Years. We have seen there movement diversify and expand in the aftermath of the upheave el in the arab world since 2010. As my college mentioned, isil is just one of the groups that were concerned about. Al qaeda core continues to support attacking the west and for now remains the recognized leader after global jihadist movement. In syria we have seen veteran al qaeda fighters travel from pakistan to take advantage of the permissive environment there. Branches in yemen and somalia continue to remain extremely active. Off course over the past five years, al qaeda sought to take down an airplane bound for the United States and here in the United States last years bombing of the Boston Marathon is a sober reminder of the threat we face from selfdivekted violent extremist. Terrorists skploided the lack of governeance and parts of the middle east. Terrorist groups are inactive in 11 insurgencies in the world. The groups are adapting their tactics to overcome our defenses, they are looking for simpler left sophisticated attacks that are on a smaller scale and that are easier to pull off such as the al shabaab attack last year in nairobi. Finally, with the stolen nsa documents, terrorists are changing how they communicate. They are moving to more secure adaptationes. We see this in our reporting. And this is a problem for us in many areas where we have limited human collection and depend on intercepting communications to identify terrorists and disrupt plots. Members of the committee, to counter this threat, the men and women at nctc remain vigilant around the clock. We are dedicated to working with partners particularly the fbi and dhs to identify these threats, degrade networks and disrupt plots both at home and abroad. We appreciate the continued support and thank you for this opportunity. We look forward to your questions. Thank you, direct popper i recognize myself for questions. We mentioned theres no specific and credible threat to homeland. Having said that, i dont think ii ive seen the threaten environment. Particularly as it exists overseas with the socalled Islamic State in the levant, weve known about this threat for over year. I dont think it was until the beheadings of the journalists and out in british aid worker that it got the attention of the American People as to what kind of evil we are dealing with. And it has changed popular opinion in terms of driving policy to eliminate a threat that they dont want to see here in the United States. Perpetrate those acts of brutal savagery. And at the same time, you have core al qaeda. And alsaturdwazahiri. And up the ante. What better way do that than attack the west. 15,000 foreign fighters. Over a hundred american u. S. Citizens. Many of these fighters have western passports. So the ease of travel going back and forth obviously concerns Homeland Security officials and the Intelligence Community and the fbi. So first i want to congratulate the fbi on the half a dozen or so arrests that have been made, including two in my backyard in austin. Of individuals traveling, wanting to travel to syria, or those who may have come back. Who could have pulled off a terrorist attack. Then you stop that. But at the same time, im concerned about what you dont know what you dont know. And i dont know what our level of confidence is in terms of who is on the ground, both in the United States and in syria, that could then imply future attack on the United States. And so, my question to the panel, we have seen the florida gentleman left florida, went to syria, came back, went back to syria. A suicide bomber. We saw tam lan come back to the United States virtually undefected to pull off an attack. That the kind of profile that im concerned about and want to stop. What assurances can you give this committee that we will be able to stop that type of foreign travel or foreign fighter from coming back in as a trained jihadist and killing americans, director comey . Thank you, mr. Chairman. It is something that the people at this table and thousands of people we represent work on every single day to try to use our human sources, both here and abroad. And our Technical Resources to try and identify those who want to travel. And our First Mission is to identify those and lock them up before they go. And if they go, keep close tabs on them so we know when they are headed back here so we can interdict them overseas, thats our preference, or lock them up when they arrive. There are thousands of ways to get from the United States to syria and tens of thousands of americans who travel for leg legitimate purposes every single day. So finding those people is what we spend time every single day doing. Im not overly confident of the challenge. [ inaudible ] turn your mic. Thank you. The question of our degree of confidence is one that the three of us talk about. And my impression is from the information we know and the systems that we have in place to track those who travel, attempt to travel, to syria, is from that, i think we have a reasonable degree of confidence. Not a high degree of confidence but a reasonable degree of confidence that we know the numbers and we know who is attempting to travel. The fbi has done a very good job of arresting and prosecuting those who are attempting to least country, as you mentioned. And there was another arrest just yesterday. And we are enhancing our ability to share information in the National Security community of the u. S. Government. And with our allies. And were evaluating ways to potentially limit the travel of those who want to leave this country go to syria and pick up the fight. Thats something were in the midst of doing right now. As i think you know claihairman weve been focused on the fighters for some period of months. In february, i said that syria had become a matter of Homeland Security. Principally because of this issue of foreign fighters. So monitoring, interdicting the travel of those who might want to leave this country and go there is an area of top concern right now. I think you are the first one to say syria poses the greatest threat to the homeland, so i appreciate that. Director olsen . Chairman, i would just add that, this is an effort that begins with good intelligence. So that the better intelligence we can get, particularly looking overseas whoot is traveling into syria, who is seeking to leave syria, the better position would be to imply the various multiple players of screening who were able to prevent those travellers from entering into the United States. And as my colleagues have said, we have been focused on this for many, many months. And the area most encouraged by is the level of attention this is getting with our allies and in europe in particular and how closely we have worked with them to share information and their ability to interdict individuals seeking to travel to syria or from syria. In my limited time, i want to hit on the other threat and thats within the homeland, this idea of homegrown violent extremism. Radicallization from win. I know there were many topics on this last congress bp we have known about this one for a while, in spire magazine. Which came out with a recent edition of page after page of thousand make ied explosives. Thousand make bombs. And this from isis, glossy, in english. It is what i call, when i wrote my my wall street june al op ed, what they call jihad cool. They train, recruit and rad dalize americans in the United States. Not only to bring tlem to syria, but also god for bid to pull off an act of terrorism in the United States. After all, they are already here. I know there is a reseptember announcement on this. Can you tell me, both, mr. Secretary and director, what the fbi and Homeland Security is doing to counter, and nctc for that matter, to counter this homegrown violent extremist. Chairman, the department of Homeland Security for some time now has had programs for outreach into communities in the United States that themselves have the capacity to reach those who might turn to violence. We put that into a separate office that reports directly to the deputy secretary and me to enhance its visibility and enhance as a priority. Our outreach people are all over the country in various different programs and i have personally participated in these outreach programs. I did one in suburban chicago earlier this year with a Syrian American community. And im plan doing another one next week in ohio. I agree with you, that with the literature, and the social media, and ive been through it myself. That heightened the risk of domestic based extremism. Because people can learn tools of Mass Violence through literature, like what you just referenced. And so weve got our engagements. Were stepping it up. The attorney general announced earlier this week a Pilot Project focused on three cities, which were all participating in from dhs. Department of justice, fbi. And so, this is a top priority and were very focused on it. Thanks pup director comey . The only thing i would add on that is the fbi, and working with our state and local partners to find these people and lock them up before they can actually harm somebody. So we are trying to make sure that we are touching communities of interest, that we are in an online way seeing whats going on so we can spot folks, assess them, and take them out of action if they really are a threat. But as weve discussed in a country this big and this free, with the material available, it so clael for us. They are very so fistcated in their social media p. It makes it very difficult. I know the fbi is getting addressive trying to spot that activity. Final, director olsen. Just to add, a fundamental tenant of the strategy we all work on together to counter violent extremism, is the neighborhoods and communities at risk, they are in the best position to identify someone on the path to rad dalization. An important part of this is to give them the tools. The information to understand how magazines like the ones you just showed can influence an individual and be able to work with their state and local law enfons forcement community and federal Law Enforcement commune it to intervene when someone is on that path. Thank you. Times expired. I recognize the Ranking Member. Thank you. Secretary johnson, comments made relative to isil making attempts to enter from our southern border, and can you, for the sake of this committee, indicate whether or not there is any evidence that that has occurred or that anyone has been captured, trying to enter our southern border . Congressman, we see no specific intelligence or evidence to suggest at present that isil is attempting to infiltrate this country through our southern border. And im sure my intelligence colleague could add to that. Having said that, we do need to be vigilant. We do need to be aware of the risk of potential infiltration by isil or any other terrorist group and we have tools in place to monitor that and do that. Thank you. Mr. Olsen . Yes. I agree with secretary johnson. There has been a very small number of sympathizers with isil, posted mess edges on social media about this, but weve seen nothing to indicate that there is any sort of operational effort or plot to infiltrate or move operatives from isil through the into the United States through the southern border. Thank you. Director comey, you talked about cybersecurity bein being upon your return, one of the real threats. This committee has on a bipartisan basis, came together and has promoted what we think is one of the solutions to address many of the vulnerabilities that our cyber framework possess. Can you just enlighten the committee a little more on where you see some of those Cyber Threats coming from . Thank you, mr. Thompson. They come from everywhere. It is sort of a i call it an evil layer cake with nation states at the top. Terrorist groups, International Terror syndicates, activists and thugs, criminals, child abusers and pedophiles. Because our entire world is on the internet, im told soon my sneakers will call my refrigerator to tell the refrigerator that i just went for a run. It runs every bad motive and every bad kind of person that you can imagine, thats where the threat is. Thank you. Secretary, as you know, that legislation would have given dhs the resources and authorities that it needs to perfect and protect civilian networks in critical infrastructure. Do you see that type of legislation being important as we look at this vulnerability. Very much so, congressman. And i appreciate and congratulate you and the chairman and other members of the committee for your leadership in this regard. Im aware that bill that came out of the committee passed the full house and i have spoken to your colleagues in the senate about doing the same on the senate side. I believe it is critical. Ive written an op ed recently on the importance of cybersecurity legislation. There is real bipartisan support in the house, in the senate for cybersecurity legislation and i think it is critical to our National Security. Thank you. Mr. Olsen, with respect to violent extremism, a and to the extent that you can give information this this kind of a setting, have you seen any difference in the recruitment and sophistication of isis or isil in comparison to other terrorist groups . I would say what weve seen from isil is a very sophisticated prop began saturday effort. The types of information they put out on the internet and in particular using social media really exceed the types of propaganda that weve seen from other groups. So certainly that effort has been quite sophisticated and extensive. I think we still are it remains to be seen, the impact of that information on potential recruits. The one fact i could point to is the number of foreign fighters. And the significant number of foreign fighters that have traveled to syria. Again, many of those, not all, but many of them joining isils ranks. So from that perspective, it is obviously a concern that the propaganda is having an impact on individuals. With respect to violent extremism and how we countered it, there is something you see allies doing that maybe we should adopt as we look at how we, as a country, addressed that here . We do work in coordination with our allies, particularly the united kingdom, which has a Strong Program of countering violent extremism and we seek to learn from their lessons. Theyve had more experience with it than we have. Our teams, both fbi and dhs interact regularly in particular our uk colleagues to identify ways to improve our efforts in this regard. Thank you. Yield back, mr. Chair. Chair recognizes mr. King. Thank you. Thank you for holding this meeting. This is extremely timely and appropriate. Thank you mr. Olsen for years of service. It has been a privilege to work with you, matt. Thank you for what youve done. Secretary johnson, have you hit the ground running. Thank you for that. And the visits in new york, it is important to remind people even in new york about the constant Terror Threat we face. Director comey, i think you being here shows the sense of cooperation needed among all of the Terrorism Forces in our country. All of you mentioned that it is not just isis but also the whole panel of al qaeda threats we have to face at qap, core al qaeda itself and others. One group, and im only menging this because it was in the media the last few weeks, the khorasan group. Can you tell us anything about that . Specific organizations i think should be left to a classified setting. I understand that. Ranking member thompson asked the question about working with our allies. Director comey, i would ask you, what are the pluses and minuses of Prime Minister camerons proesal that passports be taken away from people of, in particular countries, that travel to syria. In our case, americans traveling to syria, what are your thought from the fbi perspective of taking away the passports. That is a question bet are answered by secretary johnson. But quickly, it is of interest to us. I met with home secretary as i know secretary johnson did from the uk this week to try and understand better how that is working for them. Among the concerns i would have, is what is the due process i would have in the United States. How i do protect sources and methods. How do we use, if at all, classified information to make the showing that would be necessary. Im interested in any tool that might help us identify and incapacitate these people. But i want to understand the details better. Also, if i could ask, what are the advantages of allowing them back in the country and monitoring them to see what they are in contact with . Or is that too risky . No, a case by case basis. And sometimes it makes sense under limited circumstances. Let somebody back in, cover them very closely to see who they connect with. Sometimes it makes sense to have them come back in the country and lock them up right away. So it is hard to say in the abstract. Okay. Secretary . I agree with the fbi director that suspension of passports should be considered on a case by case basis. The state department has the authority to suspend passports. I also know suspension of passports can be done when the situation warrants in a matter of hours or days. It does not necessarily need to be a lengthy process. And i agree given the current environment that we need to seriously consider limiting certain individuals to travel. Either go from one foreign country another. Or from our country another country. Director olsen . I think this was touched on by the chairman. How concerned are you with al qaeda, isis, as far as getting themselves back in the headlines to reestablish themselves as the number one terrorist force that they would to increase chances of an attack upon the homela im very concerned about that. These groups are in attention for fundra