Transcripts For CSPAN2 Federal Officials Testify On Security

Why despite the reform activities in the process are taking longer in fiscal year 2015 is an average of 95 days to process the secret clearance and 179 days for the secret clearance. In 2016, it took an average of 166 days to process and 246 for the topsecret clearance. Thats quite a job in the timeline it takes to get there. More than a decade ago that processes were transferred from the department of defense and now there is talk of transferring the process back to the department of defense. We also have the newly created the opm and the dod have a shared responsibility to make sure we stop moving the organizational boxes around as we transition, we need to talk about the efficiency and make sure at the end of the day we are protecting and securing the United States of america. Theres a tremendous amount of people that are working on these issues. We will have additional hearings and discuss that. I personally believe and i would like to draw this out, attracting and retaining the professionals has got to be a challenge for the government. If a challenge in the private sector it is a challenge across the board i was fortunate to have a newly minted soninlaw in the field and the opportunities for him for employment, id never seen anything like it which is good as his fatherinlaw. But on a serious note, we have to address the government, the whole government. How do we maintain it professionals because we need so many of them and theres vulnerability for the country as a whole. I appreciate you being here and i would like to recognize mr. Cummings. Thank you. I would like to call you for this hearing. Its important that we let federal employees know how important they are and we do everything in our power to provide them with the type of salaries and security they need. That is one of the things that would help to attract them and keep them. Its about the process needed to conduct background checks for federal employees for seeking very important security clearances so they can have access to the most guarded secrets. This couldnt come at a more perfect time. Yesterday i sent a letter requesting the pentagon investigation of the president S National Security adviser for the potentially serious violation of the United States constitution. I was joined by the Ranking Members of the committee in the judiciary, Homeland Security, foreign affairs. General flynn has admitted they received payment in december of 2015 voted by russia today that a state sponsored propaganda outlet. During that event, the general dined with russian president vladimir putin. As the letter explains, the department of defense warns the officers that they may not accept any direct or indirect statement from Foreign Governments without congressional approval to continue to hold offices of trust under the monuments clause of the United States constitution. On january 6, intelligence officials issued a report detailing the attack on the United States to undermine the elections. This report concluded with high confidence that the goal was to underline public faith in the democratic process. This report describes the principal and propaganda of li outlet. The kremlin staff and supervisors or to use coverage recruiting people who can come data messaging because of their ideological beliefs. It is extremely concerning that general flynn chose to accept payment at an event hosted by the propaganda arm of the russian government at the same time the country is engaged in the attack against this nation and the efforts to undermine the election. Something is wrong with the picture. President trump has chosen to be the National Security adviser may have violated the constitution in the process. We didnt know how much and whether it was 5,000, 50,000, we dont know. We dont know whether he would receive payments on separate occasions or whether he sought approval from the pentagon or congress to accept the statements. We dont know. We dont know if the constitution should or will ha have. We do not know what if anything reported about the contacts with officials from russia or other countries. These are the questions that need to be answered. I also have questions about the individuals that we seek to join the administration and obtain access to classified information while they are apparently under investigation. For example, thereve been reports that the Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort has been advising the white house while at the same time hes reportedly under fbi investigation with russian interests. We want to know how but clearances are handled and if the new applicants are under criminal investigation. Do they allow these individuals to continue to have access to classified information or is there a process to place a hold on someones clearance until the investigation result is the question . He claims democrats became interested in the russian hacking for political reasons and for example we had no interest in Cyber Attacks against opm. They didnt make a big deal of that. The president is 1000000 wrong. Ie and other democrats worked aggressively on the committees investigation of the attacks and we held multiple hearings including one that i requested we conducted extensive interviews with the witnesses and reviewed 10,000 pages of documents and issued to reports from the majority and minority staff. I called on other agencies including the state Department Social service in which we were both attacked and for investigating the sniper attacks with j. P. Morgan chase. Officials have warned us on the biggest forprofit Community Health systems which are the hae largest acting Health Information reached into call for investigating the Cyber Attacks including home depot. We are focusing on political reasons and intelligence agencies warned us if we do not act now, the adversaries including russia are determined to just write again. We need to get answers to these and i think all the witnesses for being with us today. And again mr. Chairman, thank you for the hearing and i will yield back. Any members that would like to submit a written statement, i would like to recognize the panel of the mrs. And we are pleased to welcome kathleen who is the acting director of the United States office of Personnel Management. Accompanied by David Devries the chief Information Officer at the office of Personnel Management and the chief Information Security officer at the United States office of personal Personnel Management, and the director of the National Background Investigations Bureau into their expertise on the issue will be important to the subject matter, so everybody will be sworn in. We are also honored to have Jerry Halverson asked the chief Information Officer at the United States department of defense is. My understanding is mr. Halverson is retiring at the end of the month and we can think of no better gift for you then having to testify before congress. I know you were looking forward to it, so happy birthday and thank you for coming to testify before congress but we thank you for your service to the country and at the department of defen defense. We really do appreciate your expertise and we wish you well. Thank you for your service and willingness to be here today. He stepped up to the plate and took the assignment. Again we welcome you all in all witnesses are to be sworn before they testify so if you could raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony youre about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Let the record reflect that the witnesses all answered in the affirmative. Your entire statement will be made a part of the record that we would appreciate if you keep your comment to five minutes and any supplements will be made a part of the record. You are now recognized for five minutes. Good mornin good morning mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity for my colleagues and myself to testify on behalf of the office of Personnel Management. As yo these that im joined tody by the director of the National Background Investigation Bureau committee chief Information Officer and the opm chief Information Security officer. While presently the acting director i do have over 25 years of service at the agency. Opm realizes how critical the topics of todays hearings are to the National Security, and i look forward to having a productive conversation about the transition in the security process and Information Technology security. As you know, it was established october 1, 2016 and as the primary provider to the Background Information ccharlie has extinguished career in the federal government and private industry. His career has been focused on National Security. His experience includes serving in capacities of the cia including the director of security and width of the fbi assistant director reading the security division. It is designed with a focus on the National Security, Customer Service and continuous process improvement. Its a new organizational structure aimed at leveraging the automation, transforming that is business processes and transparency. In 2014, the markets capacity fomarkets capacityfor the contn services was drastically reduced and this resulted in an investigative backlog. It was by that Cyber Security incidents that were announced in 2015. Looking forward, it is a priority to address the backlog while maintaining a commitment to quality. To accomplish this they are focusing efforts in the three primary areas, first working to increase capacity by hiring federal investigators and increasing the number of investigative fieldwork contracts. Second, focusing on policy process changes to improve the operations. Third, they worked with the customer agencies to prioritize the cases that are most critical to the National Security. Information technology also plays a central role in the ability to enhance the Background Investigation process. While still in development, the new system will be operated and maintained on behalf. On opm behalf this is being led by the new chief Information Officer. He has a strong relationship with his agency. To strengthen the infrastructure security we are also working on fortifying the entire ecosystem. As a federal government modernizes how it does business, opm focused on the tools and technology to deliver the optimum service and security. Opm and hence the efforts of multiple angles in Cyber Security tools and updates with implemented staff and agencywide training we hired a critical personnel and continue to collaborate with our interagency partners. Touching on the efforts i just outlined, cybersecurity tools and updates include 100 use of authentication and the access of the network. This is done in the use of the cards and the nature system compliance initiatives. Furthermore they recognize cybersecurity is not just about technology but its also about people. Theyve added seasoned Cyber Security experts to its already talented team. They hired a number of new senior managers and leaders and realigned the sabres into the program and resources under the chief Information Security officer. In this capacity they are responsible for taking the steps necessary to control the access to sensitive information. They strengthened their awareness by enrolling in multiple information intelligence sharing programs and in conclusion, the necessary partnerships have been developed to improve the efficiencies and will enable us on the holistic approach to change to adopt new tools and procedures that enhance the security of their networks and data. Thank you for the invitation to testify before you today, and we welcome any questions that you may havmay have. Have. Thank you for your testimony. I dont know if you care to say anything that i will recognize you. You dont have anything i would like to take this opportunity to thank you. I could come from 30 years in the army and i transitioned to become a Senior Executive at the last two and a half years at the dod and i arrived here in 2016 and its a pleasure being here today to answer your questions. Thank you for the opportunity. We have to bring the microphones up close to make sure we can hear you. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. One of the things i want to make clear its eye and ran in to the events and we have made a lot of advancements but its only to get us to a standard environment. By no means am i saying we are successful but we are doing our best to improve the information. Theres other items i would be happy to discuss on the improvements. Thank you mr. Chairman i would be glad to join in on the conversation. To echo what was mentioned, we are focused as we begin or end our fourth month as an entity one is recovering the capacity to do Background Investigations improving the ability and a ende innovations that will help with the executive agent to look at what the investigation will look like when we move into the future. The key to this is an organizational structure beyond what is access to the september 29 and adding the capabilities of investments and in terms of innovation. Then very important. On the spectrum of about 100 customers across the federal government. With that, im happy to be here and thank you for the opportunity today. You are now recognized for five minutes. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the departments Information Technology cybersecurity report to the National Background Investigation Bureau. Im with the chief Information Officer and most of you are familiar so i will make this short. We are responsible for the development and securing the systems. We brought the full expertise of that department in the cybersecurity resources to bear on this problem and its important for the system with a more reliable. The defense Information System in the oversight established a Background Investigation System Program Management Office to implement the effort. They are responsible for the development and obligation of the system capability needed to support the investigative process to include ensuring that Cyber Security protections and resiliency of the capabilities. The alignment of the systems assure that we leverage all National Security systems, and capabilities to protect the Background Investigation and we are doing that. The department has made headway on this since i testified before the committee must february. We are on track to deliver the capabilities needed. In 2016 they funded activities to better posture of funding in 2017. I would like to thank the congress and members for supporting the funding request for the infrastructure and cybersecurity modernization. The resolution did include the start and we thank you for that. Theres other partners to discover the capabilities we will provide with a more efficient, effective and secure Background Investigation system in the future. Through the process we are actively partnering with industries integrating the feedback in the process to ensure we are focusing on capable of these into keeping up with the changing pace of technology. Im pleased with the current process and i look forward to seeing what they will accomplish as the make progress towards delivering several of the prototype capabilities into the initial for investigating process in 2018. This is an important opportunity to strengthen the security of the infrastructure to support the federal background process. This approach utilizes the recognized cybersecurity expertise and industry practices while maintaining a streamlined centralized government approach to the Investigative Services provided today for more than 100 different federal agencies. Thank you for the support and i look forward to your questions. I would like to recognize the gentleman from texas and the subcommittee on Information Technology. Thank you mr. Chairman and Ranking Member for continued diligence. I have some basic questions for you. Do you have a technical background . Who is the person directly reporting to you that is responsible for preventing another attack like the one we saw months