Drill further down into the deficiencies that have been revealed in the secret Services Policies and procedures, as well as any deficiencies with the physical security at the white house. In particular, i am interested in discussing how the service intends to improve security at the white house when, as was true on september 19th, the president or other protectees, are not present. A month after Omar Gonzalez was able to enter the white house, another fence jumper was quickly apprehended by secret service officers, including the k9 unit. It is my hope that this incident shows that the service has already implement reforms. However, the gonzalez fence jumper is just one of many events in the past few years that call into question whether the u. S. Secret service is doing all it can to fulfill its mission and prevent mistakes. Others include the colombian prostitution scandal. The recent ability of a Security Guard with a criminal history to take a service webben into an elevator with the president. And the incident in the netherlands dealing with intoxicated secret Service Agents. Given the vital role the secret service plays in the security of the president and the white house, it is critical that Congress Investigate the Services Response to recent incidents and work with the service to make sure it fulfills its critical mission. This hearing is intended to do just that. And since the Ranking Member has not yet arrived, we will go ahead, and swear in our only witness and again welcome him. Acting director, clancy, if you would raise your right hand and repeat after me. Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Thank you very much. Let the record reflect that the acting director responded in the affirmative. And we welcome him. Joseph p. Clancy was designated as the acting director of the United States secret service on october 1, 2014, by secretary of Homeland Security jey johnson. Prior to accepting the position of acting director mr. Clancy served as executive director of cable security at comcast corporation. A 27year veteran of the secret service, mr. Clancys career there began in 1984, in the philadelphia field office. Mr. Clancy was appointed special agent in charge of the president ial protective division on february 1, 2009. Mr. Clancy held this position until his retirement from the secret service on june 30, 2011. Mr. Clancy attended the United States military academy at west point, and is a graduate of villanova, university, with a bachelor of arts in political science, and criminal justice. Prior to joining the secret service, mr. Clancy worked as a high school teacher, and footba the philadelphia archdiocese. Mr. Clancy, we appreciate your presence here today and we look forward to your testimony. Your written statement will be entered into the record in its entirety, and we ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes or less. To help you stay within that, theres a timing light on your table. So welcome, mr. Clancy. Thank you mr. Chairman. Chairman goodlatte, Ranking Member conyers and distinguished members of the committee. Let me begin by recognizing the tremendous support this committee has given the secret service over many years, and acknowledge your staff both past and present to work with us on issues as varied as protection of former president s, to cyber crime targeting our nations banks and financial institutions. 44 days ago, i embarked on the greatest endeavor of my professional life. The privilege of leading the dedicated and selfsacrificing employees of the secret service through a challenging time in the agencys storied history. While returning to Public Service after beginning a second career in the private sector was not an easy decision, the call to restore Operational Excellence to the secret service was too urgent to ignore. I did not come here today expecting this hearing to be easy but it is my hope that the next several hours will yield productive discussions about the state of the secret service. Without question, the agency has been severely damaged in present years by failures ranging from disgraceful misconduct on the part of some employees, to operational breakdowns that undermine the trust and confidence that previous generations worked so hard to establish. One of those operational breakdowns was the white house incursion on september 19th of this year. I understand the committee was briefed last week on the departments review of the incident. I read the report. I found the findings devastating. What hits the hardest is the range of shortcomings that ultimately allowed Omar Gonzalez to enter the white house practically unencumbered. Although i firmly brief the secret service is better than this incident i openly acknowledge that a failure of this magnitude, especially in light of other recent incidents, requires immediate action and longerterm reform. The Department Found that the level of training for uniform Division Officers likely contributed to gonzalezs ability to breach the white house interior. And document there was confusion regarding the various roles and responsibilities during a fence jumping incident. To address this issue, i will continue to oversee the integrated training for white house uniform Division Officers, and tactical teams that was initiated after the september 19th incident. This training involves dynamic scenario based exercises simulating breaches of the white house grounds, my goal is to ensure that 100 of all White House Branch officers receive this training by the end of the calendar year. If someone does attempt to scale the white house fence i want to ensure they are met with immediate and forceful resistance. But i also view the fence itself as a needed deterrent for wouldbe jumpers. The secret service has long held that prevention is the linchpin of Effective Security plans which is why we are currently working with our partners in the National Park service to look at potential changes that would assist in the detection and delay of any person attempting to scale the white house fence. Special agent and uniform Division Staffing levels have direct impact on the secret Services Ability to conduct regular inservice training. Thanks to additional funding provided by congress, in fiscal year 2014 the secret service was able to hire a total of 238 new Law Enforcement positions, more than tripling the number of hired over the previous two years combined. This fiscal year we hope to surpass that number and continue our work to achieve Staffing Levels that are commensurate with mission requirements. However, i recognize that staffing challenges are not remedied overnight. As it stands now the recruiting and onboard process takes approximately 12 months. With an additional 7 months of training for new agents and officers. While staffing concerns within the agency will take some time to resolve, i have taken immediate steps to improve the flow and quality of communication at all levels within the agency. An integral part of why i agreed to serve as acting director were troubling reports that some employees saw no option but to take their concerns to people outside the secret service. Rather than trusting their supervisors, and the agencys leadership, to confront difficult issues headon. That is unsustainable in any organization. While i have the utmost respect for the employees right to report incidents of waste, fraud, and abuse in a confidential manner without fear of reprisal, i also see an urgent need to reestablish what i view as one of the most basic tenets of a wellfunctioning workplace. Trust your boss that he will stand up and do the right thing. One of the first things i did one of the first actions i took since assuming this position was to foster better communication between the rank and file, their supervisors, and the agencys executive leadership. I conducted town hallstyle meetings with the secret Service Field offices around the country by video conference. I personally joined officers and agents at the white house complex during their daily roll call. In the event that employees are apprehensive about discussing their concerns with their supervisors i instructed the secret Service Ombudsman to establish a mechanism of elevating employee concerns directly to the executive review board for resolution. I made clear the importance of full accountability and directed that i be present when actions are taken. The core values of the secret service, justice, duty, courage, honesty and loyalty, have guided the agency through many challenges over the course of its history. Now more than ever it is critically important for us to recognize that in the midst of all the turmoil, there is exceptional work being carried out by thousands of secret Service Employees around the country and around the world who embody these core values. In my view, failure can be an integral part of success. Whether that refers to an agency or to an individual. And we are confident we can fulfill our mission with honor, and restore the secret services rightful place as the most respected Protection Service in the world. Chairman goodlatte, and Ranking Member conyers, this concludes my opening remarks. I look forward to a good discussion, and will be happy to answer your questions during both the open, and closed, portions of todays hearing as appropriate. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Clancy. And i will, Ranking Member has not yet arrived. I will begin the questioning and when he does arrive, we will recognize him for both his Opening Statement, and questions. As you know, the officers who were present when Omar Gonzalez jumped the fence on september 19th believe that he was not armed and did not present a threat that would warrant the use of lethal force. It was ultimately discovered that he was, however, carrying a knife when he entered the white house. Can you explain to us the Services Policy for the use of lethal force . And given that mr. Gonzalez did actually have a knife when he entered the white house, do you agree with the decision to withhold the report . Yes, sir. Dhs, department 6 of Homeland Security and the secret service have a very clear policy on the use of deadly force. Basically, what it states is that an officer, when its necessary, is authorized to use deadly force if the individual poses an immediate danger of death or serious Bodily Injury to the officer, the agent, or to someone else. And what nonlethal options does an officer have to subdue or stop a fence jumper . Sir, officers, in addition to their weapon, they have batons, they have cs spray, the pepper spray, and obviously theyre trained to use their hands, as well, to transition to that mode. Now are you looking into other options . Sir, were always looking at other options that are available. Close consultation with other agencies, and we share information, so were always evaluating the equipment that we have for our officers and agents. Concern has been raised that theres an overreliance on the dogs, on the k9s, that may have impeded the Services Ability to stop gonzalez on september 19th. Could you comment on that . Sir, the k9 are obviously a very important asset that we have on the north and south grounds of the white house complex. It is one option of several that officers can use in the event of a fence jumper. Its a decision that the officers have to make, depending on the circumstances, whether to use the k9. But, previous jumpers have been confronted with our officers have used their hands, have used their baton, theyve used other equipment to stop these fence jumpers. Thank you. I want to give you an opportunity to discuss an incident that occurred back in 2011. Its been reported that there was a period of initial confusion about whether gunshots had been fired toward the white house on november 11th, 2011, and that officers were told to stand down. Can you comment on what the service did that evening . And the days following to investigate that shooting . And did the service realize or did it not realize that anything was wrong until the bullets were found on the side of the white house several days later . Yes, sir. Thank you. As ive been briefed, when we were aware of shots being fired, initially there were there was a report over the radio that there was a standdown order. But that was quickly overridden. Our officers responded appropriately, they went to their defensive positions at the white house complex because they did hear some noise that sounded similar to gunshots. We continue to try to identify where those noises came from. We knew there was construction down on constitution avenue, but we immediately, within two minutes, notified the park police of the sounds down by constitution avenue. Within five minutes we located the vehicle where mr. Ortega was what he was driving, within five minutes. Within 30 minutes i believe we started a or built an Incident Command Center on constitution avenue. And then we continued to stay with the course of the investigation of the next several days. And how quickly was there a warrant for the arrest of the suspect in that case . How many days, sir . Sir we identified as ive been briefed we identified mr. Ortega that day as the owner of the vehicle, and then through the process of the investigation through our pittsburgh field office, we were able to identify where he was located, and i believe november 15th a warrant was served on him in the state of pennsylvania. So within a few days. Yes, sir. Not one day yes, sir. With regard to the elevator incident in atlanta on september 16th of this year. What steps has the service taken to review and revise its policies and procedures for handling Third Party Security contractors . Yes, sir. Needless to say, sir, that was a break in our procedures. We did not follow procedures in our advance of that visit at the cdc. We have done a investigation on that, and the in general, someone who only sworn Law Enforcement officials should be in close proximity to the president who are armed. In this case, we did not follow the proper procedures. Its not a matter of necessarily changing policies but more of an indication that we need to do better training. And reshape some of the training that were doing with our folks on the protection details. On that, what is your policy for determining when third parties may be armed while in the proximity of the president , or another protected individual . How do you go about determining that . Sir the advance agent will ask, first, is anyone if theres local security at the site, is anyone armed. And then, needless to say, we also do records checks on everyone whos going to be in close proximity of the president. In this case, again, we failed our procedures in allowing this gentleman to operate the elevator armed. Thank you very much. My time has expired and i will now recognize the Ranking Member of the crime subcommittee the gentleman from virginia mr. Scott for his questions. Thank you. Director clancy, thank you for being here. Yes, sir. One of the problems we have around here frequently is that when we do budgets, we dont think tax cuts affect the budget, and that budget cuts dont affect your ability to provide services. Can you describe a little bit about the budget ups and downs over the last three or four years . Yes, sir. When i came back to the secret service and accepted this position, i identified three three main areas of concern. One was staffing. One was training. And obviously the morale, as well. Staffing is its a complicated issue. Back in 2011, we were at a high point with our staffing. We had approximately 7,024 security personnel back in 2011. 2012 and 2011 im sorry, 2012 and 2013 we had a severe dropoff. There were some Uncertain Times from a budget standpoint and also we realized, from what i understand, is that that 7,024 number was unsustainable. We were not able to year after year continue to pay the pay of those employees. So our numbers dropped down. Now in 2014 wait, director, did you need 7,024 people . Yes, sir. Okay, keep going. So in 2014 in 2014, with the help of congress, we were able to hire 238 new security professionals. Which was a good help to us. But we were starting from scratch after not hiring very few people in 2012 and 2013. So were starting to work our way back up, and needless to say, in 2015, thats a priority. Right now weve got schedule 6 classes of uniformed officers, and six classes of special agents prepared to go through training this year. Now, you are understaffed. What does that do to peoples vacation time, and overtime . Yes, sir. It affects their vacation time. It affects overtime drastically. Our uniform division works extremely hard, but very often they get their days canceled or their they have to extend their workday. And that has a severe effect on their morale. And it obviously has an effect on freining which is something were going to correct moving forward. When youre understaffed what happens can you explain what happens to training . Yes, sir. When we are understaffed its difficult to get people out to their training assignments because of the operational needs of the service. So, one of the things weve done to alleviate that in the shortterm is weve brought agents in from the field. To take some of these positions that uniform division has at the white house complex so that we can get people out to training. What happens when people are not properly trained . When were no