Good afternoon. This hearing will come to order. I want to thank our witnesses for your service to our country. 13 people lost their lives, 30 people were injured. It underscores what we are dealing with here in terms of a threat environment. This is my ninth annual threat hearing that i have either chaired or participated in. I often say im not the most uplifting character. Those i could say that in nine years, i have seen tremendous progress being made and we have reduced these threats and all is well. Unfortunately, we face the same threats. If anything, the threats are growing. Nine years ago, we were talking about the blind use of drive drones or the use of social media. We face the same threats. They are evolving. Terrorist groups are metastasizing. They are spreading around the world. , it has happened is grown more complex and difficult. You have tremendous responsibilities on your shoulders. Really, i will turn it over to my Ranking Member and we will get to witness testimony. Thank you. Thank you for your service and thank you for being here today. As we all know, the department of Homeland Security was created to defend the United States from any and all threats to the safety of our nation. The department and its leaders are critical to our National Security efforts and we rely on them to effectively coordinate with both the National Counterterrorism center and the fbi to provide a unified effort to defend the homeland. When dhs was first created in the aftermath of 9 11, the agencys mission was very clear. Combat the scorch of International Terrorism and ensure that we can say with confidence, never again. Over time, the narrow focus has expanded. As the threats to our homeland have grown and become more dynamic, new terrorist groups devoted to striking america and our allies. Adversaries and cyber criminals seek to infiltrate and disrupt the nations cyber networks, posing an asymmetric threat that could cripple or economy with the click of a button. Foreign interference in our Domestic Affairs has presented a complicated new challenge that we are still scrambling to adequately address. Terrorism,omestic acts of violence carried out by white supremacist have targeted minority communities all across our country. Every year, we hold hearings to examine these and other threats facing our country. And to hear from the heads of the agencies responsible for keeping america safe. Is builty of america on partnership. Partnership between our security agencies here today, between Agency Leadership and their staff, and partnership between congress and the administration. As we convene this hearing without a secretary of Homeland Security, acting or otherwise, im deeply concerned that these partnerships are starting to unravel. Absence of steady leadership at the department of Homeland Security is a driving force for the institutional breakdowns that risk making us less safe. And thertment needs stablen people deserve leadership that will empower the brave men and women at dhs to protect the homeland, respond to detra disasters, and allow our nation to grow and prosper. The committee will continue to exercise to make sure communities are protected from these threats, but that requires cooperation from your agencies and constitutionally mandated requests. Im extremely disappointed in your Agency Failures to provide a sufficient, or in the case of the fbi, any, any response to bipartisan requests from this committee about the growing threat of domestic terrorism and white supremacist violence. One should live in pure of being attacked in their neighborhoods or houses of worship. Addressa threat we must to protect the very core of what makes us a very diverse people. Im grateful that your departments have taken the important step of presenting a framework for addressing this threat. We cannot stop with a simple acknowledgment or strategy put onto paper. This threat is not theoretical and neither should our response be. I insist you require outstanding requests. This committee and your agency must Work Together to keep americans safe and make sure they are successful. I think each of you for being here today. What youre departments are doing to address these threats and how the committee and agencies Work Together to protect our National Security. Thank you for being here. I look forward to your testimony. It is a tradition to swear in witnesses. Stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Please be seated. In light of the secretarys announced retirement, david glad away galway is the undersecretary. He was confirmed by the senate on august 3, 2017. He has over 26 years of Intelligence Community and lawenforcement experience. Including serving in senior positions within the office of the director of National Intelligence and the fbi. Chairman johnson, distinguished members of the committee, it is my honor to testify on behalf of the department of Homeland Security to address todays emerging worldwide threats. Let me briefly touch upon my role. I currently serve as the chief Intelligence Officer and undersecretary at the department of Homeland Security. Im responsible for ensuring our Homeland Security partners have access to intelligence they need to keep the country safe. My focus is to share that our intelligence is shared with operators across all levels of government to mitigate threats. My office generates intelligence that is unbiased, is based on sound and analytic judgment. I would like to speak about threats we face from Foreign Terrorist Organizations, domestic terrorism, cyber and transnational organized crime. Iserpinning these threats increasing adversarial engagement from nationstates. Domestic terrorism and targeted violence. I want to address the most pervasive threats we face on the homeland which is a targeted attack, whether it is domestic terrorism or a hate crime. There is no moral ambiguity. Oftenextremists are targeting race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity. Loan attackers perpetrate these attacks and advocates hate and violence. They have adopted an increasingly transactional outlook the last two years. Largely driven by technological advances and the use of social media. We are focused on identifying the behaviors indicative of an individual at risk of carrying out targeted violence. As a former Police Officer and part of the 1999 denver response to an attack at columbine high school, i have firsthand experience for this type of violence. At the federal bureau of investigation, we leave the investigation to prosecute these crimes. Dhs informs, equips and drains partners to enhance prevention. Foreign terrorist organizations remain a core priority of the counterterrorism position. We continue to make substantial progress to mitigate threats that these groups pose, however Foreign Terrorist Organizations remain intent on striking the country by radicalizing the most honorable americans. They seek to inspire violence, encourage individuals to attack our society. Isis and al qaeda represent significant National Security threats. Cyber threats remain a Strategic Risk for the United States. Threatening our National Security, economic prosperity, and safety. Nationstates cyber criminals are increasing the sophistication of their attacks. China, russia, iran and north korea are using advanced Cyber Capabilities in order to try to steal trade secrets and threaten democratic institutions. The foreign intelligence threat has evolved into one of the most significant threats our country has seen in decades. Use onlinearies influence operations to try to weaken democratic institutions, undermine u. S. Alliances, threaten our Economic Security and shape policy outcomes. We expect our adversaries to refine their capabilities and add new tactics as they learn from the current experience, suggesting the Threat Landscape will look different in the future. Transnational organized crime, organizations have a destabilizing effect on the western hemisphere. By corrupting governments and government officials, eroding institutions, they profit from a range of illicit activities including human smuggling, extortion and trafficking. Their activity has led to record levels of crime and murder in mexico with a direct impact on the safety and security of our citizens. I want to address the events in mexico from the last 24 hours. The reprehensible killing of women, children and infants is a stark example of how these brutal organizations operate. The violence and disregard for human life is barbaric. Transnational organizations are motivated by money and power. They continually adjust their. Perations to avoid detection they are quick to take advantage of improved technology, cheaper transportation and better distribution methods. In many ways, cartels operate with the same sophistication of a foreign intelligence service. In conclusion, im very proud to ensure the safety and security of all americans. I want to thank you for the Committee Support to this department. Its a privilege to represent the department of Homeland Security. I look forward to your questions this afternoon. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Our next witness is the honorable christopher wray. Hes the director of the federal bureau of investigation. He was sworn in as the eighth fbi director. He served as assistant attorney general at the department of justice. Thank you, good afternoon. I am honored to be here today representing roughly 37,000 men and women of the fbi. It has been just over two years since i became fbi director and i have had the opportunity to visit all 56 of our field offices, many of them more than once from all across the country. I met with partners of every state represented by this committee. Ive had the opportunity to meet with every headquarters operations. I have a much better sense now of what we are all up against. Frankly, the threats we face today are very different from over a decade ago. They are evolving in scale, complexity, impact, agility and the fbis moving forward to meet those head on. Preventing terrorist attacks remains the fbis top priority. Even as we recognize our countries important achievements , with the death of albaghdadi, we know we have to stay vigilant against that threat both overseas and here at home. That includes people bent on joining terrorist organizations where they flourished abroad. Folks like the two milwaukee men sentenced earlier this year who were swearing allegiance and trying to travel to syria to join the fight with isis. We are laser focused on preventing terrorist attacks by people who are already here in the United States, people we refer to as homegrown violent extremists. Lone, loan actors ifteb actors, these folks are inspired by foreign ideologies and operate through websites and encrypted messaging platforms. We are also focused on threats of domestic terrorism attacks carried out by a wide variety of violent extremist ideologies. Thats everything from anarchist groups to racially motivated violent extremists. To confront these threats, we are working closely with lawenforcement partners and reaching out to all the communities we serve. Our efforts are paying off. We are being proactive, like in the case of a man in miami arrested in august for threatening to kill every american in miami. Or the las vegas man who had been discussing a synagogue attack and had already purchased bomb making materials. Or the man we arrested this past friday who also planned to attack a synagogue in colorado using pipe bombs and dynamite. These cases present a unique challenge because in this country, we dont investigate a person because of their beliefs. Homegrownle, like the violent extremists i was describing earlier, tend to work online quickly at the speed of social media, leaving dangerously low warning time to attack. You, after having walked through the crime scene at the tree of life synagogue and visited with the teams at the scenes in el paso and dayton, this threat is never far from our minds and is a focus all across the fbi. We dont have time to talk about all the top threats that we are dealing with, but i hope we can talk about more of them as a respond to your questions, in particular on the Counter Intelligence front where the Chinese Government is targeting our renovation through a wider than ever range of actors. Not just chinese Intelligence Officers conducting traditional and cyber espionage, but people they enlist to help them like contracted hackers, certain graduate students and researchers, Insider Threats within u. S. Businesses, and a whole variety of other actors working on behalf of china. We see the Chinese Government encouraging and assisting the abuse of incentive plans that offer cash and other enticements to bring information back to china. Information that is often actually trade secrets stolen from American Companies and universities and we are seeing Chinese Companies using that to compete against the very American Companies it belongs to. We are seeing intellectual property and data theft from companies and academic institutions in just about every size and sector. This is a threat to Economic Security and to National Security. It is also a threat to american jobs, businesses, and big cities alike. Even as we speak, the fbi has around 1000 investigations involving attempted theft of u. S. Based technology that leads back to china. That involves nearly all of the fbis field offices. I can tell you, that number is representing a significant uptick from a few years ago. It is growing. The men and women of the the the fbi dedicate themselves everyday to keep the American People safe. I want to thank this committee for your support. I can tell you it makes all the difference in the world to our agents, analysts and professional staff all across the country and frankly around the world, so thank you for the opportunity to be here. Thank you, director. Our third witness is russell travers. Hes the acting director of the National Counterterrorism center. He has been in this position since august 16, 2019 and served as the acting director from from 2017 to 2018. His Previous Service includes Deputy Director of an ctc, special assistant to the and information sharing of the National Security council. Mr. Travers . Thank you and good afternoon. Kevin johnson, members of the committee, it is a privilege to be here. In the years since 9 11, the the u. S. Counter to his room Counterterrorism Community has achieved success against many terrorist groups around the world. As we saw two weekends ago, the u. S. Continues to remove terrorist leaders around the globe. Over the past year, coalitions operations against isis, iraq operations against isis, iraq and syria and the socalled caliphate. Ongoing ct efforts across africa, the middle east , and south asia continued to diminish the ranks of al qaeda and isis. Removing leaders and operatives on a regular basis. Interagency efforts to enhance defense at home has resulted in continuous progress against terrorist attacks. There is a lot of good news. We need to because just because challenges remain and i will highlight and summarize just three. First, military operations have brought us time and space as we address a global Terror Threat. The diverse and expanding nature of that threat remains a significant concern and after 9 11 we were primarily focused on external attack capability emanating from a single piece of real estate along the afghanistanpakistan border. 18 years later, we face homegrown violent extremist threats and also 20 isis networks that range from tens of hundreds of thousands of people. Al qaeda and its branches and affiliates. Foreign fighters that flack to block to syria from well over 100 serious. Iran and its proxies. There is a growing Terror Threat for racially motivated threats around the world. By any calculation, there are far more radicalized individuals now than there were at 9 11. This highlights the importance of terrorism prevention. While some aspects can only be dealt with through connecticut operations, the ideology will not be dealt with by military alone. The world has a lot of work to do to deal with radicalization underlying causes. The second challenge stems from terrorists ability to exploit technology. They are good at it and very innovative. We have seen the use of social media to spread propaganda and transfer knowledge between individuals in the networks, the use of drones, highquality documents will increasingly undermined a screening threat to our security and we all seek greater use of cryptocurrencys and the potential use of chemical and biological weapons. Terrorist exploitation of technology has outpaced the associated legal and policy framework needed to d