The subcommittee will come to order. Without objection pictures authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time. Members of the full committee who are not members of the subcommittee on terrorism illicit finance make it is great in todays hearing and all members will have five legislative days within which to submit extraneous materials to the chair for inclusion in the record. This hearing is entitled the exploitation of Cultural Property examining the legal activity in the antiquities of art trade pick now recognize myself for two minutes to give an opening statement. Most of the statement is going to be simply presented into the record but just to talk about the nature of the sale of historical artifacts, archaeological artifacts, the isis groups are now destroying entire Cultural Properties and putting them on the market for sale. Many times the money goes in the terrorism. Thats all you hear to discuss today. The rest of my statement will be printed into the record, and i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from colorado, mr. Perlmutter. Asked mr. Chairman. History has shown that art and cultural antiquities have always been trafficked due to their value. Trafficked. Trafficked. Got it. Sorry, trafficked, due to the valley. Sorry about im going to start over. Can i start that over . You have five minutes. Im on tv. [laughing] history has shown that art and cultural antiquities have always been trafficked due to their value. The nazi symbols installed countless works of art during world war ii which will never be fully recovered. We know that war and chaos create instability and an an environment where Cultural Heritage sites and antiquities are easily pillaged. According to end up all the black market in works of art is becoming as lucrative as those for drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods. Evidence suggests some 50,000100,000 works of art or stolen each year worldwide. Not surprisingly only about 10 not surprising only about 10 of stolen art is recovered and successful prosecution occurs even less frequently. We must give credit to u. S. Law enforcement agencies which from all accounts appeared to be working collaboratively with each other as well as International Bodies and the private sector address this problem. I would hope that u. S. Government continue to make the prevention of illegal trafficking of art a priority and encourage strong interagency efforts. Some of the questions i hope we can at today are, hike would better regulate marketplaces where these valuable pieces of art are exchange. You are the buyers of stolen art and how can we track them better. What steps can be taken to better safeguard works of art and vulnerable cultural sites . And how our find related to these antiquities being used to underwrite terrorist organizations . With that i look forward to learning from our witnesses, and with that i yield back, mr. Chairman. That cherrywood now yields one minute to the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Pittenger. Mr. Chairman, and Ranking Member thank you for hosting this important briefing today relative to the illicit antiquities trade and how it funds terror. As you know last to the task force to investigate Terrorism Financing held a similar hearing on this matter. I am pleased that our new subcommittee is continuing our work on this issue. United States Government must posture strongly against any and all financing methods for isis. Antiquities trafficking is no exception. Not only does this practice provide isis with a steady stream of material support, it also devastates priceless historical locations that are out of iraq in syria. We must create an enforcement and an investigator structure that fits to the antiquities industry and that is Strong Enough to impact isis resourcing. Mr. Chairman, i look forward to working with you and your staff to promote an effective sanctions policy that puts and 90 isis and its uses of antiquities trafficking to fund terror. I yield back. The gentlemans time is expired. Today we welcome witnesses of the testimony of eyewitnesses. First with alyson grunder. Ms. Cohen is of the Deputy Assistant secretary for policy in the beer of education and Cultural Affairs at the u. S. Department of state. Ms. Grunder as a veteran Foreign Service officer with 26 years of experience in policy formulation advancement to bilateral and multilateral engagement. International Program Development and management, grants in budget oversight and evaluation performance measures. From 20142015 she served as minister counselor for Public Affairs of the u. S. Embassy in baghdad leading the nation Strategic Communications of Public Diplomacy outreach efforts in the wake of the 2014tthe 2014incursions of isisn syria. Dr. Brian daniels is a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution where he pursue scholarly work about Cultural Property protection, antiquities trade and intentional distraction of cultural or religious sites during conflict. Doctor daniels is the director of research and programs for the Cultural Heritage center of the university of pennsylvania museum. Also he is concerned with the preservation of indigenous heritage, has worked over 18 years with the native American Communities in the United States unissued relating to political sovereignty, cultural repatriation at the heritage preservation. Dr. Daniels holds a phd in anthropology in the history of the university of pennsylvania and an ma in history from the university of pennsylvania, and a ba in anthropology from San Francisco state university. Mr. Raymond villanueva is the assistant director paul made security investigations, hsi office of international operations. Is responsible for budget more than 160 million in the operation oversight of 62 offices and 46 countries, a Department Defense liaison offices with over 400 personnel. He has served in numerous key positions at hsi including Group Supervisor financial crimes and Asset Forfeiture and Removal Group in buffalo, new york, section chief for the invested finance in receipt of crime units in washington, d. C. , unit chief for the trade transparency unit in washington, d. C. , assistant special counsel agent in charge for the hsi san juan office, mostly silly Deputy Assistant director for hsi international operations. Each of you will be recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation for your testimony that without objection each of your written statements will be made part of the record. Ms. Grunder, you are now recognized for five minutes. [inaudible] youvyou might turn on your c there. Sorry. Thank you, chairman pearce, Ranking Member perlmutter, and members of the subcommittee on terrorism and illicit finance for inviting me and my colleagues from dhs and the smithsonian to testify this morning on the topic of Illicit Trade and Cultural Property by terrorist and criminal groups. Earlier i submitted detailed written testimony on the state departments efforts over decades to reduce telogen trafficking of Cultural Property that this work is mandated by multiple u. S. Laws and u. N. Conventions related to Cultural Property protection. The bureau of Education Cultural Affairs or eca has laid on Cultural Heritage protection and preservation for the state department to its Cultural Heritage center. In 1983 convention on Cultural Property implementation act, or cpi a free short, implements obligations of the United States under the 1970 Unesco Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import export and transfer of ownership of Cultural Property. The cpia invites a general Legal Framework in which the united States Government can combat, telogen trafficking of Cultural Property to Bilateral Agreements. These agreements or memoranda of understanding impose import restrictions on certain categories of archaeological and ethnological material determined to be in jeopardy of pillage. Import restrictions are intensed to reduce incentives for looting and trafficking by keeping looted material out of the u. S. Art and antiquities market. Which is the worlds largest. To date pursuant to the cpia with conclude Bilateral Agreements with 16 countries and implemented import restrictions on an emergency basis pursuant to legislation enacted by congress in 2004 and 2016 respectively for iraq in syria. In addition to a negotiated Bilateral Agreements to protect Cultural Property the state department serves a coordinating role for the interagency. We convene the Cultural Heritage coordinating committee, consistent with this consent of congress and the 2016 protect and preserve international Cultural Property act and chaired by the eca assistant secretary. Recent program, training for 25 custom and Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement agents in april of this year to include a full day at the Smithsonian Museum institute where these agents had handson exposure to the artifacts that are typically trafficked. With our interagency colleagues, the state department has also been active in international matters. It was a banner month with unanimous adoption and cosponsorship of the Un Security Council resolution, 2347, the first Security Council resolution devoted by Cultural Heritage preservation. In addition they led the u. S. Delegation to the first g7 in florence italy which was an important meeting of significant Market Countries by which cooperation and preservation was the primary topic of discussion. Yes the discussion of patrimony at the hands of terrace continued. For more than a hundred years it stood as a testament for the city of mosul in iraq. This week, isis blew up the mosque, is destroying these ancient edifices in an instant. We strongly condemn this despicable act which only further proves that the terrace have no respect for the identity, culture and religion paired the United States will continue to stand with the iraqi people, the free people of syria and our partners around the world and stand against isis until they are defeated. Im happy to take any questions you have. This thing was members, Ranking Members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss terrorist groups. I study the subject as a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution and i would like to highlight a few key points from my submitted testimony. There is now growing concern and evidence that archaeological sites are implicated in the financing of organized collectivity and other terrorist networks. It is my view that these developments may require a restructuring. For much of the past 50 years, the illicit antiquities trade involved looters, intermediaries who purchased from looters, distributors who purchased from intermediaries. These networks have served as stable, hierarchical multi decade supply chains. Existing laws in the United States such as the Convention Act of 1983 and current Law Enforcement enforcement are treated through these illicit network. In recent years, theyve linked criminal sales. Some accounts are more credible than others. They implicated those connected with the taliban and al qaeda. There have also been suggestions of links between the insurgencies following the second gulf war and the illicit antiquities trade in iraq. Archaeological site looting began early in the Syrian Civil War and has been widespread in regions under the asad regime and in areas held by various rebel groups. Since 2014, more attention have been given to station in syria and iraq. There are monetary figures that strain. This should not distract us that looted antiquities have been found in the possession of leaders with documentation about their direct involvement. Additionally in late 2016, the Italian Government confirmed that they had expand their organized leading activity into libya as part of a collaborative enterprise. How my traditional supply chains or the antiquities trade change in response to the interests of groups. We expect the looters to remain the same but the intermediaries purchasing antiquities from those looters to be different. They are likely to be opportunistic and to treat them as a resource similar to other items such as diamonds, oil and coal. We anticipate their participation would vary according to the underlying market value, access to distributors, collector demand and International Efforts to restrict the sale of antiquities on legal art markets. The association between looting and criminal groups is not only an international problem. Other sites are targeted in the southwest who are searching for pottery and other materials for sale to intermediaries. At the border of oregon, recent prosecutions broke up a criminal gang selling methamphetamines. At present we did not have sufficient representation of the tribal communities are basic research completed. To understand how these Domestic Networks might operate in a transnational context. There is good reason to suspect the antiquities trade is going through a reconfiguration that involves the integration of organized criminal networks and terrorist groups. Unlike the more traditional trade which archaeologists have known well, these developments require additional setting and interdisciplinary with sciences who are more familiar with research. An effort to develop these collaborations, a group of 15 u. S. Universities and museums came together to form the research network. I coordinated this effort. Our knowledge of the antiquities trade as well as the funding will only improve as Additional Research is done. Im happy to answer any questions from the committee as i am able. Thank you very much. Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today will before moving further, we extend our best wishes and stand with the members of congress. This morning, i would like to discuss this program that is an important collaboration with our partners on this issue and lastly i would like to highlight these cases. There are a couple of reasons. It prohibits modeling to exclude cpa. Additionally they have the responsibility and tools to take an elite role in investigating Crimes Involving the import, export and distribution of stolen or looted property. Its the largest investigated Agency Within dhs and it works with tribal, federal, state and local organizations. We establish the cpa a program. The program has a threepart mission. The first one is training and education. We actually partner with the department of state and we have trained Law Enforcement officials, custom and Border Protection, prosecutors, interagency officers on the preservation, protection and investigation of Cultural Property. The second is investigation support. They help identify items that might have cultural significant and direct them to other Law Enforcement agencies. Through the program, we support 6000 special agents in more than 200 domestic officers throughout the United States. We also work through our network of International Offices with 67 embassies throughout the world where our investigators collaborated with partners which is italys force responsible for combating antiquity crime. Third is the repatriation. Weather through a simple exchanger a grand ceremony here in washington d. C. , this Event Highlights the objects themselves as well as the women and men who brought the criminals to justice. Since 2007, the department of state has returned more than 8000 historical objects or arti