oversight, management, and accountability willl now come to order. without objection the chair is authorized to declare the subcommittee in recess at any time. want to start by thanking everyone for joining us today. we heard to discussod the topic that is becoming all too familiar to many of us in every part of this nation, that is domestic terrorism. when the hostage situation in a synagogue in colleyville, texas, only this year to the radically motivated shooting at a grocery store in buffalo, new york, to just last month, many, many attacks that devastated our community throughout the country. in response the sect of homeland security was launched a new urgent review to assess the department's capabilities to address this rising threat. we are here today to discuss one of those capabilities in depth. a key piece of the department of homeland security's toolbox has been the targeted violence and terrorism prevention grant program. or tvtp. since 2011, the department has identified the need to partner with local communities to address the growing domestic terrorism threat. in 2016, dhs launched the countering violent extremism t grant program, a predecessor to the current tvtp program. p however, weak management of that early grant program undermined dhs's ability to determine the effectiveness of the funding and concerns about inherent anti-muslim bias in some of the funded projects eroded trustm with minority communities. it is local community leaders who are in the best position to know when and how to engage with a vulnerable individual, and ensuring the department maintains trust with local communities must be a top priority. d in 2020, dhs relaunched the grant program under the new tvtp name and with a new public health focused approach. through this new grant funding program, dhs supports the efforts of local partners who seek to raise awareness aboutne the domestic violent extremism threat and develop community-based networks to provide support to individuals who may be radicalized, or radicalizing to violence before the crimes are actually committed. our witnesses today represent four of the organizations that have received tvtp grants inn either the fy 2020 or fy 2021 grant cycles. their projects, executed over a period of two years, represent the wide variety of violence prevention efforts that are funded by this program. dhs has sought to support projects that implement promising practices as well as those that propose to test new and innovative solutions to terrorism prevention. these projects fall into a number of categories including: enhancing threat assessmentt capabilities, challenging online mobilization narratives, and establishing or enhancing local prevention frameworks. the tvtp program has demonstrated some promising early results but it's still relatively new and although dhs has started the process to ensure an independent review of the efficacy of projects funded in the fy 2020 grant cycle, that review is not yet complete. continued oversight of this program will be necessary to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. i look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about how they have ensured the protection of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties in their work with individuals and local communities, as well as how they plan to measure the impact ofvi their projects. it is of the utmost importance that we get this right and do whatever we can to curb these horrifying attacks. we must do immediately. with that i thank you again for joining us today, and the chair would recognize the rankingou member, if he is here. is he your? >> sim, mr. chairman. can you hear and see me? >> welcome. >> coming to you live off the floor. chairman correa, thank you for holding this important subcommittee hearing, the department of homeland security targeted violence and terrorist program at think it sums for witnesses for joining us today. i look forward to hearing your testimony about experiences they've had withh the program as grant recipients and particularly interested in learning about what you found to be the most effective and i think this program might be able to responsibly grow and benefit poa larger number of communities in the future. over the years the terrorism landscape has evolved and while many grants focusing on terrorism prevented were created as as a result of the 9/11 attacks, the current threats landscape as a combination of both international and domestic violence concerns. we must address and evolve our approach so that it is tackling these new and emerging threats and allocating federal dollars in the most effective way possible. p i believe we must all began to protect our communities and equip them with the tools they need to combat and prevent targeted violence and terrorism in whatever form it takes. the targeted violence, tvtp grant program is one such tool that can help communities build and strengthen their resiliency capabilities and prevent threats before they arrive. just last april i co-led a letter to the house appropriations committee that was focusing on all of these various funding streams, asking them to increase funding in fiscal fiscal year '22 for the office of targeted violence and terrorism prevention which is now operating as a center for preventative partnerships and programs, and the tvtp threat program itself. this letter highlighted the fact that in recent years more americans have been killed by domestic violent extremists than by international terrorism. and the number of domestic terrorism investigations conducted by the fbi has doubled since 2017. while threats from foreign terrorist organizations remain very real these figures demonstrate the landscape is changing so too must our thinking that race of a country has experienced increased rates of violence ranging from shootings to mass an attempted assassination of a sitting supreme court justice. we must do more to combat pilots and address its root causes, no matter the ideologicalal motivation. so our democracy is protected. violence of any kind is unacceptable, and as elected leaders it is our responsibility to find solutions that will promote and protect the safety of those we represent. the tvtp grant program has a great amount of potential to enhance these important efforts. at the same time i think it's tincumbent we make sure this money is well spent picks pending more taxpayer dollars will not fix the problem. we must make sure federal grant dollars are spent efficiently with clear objectives and measurable outcomes. this grant program must be transparent and accountable to the american people and it must ensure civil liberties for all americans are protected. as lead republican on the oversight, management, and accountability subcommittee i remain committedk to working wih my colleague chairman correa to help strengthen the security of our local communities and to bolster and improve dhs programs designed to achieve this goal. it is imperative we continue to advance bipartisan efforts to increase funding, accessibility, and resources to programs that enhance the safety and security of communities around this country. targeted violence and terrorism can't occur anywhere at any time, and we must remain committed to empowering local leaders and local law enforcement to strengthen this resiliency adventure dhs has the proper funding to support their efforts. i look forward to hearing from our witnesses on the board's of the tvtp grant program, the ways in which you then use these grant awards to protect their communities,ti and in the recommendations they have to put the program going forward. thank you, mr. chairman. and without i yield back. >> ranking member meijer, i couldn't agree with you more. the mission to protect american lives and terrorism very important mission. went to make sure every taxpayer dollar we invest in this mission is optimal. thank you very much. members are reminded the committee will operate according to the guidelines laid out byto the chairman and ranking member of the february 3 colloquy regarding remote procedures. without objection members not on the subcommittee shall be permitted to sit and questioned the witnesses. and now i welcome our panel of witnesses. our first witness we have dr. kurt braddock an assistant professor, school of communication at american university, his research focuses on persuasive strategies used by violent extremist groups to recruit and radicalized audiences targeted by propaganda. dr. braddock also explores our theories of communication,, persuasion and social influence can be used when practices meant to prevent radicalization among the vulnerable audience. second witness, ms. homeric on, the president and founder of the muflehun, a think tank specializing in preventing radicalization and domestic violence extremism. she is also served as coinvestigator department of defense maneuver research institute on terrorist propaganda as well as strategic advisor to the u.n. security council managing the countering violent extremism portfolio. our third witness, mr. paul kim, a deputy district attorney with the alley district attorney's office where he has served for over 25 years. mr. kim early works with the hate crimes unit within the organized crime division. our final witness is lieutenant colonel chris kelenske, commander of fieldie support bureau deputy director of the michigan state police. he is responsible for strategic leadership for the emergency management and homelandor secury division, and intelligence operation division which includes the state of michigan fusion center. without objection, the witnesses for statements will be inserted in the record,in and i now ask each witness to summarize his or her statement for five minutes, aching with mr. braddock. outcome. m -- welcome. today. members of the committee thank you for having me to testify in relation to the center for prevention programs and partnerships. as the chair sadaam assistant st professor of communication at american university and a faculty fellow at a research center focusing primarily on domestic extremism and terrorism the pluralism research innovation lab. between the two appointments i work at the intersection of the communication violent extremism where i try to understand how the communication influences people to engage in violent activities on behalf of ideologies that we see domestically and internationally. my work in this area stems from the events of september 11, 2001 which instilled in me a drive to find ways to understand why people get engaged in such evil and find ways academically to protect americans from this kind of violence and to this end of the last 20 years i studied violent jihadist extremists from the far left into the far right, irish republican dissident groups, violent animal rights activists, single issue terrorists, christian extremists and every other you can find. i sit in front of you today to discuss my experience with the program. at present the program where my research has intended to understand disinformation and conspiracies perpetuated by far right extremists and other intended audiences and more importantly how to prevent them from engaging in that disinformation and conspiracies. i focus on the far right in this project because i know how important it is for the government to use its budget efficiently getting the most value for every dollar spent and to that end i sought to develop a project that addresses the most significant threat to security at the moment, far right violent extremists. most simply i want to get you the most bang for your buck. i'm glad to say today this project has been a relative success resulting in multiple deliverable as well as a large workshop intended by the foremost experts and white ring extremism and disinformation. i hope the work continues to be at use for this regard. from the outside of the project the program has been very enthusiastic and supportive of any research that i've done. personnel, some i will mention by name later have been in constant contact throughout my work and sought to help me address associated research at every turn. one specific challenge i've run into is the early goings of the project related to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic that led to the degree i could meet collaborators, research participants were other colleagues face to face despite the challenges posed and the limitations it put on my research, they continue to support by facilitating the completion of deliverables that could be worked on without face-to-face contact some include the development of training modules for stakeholders that help them build resilience into disinformation within their communities as well as modules for those who would train others to help build resilience. after the covid protocols were lifted we were able to hold the in person workshop understanding the disinformation and future threats and one of the themes of which was focused on lgbtq plus communities which as we saw just a couple of days ago doesn't seem to be a target of the right. i understand my role will be to testify in more detail about my experiences to gauge the value for the american people and to this end i offer my full endorsement. not only has the program funded a range of research that addresses a variety of threats facing the country but it also demands accountability. very few programs require measures to the effectiveness. the field is ripe with pigments that pose professionals, permanent media figures, twitter experts independence have long commented on the effectiveness of certain practices to reduce the risk of violence but provided no evidence to this effect. cp three doesn't allow for this loose commentary. the demands for research accountability and improve intervention effectiveness i believe the program provides excellent value but before turning to your questions to provide further details on my project i want to thank on the record john wilder of cp three he's been my program manager and with my project a godsend on coordinating, organizing and demanding accountability on my part for my my project is effective and with that i look forward to your questions and also apologize in advance if you hear my dog during my testimony. so thank you very much and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you and your dog's comments on the congressional congressionalrecord will be acct objection. now i recognize you to summarize your statement in five minutes. welcome. good afternoon, chairman, ranking member and distinguished members of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to testify. the president and cofounder. it is essential to focus and the public health approach to the allocation of resources with local governments to mitigate risk factors and enhance. the recipient to focus on these areas one outside of the training and second was an innovation grant for the prevention of domestic terrorism and counter violence. a data informed county executive city managers and elected leaders to prioritize risk specific to the jurisdiction and to allocate. publicly available open source that the national, state and local level nor is there any personally identifiable information. we are grateful for funding the approach and for the commitment to protect the community and we focus on hate crimes and domestic terrorism and over the next few weeks we will be competing. to facilitate. in 2020. and that influenced the domestic terrorism and how the hate and bigotry. the communities in the prevention. and the participants for the district attorney's. the implementation of the grants over the last has resulted and the grant funding is stretched. [inaudible] the data in the selection by latching the data informed means to the proposed solutions by the state and local level. let me end by emphasizing we must accelerate the efforts with increased resource allocations and not be discouraged by the mistakes and we cannot wait for another or the school massacre [inaudible] thank you for your attention and opportunity to share. i look forward to questions. >> thank you very much. they hate crimes unit prosecutes all serious hate crimes that happen at the county of los angeles including any case that is committed by an organized hate group and the cases that are either complex in nature or require a seasoned deputy district attorney. in this capacity, my primary role and my secondary role is i do community outreach. i worked closely with our partners, community-based partners ranging from the jewish groups and including members of the lgbt community as well. during the time that i was prosecuting the hate crime case is about three years ago i came across an issue. i had a defendant that committed a crime of violence against the lgbtq committee here in long beach and this has gone all the way to the highest levels of in my office if this position was reached to include 200 hours of community service, obviously the goal was to try to raise the awareness when it came to the lgb tq community. when we reached out to the stakeholders, i was immediately asked what did this individual do and when i described what happened and the nature of injury what i was told by the director was this individual has committed an act of violence. one of the things that we know is that hate is not innate. in the bias program one day when i was doing community outreach i was on a call with the city attorney's office. on the one-to-one program at that time i met the field operations. i said there was a need in the county specifically when it came to trying to address the bias. john wilder is our program analyst. one, we want to focus on counseling. to see if they can determine what the risks of the animus are and where they came from. second, we are going to be working with the community based organization. i think the program is really amazing and what it's going to permit us to do is develop two things. one, and offender centric study, not a very large one and two, the tools and the modules that are necessary to try to address explicit bias. i look forward to the questions and thank you for inviting me to participate. thank you. >> now i'd like to recognize the lieutenant colonel to summarize his statement. welcome, colonel. >> thank you, chairman. ranking member meyer and a distinguished members of the subcommittee for allowing me to discuss the targeted violence and the terrorism prevention grant program. my name is lieutenant colonel deputy director in charge of the field to support the bureau of the michigan state police or msp and in this role i oversee the emergency management homeland security division as well as the intelligence operation of other areas. the individuals have targeted others and committed acts of violence leading to death. the targeted violence prevention grant is a tool that is helping us in michigan to hopefully prevent the incidences before they occur by establishing the behavioral threat assessment team. they consist of multidisciplinary and multijurisdictional partners who are on a pathway to violence and intervene by providing them with productive alternative outcomes. the acts of violence we recognize the need to develop the threat assessment capability in our state to ensure the prevention frameworks are adopted that would allow multiple stakeholders to participate in communications addressing radical violence. to address the behavioral threat assessment management gap in the terrorism targeted violence framework we are developing one regional concept behavioral threat assessment team that covers three counties. the three counties include the state government and state capital of michigan and have a combined population of just under 500,000 people comprised of both urban and rural communities. this behavioral threat assessment management team reserves a conduit