afghanistan can never be used as a base for terrorist groups to conduct operations against the united states and allies. we must remain vigilant. to that end, i would ask that you update the committee on your plans for over the horizon counterterrorism operations. the united states faces new and evolving threats around the world. to overcome them we must understand what went wrong to our mission in afghanistan, and learn from those missteps. we owe it to the american people. i want to thank you again for being here this morning. and like forward to your testimony. now before i turn to the ranking member for the benefit of my colleagues, because we have two rounds of open testimony and a closed session following, i will strictly enforce the five minute limit allowed for each member. ien intend to recess at 1:00 p. and resume at 1:30 p.m. i will remind my colleagues