Pensacola in which three u. S. Service members tragically lost their lives and eight more suffered injuries. It is critical that we learn from the attack, understand the threat, and take the necessary steps to ensure the protection of our servicemen and women going forward. I would like to welcome our witnesses, mr. Gary reid, who serves as the director for Defense Intelligence in the office of the under secretary for Defense Intelligence, and Lieutenant General Charles Hooper who serves as the director of the Defense Security cooperation agency. And thank you both very much for being with us today, and we look forward to your testimonies. The National Defense strategy focuses on strengthening alliances and attracting new partners as a key component to more effectively compete with china and russia while countering the continued threat posed by radical terrorist groups and rogue regimes. The nds states that by working together with allies and partners, we amass the greatest possible strength for the longterm advancement of our interests, maintaining favorable balances of power that deter aggression and support the stability that generates growth. I agree with the nds. That is why i have long supported critical Security Cooperation programs such as the International Military training and education or imet, these programs provide our partners from around the world an opportunity to train and learn from the best here in the United States. Ultimately, our partners return to their home countries with a greater appreciation of the u. S. And in part Lessons Learned on how to better organize and employ their own armed forces. These programs improve our in r interoperatability, for key partners and lay the foundation for cooperation that will pay dividends for years to come. Over the past 20 years, 1 Million Students have trained in the United States. Currently the United States hosts over 5,000 students from 153 countries. Many of the students who come to the u. S. Are the same troops who have fought or will fight alongside americans down range. Oftentimes they rise through the ranks and become leaders in their own armed forces. With many becomes chiefs of defense, ministers or even president s. However, while the benefits of these programs are invaluable, the tragic events at pensacola highlight unacceptable shortfalls in our security ta s standards and vetting procedures. The attacker, shah heed al shah ram arrived in the United States in twelve, and harbored antiu. S. Sentiments which he broadcast on social media. All the while he was able to purchase a firearm, access u. S. Military insulations and ultimately carry out a deadly attack against americans. We must do more to protect our military personnel and ensure the security of our facilities. Mr. Reid and general hooper, we look forward to your testimonies explaining the results of the department of defense review and explaining the results of the Department Defense review and describing what steps are being undertaken. Your findings are critical to ensure our department has the resources, the support, and the authority it needs. Thank you, again, for joining us and i look forward to the discussion. Before i hand it over to senator peters for his opening remarks, i would like to remind everyone that later we will close the hearing in order to discuss sensitive matters of National Security. At that point, we will ask for the public and members of the press to exit the room. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding. The intent is for us to break at 10 30. And we will, then, at that time, clear the room. Senator peters and i will go vote. We do have a vote called for 10 30. And then we will reassemble, those that have the authority to stay in the room, we will reassemble. So thank you very much. Ranking member peters. Well, let me begin let me begin by thanking senator ernst for holding this earring hearin changes made by the department of defense in response to the december 6th, 2019, attack at naval station pensacola that unfortunately and tragically resulted in the death of three Service Members and wounding of eight other americans. A our thoughts remain with the victims and their families. We have a responsibility to the victims to learn all that we can from the attack, and to implement changes that will mitigate the risk of future occurrences to the greatest extent possible. Following the attack, the department reacted quickly to put in place additional Safety Measures. The provision of training to Foreign Military personnel is a comparative advantage of the United States over peer competitors like china and russia. So its training not only helps to improve interoperability but also helps to establish connections with Junior Officers that then go on to hold significant leadership positions in their home countries in the future. Indeed, the military education and training is regularly cited by our military and diplomatic leadership as the most effective and resourceefficient tool that we have to build a Strong Military relationship with foreign partners. Despite these clear benefits, we must ensure that such training does not risk the safety of u. S. Military personnel, other foreign students, or the installations in which the training is occurring. On january 17th, the department announced new Safety Measures, and im looking forward to hearing about those new Safety Measures from the witnesses today. I want to thank the chair, once again, for holding hthis hearin and i look forward to the constitution. Thank you. So we will go ahead with our witness opening statements. And well start with you, mr. Reid. Thank you, chairman ernst and Ranking Member peters, senator scott, other members that may be joining us, we appreciate the opportunity to testify today and address your questions regarding our review of International Military student screening and vetting procedures. The tragic loss of life that occurred at Pensacola Naval air station on december 6th, 2019, will never fade from our memories. Three young and vibrant navy sailors, caleb watson, and airman mohatham were tragically taken from us, their families, and their loved ones. Paying the ultimate sacrifice to save others while heroically confronting their attacker. Three of the eight wounded were First Responders from the Naval Security forces in the Escambia County Sheriffs Office. Their brave action to get control within 15 minutes of the initial gunfire. We are further indebted to our fallen comrades and what was later determined by the u. S. Department of justice as an act of terrorism. We greatly appreciate the outstanding work of our federal, state, and local Law Enforcement agencies. It was the Great Partnership between pensacola and the escambi county Sheriffs Office that enabled such a swift attack saving countless lives. The department of defense immediately implemented a safety and security standdown. The secretary of defense directed my office to take immediate steps. One, to strengthen the vetting process for International Students immediately. And, two, to conduct a comprehensive review of the policies and procedures in place for screening foreign students and granting them access to our bases. Im here today to brief you on the results of this work, and as you already mentioned, madam chair, follow up in a closed session to talk about some of the National Security details. With regard to the first task, we screened all current Saudi Arabian military students immediately using new procedures that we had recently put in place as part of our personal vetting Transformation Initiative which, as you have been previously briefed, we are building towards a continuous vetting process that relies on automated data record searches as a supplement to the investigative process. We put this process into place for the International Military students, and it stays in place today. We screened all of the saudi students, and continue to work through the full population of roughly 5,000 current ims. These automated searches look at Intelligence Community derived datasets that include government data, commercial data, and publicly available data. The results of these checks are analyzed by trained Security Experts and analysts. And used as a basis for determination if further investigative action could be required. In this case, the review produced only a small number of returns that required additional analysis within the department of defense. But none that triggered any remedial action or further investigation by federal authorities, relative to the count current population. It should be noted, however, that the perpetrator of the attack and several of those associated with the perpetrator were not subject to this review because they were already subjects to the ongoing fbi investigation. And they were examined more thoroughly through that process. And as you may have been briefed, that resulted, ultimately, in the removal of 21 Saudi Arabian military officers from training in the u. S. For misconduct. However, not related to the december 6th attack. Moving onto the policy review, we found that the department of defense has been overly reliant on the vetting conducted by the department of state as part of their assessment of eligibility for the visa. And that there is insufficient information sharing in place between dod and the department of state in that process. We, also, found that dod programs, meant to detect and mitigate events such as the pensacola attack, did not cover International Military students. For instance, our insiderthreat programs. We learned that policies for International Military student possession of firearms varied at the installation level. And that, at the federal level, there are ways to bypass firearms restrictions for nonimmigrant visa holders. We are well underway to implement the six recommendations derived from 21 findings contained in the report. Additional screening and vetting measures are already in effect for all current and future International Military students. The secretary has issued new policies related to access credentials and the possession of privatelyowned firearms and ammunition for our International Military students. We will build on this with additional changes that reach across the entire student populations and foreign affiliate landscape within the department of defense. To implement these recommendations, i have established a vetting and security review improvement integration group, cochaired with general hoopers office and the Defense Security cooperation agency. We have four subordinate working groups going through each of these recommendations and findings in detail to implement the full set of proposals and ideas. Well be happy to provide you these details in the closed session. In closing, it is important to note that this work is not singularly focused on the tragic events that occurred at pensacola. Protecting our personnel at our military bases is a top priority for secretary esper. Across the department, we are actively reinforcing our Insider Threat programs, improving base security, and strengthening our counterintelligence posture. We are in the midst of the most significant reform process in decades. And improving our awareness of personal security threats. We appreciate all the congressional support we have received over the past several years to provide us the resources and authorities for the full range of dod security, counterintelligence, Law Enforcement, and Insider Threat programs. It is this ongoing work that enabled us to quickly adapt the International Military student vetting process. We will continue to modernize this enterprise for all trusted personnel that live, work, and do business on department of defense installations around the world. Thank you, again, for your interest in these matters and i look forward to your questions. Thank you you very much, mr. Reid. General hooper. Thank you. Thank you, madam chairwoman, Ranking Member peters, for convening this hearing today. And i acknowledge the presence of senator scott, ladies and gentlemen. The training and education of Foreign Military personnel in the United States is one of our most effective tools to strengthen alliances and attract new partners. As a foreign, i have worked with many who has shaped longstanding cooperation and partnership with the United States. While the value of these types of military training and Education Programs cannot be overstated, i want to know absolutely clear that nothing is more important than safeguarding american lives. The incident in pensacola was tragic and my heart remains with the families of those we lost and with the people of pensacola for the impact this event has had on their community. My colleague and i, today, will be sharing new procedures the u. S. Government has put into place to reduce risk and improve the training environment so that all u. S. Foreign military civilian personnel and their families remain safe, and have the opportunity to continue benefitting from our Foreign Military Training Programs. The training and education of Foreign Military personnel, alongside u. S. Forces, and specifically in the United States, is one of our most effective Security Cooperation tools. What makes the u. S. Approach to Security Cooperation different from that of our strategic competitors is that the basis of our approach isnt the sale of goods and services. But the enduring relationship that comes along with it. At the heart of any defense relationship is a human relationship. That is built and fostered through opportunities for u. S. And Foreign Military students to train alongside one another. One International Military students attend training and education in the United States, they are exposed to our values, our culture, and our people. These experiences serve as the Building Blocks for our longterm strategic and defense relationships. In addition to building lasting relationships, these Training Programs build the capacity of our allies and partners to provide for ntheir own defense and contribute to shared security challenges. Education and training in the United States is the foundational is foundational to building and enduring interoperability with our partners and allies. Since the year 2000, over 1 million International Military students have been trained in the United States. We have trained more than 28,000 saudi students over the life of our Security Cooperation relationship. It is worth noting that close to 4,000 heads of state, ministers of defense, chiefs of defense, and other general officers, received training by the United States. This delivers a lasting strategic return on our Security Cooperation investments. Recently, our own secretary of defense discussed his personal experience training alongside foreign partners. He attended west point with students from other countries. Trained at the Helenic Military Academy and trained alongside an officer from the african continent while he was on active duty. These experiences shaped his strong support for Foreign Military and Education Training programs and informed the departments response to the incident in pensacola. International military students can receive training and education in the United States under a variety of programs. The department of defense and the department of state, both, have authorities and appropriations to Fund Military training in the United States. Most of this training occurs at department of defense facilities and schools. The department of defense provides, and funds, International Military training and education under a variety of dod programs, such as section 333 global train and equip. The counter isil train and equip fund. The afghan Security Forces fund. The Regional Centers for security studies. And the Regional Defense for combatting terrorism and fellowship program, which we now refer to as the Regional Defense fellowship program. Now, has three main programs to Fund Training of militaries, for which department of defense is the main implementer. The International Military education and training or imet program. Which includes the global peace operations initiative. Department of state funding via the imet program is focused on the professionalization of partnering military forces. At every level of an individuals career, we seek to develop professional leaders with whom the United States can work and foster enduring relationships that enable collaboration over time. The department of state uses Foreign Military financing to Fund Training, which typically focuses on tactical or operational subjects. And is directly related to a procurement made through other programs. In addition, state funds training through peacekeeping operations account, which is almost exclusively conducted in partner nations and is primarily for peacekeeping, counterterrorism, maritime security, and military professionalization purposes in selected countries. The programs i have discussed thus far are programs that rely, primarily, on u. S. Grant assistance. However, many of our allies and partners use their own money to come to the United States for dodprovided training associated with procurement of defense articles and services under Foreign Military sales. Responsible for ensuring transfer of articles and services to ensure necessary training and education to assure effective operation and sustainment of these systems. Role in supporting military training executed pursuant to these authorities is to implement and administer these programs by providing policy guidance and support to the u. S. Government stakeholders who are part of the enterprise. These stakeholders include the geographical combatant commands and the Security Operations officers at embassies, the state departments Political Affairs bureau. The sea ranges from dod wide guidance for the execution of its Security Assistance and Security Cooperation programs. For example, while dsc is not directly in the screening or vetting of International Military students, the Agency Issues policy and procedural guidance that requires International Military students to receive security and medical screening in their home countries. However, due to this unique nature of individual nature of our bilateral relationships, each u. S. Ambassador determines the local security screening processes for their individual post. Meanwhile, any student who comes to the United States under one of these programs is also screened and vetted to determine their eligibility for a u. S. Visa. The visa application process includes screening against bio graphic and biometric databases, and at 37 posts worldwide, including those in saudi arabia, screening by an immigration and customs enforcement, homeland security, visa security unit. The sca, department of state, and the offices of the secretary of defense and policy. The military departments and our foreign partners are all critical to ensuring the success of our Foreign Military Training Programs. And we have been working hand in hand to update processes and policy guidance in response to the events in pensacola. In closing, i want to reiterate how invaluable Foreign Military Training Programs are to advancing our National Security objectives. International military students are here as student visitors to learn skills and professions but, also, to learn about our people, our culture, and our values. And this cannot be overstated. The human relationships forged between our respected military members promote longterm defense and strategic relationships, increase our interoperability, and enable partners to contribute to our shared security objectives over the longterm. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We will go ahead and start with our rounds of questions, and well get as many questions in as we can prior to breaking for the vote. So i will go ahead and start with a couple of questions about acquisition of weapons in the United States. And, mr. Reid and general hooper, thanks, again, for being here today to testify. This is an important topic. Id like to begin by talking about the ability of Foreign National military students to acquire weapons in the United States. According to the fbi, the pensacola shooter used a hunting license to legally purchase a 9 millimeter glock 45 pistol. Mr. Reid, can you discuss the ways in which Foreign Nationals, foreign students can obtain a weapon, either on or off a military base . Yeah. Thank you, madam chair. So as we mentioned, we would variances in our policies that did not, specifically, prescribe International Military students from obtaining, purchasing, handling firearms while they were enrolled in the training. And secretary esper has issued new guidance that makes that a clear prohibition, and it is a condition of them accepting the opportunity to train in the United States, going forward, that they will sign this acknowledgment statement that they are no longer, regardless of any state, local, federal laws, that they are prescribed by the secretary as a sponsor of that training. So we have put that in place. With regard to the the shooter in pensacola, as you noted and and and you have likely seen the same things i have a seen coming out of the fbi and atf, where in most states in this country, if you have a valid hunting license, theres no further requirement for any documentation. Which seems to go against other statutes that prescribe nonimmigrant visa holders from doing that. And im not an expert on either b one of these areas but we understand that to be the case. We are working with atf, right now, i believe from our department, we intend to put forward changes to legislation to close down what looks like a loophole there. I understand that atf is looking at it very similarly. All of this, of course, were talking about the legal purchase. But if you know a little bit about firearms, in general, purchasing from an individual is different from from a firearms dealer. And many of these restrictions that we just talked about, they vary when its just individualtoindividual sales. And then that doesnt even get into the nonlegal acquisition of firearms. So there are, clearly, many ways in this country to obtain a firearm. What we have taken action on, from the secretary, is to make it very clear to all of our military partners that any use of firearms, while theyre here in training, first of all, they are prescribed from the purchasing as we mentioned. We acknowledge, however, that there are many traditions on many of our bases for skeet shooting and other firearmsrelated sport activities. The secretary has granted the installation commanders the diskregdi discretion to approve those actions, should they comport with and be consistent with the training environment. And should there be no other reason for the commander to disapprove that, we have put that down in their hands to do that. Different from the acquisition of the weapon that we already talked about. So we havent completely prohibited any of them from ever handling a firearm. We have received concerns from many members in partner nations about some of these sport activities. And were open minded about how those possibilities may work in the future. But they will be at the discretion of the local commander, and with that awareness on a limited, by specificallyapproved basis. Yeah. Certainly, i dont believe that through School Activities or those sporting activities, you know, most of the training, it may require different different weapons to be handled. But certainly, that would be different than the acquisition of a weapon. So i will go ahead. My time is expiring. Id like to move on to Ranking Member peters for questions. And then well go on to the other members of the subcommittee. Thank you, madam chair. Mr. Reid, i just want to kind of drill down a little bit more on your answer on dealing with firearms. As to how its actually going to be enforced. Now, you you do testify that its very easy to get a firearm in the United States right now. And even when you have this prohibition, you know, how are you going to be working with state and local authorities to, actually, enforce it . My first question. The second part is that even legal purchases you mentioned person to person but under our background check laws, i think roughly 40 of weapons are sold without any kind of background check. If you do it online or if you go to gun shows. So how are you going to deal with those challenges . Thank you, senator peters. So were coming at it from a couple of angles on the again, working with atf and working within the enterprise that forms the National Crime system, there are pathways for us to create alerting functions within there for certain populations. Were exploring that with atf. But as you already mentioned, its not going to stop everything. Within our own department, we have put in place, additional programs and procedures going down at the installation level with our insiderthreat programs and training and educating the full student population on things that would be indicators of nefarious or undesirable behaviors. Including such as offbook firearms activity. So we have put some filters in place so our entire student body in our cadre are more attuned to recognizing where there may be indicators of this behavior. We are also general hoopers probably better to describe putti putting in additional measures with the host nation governments, particularly the saudi government, on training controls and supervision of the training population that will give us an additional layer of observation. So we can so were tackling it in that way and through the technical side, working within the legal framework. Let me pick up on that. Has saudi arabia made any commitments to respect to vetting their personnel before they actually are sent to the United States . I mean, if i heard your testimony correct, this this individual was posting things on social media prior to coming to the United States, is that accurate . Ill go to the first part. And and through the investigation, the fbi uncovered that the attacker had posted in the months a fewmonth time period preceding the attack, some jihadisttype rhetoric. Im not aware of any posting of by this person before they came here. And you want to address the government . Sir, as to the the first part of your question, the answer to your question is, yes, the saudis have agreed to do a number of things differently. And they have been very willing to work with the United States on improving their own internal vetting processes. This includes increased psychological and behavioral testing prior to nomination of to uncover potential ideological, social issues or anxieties. They are also providing their nominations with us to us ahead of time with greater lead time to allow our own u. S. Vetting sufficient time to operate. Finally, we will be asking the saudis to consider the individuals personal opinions or attitudes towards the u. S. Government, u. S. Officials, u. S. Policies, and western culture. And respect for persons of different race, gender, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, when screening them for training in the United States. So you mentioned that, right now, the focus is is screening all current saudi personnel in the United States. And that, eventually, itll go to the entire population. How are you prioritizing that . Senator, weve about twothirds of the way through the 5,000, roughly, population currently in the country. We are prioritizing on basis of our terrorism height threat categorization that comes out of the director for national intelligence. Of our highthreat terrorism correlating that with our student populations and working that as a priority scheme. And then you engage in continuous monitoring, if you could walk me through how you plan to continuously monitor these 5,000 individuals. From the technical point of view, the database search functions, that ive already described, we have the ability to query and to set alerts for within those datasets, much like we do for our own continuous vetting population for our own National Security populations. We are, additionally, pursuing and working through a pilot right now on a social Media Monitoring and alerting function through commercial vendors. Weve weve had a lot of people offer that to us, and ill tell you, frankly, when we put to the test and try to do it on scale, sometimes dissatisfied with the fidelity of the resulting results. And of course anytime we talk about social media, you have a host of issues with the credibility of that information. But we are pursuing that, at the direction of the secretary, to be more proactively monitoring on the social media front. Some of the databases we are already monitoring derive from some social media sources but its not comprehensive. So we are pursuing that. And then the third means of monitoring is a nontechnical means that i already described, senator, which would be through our Insider Threat awareness programs that exist at the installation. Thank you. Very good. Senator scott. Thank you, senator ernst, for holding this hearing. And thank each of you for being here. This happened in my home state. And one thing that has surprised me is why dont people call this terrorism . I mean, its like nobody wants to use the word terrorism. They clearly this was this was somebody that posted jihadist information and, clearly, was antiamerica. And but its people want to talk about this being an incident or Something Like that. And its i mean, i dont know how anybody could think its it wasnt terrorism. Why why is there a reluctance to call this terrorism . Speak for myself, senator, but also for the department, we fully recognize the conclusions of the attorney general that this was an act of terrorism. I know, within the department of the navy and the the honors and recognitions they bestowed upon the three fallen sailors, recognize that they fell at the handles of a terrorist attack. I i dont i havent experienced any pushback on our side. And if i referred to it differently, it was in no way to downplay the fact i spent 28 years in operations fighting terrorism so i am very sensitive to that. Thank you. General, do you i mean, general does the department feel like if you call it terrorism, it hurts what were trying to do . Sir, i concur with my colleague that its been unequivocally defined as an act of terrorism. So so what everybody talks about is the how this this having the training here helps build longterm relationships and all that. And it sounds really good. The my concern, though, is when you talk to people that have been part of this, there is a lot of countries that participate. And theyll say that theres countries where, yeah, we have longterm relationships after the fact because we trained together. But i not, to date, found one person that has said they had a longterm relationship with saudi nationals that they trained with. And i think all of us know the importance of our relationship with saudi arabia. Its an ally. Somebody that we rely on to work with in the middle east. But is there i mean i mean, should we look at countries differently . Because because if you look if you listen to your testimony, especially yours, general, you talk a lot about the importance of this relationship. And i thats what i hear that. But i never hear that about saudi arabia. So are there countries that we ought to say that maybe we shouldnt be doing this . Or theres Something Different that we ought to be doing. We should do more of it in their home country. Things like that . Sir, in answer to your question, the defense from saudi arabia and i have had multiple discussions about this perception of saudi students at pensacola and at other training installations. He has expressed his concern over this. And he has come to us with solutions on how the saudis intend to address this, and then ill discuss how we intend to address this issue. Among the steps that the saudis have committed to are increase cultural and Awareness Training before their students begin training in the United States. To increase their security religious ideological awareness and u. S. Personnel will deliver part of this training. Second, well be distributing a code of conduct and they will be distributing a code of conduct detailing what the kingdom leadership expects of their students while in the United States. Third, there will be increased supervision of saudi students by both local Liaison Officers and more personal engagement and oversight by the Saudi Defense atache. We are working with the saudis to ensure their Liaison Officers are sufficiently senior in rank to ensure their effectiveness and authority in this role. And i can tell you personally in consultation with the navy, i have conveyed to the saudi leadership that we will not accept anything less than a colonel at pens kacola. A saudi colonel to be the Liaison Officer at pensacola. In addition, department of state has reviewed existing standards of conduct for International Students. To further inform their vetting. Beyond just these dos and donts, this explanation of department of defense expectations emphasizes the importance of attitudes, to your point, sir, toward the United States and respect for persons of all background. In addition, the department is reviewing our Sponsorship Program to determine how to increase saudi participation. These programs will further promote cultural awareness and strengthen relationships among saudi, u. S. , and other International Military students. So these are unique steps that we are taking with respect to this perception that you have articulated about saudi students. Okay. I know my times up. Ill ask. Well have other time later. Yes. We will have additional time. The vote has been called. So this will be a a natural breaking point. So well go ahead and transitio transition. Senator scott and i will go vote. Senator peters has already moved that direction. So well reconvene as soon as i return. And well start on the closed portion of the hearing. Thank you. Sunday on afterwards, former deputy National Security advisor Katy Mcfarland gives insight into the nations political process and the trump administration. In her latest book revolution, trump, washington, and we the people. We are a demographic company. Demographically, geographically, socially, economically. We are constantly reinventing ourselves not just as individuals but as a nation. And government, by its very nature, is sort of stuck. Its a status quo institution. As this is how weve always done things. Were going to always do this were going to do things the same way again and its people then get stuck and it is the status quo. So americas set up to have these revolutions. Political revolutions. We had one in the very beginning in the american revolution. But ever since then, weve mostly had the revolutions that play out in the ballot box and i think thats what we are in the middle of now. Watch Katy Mcfarland sunday night at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on afterwards on book tv. Follow the federal response to the coronavirus at cspan. Org coronavirus. You can find white house briefings, hearings with Key Public Health officials, and interviews with Public Health specialists
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