percolate over the next several months. but the real actions were not expected to see until after the november elections in the lame-duck section -- session. >> host: follow follows follow his reporting of the hill.com. thanks for the update. >> guest: thank you. >> in a and a few moments of fbi director robert mueller testifies on capitol hill. and a little more than two hours, the medal of our honor ceremony for a soldier killed in the vietnam war. >> fbi director robert mueller today confirmed that the bureau is investigating who leaked information about the al qaeda bomb plot targeting u.s. bound flight. the director told the senate judiciary committee that such leaks during ongoing law enforcement operations and

damaged u.s. relationships with foreign partners. this oversight hearing is a little more than two hours. >> okay, director, these photographers are all good people. i'm told by my son-in-law, who used to work with them, and of course i have a certain amount of jealousy because they have a job that i really wanted to have, except that they are a lot better at it than i would be. so i had to take the senate as a second choice. [inaudible conversations]

so, senator grassley, senator hastert and senator klobuchar are here. is appropriate that we welcome director robert mueller of the federal bureau of investigation back to the committee during national police week. the national peace offers memorial service with president obama at the capital yesterday as were others and one of the things he talked about, or several of us did, every year we are loosing too many fine law enforcement officers in the line of duty. it is a matter that is of great concern to me and it would be one thing if they were all being targeted by a particular organization but that doesn't seem to be the thing that these are disconnected, happening in

all parts of the country. we are losing far too many police officers. i know director mueller is keenly aware of their sacrificet those people that protect us and the hard-working men and women of the fbi who work everyday every day to keep us safe, just as i made a point to thank the police officers here on capitol hill to keep us safe, but i worry about their safety too. in the years since september 11 the fbi has paid an increasingly important role in our nation's counterterrorism intelligence gathering efforts together with prosecutors and other law enforcement earners and the intelligence community. the fbi has contained hundreds of convictions in our federal courts. earlier this month for example a federal jury in the guard handed down a guilty verdict in one of

the most serious terrorism plots since nine 9/11 which involves suicide bombings and in a new york subway in 2009. i might say contrary to the predictions of some, this major terrorism trial proceeded without a hitch and a federal court in the heart of new york city. there was hardly any disruption in the lives of new yorkers who live and work at the courthouse. the defendant was convicted without the need for mandatory military interrogation. certainly without the need of indefinite detention guantánamo bay or elsewhere. it's going to be -- is going to be sentenced later this year and he faces life imprisonment. it's only the latest example and there are many many of them of federal law enforcement prosecutors and criminal courts successfully investigating and trying terrorism cases.

the christmas day bomber, the time square bomber cometh convicted sentenced to life in prison. after the fbi used its expertise and experience to obtain statements after giving miranda warnings and all of that without resorting to -- and calling on a great deal of information, some of which we cannot go into an open session. and contrast the military commission receiving up to -- are just beginning at guantánamo bay. and we know there's going to be lengthy litigation concerning torture and mistreatment. the trials won't start until sometime next are unlike those trials that have already been completed and people are being sentenced. moreover as dr. -- director mueller pointed out in the defense authorization bill mandating military cuts in the situation merely hampers the fbi's ability to react swiftly

and flexibly in gathering intelligence and evidence. it is one of the reasons why i've joined senator mark udall in cosponsoring the due process detention amendment act, which would repeal the mandatory military detention requirement. also i want to to speak with the director about the administrations request for reauthorization of fisa. i certainly appreciate the importance of providing the intelligence committee with appropriate surveillance to help protect our country against terrorist threats. we have to be sure we are conducting a sufficient oversight to ensure that we protect the privacy rights and civil liberties of law-abiding americans. that is why i try to reauthorize certain provisions in the usa patriot act and i'm disappointed common sense bipartisan improvements were ultimately -- as congress considers the menstruations request to reauthorize the fisa amendment act, i will look at whether we

should have accountability, privacy or were limiting protections in various parts of it. now with facing the daunting security challenges dr. mollohan is insured the fbi maintain its historic focus on fighting crime. at a time of economic crises and shrinking state and local enforcement budgets, many expect violent crimes to skyrocket and instead card crime rates across the country of continued to decline along with the commitment by the president of congress to continue federal assistance to state and local law enforcement. the dedicated service of the fbi agents that the country is played an important role in keeping these crime rates low and keeping americans safe. the fbi and the justice department work hand-in-hand with us to make great strides towards more effective fraud prevention and enforcement. the last congress worked on both republican and democratic senators to draft and pass and

enforcement recovery act, the most expansive anti-fraud legislation actually more than a decade. we enacted anti-fraud provisions as well as the affordable care act and wall street reform legislation. i must say director i'm pleased to see the fbi is greatly increase the number of agents investigating crime -- fraud and in the advantage of recovering money but also has to have a great deterrent effect. these new agents and laws have led to record recoveries, it increased arrests and convictions. i commend the fbi for also continuing to combat corruption. we should pass the common sense bipartisan legislation to protect taxpayers act and the public corruption prosecution improvements act to give you

more tools to fight this. director while my voice is still working with all the pollins in the air, i will yield to senator grassley. >> chairman leahy, thank you, at thank you director mueller for coming. the chairman paid tribute to police week so i won't repeat those words but i certainly agree with everything the chairman said. it has been six months since our last hearing on a housekeeping matter. the fbi has been improving response time for our requests for information that there is still too long of a wait for some written responses and yesterday afternoon we received some answers to questions for the record from six months ago when the director testified. i want to know what efforts the fbi has undertaken to investigate the serious and

grave national security leaks around the recently revealed operation in yemen. national security leaks have unfortunately become the norm with far too much sensitive information being leaked about ongoing operations. they are dangerous and have grave consequences. they threaten sensitive sources and endanger life, and complicate relationships with our allies, so i hope to hear from the director what the fbi is doing to investigate that we can bring people to justice. next, there are a couple of pressing national security policy matters that we need to address in the senate. as the director pointed out in written testimony, fisa amendment act expires at the end of the year. this critical national security tool means we have reauthorize and i would like to hear from the director about the urgency in pushing that reauthorization. the communication assistance law

enforcement act is important. we have been waiting patiently for the administration to put forth a proposal with necessary fixes to ensure that going dark problem is addressed. this needs to be addressed in a correct manner. there's a lot of misinformation on this issue floating around and the sooner we have a proposal the sooner we can work to dispel those misconceptions. for starters, it is not a plan from the government to take over the internet or other mediums. him waltz compliance with valid lawfully issued court orders. simply, it is about ensuring that when a court issues an order, law enforcement can obtain the information that the court authorizes. i want the director to give us the status on this proposal and what the administration plans to send something up to the hill. another critical national security issue to address is

cybersecurity. the houses passed for separate bills in this area. there are a number of other bills pending before the senate. while a lot of attention has been focused on differences between these bills, all the proposals recognize the need to strengthened their cybersecurity defenses. where they differ is how to do it so i hope the director director can fill us in on concerns that i have with proposals that create new bureaucracies to deal with cybersecurity. i will ask the director about the danger of compartmentalizing cybersecurity related threat information and whether such efforts would lead to reconstituting the wall between national security and criminal matters. the fbi continues to handle a significant caseload of traditional criminal matters. one matter of concern is the

recent report by "the washington post" about the number of cases where individuals may have been convicted aced upon all the fbi mine lab reports. this issue dates back to the 1990s, when i conducted oversight work on the fbi crime lab, when they spent $1 million to settle with a whistleblower, built a new lab. i'm interested in what is concerning me is that the recent reports indicate that the justice department reviewed these cases may have been incomplete and the defendants in cases may not have been notified about the problem. it is troubling, however what is even more troubling is that it appears the justice department never made public the findings of the report or does it appear these findings were reported to congress. given the high-profile problems with disclosing exculpatory

evidence and serious misconduct by the fbi and doj officials in the prosecution of senator stevens, this report has raised a number of questions. i want to hear from the director what he has done as part of this review and what is being done to address these cases. time permitting, there are a number of other topics. i remain concerned that whistleblowers at the fbi base retaliation and clearing their names. names. just yesterday we received written responses from the director and his last appearance where he addressed the long-running whistleblower cases of turner and copious. these cases have languished at the justice department for many years despite clear findings of retaliation for protecting whistle-blowing. nearly 10 years in the turner case and 44 company this. obviously i'm disappointed in

the rectors written answers and they fail to answer the basic question about when these matters will come to an and and are chock full of legalese. they do nothing to bring closure to these matters, which i consider a black eye for the bureau and in fact one response states that the director cannot answer because of the ongoing litigation so no, the litigation is only ongoing because the fbi continues to repeal the case. at some point the fbi needs to own up to the retaliation and to end these cases. that is something within the director's power, something he could and should do immediately. finally, i want to take of the director for his candor and answering one of my written questions about the f. de-ice attempt to over classified memorandum provided to us and a rare admission of policy written questions noted that the fbi erroneously stamped the memo to the congress as quote sensitive security information unquote under the code of federal regulations. at first glance the stamp

appears to limit disclosure of the memo, however a closer look revealed the fbi was attempting to reclassify the memo using the authority to reserve it for the administrator of tsa and secretary of transportation. while we in congress understand the need to properly classify certain information, this was an example of an overreach that is made us cynical about overclassification of material so i'm very happy that the fbi owned up to this erroneous classification but worried that it may signal a greater problem. i look forward to addressing these topics. thank you very much. speechwriter mueller, please go ahead. >> good morning and thank you chairman leahy and ranking member grassley and members of the committee. i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee dam most and most particularly for your continued support for the men and women of the fbi. as you have pointed out the bureau has undergone unprecedented change in recent

years. since the attacks of september 11 we have refocused our efforts to address and prevent emerging terrorist threats which are more diverse than they were 10 years ago. we also face increasingly complex threats to our nation's cybersecurity and nation-state actors, organized criminal groups and hackers for hire are stealing trade secrets and valuable research from america's colleges, america's companies and their government agencies. of course we must also combat the investment fraud, health care fraud, mortgage fraud that has undermined the world financial system and victimized investors, homeowners and taxpayers. and while crime may be down nationwide, as you pointed out, mr. chairman, gang violence still plagues far too many neighborhoods. to combat these threats we in the bureau are relying on our law enforcement and private sector partners for that effort. throughout these efforts the fbi remains thoroughly committed to

carrying out their mission our mission while protecting the civil liberties of the citizens we serve. let me begin with the threat of terrorism which doesn't still remains our top priority. al qaeda is decentralized, but the group is committed to high-profile high-profile attacks against the west. as we confirm from the documents seized from osama bin laden a year ago. meanwhile al qaeda affiliates, especially al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, represent the top counterterrorism threat to the nation. aqap has attempted several attacks on the united states in 2009 and 2010. we are currently exploiting an ied seized overseas which is similar to explosive devices used by aqap in the past. we also remain concerned about the threat from homegrown violent extremists. these individuals have no typical profile. their experience and motives are

often distinct which make them difficult to find and difficult to stop. that may me turn next to counterintelligence. while we still confront additional s.b. notch, today's spies are students, researchers, business people or operators of front companies. they seek not only state secrets but also trade secrets, intellectual property and insider information from government, businesses and american universities. we are also seeing a growing insider threat. that is when employees use their legitimate access to steal secrets for the benefit of another company or another country. and of course the counterintelligence is now merging with the cyberthreat. so much sensitive data is stored on computer networks and our efforts are more effective to steal secrets through cyberintrusions. we at the fbi hit built up a

substantial expertise to address the cyberthreats both here, at home and abroad. we have cybersquads in each of our 56 field offices with more than 1000 trained agents, analysts analyst and forensic specialists. and we have 63 legal attaché offices that cover the globe that also assist in addressing this threat. finally the national cyberinvestigative joint task force brings together 20 law enforcement, military and intelligence agencies to stop the current and predict future cyberattacks. next let me address our efforts to combat financial crimes. the fbi and its partners continue to focus on the financial executives who have committed security and other frauds. since 2009 and 2011 there've been more than 254 executive charged with corporate fraud. last year alone the fbi investigation led to more than 1100 convictions for mortgage

fraud. in addition over the past four years we have nearly tripled the number special agents investigating mortgage fraud and other white-collar frauds. amongst them is health care fraud. health care spending currently makes up about 18% of our nation's total economy, which presents an attractive target for criminals. so much so that we lose tens of billions of dollars each year to health care fraud. has announced two weeks ago the fbi, hhs and the justice department continue to bring number -- a. reppert -- record number of cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars in medicare fraud. indeed since their inception in march of 2007, medicare fraud strikeforce obligations in nine locations have charged more than 1300 defendants who have built the medicare program of nearly $4 billion.

crime on our streets remains as much to her threat to overcall security as tataris, espionage or cybercrime. the most recent uniform crime report does indicate violent crime continues to fall but as we all know, this is not represent every community. some cities and towns across the nation, violent crimes including gang activity continues to pose a real problem. we also continue to the front organized crime. today's organized crime operates multinational, multibillion dollar schemes. everything from human trafficking to health care fraud and from computer intrusions to intellectual property theft. the fbi remains vigilant in its efforts to keep children safe and to stop child predators. there are child abduction rapid deployment teams, our office of victim assistance in numerous community outreach programs. the fbi and its partners are working to make the world a

safer place for our children. chairman leahy and ranking member crassly i thank you for the opportunity to discuss the fbi's priorities and the transformation the d.i. has made over the past 10 years without of impossible without your support. i would be happy to answer any questions you might have. >> director, before we came in here, you and i discussed the question of forensics and as you

know "the washington post" recently reported their review of potential errors by fbi forensic experts revealed hundreds in the 80's and 90s but many of these mistakes were not disclosed by the people or their defense attorneys. the post reported the review is very narrow and the evidence, despite questions about techniques of life personnel. now, we have had a lot of attention in this committee over the years and but in both parties about the predecessor who said these problems have been corrected but what actions have been taken? do you have a way to ensure that all questionable evidence is

retested and other ways of making sure that notification is made so that nobody remains in jail based on faulty evidence? >> mr. chairman, there was a review done previously back that culminated in 2004 which covered covered -- headed by the justice department and of course we participated and cooperated in that review. of the 13 with the subject of that review only one was a hair and fiber analysts. indications that some of those examiners who examined a particular hair, they may have overstated the import of their examinations. the justice department with ourselves contributing are going back to look at one of the universe of persons they have uncovered by these examiners, which cases may have had occasion where the examiners testified and did overstate the

import of their examinations and to do whatever notifications are appropriate given that review. at this point in time we are not certain exactly what the universe will be but we are working to determine that universe and make certain that we go back and identify those cases that need further review. the only other thing i would add is that 1996, prior to 1996 we did not have dna but in 1996 we developed a mitochondrial dna examination which thereafter, was done in conjunction with any hair and fiber examination that we had conducted. >> it's not just the dna and i realized that we have new techniques coming up all the time. i just wanted to make sure that we are doing that the best possible way because whether it

is federal prosecutors are state prosecutors, they are relying on something other yet he i testimony, we don't want to come back later on and have to say wait a minute, this just didn't work because that is going to put in doubt prosecutions and everything else everywhere else. so i introduced criminal justice and forensic deterrent format. forensics reform that included research and standards. would that be something that might help? >> i know that there is discussion about the standardization of forensics. we have some substantial role in that now. my expectation is, whatever the administration comes out with, and i know it is looking at certain proposals, my expectation is we will continue to play a substantial role in perhaps contributing to the

standards when it comes to forensics work. >> i assure you i agree -- i am sure you agree. i am sure you agree with me that when the government has experts testifying, that testimony, especially on things from a scientific nature, the testimonies are the best possible. >> absolutely. >> the questions of the eyewitness and things like that, that is all subjective but there are certain things that should be objective and we shouldn't have to go back afterwards and say, did that really work that way? i am sure you agree with that. >> i do agree with that in to the extent the new forensics testing such as dna when it comes on is far more specific and accurate we immediately adopted. in this particular case we need to go back and look at the

universal cases that predated the use of the dna and determine whether additional notifications need to be made. >> please give this committee posted as you go through that review. you and i talked yesterday before the national peace officers memorial service about the number of people, the number of police officers who have been killed nationwide, 122 in 209,134 and 2010 and 163 and 2011. this is a very troubling trend. i continue to work with a bullet proof vest grant program and i've been told by police departments all over the country that it has saved a lot of lives. i am hopeful that this committee will reauthorize it tomorrow. i also understand domestic violence situations are posing special risks to officers.

.. many of the confrontations are a lot closer than perhaps they were in the past and often date and local law enforcement follower of the money comes to firearms practices. secondly, we have what we call a

violent offender alerts us to break ncic agent or not stairsteps sunday the amid the two determined their history, there would be an indication that individual, but suspect or person has a violent history. so though put the detaining officer or agent on alert that this is something special you have to be aware of. >> i'll accept the invitation to come down and see the new firearms training. lastly you testified before for the need for law-enforcement keeping pace with the developments of communication technology and someone. we have the communication assistance for one person in a digest it back in the 90s so i suggest a dating at.

depressor words require internet service providers, other online services to make the products amenable to government and the recent published reports about draft proposal circulated not that the administration is not sitting there. can you be expecting a specific legislative proposal from the f. e. i was the administration in your future? >> i believe the way. i do believe the characterization is somewhat of a distortion of what our needs are. as was pointed out by ranking member grassley, we look at -- go to court, make the showing of probable cause that there is a need to capture communications with a particular individual that the judge is going to order.

what we are seeking is the ability to enforce that order and be able to tame those communications. what we are looking at is some form of legislation that will assure that when we get the appropriate court order, those individuals and companies are served without order to have the capability and capacity to respond to that order. >> i think will clear up confusion if we can see a proposal at the administration. i would urge the administration to get back before us. senator grassley. >> i had a lead-in to my first question i'm going to skip, but it goes back to except with the first question the chairman asked. do you know why the justice department did not go and fight defense counsel and each face of the task force's banging? >> i am not certain exactly with specificity what the procedures

were back in 2004. i have to get back to you on that. it was not notified in the circumstances under which the decision was made. >> at the justice department shared records about the notification went you the prosecutor? panic i have to check on that. i'm not sure. >> well, i hope there's one area where we should all agree with this one, that defense counsel are to be notified and other information that might err on the case. chairman leahy, i'd like to bring public accountability to this process you say you and i were together in the army crime lab issue a while ago. my next issue to secure airplane, but not curious that the airplane. it's a sensitive issue, so it's not about you. last month he associated press reported that secretary panetta

with 870,000 personal travel to california used a government land in accordance with omb policy commander reimbursing the department for the attorney general utilizing fda aircraft for official and personal travel. i also understand the fbi has cherished for the strips along with other traits the attorney general tape on non-fbi aircraft such as dod and faa plans. does the see attorney general use fbi aircraft for both business and personal travel? >> is required to use fbi -- not necessarily fbi, but it's required to use government aircraft facilities in continuous contact communications. >> does the fbi charged the attorneys general use at the fbi on budget or the attorney

general some travel budget? >> it goes against our budget, but i'd have to check on that. the intricacies of the billing between the department of justice and the security of attorney general and have to get back to you on. >> then the question comes come away with the fbi be paying for this? >> i have to look at that. this is historical. we are responsible for his security wherever he is and whatever particular point in time and whatever transportation he uses. and how that is specifically built i will have to go and check on. >> it is my understanding according to my friend on my left ear that this may have been a policy going back prior to this administration. i still think the information. then he will appeal to answer this, but i'm interested in the costs so include that in your answer to me. according to information

providing the fbi admits had to lease a private plane because the fbi chat with reserve for the senior justice department officials. >> the attorney general department of justice understands these plans are first for investigative work. they are used for counterterrorism, criminal cases and many traveled the principles of secondary to the use of the plane for the investigative work of the fbi. >> i look forward to your responses. no one national security leaks, the fbi has reported the open investigation into leaks about the recent underwear bomb operation. it is my understanding the information of his late to have compromised the of cia and the partners to use same sources and methods for similar operation in the future. i'm particularly concerned attack decks are leaked for

political gain is facing the past with the authorized leaks in the white house about the operation to kill osama bin laden. do you agree with me that this leak was damaging to our national security to fight terrorism? >> well, let me start by saying we have initiated an investigation into this leak and also affirm that they think you indicated before that, leak such as this that ongoing operations puts at risk the lives of sources and makes it much more difficult to recruit sources and damages relationships with foreign partners and consequently only click this is taken exceptionally seriously. >> okay. i guess you've answered the questionnaire. but the last point she made was appointed by gina made. so i guess regardless of political consequences, i hope we get to the bottom of this.

our international partners have been wary of cooperate with us in the wake of a wikileaks affair in which our ability to keep the confidence severely damaged. but if they exceeded the links in this case will have on our ability to work with allies and combating terrorism? >> my hope is they will have minimal impact and i know that there are discussions going on with partners overseas to make certain that whatever impact areas is minimized and precautions put into place said that in the future doesn't happen again. >> director mueller companies identified terrorism as one of the main priorities. in your written statement for this hearing you identified fisa amendments as an important part. you encourage the authorization of the faa and your colleagues in the administration and attorney general holder has sent letters and legislative

proposals to accomplish that. i agree with you about the value of the faa tools and i support the clean authorization faa. could you please describe exactly why the faa is so valuable? what authority does it provide that other statutes don't? >> well, it basically provides authority for intelligence agencies and conversations overseas between persons overseas and non-us citizens. that is tremendously important to our ability to analyze and predict threats against the united states overseas, but also the united states homeland itself. absent that, we would in the dark when it comes to identifying individuals and

threats from numerous countries overseas that harper will land me they are unwilling laypersons who want to do us harm. look a gift and their najibullah zazi case, which has been described by the chairman that was recently concluded in convictions in new york as the case that benefited dramatically from the benefits of the faa. many of the other part of this would have discussed in a closed session. >> could i have just one short follow-up? a two-part follow-up. is it critical reauthorized faa this either and is there sufficient oversight checks and balances to secure the rights of u.s. citizens? >> yes, it needs to be tendency are coming so we are not in

limbo as we have been in the past awaiting legislation and hopefully not having to be carried for a month or so. it's important that we get it all together quickly. with the second part of the question? >> is there sufficient oversight sets of u.s. citizens being protected? >> i do believe there is. the inspector general's offices there. defendants and also, the intelligence committees as low as 50 command in terms of giving oversight to this particular program. and to assure that to the extent one can that it is focused on those individuals who are communicating overseas and who are not u.s. citizens. >> senator kohl.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. director mueller, i'd like to thank you for your work to keep up in la crosse, wisconsin at the satellite office and i see no have been slated for closure. this visual that the fbi to do a better job that protect in western wisconsin and continued the strong local and federal one person a partnership they are. i appreciate the willingness to be attentive to the interest on this issue. director mueller, as we all know this is national police week and yesterday we honored officers who made the sacrifice in the dozens of names added to the national enforcement officers craig burkle said the final wisconsin police department. as remember the sacrifices of the brave men and women, we need to ensure the enforcement officers have the federal support and resources they need to keep our communities safe. director mueller, at a house hearing you say because of the tac alignment and priority

towards commentaries than unlimited resources, the fbi will have to prioritize in other areas and particularly in the criminal area to assess her. could you elaborate a bit on that comment? >> yes, i actually think the question was directed on the impact of sequestration on the bureau. i think the question was something along the lines of what impact would sequestration have on the bureau and how will you handle it? to which my response was double cut across all of the programs. it actually will -- we'll have to take a 7% 20% cut across the boards and when we do that we have to prioritize. and the priorities we have on counterterrorism, counterintelligence come espionage is number two in

cyberor three top national security. you cannot in the cyberrealm they are. so you have to look for coverage and cut in the criminal programs. we would end up doing it i do not now, but one has to prioritize. we will do something in the neighborhood of 1500 personnel to sequestration goes through. there'll be several hundreds of agents. almost a thousand analysts and almost 900 professional staff. it will be a very hard hit. but my answer is in response to a question about what would happen if sequestration follows. >> how hard they hit well at the in your judgment with respect to your ability to do the job that the fbi is required to do? >> well, they will be gaps in what we're going to do. we'll probably have to ratchet back in a white-collar criminal program. they've got a thousand stages

now looking at health care fraud, mortgage fraud, securities fraud, corporate fraud. be well in terms of addressing gang violence around the country, we probably will have to cut back in terms of our task force is. i believe since september 11 has been to maximize their capabilities when we work in the context of task force is have hundreds of established -- the straight taskforces where we have one or two agents, but we leverage our capabilities for state and local law enforcement and we have to cut back in these areas and that will have i believe an impact on this communities that do not have the capabilities of the bureau leverage the state and local law enforcement to address violent crime on our streets. >> director maller, last month al qaeda in yemen throughout the

u.s. bound airplane with a sophisticated explosive device. for showing the would-be bomber was actually informed that working for saudi arabian intelligence and the cia. this is a chinese victory for the united states intelligence and were able to unravel a major terrorist plot recovered by the newly device that can obtain valuable intelligence. but there appears to be a question as to whether the explosive device would've been detected by the current airport security screening. even if far more sophisticated body scanners are able to detect it, not all domestic airport analyst at international with u.s. envoy in place use them. what are counterterrorism officials including the fbi doing to ensure that these types of devices don't make it onto airplanes? >> let me start by saying in this session i cannot affirm the product for the question. i understand the question with regard to the device. what we are doing is working

with tsa in particular to ensure that any information we have, which would guarantee a say in the department of homeland security to pick up devices is in the hands so we can make certain we have the capability of alerting on these devices should another one appeared. >> director maller, while congress remains at the center of a number one priority the fbi visceral and protecting american innovation and businesses from a serious threat of trade secret past and economic espionage and which cost businesses billions of dollars a year to see the relative divisions of justice department guys found 29% and the last year. the big jump in the investigation suggests the problem has been greater than we previously thought. given the increase of investigation and the threat to

american businesses, jobs and our economy, do you have the needed resources to continue to step up enforcement of economic espionage and trade secrets act. can we expect to see an increase in this investigation and prosecutions. >> increase in prosecutions follows personnel. we have now are 50 individuals who are focused solely on these particular cases. we quite obviously have to prioritize the case is weak tackle. one of the major ones last year was an uploaded to take down the list along with individuals in new zealand. we are focusing and utilizing them to focus on the most egregious cases that we find and particularly those cases, which could resort and harm in persons if there are false or

inadequately manufactured products that are being sold. going back to your point is visit a huge area? i can't report to say we are making a huge impact on it. but take additional resources. we will people up and engage in the same activity. >> senator hatch. >> thank you, mr. chairman. bochum, mr. dürer. -- book on dirt. you were confirmed by the senate in september 2001. your tenure term is set to expire in september 4, 2011. is extended for an additional two years. i think that's a good thing to do. now, if i had my way --

[inaudible] >> my wife is inherent in us. your term will expire next september. if you had discussion about the successes. how do you have made discussions about potential successors? >> i have in the past. i have not recently. >> to the transition plan in place for your successor? >> yes, we had put a plan in place so that we would be prepared for the new individual and the individual comes on board and we are preparing for 2013 when do they expect new individuals to take the how. >> great attention has been paid to the case to the lab of may is national and has below are ties to iran. this terrorist orchestrate and a brazen botched kidnapping in

iraq in 2007, which led to the death of five uniformed u.s. personnel. those in the custody of the united states military in iraq from march 2007 until december 2011 when he was transferred to the custody of the iraqi government. "the new york times" reporter from may 7, 20 talk indicates an iraqi court has ordered the release, citing insufficient evidence to prosecute them. "the new york times" has reported earlier this year that it has been charged with war crimes including murder, terrorist of espionage before u.s. military commission. has the fbi actively engaged at the appropriate military officials on a plan to provide unnecessary support and documents that would be needed to the prosecution before a military commission?

>> yes. not only would we be willing and able to cooperate with the military commission if we obtain custody at any time however we have cooperated with iraqi authorities in preventing intelligence and information for their proceedings in iraq, which are agents are testifying i said it. so we try to provide that information we have to the iraqi authorities in support of the iraqi authorities charged again. >> you're going to follow-up on that? >> we will. >> your agency is conducting an investigation to border patrol agent bryant terry on december 14, 2010. there's been a year and a half since this investigation began. and it covers 2011, ranking member senator grassley and how service that government reform

committee chairman cheryl issa burke to you crying about the status of that investigation and the number of weapons at the scene of the murder in the ballistic tests performed on the weapons recovered at the scene of the crime. your agency did not respond until may 4, 2012. the fbi's response only indicated that press reports of the third weapon were inaccurate. there is a response to the other questions to include the status of the investigation. can ask you, what is the status of that investigation? >> it is an ongoing, very active investigation because of the seriousness of the events, agent bryan kerry, any personnel that i need it gets top priority. because it is an ongoing investigation, i cannot go into details. we have a merry span a misperception out there at the facts of the case try to write them in the sense that there was

a belief that there may have been a third weapon at the crime scene and indeed there was not. there were two weapons recovered at the crime scene. going in at this point in time, while the investigation is ongoing, it would be difficult to get into further details. >> which we want to tell us who at the of justice is responsible for overview in that particular situation? >> is the department of justice in terms of prosecution it would be the department of justice. >> who actually participated there in coming up with the idea and following through and getting these weapons to these -- >> doubled each of the investigation. i can't get into that here, sir. >> you can't tell us who at the department of justice was in charge? >> i'm not sure who is in charge. i know this investigation is a

high priority for all levels of the department of justice and the fbi. >> the fbi has done great work and community outreach, particularly rating to fostering a relationship based on security goals. given the federal government has intruded into many aspects over the years, it is imperative federal law enforcement carefully and continually articulate the fbi is there to protect them, not police them for ordinary lawful conduct. i want to bring together various joint terrorism task force. one of the players that has received a great attention with potential indicators of terrorist activities related to military surplus stores. according to the fire customers who should be considered suspicious, include those who demand identity, privacy make purchases at meals ready to eat, and marries another rates and

purchase whether to approve any nation. needless to say, many americans who this could apply to, who have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism and they are rightfully concerned that this type of government decree. and the bottom of the fire, that document reads each indicator by itself is a lawful conduct in the exercise of rights guaranteed by the u.s. constitution. i think the disclaimer should have been permanent and not hidden at the bottom of the page. i think this fire and others like it needlessly send mixed messages and have raised the alarm among citizens. can you confirm the fbi is not looking at people who undertake such normal at dvds? will you take an active role in the future by reviewing similar documents from fbi entities before the earliest? >> i will. we will. but i do want to put in context. we do have what we called tripwires. i for instance performed a mini

majors. if somebody buys a substantial amount of ammonia nitrate far beyond which you offer your partner feels, that's the thing we need to know about. other chemicals. chemical companies where persons are making purchases that are highly unusual. we had a circumstance where an individual in texas who was in the midst of constructing an ied purchase chemicals from a company i believe that within -- georgia or south carolina. the company said this is highly unusual and as a result we were able to disrupt a substantial plot. so we have a process that they are clearly that ammonium nitrate or camping gear in and of itself is not a crime. but it will -- i just came back to your question, go and have a panel review to make certain

they are conducted appropriately. >> thank you. thank you for your service. ..

so the american people to hear about this collection activity, can you please explain the need to re-authorize title vii of the foreign intelligence surveillance act. >> one thing, and september 11, and one thing only, was the need to share intelligence and gather intelligence to identify persons who would kill american citizens, whether it be domestically or overseas.

the shock of september 11 was attributable that these were individuals who were from outside the united states, who are radicalized and applauded and undertook the attack in the united states. we cannot wait until the attackers are on the shores of the united states to preempt plots, such as the plot that was preempted last week. we cannot wait until that person gets on the plane and is over u.s. territory, in order to best in order to try to stop that plot. we have to know what is happening. we have to know what is happening in yemen and somalia and pakistan and algeria and morocco. in each of these places, there are pieces of al qaeda that are operating and are seeking to attack us domestically. one of the key areas of insight into these activities is our

ability to intercept conversations in a variety of media today. we have intercepted conversations, and we get a picture an idea of what plot is occurring overseas. if you take that picture away from us, if you take away from us the ability to gather this kind of information, then we will be defenseless until a person crosses our borders. and we cannot allow that to happen. >> thank you very much. one of the legacies, of course, is going to be that you have put in place a very large intelligence component within the fbi. i gather it is about 10,000 people working in intelligence. what is the actual number? >> we have approximately 3000 analysts. all of our 14,000 agents are now in the intelligence community, we call them collectors. we call them agents, but they are collecting in whatever they

do -- they are collecting information. whereas, for the most part in the past, we would focus -- now it is information that is collected to fill gaps. what do we know about this particular threat to the united states, and what do we not know, and how we fill the gaps. on one hand, yes we have 3000 analysts, which has tripled since 2001, but it also -- the organization as a whole understands that we address that threat. it is not just putting people away or locking up people, but it is understanding the threat and preempting the individuals who want to attack. >> do you know whether crimes report has been filed with the department of justice, pursuant to the aqap and a leak? >> there has been discussion

between ourselves and the other agencies as the necessity for an investigation on the leak. as i said, we have initiated an investigation. in terms of reporting, we, as i think has been indicated, had the responsibility of exploiting the ied device and whatever reporting has come out of that has gone only to the department of justice, but also other agencies. >> you have a counterterrorism special agent working out of los angeles that has been missing for five days now. >> yes. >> what can you tell us about that? >> we are still searching for that individual. we talked of his wife yesterday. the office has -- the widely publicized fact he is missing, there have been searches where this individual and agent would have been run or hike, we are

still searching. >> thank you. on sunday, inc. crumpton, who you probably know, the former head of the cia's national resources division was interviewed on 60 minutes. when asked about counterintelligence, i want to quote him. this is what he said. if you look at the threat that is imposed on our nation every day, some of the major nationstate, china in particular, very sophisticated intelligence operations. very aggressive operations against the united states. i would guess that there are more foreign intelligence officers inside the u.s., working against u.s. interests. now than even at the height of the cold war. end quote. i know there is a limit to what you can say before this committee. but how would you respond to that statement? >> is difficult to say, but i do believe the counterintelligence threat has -- has evolved over

it. of time. generally, there are certain countries that use far greater dispersal of individuals, as i mentioned in my opening remarks, the fact that so much of our data is kept in databases on networks, and they are made vulnerable for her overseas -- you do not have to be in the united states to secure secrets from her network. the counterintelligence threat has evolved in ways that were not present back during the cold war. in terms of numbers of persons, i think that is less important than the ways that foreign countries are seeking to steal our secrets. not just with individuals, but also with cyberattacks and cyberextractions of information.

>> one quick question. sex trafficking of children. a big issue, large numbers, i think all of us one way or another have run into it in our states. what more can the fbi due to be helpful with is really terrible, terrible thing? >> we have programs for a substantial treatment of time. we focus on this thread throughout the united states. we have on a number of occasions, had substantial takedowns of individuals who are involved in it. unfortunately, that does not end the problem. there are many more out there. the gratifying aspect of it for persons who worked as, is the victims we are able to save in terms of our activity. it is another area where we would love to be able to put more additional resources -- we try to leverage what resources we have. every child saved is a child that we will remember for a good

longtime. >> thank you. >> senator kyl? >> thank you, mr. chairman. following up on that last point. you talked before about the need to prioritize and the need event of sequestration. everyone of these responsibilities that the federal bureau of investigation have are important to somebody. in many cases, they are important to the entire citizenry. when he said that our budget would take a big hit, it would be a very hard hit, is what you just said. i recall when the secretary of defense was asked, not just about to hit on the budget, but the effect on the country on his ability to help defend the country. could i ask you to respond to the question in that way about the fbi's ability to do the important work that it has been the secretary of defense called a catastrophic. how would you characterize the effect of the sequestration across the board if they in fact occurred? >> let me go back.

i believe i said that it would be a 728% cut. i said no, we would lose 3500 position as opposed to 1500. 1500 special agents and 1100 analysts, and 900 professional staff. it is hard for me to categorize and use the word, such as catastrophic. i would say it would be maybe, is important to the word -- devastating, for a variety of reasons? that is bad enough. >> for the individuals -- and devastating, as you point out, the impact it will have on the bureau, but on people that we serve. the programs that we have to save children, the programs we have to protect our networks from cyberattacks. the programs we have to put behind bars those persons who are responsive for white-collar

crimes. securities fraud, corporate fraud, and mortgage fraud. health care fraud. all of which, if you do not have the capacity and you don't put the persons in jail, and there is no deterrence, and it will grow. particularly, what people tend to forget, when you have a hiring freeze or sequestration where the institution is impacted for years down the road, it may be rectified in 12 months or 18 months or two years, but that hiring freeze and the like, translates into a gap in that agency for years down the road. where we are attempting to keep up with the technology when it comes to responding to cyberattacks, we will miss a generation of individuals who have those capabilities if we are required to cut back on those 1500 agents. not only is the impact

devastating at the outset, it is devastating down the road. >> thank you for that, and i share my colleagues concerned that we must address this am and certainly before the end of the year. let me also refer to your testimony about investigating the source of the leaks of this most recent, i think you refer to as an ied, that we can refer to it as another potential underwear bomber case. would that be accurate? >> gets. >> an explosive device. and you do have them on 10 ongoing investigation under underway, is that correct? >> yes. >> and how would you characterize how important it is to find the source of the leak? >> as i indicated before, i don't want to overuse the word devastating, but have a huge impact on our ability to do our

business. not just on that particular source, but the ability to recruit sources is hampered, and in cases such as this, the relationships with your counterparts overseas -- they are damaged, which means, -- innovation and the willingness of others to share information with us, where they don't think that information will remain secure. it also has a long-term effect, which is why it is so important to make certain that the persons who are responsible for the leaks are brought to justice. >> sometimes there is no other lead that leads you to the result, except talking to the reporters involved. in the past, you and others in the law enforcement community have taken a very strong position indicating your concerns about legislation that would undermine your ability to protect intelligence sources and methods that could seriously impede national security

investigations. do you think, is it still your view that it would not be a good policy for reporters to have a special privilege or a special right, not to talk to fbi or other law enforcement officials if they may have the information that would lead you to the weaker? >> that is something general, in terms of -- i have to leave the ultimate decision on legislation to the department of justice. but i do believe that the protocols established within the department of justice, to protect and nurture the media, are adequate to accomplish that task. >> i appreciate that. the reason i ask the question is because i realize that policy by the attorney general or the administration generally, which is why i ask you about, as a general proposition, whether it is helpful or harmful to your efforts, and you have said in

the past that you're fbi guidelines are sufficient. others have agreed with that. i happen to agree with that and think it is good policy. let me just conclude by reiterating the comments by senator kohl and senator feinstein about the importance of reauthorizing fisa before the end of the year. there is a lot of concern that we are going to kick all of the big important decisions down the road to after the election. even though this doesn't expire until the end of the year, i think my colleagues are saying it would be good to do this as soon as possible. just from the standpoint of knowing what you have to deal with in the future, the continuity of your training and law enforcement efforts and so on. is it your view that the sooner we can accomplish this reauthorization of title vii of fisa, the better? >> yes. with certainty. >> thank you very much. >> thank. >> thank you very much, senator kyl. senator durbin? >> thank you for your service.

you have done an extraordinary job in one of the most challenging times in our nation's history. i think you personally for taking some time to focus attention on my hometown of east st. louis illinois. which sadly has one of the highest crime rate per capita in the nation. there is a multiunit task force, including fbi agents, which is doing its best to change that. and i thank you for your willingness, even with limited resources, to participate. we have exchanged conversations, correspondents on the issue of training manuals, and i would like to make the record clear today about the current situation. i'm asking to enter into the record, letters which you and i exchanged in march and april of this year when it was disclosed in some parts of the training manuals, when they became public, some things have been stated in the training of fbi agents, which had been -- i would just say were characterize

as inappropriate and unfair to arabs and muslims. we have spoken about this personally. i have spoken to attorney general holder. could you tell me at this moment in time, what is the current status of training manuals in the fbi, as it relates to these two groups, and what you have done to make certain that we don't have the kinds of things that have troubled us in the past. >> yes, senator, as i indicated in the letter, when this came to our attention, we took it exceptionally seriously. we convened a group of five individuals, we believe all of whom have advanced degrees. to our in the bureau, two are outside of the girl. to make a preliminary review of the materials and determine what should be done to make certain that the training that we give our agent is appropriate. we have a touchstone document,

and i have to apologize. i believe in a conversation with you i indicated that it was a curriculum. it was not. it was a touchstone document that these persons put together in the guidance of how to go through and treat the records we were having. we then had up to 30 individual agents, go through over 160,000 documents, training documents. they were training documents, not necessarily a manual, but documents that had been used over the preceding 10 years since september 11, along with more than 1000 slides and the like. we had them go through and pull out those particular documents that were inappropriate for whatever reason they could've been -- they could've been wrong or they could have raised the specter of -- of an individual being pointed out that should not be pointed out. for whatever reason, those

particular documents needed to come out of our training. we identified 176 of those documents that needed to be pulled out. we found the other 160 -- approximately, 160,000 documents appropriate. we then come up with those documents, we ran onto the field and explained why these particular documents were inappropriate and we interviewed the individuals who were responsible for those documents. we did more than 100 interviews of such individuals. and we also are in the process now of going out and making certain that the materials that we are using are in accordance with -- in accordance with our program. one of the things it did teach us, and one of the things that comes out is that we did not have a mandatory review for

training documents such as this. so we have put into place, apart from this, a review of training so that anybody who is giving a training can't just go up and put together training materials. it has to go through a screening process. we have taken it exceptionally seriously, as perhaps, you can understand. given the personnel we put on it. we have gone a long ways to resolving the issue. >> critics have said this is all about congressional meddling and political correctness. i would like to have your characterization, because he stated to us earlier that one of the key elements in fighting terrorism is connections, cooperation, and you have said, attorney general holder has said -- that muslim americans and arab-americans arab americans have been a vital part of our efforts to keep america safe. i would like your characterization is whether this is an exercise. >> for us and for me personally,

it is not an exercise of political correctness, it is an exercise of what is right given what we have seen. i believe that the five individuals that we selected have the professional capabilities to guide us in this way and it is absolutely essential that are agents are instructed in the best possible materials, and those materials that are in accordance with our core values. i reject any assertion that this is of a result of political correctness or any such other characterization. it is what needed to be done great and i will follow-up as i have before. many of the cases we have done are a result of the muslim community bringing to our attention individuals who needed further investigation. and we would not be as safe as we are without the support of muslim americans and arab communities in the united states. >> i only have a brief time left. i am sorry. we went through this exercise and it was unusual were all

members of the senate, democrats and republicans, were invited to classified hearings, the fbi was represented, the department of defense and other agencies on cybersecurity, which you mentioned. there is a bill pending trying to make our nation safer from the cybersecurity threats. i am trying to look at this through the prism of our individual rights of privacy as individuals, and the basic liberties and values that we share. can you tell me, in the brief time that we have remaining here, do you feel that the cybersecurity legislation proposed by the administration, compromises any of the rights of privacy that individuals have customarily enjoyed in this country under wiretap statutes and others -- i could go through the specifics here. other legislation. are we changing the standard when it comes to cybersecurity in terms of the disclosures of any individual's e-mails or text in the name of purity? >> it does not change the

standards by which the government can obtain information relating to an investigation. let me just put it that way. while i am somewhat familiar with the administration's proposal, i am not thoroughly familiar. so i do not think from what little i know, but it changes the dynamic at all. i will say, though, the only way to prevent a cyberattack -- a substantial cyberattack, is to exchange information. the same way to prevent terrorist attacks. we need to exchange information. any successes after september 11, is contributed to the fact that we are working with state and local law enforcement, the intelligence community, we understand that the borders no longer protect us and we have to share information. to protect against cyberattacks, we will have to do the same

thing. whether it will have to incorporate the private sector in ways that you do not have to incorporate the private sector, when we are facing the counterterrorism threat. the cyberthreat is no less and will be no less with the counter terrorism threat, there will have to be an exchange of information. and it needs to have an exchange, not just between the intelligence community, law enforcement community, but law enforcement, dhs and the private sector. >> there will be many more questions. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for joining us today. i want to thank you not only for being here, but also for serving our country. yours is not an easy job. lester you expressed sums under some concerns about the defense authorization act for 2012. specifically, in a letter that he wrote to senator levin in november last year, you expressed some concerns with

what became section 1022 of that legislation. saying that you were worried about that provision introducing a degree of uncertainty, and potentially inhibiting fbi's capacity to convince coveted arrestees to cooperate immediately and provide important intelligence. my concerns with the nda a focus with what became section 1021. the president indicated that he shared some of those concerns. he indicated in his statement on december 31, 2011, he said i want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the and definite trial of american citizens. indeed, i believe that it would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation. my administration will interpret section 1021 in a manner that

ensures in any detention it authorizes, complies with constitutional laws of war and other applicable law or in light of that statement, i was encouraged by that statement. i think it's good. i still have some concerns. future administrations might not hold that or that this administration might change its position at some point. in light of that concern, i join with senator feinstein in introducing s-2003, to ensure that u.s. citizens deterred on u.s. soil are not deterred indefinitely on u.s. soil without trial. do you share the president's commitment, i assume you would, as to the fact that u.s. citizens should not be detained indefinitely without trial under 1021? >> well, yes, in the sense that -- yes.

yes. let me just say, there is no change to our activities. in other words, our authorities remain the same. how we handle things are not changed by the presidents decoration, but yes, i would assume that that would happen and that would be the case. >> some people have suggested that the military detention may be necessary in some of these circumstances. because fbi and other civilian authorities lacked the resources or the capabilities to deal with the unique circumstances associated with the apprehension and detention of terrorism suspects. my question for you on that point, what are the fbi's abilities in this regard? do detail the fbi would like the capacity to handle these circumstances to deal with the apprehension and detention of

terrorism suspects? >> no. the answer at the outset is no. but we may be talking about a different class. if you are talking about covert 1022 persons, we are talking about individuals who are non-us citizens, individuals who are anticipating a plot with al qaeda and the like. where 1022 kicks in. going back to your initial request, i had some concerns about parity about what would happen at the time of arrest. those have been put to rest by the protocol that had been established by the president. regardless of whether it is a person -- a person is detained in the united states by the fbi or by -- it could be by the military, it happens on a base, for instance, i have no question

but that ourselves in the military would be capable of handling the investigation. >> given this protocol will be developed in light of the president signing statement on december 31, given what you just added to that, would be fair to -- would it be fair to assume that the legislation would put this rule in place by statute or in other words, that we would not use the section 21 to detained u.s. citizens? >> that would have to go to the department of justice. that is a step too far for me. >> understood. in your testimony, your written testimony, you stated that you support the reauthorization of the fisa amendments act. among other things, those amendments authorized the government to surveilled various categories of non-u.s. persons

abroad, outside the united states without the need for a court order for each individual target. although these amendments don't appear to allow the government intentionally to target u.s. person or any person on u.s. soil, it does seem that humans have an -- that the amendments have a potential to involve u.s. citizens. ..

thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, director. >> good morning. i'm a teacher in the other members in thanking you for your extraordinary service over many years from the many challenging and difficult years on many challenging and difficult topics. obviously, particularly in the area of terrorism, the fbi has taken an increasingly important role, not just in terms of apprehends same here in this country, but also abroad and in

the area of white collar crime and an extraordinarily important person. i would like to ask first about the jp morgan chase investigation. can you tell us what potential crimes could be under investigation without asking you to or talk about the evidence or wide area? >> i'm hesitant to say other than what is available under title 18 or to the sec. would be a focus of any ongoing investigation. >> can you talk it all about the timing of that investigation?

>> all i can say is they've opened up a preliminary investigation and to do it now, it depends on a number of factors. >> i won't press you further, but i would encourage you to press forward as aggressively because of the delay and lack of results. i think the fbi will disagree of the construct is an important presence this area. turning to the violence against women act, where again the fbi has really been a leading role in stopping assaults and intimidation and harassment of women that you know that is

reauthorized inside were stacking that's less forceful and robust than the ones that we adapted and via virgin drafted to adopt a nice body. i wonder if you could talk to us about how important cyberis in the area of domestic violence generally? >> i must say i am not familiar with the differences between the two proposed statute. i will say on the other hand that cyberstocking can be difficult to define. but once defined, the impact on the individuals and it is a growing phenomenon that does need to be addressed. >> in which you say that crimes resulting in domestic violence for violence against women do often involve the internet and

use of impersonation and similar kinds of tactics? >> increasingly. an increasingly once you have one individual who was prosecuted for this, it becomes public and you find a number of others that would then undertake the same activity and fortunately. >> thank you. turning to another subject. drug shortages. i don't know whether you are familiar with some of the gray market at invidious, some of the potential price gouging that goes on with respect to pharmaceutical drugs better and for cancer treatment. the fda was ordered by the president to further the department of justice any evidence of drug shortages that could involve either civil or criminal violation of the law. i wonder if you're familiar to any cases that had been referred. >> i am not, but we may well

have cases i am not aware of. i am willing to this particular area. >> if you could get back to me on that subject if you feel you are at liberty to do so, that would be helpful. >> and on the ongoing investigation, i take it in time with respect to east haven in the state of connecticut, is there any date you can provide? i just want to say before you answer that both the fbi and the united states attorney's office and in particular the united states attorney in connecticut overall as well as on this case are doing extraordinarily excellent work and i'm very proud of the great job they're doing their. i say that a son who is critical having been the united states attorney, i am not one who would be less than demanding of that

office. but they are doing both the fbi and the u.s. attorney there are doing great work. >> i'm familiar with the investigation we cannot and open communication discuss it. >> on gasoline prices, do you know any uptick in criminal activity there with respect to price gouging? >> have not. i guess that's something i have to get back to you on. i would have to go back and find out where we are on now. >> thank you. again, thank you for your great work. my time has expired. >> thank you very much. i yield now to senator graham. i was going to senator blumenthal if he's willing to take the chair. and i am going to something else because i told you earlier, both publicly and privately, direct or train for it your cooperation

and some of the things he said will have to be a closed session we can follow-up with you privately. >> thank you. the next thank you good senator graham. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you again for your service. i'm going to give you as series of questions to explore the senate early was talking about so we don't have to use those seven minutes you're talking about the details of miranda and let an enemy combatant is or is not. we are going to talk about it being such a cybersecurity. you have all the resources you need to discrimination against a cyberattack within reason? >> we need additional resources. we are reprioritizing, reorganizing to address labor. >> what is the risk of the nation as a cyberattack in the next decade? >> substantial. >> which you do me a favor and politely and appropriately right down the list of needs and get

them to me and i'll spread them to my colleagues? >> will do it. >> i appreciate the fbi in many ways. >> okay. do you believe we are in a war against terrorism? is the war on terror an appropriate name to define the time at which we live and? >> yes. >> okay. i do too. not the crime on terror. the war on terror. i believe that article iii courts have a place in prosecuting terrorists. you agree that? >> do you believe military can have a place in prosecuting terrorists? >> yes. >> do you agree with that? >> just say yes. i'm not trying to trick you. >> is the homegrown terrorist threat growing or lessening?

>> growing. >> do you consider america a part of the terraced battlefield the country itself? >> is not what they wanted to do today s-sierra such as anywhere else? >> one could get into the terms of the description. i would say we the terrorist threat domestically, terry said internationally. >> let's talk about the fact i think they articulate february but particularly here. i don't think it was an accident they brought them between terrorist attacks and then attack the capital. they are coming after us. you agree with that? and we have a right to defend ourselves. within our values. >> you don't support waterboarding, right? >> no. >> nor do i. it does not comport -- >> bakery and i appreciate you at a time when it was a popular saying so quite frankly. >> to believe khalid sheikh mohammed is an enemy combatant

quiet >> i'm not going to -- a-alpha done the purchase so far, but in terms of the designation, i think there's a number of factors that go into that but i'm not going to say yay or nay. >> what you believe al qaeda members can be classified is enemy combatant since the 200 some in guantánamo bay? >> i believe so. >> we are not holding people illegally there. >> now, if you can't post some of bin laden or kea sound or someone like that in the united states, which you suggest that the country take off those military commission trials because the foreign terrorists as custard in the united states? >> i was daily from suggesting. our responsibility would be to gather wood after fax

intelligence. >> i'm glad you say that because i believe it's the policy of du pont administration of foreign terrorists captured in the united states cannot be tried by military commission and cannot be held as military combatants and release inquiry, i don't believe we will send a signal to the world that if you make it to america, all of a sudden you get a better deal than if the catcher in pakistan. let's talk about your job. put recaptures someone affiliated that we believe to be affiliated with al qaeda in the united states, if it be obama's position, the fbi's position that those individuals captured collaborating with al qaeda in the united states must be mirandized?

>> there is no blanket rulon moran dave and mirandized seen individuals. >> okay. that's very important. i think that's a good answer. sometimes maybe it's the best thing to do. sometimes maybe it now. >> i think the policy that has been laid out his intelligence comes first and the quarles exceptions have been granted we have leeway to. >> colander coral, which had to do with the domestic terrorism case, how long can you hold someone under the quarles case before you have to read their miranda rights? >> but still an open question. >> open question depending on circumstances. >> i suggest to people with held at guantánamo bay for years as enemy combatants could only be half that long because we designate as enemy combatants. ottawa to the criminal justice

system. wednesday is that i wanted to work the way they should and i believe if you capture someone in the united states and you're going to charge them with a crime in article iii quarter, that is your intent that your ability to hold them without rnase in them corals unlimited. but how long can you hold someone you want to put into criminal justice system without presenting them to a federal court? >> well, you're required to present them generally within the next 24, 48 hours. >> present them to court. >> peppers and you're talking about non-us citizens. >> so as i understand, they get a lawyer representing. they have to have some help them at the defense. >> somehow, some some have not. >> my point is your taking a sadsack, who we believe is involved in terrorism. when you put them in the

criminal justice system and you have maranda issues and resentment issues if you have the world war system holding them as an enemy combatant for intelligent gathering purposes you don't have these problems. is that correct? >> i'm not certain to what extent you can make that blanket statement. and also i think there are downsides from doing it. >> to know any requirement and allow for to read any prisoners prisoner tamarin direct or provide them their health and military contacts? >> i'm not familiar with the military. >> i would just suggest and i don't want to belabor this, but we never anywhere captured enemy prisoners said he's got a right to a lawyer. here is your lawyer. what holds you together intelligence because you present the next attack, not the prosecution. so i'm going to send you a series of questions and i want us to understand that were up

more of what you treat people fairly. i believe in all of the above, but i am not going to sit on the sidelines and go back to a pre-9/11 model of what the criminal justice system is the only tool available. so mr. director, you've got for putting themselves at risk. i'm only capture one these people, who we believe is involved with al qaeda in a way to hurt us all, i think we should have this many options as possible without our values and cold war and the criminal justice system to defend ourselves. so i'm going to send you some questions and i am glad to hear that there is no blanket requirement by the fbi to mirandized a terror suspect upon capturing the united states. so that's good to know. >> senator schumer.

>> thank you and thank you for the outstanding job you and the man in an women who work for you do. i admire every day. a page talk about relations between the fbi and n.y.p.d. in. overall it has been a great relationship, a smooth relationship. it has pointed to as an outstanding example of the joint terrorism task force of cooperation between the federal government and state governments and local government. but over the last few months, there have been a number of things that create a growing concern that that relationship may be strayed a little bit, particularly in regard to information sharing in which an obviously you've got to be careful with. these are two law-enforcement nations is involved together in fighting terrorism. so there have been cases with the n.y.p.d. believes that

hasn't been briefed on the specifics of terrorist plots, which is the type of information they need because of new york city being the top terror target. the joint terrorism task force is no information regarding terror plots related to new york city. the same time the fbi knows her to give her forces the best chance to combat terrorism great if you can't be known immediately, it should be shortly thereafter. we have seen examples where for four or five days after receiving the public they didn't get the kind of detailed information they wanted. so my question is, do you believe there is currently a problem hindering communication within members of the joint terrorism task force? if there is a problem, what can be done about it? facilitate communication between the two. i have great respect for both. part of the cooperation. if there's no problem, but you commit today to keep the n.y.p.d. abreast of any and all

future development to work with the n.y.p.d. of the cooperation and information sharing issues so that everybody is on the same page and can work together as well as they have in the past. >> let me just start by saying i think we have a very good relationship with the new york police department. particularly in the joint terrorist task force the n.y.p.d. officers are served for a number of years to the extent that the new york terrorism goes to the joint terrorism task force. it is fair. the officers of the n.y.p.d. get the information at the same tennessee agents on the task force get the information. there are occasions where there something tightly and closely held in agencies that may be in washington that it takes some time before there is than the nation, sense. there are always bumps in the

road. >> now, now, there's always bumps in the retina for six months or so greg kelley and i get together and discuss this ounce in the road and move on. so i think the relationship is very good and tremendous -- and it is the effect is. the joint terrorist task force is effected through the n.y.p.d. says that he and presenting the facts. whenever you a strong willed agencies and part-time agencies, you're going to have, as i say, bumps in the road. i don't think there's extraordinary action that needs to be taken by missiles or ray kelley or others to address a current issue. >> i'm not implying reference. i understand the difficulties as they read in the newspaper. i didn't know anything else. the information that airplane bomber leaks out in nature is a

unique enough to comment that, but are there any problems with communication on that issue now? >> shouldn't be. there was some talk that there was. >> i heard that talk. >> heavyset directly to commissioner kelley? >> i have not on that issue. >> which you be willing to? >> just give them a columnist. he did nothing to ask you to do that. i am. thank you. >> as i told ray, you've got to call. >> thanks, appreciate it very much. there is one other engines not related to their terrorism task force, the u.n. i talked about this and i didn't follow up. when the fbi your chief in north publicly politicized the n.y.p.d. for conducting operations that he said made it more difficult to protect new jersey. i do have a problem with the fbi

thinks the n.y.p.d. is doing something that interferes with this operation in new jersey. i was surprised that he made it public. >> that doesn't help. i understand. i've addressed the issue. >> i've addressed the issue. >> everyone is happy now. >> not everyone. >> i hear you. let's go on to another subject. i'm glad you've addressed it and i hope that doesn't create any future problems. it did create bad blood for a period of time. stand your ground less. there's been a lot of news this week about the fbi investigating hate crime charges. i don't want you to comment on the investigation, but i just want to get your opinion about the standard ground lost. are they creating more violence than they are preventing? >> there's that one incident we have been it gathers around the country. i can't give you an opinion on

that huge >> how about your general opinion on this danger from us? >> i don't know enough to render an opinion. >> i would ask you, again, i don't want to put you in any jeopardy in the terms of this investigation, but if you had wanted to think about it that hasn't been in writing you wanted to send within the timeframe to share his leg out, i'd appreciate it. i tend to think these are even hurt law-enforcement. okay, i have only are the three seconds left, so i was so i'll just submit my final question in writing. >> thank you, senator schumer. senator waite has -- i'm sorry, senator klobuchar is next. i am going to will to senator whitehouse. as soon as he returns. now senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much. i'm the one standing at the

capitol. >> thank you, director for being here. i appreciate al lawson you, now were kept abreast of everything you are doing. many of my colleagues have asked about officer safety issues with the national memorial services this week. i was just with the families and police officers over the last few days. two officers died in the line of duty in minnesota. one effect reported to a scene of a domestic violence case. a 17-year-old victim basically sacrificed his life for hers any of these three young children. one of the things that came out that the previous year and had years on the bulletproof vest, which is incredibly important is that 72 of our nation's law-enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty during 2011th and that is the highest number since a seven. it is that 20% since 2010. by region, 29 were killed in the south, 29 the midwest, 10 in the west and 10 in northeast.

two in puerto rico. are you aware of any factors to explain that this increase or do you think it is just a random tragic statistics? or do you know how this is happening? >> now, i don't think anybody has a clear answer. although we try to dissect those figures. i'll tell u.s.a. indicated before there's two things we're doing try to reduce. the first is the changed her fiscal qualifications to understanding, based on our data, that many of the encounters that police have a person sick weapons either a short distance, not a longer distance and consequently we have to increase our capability of responding at shorter distances, often we change our protocols in the state and locals with louisville. secondly when an individual is to then you go to ncic to find

out the record in the warning with the response if the person has a violent criminal has three. to alert the officer to beware. >> very day. thank you. i know would discuss the bulletproof vest issue, how important that is. i hadn't known it so we had a hearing with some of our police leaders about issues with women with the professor not any different bulletproof vests, which makes sense and how sometimes they don't have those. that's why we see more and more women police officers. that is something we need to address. i also know the fbi works closely with state and local authorities to keep our children safe from programs like the child abduction rapid appointment teams and the innocents lost national initiatives. next week i'm sharing the child protection professionals. we have a good center, the national child protection

training center on wynonna and one of the critical areas of training is forensic interviewing because many times the child victim may also be the only witness in these crimes. according to one fbi child interviewer method used in its own cases may actually be good with child victims. i know the fbi has been doing good work in this area and as a result of pitchout or is it interfere his expertise is in demand across the country. could you tell me how training is available to fbi agents and what else can we do to help the fbi make progress on the problems of the child abduction and abuse. >> we have for child and our viewers who are very qualified and do great work. they get too much of that work unfortunately a bill that that expertise that we provide training the task force officers around the country, generally the training fostered or four days and the statistics for 2011

retrain 650 asian and task force officers in 2011 alone. and we will continue that. and to the extent that there are law-enforcement agent fees the benefit from the training come i'm sure the special agent in charge in this particular divisions to try to accommodate. >> welcome the thank you very much. i was just thinking the night did a case the prosecutor in this anon violent manner case and there's a federal witness without having any of your investigators goes time i put her on the stand and asked her what it has been. i said you know to treat this? she said yes i do. but when i was four, i was told lies. five years old, so i probably could've had an investigator because the case didn't go very far. metal that is something i've been frustrated with in trying to get a bill done were

reintroduced one last year. senator hatch and i did on trying to look at the criminal penalties than trying to get requirements in place then they get copper and other things. which we know sometimes can be stolen and sometimes non-width requirements for ieds and other things in place. i just wondered if you're aware of that problem around the country with buildings blowing up another things because of stolen copper. >> yes. i won't mention the cities, but i know it's a problem in certain cities and such a problem that emergency services can be adversely impacted by such that. and generally what we do is if there is a discrete group or entity that is involved, we work with the state in the post of a together a task force to address them. but as they look at the budget shortages, as we look at

prioritization in the context of products the badges, we get worst on the road. this is one where it's very difficult to find the resources to put on it. >> i understand that. that's why it's a good one thing we could do to be helpful if the requirements in place. some states have on the sale of these things. it is easier for local law enforcement to track. so i wanted to put the words in because you have and make it easier for the local to handle this. i know senator paul got into the economic and knowledge with you, which i think are critically important. we have many big companies in minnesota said our many patents. my favorite statistic is three m. has as many employees as invention it is one invention for each employee and so we cared very much about the espionage, especially over the internet and some other

cybercrimes going on. i appreciate the work you're doing in this area and the way you are adjusting to the ever-changing technological climate with the fbi. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> senator. >> welcome, director mueller. in a follow-up on senator klobuchar's last point on our cybervulnerability. let me preface our remarks by saying that from my viewpoint on the intelligence committee, for my viewpoint on this committee, from going out and seeing folks in action at the end jci ts and actions put together, i am very impressed with the ability and the dedication of the forces who have deployed against our cyberthreat. ..

>> private sector observers, like the latest mcafee report, use again the same language. here we are, assuming that to be true on the losing end of the biggest transfer on the history of humankind, and i want to ask your continued support for my

offices office's efforts to try to get a real understanding of what our fbi and doj resources are dedicated to this problem. you have to really drill below the numbers. because i can ask doj, and they consider is a cyberperson dedicated in every u.s. attorney's office. and i know perfectly well from having been an attorney, that person may be doing no cybercases at all. they may be the designated with a conference call on mute while they are doing other work. just that number doesn't really help. we are trying to work through who is really on to the cyberproblem and how, within the fbi, are there people who are designated in your local offices who are in the same mode when there is a conference call, the do they take it when their workload is elsewhere? other folks whose role is forensic cleanup, when you raid

a place and they grab computers and do a download -- that's important, but it's not really the cyberbattle. one of the things that i am concerned about is that when you look at the metrics of cases that are produced, again, i see some great cases, but i don't see a ton of them. in terms of beating down the bobcats that attack our systems through service attacks, you guys helped, i think take down a record flood and other.net. that made a measurable dent in the amount of spam that is out there on the internet. but there is still a ton of that stuff going on, and it is great cases but not a lot of cases. if you look at international property theft through cyber,

hacking into an american company's computer, accessing their data and their formulas and secrets, xl trading that out and then using math to compete them, we have made zero cases. in all of the cybercases and intellectual property cases, we have seen the link. a guy who is downloading and putting the disc into his pocket -- my impression from everything is that they are standing in front of a fire pose, trying to put out a bunch of work. when i hear from private sector people is that they would love to have more fbi and more federal support.

nine times out of 10, they don't even know they have been hacked. they get told when your folks or homeland security comes knocking on their doors. they say you might want to look at this file. once they do know, having more supported from you guys, i think, i think you're doing a great job with the resources you have. but i know that we are at a stage where this has become a big problem, as a national security problem, to our electric grid, our financial systems, our communications networks, if someone decides to take those downs, and an industrial espionage problem, nothing privacy problems. there is someone in this room right now his credit card and social security information is on some estonian gangsters website for sale. there is so much of it for sale right now. there are all of these issues. i feel that we need, in the same way that we need to move from having a couple of aircraft in the united states army years

ago, we have to have an air force on this one. we need to be thinking about really what the next step is. how should we structure this? is not just enough to add incrementally. we need to go game on, on this. i would like your thoughts on that point. i know that omb is a hazard for folks when they are being asked to argue about your allocated budget, but i would like to ask you to participate, willingly and helpfully come and continue to, because we have had good support so far -- or trying to get something into the cyberbill that will put a structured into analyzing what our law enforcement posture should look like, how should it be resource for the future. we have bea, we have atf, we have secret service or it may be we should be thinking of building something for cyber-- as we look out. >> what are your thoughts? >> i am struck by saying that i share your concern about putting

the country and the federal bureau of investigation in a posture to address this. it will take a substantial realization of the bureau to address this. in terms of personnel, and one of the things that we too often do is retake pockets of the cyberissue, and we forget about them. within the bureau, there are a number of initiatives we have taken over a period of time but have fallen under the cyberumbra left. i think the [inaudible] is one of the most important. also, every one of the 56 field offices are doing cyberwork. there are intrusions. and there are cases of the images.

as we grow, intrusions are more important. you hate to say that, but they are more important because they need a different scale and different effort. my discussions with our people is that we really have to address cyber-- we have to do it in the same way we address counterterrorism. that means beefing up our cybersquads and making them taskforces. so we should know where the cyberintrusion is going to occur, and you need to be able to do the forensics so you can start the attribution, much less the criminal case. consequently, it has to be distributed across the country, and the expertise has to be distributed across the country. it takes more of a headquarters role, because inevitably, in most of these, whether it be a botnet or what have you, it may have been started in romania or

morocco or what have you -- consequently, the old way of allocating responsibility to the office of the first u.s. attorney -- they have and get the subpoena of the grand jury, they don't work in this environment. what we are working within the bureau is putting together a distributed. >> i am going to interject. in those cases, you don't have a criminal case. you have a civil effort to shut it off, which was done brilliantly, but it is hard to keep that up within the fbi's structure when there is no criminal case contemplated. [talking over each other] >> we look at it as national security could is is one of the problems that you have with cyber. at the time of the cyberintrusion, you do not know whether it is a state actor, you don't know whether it is organized crime or organized crime working for the a state actor, or an individual or group of individuals, who are not organized but distributing the anonymous type of attacks.

or lastly, the 18-year-old who is particularly adept and wants to make his or her mark by intercepting. you cannot immediately put it into a cubbyhole, national security or this particular crime. consequently, the 18 counterparts and the distributed network, in my mind, gives us the ability to identify that intrusion, work on that intrusion with dhs protecting the infrastructure, gathering the information and hopefully helping on the identifying of the attribution for that particular attack. i do believe that something like the regional computer forensics laboratories, yes, they do exploitation, but at the same expertise that you need to do the attribution, in terms of a cyberattack. you have 16 of them. i would like to add more of those. there are other aspects of the

organization -- the fbi organization that have to be integrated. you can have a cyberattack which are undertaken by terrorists, state actors or espionage, and you need in both of those, expertise as to who would undertake and the intel and intelligence agencies. and you have to merge cyberexpertise among the expertise in that area. that is what we are organizing to do. the bottom line, there is a long ways to go for all of us. but it is a sharing of intelligence and the capability to take that intelligence, and work with not only our persons in the united states, with nsa, cia and others outside, that will enable us to be successful in this arena. >> i really thank you for the excellent work that the bureau is doing on this. and i look forward to working hard to making sure that you have the resources that you

need. i will close by observing that these cases are immensely complicated and difficult. if you look at the complicating factors that make a case difficult, it has virtually all of them. but the worst comforting factor of international domain, and having to work through gaps and treaties and having to work in foreign countries -- the complicating factor, as you pointed out, integration with our intelligence community and having to deal with the security and classified nature of some of that and protecting resources and methods, the cases themselves are challenging and difficult. it's difficult as any case can be. the forensics are very important. trying to figure out how this stuff actually works and be able to testify about it, clearly, and then a lot of work putting these things together because

some of these things are big operations. when you combine all of that, each case could really be a huge vacuum for effort, in order to succeed. i think that is an important appreciation that i wanted to put into the record as we go. this is not by like some cases, where you can knock them off one after another. these are the kind of cases that could swamp a small u.s. attorney's office, and present immense challenges. >> that is where we pushed resources. we have to be far more flexible, we have to have virtual teams addressing these cases. we can do burritos, in these cases are competent at. one thing that often is lost is there is one body behind a computer. what you want to do, identify those individuals and arrest them and incarcerate them so there is deterrence you can talk

about the networks and tracking the signature tobacco country, but then there has to be action and that is where our role comes in. >> i appreciate it. i think the last person standing in the searing. i will call it to the conclusion. i think you for coming up, as use so often done to face the committee. you have always done is professionally, and your organization is first-rate. we are delighted to have interpreted the record you here. the record will remain open for one additional week. in case there is anything that anyone wants to submit. the hearing is closed. >> thank you.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> c-span's congressional directly is your complete guide to the 112th congress. inside you will find information on senators and house members including contact information and district maps. plus information on cabinet secretaries, supreme court justices, in the nation's governors. pick up a copy for $12.95 plus shipping and handling. order online at c-span.org/shop. in a few moments come in medal of honor ceremony for a soldier killed in the vietnam war. in a little more than 20 minutes, a pentagon news briefing with the u.s. army chief of staff, general odierno. and later, we will be reader

director robert mueller on capitol hill. president obama has awarded u.s. army specialist leslie h. sabo, jr. the medal of honor for his actions in the vietnam war. he was killed in combat in 1970. the president and first lady were joined by the family in east room ceremony. this is about 20 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and mrs. michelle obama.

[music playing] [music playing] let us pray. almighty god, the heavens tell of your glory and expands declares the work of your hands. we come humbly before you, the creator and sovereign ruler of all nations, we asked her presence to be with us. of an immigrant family, you called his son to serve with fellow soldiers. leslie h. sabo, jr. gave his life to his friends. we think you for the millions of americans who, like leslie, have not faltered at duties call. and those who gave their last full measure. and the families left behind to grieve their loss and cherish the memories. thank you for those who served

so steadfastly in vietnam so long ago. may your grace uphold rose mary, greater comfort. we ask that you grant your piece to george and his family. we ask your blessing upon all of our servicemen and women at home and abroad. they are defending our constitution. grant presence and guidance to those who lead our nation. may america ever ever shine as a beacon of justice. may we always remember our heroes, like leslie sabo, who more than themselves for their and their country they loved. we ask your holy presence to be with us in this sacred moment. we ask and pray in your holy name, amen. >> please be seated. thank you general rutherford or

good afternoon, everyone. we gather today to present the medal of honor for valor above and beyond the call of duty. in so doing we celebrate the soldier, a life that produced such gallantry -- specialist leslie h. sabo, jr. today is also a solemn reminder that when an american does not come home for more, it is our military families and veterans who bear the sacrifice for a lifetime. they are spouses, like rose mary, who all of these years since vietnam, still displays in her home her husband's medals and decorations. they are siblings, like leslie's big brother, george, who carries

the childhood memories of his little brother tagging along at his side. and there are veterans, like the members of bravo company, who still speak of their brother les with reverence and love. rose, george, bravo company, more than 100 family and friends michelle and i are honored to welcome you to the white house the medal of honor is the highest military decoration that america can bestow. it reflects the gratitude of the entire nation. we are joined by members of congress and leaders from across armed forces, including the secretary of defense and leon panetta, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs, sandy winnefeld, from the army secretary john mchugh, and chief of staff general ray or tierno, and from the marine corps, the come

undone, general jim amos. we are honored to be joined by vietnam veterans, including recipients of the medal of honor. we are joined by those who have carried on les' legacy in our time, and in iraq and afghanistan, members of the 101st airborne division, the legendary screaming eagles. this gathering of soldiers, past and present, could not be more timely. after a decade of war, our troops are coming home. this month, will begin to mark the 50th anniversary of the vietnam war. a time when, to our shame, our veterans did not always received the respect and the things that

they deserve. a mistake that must never be repeated. that is where i want to begin today because the story of this medal of honor reminds us of our sacred obligations to all who served. it was 1990 nine, a vietnam vet from the hundred and first was at the national archives. he was doing research for an article. there among the stacks the archivist brought him a box. he took off the top, and he found an article about leslie sabo. this vietnam veteran, set out to find answers.

who was leslie sabo? what did he do? and why did he never received that medal? today, for decades after leslie sacrifice, we can set the record straight. i spent some time with rose and george and the family. last week marked 42 years since he gave his life. this soldier, this family, has a uniquely an american story. les was born in europe, after world war ii, to a family of hungarian refugees. and the iron curtain descended, they boarded the boat for america and arrived at ellis island. past the statue of liberty. they settled in a steel town of ellwood city, pennsylvania. les' father worked hard, people diss them into the middle class, and when wes was a teenager, the family went to the county courthouse together. they raise their hands and became proud american citizens. they said that les was the

nicest guys you'd ever want to meet, he loved a good joke. he loved to bowl, and he could give some great tips. rose says he was pretty good looking, too. that's what i hear. he'd do anything for anybody. when george went to college, les looked after their mom. when george went to night school, les help care for his three young sons. when les fell in love with rose, who couldn't wait to start a life together, he slipped a ring on her finger right there in his car, while stopped at a red light. and as he headed out for vietnam, he stopped at a shop and ordered some flowers for his mom, for mother's day, and for rose, for her birthday. for les and bravo company, those early months of 1970 were a near constant battle. pushing through jungles and rice paddies in their heavy packs, enduring incredible heat and humidity. the monsoon rains that never seem to stop. an enemy that could come out of

nowhere and then vanish just as fast. for his bravery in battle, les earned the respect of his comrades. and for his family, he wrote home every chance he could. when american forces were sent to cambodia, bravo company help lead the way. they were moving up a jungle trail. they entered a query, and that is when the ambush happened. some 50 american soldiers were nearly surrounded by some 100 north vietnamese fighters. said les' comrades, the enemy was everywhere. in bunkers, behind trees, up in the trees, shooting down, and they opened up on them. and les was in the rear. and he could've stayed there, but those fighters were unloading on his brothers. so les charged forward and took several of those fighters out. the enemy moved to outflank them. and les attacked and drove them back.

ammunition was running low, les ran across a claim to grab more. an enemy grenade landed near a wounded american. les picked it up and threw it back, and as that grenade exploded, he shielded the soldier with his own body. throughout history, those who have known the horror of war and the love behind all great sacrifice, have tried to put those emotions into words. after the first world war, one soldier wrote this. they are more to me than life, these voices, they are more then mother leanness and more than fear, they are the strongest, most comforting comforting thing they are anywhere. they are the voices of my comments. and those were the voices that leslie sabo heard that day. his comrades, pinned down, at risk of being overrun. despite his wounds, despite the danger, leslie did something extraordinary. he began to crawl straight towards an enemy bunker treated machine guns blazing.

those who were there said the enemy zeroed in with everything they had. but les kept crawling, kept pulling himself along, closer to that bunker, even as the bullets hit the ground all around him. and then he grabbed the grenade and pulled the pin. it is said that he held that grenade and didn't throw into the last possible moment, knowing it would take his own life, but knowing he could silence that bunker. and he did. he saved his comrades, who meant more to him than life. leslie sabo left behind a wife who adored him. a brother who loved him. parents who cherished him. and family and friends who admired him. but they never knew. for decades they never knew their les had died a hero.

the fog of war and paperwork that seem to get lost in the shuffle, meant that the story was almost lost to history. and so today we think that vietnam vet who found les' files in the archives, and who is determined to right this wrong. that would be tony mabb. where is tony? tony, thank you. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] dissolute les' buddy, george koziol, who was wounded in his hospital bed, first drafted the citation we will hear today and who spent the last years of his life fighting to get les' les the recognition he deserved. most of all, we salute the men and women who were there in a clearing in the jungle, more than two dozen were wounded. along with les, seven other soldiers gave their lives that

day. and those who came home took on one last mission. and that was to make sure america would honor their fallen brothers. they had no idea how hard it would be or how long it would take. instead of being celebrated, are vietnam veterans were often shunned. they were called many things when there was only one thing that they deserve to be called, and that was american patriots. in two weeks, on memorial day, michelle and i will join our vietnam veterans and their families at the wall to mark the 50th anniversary of their service. it will be another chance for america to say to our vietnam veterans what should have been sent when you first came home. you did your job. you served with honor. you made us proud. and here today, as i think that les would've wanted it, i'd ask the members of bravo company to stand and accept the gratitude of our nation are.

[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] yes, this medal of honor is bestowed on a single soldier for

his new encouraged. but it speaks to the service of an entire generation, and to the sacrifice of so many military families. because, you see, there is one final chapter to the story. you will recall that as he shipped out to vietnam, les stopped at a flower shop. welcome of the day he his life was mother's day. and on that day, the flowers he had ordered arrived for his mom. and the day he was laid to rest was the day before rose's birthday. and she received the bouquet he had sent her. a dozen red roses. that's the kind of guy, the soldier, the american, that we celebrate today. les' mother and father did not live to see this day. but in his story we see the shining values that keep our military strong and keep america great. we see the patriotism of families who give our nation a

piece of their heart. their husbands and wives, their sons and daughters. and we see the devotion of citizens who put on the uniform. who kiss their families goodbye. who are willing to lay down their lives that so that we can live ours in peace and freedom. no words will ever be truly worthy of their service. and no honor can never fully repay their sacrifice. but on days such as this, we can pay tribute. we can express our gratitude, and we can thank god that there are patriots and families such as these. someone so on behalf of the american people, please join me in welcoming rows for the reading of the citation.

[applause] [applause] the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress, march 3, 1963, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to specialist leslie sabo junior, united states army for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above all the call of duty. specialist four leslie h. sabo distinguished himself by conspicuous acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at the cost of his own life was serving as a rifleman in company b., third battalion, 106th infantry, 101st

airborne division in cambodia, may 10, 1970. on that day, specialist four leslie h. sabo and his and his platoon were conducting a reconnaissance patrol when they were ambushed from all sides by a large enemy force. without hesitation, specialist four leslie h. sabo charged an enemy position, killing several enemy soldiers. immediately thereafter, he assaulted an enemy flanking force, successfully drawing the fire way from friendly soldiers and ultimately forcing the enemy to retreat. in order to reapply ammunition, he sprinted across an open field to a wounded comrade. as you begin to glow, an enemy grenade landed nearby.

leslie h. sabo picked it up, three, and show that his comrade with his own body, thus absorbing the brunt of the blast and saving his comrades like. seriously wounded by the blast, he nonetheless retains the initiative and they single-handedly charged an enemy bunker that have inflicted severe damage on the platoon. receiving serious wounds from automatic weapons fire in the process. now mortally injured, he crawled toward the enemy emplacement, when in position, through grenade into the bunker. the resulting explosion silenced enemy fire, but also ended the life of specialist four leslie h. sabo we be like. his indomitable courage and complete disregard for his own safety save the lives of many of his platoon members. specialist four leslie h. sabo had extraordinary heroism and selflessness. above and beyond the call of duty. at the cost of his life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service

and reflect great credit upon himself, company b., third battalion, 506th infantry, 101st airborne division and the united states army. the medal of honor is presented. [applause] [applause] >> heavenly father, we are inspired by the life of leslie sabo. thank you for raising up courageous men and women who are willing to give their lives for this nation. thank you for those who have given themselves to service. thank you for our country who nurtures those who may give. we ask that you be with rose mary and her family and george and his family. and we ask that those who are carrying out the tradition of leslie, may his memory and sacrifice live on in the story of america and the army. and to all of us who serve garden country, to keep america a heritage, we ask and pray as always, in your holy name, amen.

>> i want to thank everybody for their attendance. please give another round of applause to the leslie sabo family. [applause] [applause] i hope that everybody enjoys the reception. i hear the food is pretty good around here. [applause] god bless you. god bless our troops. god bless the united states of america. [applause] [music playing] [music playing]

is a co [music playing] >> u.s. army chief of staff, general raymond odierno, save it budget cuts would be disastrous for the army. he also told reporters about how the army is shifting resources from iraq and afghanistan to the asia and the army's decision to expand training for women in certain specialties. this is about a half hour. >> i want to talk for about three or four minutes and then open it up to any questions that you might have.

i really just want to start off first by reminding everybody that today the united states army remains committed and engaged around the globe. we have 92,000 soldiers currently deployed in support of operations. 68,000 of those are in afghanistan. as you know, the president and secretary of defense provided a new defense strategic guidance to focus on efforts in the beginning of the year. the guidance was clear. the guidance was clear, very collaborative process. you've been through all that. more than 10 years of fighting, to large-scale operations. the army clearly is now moving inside a frame of transition over the next five or six or seven years. it is important to me that we continue to apply the lessons of more than 10 years of continuous combat. we will be leaner. we will be more agile. the army, that is, and adaptive, innovative, versatile and ready

component of the joint force. our character will remain the best man, best equipped, best trained and best led forcing her world. to be decisive for a broad range of missions. in today's increasingly uncertain and complex strategic environments, we must ensure that we will sustain a diverse mix of readily deployable capabilities and adapt processes to reflect a broader range of requirements and to provide scalable options towards national security decision makers. and through the changes ahead, we will demonstrate unwavering commitment to the honor and profession of our values. to guide us through this landscape, under penned by global fiscal challenges, the secretary of the army has a spouse or vision is army is globally engaged and in governmental and multinational environment. as part of the joint force and as america's army in all that we offer, we guarantee be a deal agility, versatility and depth to prevent, shape and when the

future. acknowledging the change in geopolitical environments, the dod strategic guidance articulates priorities for 20% who defends that sustains u.s. global leadership. the army has a vital role in these. these priorities, we are developing several initiatives to support the new strategy. i would like to share a few with you. first, our army force generation processes have service well in meeting arguments of the last several years. but with operations in iraq complete and ongoing transition in afghanistan, we will have the opportunity to adapt this process to be more wide ranging. especially as we rebalanced toward the asia pacific region. as such, we will implement a progressive readiness model for both the active and reserve components to be more responsive to all of our combat and commanders. in support of the combatant commanders, we will be implementing a regionally aligned a forced concept beginning next year to better

meet some of the requirements. the intent is to focus unit or headquarters during its training cycle on specific mission profiles and unique environmental characteristics that make them available to the combat commander for employment in their area of responsibility. we will conduct a pilot next year when a brigade combat team from the 10th mountain division will be the first unit to execute this concept in court nation would u.s. africa command. the regionally aligned forces concept will be especially important in the asia pacific region as we move forward. home to seven of the 10 largest armies. this will follow in more enduring ways of the next several years. entering commitments in some of the theaters, we plan to employ rotational units. europe comes to mind is reproduced to forward station brigade combat teams of the next two years. we will leverage preposition

equipment, sets and multilateral training exercises to allow us to promote regional security and enhance capacity and interoperability and sustain our relationships with our nato and other allies in europe. finally, as the army's end strength, produces over the next five years, it is important to note that this leaner army will be vastly more capable than her pre-9/11 army. besides 10 years of hard-earned experience, we continue to increase our special operations force to do capacity. we have increased our ability to conduct intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, and we have increased our aviation assets. we have continued to increase our cybercapabilities, and we continue to look at other capabilities as we continue to move forward. we are also reviewing and refining our organizational design, mission command, training methods to

institutionalize lessons learned in combat. i believe these are the right investments to posture the army to meet our strategy and will serve our nation well in the future. in addition to these initiatives, we will continue to reinforce standards, discipline, fitness, and accountability. rightly so, the military is held to the highest standard. since it is entrusted with special responsibilities by the american people. trust and respect are paramount. standards and discipline are fundamental. and i will never pass up an opportunity to talk to her our soldiers and our leaders about the sacred trust and our commitment to moral and ethical behavior and values. secretary mccue, most recently announced that we will be standing up to seven infantry division headquarters at joint base lewis-mcchord washington to focus on the training mentorship and discipline to five brigades stationed there, similar to other large bases with coors headquartered such as fort hood and fort bragg. as you may have heard, steve

lanza will assume command of the seventh temperature of infantry division to provide division level training. readiness and administration oversight that promotes standards, discipline, esprit de corps and excellence. on another important know, last week we concluded our annual sexual harassment and assault response prevention summit with army senior leaders. we discuss efforts. we charge commanders at all levels to stay focused on and take care of and protect each other. that is what we do, and that is who we are, and we cannot expect anything less. as many of you know, earlier this week more than 200 women began reporting to the maneuver battalions in nine of our brigade combat teams. they were selected to participate in the exception to the direct ground combat assignment rule. additionally, colocations as an

assignment research and is rescinded. this revision will result in the opening of six military occupational specialties and 80 units, more than 13,000 positions to women. opening up new opportunities to the female soldiers, which make up about 16% of our forests, and allows us the tremendous talent in our ranks. as i have testified over the last several months, it is important for the army to execute the fiscal year of 2013 plan. it reflects our priorities of the army, and allows the army to make continuous requirements to take care of soldiers and families and achieve balance between strength, readiness, and modernization. our approach to the current future budgets remain strategy based, and fiscally approved. thank you for allowing me to give his opening statement. and i welcome any questions.

>> one quick question, and then a broader one. you mentioned the women who are just starting with this. it is not a pilot program. but i understand that there have been some discussion or some initial discussion about rangers. can you talk about that? >> this is a progressive way forward. first, what we're doing is best in nine brigade combat teams, we are opening up the occupational specialties that currently women serve in. down to infantry and armor battalions. and we will run this for several months. my guess is, based on my experience in iraq and afghanistan, we will then move forward with a more permanent solution inside of the army probably sometime this fall. the next step is we have to continue to attempt to look at how we open up infantry and armor moss to females. and that is the next step. what we have done is -- we are really now collecting information, and we are steadily

a course forward on how we might take a look at this. that's what i have asked general bob cohen, the training and doctrine command her. also, major general bob brown. the commander of to start looking at the declarations and recommendations and how we might move forward. there's been no decisions made. but we will look at how we want to progress. >> does that depend on how you see things a over the next several months? what's happening now or is that independent? >> i think it's not -- it's not based. we are not going to wait. i've asked them to start looking at it now. and then we will chart a course of action as we -- a way forward as we -- and i suspect something will come out sometime this summer. >> has this included a plan to send women through the rain court equivalent of their infantry officer school? >> no, we have our own schools.

>> i know. >> yes. >> we will take a look at it. i mean, that's what the recommendation will come forward. that is part of what the recommendations are. we will make some announcements when we have a chance to look at it. >> the house opposition bill heads to the floor today. i wanted to ask if you could comment on a couple of items. there's language that limits the pace of downsizing force. an argument is somehow alleviating an unwanted pace. can you give a reaction? >> i submitted the budget for the pace that i thought was the most appropriate for us to downsize. i have two concerns. one is the language, the last time i saw it, it caps us at 552,000 through 2013. right now, that will hinder us because we are planning at being at about 543,000 at the end of

2013. so what does that mean? well, that means that we will not be able to use attrition, necessarily. this might cause us to force more people out people out of the army then we won't. instead of using natural attrition over the five or six year period we have identified over the last two budgets omissions. so i have talked with the house. i have told them that i don't agree with those amendments. i'd like to see them adjusted. but we will continue to work with them as we move forward. i think we will be able to come to an agreement and we will work with them very hard to come to the right pace of reductions. >> i think will be submitted was the right pace. it enables me to do three things. it enables me to take care of soldiers and families, to meet our commitments in afghanistan, and it continues, if necessary, it gives us leeway if something occurs that we could reverse it. and i think all of those factors can be met in what we cemented in the budget. >> and the second thing i want to say was that secretary

panetta has said that the way that they have put the money back into some hide hardware items is going to take away from -- military personnel or other items. have you identified examples? >> for us, in the budget, the real issue is the end strength number. we have to keep a higher end strength number, that means we have to lose our balance tween what i call the three rio stats, which is an strength, readiness and modernization. if those starting balance, out of balance, we have to be careful. we don't want is a hollow force. what i want is the best trained and best equipped and ready army. fast to deploy, i would worry that that could impact us if we don't do this right. >> can i follow up on that question? would you say? you are looking at this? what is the chance of women being able to take the ranger training? >> we are looking at it. i don't want to get ahead of

myself. let me give you some statistics. if we are going to determine that we allow women to go into the infantry, is a factor that we have asked them to look at. we have to look at the all-encompassing problem that we have had in terms of if we decide to do this, we want to have the women be successful. that's what we have asked them to do to gather data, come back to us so the secretary and i can chart a way forward. >> what are the moss going to be going into right now? >> i think it is a signal -- it is already in these mos, but they are now being able to go into infantry battalion at much lower levels.

it is adjunct general, it is emma, it is moss. >> it is mlra, which is mos. >> beyond the current budget, if sequestration follows through, what kind of pets do you anticipate to end strength and modernization? how will that affect the army? >> two points to sequestration. one is that my estimates are it would cause us to cut another 80 to 100,000. but it would be a combination of reserve component and active component in the scope. what makes sequestration worse is we don't have any say in where the cuts come. it is directed across every element of the budget and it is a certain percentage. what that would cause us to do is increase the pace of our end

strength reductions, it would cause a hollowness, a hollowness in the force. it would probably cause us to reach many contracts that we don't even have in place. because we will not meet the current requirements that we have on our developmental contracts. it would affect every asset that we have in every area. that is a concern. and fundamentally, i think that the joint chiefs have come to the conclusion that we'd fundamentally have to re-look at our whole strategy if it occurs. and those are the concerns we have. >> quick clarification. those regionally aligned brigades -- >> yes. >> are those specialized units that you have alluded to? >> no. what we have done in the past. we go through generation process where we put brigades, we put all different aviation engineer forces, and we prepare them to go to kuwait or, excuse me, afghanistan or iraq could so what we're changing as they will now be aligned to a combatant

commander. as they go to through a training process, then they become available for a period of time. nine to 12 months. they will be aligned with socom, centcom, pacom and they can use those forces to meet whatever requirements they might have. it might be rotational forces, it could be building partner capacity. it could be providing security assistance. what this does for us, it enables us to focus those units in these areas so they become more understanding of the tasks that they'll have to do and the work. what we are doing is we are meeting combatant commanders requirements by aligning army forces so they can use them in the future. plan on them, which helps them to shape the environment that they are operating in. that is the thought process behind it. we will be using the forces that we have and they will adapt and adjust in order to meet whatever wireman's that combatant

commander will have. >> [inaudible question] >> that's not what i said. what i said was that we will have units that will train to certain levels, and then, as they get requirements from the combatant commanders, they will train and be capable of conducting operations in those areas for that specific combatant commander. so give me an example. we might have a unit that says they're going to do africom, they want to do small level training. now they will reach a certain level of capability in combined arms training. then we use them to help assist units in other nations in africa in order to continue to build partner capacity. you know, the bottom line is if you want to train units to be more capable in their specialties, you want units that are capable in their specialty. so we want in infantry men training infantrymen, armor

officers training armor, and so you want to capability with each individual in order to be able to train now. we would be aligned in such. we will continue to train to a certain combined arms level as we move forward. >> general, just a follow-up on the africom thing. can you talk more about how this is going to work? as we all know, a lot of the special operations forces would be doing that training in somalia and yemen and etc., other places. will the army be working with special operators? is this in accra-- africom,? >> is both. there are many things that go on. it is better to talk with general ham. he can give you a feel of how it will be used. there is a mission for conventional and special operational forces. conventional forces are supporting special operations forces.

we built these strong relationships in iraq and afghanistan over the last seven, eight, nine years and we will continue to utilize that. we had talks with special operations commanders about two months ago to discuss this issue. so we will carry this on and all of the combatant commanders areas. but in addition to that, you have some additional requirements that require conventional units to assist, build capacity and do exercises and other things. it will be commendation of those things. >> how many of them? >> again, we will develop this overtime. what i expect is, you know, each command combatant command will come in with their own requirements. once they do that, we will start aligning forces. in 2013, we can only do a couple because we are still so much engaged in afghanistan. starting in 2014, you will see many more army unit starting to be aligned to other combatant commands and that will be specifically determine on their requirements. we had a meeting with the joint staff who had a meeting a couple

of weeks ago that outlines these requirements that are coming from the combatant commands. we will take that. then we will align our forces appropriately to meet their requirements. >> how many for the africom initially? >> initially, one brigade combat team. and it's a pilot test of how we're going to invest in a we have time for one more question. >> you anticipate one brigade per region or several brigades per region? >> in some regions could be with one and some could be four, five, six. it depends on their requirements. >> so does that mean that you are doing some drills to try to understand sequestration and how it will affect the military. >> know, were not. >> it depends. >> it is a percentage cut. it is easy to understand. in other words, we have no choice on where the cuts come. it is directed at a certain percentage of every -- so we understand in order to meet us, that's the requirement. it will be somewhere a