Up next, the Homeland Security secretary and f. B. I. Testify about national threats. Froms followed by remarks Federal Reserve chair on monetary policy. Coming up on the next washington journal, discussestive kaptur the training to fight isis. Rohrbacher. N then Indiana University president. Washington journal is live morning at 7 00 eastern on cspan. And you can join the facebook andon twitter. President ng ukrainian speaks a session of congress. Liveou see his remarks from the floor of the house starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan. Cspan cities tour takes book tv and American History tv on the road, traveling to u. S. To learn about their history and literary life. This weekend we partnered with for a visit to st. Paul, minnesota. St. Paul in the 1930s, i it las vegas, but it was a very lively city. Because the gangsters brought their gun molls. During prohibition you had the theest jazz artists of decades here in st. Paul. So it was a very, very lively place, partially because the gangsters were welcome here. Virtually every major gangster, kidnapper and bank robber in within lived and worked a threeblock radius of where were standing today. Dillinger, baby face nelson, alvin creepy carpas, all were here. People don know that. Theres no statues of these gangsters, but this was the in theer of 1930s crime era of john dillinger. The f. B. I. With Jay Edgar Hoover had this building as their headquarters. Also the building where all of those bootleggers and bank robbers were tried and to alcatraz, leavenworth prison, and other prisons across america. Where it began, and where it ended. At historicng here fort snelling, looking over the junction of the minnesota and rivers. Issippi st. Paul is located up the Mississippi River from fort snelling. Here before the city was. The fort is intimately connected st. Paul. Ation of in the 1830s, there were groups of settlers that were living on the militarys property. Finally the army had had enough forompeting with them resources and they felt that they should be removed officially from the military property. Settlers then move across the river to the other side and formed what became the nucleus of the city of st. Paul. When you think about the history this region, you think beyond snelling, andort thats what we try to do here is push people to think more about all theseit mean when cultures came together. What perspectives do they have events. These watch all of our event from st. Paul saturday at noon tvtern on cspan 2s book and sunday afternoon at 2 00 on American History tv on cspan 3. Hearing on the threats faced by toughs from isis and other groups. T securityere homeland secretary jeh johnson, fib comey and counterthe Terrorism Center directer matthew olsen. Half hours. And a this is two and a half hours. The committee on Homeland Security will come to order. The committee is meeting to examine worldwide threats to the security of the homeland. Before we begin today, i would like to remind our guests that demonstrations from the audience, including the use of signs and placards, as was verbal outbursts, or a violation of the rules of the house trade i would like to thank our guests for their cooperation and a quorum. I now recognize myself of the opening statement. Secretary johnson, director olson, we have asked you to come before the committee to discuss the array of threats facing the u. S. Homeland. The chief concern of ours is the proliferation of terrorist safe havens around the world. The 9 11 commissions number one recommendation was to use all elements of National Power to deny sanctuary to terrorist groups. Have seen safe havens spread with alarming speed. Such territory makes it far easier for terrorist groups to train recruits and hatch plots. , nong this administration lesson three extremist sanctuaries have emerged or expanded in syria, iraq, and libya. As thehanistan administration goes forward with the plans to withdraw our troops , we might see terrorists reclaiming the territory from which they planned 9 11. Our obvious and most immediate concern is the Islamic State of iraq and syria, or ices. I agree with the president that this group does not represent a legitimate state. Butchersher a cabal of committing a violent and perverted brand of islam. It should never have been taken have taken the beheading of two americans for our government to wake up the American People to this menace. Months known for many that isis was surging and represented one of the top rest of the United States. The white house did it without taking action and the president play down the danger. Despite recent United States strikes against the group, isis still holds thousands of square miles of territory where they are able to operate their terrorist army. We seen estimates that indicate that they may have up to 30,000 fighters. 2000 fighters or so are americans and europeans. These radicalized westerners represent an exceptionally grave threat to the u. S. Am slammed homeland because of their training comics in his connections, ease of travel, and the west. Nowledge of today we expect to hear about the Administration Strategy to detect, deter, and disrupt these foreign fighters. Clear, our nation is at war with this group. The twisted ideology it is seeking to express. We must consider all instruments of National Power to roll back and defeat them now. Not take the fight to the enemy overseas, we risk fighting them here at home. Military efforts much must include airstrikes in syria. Top military advisor to the president , including the chairman of the joint chiefs, general martin dempsey, have it safedebate isis haven in syria must be destroyed. I agree with them. I hope the president is taking the advice of his top commanders and generals in the pentagon. Isis is not the only threat we face. I hope we hear today how your agencies are working together to address the wider danger from violent islamic extremism here at home and abroad. The white house has presented a false narrative in recent years about the threat. They claim that al qaeda was on its heels, on the path the defeat. In reality, Al Qaeda Networks have grown and materialized into a deadly global franchise with a spider web of affiliates and ideologically similar groups attempting to build the power vacuums across the middle east, africa, and southeast asia. The ideological struggle against violent, islamic extremists is taking place not just overseas, but also here at home. Than 70ve been more homegrown violent jihadist plots or attacks in the United States ands 9 11. According to the Congressional Research group service. More than two thirds of them have been uncovered or have taken place in the past five years. Many of the suspects were islamistsd by online propaganda, including the Boston Marathon bombings and the fort hood attacker. These are the tools that isis excels at utilizing. Federal authorities indicted just yesterday a u. S. Citizen money,chester for rising recruiting, and for zoning training for ices. While the United States continues to battle threats posed by terrorist organizations, we must also be vigilant to protect the homeland against asymmetric threats like cyberattacks from states and nonstate actors. President obama recently noted that the cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and National Security challenges we face as a nation. That, many experts believe the nation is woefully unprepared to protect itself in this domain. In a recent report from the Bipartisan Policy Center 9 11 commissioners, describing Cyber Preparedness as preseptember 11 levels. Last month, the defense secretary hagel said the world is exploding all over. I agree with him. We afford to the testimony today surveying the Threat Landscape and elaborating on how we are countering those set against us and our interests. Before i turn it over to the Ranking Member, i would like to note that this is his first time as the fbi director that the fbi director has appeared before this committee. Sir, we have adjacent presence here today. That the members be cordial to him so that we could have his return appearance before the committee. Additionally, this is likely one of the last congressional appearances for matt olson. He has announced his retirement. We thank you for your service over the years, 25 years of service to the government. We appreciate you being here and everything you have done to protect americans here in the homeland. It has been a real honor to work with you. Secretary johnson, you have been on the job for nine months. I appreciate your good work and outstanding relationships we have built over those years months that you have taken office look forward to having you appear before this committee again. Thank you for your i was in new york yesterday and secretary johnson was leading the governors of new york and new jersey, the fbi, the cvt, Homeland Security officials in such a professional manner. It was really refreshing to see that kind of leadership coming from our department on a very serious topic. Thank you for your leadership, sir. With that, the chair recognizes the Ranking Member. Thank you. Holding this very important hearing. We are fortunate to have an exceptionally accomplished and knowledgeable panel of witnesses to discuss the current threat. Secretary johnson, welcome back. Offered useful informative testimony, and expected date to be in a different. A great pleasure to have the bureau could just make in todays discussion. As the chairman has said, this is the fbis Maiden Voyage before this committee. We look forward to your testimony. I hope that it will not be your last. We will work on that. Olson, your years of service , the chairman has artie spoken to, thank you for all your contributions you have made. M certain the fraser future is still very bright for you. Thank you very much. I wish you the best. Mr. Chairman, 13 years ago this week, just days after the horrific september 11 said terrorist attack, george w. Bush addressed the commerce in the nation. In his address, president bush stated that our work on terror begins with al qaeda and it will not in and tell every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated. 13 years later, theres been some success out of digger against core al qaeda, but not all terrorists groups have been found, stopped, and if needed. Those who were in the audience when president bush delivered his address could not have predicted how this terrorist threat would evolve. At this time, congress was completely focused on preventing another largescale attack on u. S. Soil. In 2001, we understood updated to be a centralized organization. Little thought was given to the prospect that al qaeda would franchise terrorism and inspire satellite groups. The prospect that an attack would be carried out by a loan will actor lone wolf actor. It was barely in the discussion. We were focused on those groups taking human lives. We did not predict that in the decade after september 11 state actors or terrorist groups would andto devastate our economy still viable intellectual property by targeting our cyber infrastructure. Finally, we could not have imagined that on the eve of the 13th anniversary of 9 11, another american president would become before the American People to make a case for defeating and destroying a terrorist organization. Indeed, the threat from the Islamic State of iraq and syria is legitimate and warrants attention. That said, the situation on the ground in syria is fluid and complex. Defeating and destroying i saw isis is a no easy task. I cannot express enough the need for vigilance and care, particularly issues where we decide to partner with try andals on syria to beat ices. In addition, we need to remain vigilant and improve our preparedness and resilience at home. Last months arrest of don morgan illustrates my longstanding there that we must reject specific at the religious profiles of wouldbe terrorists. Violent extremism has the race, ethnicity and religion, or culture, and there is no single profile or pathway for individuals who, to embrace violent extremism. Since september 11, state and local Law Enforcement have received Grant Funding from the federal government to prepare and prevent terrorist activities. We saw the value of this grant ding after the bombing of at last years Boston Marathon. As the police were protective gear and stabilized the situation. More recently, there was an example of what i believe to be an improper use of federal equipment and ferguson, missouri. Better oversight and tighter those resources are used by state and local partners is one area that needs to be improved. Another area that is a perennial challenge to information sharing with state and local Law Enforcement, even with Fusion Centers and joint terrorist acts forces, especially after september 11, we see that information sharing can be improved, given threats from ices, al qaeda, and lone wolf actors. The 13 years of september 11 since september 11 has showed us that we cannot have a myopic view of terrorist threats. It is my hope that today we engage in a productive dialogue about the variety of threats to our nation. Thank you. I yield back. I think the Ranking Member. Opening statements may be cemented for the record. We are pleased to have here a distinct panel of witnesses before us. ,irst, secretary jeh johnson sworn in december 23, 2013. Secretary of the department of Homeland Security. Secretary johnson served as general counsel, where he was part of the Senior Management team and lead more than 10,000 military and civilian thought that lawyers. He also oversaw the development of legal access for many of our nations Counter Terrorism policies and spearheaded reforms to military commissions at what tom abate in 2009. At Guantanamo Bay in 2009. James cohn became the seventh director of the federal bureau of investigation in september of 2013. It has a long history of service to the department. It includes holding positions as both the assistant u. S. Attorney and u. S. Attorney to the district of new york and assistant u. S. Attorney to the Eastern District of virginia when he was conducting project exile. I want to thank you for your efforts on that. A Deputy Attorney general at the justice department. Prior to his appointment, he held senior positions at Lockheed Martin and bridgewater associates. Again, thank you for being here. Last but not least, this is his last appearance before this committee, but im sure we will hear from him more times after this. Director Matthew Olson has served as director of the national counterTerrorism Center since august of 2011. As a to joining, he served general counsel for the National Security agency, where he was the chief legal officer for nsa, and the present Legal Advisor to the nsa director. He has a long record of service that includes time spent at the fbi with the department of justice and at the Guantanamo Review Task force. Again, we thank you for your service come as her. The full written statements of these witnesses will appear in the record. The chair now recognizes the secretary of Homeland Security for his opening statement. Thank you, chairman. Ranking member thompson. The committee has my prepared opening days of opening statement. I will not read it. , i will moments here mention a couple of things good one, thank you for this holding this hearing. It is important. Of publicst the type opportunity from congressional oversight of our counterterrorism efforts that i welcome. This will not be my last appearance here. It is not my first. I want to say thank you to my friends and colleagues to my left and right for joining me. The director and i have known each other for 25 years when we weres assistant u. S. Attorneys together. 19 88 and 1998 1989 did i have known him a very long time. Mr. Olson ive known for six years now, going back to late 2008, early 2009. I hired matt to be general counsel of nsa, along with general alexander, we hired him to be general counsel of nsa could he did a terrific job there. He has been a terrific colleague in the National Security counterterrorism world. I and others will miss him very much. Clarity ofs his delivery, interns of his intelligence assessments. I mention my personal relationships with these two gentlemen to highlight the fact that Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, and the Intelligence Community have a very good working relationship in dealing with counterterrorism matters. We are committed to working together on these issues. We are committed to information sharing. Are we committed to a collegiality. We encourage that among our staff. Director and i met with other members of the Nationa