[whispering] the committee will come to order. First of all would like to thank our witnesses for joining us and for your continued service to the American People. This hearing is an important opportunity for this committee to hear from our nations top National Security, and Law Enforcement officials about the threats facing our nations. And, how congress can ensure the federal government is prepared to protect our communities from them. More than 20 years ago the september 11th terrorist attacks changed our nation forever. In response, congress created a department of Homeland Security, and our entire National Security apparatus focused on keeping americans safe from terrorism, more than two decades following our attacks on the threats to our community have a vault and become increasingly complex. While we must continue to monitor International Terror threats there is no question that we must be better prepared to defend against our top National Security officials, including those before us today, have called the most lethal terrorist threat to americans. Domestic terrorism fueled by White Nationalist and Anti Government [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] i know you saw well. [laughter] pam, you just have an exceptional, pam, you have been exceptional, you have put together an incredible team, accomplished a lot together and maybe many times not agreeing fully would always finding a way to find Common Ground we wish you godspeed as well in your future. Thank you. Thank you, senator. What that, Ranking Member you are authorized for opening remarks. Thank you, mister chairman, and just to respond to those comments we appreciate the relationship we have had and the work we have gotten done. This committee has done a lot on a bipartisan basis. Some of it does not get any notice because it is non controversial by the time we finish our process. But, in the process i want to thank you and all the members of the committee for working with us to pass dozens of bills that are making an important difference to our constituents. And to you and to David Weinberg of your staff, not tom but david we want to thank you for your willingness to work with us. We have not agreed on everything but we have been able to find Common Ground where possible move the country forward. So, thank you very much for that. Today is my last hearing as Ranking Member and it is appropriate that it would be this hearing because it is so important to the oversight responsibilities of this committee. And, more importantly, important to our country right now. We unfortunately have a proliferation of threats facing the homeland, and, i appreciate the fact that the right people werent here before us to be able to address those concerns. Talk about what the administration is countering the threats. We look forward to hearing from you, as respected leaders of your agencies you are pursuing thousands of career employees. Men and women who went up every day at dhs, and the National Counterterrorism center of what the mission to safeguard our nation. On behalf of the entire committee i want to thank those in plays who are patriots doing their best for that mission. Every fall since the terrorist acts on 9 11 we have had this hearing, we are a little late this year because of scheduling issues. But, i think it is important that we hold it. Step back and where they are and how we can Work Together to address these potential and active threats. I can think of no greater priority for this committee. I am going to start with the crisis at the southern border, sadly i am leaving at a time when we really have not made the progress we should have on a bipartisan basis. But, again, we have to raise these issues and attempt to solve some of these very significant problems. They failed border policies from this administration have ensured that not only do our nations borders remain unsecure, but, foreign adversaries, Trans National organizations, another nefarious actors can too easily interact and therefore threaten the safety and security of our public. This issue has gotten better, not worse, in the past year the Border Control apprehended 2 million unlawful migrants,. That chart behind me shows, in color, the blue, grain, and read of where we have been the 21 and 22 figures on the right, we just got the final figures for physical year 2022 and it tells a very dramatic story. Of failing to secure that southern border. This does not include a number of other ways. A number of other not started increased as well. These are criminals, often, who engage in Human Trafficking. Criminals who involve themselves in the drug trade. And, so, this is about people what it is also about the fact that we have a Record Number of fentanyl shipments coming through the border. Both the ports of entry and between the ports of entry. We know this from anecdotal evidence but also because there is a Record Number of seizures of this deadly fentanyl shipments into our communities. The fentanyl is what is causing the most number of deaths at a time we have a Record Number, sadly, of Overdose Deaths in our country. In ohio it is between two thirds and three quarters of the deaths related to this one drug. Deadly fentanyl which is primarily coming across the mexican border, now. So, this has been a tough couple of years, the worst two years of unlawful migration and the worst two years of drug seizures in our nations history, so, i look forward to talking about that. We have to figure out how to move forward on a bipartisan basis, we have to figure out how to fix what is clearly a broken system. Another issue i want to address is the withdrawal from afghanistan and what that means in terms of the United States, afghans who have stood with us and our allies were left behind to suffer under taliban rule, meanwhile more than 36,000 afghans with no record of ever having partnered with us, some of whom may have ties to terrorist groups were paroled into our country without proper screening and vetting. I appreciate the fact that you are here to talk about that in addition to secretary mayorkas, because this is one where i think we made mistakes, and we cant correct those mistakes, we can go back and i know your started do that from testimony we have had both publicly and privately. We had this unfortunate, chaotic, and precipitous withdrawal that cause a lot of issues. One was nine people into our country who are not properly screened. There have been three reports from two inspectors general documenting the failures of dhs vetting, and then patrolling known or suspected terrorists into our communities, and yet we just dont have an acknowledgment of that problem from dhs. So, President Biden requested and received an additional 15 million from the fbi to conduct counterterrorism investigations among the afghan evacuees, released into our country by dhs, another whats he asked for 50 million to give to the fbi to do this additional vetting. And yet, the Administration Says it is not a problem, those two are, of course, inconsistent, perhaps we can talk about those diverging views on this panel this morning. We all recognize a great threat posed by our adversaries, such as russia, iran, and china. Who rely on disinformation tactics to weaken our democracy. I think there is a consensus about that, but, at home we have to be much more careful around issues of domestic speech, we must respond to imminent threats of violence, of course, i dont think anybody in this company disagrees with that, but, censoring constitutionally protected speech is an entirely different matter, to be precise that should be a red line, i hope we can all agree that United States government should not censor the speech of our own citizens, differences of opinion, and political viewpoints are not a threat to democracy, but a bedrock of it. We know now that dhs disbanded its disturbing disinformation governments board after significant public outcry, but we also know that it has continued its efforts to curb speech under the guise of countering miss or disinformation. The entanglement of the fbi and dhs with social media platform for the purpose of controlling the narrative is something we need to talk about today. I think it is a deep concern that all americans have, that would not cross that red line. Recent reports allege that dhs is colluding with big tech to moderate content in a way that conforms with the biden administrations political views, including on the afghanistan withdrawal and things like the origin of covid, our democracy is also under threat because congress in the administration have been unwilling to confront the systemic threat of u. S. Intellectual property by china. That is undermining our National Economic security. Secretary wray has been outspoken on this, his quote is there is no country that poses a broader and more Severe Threat to our ideas and Economic Security than china, i could not agree more. But, every day china reinforces the findings of our various investigations this committee. Showing the staggering extent of the Chinese Governments efforts to conduct influence and espionage operations in our country, and to steal american technology, research, and information for their own little therrien omicron a fifth. So, addressing what the communist party of china is doing is more urgent than ever. And yet, the safeguarding american information act has been blocked from becoming law because of the unwillingness of congress to confront this issue, cyberattacks are another significant issue facing every sector of our country, we talked about this a moment ago with senator peters, we have made some congress in this committee and i appreciate that, but, cyberattacks are growing and they are a force multiplier for adversaries. Who we have to understand that this is an issue they are going to continue to use our economic insecurity is depending on technology. We have to be sure we are not vulnerable, here. Compounding that problem is the inherent difficulty of specific nation states and criminal groups. Terrorism and targeted violence also remain a serious threat to our country. Islamic terrorists started synagogue in texas. A separate an ohiobased operative plan to attack former president bush. I remain convinced that we can deal with these issues on a bipartisan basis as we have in the past. But, i am concerned with the threat posed by foreign terrorist organizations in the wake of our withdrawal from afghanistan, alqaeda continues to pose a threat, the Islamic State continues to mobilize, radiant sponsored terrorist groups target key interest and officials consistently, we must remain vigilant as these groups organize and organizations regroup and evolve. We must restore confidence the American Public that we are committed to protect our nation from terrorism, espionage, another Homeland Security threats. There should be a bipartisan effort. We all have the same goal, a safe, secure american homeland. So, with that said i look forward to testimony this morning mister chairman and most importantly the request wants us to questions regarding the record of the administration addressing these threats Going Forward together. I will note that last week we received overdue answers to questions that we had from last years hearing, it took over a year, i would help that in this way case we would get from responses to Committee Questions that are posed. Thank you i look forward to the testimony. Thank you, Ranking Member portman, before i swear in the witnesses i just want to make sure everyone knows how this will proceed. Both are witnesses and members, we are going to have two rounds of questions today, the first round as we normally do will be seven minutes for each person. And then, the second round we are going to have five minutes per person on the second round due to time constraints with all of our witnesses. I am going to enforce those time limits a little more aggressively than i have in the past for everyone. Seven minutes first round, five minutes the second round. It is the practice of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee to swear in witnesses so if you would stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing with the truth so help you god. Thank you, you may be seated. Secretary alondra mayorkas is the secondary department of Homeland Security. Over his distinguished 30 year career and nationally recognized lawyer he has served as the departments deputy secretary, as director of u. S. Citizenship and immigration services, and, at the department of justice as assistant to the United States attorney in the Central District of california. Mister secretary, thank you for being poetic many. You may proceed with your opening remarks. Chairman peters, Ranking Member portman, distinguished members of this committee, thank you for inviting me to join you today. Ranking member portman, thank you for your unwavering support of our department. Next week marks the 20th anniversary of the homeless cardiac being signed into law. This acts brought together many components of the federal government to safeguard the United States against foreign terrorism in the wake of the devastation wrought on september 11th, 2001, it remains the largest reorganization of the federal governments National Security establishment since 1947. It is a testament to the grave threat we face as a nation from terrorism brought to our shores by foreign actors and foreign terrorist organizations, congress created a department that is significantly reduced they risk foreign terrorism poses to the homeland by increasing our capacity to prepare for and respond to those events. Foreign terrorist organizations remain committed to attacking the United States from within and beyond our borders, they use social media platforms to amplify messaging intended to inspire attacks in the homeland, they have adapted to changing security environments. Seeking new and innovative ways to target the United States. The evolving terrorism threat to the homeland now includes loan officials mall cells, domestic violent extremists seeking to further some political or social, or act on a grievance, and homeland violent extremists looking for advance in the interest of a foreign terrorist organization. From cyberattacks on our Critical Infrastructure to increasing destabilizing efforts by hostile nation states, the threats facing the homeland have never been greater, or more complex. Flouting internationally accepted norms of responsible behavior in cyberspace, our adversaries, hostile nations and nonnation state cybercriminals continue to advance in capability and sophistication. Their methods vary but their goals are doing harm of the same, hostile nations like russia, the peoples republic of china, iran, and north korea, and cybercriminals around the world continue to sharpen their tactics and create more adverse consequences, the Ransomware Attacks target our financial institutions, hospitals, pipelines, electric grids, and Water Treatment plants, attempting to rekatic on our daily lives. They exploit the integrated global cyber ecosystem to sow discord, undermine democracy and erode trust in our institutions, public and private. These Cyber Operations threaten the economic and National Security of every american and many others around the world. In particular, china is using its technology to tilt the global Playing Field to its benefit. They leverage sophisticated Cyber Capabilities to gain access to the intellectual Property Data and infrastructure of american individuals and businesses. Russias unprovoked invasion of ukraine intensify the risk of a cyber attack impacting our Critical Infrastructure earlier this year. Nationstate aggressions creating a heightened risk of chemical, biological, radiological and Nuclear Related threats to americans as well. While fast a merging technologies like Unmanned Aerial Systems, artificial intelligence, Internet Communications and cryptocurrencies are helping societies be more productive, creative, and entrepreneurial, they are also i