them head on. We must be clear and decisive in our actions, which takes me to the next country hot spot. Iran. As north korea marches on with their destabilizing behavior, so does iran. The worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism. Let me be clear, a nation that has repeatedly threatened america and israel, with absolute annihilation must not be allowed ever to have a nuclear weapon. Unfortunately as negotiated by the Previous Administration the iran nuclear deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action, injected the Iranian Regime with billions of dollars in fresh funding for their expansionist and terrorist agenda. 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 George Washington<\/a> university. Its a real treat, a real pleasure and a privilege to once again host chairman mccall on campus. Hes been chairman of the House Homeland Committee<\/a> since 2013. At a time where there seems to be quite a bit of gridlock in washington, d. C. , i can say without any exaggeration, he is arguably one of the most prolific and more importantly, effective legislators in d. C. Right now. Focused on a whole host of National Security<\/a> issues, and also chairs his committee in a genuinely bipartisan kind of way, which is very true to the issues our country faces on national and Homeland Security<\/a>. Im going to be very brief, which is very rare for me, since ive never had an unspoken thought. But im going to turn it over to the chairman now, and afterwards, we have an amazing panel. When you think about members of congress, you dont immediately think cia, you dont immediately think National Counterterrorism<\/a> center, you dont immediately think prosecutors working some of the most important issues facing our country, but im proud to say, we have three of the best members who have done just that following this discussion. So mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you for being a great friend to the center. Thank you for being a great friend to myself and to George Washington<\/a> university. And most importantly, thank you for all you do for our country. Thanks, frank. I really appreciate it. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you, frank. Special thanks to George Washington<\/a> university for hosting me. Its a real honor to be here. I want to thank the students also for attending this session. I see a few of you out there. I have two daughters in college and triplets in high school. So when it comes to Homeland Security<\/a> issues, i have some personal experience as well. And education is really the key. And thats why im here today. Youre really the thought leaders of tomorrow on these most pressing issues facing the United States<\/a>. The state of the u. S. National security, i believe that americans strength is a pillar of global peace upon which our allies depend and our enemies recoil. As i reflect on my time as chairman, i saw the rise of isis and the collapse of the caliphate. Im disturbed, though, by the evil that emerged over the last decade under retreating American Leadership<\/a>. But im encouraged by the progress were making in eradicating this evil that has entrenched itself around the globe. And as an eternal optimist, im confident our nation is finally headed in the right direction. Moving forward, its critical that we continue to reclaim our sovereignty, including enhancing security along our southern border of the United States<\/a>, addressing vulnerabilities in our current immigration system, encouraging the responsible use of cyberspace, improving Aviation Security<\/a>, and defending against malicious ideology, tlen intentions and actions of our enemies. On the southern border, really for too long, and i come from the state of texas, i was a federal prosecutor in charge of the texas mexico border which has organizations like ms13, dangerous opioids and drugs coming across, poisonous narcotics, traffic in women and children have poured into our country, destroying lives, shattering families and ravaging our communities. Despite the efforts of Law Enforcement<\/a> entities and government agencies, human traffickers continue to exploit thousands of migrants making the arduous and dangerous journey into the United States<\/a>. Security along the southern border is critical. As we know, there are glaring vulnerabilities also in our immigration system, as the secretary calls them legal loopholes. I was in the white house that sort of surreal moment at the table with both senators and congressmen, democrat, republican, as it was covered on live tv for almost an hour, discussing how to resolve this Current Situation<\/a> that we find ourselves in. And we agreed to the four pillars. Border security, fixing chain migration, the visa lottery system, and finally, fixing daca so these children can stay tht country legally. I would argue, though, our nations security has been weakened by chain migration and the Visa Lottery Program<\/a> which is random. These two programs risk exploitation exploitation from those who do not share our values. Look no further than the terror attacks in new york city. These programs allowed terrorists into enter our country and wreak havoc on our way of life. In 2010, the Visa Lottery Program<\/a> facilitied the enty of an uzbek immigrant into the United States<\/a>. On halloween, he mowed down by vehicle innocent americans, argentinians and a belgian in new york city. Then an immigrant who entered the United States<\/a> as a young adult through chain migration, attempted to blow up a new york subway terminal in times square. I just happened to be in new york that morning, just a few blocks away when the attack occurred. I was promoting my congressional Childhood Cancer<\/a> caucus. And i remember being notified by nypd about the attack. And it reminded us that theres still a serious threat. Securing americas future act is a bill that was introduced by the chairman of the house judiciary and myself, to finally secure our border and 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, importantly, effective technology, infrastructure, and manpower to defend our border. 5,000 Additional Border<\/a> patrol agents, 5,000 customs and Border Protection<\/a> officers, including the authorization of the National Guard<\/a> to provide air support to Border Security<\/a> operations. In addition, we demand the use of the mandatory entry exit system at all points of entry to address visa overstays. Why is this one important . The hijackers 9 11 hijackers came in legally and then overstayed their visas. The 9 11 Commission Recommended<\/a> in their report that we address entry exit, 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 in the briefings are that up to 40 of the people here illegally are actually visa overstays. We also call for an end to chain migration, to protect the nuclear family, and the Visa Lottery Program<\/a> to defend against future exploitation to our homeland. We propose, rather, 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<\/a> for serious crimes, are not eligible for this legal status. With respect to jihad and the threats, our american way of life has been under attack well before 9 11. 1979 was the year that really changed everything. In 1979, the revolution in iran brought the ayatollah to power, where he still remains. That same year, the soviets invade afghanistan and the mujahideen rose to power, allowing Osama Bin Laden<\/a> to become a force to be reckoned with. Now, 39 years later, the Threat Landscape<\/a> remains serious. My committee has been laserfocused on the threat of foreign fighters leaving the caliphate and identifying gaps in u. S. Government informationsharing and vetting procedures. I established two task forces to address this issue, specifically. And we enacted, as frank mentioned, over 20 bills to make america more secure. John catco led that task for us. Mike gallagher led it the 60 times. And we passed over 60 bills this congress, many of which are 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, our partners, our friends, are confronted with this stark reality and it will be for many years to come. Since 2013, weve had 150 homegrown jihadist terrorist cases in the United States<\/a>, and 179 isislinked incidents in europe. I would argue that europe is in far more danger from the foreign fighter threat, from the refugees coming in, and the homegrown jihadist threat. These stats are really alarming when you look at them. And theyre a demonstration of why we must remain vigilant in our request to expel violent islamist 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 its in the middle east, north and sub sahara africa, the philippines and elsewhere. We must deny these combatants from achieving their jihadist glory. The images of 9 11 and the planes striking the twin towers are never far from our thoughts. While were almost 17 years removed from this heartwrenching morning, let me assure you, americas aviation sector remains a crown jewel of isis and other terrorist groups targeting our homelands. Late last year, the director of the National Counterterrorism<\/a> center testified before my committee that theyre seeing a surge in terrorist activity against commercial airlines. Recently, we discovered that terrorists had the capability to create bombs from laptops. And we remember the aqap printer bomb plot in 2010. Unfortunately, tsa has struggled to deploy Innovative Security Solutions<\/a> that can be efficiently and effectively deployed at airports, such as computer tomming on reaf, its like moving from a twodimensional xray to a threedimensional mri. The fact is, you can see a lot more with an mri than an xray. And it provides a much clearer picture for screeners to detect these threats. Ive seen these devices. They work. We have two pilot programs in the United States<\/a> and yet the request was cut in half by omb to deploy 300 machines is what the ask was. That was cut in half. 150 million to do this. Now, thats a lot of money, but in washington, when we talk about billions of dollars, 150 million to protect americans on inbound flights from some of the most dangerous spots, last point of departure airports, in my judgment, its worth every penny. And im not going to have that on my head. We made our request to the department. Ive talked to the appropriators to get the sufficient funding to fully protect americans in aviation. This has also been bogged down in bureaucratic delays. Each day we fail to effectively mitigate evolving threats to Aviation Security<\/a>, we risk letting terrorists get ahead in their efforts to harm the traveling public. Additionally, weve seen Insider Threats<\/a> to Aviation Security<\/a> grow ever more concerning in the wake of the 2015 metrojet bombing at a Sharm El Sheikh<\/a> airport in egypt. Despite efforts to enhance security measures for flights to the United States<\/a> at last point of departure airports, they continue to be vulnerable. In recognition of this glaring vulnerability, we enacted legislation to enhance tsas security procedures to address inconsistencies across the aviation sector, particularly screening employees at security access ports. We must continue to close security capability gaps at these overseas airports. Most critically istanbul and cairo. John catco and i have had many trips over there, and i can tell you, these are not security airports. High volumes of american travelers come out of these airports and ive seen these vulnerabilities first hand. In addition, we must continue to enhance Airport Security<\/a> at other highrisk airports in the middle east and out of northern africa. Doing so is critical to our National Security<\/a> as these threats are only one flight away into the homeland. But as we all know, the threats against our homeland are not restricted by physical boundaries. We have cyber. As Suzanne Spalding<\/a> knows so well having worked at dhs. I want to applaud you for your service to the department. You did such a great job. [ applause ] as suzanne knows, our adversary, both nation state and nonstate actors threaten us around the clock in cyberspace. And whether its north korea launching a global cyber attack, crippling infrastructure, to china stealing our nations valuable, intellectual property, to russia conducting disinformation warfare campaigns to sew 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 of victims and many of you are here in the room, of the opm data breach by china in 2014 and 2015, which resulted in over 20 million stolen security records, including Social Security<\/a> numbers and fingerprints. To mitigate this threat, we must improve our cyber resiliency and protection. The house passed and i authored to elevate dhss National Protection<\/a> and programs directorate, to a directorlevel position, and rename it, the directorate for the Cyber Security<\/a> and infrastructure security agency. In other words, create a Cyber Security<\/a> Agency Within<\/a> the department of Homeland Security<\/a>, to elevate the priority and the mission. I hope the senate will pass this legislation soon. Combatting malicious cyber activity also has a strong diplomatic component. For that reason, the house just voted on legislation, by Foreign Affairs<\/a> chairman ed royce, proposing the creation of the office at the state department. This leti this legislation will establish a high level ambassador for Cyber Security<\/a> to lead the departments diplomatic cyber efforts. We must establish closer relationships with our allies and our partners and enforce cyber commitments with other countries. And we must enforce our norms in cyberspace, because for right now, we dont have any norms. There are no rules of the game. And that is the problem. Not to mention what would happen if a nato ally was attacked in cyberspace, would article 5 be invoked in that case. We must eliminate barriers from other countries laws, including a the mandates. This puts us at a disadvantage. We must also build products that are security. With the growth of the internet of things, we are more vulnerable now than ever. Consider the recent assessment by intel, one of the largest chip makers in the world regarding its Semi Conductor<\/a> vulnerabilities to meltdown, which pose risk to computer chips manufactured over the last decade. These threats are real and impact all of us. But i believe now more than ever that securing our nation at home requires protecting american strength abroad. North korea is a good example. Across the globe, nation state adversary 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<\/a>. He is now on the cusp of obtaining the ability to conduct a successful nuclear icbm strike anywhere in the world, including against the United States<\/a>. This is unacceptable. That is why the president and his administration have begun to lead a maximum Pressure Campaign<\/a> against north korea to compel him to retreat from his destabilizing nuclear ambitions. These efforts include working with our 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 the use of military force off the table unless kim jongun reverses course. Further chinese and russian attempts to undermine International Sanctions<\/a> on north korea at the expense of Global Security<\/a> must not go unheeded. The United States<\/a> and our partners in the International Community<\/a> must confront them head on. We must be clear and decisive in our actions, which takes me to the next country hot spot. Iran. As north korea marches on with their destabilizing behavior, so does iran. The worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism. Let me be clear, a nation that has repeatedly threatened america and israel, with absolute annihilation must not be allowed ever to have a nuclear weapon. Unfortunately as negotiated by the Previous Administration<\/a> the iran nuclear deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action, injected the Iranian Regime<\/a> with billions of dollars in fresh funding for their expansionist and terrorist agenda. 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 Prime Minister<\/a> netanyahu of israel calls the shia crescent. This land bridge connects iran to its destabilizing proxies throughout the region, such as the lebanesebased hezbollah and hamas in palestine. As our allies in the region understand, irans actions are a direct threat to our regional stability. Worst yet, the regime brutally suppresses any dissidents to its irresponsible policies. But you believe there is light. Again, 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 their country. This legislation requires the president to determine whether Senior Member<\/a>s 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 should 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<\/a> by covertly supporting the kims regimes economy which ultimately helps further their nuclear ambitions. Across europe and the americas, putin continues to engage in hostile disinformation campaigns, intended to sew discord among our people. Divide europe, and drive a wedge between our nato allies. I was recently in estonia and ukraine, they are right on the border of russia and the Cyber Attacks<\/a> are fierce and intense, and the campaign of disinformation warfare is really and the kinetic threat in ukraine and in crimea is real. Europe and our allies, they try to drive a wedge between. And in syria, hes bolstering the brutal regime of bashar al assad. Making the likelihood of a political solution to end the bloodshed more difficult and more challenging. In response to russias aggressive Foreign Policy<\/a> Congress Passed<\/a> and the president signed, the countering americas adversaries through sanctions act. To impose an economic price on russias meddling in our international interests. And we must remain vigilant in countering russias attempts to meddle in our elections in the future. I got the gang of eight briefing on the russian meddling. Ive been consistently strong from the beginning that it indeed happened, and there need to be consequences to what they were doing. We need to call them out for what they did, and there needs to be a consequence to that. When it comes to china, as putins grip on power remains solidified, china, under president xi, continues to consolidate its control over military, commercial and civilian life. Last october, xi was elevated into the people republic of china. Weve seen him compel its commercial sector to support destabilizing around the world. The bottom line, chinas on the rise, and its influence is expanding globally, at a rapid pace, and its the soviet union, in my judgment of our times. Chinas already rebuilding military bases around the world, as evident in djibouti, this military expansion, where we have a base, is not peaceful. And we know what theyre doing in the cyberspace. And it will grow as the one belt, one road expands. Strangling the developing and developed world, suffocating freedom, until its dying breath. To counter chinas immoral rise, we must support our allies, partners, and friends, and expand our support to the International Development<\/a> efforts. In closing, as we assess the Threat Landscape<\/a> for 2018 and beyond, i urge us all to seek Pragmatic Solutions<\/a> to address the challenges before us. These solutions that improve the livelihoods of people around the world and protect those who cannot protect themselves. We must shield freedomloving people from the radical ideology and exploitations that terrorists and repressive regimes are attempting to infect them with. We must protect those who are elected to deserve by closing gaps that allow our enemies to infiltrate the homeland. We must enable the United States<\/a> to thrive at home so that we can continue to support our friends abroad. I say we, because these threats are blind to party affiliation. Ive always said that partisanship stops at our waters edge. The terrorists dont check our party affiliation. And it takes an effort that will require wholistic bipartisan approach, one that includes collaboration with state and local stakeholders, private sector, federal Law Enforcement<\/a>, Intelligence Community<\/a>, and our military. One that really requires us to Work Together<\/a> with our foreign allies, partners, and friends. Upholding this bipartisan tradition and maintaining American Leadership<\/a> on the world stage is very personal to me. And my father was a bombard ear in world war ii and participated in the dday campaign on a b17. He bombed the nazis and helped defeat the evil of his time. I was recently in auschwitz six months ago. And i saw the horrors of what the nazis did. The pure evil of the gas chambers and dr. Mangoid. But my father and his band of brothers do not think about politics when they were drafted to serve. He actually volunteered to serve. They simply put our country first, and the example they set is one we should follow. Because freedom is never free, and we will always have to fight for it. Ronald reagan once told us that, quote, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We must pass it to our children in the blood stream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day, we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our childrens children, what it was once like in the United States<\/a>, where men were free. These are the challenges of our times, and just like my fathers generation, the greatest generation, we fought and defeated fascism that threatened civiliati civilization and we also defeated communism. And im confident in the current struggle that we will also prevail. With that, thank you, and may god bless the United States<\/a> of america. [ applause ] thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you for Tour De Force<\/a> and for correctly highlighting the many challenges we face as a nation right now, and the huge mission to be able to deliver and make sure that we have prescriptions to some of these issues were all facing. Weve got about 15 minutes or so for questions. Ill pick up the first two and im not going to its dominating the news, so i think weve gotta zero in on your colleague on the House Permanent Select Committee<\/a> of intelligence recently released a memo. And id be curious what some of your thoughts are, since its gripping much of d. C. Right now. First, in terms of background, i was a federal prosecutor. I worked on fisa applications with the fbi. Its probably the most serious power within the federal government to have National Security<\/a> wiretaps, fisa, to monitor american citizens in the United States<\/a> or americans deemed to be an agent of a foreign power. So i look at it from that context, that these applications need to be based on evidence. My concern, after reading the document, and granted it was coming from the republican side, was that one of the principal pieces of evidence was a dossier memo that then fbi director comey came out later to say was salacious and unverifiable. In addition to that document was a yahoo article, a press report, i have a deep respect for the press, but its not evident. This has to be based on evidence before you put a wiretap on someone in the United States<\/a> to demonstrate probable cause they are an agent of a foreign power. So given what the fbi director said about the dossier, i find that difficult to believe that that is sufficient evidence to uphold the application. In my experience, there would be a duty to notify the fisa court when it was deemed by the fbi director that it was salacious and unverifiable. To my knowledge, im not sure that happened. I think it should have happened. I think the court may have viewed this application in a different light. But having said that, there are two things that needed to help going forward. And granted, i think, from the american observer, youre seeing a republican memo and youre going to see a democrat memo come out. I think to really get to the bottom of this for the American People<\/a>, two things need to happen. I believe that the entire fisa application, including the affidavit attached, taking out methods and sources, should be released to the American People<\/a> so we have a full context of what was the basis for the application, from an evidence standpoint. I believe americans, whether democrat or republican, have a right to see that. Secondly and lastly and i know we want to move on i do believe the Inspector General<\/a> is looking into the fbi agents political motivation with respect to the politically charged investigation. When i was at the Justice Department<\/a> and Public Integrity<\/a> session. We prided ourselves on not being partisan. Nobody knew what your political affiliation was and that was for a reason. We were not supposed to bring politics into that office because it undermines the integry of the institution and the credibility. And that should not have happened in this case. They are looking at this particular investigation but i would respectfully request and recommend that the ig expand the investigation into the fisa warrant application to determine whether it was valid or not and if it is not, it should not go forward. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Im sure that will come up in the next panel as well. Given the congressmans role in that. Lets transition to Aviation Security<\/a>. You talk about powerfully that it will not be on your shoulders if we dont e meal yates some of the risk. Terrorists are thinking pred tor predators they base their actions on ours and it is threat. What are the Top Priorities<\/a> for you to be able to again, this is not about risk elimination. Its about Risk Mitigation<\/a> and how we manage all of that. What would some of the top tier issues be on your list . I think with the defeat of isis and iraq and syria, theyre going elsewhere, but they had bombmakers. Yeah. And we know theyre out there and intend on making bombs. And the threat was worse than i thought. When i got this briefing on multiple occasions i found this to be one of the most disturbing and quite frankly, kind of what keeps you up at night and question. If they are using two man operation, using vehicles and knives, the crown jewel is aviation and they are seeking to blow up airplanes even though they cant hijack it. That threat is very real. Enough where we had to take action soch action. So when we found out on the committee they are using Xray Technology<\/a> os opposed to computer technology, like an mri. Explosives light up in a different color. You can see everything in the bag that is going on the airplane. Why wouldnt we want to develop this . The answer we got well maybe well do study groups and in 2019, maybe well start deploying this stuff even though we had two pilot programs at work. My answer is that is unacce unacceptable for the American People<\/a>. We need to deploy these machines as rapidly as possible. They exist. Its not a futures stick thing. Working closely with the tsa administrator, i want to support your request and i know o and b cut your request at half but he is putting the American People<\/a> at risk. And everybody on the committee on both sides sees this as not on our watch type thing. This is not going to happen on our watch and were going to fully deploy and send a let tore the secretary, note the tsa administrator. Well put the machines in we cant do the machines is without the updated software. My point was lets put the machines in and update the software as it gets updated. I see this as one of the biggest threats and something we need immediate action on and the congress is doing that and the tsa administrator wants that. We just have to back them. One more quick question and ill allow one from the audience. You had mentioned the reauthorization of dhs. Why is that so important . Its the first time that theres a reauthorization bill. So its significance and secondly not to point fingers at the other chamber, but do you see the senate acting, following through . I do. In my judgment its taking too long. The jurisdiction of the committee needs to be fixed first. I had to assign an mou with the leader speckership with several other chairman to the get the reauthorization of the department of Homeland Security<\/a>. Since the inception and thats astounding. An application of article 1 constitutional responsibilities. Why is it important in a lot of the officers like susan, dont exist. I. C. E. The name change in itself is so important. I. C. E. Doesnt exist in law and it is kind of demoralizing to a department when congress doesnt authorize or recognize it in law. So thats why i think it is so important to codify the offices and reauthorize the entire department because then they are protected from what happens in the federal government in as departments attacking the other departments. And then you have the congressional stamp of approve meant. Congress authorized you and respect you bylaw. Awesome. Im going to allow one question, we are running out of time. You are a Senior Member<\/a> on the House Foreign Relations Committee<\/a> as well. Would you like to see the same as state department . Yeah. I think that committee has a lot of unrealized potential and that would go down the same the ndaa we do that right and it means a lot to the department of offense. Awesome. And why not the state department which is one of the most critical departments in the United States<\/a> government . So these are all National Security<\/a> department that is deserve to be reauthorized and a law by congress. Here, here, we have time for one question. Please identify yourself and wait for the mic. Hi, im on the board here. Youve first of all con graduationlations on the miracle of getting a bill through. That was stung. I work in the majority leaders oufs. You talked about cyber and terrorism, the question i want to ask is where is fema in all of this . Theres been discussion as to whether or not if it belongs in dhs, what are your thoughts and whether or not that continues to it does a very important job but whether it belongs in the structure and where it fits . We did reauthorize it in the bill. When the homeland act was passed, after 9 11. They are looking at man made and Natural Disaster<\/a>. I think fema falls into the Natural Disaster<\/a> piece. Theres a misconception that they have only a First Response<\/a> capability, they are there to be supportive. My state got hid hard by harvey. Whether it is my state, or florida or puerto rico. All three and virgin islands, they need that attention. I will say it is action oriented, he liked to get around the red tape to get assets on the ground effectively before rather than after. And thats why he didnt see a katrinalike response. His deputy was my deputy here for a long time. Mr. Chairman, i hate to do this. I have to be a tyrant and the make sure we have time for your colleagues here. Thank you for your leadership and thank you for being a good friend and keep fighting, ultimately thats what its going to take. Some of the budget issues are crucial and we all know when something bad happens but its getting out in front of this constantly reminding people of the legitimate risks. So thank you for that. And thank you for everything. [ applause ] if i can ask the next member to come on up. Were in for a real rare treat. And as i mentioned we had three members with incredible National Security<\/a> expertise, experience and leadership. Congressman representing the fine state of new york and served as a prosecutor. Worked a number of sophisticated and important narcotics cases. And also chairs the subcommittee on that oversees tsa for the house Homeland Security<\/a> committee and tni . Right. So congressman followed by congressman willherd and i believe the Central Intelligence<\/a> agency at the time and hes a former Central Intelligence<\/a> agency officer. Can talk and has walked and sludged the talk on a lot of these issues having severed in a an environment nor a number of years. Thank you for joining us yet again congressman herd and last but not least. Congressman gallagher. A former marine. A captain who severed at the National Counter<\/a> terrorism center. You must be the only member of congress that served at nctc and work in iraq, two tours of duty. So bottom line, you have overseers who can speak for the men and women they are ultimately overseeing. Trying to get those with the muddy boots getting the job done. So i want to thank you for that. Given where we are, congressman herd, well start with you because you sit on the House Homeland Committee<\/a> and hi pc and she hads light on heat around these issues here and your colleague mr. Nunes what should we be thinking . Im going to do something that my construct rachel told me not to do. Shes a graduate of your fine institution. For the members of the press that is here, this is off the record if you would. Im going to tell you something you dont know. Politicians this is on the record it is being covered live. Ill say it anyway. I want to make sure you know that. Politicians are prone to high p the memo is not a rebuke of bob muellers investigation. He should be able to turn over every rock and pursue every lead to completion. We have to have trust in that process. This is not a rebuke of the ranking file of the fbi. Having the honor to serve side by side with them for a decade in my career in the cia. The men and women of the fbi kept our nation safe. On september 11 excuse me, december 12, 2001, i was np the division and we were the entity that ended up prosecuted the war, providing head quarter support in afghanistan and at that time if you would have told me 17 years have gone by without another attack on the magnitude of the attack of new york and on the pentagon, at that point i would have said youre crazy. And the reason we have gone 17 years is that the men and women of the Intelligence Services<\/a> and our men and women in the armed forces, and the men and women in the diplomatic core and Law Enforcement<\/a>, specifically the fbi has kept us safe. We can clap for that [ applause ] the memo is about a process and what kinds of information should be used in order to allow the federal government to spy on americans. And in my opinion, unverified information, circular reporting and rumors should not be used in an application to spy on american citizens. It is congresss responsibility to shine a light on these issues and to conduct our oversight. Now some of my colleagues on the other side will say we should have if we have these problems we should have brought members of the fbi and doj in front of the committees and asked them questions. We did. I participated in dozens of hours of interviews with our Senior Leaders<\/a> of these organizations. As a professional intelligence officer. My job was to decide the difference between intelligence and information. Intelligence is something gone through a vetting process and been confirmed things like that. Thats not the kind of information that was used in this application. Now, some would say you revealed congress revealed classified information. Im sorry if im going long no this is important information. You revealed classified information. Anybody who read the memo knows that there was nothing in that memo that hasnt already been out in the Public Sector<\/a>. Wlfs the outrage when the information was leaked to the press . What was the outrage when it was dribbling out . The only thing that was new was that the specific mention of a newspaper article that was used in the application. So again, this is about making sure that we protect our Civil Liberties<\/a> and do and make sure that we can trust the leaders of our organizations and its congresss responsibility to private oversight even in an incredibly difficult partisan time and ill end with this, i promise. The press criticizing congress for doing oversight. Republicans and democrats being unable to agree on something because the other side said it. The perceived distrust between executive legislative and Intelligence Community<\/a> is feeding into the narrative and allowing the russians to win. They were involved in the election to erode trust in our Democratic Institution<\/a> and that is were allowing that to happen by having these partisan fights on this and not being able to have this conversation dispatiedi dispassionately. What is the strategy to encounter disinformation . Were not having these conversations. We should have it here because ultimately its going to be the department of Homeland Security<\/a> for coordinating the Public Sector<\/a> response for this information. That was awesome. And im glad you brought it up. We are kicking off a cyber active measures not just exclusively on russia, but i promise almost every country is going to be engaged in this activity because it worked. I would like to ask you a quick question and then i want to give your colleagues view on that and then we can move on what we are here to discuss. Should the minority report be released and yes. And i want to vote on that tonight. And the reason is there were references to things from ongoing activities. Im not going to restate what will said. I support him and agree with him completely. I want to give you a practical example of why it is important from a prosecutor standpoint. In the capacity i did well over 100 wiretap applications. When you do wiretap applications it is incumbent to show the probable cause to be able to tap a phone or computer. It is incumbent upon you to make sure that the informs you have is fully and fairly accurately portrayed. If you put all of the good information in a wiretap affidavit but you dont discuss the derogatory information about the sources youre using. Youre not providing an accurate picture to the judge. If you dont do that, youre not following the standards of department of justice and the federal bureau of investigation. So in this case, the fact that certain things werent disclose in a fisa or wiretap affidavit to a judge is trubing to me. It doesnt present a full picture of what this person is about. You have an informant, basically, a source. And you dont tell them you tell them things are helpful to your case but you dont tell them he is being paid by the party who he is trying to go after and has a personal van debt ta against. Thats a germane thing for the wiretap affidavit. If that is not there and a judge can suppress it. If you do that, all the fruit is going to be suppressed as well. That was a big glaring thing i saw when i read the memo the first time. What well say about the federal bureau of investigation and the department of justice, i worked as a doj and travel the all over the world and i had task forces everywhere i went. Political corruption, organized crime cases, Police Corruption<\/a> cases you name it. And the fbi was always by my side along with dea and many others and i can tell you they are highly professional. And so when you have things like this from an oversight capacity it is incumbent to get it in the open and discuss it and fix it and use it as an example so it doesnt happen again. Anything you want to add to this . I thought we were hear to talk about pats eagles. Im confused. I agree. I cant really add anything unique other than perhaps as someone who is newer to politic it is strikes me that people are opting into parallel realities right now. And we dont have any sort of Common Ground<\/a> that we can to use wills phrase, analyze this stuff dispassionately. And i see it tearing apart communities in places like northeast wisconsin and people are reverting to their tribes and we cant even have a conversation. And thats bad for all of these agencies were supposed to oversee and it is bad for our communities. I dont know if it is worst than the past but it is so frustrating as a new member of congress. The inability to have a conversation without it evolving into hyper tribal partisan warfare. Thats a problem we should think deeply about solving. In order for the whole system to work, theres a bunch of unwritten rules and norms and standards of desen si that every time one side violates,s the other escalates, it is destruction. I think you speak for so many that share that exact feeling. I second that. So thank you for underscoring that. Lets go to the substance now. Congressman mccaul talked about counterterrorism issues we faced and everyone on the stage has scar tissue around some of these issues and id be curious. Secretary mattis in the release of the National Security<\/a> strategy and ill read because i dont want to get the quote wrong. Americas military d Great Power Competition<\/a> not terrorism is the primary focus of u. S. National security. Context there wasnt an either or proposition. Where do we stand on the global war on terrorism or a campaign against isis . We cant the biggest mistake we do is not focus on the issues because they rear their head in ugly ways. But im curious of your take and congressman gallagher, you can go next. You have seen the surge. My first boss here in the audience. I dont know if you planned to be here so i dont take credit. It is good to see it, thank you for not firing me. So i was back in iraq over kr christmas in afghanistan. I was struck by the optimism that primarily our military Service Members<\/a> had about the mission. Thats always a tendency, we like to believe we can accomplish the mission no matter the obstacles. There are real gains that our partners have made on the ground against isis with our support. Prime minister declared victory over isis. As we saw with the surge and the success, it gives the countrys civilian leaders to forge some durable political and ironically i think the fight against isis has papered over some of the fault lines that will determine the future of the country. Obviously, governance sue any, and lumbar province and the central governance of iraq. Weve heard more concerns about the on going tension and the body taking and feared getting out and theres a lot of trepidation whether the Security Forces<\/a> will make a move on a port in the border crossing. If we dont figure that out we can find ourselves fighting whatever it is. And the same holds true in afghanistan. A sense that the new strategy. My understanding is that the two men, wulipulling out and starte cry. Again, over the longterm, do we have a sense how the afghans are going to sustain these gains without our significant involvement, i dont know, those are open questions. Al qaeda has been buying time right in the affiliates and id be curious in addition to and congressman gallagher underscored what comes in its place. And i dont mean to be too blunt spoken here. But during the president clinton election he said its the economy and isnt it the ideology. Until we address the roots that propagate the fuel and the i had logical underpinning. So a question that i asked anybody who was involved in global terrorism, what day do we celebrate . What day are we going to celebrate in the global war on terrorists . And ive gotten a lot of crumby responses. The best response was from a friend and Business Partner<\/a> and ambassador. They said terrorism is like inflew we know zarks its going to be around and you can and sometime it is goes up and sometimes its going to kill people and sometimes its going to wreak havoc. If we think of terrorism of how you fight influenza, its going to be something thats going to be around for a long time and its going to continue to be around so how do we deal with it . H when it comes to a National Security<\/a> strategy. We are focussing on terrorism but the allies are getting more involved in handing this issue because you have to work at root causes and cause that has made terrorism show its ugly head. And i remind folks in december of 2001, when we killed 75 of al qaeda leadership and pushed them out of afghanistan. We did that with 400 americans and the greatest air force the world has seen and we were able to take the entire country back. Its not like the ttp, they dont have more resources. We cant weve seen that with isis diminished capabilities but al qaeda is around and we have to address that ideology and the department of Homeland Security<\/a> with what we call violent extremism, addressing the root cause and the focus on the communities here in the United States<\/a> and they are working with the state department and the allies in and around the world to address that underpinning and root cause. I will make one final comment. I was in rihad probably a year ago and mo whapply wha the crow saudi arabia up to that point i didnt hear it come from that part of the world talk that way and reelize that this is an issue that we have to Work Together<\/a>. So i think addressing extremism and violent extremism and islamic terrorism is something that we have more partners that realize the issue. Thank you. It sounds like you are optimistic where the king of saudi arabia is going on the campaign. I think the issues have direct relevance to counter deceptive activity with nations. Russia, china, north korea, iran. We should be looking at cv as the model for countering disinformation. What about your thoughts . My thoughts are they are right from the military and the big picture standpoint. Im going to talk about the threats that still exist. Because they are real and since 2013, for example in western europe, theres been 179 isis linked incidents. 179. And what weve had with it being dispersed if you will, a lot of the hard core survivors gone back to western europe and they are ticking time bombs. And they go back to an area where they were protected and this idea of going to segregated neighborhoods in brusless where it breds terrorism activities. The number of reports they have of x isis fighters trying to get back into jordan and the homelands is terrifying. You couple that with the ability of isis to export their fear and terrorism without having to lift a finger other than to press a few buttons on the computer and get people going in the homelands. And i saw in western europe, we went to berlin and weve gone to paris and brusless. And one thing i know for sure is the extremism is active out of necessity more than anything. They get into the neighborhoods and the communities and they stop something before it happens by trying to anticipate someone breaking bad, for example. We dont have that same amount of effectiveness in the United States<\/a>. San ber inn did i know. They saw him making what they thought were bombs. They didnt know if they should call or if it is racially insensitive to call because he was making bombs. 14 people died. In addition to the threat itself, its intervening and developing a current Violent Extremism Program<\/a> that is important. And the last thing ill see as a i and it impacts the work i do at tsa. Weve had two dozen hearings in my committee in about three years. In those hearings, this is from the secure briefings, isis is fixated on taking down airlines andal c and al qaeda too. They had a bomb conceal in a laptop that blue out of the side of the plane and the only person who got sucked out was the guy who detonated the bomb. It is a threat and the it is on going and the reports are troubing. Think of how hard it is to try to find this, right . And we are doing a good job. When i go to an airport in amsterdam and i look at the 3 d imaging that we want to use. And i see the machines in the airport and i ask where did you get them from and it is an american manufacturer. How long did it take you to get these from start to finish . A few months after we ordered them, they were here. And then we have a hearing in our committee and that same machine they are doing studying algorithms as mccaul mentioned until 2019. And in 2019 they hope have a six prototypes of the machines in airports nationwide. We have 450 airports nationwide, but six machines in a year from now. So the problem with technology and keeping up with it and we can talk more about it if you want to. The lack of Technology Going<\/a> from idea to front lines is so bad in Homeland Security<\/a>. Probably one of the biggest problems they have in procurement. I think you are spoton there. Dod and they learn the hard way that it is not an option. Helping to see and speed ultimate deployment of technology. But i want to pick up on one frank, let me and again, sorry were going to get derailed. You cant put me up here with two of the smartest guys in congress thats a low bar though. Thats the wrong term. Talking about the home loan threat and the loan war scenario. Which is one of the hardest things for my friends in the fbi and Law Enforcement<\/a> have to deal with. One of the issues, since 9 11 information sharing across the federal government has improved. I call that horizontal sharing but information sharing down to state and local has not vertical sharing. So the person thats going have to deal with the loan wolf is the private Security Guard<\/a> at the mall or a discotheque. Are they doing suspicious activity reports and where is it going . Is somebody able to correlate that information . So that is one of the problems that we have. And we dont even have agreed upon framework on that information and how we share that and that is something that Suzanne Spalding<\/a> m she did so much at her time at dhs. So you can share information in a vertically as well and that is we need to be getting the information were getting from our friends overseas back. The group that cat cochaired when we did our work. When we were looking at one out of every three travel documents and they werent checking the names of knowned travelers against watch list information. That is the tackling we should be doing and were not doing it and we can improve that here in the u. S. And the pnr and tfpt issues youre spot on. I want to pick up on one point and its not the debate. Lone wolves, theres mood music around the wolves. Im not a big fan of that terminology because it assumes that they are alone. The reality is that they are networks of individuals that propagate they assist on the line. And they get assisted on line heavily. One thing i want to pick up on and id be crazy not to go to cyber. I complain nobody gets to the cyber question, i want to get to cyber myself. Im normally the loudest proponent of some of those issues. Toipt go one more question on some of the ct issues. And we have two of the former chairs of the committees that passed, multiple bills on the house side and earlier we were talking about bombmakers. And if you what made isis unique, became a cause celebre for all people with bad ak tors. Specific bomb making skills o l al qaeda. And id be curious, what is missing in the bill that is you put forward in your report that needings to be addressed yesterday from a congressional standpoint, well start there. You chaired two committees, both years, is anything not acted upon that needs to be . First, i should say my committee, it is guy out of the committee that the chairman the honorable how about john . Yeah. Convened last year. And i think i see as you pointed out, the order of magnitude of the threat is greater than it was when the soviets a lot of times it was ji had tours. Where now, we have upwards, 50 to 60,000, anywhere from 50 to 200 have american passports and they are hardcore dudes. They have a lot of experience. And its going to be a generational challenge. From our committees analysis, weve proposed a variety of initiatives which spornt and i will get to where we left out. I had a big called the character information improvement act trying to get at this issue that is the u. S. Military that is collecting biometric and data and how do we ensure the information is handed off to dhs the lead agency to make sure that person isnt coming off the battlefield and going into the United States<\/a>. There are other bills that my colleagues had like enhancing the use of social media when it comes down to do screening and vetting. We asked dhs to look at we didnt mandate it, whether it makes sense to put the terrorist Screen Center<\/a> under fbi per spru merge it with dhss national targeting center. We can use your red team on that. What i think we left out is the issue that will and john mentioned. We looked at all of the different pathways terrorists can cross our borders, but they can cross it hundreds of thousands of times everyday online. And that question of online radicalization is difficult. I would be lying to you if i had a Silver Bullet<\/a> solution for it. I fear that when we talk about this stuff and things like cv. It boils down to 20 people at the state department doing mean tweets against jihadis. My biggest thing is western europe. The vulnerability of western europe is real and they are substantial and they can affect the United States<\/a>. And you have countries that dont do a good job of reporting intelligence at all. Some countries that dont share it. And stolen passports so when people use them, the vulnerabilities are amazing. When i went to my first delegation with the chairman. Im going to give awe pop quiz in a second. We went to israel, iraq, berlin, turkey and paris and there hasnt been major terrorist attacks and six months after i got home and finishing a report. Every one of the places had major terrorist attacks and what was sad about it that every place we went especially within the European Union<\/a>. They said we know it is coming. Our citizens dont have the stomach to take necessary measures. We dont have the measures in place that you have in the United States<\/a>. And they still dont. And theyre getting their butts kicked in western europe. They are boiling with anger and boiling over. And brusless is an example and paris. One thing we can continue to do is put the screws in a diplomatic way to western europe to get them to up their game. Getting it. Theyve got it. Theyve been punched in the face more than once and they have a long way to go. And we still need to get them in that place because if theyre not safe, we are definitely going to be vulnerable because of our relationship with western europe. Last question and im going to open it up to the audience. Wednesday we are hosting the ukrainians for a track 1. 5 cyber discussion. And as we know, the attacks on the grid particularly from a cyber and trade craft perspective verified what we knew that Cyber Incidents<\/a> and attacks can have real world kinetic physical effects. They are a practice field. Whatever we see in ukraine tends to find its way elsewhere. What should we be asking them. Lets be blunt, theres a lot of cyber cyber actors. Here. We havent figured out a way to compel this bad behavior. Lets start with you congressman hurd. What secretary mattis was getting at was not that ct is not a priority, it is, but when you talk about Game Changers<\/a> theres a handful of countries at the top of the list, likely to use them. Talk to us about russia in cyber. Im going to take the ukrainians down to san antonio, texas. So what is the latests and greatest warfare they need . We should be looking at Eastern Ukraine<\/a> as ground zer to test and improving our warfare activities. They have been dealing with this in an acute way longer than anyone else. Theyre seeing how how the Electronic Warfare<\/a> toward uavs is done there. Understanding their skills gap will be helpful and how we counter what the russians are doing. Thats the most important thing that we can learn from the ukrainians and we as a country, we have to figure out how to do Electronic Warfare<\/a> and who is responsible. Who are the navy s. E. A. L. S and how do we defend and the roles of the responsibilities of the public and private sector. A former head of the nsa says, that if we think that the federal government can defend itself by itself its the equivalent of the french thinking the imaginary line is going to defend them. Thats why the first thing we need to do is reorganize the nppd. And because we codify the homeland of security as the bel belly button with working with the private sector. Would you consider Electronic Warfare<\/a> . Should we be thinking about it and integrating into full war ware or is ew separate . We need to think of it difficultly because cyber space is a domain. And they are existing domains in space. And so in on the battlefields, it is a different skillset and activity that needs to be done than if you are trying to protect the grid here in the United States<\/a> of america and defend the pentagon. Anything . I agree what will is saying and i like to bring things down to practical examples. First of all, it is one of the threats we face. We are living in a wired system and we are hooked up and i think it is a huge threat. And i think anybody in the intelligence background or community will admit that the amount of mall ware sitting in our Public Service<\/a> utilities and Critical Infrastructure<\/a> thought this country is substantial and it has been placed there by our countries. They havent activated it. So i think it is one of the most important issues we have today. And i think that identification of the methods and means by which they are trying to do this when those things are found is really important. We bless you. We passed, a bill last time that encouraged people who are subject to attacks or find mal ware to work with the federal government, and National Computer<\/a> Crime Information Center<\/a> and help us help them and by stripping out simply providing so theres no personal data being trance acted just the ipo address and the malware works with the federal government to help them and do a better job to figure out and the methods they are doing it by and giving a better chance to fight back. It is a cruel way to say we need to understand what the bad guy is doing and try and outsmart the bad guy. Few learn what is effective you can put it into use for yourself. Theres no question that Cyber Command<\/a> and everything going on in the military is going to be important going forward. No question in any mind if you have a bad spell with russia, a lot of Electronic Warfare<\/a> will be at the front. Do you agree this is a loaded question, we are never going to fire wall our way out of this problem. With even to share information, build resilience, defend and protect our systems but ultimately, we have to get to the point where we can articulate a deterrent strategy and be prantransparent. I think the Electronic Warfare<\/a> is important. That will petry phi people more than anything. What is the nuclear test equivalent far cyber. Congressman gallagher, then im going to open to the audience for two quick questions. So that is the heart of the problem. In 19 49d when the soviets debt naded detonated the nuclear weapon. Receiving a letter from lpn thank you for your services you have been hacked. Because it is not visible or loss of life, we havent had that wake up call or to so thats a long way of saying i think at the end of the day just as our failures in cyber space particularly the nsas most visible human failures, i suspect the solution even though were talking hightech stuff. It will be human and how do we recruit the best Human Capital<\/a> and make sure our nerds are better than their nerds. Im a nerd so im allowed to say that. Each branches trying to grow that capability organically which is great. Maybe we create a separate career path for cyber and special operators and they dont have to go back to the flag pole. I suspect and this is a hypothesis, even that wont be quick enough, right . The type of guy or girl that will join the marine core and do push ups and is probably not going to be a world class coder. So im intrigued by the proposal, will talked about the cyber National Guard<\/a>, cyber academy. We need a more flexible model to make the best use of the human talent we have out. Im glad you left with that. Ultimately, its going to be a combination probably of both isnt it . Everyone needs to be cyber aware. Vast breeches occur to human error fishing and alike and you need that cyber elite force and im not going to go only to the navy s. E. A. L. S. But it is a combination of both. Cyber warfare in the future its not going to hacker against hacker but good ai versus bad ai. If we dont have people who understand how to create an algorithm that is learning that is the going to be needs of the future and we are only teach thag in ph. D. Classes. Its not only in the military domain but in other domains as well. Agnostic to what the intent and outcome is. We have time for two quick questions if you can raise your hand and identify yourself. Im over time already. A question here and if we can wait for a mic and who will have a second question if any. Im going to cut it off after that. Is there a question right here . Thank you, patrick burn, the head of u. S. Parliament of the United States<\/a>. We understand were not the United States<\/a> of europe and we dont have a federal response to it. Im delighted to say we have guest officers fed by u. S. Intelligence from tse which is making the border safer for the u. S. In greece and italy. My question nypd too right . Nypd as well. Its a broad question and i would like one answer if you can. Where do you think europe from your visits and inspections, where does the shoe pinch, where do you think that we need to go were doing what we can post the attacks and weve had the battle clan, charlie and attacks on people and americans and jewish community, targeted attack it is. We had others in the middle east. If you have one area that you think we can focus on not just p and o but somewhere you think we can improve in terms of cooperation with the United States<\/a> . I just got back from there a couple of months ago on a delegation and i went to one a couple of years ago. When i went to one a couple of years ago before things broke bad in western europe. There was a prevailing feeling that we know it is coming but we cant our citizens dont have the stomach to do the necessary things. When i came back this time, its remarkable how much stronger youve gotten in the europeian union. One place you have advanced on us and you can teach us and counter violent extremism. I am at a loss as to why we dont screen people in the United States<\/a> that work at airports. Im at a loss. The European Union<\/a> went to not screening to 100 screening of all employees in the europeian union. Keep going because the stronger you are from a security standpoint, the stronger were going to be and then doing what you are doing is allowing us to come over there and embed with you. Homeland security, i. C. E. , fbi. Of course it isitis and it drives me crazy, fbi is not always talking to i. C. E. In europe. That blows my mind. I grew up on task force agents. Three city kops, four state police, you put them in a room and say lets go after the organization and they bring different strengths and shared the information. We have to continue to get better in sharing the information. Before they become something worse. And then have it so that information sharing is better between western europe and the United States<\/a>. And the more you can do that, the safer were going to be. I can tell you this much. Ive seen a tremendous amount of progress in just a number of years. You have had some horrific incidents. Its going in the right direction. But information sharing is probably the key. Can i also just underscore. We have done a lot of work with europe and ive got to say theyve contributed greatly especially in sieber and some of the Counter Terrorism<\/a> issues in its cross border and trance border. Theres a lot we can learn there and are learning there. Ultimately, it is the private sector as well. Im going to let that last question and do you want to comment at all. I love where does the shoe pinch by the way. And it is not just about talking off the shoes at the airport. I want to associate myself with the congressman from new york. He is a very smart man. The only thing i want add is we are having this debate here. I think it is a false choice and we can do both and i think that is a similar conversation that tough deal with in europe. And if europe i know it is not a hoe moj nous entity and the United States<\/a> can get on the same pamg on that, it would improve on information sharing. Last skbe a quick one, please. Thanks. George from hwc. Given the rise increased dependency among Critical Infrastructure<\/a> in a digital interconnected role. What do you see improving a cyber workforce. Its not going to just be cyber issues or the responsibility of the it department it is everybody. What is the federal role in promoting that . Step number one, you have to understand what is on its networks. I mean, does the federal government have 100 awareness of all of the devices on its networks . Absolutely not. Lets start there. I think an entity like this is something that is accepted across as you know, smart thoughtful folks on a number of different issues looking at this and creating standards. Im concerned that if Congress Passes<\/a> laws, as soon as that ink is dry, the thing that is passed, sd obsolete. It should be based on outcomes not individual technology or pieces. One thing we can be doing is driving this the workforce of the future and i appreciate mikes comments on the cyber reserves. It is girls in High School Get<\/a> training that they need in school and it may not be a four year institution. It could be two year. It could be a certificate. When you finish that youll come in the federal government and work for that same amount of time. If you go out in the private sector, the private sectors going to loan you back for 20 days a year and that includes cross pollination and it gets to this point that we are the federal governments never going to be able to compete by salaries with the private sector, so lets, you know, train that workforce to go in and still be able to take advantage of it. Congressman geko you have the last word. I agree with these two. Part of what i mentioned about that bill which encourages the private sector when theyre hacked and attacked and to learn from that and be more collaborative. I agree with Everything Else<\/a> they said. Gentlemen, thank you for your service. Thank you for your service now and for your service in previous years. Keep fighting and thanks to all of you watching on cspan and elsewhere but also for joining us today. So thank you. [ applause ] the Senate Intelligence<\/a> Committee Hearing<\/a> on global terror threats that cia director, National Intelligence<\/a> director and nsa director testified. You can watch it again tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. And later the Senate Arms Service<\/a> committee holds a meeting on protecting democratic elections from cyberattack. Well have live coverage beginning at 2 30 p. M. Eastern. And Steve Mnuchin<\/a> testifies sunday night on q a. Michael fabby on his book crashback. 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