The chair now recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina, mr. Wilson. On sunday both the fbi and the department of Homeland Security issued warnings to American Military personnel within the United States regarding possible threats from isil. Sadly, this comes after Homeland Security secretary jeh johnson announced, quote, that the president would have no credible information that isis is planning to attack the homeland of the United States, he said this in new york city in front of the council on foreign relations. This incredible statement by secretary johnson, preceded his unconstitutional review of illegal aliens, as a member of this committee as well as chairman of the ampled Services Subcommittee on personnel, im grateful to promote the wellbeing of members and their subcommittee on personnel, im grateful to promote the wellbeing of members and their subcommittee on personnel, im grateful to promote the wellbeing of members and their subcommittee on personnel, im grateful to promote the wellbeing of members and theme subcommittee on personnel, im grateful to promote the wellbeing of members and their families both at home and abroad. National radio talk show host today in her program chose a digital probe, restated the fbi and dhs warnings of isis threats here in america to military families and i look forward to the hearing today on how we can protect American Families from the grotesque threat of persons who seek to conduct mass murder of American Families in our country. Thank you. The chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. Connelly, for one minute. Thank you, mr. Chair, and i would hope that we guard against fasle animalses about syria. Some of the president s loudest critics of course could not quite bring themselves to support his request to retaliate in syria against the use of chemical weapons. And had the president heeded their advice a yearandahalf ago, two years ago, isil today would be better equipped and better trained because it drew that the very insurgents that the president was urging us to arm and train. I think the question is why, what motivates these men and women, especially men to join this barbaric movement. Its a very troubling question for the west and for islam itself. Secondly how are they recruited . Widely reported accounts of the use of social media, very sophisticated. Once its appealed, do we understand it. And finally, what are our options. It seems to me option number one, priority number one, is to preempt or prevent them from getting to syria. Because once they get to syria, we have a whole different set of challenges that require a whole different set of answers. So im looking forward to exploring those questions in todays hearing. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank the gentleman. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Cook, for one minute. Thank you, mr. Chairman. You know, its a sad commentary on whats going on in the world right now. Just when you think you put down one terrorist group, theres another one that rises from the ashes and its something that underscores the fact that we must stay ever vigilant and quite frankly, we have to have a military that doesnt have its budget cut to the bone and is what is called a c1 readiness. Because you never know whats going to happen tomorrow. I have been on this planet a long time. Ted, i saw that smirk on your face. And its probably, in my opinion, the world is probably most dangerous it has ever been since i have been involved in those things. Ive been in combat, been in war and now you strive to go forward and make the world safe, not only for your country, but for your kids and your grandchildren. So thank you for having this hearing, i think this is something we cannot fall asleep on and as i said earlier, we got to be ever vij lentz. We got to find out whats going on. I appreciate our folks joining us to give us an update. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. The chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. Higgins for his opening statement. The rapid conquest of a territory covering large portions of syria and iraq is in part owed to the prolific recruitment of foreign fighters, which is now in excess of 16,000, nearly half of the islamic states fighting force. Consequently the integral part of the strategy to degrade and destroy isis must be an effective plan too stem the flow of foreign fighters who not only add to the islamic states fighting strength but to also represent a serious Terror Threat when they return to their countries of origin. Of greatest concern are the roughly 2,000 foreign fighters originating in western countries, many of which would not need visas to enter the United States or europe. Until it can be properly addressed, the islamic states proficient use of social media and other mediums to continue to facilitate the recruitment and selfradicalization of these individuals. Countering these threats will require constant vigilance and enhanced coordination with our allies. I look forward to todays discussion with our witnesses and i yield back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. Thank you, mr. Chairman. On both committees to which i serve, thank you for holding this committee and to our witnesses, thank you for being here. Were bombing isis. Thats good. I wish we had started that back in january when there was only a few thousand of them. Today we are playing a lot of catchup. I recently got back from iraq a month and a half, two months ago. When i left if 09 as a pilot in the military the war was won. When i went back just a few months ago it was very devastating to see. I hope we begin to hear from this administration a strategy for syria. I echo what a lot of people have said. 200,000 dead syrians today, many of which are women and children, by the evil dictatorship of bashar al assad, which is no protector of christianity. He is an evil, bad person and the incubator of isis. The reason this rebellion exists, the reason people would even be attracted is they see isis, some people see them as the best alternative to assad. So i think it is important for us to plusup the fsa and protect them as we allow them to clear their own country out of isis. So hopefully well begin to hear that from to the administration, its been a few years, but maybe well catch some good news here soon and i yield back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from rhode island for his opening statements. Thank you, mr. Chairman and ranking members deutsche and sherman for holding todays hearing on this very important issue. The continuing threat that isil poses to International Stability is a serious concern of the United States and our allies. Addressing that threat with the comprehensive and carefully developed and thoughtful strategy must be a top priority of u. S. Foreign policy. Its our responsibility to develop a response to isils insurgency in iraq and syria that ensures all options and their consequences are kwarfully considered. Even as the administration ramps up its response with a 5. 6 billion request from the president , isil continues to attract foreign fighters, including foreign fighters from western countries. We must do all we can to stop this flow of foreign fighters into the region. As part of this effort we must examine how and why isil has successfully engaged foreign fighters and how the United States can best restrict isils access to additional fighting personnel and battle resources. I look forward to hearing the perspective of the witnesses that weve assembled on these person issues. With that i yield back, and thank you, mr. Chairman. Are there any other members on the majority side . The chair recognizes the gentlelady from florida, miss frankle, for one minute. Thank you very much for being here. I have to confess just a little bit of uneasiness of really what we should be doing with isil. But there are two issues that have been floating around in my mind that ill try to articulate, just based on some things i have read or heard and i would like to get your reaction as you go forward. One to pick up on my colleague who talked about al assad and hundreds of thousands of his own people that hes slaughtered. And causing such a many of them, thousands, to flee into owe countries such as turkey, destabilizing those countries. And there are some who willcy that isil is the enemy, the fiercest fighter against assad. So one question i would have is how do you balance going after isil, and then do youn7 outreach and community engagement. Secretary johnson is personally participating in Community Meetings in chicago, columbus, minneapolis, and los angeles that focus onuz f Community Cons and Building Trust and counter violent extre extremism. Seventh, information sharing within the u. S. Government. Dhs and our interagency partners evaluate threat data and ensure relevant information reaches dhs personnel in the field, as well as our state, local, tribal and territorial partners. Dhs, jointly with the fbi, released joint intelligence bulletins to provide context and background for them to use. Dhs and our interagency partners work continually to share information with each other about possible foreign fighters. Plp chairman, mad chairman, since 9 11 dhs and our partners in the Intelligence Community have vastly improved the fla nations ability to detect and disrupt terrorist plots. We ask for your support as we continue to adapt to emerging threats and improve our ability to keep our nation safe. Thank you very much. Were happy to answer your questions. Ill recognize myself for five minutes for some questions. The United States is conducting air strikes. How have u. S. Air strikes affected the flow of foreign fighters into syria . If it has. Perhaps a question that might be better addressed to some of our colleagues in the Intelligence Community but my sense looking at the numbers is that its hard to say at this point that what the impact is. It is relatively soon after these strikes have taken place. The numbers that we monitor, the numbers that we track are estimates at best, and so, again, i think its probably early to determine precisely what the impact is. Its obviously something, again, that our Intelligence Community is looking at, and its possible that in a classified briefing they might be able to give you their assessment. Again, from my perspective, the numbers, again, can vary for a variety of reasons. Sometimes its because we get better information from our partners. And that results in an increase in the estimate. So we dont know if its effective or not . I would say that if the issue is effective in reducing the flow of foreign fighters i would say at this point i would want to see more evidence before i come to a conclusion. Mr. Warrick do you have a different answer . No. There is an answer to that question but i think it needs to be delivered in a classified setting. Turkey seems to me, appears to be to be a complicit, to some extent of allowing foreign fighters to flow through turkey into syria. Would you weigh in on your opinion of what the government of turkey, their position is on foreign fighters going through turkey into syria . Ambassador, you be first. Mr. Chairman, turkey is a very important partner of ours in the region. We share a very important common interest with them. We have a shared interest in seeing a political settlement in syria, that removes assad. We have a shared interest in combatting the terrorist organizations that are operating in syria and iraq. We have a shared interest in dealing with the humanitarian crisis and also shared interest in promoting stability in iraq. I understand that. Thats not my question. My question is the government of turkey complicit in allowing foreign fighters to go through their country and fight for isil . I was trying to explain someu of the perspective on this problem, sir. The turks have more than a million refugees inside turkey. Turks have a 900 kilometer border. Ive been to one of those syrian camps. Theres 37 million tourist arrivals in turkey every year. 37 million. We believe turkey and weve had an extensive dialogue on this issue for some time is taking steps trying to deal with the flow of foreign fighters. Turks have added a considerable number of names to their denied entry list. Turks are working with us in trying to cut off the flow of funding that might come from oil sales to the foreign terrorist organizations. Isnt turkey buying oil from isil that eventually comes to turkey from isil . Theres considerable traffic we have discussed with the turks across the border. Again the latest information the turks are taking steps to try to deal are they buying oil from isis . If youre saying is the tu turkish government buying oil, no. Are they smuggling across the border, yes. Were trying to cut off working with the turks. The other thing i would mention is sharing of information with turkey. Were seeing much better information sharing with turkey with the United States and also with our European Partners. They are not complicit. Thats my question. Are they not xlos sit . My answer is they are not complicit. C . My answer is they are not complicio . My answer is they are not complicim . My answer is they are not complicip . My answer is they are not complicil . My answer is they are not complicii . My answer is they are not complicic . My answer is they are not complicii . My answer is they are not complicit . My answer is they are not complicit. Social media, we know, obvious recruitment is being done in a very effective manner, appears through social media. Theres the argument by some in our Law Enforcement agency not to shut down social media because thats how they track and keep up with terrorist organizations and individuals. What is your opinion on that . Doing more or less or leaving it alone, this issue of all of social media, how its effective in track iing in recruiting of terrorists to join isil. Should we be proactive to try to shut that down network, legally, of course. Or should we just do as Law Enforcement says, we want to watch this to see where these guys are going. Whats your opinion on that, ambassador and then ill get mr. Warrick and then that will be it. The issue of freedom of the internet, freedom of expression on the internet goes well beyond my responsibilities. We clearly watch very closely the use of the internet by these organizations. We have a dialogue with the service providers. In cases where the posts that are being used, used on social media accounts is perhaps, in our view contrary to the terms of service. So, again, this is a complex question, its a complicated question, goes well beyond my responsibilities. Certainly any use of the internet for illegal activities such as fundraising or incitement to violence is something we would take strong legal action against. But there are gray areas here of the use of internet and social media and the question is how one responds to that. I think we also believe that if you shut down one site you shut down one account, the chances of that popping back up somewhere else are quite high and quite great. So the other tool we use is counter messaging ourselves through the center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications that was mentioned earlier, we try to put out counter messaging on social immediate area on the internet to push back in that way rather than simply try to take down the message they are putting out. Mr. Warrick, ill let you put that in writing since were out of time. I have to recognize the ranking member, mr. Sherman for his five minutes. Thank you. First let me clarify a statement in made towards the end of my opening statement. The state department has thousands of experts in american law. You dont particularly need more. We also have experts in international law. Those experts help us persuade western countries of the righteousness of our positions. I have been pushing on the state department for, i think the better part of a year, to hire an expert in islamic law. And the response i get is, well we hope islamic jurists will issue statements that are helpful to us and well just call them and ask them to come up with something on their own, or now and then well call a professor of islamic law, well get all the information and we dont need to hire anybody. So i animal guys that to what you would do if you were trying to persuade an american jurist. Would you contact an american jurist and just say, ply cause is just. Please come up with the legal theories that support me . Would you just rely on hiring whatever free advice you could get from a professor on the phone . Or would with you hire somebody who is an expert in american law to try to get an american jurist to try to issue a statement helpful to you. It is incredibly important that we get islamic scholars, experts and jurists to issue rulings adverse to isis and favorable to the United States. It is about time that the state department hire its first islamic legal expert to work full time on that. Maybe a couple. And its time that at least somebody be hired at the state department not because they went to a fancy american school, or because they did well on the Foreign Service exam. Mr. Ambassador, Security Council resolution 2178 requires u. N. Members to criminalize those who go to syria and iraq to fight with the extremists. Have our european allies, particularly visa waiver countries, complied with that . If i may just comment briefly on your first point on islamic lawyers, islamic scholars. Can i ask the ambassador to move the mic closer to him. I have limited time so ill ask you to address my question first. About resolution 2178 from the ÷ we have asked our partners and european agencies to engage with these countries on implementing 2178. Can you provide for the record a list of which visa waiver countries are in compliance, which have promised to become in compliance and which are not in compliance that have no very serious promise to us . Weve had two months since the resolution was passed. Legislative process is many countries not just us. Im just asking for a chart. I would be happy to provide a list of countries. R5k÷ their legislative process