Under 90 minutes. The subcommittee on oversight and management and accountability will now come to order. Without objection the chair is authorized to declare the subcommittee in recess at any point. Im going to start by thanking everyone for joining us today. We are here to discuss the topic that is becoming all too familiar to many of us in every part of this nation. That is domestic terrorism. The hostage situation in the synagogue in texas earlier this year, to the radically motivated shooting at a Grocery Store and buffalo, new york, to just last month, many, many attacks that have devastated our Community Across the country. Responses for Public Security from state urgent review and assess the departments capability to address this rising threat. We are here today to discuss one of those capabilities in depth. Department of Public Security toolbox, have been the targeted violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program since 2011 the department has identified the need to partner with local communities to address the growing domestic terrorism threat. On 2016, dhs launched a countering violent extremism Grant Program, a predecessor to current program. However, weak management of that Early Program undermined Homeland Securitys ability to determine the effectiveness of the funding and concerns about the inherent anti muslim bias in some of that funded projects eroded trust with minority communities. Local Community Leaders were in the best position to know when and how to engage with the vulnerable individual and ensuring the department maintains a trust for local community has to be a top priority. In 2020, dhs relaunch the program under the new name with the new Public Health focus approach. Through this new Grant Funding program dhs supports the efforts of local partners who seek to raise awareness about the Domestic Violence extremism threat and develop communitybased networks to provide support to individuals who may be radicalized or radicalizing violence before the crimes are actually committed. Our witness to date represent four of the organizations that have received grants and either fiscal year 2020 or fiscal year 2021 grant cycles. The projects executed over a period of two years represent the wide variety of violence prevention efforts that are funded by this program. The Office Support projects that implement promising practices as well as those who propose to test new and Innovative Solutions to terrorism prevention. These projects fall into a number of categories including enhancing threat assessment capability. Challenging online mobilization narrative and establishing or enhancing local prevention frameworks. The program has demonstrated some promising early results. But it is still relatively new pretty although dhs is started to process to ensure an independent review of the efficacy of the projects funded in the 2020 grant cycle that review is still not yet complete. Continued oversight of this program will be necessary to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated today. And i look forward to hearing from the Witnesses Today about how they have ensure the protection of privacy, civil rights, civil liberty and their work with individuals and local communities as well to measure the impact of their projects. It is most importantly get this right and whatever we can do to curb these horrifying attacks we must do immediately. With that i thank you again for joining us today. In the chair would recognize the Ranking Member if he is here for. Yes i am mr. Chairman can you hear and see me . How are you welcome. Coming to live off the floor. Thank you for holding this important subcommittee hearing on the department of phone security target of violence and terrorism Grant Program. Thank you so much to her witnesses for joining us today. I look forward to hearing your testimony about experiences they have had with the program is grant recipients and particularly interested in learning about what you found to be the most effective and how you think this program might be able to responsibly grow and benefit a larger number of communities in the future but over years the terrorism landscape has evolved and will many grants focusing on terrorism have created as a result of the 911 attacks, the current Threat Landscape has a combination of both international and Domestic Violence concerns. We must address and involve our approach so its tackling these new and emerging threats and allocating federal dollars in the most effective way possible. I believe he must do all we can to protect our communities and equip them with the tools need to combat and prevent targeted violence and terrorism in whatever form it takes. The targeted violence the tv tp Grant Program is one such tool that can help communities build and strengthen the 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 asked them to increase funding in fiscal year 22 from the art terrorism prevention which is now operated the center for preventative partnerships and programs. And the tv tp program itself. This letter highlighted the fact that in recent years, more americans have been killed by domestic violent extremists than by international terrorism. On the number of domestic terrorism investigations conducted by the fbi has doubled since 2017 bring threats from foreign terrorist organizations remain very real, these figures demonstrate the landscape is changing so too must our thinking. Recently our country has experienced increased rates of violence. Ranging from heartbreaking mass shootings, to attempted assassination of a sitting Supreme Court justice. We must do more to combat violence and address its root causes no matter the ideological motivation. So democracy is protected. Violence of any kind is unacceptable. As elected leaders it is our responsibility to find solutions that will promote and protect the safety of those we represent. The tv tp Grant Program has a great amount of potential to enhance these important efforts. At the same time, i think it is incumbent would make sure the money is well spent simply spending 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. Leader public on the oversight and management subcommittee remain committed to work with my colleague to help strengthen the security of our local communities and to bolster and approve 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 occur anywhere at any time. We must remain committed to empowering local leaders and local Law Enforcement to strengthen this resiliency nature dhs has the proper funding to support their efforts. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on the important of the tv tp Grant Program the way save use these grant awards to protect their communities, and any recommendations they have to improve the Program Going forward. Thank you, mr. Chairman and with that i yield back. Ranking member i could not agree with you more. The mission to protect american lives and terrorism, very Important Mission but we have to make sure every taxpayer dollar we invest in this mission is optimal. Thank you very much sir. Members are reminded the committee will operate according to the guidelines laid out by the chairman and Ranking Member the fabric third colloquy regarding remote procedures. And without objection members not on the subcommittee shall be permitted to sit and question the witnesses. And now i welcome our panel of witnesses. investigator for the department of Defense Research institute project on terrorist propaganda as well as Strategic Advisor to the Un Security Council managing the violent extremism and the third witness Deputy District Attorney with the vla District Attorneys Office where he is served over 25 years and currently works with the hate crimes unit within the organized crime position. The final witnesses Lieutenant Colonel commander of support bureau and Deputy Director of the Michigan State police. Hes responsible for strategic leadership for the Emergency Management and Homeland Security division and intelligence operations divisions which include the state of michigan Fusion Center. Without objection the witnesses statements will be inserted in the record and i now ask each witness to summarize his or her statement for five minutes. Welcome, sir. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, thank you for having me 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. Im 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 ive 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 ive run into is the early goings of the project related to the impact of the covid19 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 facetoface 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 doesnt 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 doesnt 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 hes 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 dogs 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 attorneys. 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, communitybased 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