As individuals and we are going to keep at it. This be. The chairman of the House Homeland Security committee was critical of the fbi at a hearing on the Boston Marathon bombings. That is next on cspan2. Then remarks from Federal Reserve chairman ben brinkley. The problem was that darwin did not understand that with such a very Natural Selection could never have really worked because imagine you have a population of a million white 10 million white cats and one red cat and suppose being a black cat does provide you with some big advantages but in this blended you mix things like jenna and tonic the black cats made with with the white cat and you get a gray cat trait that gray cat mates with another white cat and you get a paler shade of gray cat and this thing just gets diluted and deluded. The advantage will disappear and never appear again. Former new york city mayor Rudy Giuliani testified before a House Panel Investigating the Boston Marathon bombings. We will also hear from a former National Counterterrorism center director. At this House Homeland SecurityHearing Committee chairman mccaul was critical of the fbis handling of the marathon investigation. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]. [inaudible conversations]. The committee on Homeland Security will come to order. The committee is meeting to continue our series of hearings examining the boston bombings of april 15, 2013. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. I want to thank the witnesses were appearing here today. This is an open hearing open hearing in today we will vote on convening a closed session. Tomorrow to receive classified testimony on the department of Homeland Security and the National Counterterrorism center. Unfortunately the f. Ei has refused to appear and continues to refuse this committees appropriate requests for information and documents crucial to our investigation into what happened in boston. Three months ago there was a terrorist attack in our country and it is this committees responsibility to find out how we did not see it coming. What concerns me greatly is that the problem at the heart of the boston bombings is the failure to share information and that is being witnessed now in this very room. The information requested by this committee belongs to the American People. It does not belong solely to the fbi. I sincerely hope they do not intend to stonewall our inquiry into how this happened. I said when i started this investigation that we were going to find out what happened what went wrong and how to fix fix i. I will not be satisfied until we get the answers that the American People deserve. As dzhokhar arrives in court today justice is this beginning. Today we turn to making sure what he did is prevented from ever happening again. Just weeks ago i walked the streets of boston with my colleague bill keating and while the cities was going on since trying for obvious everywhere we went out this attack could have occurred despite multiple warnings with still not clear. In many ways the boston bombings serve as an assessment of our counterterror efforts over a decade after 9 11 and our investigation will look at how far we have come and what must be changed to better protect our homeland. Today by looking at other domestic terror attacks on our soil in addition to the boston bombings we seek to identify systematisystemati c vulnerabilities in our defenses which could have helped prevent these attacks and future threats. Since 9 11 the great challenge to our vast Homeland Security apparatus remains an connecting the dots. How much information is available we must ensure we have the best system possible for sharing intelligence. Particularly when information so clearly warrants additional scrutiny as it did with cameron and tsarnaev. In this case will the fbi investigated the other suspect this case was not reopened after his travel overseas to a hotbed of jihad is terrorism. Ultimately as we refine their approach counterterrorism policies in this type of failure to follow up was not continued. This is particularly important as the Administration Seeks to return to a pre9 11 approach to fighting terrorism on our soil. The policy perpetrated by its narrative in the conflict of radical islamist is ending. Unfortunately the redhaired perpetrated by the administration with the threat of al qaeda is diminishing and its franchises are less dangerous is not the reality of the United States faces today. For evidence of this inspire magazine which praises the brothers and encourages other extremist to to similar attacks. Attacks. Terrace with any of us who are inspired by jihad is rhetoric presented a threat and must be looked at as any less deadly. In light of boston thats more important than ever to find weaknesses in our counterterror efforts that can be fixed before another attack is attempted. By reviewing the events leading to the last five attempts in the homeland since 9 11 we will find patterns that will shed light on the west we must improve for instance in june 2009 terrorist target in armynavy Career Center in little rock arkansas killing one soldier and wounding another. Carlos bledsoe and american citizen converted to islam and spent 16 months in yemen at a jihad training camp. Bledsoe had been interviewed by the fbi twice before the shooting once in yemen and again and while one person agencies were concerned he may have ties to extremist groups they did not pursue the matter. The shooting at ford and the texas in my home state in november of 2009 is another example of government officials either failing to recognize or failing to pursue a credible threat and major the doll has found a become radicalized by their superiors failed to discipline or discharge him. The fbi was aware that song was communicating with terrorists anwar awlaki a year prior to his attack where he killed 13 people and wounded 33 others. Ultimately this information was not shared with fort hood. The 2009 attempted attack and Christmas Day is yet another example of agencies failing to connect the dots. Umar Farouk Abdullah ahmad trollope his father reported his sons hatred of the west and the u. S. Embassy but one agency failed to alert another. The times square bomber a naturalized citizen warned pakistan was placing a traveler and enforcement compliance system between 1998 and 2008. However this Computer System does not share information effectively among databases and consequently shows sought to sell off the radars reign only to have not the bomb from going off and finally the Boston Marathon bombings. They show that one agency failed to share critical information about terrorists they fail to see the full picture which could point to an eminent attack. We still do not know if the fbi was alerted to camera lens plus travel overseas but we do know that no action was taken afterthefact and the Deputy Director of the fbi said even if they had been notified about that travel the case was closed and it would not have been helpful. These events bring to light two areas that deserve scrutiny by this committee. The first thing one the information still piped between agencies and the second being that their agencies need to update their policies in order to be number one of up to confront the current dynamic threat to this country. Its easy to see why this absolutely must be done when we read the words of our enemy in the most recent issue of hq ap inspire magazine which praised the tsarnaev brothers in the boston bombings. In one segment of poem written under the name sub nine declares both residing in the west grab your chance and walked steadfastly torture girl. As for me in yemen whenever i move around with explosives around my waist i wish i am an american. Those chilling words make it clear they were enemies that applaud the actions of camera lens dzhokhar and they will try again and again and we must be better prepared. Without the chair recognizes the Ranking Member. Thank you for calling todays hearing in june 2009 Carlos Bledsoe shot two people in a recruiting center in little rock arkansas. He was found guilty and is serving a life sentence. In november 2009 the doll has fun in nature not open fire and forget it texas. Jury selection in this trial his trial begins this week. In december 2009 Christmas Day bomber was arrested in michigan after trying to detonate an explosive aboard a plane. He was convicted and is serving for life sentences in a prison in colorado. In may 2010 he tried to detonate the bomb in times square. He was convicted and is serving a life sentence in a federal prison the other make sense first appearance in federal court today so i would like to begin todays hearing by pointing out the seller marries in this limited selection of cases. With the exception of the Boston Marathon bombings each of these attacks were perpetrated by a lone actor. All of these attackers have faced trial in the United States and have been convicted and are serving lengthy sentences. It appears those that committed these attacks were radicalized and turned to violence through contacts outside the United States. In at least two cases the primary means of violent radicalization appears to have come from on line context and in at least three cases the attackers were disillusioned and disgruntled young men. It was seen that these cases stand from several propositions. First the federal court system is perfectly capable of handling terrorism cases. As a matter fact in 2009 alone the department of justice charged more defendants with terrorism related charges than any other federal crime. Second, because none of these cases will work carried out by an organized group it was saying that terrorists have changed their methods. They have shifted their focus to identifying and isolating particular individuals. A change in tactics by our adversaries should cause us to change our response. Here are our response should focus on acts perpetrated by lone wolf violent extremists. Third because none of these attacks were carried out by an organized group we can conclude that our efforts abroad have been successful in disrupting their networks. Fourth, because these attacks by disillusioned young men are focused on teaching state or local officials and Community Leaders to effectively engage in situations which may cause these roots of anger to grow. Prevention is likely to be more costeffective than surveillance , trials or worse and while this hearing focuses on attacks carried out by Muslim Americans these lessons we should take from this hearing should not focus on any particular religious group. Over 10 years after september 11 we must expand our focus. By now we should know that terrorist violence is not limited to any particular ideology or nation. As a Southern Poverty Law Center reporter in march 2013 the number of conspiracy minded antigovernment patriot groups on the american radical right reached an alltime high in 2012, the fourth Consecutive Year of growth. The Southern Poverty Law Center includes that these groups will continue to grow and become more militant during president obama second term and two to the National Debate on gun control measures. So it seems that we are here to be proactive. We should take the lessons we have learned since september 11 and apply them to the evolving face of terror both at home and abroad. Additionally if we are here to be proactive we should focus on where the systems have failed, the polar abilities that remain and the constructive actions available to this congress. For instance we need to understand why one of the accused boston bombers was listed on to federal databases but was available to travel to russia. We need to understand the best and most costeffective way to fix that problem. In essence we can point the finger or we can find a solution. The choice is ours. In the past we have not always chosen the path to problem solving. For instance the Christmas Day bombing case showed vulnerability in the check point screening machines used at the airports. Even though the terrorists did not ward a flight in the United States the government spent about 800 million on screening machines. Today those machines have been removed from the airports because americans decided that they were not willing to give up their privacy for security. A few years and 800 million i hope we have found a solution that allows us to preserve privacy while maintaining security. Also we are here to be proactive. We need to understand that solutions cannot be reached without dialogue and an open discussion of the facts. At least two of the cases we are here to examine and get to be tried in a court of law. Once a verdict has been rendered by geri i hope we can look at the evidence in the 43rd and Boston Marathon cases but at this point our conclusions are likely to be premature and our discussions may undermine a conviction. Im not willing to make anyone escape punishment because of ports spoken in this realm. Mr. Chairman i share your concerns about terrorism in this country since september 11 and look forward to a full discussion of actions this congress should undertake in a constructive and bipartisan manner. I bet. I thank the Ranking Member and in corresponding with government witnesses and members of the second panel indicated the topic we we are examining ty is of a sensitive nature and the answers to your questions may endanger National Security or compromise sensitive lot for some information therefore it appears the best path forward for this hearing is to recess after the first panel has concluded and we can being in an executive classified session therefore pursuant to rule 11 of the house of representatives on live at the hearing be closed to the public at that time. Section 969 of the house manual demotion is in order. It is not debatable. The motion is now subject to a recorded vote. The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] how am i recorded quebecs ice load aye. Aye. Mr. Mcauliffe mccaul votes aye. The clerk will the tally. The chair recognizes the gentlelady from texas. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. I did vote aye and if i might engage with a colloquy as you know we have gone over the last couple of the leaks with the public expressing concern not particularly the topic of this hearing but particularly concerned about their own security and their own privacy. This vote might be interpreted as a committee desiring to hide information from the public. I know that those of us who voted did not want to hide information from the public and im sympathetic to their rights to read this and Civil Liberties. My inquiry would be that this hearing being closed is specifically to protect information that direct we is perceived by those witnesses to have a direct rational security impact and it is not intended to hide Vital Information from the american public. I yield to the gentleman. The gentlelady is correct and i appreciate you making that point. Its unfortunate the fbi has declined to attend in this closed session. The motion is agreed to. See i thank the chairman. See the committee will recess at the conclusion of the first panel and will reconvene at 9 00 a. M. On thursday july 9. The clerk will send a notice to motors not members. We are pleased to have three distinguished members to discuss this important topic. First we are very pleased and i did have the honorable Rudolph Giuliani who needs little introduction here. He served as mayor player city from 1994 to 2002 must never be serving as mayor during the terrorist attack of september the 11th 2001. Prior to his service as mayor mr. Giuliani served as u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york which many would argue is the best Attorneys Office in the nation from 1983 to 1989. After that in his career mr. Giuliani received many awards and accommodations including being named time magazines person of the year 2001 and receiving the honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth ii in 2002. Thank you so much for being here. The honorablhonorabl e michael lighter served under two president s is to record the National Counterterrorism center until, from june 2008 to july july 2011. He remains a highly respected voice on terrorism threats and National Security. Currently he is a senior counsel to the chief executive officer. In addition he serves as a National Security and counterterrorism analyst. Dr. Bruce hoffman is the director of the center for Security Studies and a tenured professor at Georgetown University school of foreign service. Professor hoffman was in residence for counterterrorism at the Central Intelligence agency between 2004 and 2006 and served as an adviser on c