Transcripts For CSPAN2 Former Senator Dan Coats Testifies At

CSPAN2 Former Senator Dan Coats Testifies At DNI Confirmation Hearing March 2, 2017

The confirmation hearing to head the office of director of National Intelligence testified before the Senate Intelligence committee. This is just over two hours. Calling the hearing to order i would like to welcome the witness today, the nominee to be the director of National Intelligence. Congratulations on your nomination and welcome back. Im sure you didnt expect to be walking the halls so soon after your retirement and i would also like to welcome back your wife and my good friend and i want to thank her for her support of you and willingness to share with the rest of the country. Ive seen firsthand the strength of the relationship you so thoughtfully described for the record. The goal is to enable the committees qualifications and allow for thoughtful deliberation of the members who already provided responses to 148 questions presented by the committee and its members. Today of course members will ask questions and hear from the senator in both open and closed sessions. He comes to us with 34 years of Honorable Service in the house, senate and as an ambassador to germany. We are facing threats from state and nonstate actors alike and engaged in dr right and lawful. I expect he would b would expeca forceful advocate in those discussions by a maintaining an unwavering respect for rule of law. I have complete trust to lead the community with integrity and ensure the enterprise operates ethically and morally. They are participating terrorist threats and mitigating Cyber Attacks while safeguarding the privacy and Civil Liberties of the American People. Simply put it is essentially the congress authorizing the authorities to help keep the country safe while protecting the constitutional rights. I look forward to working with you and colleagues to reauthorize as soon as possible. Ive known for many years. It is a unique experience that make you a natural fit to lead the Intelligence Community. As mentioned in the directors nomination i can assure you the committee will continue to follow the vigorous and realtime oversight over the Intelligence Community. Its operations and its activities. Activities. We will ask difficult questions for you, your staff and expect honest and complete timely responses. I want to thank you for being here for the years of service to the country. I look forward to your testimony and i both recognize the vicechairman for any comments that he might make. Congratulations to your nominations as the fifth director of the National Intelligence but we welcome the chairmans comments. The only thing i may hold against you is what you brought along. Senator coats is wellknown to the kennedy and served as a Senior Member of the committee for many years and has been an advocate for the oversight of the Intelligence Community throughout his tenure. He firmly believes in the value of intelligence and the importance of its timely relevant and absolutely free political influence. As the nations chief intelligence officer, your job will be to find and follow the truth regardless of where it leads. It comes down to the obligation we all talked about in this tals committee and we served together. Tell truth to power to the president , the policy, the leaders and executive branch, members of congress maintaining your integrity and independence even in the face of political pressure is an absolute requirement in this position. The job for which youve been nominated as many rewards and even more challenges. You will be expected to lead the enterprise as we talk about 17 diverse intelligence agencies and in some areas you will have authority to direct actions as we know in most areas theyve convinced rather than direct authority to serve as the top intelligence officer, to coordinate and integrate the two lead of the work to enhance the effectiveness at the enterprise and to ensure the integrity of the product. I know you are up to the challenge and in my Opening Statement, one of the first challenges i will ask you to take on is to support our efforts to understand the interference in the 2016 president ial election. We are also looking into whether any individuals associated in the campaigns and appropriately engaged with officials of the russian government and we will seek to determine what the intentions of those interactions were. We take this matter very seriously. The chair man and i as well as members on both sides of the aisle made commitments that the investigation will not be pretty judged and the committee will follow wherever the information leads. We need to get it right. This investigation will remain bipartisan and seek to be as transparent as possible. Including interference from the white house. I will not accept any process that is undermined by such political interference. This inquiry will be thorough and exhaustive because at the end of the day with the most is answers to the American Public. You know how important this is. Its not about being a democrat or republican or about reality dating the election. Its about the core values and the sanctity all americans hold so dear. Our plan is to review the finished intelligence and understand how they made their conclusions on russian interference. I will ask you again today to commit to all members of the committee you will direct all of the agencies to provide all the information we would require to make sure we get it right. We had a good conversation a few weeks ago. I very much appreciated the conversation and you assured me there that you would not support the return of waterboarding or other socalled intense Interrogation Practices nor are we establishing the sites operated and you assured me he would present to the cabinet and advisors and congress the facts as represented by the best Community Letter that analysis is in agreement or disagreement with the views of the president or anyone else. Again, i will ask you today to reaffirm those commitments you made to me and the American Public. Finally if confirmed and i look forward to supporting you. The times has denigrated the work of the community. To have a very Important Role to make sure that the brave men and women that serve us often and anonymity that he will make sure the morale of the brave men and women is increased and respect respected. I look forward to working with the chair man as we go through the hearing. My good friend Saxby Chambliss will be introducing senator coats. Turn on the microphone. I know its been a long time since youve been here. When i was in the Senate Somebody did all this for me. Ive had to adjust to a lot of things like that. It is good to be back in front of so many friends on the committee and im happy to tell you im glad to be on this side today. If friend, dan coates has been nominated by President Trump to be the fifth director of National Intelligence. S. 2465 was introduced by senator rockefeller and bob graham on the 19th of june, 2002. Then after two and a half years of discussion and debate, but terrorism prevention act of 2004 was passed overwhelmingly by both the house and senate. That created the director of National Intelligence and placed them at the head of the 16 member of the intelligence agencies. They were charged with directing and overseeing the National Intelligence program and to serve as an advisor to the president and executive offices of the National Security council and homeland Security Council about Intelligence Matters related to the security of the United States. Today i understand they have somewhere around 2,000 employees that support the program of some 53 billion. Some have recently questioned the structure and effectiveness and perhaps after 12 years of the creation of a new agency a review is in order but theres one thing that cannot be overlooked and that is from the commitment by the dedicated employees and good oversight of this Committee Gave led intelligence to its customers that prevented another largescale attack on u. S. Soil. We all know the world is a more dangerous place and bad guys are greater in number and more sophisticated i than their operations than ever before us the strong leadership is more important today than ever before. No one is better suited. He was a customer and as a longtime member of the committee, he participated in conduct an extensive oversight. Now he will be providing the intelligence that is to be subjected in that oversight. His experience prepares him for these roles. I traveled the world with dan coates many times for the allies as well as World Leaders and we all know they are friendly and easygoing and weve had the opportunity to be very firm and direct with the individuals that we visited and doing so in a very professional manner. Hes been in Public Service since 1976 when he was the district director for the then congressman dan quayle and served in the house of representatives, the senate and the ambassador to germany and then again in the u. S. Senate. Now after that remarkable 40 year career, he is willing to continue to serve his country. Last, let me say that a lot of strength comes from the constant support hes received from his lovely wife. Using a little sports nomenclature we get good intelligence from time to time and one piece of intelligence i picked up on about dan is that hes a huge chicago cubs fan. One other thing i found out is the day after he and marcia were married he took her to a cubs game and his marriage still survived. [laughter] it is my pleasure to introduce senator dan coats and i would urge you all to send the nomination to the floor of the Senate Quickly to confirm him as the new director of National Intelligence. Thank you mr. Chairman. If you could stand please and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear to give the committee the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Please be seated. Before we move to your statement i would like to ask you to answer five questions that are standard for the committee and the post of each nominee that appears before us that requires simple yes or no answer for the record. Do you agree to appear before the committee and other venues when invited and if confirmed to you agree to send officials to the office to appear before the committee and designated staff when invited . Do you agree to provide documents or any other material requested by the committee in order for us to carry out the oversight and legislative responsibilities . Yes. Will you ensure they will provide such when requested . Do you agree in the fullest extent possible all members of the intelligence of intelligence activities and covert actions rather than only the chair and vice chair where appropriate . Yes. We will now proceed to the Opening Statement. You are recognized. I have remarks thinking saxby who has to leave and im going to jump ahead of my written remarks just to thank him, a great friend and someone that i had the pleasure of serving under this committee. Being willing to come today and make remarks on my behalf. Chairman, members of the committee, im honored to appear before you as the nominee for the position of director of nationadirector ofnational inte. Its a great privilege to have served on the Senate Select committee on intelligence and to see up close the great work done by all the members of the staff and their supporters. In my days sitting together saying im glad thats not me, here i am. I would like to begin by thanking him for nominating me to be the director and im humbled by his confidence in me and we will work tirelessly for the finest intelligence. I would also like to thank Vice President and by indiana colleague and someone im honored to call my friend for his support. I deeply appreciate his faith in me. I would also like to acknowledge the work of the previous jim clapper and his deputy, the stewardship of the committee in the past years has been commendable and the guidance and helping me prepare for this has been most helpful. They left in place and experience in the team that has been instrumental in providing a smooth transition. Also i want to recognize my fellow hoosiers that have elected me for several times into the United States senate over the past years. Ive done my best to represent them and im honored by the confidence that theyve put in time and time again. While i will always be a hoosier at heart, i will represent the dedicated men and women in the office of the director of National Intelligence and the broad Intelligence Committee to the best of my ability. And finally, saving the best for last i would like to thank my wife, my children here today to gegive her my three children hae produced according to my observation ten almost perfect grandchildren. My career in Public Service as a direct reflection of my familys support and love. As the u. S. Ambassador to germany i was ready to make a transition to move on to onto w chapter of my lifelong journey back home again to indiana. It doesnt always work out the way that you think it is going to work out. As a former teacher and therapist, marcia understands the probably better than anybody and the importance of Public Service. She is the rock that provides stability and counsel shoulder to shoulder with me in every aspect of my life and while im no longer retiring from Public Service, what ibm retiring as i sit here today is my policy hat i wear proudly as they represent the views of my constituents and offer policy proposals, judgments and cast votes in the committee and on the floor. That will be replaced but if confirmed, i put on a new hat and just as this government transitions to the new leadership i hope to transition to the role of the principal intelligence advisor to the president and all of the duties that come with it. In this role would be my responsibility to present the president s senior policymakers isenior policymakers inthe admie congress with the best and most objective nonpolitical and timely intelligence as you consider policies in the future for the greek nation. The president and i have personally discussed my potential role as the principal intelligence advisor and we both recognizerecognize that this pos frequently the bearer of unpleasant news but if confirmed, my responsible would be to provide the most accurate and objective and political intelligence possible. In my conversations with many of you prior to the hearing i was asked about how i see the larger role of the dni. Those that kno know know the ref this, im an avid sports fan and this past year as i celebrated the seemingly impossible accomplishment of the chicago cubs after 108 years of effort in the world series. Allow me to compare my role. Its relative to the number of agencies and asked the coach for offense and defense and special teams and the offens the offensn defense of wine and quarterback and on and on it goes. But every team has a head coach and the leader that walks the sidelines on how to do their specific job pools each of the specialists together to form a team. I see the role is analogous to the Intelligence Committee integrating the work and all the expertise and the community. We have an immense talent in the agencys. Each one contributes unique capabilities or expertise necessary for a team to be successful. Access to the sources and the Detailed Analysis of the Central Intelligence agency the important input from the defense Intelligence Agency and the expertise of the National Security agency that i believe is second to none. The spatial mastery demonstrated by the geospatial Intelligence Agency, the acquisition proficiency of the satellite specialists at the National Reconnaissance office, the force multiplier, the intelligence the womans in this team effort, the domestic counterterrorism elements in the bureau of investigation and the specialist skills of the elements in the department of state treasury justice, Homeland Security and energy. Like a head coach, i see it as my job to pull the team members together under the same game plan to produce the best coordinated and integrated intelligence we can find. To make it greater in the parts and given the complicated threat environment that we face today in the country and around the world, now more than ever they must work as a team. The threats we face today are more challenging, dynamic and diffuse than ever before. Allow me to address in no particular order of the most challenging issues we currently face and i can spend a lot of time on this, so i will abbreviate and talk about just a few. The rising Cyber Threats must be highlighted. Its both a resource and a liability. Increasingly interconnected world with tremendous opportunities. But also, many vulnerabilities. Not unrelated i would also highlight the threat of radical islamic terrorism which continues to be a significant threat to the United States and its allies abroad spreading the

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