Chair rogers the chair recognizes the Ranking Member of the committee, miss delauro. Ms. Delauro delighted you are here this morning. What i wanted to look at is the issue of crime, if you will, and trade. D. O. J. Plays a Critical Role in deterring crime through robust investigations, prosecutions, incarcerations, and the application of penalties. My concern about d. O. J. That there may be some serious blind spots. Lack of resources in critical areas. Particular, the u. S. International trade enforcement. Example, 2022, u. S. Imports were 3. 27 trillion. Conservative estimates based on available data from Economic Policy institute projected 5 to 10 of those imports were fraudulent. This means that there is annually 163 of the 327 billion in illegal trade which impacts u. S. Workers, manufacturers, consumers, and our free trade partners. I understand d. O. J. s infrastructure to combat trade crimes is lightly resourced. 2022 u. S. Customs and Border Protection collected 19. 4 million in penalties on 3. 27 trillion in trade. That seems to me to be a drop in the bucket. I understand that International Trade prosecutions are also low to nonexistent. A couple questions. Can you give us a sense of d. O. J. Resources you are using to prosecute these bad actors associated with crimes that violate trade laws . How do you work with c. B. P. And hsi to increase the number of prosecutions . Would you say based on d. H. S. Enforcement data that combating International Trade crime is a priority within d. O. J. Why or why not . How familiar are you with d. O. J. s efforts and resources dedicated to investigating and prosecuting International Trade crimes . Whats your assessment of the departments actions . Including the number of prosecutions and penalties . Thank you. Atty. Gen. Garland you put your finger on an important risk to our economy, which is fraudulent trade goods. Thats why we have a trade Fraud Task Force which enhances collaboration between the Justice Department and the other agencies that you were discussing to investigate trade fraud. It helped initiate more than 70 investigations involving hundreds of millions of dollars of fraudulently imported goods. One good example is just last month the Ford Motor Company agreed to pay 365 million to settle customs civil penalty claims related to misclassified and undervalued items. I recognize the significance of this for our economy. I believe our Justice Department task force is working well with other departments on this matter. Including the department of Homeland Security. Ms. Delauro do you have enough personnel to take on this issue and resources in a moreau bust more robust way . As i said, 3. 27 trillion, we collect 19. 4 million. That seems to be some great disparity. Im asking, what do you need from us to be able to deal with this area on International Trade . Where we are getting killed. Atty. Gen. Garland Justice Department always likes more money. Ms. Delauro i understand that. But i need an assessment. Atty. Gen. Garland i think the money we are asking for our civil divisions, Consumer Protection branch, which deals with this kind of fraud, our criminal divisions fraud section which deals with this on the criminal side, and the u. S. Attorneys offices that deal with this in each of the 94 districts, and the f. B. I. s corporate crime and fraud sections. Given the budget priorities, i think we are asking for the appropriate amount. There is obviously always tradeoffs. But we are, i think, able to fund a robust program. The most difficult aspect of this is identifying the fraudulent goods as they come in. That is a customs and Homeland Security issue. They, im sure, would say the same to you that they need more money for this purpose. Ms. Delauro id like to pursue that. Ill Say Something very quickly. I am running out of time. As you know antitrust this is antitrust division received roughly a 4 increase in 2024. Over the prior year. I want to ensure that we can continue to justify these critical investments, protect consumers from unfair and anticompetitive business practices. Do i have your commitment that we can Work Together . I would like to work with you with my staff on answering questions that we have on what resources the antitrust division, and frankly, this could apply to all of d. O. J. , that you will need for 2025. Atty. Gen. Garland yes, of course. We are very eager to speak with you about that. The total we have requested is 288 million. Which is an increase of 55 million over the fy 2024. I will say i have always been concerned about this. I entered the Justice Department in 1979. And we barely have more attorneys in the antitrust division now than we had in 1979. I think this is the first year we have been able to bring the number up to the number of attorneys we had when i first entered the department. Ms. Delauro we would like to work with you on how well we can track the resources that are necessary for you to be able to do your job. And as a final comment, very interested last night listening to the ftc commissioner. About the working together with doj because we have serious issues which affect consolidation which raises prices in this nation. And makes anticompetitiveness a reality. How between the d. O. J. And f. T. C. We can address these issues in a very robust way to get at ending these monopolies, if you will, that only increase prices for the american people. Thank you very much. I yield back. Chair rogers chairman aderholt. Mr. Aderholt thank you. General garland, good to have you here. Thanks for your time. I want to focus on something i dont think we have had any questions on so far and that is on the bureau of prisons. I understand according to the bureau of prison website there are less than 35,000 employees to ensure the security of all the federal prisons and services that include 156,000 federal inmates. What steps is the bureau of prison taking to address gaps in correctional officer and training and leader training . And is there a reason that the bureau of prisons correction al leaders have not participated in the prison fellowship Warden Exchange which is offered without cost to the federal government . Atty. Gen. Garland i am sure i dont know about the latter question that you asked. I would be happy to have our staff look into it on the warden training and get in touch with you. The pandemic delayed the bureau of prisons ability to provide inperson training, but b. O. P. Has since resumed many inperson trainings and is trying to clear the backlog in that respect. You are right with respect to the number of employees we have in the bureau of prisons. Its really not sufficient. Its not sufficient either for the necessary protection, the or for the Educational Programs that we have. As i discussed earlier with another member of the panel, the problem here is recruitment retention, and promotion. The best, i think, the most important thing that the committee can do is to give us the money that we are asking for hiring and retention incentives. Mr. Aderholt do you know of any law or regulation that prevents or limits the bureau of prisons from accepting donations or services or programs from a nonprofit as long as they dont accept federal funds . Atty. Gen. Garland im afraid i dont know about that. But i would be happy to have our staff look into that and get that cover your staff. Get that to your staff. Mr. Aderholt if you could look at it and see if there is examples where community or faithbased programs could be helpful. My understanding is as long as they dont receive federal funds, then there are programs out there to be of assistance. And i would appreciate you to look into that and let me know if that was something that might be possible. Because i think it could be helpful. Back on october 7 of last year, we all know what happened. Along with the attack on israel , there were 30 americans that were killed by Hamas Terrorists in israel. As part of a larger coordinated attack that left 1,200 israelis dead and over 200 abducted. It is my understanding that eight americans remain hostage in gaza. I understand three of whom are no longer alive. But you announced that the Justice Department was investigating the death and kidnappings of the americans during the attack. Can you give us here on the subcommittee an update on the investigation into the death and kidnapping of those americans . Is the Justice Department looking to pursue criminal charges against individuals responsible for those attacks . Atty. Gen. Garland the killing or kidnapping of americans abroad is a federal crime. So of course that is what we are investigating, as i said, for potential criminal prosecution. We have been involved in discussions with israeli Law Enforcement and Intelligence Services to help us get evidence and information in this regard. I really cant say anything more about the progress of the investigation. But this is a matter of extreme concern for us. This was in addition to the killing of americans, this is the largest mass killing of jews since the holocaust. Mr. Aderholt can you say that the department is pursuing criminal charges against these individuals . Atty. Gen. Garland we are investigating. We have a criminal investigation in connection with the deaths and kidnapping of americans in israel on october 7. Mr. Aderholt can you speak more broadly to the departments work in investigating hamas threats to the u. S. Including efforts by hamas to raise money in the u. S. . Atty. Gen. Garland yes. Just at a high level of generality because i dont want to talk about matters i cant talk about in an open session. But we do have investigations, financial investigations with respect to hamas which we have had for a number of years. October 7 as the f. B. I. Director noted in his testimony, has raised our threat level considerably with respect to concerns of foreign terrorist organizations like hamas. That might foment problems in the United States. That includes not only hamas, but hezbollah, the iranian quds force, isis, isisk. Various sects, branches of al qaeda. We are concerned and are making sure all of our joint Terrorism Task forces are on the lookout for these matters since october 7. There was a heightened concern before october 7, but obviously october 7 has only redoubled our concern here. Mr. Aderholt i yield back. Chair rogers mr. Ruppersberger. Mr. Ruppersberger thank you, mr. Chairman. Ranking member. Attorney general garland, first thing i want to say i think youre doing a good job. I wouldnt say its always an a , as you said, but you are close. I like your experience in the justice as a jurist. You excelled there. And now as running the f. B. I. I feel secure at this point that you are the best person for that job. With that, im going to get into china and cybersecurity. In the Chinese Communist party , there is an army of hackers that persistently attack the United States. They stay dormant and keep access to our networks and critical infrastructure. The Chinese Communist party uses these hackers to steal economic information and intellectual property. We also know that the Chinese Party has been working to steal and smuggle banned u. S. Tech from our shores into mainland china. They are our biggest threat and adversary. This past march, the unsealed indictment of the a. P. T. 31 group, which you are familiar with, revealed a 14year Cyber Campaign for intimate dissenters to steal u. S. Trade, and intellectual property to damage Critical Networks and spy on u. S. Politicians. Thats 14 years. Now, a recent intelligence advisory stated that these hackers known as volt typhoon have been dormant for five years waiting just in case we are in a larger conflict with china. Chain is a real threat. Can you enlighten us as to the best tools we have to fight chinese hackers . What other resources do you need, and did our fy 2024 budget put the department in too deep of a security hole . Atty. Gen. Garland first of all , i completely agree with your characterization of the chinese threat. The peoples republic of china, the communist party, the government of china represents a longterm persistent acrosstheboard threat to america. In particular, in the area of cybersecurity you are talking about. The two major actions you are talking about just from this year, the january volt typhoon disruption. This was a botnet implanting malware into our infrastructure. Various significant parts of our delivery of public services. Which, if activated could have been very dangerous for us. The march a. P. T. Indictments involve the hacking of computers and emails. Those are just two examples of a considerable amount of cyber hacking. We have asked for more than 1. 3 billion to combat cybercrime and for cybersecurity. The f. B. I. , the National Security division asked for 894. 6 million, which is an increase of 19 over f. Y. 2024. 11. 9 over fy 24. As you know, fy 2 the fy 24 budget has required us to reduce positions substantially, and we are in a position of trying to get us back to where we were before that. But this is an area where we are doubling down and are very much concerned. Mr. Ruppersberger thank you. Now i want to get to the key bridge. A quick question. I know the f. B. I. Has been on site at the bridge. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered about what happened, like did the captain and crew of the dali know there were power issues before the ship ever left. A criminal investigation is usually opened when authorities have reason to believe may have caused an accident to rise to the level of criminality. We need to make sure we hold people accountable. Attorney general, is there anything you can share about the investigation . Atty. Gen. Garland as you know, kurtzman, the justice as you know, congressman, the Justice Department doesnt normally comment on whether its investigations exist or no. Plenty of people saw f. B. I. Agents onboard the ship. So the f. B. I. Has confirmed that its agents were on the ship. I cant say anything more. Mr. Ruppersberger i yield back. Chair rogers mr. Ellzey. Mr. Ellzey thank you, mr. Chairman. General garland, welcome back. I appreciate the work the d. O. J. Does going after legitimate criminals and protecting american citizens from foreign adversaries, especially the cops program, which is very important in my rural district as we discussed a year ago. Today i would like to talk about the foreign agents registration act. I bring up fera in context of shenanigans going on in texas. There is a proposed high speed rail project connecting dallas to houston. About a decade ago, a private Company CalledTexas Central starting pushing a proposed highspeed rail project between houston and dallas and they have been engaged at the federal, state, and local level in lobbying in that effort. I am vehemently opposed to this project that would cut up highly arable land in my district and rid people of their wellearned land. And their private property. There is a long list of controversies surrounding Texas Central from funding and finance, imminent domain, lack of transparency dismissing , every officer and board member, now they appear to be merely a company on paper with no board of directors. As an aside, Texas Central has zero experience building any transportation company. There are few entities connected to Texas Central and another Company Called new magellan ventures that is pushing the project. Since the beginning of the project, sovereign wealth funds of the japanese government are financially backing that highspeed rail proposal. A very concerning resent action was amtraks partnering with Texas Central in applying for a n fy 24 corridor grant and and a 5,000 grant was approved. April 9 a news article published in a letter dated april 5 addressed to you signed by Steve Roberts from a law firm. It states that mr. Roberts was hired by texans against high speed rail and wrote it on the half of texas against high speed rail. Mr. Chairman, i have that letter and i ask unanimous consent that this article and letter be introduced into the record. I will read part of the letter to you that captures the concerns i have. Texas central appears to have acted and may still act as an agent of the japanese government with regard to numerous Political Activities intended to influence both lawmakers and the public within the United States with reference to formulating, adopting, or changing the domestic policies of the United States. Yet neither new magellan ventures nor any of the Texas Central entities have ever registered with department of justice of the foreign agents registration act of 1978. 1938. With that laid out for you, i have two questions. Do you agree it would be concerning a private company or principals of a private company over the course of a decade failed to register as foreign agents if the facts are clear they were legally required to . Atty. Gen. Garland you put me in that exact box the answer has to be yes. I dont know anything about this matter at all. Obviously, if someone is required to registered under f. E. R. A. , we would be concerned. Mr. El