>> is posted weapons system a history of the united states or the history of mankind quite frankly. it's an advanced warplane a fighter jet that is to be used by the air force, the navy and the marine corps. it's the replacement for the f-16 for the air force and other planes for the marines and navy. it's our new advanced all-purpose fighter jet. it was a plane that was supposed to be in the skies fighting them. it's still in development. it's an incredibly troubled program. it's a program that has gone tens of billions of dollars over budget and i've borrowed into this program as a way to write about the overall challenges of

the defense budget because this program is in some way singular some way singular in terms of its cost overrides, its delays and the way it's been structured to as i write in the peace it's most effective defense of attribute may not be all of its radars and sensors and missiles and stealth technology and ability to fly it synthesized speech. it might well be the way it was designed to avoid budget cutters in washington. >> now a hearing on the justice department's 2014 budget request. attorney general eric holder testified before how supra-patient subcommittee for a little more than two hours.

be attorney general holder we welcome you to the committee and thank you for appearing. i'm going to hold my questions until the very end because members have to catch planes and go out of town but i will have an opening statement to cover questions and concerns that i have. let me address the bombing attack at the boston marathon on monday. we know the fbi and the joint terrorist task force batf and its forensic specialists in all the federal state and local authorities are working nonstop to determine who carried out this barbaric act. let me assure you the subcommittee is ready to help in any way we can to help law enforcement against perpetrators and planners of this act of terror and insure ensure the full force of justice is -- to think something like that taking place anything this

committee do we stand ready. i want to express disappointment with regard to you and me in the subcommittee. in somecas has not takimportantm disappointed that the depant bee authities the committee to expand federal prison -- it has fallen from 23,000 in 2006 to 12,800 in fy14. this is an area where leadership is necessary and we have made it very clear that i want to support you in this effort that we need to see to take it seriously in an energetic way and we have not seen it. why can't that picture with the

entire federal government and why can't the ncaa -- from prisons. you can put a man or woman in prison for 50 years and give them no work and no dignity. this will not displace american jobs but a proven way to end recidivism to make progress. i am also dissatisfied and disappointed with a noncommittal response to my suggestion that justice consider an assessment of pathbreaking work things done in states on prison reform. this is clearly where a lot of new thinking is taking place and we need to benefit from it. before last year's hearing you and i talked about visiting a prison together but nothing came you.and we never heard frm and u ver ever follo. th

nagog ok at reform options and comprehensive thorough matter and it seems to me someone in the department should embrace it but i'm not going to hold my breath to wait for the embracement. i must also express my disappointment with the way you truly abused i believe strongly and i cannot say it was strong enough words, the reprogramming process. the committee includes language in the bill at each year to provide the department with the flexibility to reallocate funds between programs to address emerging needs. the reprogramming process has developed over the years to allow such flexibility while still preserving congressional priorities and intent. last year you disregarded the committee's direction, the congresses direction and proceeded with an unprecedented 165 million-dollar reprogram to soap toward the repurchase of the thompson prison in illinois.

that was actively sought as an earmark by senator durbin in fact it was an earmark. it would have been an earmark here and it is an earmark. it is an earmark and basically violates if not the lots violates the basic sense of process but it was not included in the president's budget nor any appropriations act. congress denied a similar program and subsequently identified the department as a potential source for the thompson purcha. thom t syllabi secession is still being felt. it undermines the relationship of their funding commitments in the reprogramming process is based on respect and willingness to talk to one ano between the branches and should respect the prerogatives of both branches. the senate committee included the pertinent language in the fy13 report this is in the absence of comity and respect for the progress of the committees in congress in general the committee will have

no choice but to include specific program limitations and details legislatively. under the circumstances programs projects and activities become absolutes and the executive branch shall lose the ability to propose changes in use of appropriated funds for the reprogramming process. this is what has come to pass and in the absence of trust the congress enacted fy13 bill that significantly rains in your bailout t. to reprogram and transfer funds because of your activity. it actually hurts future attorney general's that will follow you whenever that time maybe. secondly by frittering away the 160 and 65 million to satisfy an earmark requests in the face of strong opposition from the committee you have severely eroded your ability and the ability of congress to address your very serious funding problems in the fiscal year and next, problems which itedtradimd

furloughs. let's be clear the fbi agents th bureau prison officers and many department employees could be furloughed if not this year next year from a lack of fundi to allow this to happen in my opinion is bad judgment and poor leadership. had the furloughs taken place could call them the holder furloughs or the holder risk if you will. i understand even though you could be facing sequestration of furloughs in fy14 you are requesting at more funding for thompson. perhaps more fiscally a possible approach would be to sell the prison to the highest bidder and seek to use the proceeds to provide needed support to ongoing prison operations and the activation of the facilities i'm disappointed and frustrated at the snails pace by the department addressing other serious problems, some solvable

human trafficking problems. you indicated to the committee last year you would reach out to the polaris project to find ways to collaborate on rooting out human trafficking and we discussed taking action to shut down the advertising of the service at backstage -- back page.com but we have seen no movement. we have sent too many letters and we never get an answer. in northern virginia number of cases where young women have been sexually trafficked in some have been involved with that page and we can't get an answer with regarto back page and you've ben reluctant to deal with that issue is very troubling. sponse to my letter calling for reform of the civil rights division especially - the inspector general review showed a long-standing pattern of dysfunctional harassment and this is the ig. this is a member of congress up here. this is your own

havead some impact sheared a long-standing pattern of dysfunction harassment and unprofessional behavior and operations and it demands a strong response. the inspector general referred remaining personnel to the department for possible discipline in my understanding is there is the noticeable and taken. maybe no administrative action taken and express concern about continued policies that you cast doubt on in partiality of the voting. i've recommended independent outside review outside to make reform recommendations. surely this is something you can put in motion and yet i've seen no action on your behalf. in the area of executive use of agency aircraft i'm troubled by the gal report that 41% of the attorneys who travel from 2007 to 2011 was for personal reasons. i know the attorney general has acquired official transportation. w der iverad

ndhoughts about thene for trav if you think about a couple of trips to have their say i don't ma bell is the best use of taxpayer money particularly because we are going through the sequestration issue? there are areas we have been working on priority issues and acksn crediblesnot able to get the lastwo letters and response and not even an acknowledgment from the department. returning to the budget you're testyi today on fiscal year 2014 the department of justice budgetequudcl adjustments you requested 28.1 billion in discretionary budget authority and an increase of 1.5 billion to 3.9% above fy 12 before sequestration. your fy14 request reflects significant issues with sizable offerings. the increase includes 382 million in funding to atf and the fbi to expand gun law enforcement and background checks and grant programs for gun safety technology in funding

for state criminal -- this also includes 150 million in new funding for broad comprehensive program for transfer authority in a variety of positions for law enforcement social workers and others. the budget also includes 668 million for cybersecurity with 92 million in increases for the fbi. you are seeking 55 million in new funding to investigate and prosecute financial mortgage fraud. to address prison overcrowding you seek 291 million to activate prison facilities and expand detainee resources. we have questions regarding investigative and surveillance capabilities human trafficking and the department's efforts to address cyberand -- expected to ask the department's efforts to ensure civil rights meets the higher standards of objectivity but we expect to hear more about how they

department is the ongoing challenge of operating under sequestration. finally before i yield to mr. qatar for his statement i would like to take a minute to recognize atf stage and scott sammons for five years of outstanding service. staff injanuary of 2800 general mullen who served with great distinctiofor the past five years. t urning to f headquarters next week and we all wish him well and much success. scott you are a credit to the atf and the department and we thank you very much for your service. >> thank you mr. chairman. first and foremost let me welcome you to the committee. i know there are many things that immediately focus your interest and concerns including an incident in boston and i know that the entire justice department and the fbi and atf

in your offices and others are focused on this matter. i know that time is limited. i would respond to each of the criticisms that have been offered by my great friend and chairman and we are truly good friends and we work well together but needless to say it's not surprising the majority party from the president's party might take issue with some of the activities of the cabinet member and it's been part of the pattern, you can't obviously represent the administration's point of view and represent the house point of view because it is to drastically too drastically different points of view on almost every subject in this particular matter what we are focused on is your appropriations requests. what are the dollars that you need to run the agency responsible for protecting american citizens and for years now you have done an extraordinary job and the dertf juicn o e men and women under your control have done a great job in

this respect of dealing with a whole range of issues. and so we are going to get into the accounts and what you need. needless to say we could read and respond to each and every point. i do however agree with the chairman that the thompson prison issue did i think step on the normal processes of the appropriations process and i would obviously be concerned about that but i welcome you. i know that your time is as important today as it is every day and the chairman question some of your trips and i'm sure you question any trip you had to make up to the hill. we appreciate the fact that you are here and i yield back. >> thank you mr. fattah. i will go to mr. rogers and ms. lilly. >> mr. chairman thank you for yielding a thak you for being here.

welcome. we all are wishing you well in the investigation and prosecution of those who perpetrated this cowardly act in boston so we wish you well in that regard. your fiscal 14 request, $28.1 billion is almost a 4% increase over current levels but aside from some increases for new gun control efforts funding for most law enforcement accounts remain flat. understanding the difficult budgetary constraints under which you are operating and we'll are, particularly the rapidly escalating costs within our federal prison system, we look forward to hearing from you about the impacts of this flat funding to the operational capabilities of our law enforcement officials on the front lines. in addition i'm concerned by a

number of budgeting gimmicks and misplaced priorities which undermined the integrity of your request. once again the bureau prisons budget is relying on the enactment of authorizing legislation outside the jurisdiction of this committee. to achieve $41 million in savings. despite the fact that the same request was rejected in the last two fiscal years. you have also continued to rely on rescissions to finance her discretionary budget including some 392 million from core law enforcement. the committee expressed grave concern with this last yr and st oe again question the wisdom of employing budget gimmicks with the funding to support our u.s. marshals. the fbi, the dea and atf agents

putting themselves in harm's way on a daily basis. finally i'm dismayed to see you requested the president's budget to remove the coalition on transferring gitmo detainees to u.s. soil. this prohibition was voted on a bipartisan basis in the fiscal 13 bill. the recent uptick in violence at guantánamo should give us cause for concern and even more reason to keep these dangerous individuals at arm's length. all of that said, on a more personal note i do wish to thank you for your continued interest in the prescription drug abuse epidemic as it was called by the national center for disease control. it began in my room at congressional district over a decade ago. it has now emerged as our nation's fastest-growing threat and as i said the center

for disease control calls it a national epidemic killing more people than car wrecks. your department and you personally have been engaged and reonve in particular i want to thank you for allowing a number of representatives from e pament to participate in the naption drug use summit in orlando florida where earlier this month nearly 1000 individuals from around the country gather to discuss holistic solutions to prescription drug abuse. so i value our partnership in that regard and i feel together we are making significant progress. so we wish you well. we have a number of questions we would like to raise with you. we are at the very beginning of chd wars for youn and lot

and me and us but we want to work with you to work out the best answers. thank you. >> ms. lilly. >> thank you mr. chairman and welcome attorney general holder. we appreciate your coming before the subcommittee today. it is the core mission of the department of justice to enforce the laws and defend the interests of the united states including protecting the public against all enemies foreign and domestic, and today the country continues to mourn the senseless acts of violence and terror that occurred on monday afternoon in boston and our thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families. i know all of us on this committee want you to have every resource you need to investigate this at the terror and bring the perpetrator to justice. we cannot demise the threats against our nation as we have seen with this tragedy in bostoc

subsan theirense for me presenand members of congress. in many communities firearms in the hands of dangerous criminals account for additional threats. in december our nation mourned the unspeakable tragedy in newtown. in the days since, 3482 americans have lost their lives due to a gun. 3482. there should be no controversy abouuniversal background checks. there should be no controversy about keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people. mr. attorney general you are the nations top law enforcement official. during this hearing i look forward to hearing how the budget requests will make our communities safer, take firearms out of the hands of those who seek to do har responders and w

enforcement offices the resources to protect our communities investigate crimes and prosecute offenders. again i would like to thank general bluff and ranking member fattah for this hearing and for you attorney general holder for joining us today. thank you. >> pursuant to the authority granted to section 289 of house rule 11 today's witness will be sworn before testifying. please rise and raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear or for him that the testimony you're about to give over the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? let the record reflect that the witness answered in the affirmative. welcome mr. attorney general and your whole statement will appear in the record as appropriate. >> good afternoon chairman rogers chairman was ranking member attah and distinguished

members of the subcommittee. appreciate the opportunity to discuss the presence fiscal year 2014 budget before the department of justice and provide recent achievements in our ongoing work. in the days ahead as my justice department fbi colleagues work closely with the federal state and local partners to investigate the tragedy that took place in boston on monday your continual support will be more critical than ever. i joined every member of the subcommittee and expressing my deepest sympathies to the victims of this cowardly terrorists at and to those who lost loved ones. want to assure you the citizens of boston's and all americans we are working tirelessly to determine is responsible for this incident. to this end i've directed full resources of the department to be deployed to ensure the matter is fully investigated to prevent future attacks from occurring and to make certain individual or group that carried out this heinous act is held accountable to the fullest extent of law the

law and by any means available to us. the department continues to strengthen and refine their broader national security efforts and to move aggressively in identifying disrupting an investigating classified foreign terrorist organizations as well as home-grown extremists. s regard nvtioconvictio ends agt b requesterrace is $4 billion to maintain security efforts and provides critical support for a range of public safety programs that impact our citizens daily lives and $395 million to to support the administration's commonsense recommendations for preventing and reducing gun violence. along with the comprehensive gun violence reduction plan the president announced in january the budget request will allow us to respond to events like the horrific mass shooting we saw last december in newtown connecticut that might making our communities and schools more

secure. just days after the tragedy at sandy hook elementary school i traveled there and met with first responders and crime scene investigators and i walked the halls where these unspeakable events took place. those brave men and women asked me with tears in their eyes to do anything in my power to keep such a thing from happening again i told them i would not rest until we have changes that are citizens need and overwhelmingly that they want. despite my disappointment quite frankly my frustration and even my anger at the filibuster in the senate yesterday that led to the failure to adopt some of these changes despite the fact that a majority voted for them i and my colleagues throughout the best ration remain committed to extending to the families of newtown and countless others who have lost lives and nseless acts of gun violence across the country and all osewhose lives are shattered bythieveray.

on behalf of these vms survivors and their families my colleagues and i will continue to fight for commonsense reform against -- -- to get deadly weapons out of the hands of people without infringing on second amendment rights. the president's budget request along with the gun violence reduction proposals will enable us to do just that. beyond these efforts this budget request bolsters existing programs for combating violence in all its forms cracking down on child exploitation and sexual assault and smarter and tougher on crime. it will invest $2.3 billion in innovative programs to ensure that law enforcement officers can do their jobs more safely and effectively than ever before it will provide increases totaling $55 million to continued the fight against financial and mortgage fraud and it will allocate more than $250 million to support the civil rights division's efforts to address bias intimidation and

discrimination from america's housing and lending markets to schools workplaces and voting booths. unfortunately her capacity to build upon this comprehensive work has been negatively impacted by sequestration which recently cut over $1.6 billion from the department's our employees and theimental administrator of justice in communities nationwide and our sut lies across america's law enforcement community. despite her be efforts to reduce expenses i'm very concerned about the department's ability to keep the f. the ietf, dea and u.s. marshals service and other key staff both this year and next. less than a month ago unlimited authority i provided $150 million to the bureau presence to avoid furling more than 3500 correctional staff each day from federal prisons around the country. afety thats for ourated seriou

staff inmates in the public. i want to thank chairman was making -- ranking member fattah and members of the subcommittee for the section but i must know the solutions we used to alleviate sequester cuts in fiscal year 2013 will no longer be available to us to mitigate funding short holes due to sequestration. put simply the shortfalls would jeopardize programs for the safety of americans across the country and undermine them remarkable work that the justice department's 116,000 dedicated employees particularly hard-working career staff to carry out every day. i look forward to working with the subcommittee and congress to ensure that these untenable cuts are not allowed to continue and the timely passage of the president's request which allocates a total of $27.6 billion for the justice department. thupportill be essential in euring e department's sources to fulfill s portto disss thee aga

forts and i would be mohan glad to answer questions that you might have your. >> thank you mr. attorney general. in the interest of time i'm not going to ask any questions until the very end because i live here and i don't have to worry about airplanes. i have asked members who have never used a gavel if you can kind of you know what i mean. first mr. fattah and then mr. rogers and then ms. lowey and then we will go the other way. >> i want to follow the chairman's lead in the sense that not only members have to fly but understand you have important business involving our nation so i will yield and deal with questions at a later point. >> mr. rogers. >> general holder, as i said before i appreciate your work on the prescription drug abuse problem and one of the most important things that have taken place is the installation in 49

states of the prescription drug monitoring programs, where assumably doctors and nurses and those who prescribe medicine are able to check on the state-wide computer network to be sure that the person they are seeing and prescribing medicine for is not door shoppin it'seeve effiv however three main problems. one, a low percentage of doctors are using that system. secondly, it's not real-time. there are days and even weeks of delay between when a person's prescription is registered in the system before it shows up. and thirdly it needs to be interoperable across state lines

because a person can doctor shop against the state fine unless they are connected to the edf be in their home state it never shows up. what can you tell us about those three problems with the pdmp system? >> first i would agree that with what you said in your opening remarks that this whole question of prescription drug abuse is truly a national problem and it's one that we have to dedicate attention and resources to. i think the work you've done to raise the consciousness of this nation to that problem has been laudable and i would note the prescription drug monitoring program is -- for good reason. the department has technical assistance in that regard and we have $7 million up budget for the monitoring but i think the concerns you raise are in fact the gym once. we have to understand that a national problem can't be hampert

we can't allow state borders to have a negative impact on our y somethg that crosses state lines easily sowe wu likt wk wth yotoompit wys in which we can make this program is effective as we possibly can. >> and tell us what you are doing to eventually get all 50 states interconnected into one system? >> well i think what we are trying to do is to as i said in answer to the systems to track controlled substances prescribed by practitioners and dispensed by pharmacies. that's one of the reasons why the monitoring component of our request in this area is so important. we are looking for ways in which we can support efforts to monitor across the nation and do all that we can to ensure that this national problem gets the national attention that it deserves. >> i appreciate your work on it and its complex.

it requires a holistic approach to. we find that most young people get hooked on oxycontin or a similar type drug by accessing the whole medicine cabinet -- home medicine cabinet where you get a bottle of pills and if he went to the doctor or went to the dentist and he says you may notnhesbuere a bottle and you put it in the medicine cabinetndorget about it. then younter fithabottle. 's prescription medicines so it's quote safe and before you know it they are hooked and in many cases dead. that has happened so many times in my district and around the country so as you said this is a national problem. you have been very helpful and effective in shutting down most of the pell-mells in broward

county florida. >> which i can spell, remember? >> but you went to work on a problem along with state officials and others and you have shut down most of the pell-mells. it at one time nine out of 10 prescriptions for opiate -- opioid medicines in the u.s. -- but you have been effective in that regard and i appreciatappreciat ed very much. the other thing i want to ask about is the hydrocodone rescheduling. dea has been asking the faa to type the controls on hydrocodone combination drugs for 10 years. and yet the fda has dragged its feet. why is important that we reschedule these drugs and is scheduled to? >> if you look at the abuse that you see around hydrocodone and i

would say all drugs but hydrocodone in particular the amount of abuse you see and the sery that abuse cases and unfortunaunfortuna tely the pervasive use of it in certain parts of our country, it seems to us that the rescheduling would beppropriate. hope to work with our partners at a and to ctte that rescheduli. >> while the current schedule for these drugs, and these are hydrocodone but they are labeled by give in, lortab and because there are schedule three, there is creating a false sense among some patients and even doctors that these medicines are less potent or less habit-forming. thereforrouse less

code on painkillers which are scheduled two. as a result while most every opioid painkiller is a scheduled two drug or carefully regulated, america's most abused narcotic hydrocodone is missing from that scheduled to list and that is important because under scheduled two, a written prescription would be required in order to receive these painkillers except in an emergency. this prescriptions cannot be called in. patients have to see the doctor to get a new prescription for each refill after 90 days. no automatic refill. and in addition traffickers would be subject to harsher fines and penalties. i would hope that you would use every ounce of urei

the fda to be surt can reschedule those drugs to where we can stop that problem. mr. chairman i have other questions i can submit for the record. >> thank you mr. chair. ms. lowey. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. attorney general as you know yesterday the majority of senators did vote for a bipartisabipartisa n backgrounbackground check amendment that would have made improvements to occur in the system. unfortunately and i am deeply disappointed that the will of the majority of senators is not enough to pass these important improvements so i would like to know what steps you can take in your role as attorney general to improve the background check process without the need for additional legislation and what improvements should be made to the background check system to make it more effective at keeping guns out of the hands of the wrong people? >> bun check system

is an integral part of our efforts to keep people safe and that his wife from my perspective it was so disheartening to see something that has 90% support of the american people the overwhelming majority of democrats republicrepublic ans gunowners and nra members to see if the light that go down to defeat. the majority of thesenate votes for it buhat's t about. you have got to have a supermajority now because the filibusters happen as a matter of routine. what we can do is to pass the commonsense legislation but dionne that come up with ways in which we encourage the states to put more information and to the system by offering grants and making it easier to get that kind of information into the system. in addition to that to look at the classifications of the kinds of people who are actually in the system and to the extent we can use executive power to do

that we are prepared to do so. we are going to use as the president part of his initiative issued 23 executive orders and it was an attempt to maximize these executive powers to make real the promise that he made and that i made to the families of newtown. >> i'm also deeply troubled and in fact it's always shocking to me that those on the terrorist watch list did not raise a flag in the system. the president has asked that you revise the list of factors which determine eligibility to pass a background check for the purchase of a firearm. can you explain how that could need? >> while the president has asked me to look at the categories of people who are going to the database. that is certainly one of the ones t well -- >> just focus on that for a minute.

should we be closing that loophole? if you are on the terrorist watch list and you can still be able to go and buy a gun? >> there are some who say that, let me just say there are some not necessarily convinced that that's an appropriate thing today. that's something i have under advised meant taking into account the concerns expressed by my law enforcement partners before the decision was made but i share the concern you have expressed. >> this has concerned me for a long time mr. attorney general. there are mistakes on the terrorist watch list but if they are being stopped and held up for an hour or so because you are on a terrorist watch list and you can just go off and buy a gun? >> if you get back to me as soon as possible on that and just one other issue i would like you to work on. i am very pleased that the president's request includes $150 million for the comprehensive school safety program which would allow school districts to apply for grants

based on the needs of their community be it security upgrades, school psychologist counselors or in some cases armed guards. are you giving guidance to the district for acceptable uses of these grants? will the department prioritize applications for security improvements versus personnel or specific types ofpersonal --pe >> when we met with eucors as part of the 200 groups tha we met with during t ld-up to the intrtion of the president's proposals the president antme with a goup of ers adutod parents and what came out of that meeting was reflected th the proposal that we have which is to give our localities flexibility as to how they would use this money to put a menu of options in front of them for armed guards to psychologists and counselors and to give them the ability to decide what is best for that community and for those schools.

what we try to do as i said is put together a program that gives guidance in the sense that it lists out a number of options that local communities have but a also educational directive in the sense that we restrict it to the number of things and options that we are presented so we are being flexible at the same time being responsive. >> thank you and thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. attorney general you said that you are examining what you could implement through executive order. what portions of the defeated senator postal do you believe could he implemented by executive order? >> the defeated executive order? speed is trying to understand your statement that we could implement if you could just clarify. >> there are certain this the president has asked me to do

within 90 days of this date in januy s pa of the executive order. rtf the executive orderthat is issued so i'm referring to those. >> okay you are referring to that originalist let me ask you about if i could chairman would have has been on and that is the cyber threat that the nation faces. could you talk about the role the department of justice plays in helping put test the country and the federal government against cyber attacks? i know the department of justice and inspector general has noted deficiencies in the last few years in the department's justices security operations center. could you talk about some of

those deficiencies and what you are doing to overcome them to better protect the doj from cyberattacks? >> detecting and disrupting the cyberattacks is a priority for the department. if one looks at the cyber arena you have the ability of people from our shores have the ability to perpetrate, and flaws and beyond that we have infrastructure and national security threats. so we have to deal with these in a variety of ways. yeah the i spent a great amount of time dealing with cyber threats. i have a yearly threat meeting every day and i will say the majority of the time at least one of the comon ar talked about during that meeting deals with the cyber issue. it's something that we have to continue to default on the department try to address the issues in the cyber arena because they change. the nature of the threat we are cing changes so we are part of

the national cyber investigative joint task force a multi-agency national effort to deal with these issues but it is for us in the department 21st century a priority area. >> the chairman and i have a classified briefing at the end of the day on cyberthreats. we have $92 million in this year's request for additional 50 agents for the f. vi. this is an area that i think the chairman for many years and some of the rest of us weren't paying close attention to but it is clear from briefings we have had that this is a massive bombing with very clear vulnerabilities for our country. this is an area that we want to look at. thank you.

>> thank you mr. chairman and welcome attorney general and thank you for this superb job you are doing. i just wanted me a quick comment thanks for the work the department is doing on cracking down on theft. one prominent example that was very important that action alone increased by one estimate sales from legitimate sources from six to 10% a phenomenal result from one case. i want to raise two issues with you today, one just to follow up with ms. lowey's comments and i'm sure your disappointment and representative lowey's with what happened in the senate on the background checked bill. we have discussed it a lot and i know you have taken action through executive order to deal with some of the state participation providing mental health records to make a more complete database. that issue has gotten a lot a lot of attention. there is a different issue that

involves the federal requiremerequireme nt that not only these mental health records be put in the system but also evidence of serious substance abuse and of many respects the substance abuse history has proven a more reliable indicator of when weapons for violent crime that is a very difficult issue and i think the state compliance without federal requirement has been even less than on the mental health site. i wonder if you could share your thoughts on how we navigate that and then a broader issue which i know you work done and is a great concern to the committee and that is our ever burgeoning prison population and a lot of people with health and substance abuse problems that the unsustainunsty oustain our cut trajectory andny thoughts you would le to sre on that here it's the i agree with regard to the inclusion of information th deapeop are d ab.

that informatiinformati on is a tential indicator of those who might use guns inappropriately and so it should read, this is information that should be included but is something that would have an impact on people's treatment for their drug issues. so we have to try to work in a way in which we deal with that and find a sweet spot. it's something we are wrestling with and the president asked me to look at over the course of the period of time so that is something we have addressed. with regard to the prison population that is something that is of great concern. if you look at the trajectory we see increasing numbers of people in federal prison and our state prisons as well and i think we should ask her -- ask ourselves ar in jail for appropriate amounts

of time? are we doing things with incarceraincarcera tion that we want to do, august 2 punish and deter but could be to rehabilitate. there are fundamental questions we have to ask ourselves. we can't jail our way out of some of the problems we are confronting. it's never to say that certain certain -- do i have sentence people to jail as a judge here in washington dc.. but i think there are legitimate questions about policies we have had in place for a good number of years and we should ask ourselves whether not the prison population we have which is as use of the limited resourcesate that we have. we have tried to put in this budget things that deal with alternatives to incarceration and re-entry programs for people getting out of prison to d. a

productive member of society and decrease their chances of coming back in the requested deals with this issue. spare want to have particular knowledge that justice reinvestment which is a proven data-drivdata-driv in process where many states now are looking at alternative ways of helping rehabilitate those released from prison and having remarkable success in reducing recidivism and plowing savings back into those approaches including virtual cycle. another request has come from 8 million to 80 million in potential savings are a factor many times so i think that's a great investment and i look forward to working with you on it. see the opposite for investment is an important part of our request and it's important the states are doing interesting and evidence-based things that prove

useful and productive and i would encourage that and other states to adopt those things again looking at the importance that the reinvestment is a real tool in making that occurred. >> one final point before i yield back mr. chairman. one category where there is great room for improvement is in the degree to which we use our prisons as mental health holding facilities to the degree that we can direct the mentally ill to better treatment and better treatment facilities costs less, much better for them in much better overall and that may be a significant contributor to our incarceration costs and moving us in a direction that the criminal justice system was not intended to be used for. >> if you talk to the sheriffs they will tell you the sheriff of los angeles county for instance we'll tell you in terms of numbers sometimes the sheriffs are therincie

providers of people with mental issues. this is clearly is clearly not into pro-breathing. >> thank you attorney attorney y general. i yield back mr. chairman. >> listening to the questions today i was hoping that i could impose upon you for consideration and perhaps the attorney general. there are so many issues we could spend the whole day. guns and activity going on in the senate. it would be great to have the attorney general come back perhaps schedule permitting because there is mixed opinion about whether the amendments voted down yesterday would have kept the tragedy in connecticut from taking place but again immigration is a hot topic. i would love to talk to you about the trial in orleans but i want to reserve my question just for something that came about as a result of the hearing this committee had last week with the head of the dea. and not row

ball in left field but in december the president was interviewed by barbara walters and her question is do you support making pot legal? the president said i wouldn't go that far. it doesn't make sense from a prioritization to focus on drug use and states where it is now legal. since november 2 states have made marijuana legal and others have made it legal for medical use. the president said it's a tough problem but asked the attorney general to examine it. since we have the attorney general -- and i want to go back to the hearing we had with mr. wolf last week with dea administrator lenhart who said that the department continues to enforce federal drug laws regardless of

state action and marijuana continues to be an illegal drug based on federal law and dea agents under the jurisdiction of the department of justice are continuing to pursue marijuana crimes even though certain states have legalized it. so, wit all t concern on both sides about gun violence, the number showed numbers show that 40,000 people last year were killed, died because of drug erdodrd to 11,000 guns. over the last decade 400,000 have been killed as a result of drug overdose. 107,000 with regard to guns. under the leadership of chairman

rogers and the department you have worked responsibly with regard to prescription drugs and you said in response to representative rogers. is it a problem? we all love the fifth amendment but is it a problem that we selectively try to interpret the usage of the amendment as it relates to an issue that the federal government deems illegal and dangerous and is a gateway drug. during the testimony last week she was talking about the children who start out with marijuana and we are not talking about mr. attorney general someone who is growing something in their backyard. we are talking the testimony showed last week that many of the drugs, most of the drugs are coming into this country through the mexican cartels which would have to be a serious issue for

the justice department and every mayor and governor. my question to you is since the president referenced you in the interview with ms. walters last year tell us from your perspective as the chief law enforcement officer of this country is this something the federal government should be concerned about? is there nad of states making their own independent decisions and does it create added challenges for the men and women who work in uniform? >> whave certainly continue to review the marijuana legalization initiatives that were passed in washington and in colorado. we have announced a decision yet and we are still in the process of doing those initiatives. we are certainly going to enforce federal law. that is what we are going to do. it's what we do across-the-board. the criminal statutes it's up to

the law to enforce them. we take into account how it can best use resources that we have and make determinations about where the greatest harm occurs and where we can have the greatest impact. when it comes to these marijuana initiatives some other things we will have to consider is the impact on children, and kids somehow negatively affected by these initiatives, whether or not there is violence connected to the trafficking and the use and sale of marijuana, the source of it here if we don't to do anything that would enable organized crime and the cartels to somehow benefit from these initiatives and obviously the question of violence is more generally. violence is associated with the sale or use of these drugs and all kinds of considerations that

we are taking into account as we try to determine what our position is going to be with regard to the washington and colorado efforts. >> well, correct me if i'm wrong but marijuana is a schedule one drug as is lsd and ecstasy so maybe it's ms. categorize, i don't know. but based not on the research you have done so far or what you might issue going forward based on your judgment as the father of three children and the president has two children i have two kids here to a lot of kids people have children and grandchildren and i guess it's a personal question. if there were a recommendation from the attorney general to the president of the united states today would you be in a position to say whether you think the legalization of 1 iron

nation would be a good thing or a bad thing? >> i mean the things i will be sharing with the presence of use i have with regard to washington and colorado initiatives and the president i think s not said he is for legalization. i am not for it either and certainly when it co to children and i think it's recognized in washington and colorado initiatives that there are certain age limits beyond which the use of marijuana would not be appropriate in the same way we do with alcohol. so the decision or the recommendation that we make in perhaps the decision we make in the department will take into account the things i reference in my first answer to you, the impact on youth and the whole question of violence, the impact of organized crime. all of these kinds of things go into that determinadetermina tion and again how we deploy our resources most effectively.

>> out of interest of time mr. chairman i will yield back again there are so many questions that so many of us would have liked to have a chance to visit with the attorney general on and if he did have an opportunity later on in the year to come back. i know i would be interested in that. thank you. >> thank you mr. chair and welcome back. i have for quick questions and perhaps the responses could be brief. but in the past you have been concerned about the fbi data collection mandate and what we are asking for in addition to additional categories and the advisory policy bowit later on this year to discuss l necategories and iation on know you have come out in suppdditort ofn of some of cegories. ..

do not make those distinctions gets a lot of hooks into trouble, so we appreciate following up on that. one of the interesting things i noticed on your fy 14 budget removes several pieces of legislation about inventory.

could you tell us more about your thinking on this issue invites import in light of the recent events? >> we think the language is not appropriate in that you can have these weapons that go old can still be used to be quite effective in crimes and can cause great harm. we think the restriction included their, the prohibition is an consistent with the hot that an old weapon can still us >> okay igha. i appreciate an kerry has a voter protection and they spent a lot of americans who wait inordinate amount of time in the last election, most of them have been waiting a long time to exercise their most fundamental right and

that is the right to vote. one of the things that was going on is to eliminate the amount of days available for early voting and limiting access to minority areas like asian-americans, african-americans can hispanic americans was unfairly targeted. this runs completely contrary to the principles. what the department is doing to stop this blatant abuse and how we can be helpful quite >> the whole question of voting rights to make a priority with a number of suits flashier against texas, south carolina, florida with regard to the photo ids or reduction of hours people were allowed to cast a ballot.

it's an consistent with who we say we are as a people. should encourage people to vote, expand the number of hours, be mindful of t ft at there's potential fraud but we do things do make that possibility real. think the congresscan help in allocating money for grants to somehow encourage states to keep the polls open longer, to make registration easier coming to do those kinds of things so we have more people in the process as opposed inferior. that's not the american way to do anything. we have seen and it resulted the civil rights movement. we see what it means to keep people away from the polls. that's a dark time for this nature untrue nation, not

something we want to go back to. >> one of the things i notice is on tuesdays historically, is there anything that requires it to be in a tuesday or is that something we can look at as democracies usually have two days and they usually declare it a nonwork day so it gives people the ability to get out there and vote. if there's something i don't understand about the designation of tuesday's quakes >> if you look at it, it has a lot to do it the way our society misconfigured many years ago in an agrarian society and tuesday ons some pain along thoset lines, but what a different time an era and states are doing with regard to expanding the voting ability to weekends makes a lot

of sense. people have to work generally on tuesdays. an operating cost in the fields to the places are they perhaps can vote. the notion of voting on saturday, voting on sunday, i commend those are the things we should be encouraging. >> one last thing. it's been about two years and more than a year the doj has committed to do an investigation to the n.y.p.d. actions. there would be some updates on that huge a review of n.y.p.d.'s actions. he found that it is disturbing on these things are under review by your department. could you give an update on the status of the ny.d.?

>> those items in the surveillance issue are still things under review by the department of a lawsuit presently underway, civil lawsuit filed by a set of plaintiffs we are in the process that is still monitoring from a lawsuit sappiness raised in surveillae eview in the dent. >>t'n i ogress, but because there's a lot of lawsuits pending or therapeutic gains more proactive that can be done or contemplated? >> it's a combination of both. certainly things that can do independently, but there's testimony, evidence. we get a sense of the policies

that have raised concern in the minds of many people. that will help inform but not necessarily determine the action will take. >> they have plays a young man's car to please the person's movement and there's no explanation or anything else like that. if any part is still going on or is that a product is deemed to be halted because it feels very unconstitutional. i was curious what the department's mandate under my agents. >> that's an investigative technique still used by the supreme court that constitutes a

search, shanged our policies in the technique is re sasnd to the extent we can, to doing it wit inent of courts. >> the warrants prior to the acti. >> yes. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. attorney general, i want to ask your line of questioning based on a letter written to your office from our chairman, mr. wolf, with regard to the floor and she means and they have not received responses as of yet i believe. i want to delve into this a little bit if they could. specifically i want to raise the

line for the letter from a former colleague of ours, mr. mccune who is now the secretary of the army. he was interviewed saying quote, awarding purple hearts could adversely affect the trial of major hasan. toward a purple heart has to be done so to declare that a soldier a foreign terrorists, we are told i am not an attorney and a dove on the justice department, but we were told that would have a profound effect on the ability to conduct the rial. this is the basis of what i want to go with my line of questioning in the issues lvedround workplace violence persons acts of terror e, whether or not they things

would receive a purple heart or not and why and how that might taint the trial of mr. hasan. in your role because he specifically implies in his quote at the justice department has a role in the overview of your budget request and how we move forward. i served at fort hood. my son was born i forget at 962,001 and am familiar with the up-tempo nature of the opposed. we had two divisions they are. can be a highly stressful environment and as a young captain eric two years back and so for me it's somewhat personal. i was also a judge advocate there. i prosecuted cases and another

prosecutor. he's a former defense defense attorney very well. i want to try to get to if we can clarity on the issue, which sthink of is e theydes my first question is, and if you could keep these answers as much as possible to yes or now so i can get through his many s possible, did dod officials consort you are members of your department regarding the decision to designate attacks on military and civilian personnel at the mac to work with violence? >> this is answer that is not yes or no. i'm just not familiar when interaction with advocate a part of defense with regard to this issue. >> of the witness would yield. this is a gentleman prosecuted

by dod, by the department of defense, not the department of justice. john mchugh is a former republican is in his second term in the obama administration. this is a military procedure in terms of the trial of this gentleman and i want to make sure the record is clear, even though the gentleman is a great member and has every right to question that is not something the department of justice's handling. >> i appreciate that. the only reason i bring it up is because mr. mchugh set in this interview that i'm not attorney and i don't buy the end, there were told the purple heartwarwon the ability to conct a fair trial.thansw by the secretary of themmpies the justice rtnthte

decision is to not influence in no, we as i know come in the any way anything the justice department said, but i would look at that to the extent that had interaction with the defense department relay that to you. i think what congressman fattah has said is correct. this is a military investigation were not involved in making purple heart determinations. i'm just not aware of it. >> mr. rooney is accurate. mr. mchugh is that i'm not an attorney and i don't in the justice department. i think he's right before they did anything, they went to the justice department and the administration has treated these people very, very poorly. the inference is a must. mchughs called justice before they did anything. i yield back. >> what person in the

administration to be a workplace violence incident >> i'm not aware, no. >> i want to continue on at these questions are no, i certainly understand. i want to continue on with the line of questioning. can you recall any case inyour role as the attorney general berry case was tried as a work place violence in which the perpetrator had a prior fti documented that kanwar al-awlai in that amount murdered 13 people. is that something you've ever seen before as the work place violence case? >> not with a situation like that, no.

>> i assume you agree that mr. anwar al-awlaki is in fact a terrorist physicality and again and. >> that he was a terrorist. >> ray. >> the relationship between al-awlaki and mr. hasan is well documented. we have the report. are you familiar with? >> yes. >> which went into excruciating detail about what we knew or didn't know or should have known endocrine to act on. immediately following before an attack on members of our military was in a terrorism investigative or prosecutorial authority from thevision? in other words, did anyone get with you fo aided tour to

see if you are going to be prosecuting this case? intnow. we'll have to put -- i don't know the answer. >> you not also is approved is approved or denied. >> i don't know. and again, if you're not aware of a lot of this to him a wan about to ask is one of the things that confuse me when i was preparing my line of questioning for today and the inference by mr. mchugh at the justice department had a goal, remembering a comment you made in the past about asm that i don't ought to use the along those lines. it's a foregone conclusion and i thought that was a little bit interesting because he had yet to go through trial and there could be an issue here.

so to worry about 13 issue with the hassan case and workplace terror, but if you're saying you are not aware of mr. mchugh saying there is an interaction between dod and you on this case i guess that is to. >> i guess i'm just not aware. with regard to chaos and, i never said. >> somebody did. i just remember hearing not an agent of his centrist dean that we were basically patting ourselves on the back that are yourdistrict court is going to have a conviction and we hadn't even gone there yet. that is completely irrelevant to

what i'm trying to get at here. could you explain to me which her department's protocol is now dissembles pulling nails to an individual on the terror watch list, a campaign to support a known terrorist. if we went through this now, what is your protocol? >> if anybody was sent to material are doing things that is supported designated terrorist organization, that would violate the statute in a case could be proud. >> even if it's somebody in the military? >> interaction between the defense department in that regard is something we have to work out that the military commission. the abtymilitary support charge in a military setting is not necessarily some and i can clearly be done.

he'll have to work its way through the courts. so how the case to be handled to send you may have to work our way to determine where it is feared in the first instance of a member of the military is doing something, does end up on the military side as opposed to the civilian sie. >> okay. i want to also bring you back to the homeland subcommittee that held that the fbi's refusal to tell about the doll has signs connections led to the terror attack. in the audience today, i went to recognize sergeant sean mullen who still has to have hassan bullets in his body at once heard who hassan shot six times as well as one of the widows of

major meet all hassan's attacks that day. i want to apologize on behalf of the government for failing you and the president said when he met with you reported that he would be taking care of. whether or not we get to the bottom of is this an act to work a silent or inactive terror or whether you are owed her purple heart at the people killed in the pentagon on 9/11 or not so you can be properly treated is something i'm going to commit myself to and the chairman will as well, which is why we sent the letter. the letter was not meant as any responsibility not only to my constituents, but to the people that served on the coastt the bottom it.

with that, mr. chairman, i just want to end with one question and this is completely hypothetical. assuming that calling nidal hassan a terrorist before the trial would incite paid the trial and make the pin on the court-martial see him adversely and go against our judicial principles. so therefore, we would not call it cannot terror. we would not entertain giving the sky is purple hearts because we are worried about painting not trial. do you have an opinion if after the trial nidal hassan is found guilty of these murderers and attempted workers. do you have an opinion whether or not we can label it as an act

of terrorists or purple hearts be awarded? do you have an opinion about that? >> with regard to the people you recognize, i want to thank them for the service and i have my sympathy for the losses they've had to in order. with regard to the question you put it to me, this is some thing reroperly on the side of the defense. history will judge him after te trial. with regard to the designation come as something that a tech to cavity that has to do with how the military would make that assessment as opposed to me as attorney general and the civilian side. >> i would appreciate even if you can't answer the questions the chairman posed if you could respond and fashion as the act of the questions i proposed.

i appreciate the answer to the questions as best as you can answer them. i yelled back. >> i appreciate mr. rooney. i just found out today, a lady came by, with the people from fort hood stand? stand, please. our government has treated them poorly. mr. attorney general, why should i write you a letter? you should've known this. they are passing your nose left and right. you would have thought somebody would've told you someone who serves in congress since you've had this letter for a month and a half and it's an issue of such importance foryn a women who have served the country. would you send one of your

people out next week to sit with mr. byrne and tell them we weren't involved, no involvement or on the other hand we were in college because you don't seem to know the answer. when you send omebody up t say with mr. verney nextee >> lula at the rudder and respond -- >> we never get responses. once you get out of here, you're gone. they will be no respo you never respond to the letter. wod you commit to mr. rooney to send somebody up -- and i see you whisper in back and forth. will you send somebody up to meet with mr. verney next week, yes or no? >> where you set somebody up to meet with mr. verney? >> i don't know. >> you don't havenough time. we arranged for next friday.

can you send somebody to talk to them? >> i don't know that to be the case. i will have to deal with whether we talked -- we would do the best we can to answer the questions. >> i yield to the gentleman. >> if i say to someone am not a member of the republican party but however, that does not mean you go to the republican party and say what you have to do at this? when john mchugh's eyes it doesn't mean the case -- we can't go running off a cliff on an inference. luscious earth day. you have the commander-in-chief is in the military chain of command in a military trial going on. mr. rooney was a jack officer. he knows the president knows the president of the united states cannot predispose a view on the

trial, to say it was a terrorist act. that would be improper. you're the trial going on having to do with this manner. and they've taken place at her workplace, but this gentleman was involved in a terrorist attack. we're talking about the civilian department of justice. we take a former republican member of congress who could say, what did you name? anemone drag the attorney general and here and demand he respond to questions he has no involvement with the scars he knows knows, right? >> rate. the >> and i think does a disservice in this matter. we should pursue what the people that made this decision. they may have made it for very good reason, to further the effective prosecution of the

gentleman who did this and other matters might have to come in sequence to a final decision in the court may be the perp are we to proceed, even if emotions are high about the matter, we have a government of law to proceed under several of law. i appreciate everything that's been said, but there's no reason to believe what john mchugh made this interesting and, he within the department of justice -- >> would the gentleman yield? >> i will. >> i w t line of questioning. called me to directly,be i but when the inference is made and we were going to have the today, it is important that if there is coordination between dod and the justice department and how this case is going to move forward and be handled

better would be fairer to ask of the attorney general in a capacity that going on. his answer those questions, but the people in the back of the room deserved to at least get to the bottom of it. if you are not the answers coming don't have the answers. if it's more appropriate in the unity, we'll go there next. the secretary of the army made the comment. there's a kind of backup your data to all at denny's to be removed from his body that can because some of the benefits he has, it's not turned to be a combat related injury. he had to wait with a bullet in his body until we figure above are doing. if you don't have the answers coming don't have the answers and that's fine. i'm not trying to be accusatory. i'm trying to find out why we have the issue of workplace violence versus an act of terror so these guys can get the benefits they deserve and the

faster hassan is seemingly a son guilty, then we see it's an act of terror so they can get their purple hearts? >> i'd be glad to work with you and meet with you so we so we can get them in theirs. >> that would be fabulous. >> i've got to go back to this th. i agree with my friend from philadelphia, mr. fattah. in the department of injustice investing th case, your department investigated this case. the justice department investigated this case. it is not the secretary of army. what i ask you out of respect for these and women, the 13 that gave their lives, they gave the ultimate price, this lady i found out today, but is your

name? angela, she just moved to manassas. i will join him and aggressively work. they deserve this. if you were never involved, come up next week and say nobody here but us. your department investigated the case. i'm asking you on the record with the people who serve this country, 13 who gave their life. when you send someone up next week. mr. fattah will come and say with the involvement is whether justice was or was not involved. yes or no? >> will do the best we can. >> just to come up and meet with them. >> what would be the purpose of that inot in a position to share information? we need to acqre inormatiedge ts and not let her as we can.

>> the very fact that you will not send someone up to meet with mr. rooney, who is a member of the committee, who has served in the military, who is advocating for the families -- >> i would commit to next week. >> how about in two weeks? three weeks? >> we will,, talk to you, answer the letters. >> by? >> as soon as we can. >> red-handed made? >> that's the best i can do for you. >> at the american people are watching us, and another taxpayer dollars are going to justpartment. when i've looked at the ig investigation, the activity that took place and you can't send

femina. we'll send someone down to pick them out. i will not yield on this and i will not yield because i found this lady lives in my congressional district and they deserve this. if you can't do by the end of the night, it's a disgrace for the country. >> the attorney general has said he will look in today's and get back expeditiously. he's represented to us will take time to get an answer. could come here next week if they haven't had time toet information. we have to courteney with dod in the wake of a good non-right now. i would rather we have the feedback of the department when they can come back and gives us a substantive manner. he will do that as soon as he can and he's a man of his word and wish to accept that. i yield back.

>> mr. attorney general, can we send out a request to your department and ask, did anyone consult with the department of defense? >> rest assured we've been here today i will be asking that very question. how long it will take i don't know. i do want to put myself in a position where is mr. schiff indicated that i come up enough and an ability. i don't want to pledge something i don't have the ability to confirm right now. >> when you ask questions of your employees come in the general pretty quickly. >> generally. that doesn't mean all the time. answer.inly by the end ofnow >> operably, yes.

>> the only question this time. the thought of same. >> would you please give a chairman a commitment? >> the answer is yes and i'm sure mr. rooney will work out. with your prmissio, i think both of us will come. >> absolutely. thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. harris -- now, mr. [inaudible] >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's not easy to go back to regular questions after this discussion, but i thank the gentleman from florida, mr. rooney has concerns. but like mr. schiff, i also heard in spite of the emotions above, i heard determination by a lot of people to get to the bottom of this and resolve it.

i heard from the ranking member, the attorney general and i think it will happen. whether it's a matter of picking a date or time come it takes than that. i don't think it would just go i doubt with if you will for the next few days or months. i'm satisfied with that. attorney general, first of all, when they say her prayers go out to the people of boston and that is true and correct, we want you to know our prayers and thoughts and the people you see the people to work with this on a daily basis, how quickly they move is important, but they're also endangering manya so it'a global dsire foe an unde a menu for your work on the work of the department. picking up very briefly before i

make a statement that i want to make to you on the issue of the stop and frisk policy, he said there's a lawsuit going on and you want to read on that. but there soaks in new york and other places looking for the justice department to say some thing. so what's the purpose of waiting after the trial? the trial itself may make the statement. at what point isn't about the justice department to make a row on this issue? >> i'm not saying it's dependent on what happens on the course of the trial or the result of that child. it seems to me there's data points, information that comes out of the trial but as i followed in the newspapers and talked about is useful it will help us make in our determination as to what our ultimate actions will be. what we do, the obligations we

have our independent of what happens in that trial. >> thank you. briefly also, we understand this along under overdue program which shows up the possibility of helping chidreand as we deal with comprehensive immigration e arm, ttople uptres gett kno deportation,best behind arent being deported. what he sees the future and resources available for that kind of a program as they move to protect other children such as the dream act children? >> i wan e i the numbers here, but that's obviously something we need to do. we've tried while i've been

attorney general to look at situations or people find themselves in to extend to the extent we can do right to counsel the people in what are potentially life-changing decision are adequately represented. we have a $4 million enhancement that will assist us in making sure children do not face these proceedings of. the concert you have raises a legitimate one. we focused a lot since attorney general i'm looking at reforming, redoing our immigration system, we have to look at a way we have not before, who comes into the system and adequate reprentionf the cornerstones to a good system.

>> thank you. >> mr. attorney general, if you wish to comment appreciate,, but if you can't at this point. in 1898, puerto rico became part of the unitedstates. puerto ricans are made american citizens. in 1890, for his first, i became a memb of congrs and since that time -- >> are you equating each of these things? >> is set for what it's worth, so i'm not equating it. it's a direct result of other things happening. all the time you've been attorney general before that, we just wanted to thank you for including funding to conduct voter registration to help resolve puerto rico's relationship with the united states. this funding is an important step to me and many puerto

ricans in the process that would allow puerto rico to truly determine the constitutional relationship with the united states. this is an response to a question on the ballot last november in puerto rico, whether the puerto rico wanted to remain a common status or change to something different. the puerto rican people on that day clearly voted for change. this funding is the logical next step in that process. i'm how the department plans to implement responsibilities as it moves forward to the process, but please know you have a supporter on this initiative and i've are spoken to chairman ofhe full committee and the chairman of the senate commtee. r 5 years, it's time to resolve e litical status of puerto rico. it's a great interest to 4 million who live on thed in the four plus million who live throughout the 50 states. if you care, but the process

will be and what you hope to accomplish at the end, appreciated. >> the responsibility for devising the expenditure plan will rest to reviewing the plan and determine whether it's compatible with the constitution and laws of the united states. the administration is committed to the print to pull the political status of the matter self-determination and the president's budget proposal reflects his commitment to work with congress to provide a mechanism for the people of puerto rico to decide their own fate. >> we thank you for that and we hope you work together as a nation to resolve this issue. once again, i thank you for your service. thank you, mr. chairman. >> dr. harris. >> thank you. to prepare us have questioned and not all that deeper into the

medical marijuana issue. i wasn't going to ss rest this until i read "the wall street journal" and his action that the department. i don't get into the whole business, but i will ask you, do age the quid pro quo is an ethical way to do at those cases and you have involvement of the decisions of that deal? >> the use of the term quit her quote -- i assume you said in a neutral way. >> purely technical way. it is fair evidence for decision was made to drop the two for the job that her involvement. this agreement that was done and i understand i fixed was

consulted. do you agree with? >> the action the united states took it not for appropriate in the best interest of the taxpayers of our country, citizens of the country. as you point out something that's very important, people were contact me -- professional responsibility was contacted as well. i didn't see the hearing today, but i am sure the secretary of labor designee indicated the same. >> let me follow up briefly on not because everything was superb read. there may have been action to make it less obvious that this was going on to denounce the sp queion is the use of t a personal e-mail syste the lneyn st. paul by

mr. peres. we've used the dog names for e-mail system and the chairman of the subcommittee was looking into these issues and we did know to subpoena the dog female. we were getting answers back. it appears a personal e-mail account was used for communication because mr. peres in st. paul. the interesting thing was the subpoena issued by the oversight committee and the justice department quote was we been cooperating with legitimate oversight request because he's resisted agreeing with that. is that a legitimate oversight request? a subpoena or personal e-mails when it comes to the attention it may have be years to avoid, in this case, potentially to avoid the obtaining of records under federal law?

>> i wanted to make sure what i'm about to say is correct, but the personal e-mails come the relevant material was provided so the commission can be reviewed and determination made about hat. >> you are feeling is the subpoena was not a legitimate oversight request? >> the oversight committee feels has not complied with? >> he said the information was provided. the personal e-mail information was provided. at the witness' testimony. >> you claim that what was reported today within correct, but mr. peres is not complied with that request. you believe that's appropriate to comply with that request. >> the information was provided

yesterday. >> was provided yesterday, okay. let's move on. i appreciate that answer. i'm going to follow up a little bit of what he brought up because before we expand the system and the president used very strong language. you can disagree with someone's positions and some of the advocacy, but use of the word lie i am worried about because some of the things i have said so above into it. before we expand the system in general i'd always like to rest the question, is the current program effect to and is in termsf oefec t gure i will y ask to gethe to date the state of maryland.

faisal and and 56 people of mental health. only 61 p. on the whole state of maryland under the next inquiry. that means a person i know we have more faisal and. that means only 61 people will be denied going into a store today, picking a military rifle off the rack on the standard issue, called the background check and be denied because there's only 61 records in the whole system. is that an affected system? t. think we should be expanding a system, which is mr. schiff brought up, 33 states have no entries to disqualification, zero entries of drug abuse. many states, zero entries, which really was the only thing that

would have prevented some of these tragedies. and they are tragedies. but what i am getting a has to do with appropriations. hundreds of millions of dollars get this data into the system and i think i hear testimony i couldn't draw it out of the testimony. it appears he may have asked for more money. we don't have a system where states are reporting thing we'll present to the american people s hope that the world will be great, but in fact the system is full of holes. it has a lot of flaws. in this programs, on going to ask is please address this glaring problems and make the states follow up.

$10 million in the past 17 years to report 61 cases. walking through the chest that prison and the names of the talents in there. then they talk about enforcement . the last year we have extensive record, 76,000 denials and you know these figures. 34,000 were felons, 13,000 fugitives. there were 13 convictions. 62 were referred by ietf. 62 out of 76,000o claim they could buy a firearm, but they couldn't and i therefore committing a federal crime doing

it. 62 charges referred. heat and emi. he probably has similar prosecutors. he's not supposed to prosecute ehese cases. department testified at low priority in the department. u.s. attorneys just don't prosecute. please tell me that's not coming of the department. everyone of those had the nve to attempt to buy a gun as a fugitive from justice got turned down and were never prosecuted. tell me that's not the official department policy. >> you put a lot into that question. the system started, 2 million

people have tried to buy a gun and came in contact with the system. it should've been expanded in the senate vote taken yesterday. it also has been a better cover which is one of the as we had in our budget request money so they could find ways said the system became more inclusive and have more information in it. they certainly places with the amount of information provided by the states is inadequate to take steps to repeat the situation. there's no question the system that is designed technically works. the question i had is if you think it is a system that works okay, why then would you not expand to gun shows and people who buy guns over the internet. why would you not do that quite

that for me is the question has onveh all thequatelya prosecutions are bringing the justice department are going s.werought aotal o85casess yearc year. 83,000 denia las year. we have to be judicious in how we use our resources. we can prosecute every person denied a gun. 85,000 cases total. we have to make determination semitruck to focus on people who are the most dangerous people who if they did get a weapon inappropriately are most likely to do something bad, harmful with it. >>s testimony that in the year 2010 because there's only 62 charges referred, only 62

people that were dangerous enough as they got a weapon in that your department make soltis to terminations of referring charges. all this in your department. only 62 were dangerous enough? deallocation is to be million. we kept the guns out of hands of 2 million dangerous people. but the fact is we to 976,000, but we have to tell me if bibliographers 62 because they were the only dangerous ones? or did we refer 62 because it's not a priority? your testimony was we are going to be for the ones the ones that are dangerous. only 62 in the year? thwe gukground checkysm does work if in fact those people did not get guns.

that's part 1. >> what the gentleman answered the question, please. >> i think we have to agree on that. the system is the fact that of what i call parwan of people who shouldn't get guns don't get in. this people try to get guns and are not prosecuted. the numbers that to be higher. i don't know. if you had -- i'm not sure what that number was that she used. that seems like a glaring difference. you have to examine those cases if their paper violations, what is the nature of the problem? as a whole bunch of people who did not get guns. >> that's exactly my point that we kept guns out of the handsf 2 million people. they were not all that dangerous. i want to move on.

>> or a host of people it got guns undoubtedly would've done things harmful -- >> not bad enough to prosecute. let me move on because the medical marijuana. i'm a physician and there's only one federalism that hold for 32 years, the dea license. it is sodecontrolled up for the help the peopl te uni at they wre going to create the dea enforced tse laws. so we have the administrator and that he heard the question earlier. the administrator is clear that drugs are a curious that the lead to permanent in i.q. and halt potentially augmenting mental illness and injuries. they are dangerous. he did indicate the president did not say he was for legalizing marijuana. more importantly, the president

say he was against it. so here you have the dea under the schedule one drug clearly illegal and the president not taken a position against what happened in washington and colorado. because of the supremacy clause and the ability to preempt, it is clear from the case of guy you couldn't overturn local laws and state laws under medical marijuana. but we've crossed a threshold now. washington and colorado crossed a threshold it appears perhaps pretty clear in a couple of the case is in a couple of the rulings that there is a possibility to go when, if we felt and the justice department agreed tt

daerous d deserv t du o classification, do your department could choose to overturn those laws under the obstacle government of the conflict preemption come and they could choose to attempt to send a clear message to th state that we drawteine at medical marijuana and maybe there's some cases very just not going to go there, but we are going to send a clear message to america's youth that marijuana is not a safe drug. it is illegal and it will be tell with under the controlled substance act and we are going to send that national message. ..

>> a number of factors that we have to consider to make that determination >> and what factor? could you be more specific? repx months since november has occurred in these programs

are gearing up in those two states. do you agree with me an argument could be made for pre-emption again for conflict pre-emption that a line was crossed and now those states are counter distinction to the intention of the csa? good that case be made? >> with the part of those statutes those of the things we have to take into consideration what type of case could we bring the strength of the case with our ability to apply to the totality of those statutes are all kinds of the things to go into the determination >> who will make that determination? >> i will make that determination. >> and the timeframe? >> because children are dying from drugs. it is discouraged and as the

administrator made clear, marijuana is a gateway drug. the use with teenagers are dangerous and we're sending a mixed message can you give me an idea? i will not rehash the time me aeneral idea wh hatgive decision w be dem >> when it comes to prng idren to make sure children don't die when yt useng else come i am proud what the department of justice has done over the last four and a half years we have preference under the welfare of our children that i have been personally committed to so the decision that we make will be consistent with the policies in place with regard to the welfare of our children. there is no tension in that regard. i am confident. >> and the answer is what is

the timeframe of that decision? what will be done about the federal pre-emption question over washington and colorado actions that is a clear contradiction to the csa? >> we will make that decision as quickly as we can. >> could be any more specific? >> no. >> winter? fall? >> no. no. said in a kids the answer is no to that and i just ask for another minute because the then i have to ask what your plans to enforce the laws of those states while you are deciding whether not to go to court to strike down the law with a federal pre-emption? t ame as they always have been, a policy guidance we have given the u.s. attorney's from two deputy

attorneys general. >> you know, that mr. attorneys general you are aware they referred to medical marijuana? i am not talking about that. justice department policy is how the resources ought to be used in this field. there are things more generic to go beyond the parameters of the miracle -- medical marijuana memos and it is clear >> what about the officials under the question of authorizing activity instead of approving activity if they are found authorization , i do you intend to pursue action against those who authorized it? >> that was not covered. >> yes. we're looking at a new set

of initiatives and statutes passed and those have yet to be made by us we will do that as quickly as we can. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. >> i appreciate dr. harris participation and i enjoy the fact he was concerned about the president's language and the relationship that was exceptional in which. maybe not on the floor of the house when we had a member of the congress of the republican side accused the president of flying during the "state of the union" address because these sensitivities seem to rise with a selective amnesia we're concerned in one st b if we want civility we have to practice it.

tx system on the president's executive orders new ha b addedall just in recent weeks and did my own state 600,000 names that have been withheld these are people with mental health records that should have been in the system but the republican governor in our state was a compliant but now decides to turn these over. it is important to show that progress is being made to get names into the system. when you have 600,000 people who by law should not be able to buy a gun and the in the system might be useful but i do want to do with another part of the question he seems to suggest a return someone is den they have committed a crime and they should have been prosecuted but if i am in voluntarily

sent to a mental health institution i know my constituents probably think some days i should be that does not mean i have committed a crime if i am denied. the prohibition is against the gun seller from selling to a person who was in a restricted category. is that correct? >> but with the mental health category? >> there are a number of ways that could be viewed an even for those people who technically, a technically commit a crime one has to ask how we use the resources that we have? 83,000 denials over the last fiscal year we cannot do all those that is not to say that the concern that dr. harris has raised is not appropriate out the number

of prosecutions. >> it is absolutely appropriate especially with domestic violence and then she passed on to local authorities immediately because they may not stop it if that if the federal license gun dealer in we may have a sense what the outcome may be if they are not stopped so i think more can be done and i think we should have more done in that regard. >> we ask for a federal trafficing statue for people buying guns using with the intention to transmit them to somebody inappropriately it illegally should not possess them that will not have been as well. >> there is bipartisan support and we should do something about it but unfortunately the of

political process hsn' ovcome this yet to protect from people who should not have guns they say it is up again so the background check is to please the people but those to say the ong people don't get guns are opposed to the background check. i want to say something positive because i promised i would conclude quickly thank you for your leadership in the use mentoring efforts and our nation in support of our boys and girls clubs that have gotten a great deal of support and leadership from you it is much more although the white house has indicated at least 10 million more young people who'd need to be connected to a legitimate mentoring effort to steer them in the right direction. that is the most important thing we can do as a

country. the boys once said that community should turn their attention away from punishing criminals to make sure other young people don't follow the path. i think we have miss this point* as a country we have spent so much focus where the planes that are crashing versus where we want them to land and we need some balance and i appreciate the leadership from your department and i think the chairman of with his diligence the only chairman that does not use a time clock. some other members get to there point* i appreciated. r stay her91 questions s unti0 ht. but i would ask for some time that you answer these

questions in writing. how long? >> the 91 questions? >> i don't know what the questions are. >> they are all legitimate. when can we expect a response? >> again i don't know what it will entail. >> forget it. forget a. forget it. forget. forget. i will submit it to you. i am going to ignore you. we did the investigation the civil-rights division we have questions you have been a failure with regard to the prison industry you are familiar with regard to their prison rape and kennedy, a scot took years

to do that while more people were raped so if your not going to answer the questions but it is interesting you want us to reprogram, we've reprogram them money for you. people say why will you reprogram that money forhe attorney general? i will do with because i to nt helpful to he bureau of prisons. i want to do what is right i don't want to be like some other people. know you'll come back and ask for others and i will try to help you because i don't want to see you took money from the fbi that is now doing critical work and now other agencies and i will cooperate but frankly i will not pay any attention to you because of your position with this budget if you can answer the question. initially you're going to stay for the whole time that

you will not answer questions we will not pay attention to your hearing. >> mr. chairman i will stay. >> you have a meeting. >> that can wait. >> then we will get through the whole group. >> they told me what time does he have to leave? >> that's right. is an important meeting but i will stay if you want me to stay. >> does it deal with the boston issue? >> it is correct. the hearing is adjourned. >> i would like to say this you said some things i think are a little unfair with the civil-rights division and a lot with the inspector general found preceded by time as attorney general we have taken steps with what i hdos much as ihere.

could i have tried to work with you in that regard. ohat is consistent with the do thing ith people who are in their prisons we cannot just warehouse them buve them skillsut across the board i am proud of what i havedone as attorney general but the department we have now is fundamentally different from when i got here. we ought hire people basis of political orientation reducing as the previous administration we don't write memos that say that torture is appropriate to deal with interrogation techniques i am very proud as my time of attorney general and those who have served under me. >> it took years and to do the prison rape the bureau of prisons we have asked them to bring in programs with regard to work and there has been no effort. the inspector general

documented in a proper impasto harassment and other unprofessional behavior and including partisan in personal attacks. your inspector general said this reflects a disappointing lack of professionalism over an extended period of time during to it ministration the last one and yours and of course, as part of the voting section operation that is the words. >> no question work needs to be done every year in the process. >> will you bring in the outside group as we cast to look? >> i think with the inspector general has done an unusual person has looked at it to make findings that gives us the good basis that riod given t same wayme congress will be on the timeframe it was given to come up witheatute w thulationsight thg an

at areeffi we did t me up was something that was half baked but took the time, took the time that what we proposed and would replace. >> when you say congress took too long what you mean? >> there were time frames that were in place before we got the measures we were supposed to take that were blown through so we took the time that we needed. >> the language was drafted by senator kennedy and senator sessions and congressman scott and myself. it would be a good thing and the fact to put a man in prison or a woman in prison and they are raped is unacceptable. >> i agree and we have done the right thing. thank you. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> today our prayers are with the campbell family family, they are hre today, and their daughter who is always smiling, a crystal, those who knew her

said with her red hair and freckles d teareer eager willingness to speaker r nd, she was beautifulit noiy to. she would have tune30 next month. as her mother said, through her tears, this doesn't make any sense. our plans are with the family from china and that sent their daughter to virginia -- boston university said she could experience all that the city has to offer 23 year-old student far from home and in the heartache of her family and friends on double sides we are reminded of the humanity that wheelchair.

don -- we all share. our person with the family denise and their young daughter jane as they fight to recover and our hearts are broken for eight year old martin with his big smile and bright eyes. his last hours were as perfect as and eight year-old boy could hope for with his family eating ice cream at a sporting event. and we're left with to enduring images of this little boy forever smiling for his beloved bruins and expressing a wish he made b peace. no more hurting people.

peace.

>> she was very bright and very political why they go together in the first place. she spoke several language fluently and extremely well educated so she had all these things going for her but she had suffered a series of tremendous emotional blows. her four sons died one in the white house and one shortly after her husband's assassination. what this woman was going through was amazing. but folks demonized her for that and thought she was

crazy. we found out she wasn't but mary todd was a significant person and i hope some day she is better future of the range of things that influenced her life but not just the tragedy. of. [inaudible conversations]

good morning the committee meets to hear from director of national intelligence james clapper and lt. general flynn director of the defense intelligence agency. on current and future worldwide threats to our national security. the dia along with the national security agency phidias spatial and state intelligence agency and the national reconnaissance office and the intelligence components of the military services car parts of the department of defense and elements of the intelligence community that director clapper heads at the information you provide including members of congress cannot be shared with the public because of sensitivity and classification and people who elected us deserve the best information that we can publicly provide them so we

are glad you and lt. general flynn are here to do at and among the challenges we face is a self-inflicted wound one that infects director clapper amplify and the other threats we confront around the world that cu reireythe prioritize sequestration. this committee is interested to ear from both the view today and impacted is having on the intelligence community with a and timely and accurate information that we need this self-inflicted wound it is all the more unfortunate because the national security professionals have plenty to worry about. and the united states is

uniquely vulnerable to the attacks on networks critical to our economy with national security iran and north career trying to get capabilities is cyberspace and widely to be responsible for some such attacks. china and russia possess capabilities for cyber theft such as intellectual property as well as the more traditional properties of as the niosh such as spying on a military weapon systems and capabilities. cconology and with cyber theft is us rafts that -- stuffed that cannot be tolerated to hear about the problem and the steps weshldak

thesa pacific region from the dictatorial regime has caused ce here the und stat and our allah --alies in h pacific that has announced itinterntme plutonium production and testing a nuclear device in february that appears to have a greater yield of the previous test and has threatened any time to launch a missile like a further is s -- exacerbate tensions we read about conflicting intelligence assessments and north korea's ability to put a nuclear warhead with a long-range missile. we hope our witnesses could clear that issue up. in the middle east iran continues to the international community in pursuit of a program that is a significant challenge to our nation and the rest of the world. while the diplomatic arrangement in which iran or rejoins the responsible

community of nations remains the preferred outcome. there is a consensus in much of the world and nuclear-armed iran is not acceptable call options must remain on the table to prevent such an outcome. we look forward to our witnesses assessment of the nuclear program, the impact of international sanctions sanctions, the significance of a upcoming iranian issues. yesterday afternoon be received an update from the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from the situation in syria. that situation continues to grow worse by the day. an estimated 75,000 dead and inaced rnson of d thchairman indicated serious use of chemical questions about issues like weapons, the nature and composition of the syrian opposition and the extent of the time between those and

al qaeda and iraq would be better directed to today's witnesses. it is is one of those muslim nations experiencing change and upheaval but the right or wrong oppressed citizens we also see blue libya and egypt and syria to have the undesired effects. the witnesses assessment of the challenges and opportunities that present this very well. the with the media's focus on the negative there are signs of progress. afghan forces are increasingly taking a fight to the taliban on their own with the major combat presence there are on track. said greatest challenge is not the taliban but the

pakistan based sanctuaries launching cross border attacks into afghanistan. but to find there is any eviden of a growing pakistan a willingness to take action against the taliban that has been sanctuary in pakistan. the common thread conn many areas the world trafficing weapons that has helped to power in kited to criminal organization in pursuit of the nuclear weapons capability that threats our national security our government is not yet fully developed to identify such networks particularly with regard to facilitation and financing

mechanism. our witnesses this morning hold vital positions helping us to assess and understand these and other threats. we're grateful for your service and your a vice considering the budget request before i asked senator in half from his remarks on me remind everyone the closed session will be held after this hearing. senator? >> with my opening remarks their shorter because i cross off things that you have already s a that dramatically shorten its mind because i am in total agreement it comes at a time when our nation's security is challenged like never before with the inability and violence raging through north africa and central africa and the middle east

rising tensions from the peninsula from the nu weapons from icbm and growing cyber ha it is hard to take seriously as the war as reseedingbut i am greatly crn woaims underlieeke d. it drives the sided search for a piece deficit that i don't think exists. we went to that in the '90s. to undermine the readiness and capabilities to get the arsenal and they are expanding. we should be expanding hours. but to have a significant impact of the capabilities to reach the intelligence community just in time when

we need it the most. to be asked about the effects of sequestration of the intelligence community and i have quoted you several times on this and it is very profound. olmec we're cutting real capability and accepting greater risk for intelligence shorter hours for public parks or longer lines at the airports for intelligence it is insidious. the capability you don't know about that until you notice that. you'll notice ny when we have the same" end quote. and i think that is the belief and the reasonthat is in the military is super bear to deal with threats around the world has the

intelligence community uses capability.we are making us lese and i look to our witnesses how the current budget cuts accurately assess these threats especially those separate from resources. such talk about relative to other continents but this -- risk means eyes and the challenges to security and interests around the world we're on track to cut over $1 trillion from the national security budget with its own threat to our security are growing not decreasing. the issue does affect americanize. thank you, mr. chairman. >> director clapper?

>> chairman, ranking member of the committee we're here to present the threat assessment between the two statements and much of this will be repetitive. jointed day these are from each of us a much more detail of classified of dozens of extraordinary men and women in the intelligence community and the topic foremost on the minds of is sequestration and i raise this because the effects of sequestration magnify the threats that "face the nation." you don't see public discourse on intelligence so let me be blunt for you and

the american people. sequestration forces the intelligence community to look all functions without regard and as a nature -- the nation's senior intelligence officer jeopardize the security and that will increase over time. my response is with the premise that the mission comes first that for the two highs birdies to protect our most viable resource the civilian resource to focus on the threats that we face and to support overseas operations. the other that we are not arguing are per-share but i am saying we must sustain our vital missions but we could accept the inevitable risk that we incur. i must tell you i have seen this as senator in a convoluted i served as director of dia and then we

wereo ea the peace dividend and reduce by 23 percent and through the late 90's we close many say a station's anti-analysts and overhead and neglected basic infrastructure needs such as power in space and cooling enough facilities to k and most damaging we read that they distorted the work force all that was reversed in the wake of 9/11. over the last decade we have rebuilt the intelligence community with the premier capability we have today but now if not care fall the you have another damaging downward spiral and just to repeat unlike the sequestration and packs like longer security lines at airports the degradation to intelligence will be insidious and negligible

until we have a failure. without preface let me turn to a brief review of trends and challenges of what we have alluded to. in my 50 years i do not have a period where a more diverse way to h challenges around the world and to me that sequtration even more in congress. the threat assessment shows how dramatically our threat environment is changing their more interconnected and viral they can set off the transnational disruption that affects u.s. national interest. i'd like to turn to the issues we identified in our statements for the record. as more and more gain expertise is important the

global threat could not be overstated. that the resources are more prominent because they have competition for natural resources have security implications. u.s. interests are living with stress that could destabilize the government or trigger conflicts. on the issue of terrorism the threats from al qaeda and a massive coordinated attack may be diminished but the jihad this movement is more diffuse. as the president stated we don't know yet if the attack was planned and executed by a terrorist organization foreign or domestic or the individual act but domestic extremist re certainly determined to attack. the turmoil in the arb world price spike and threats to the u.s. interest with the rise of new ment along with the ongoing unrest in syria

provide openings for individuals and groups and these and other regions of the world's extremists take advantage of counterterrorism capabilities of porous borders easy availability of weapons, and internal stresses most especially the unemployed frustrated young male said deeply resent our power and wealth and culture. whether mass destruction proliferation is another threat. north korea has already demonstrated capabilities that are in the united states and the security environment in east asia. they announced in february the third nuclear test vowed to restart its nuclear reactor at p'yongyang and it seems to be an icbm. we believe it has taken steps all the witless not tested.

and to put a satellite in orbit and estimate -- december's demonstrating long-range missile technology accompanied with belligerent rhetoric to the united states and south korea. north korea has not fully developed or tested for demonstrated the full range of capabilities necessary for nuclear armed missile. characterizing such is a nuance process requiring highly technical analysis and is rocket science and reedy with many shades of gray and not black and white. i will digress briefly to discuss the assessment on the capabilities for the statement in question was a seven page classified report am mistaken name is categorized but this revelation is different from the standard for what we

know to be fact in contrast to impute from those facts. we lack uniform agreement and the actual nuclear capabilities are no exception. as d.a. are others have similar or different positions there can also be varying degrees of confidence in those positions and this is for the subtleties play havoc with servitude. for those looking to find in fighting i am sorry to disappoint the to the contrary this is integrated collaborative analysis process that is open for all views and we are in the process stooge generate the thay engage all members of the intelligence committee. if we all agree, a great. if not that it's healthy to we will cley portray the views of the community to bedia is theci part of the intelligence community and their views are

respected and i say this has i served as a director two decades ago and that has great people with a current director lt. general flynn i would welcome to discuss details further in closed session and i make this request to protect a fragile intelligence we do have as well as avoiding further advancement of the narrative by more public discussion and media hyperventilation. as i can attest another hard learned a lesson in adversaries watched these proceedings to. me an historical perspective. while i served as rector of n.j. in the early 2007 by fingerprints on the infamous national intelligence estimate of the mass weapons of destruction in iraq after they were roundly criticized for not vetting sources and suppressing dissent and dismissing alternative use relearned hard lessons i can

assure you. also it continues to monitor developments with curious next provocative step. moving elsewhere to develop technical expertise with uranium enrichment, reactors and ballistic missiles from which it could draw if it decides to deliver nuclear weapons. clearly to ron has the industrial capacity so the central issue is the political will to do so we believe it is made by the supreme leader and at this apts.if the allies are tracking stockpiles and biological warfare agents part of a geographically diverse program in the advanced chemical weapons program has a potential to conflict mass

casualties and the regime finding the escalation of violence is not working appears quite willing to use chemical weapons against its own people for all the worse non-governmental groups could also gain to such materials. we received many claims each day and we take them seriously and do what we can to investigate. we can provide additional details on the efforts in this setting to protect critical for radical intelligence but we would talk about this in closed session. wicking and geographic threats around the rose some nations in the mideast and africa making progress toward democratic rule but most are having political violence and exporting the unrest of the arab world to spread influence and undermine united states also tehran has a fall of assad

regime and syria would be a huge strategic loss and tensions are rising as well with the sunand the at this point* al qaedand iraq has not muster the strength that to overwhelm the security forces and exporting oil up the highest levels in two decades. those in the achieved beneficiaries will probably solidify influence this year. after more than two years of conflict of the capabilities is accelerating. we see this with territorial losses with the shortfalls and deficiencies can the opposition is slowly gaining the upper hand. these states are numbered but we just felt know the exact number. the aggressive violence and the conditions led

casualty's now estimated at least 70,000. the violence has also led to approximately 3.6 million syrians being displaced and 3.1 million refugees having fled syria which intensifies the pressure on its neighbors. the egyptian elections originally scheduled for this month will now be pushed to the fall along with there post on the greater the potential for public dissatisfaction of violence in the streets against the backdrop of the profound economic challenges and sub-saharan africa we are monitoring and resolve discord between sudan and south sudan with extremistats d renewed conflicts in great lakes region. it is within undermine terrorist networks in the region as well as by efforts by the international support mission or by future peacekeeping operations. west africancountries have

deployed troops to stabilize northern mali. and taliban have led some areas but they are resilient and capable of challenging the u.s. international goals for coalition drawdown has an impact on the economy which is likely to decline after 2014. and pakistan the government has not instituted a much needed policy in the country faces no real prospect but on a positive note and the armed forces continued their tribal areas that was the safe havens throughout a al qaeda and pakistan has established elections for may 11th another historical first as a transition to a new government peacefully. with and with the impressive military aid capabilities

pressure will continue to resist putting international pressure on syria or wrote iran to show missile defense. closer to home despite the positive trends will america has a slow recovery from the national disasters and drug-related violence and trafficking. and venezuela the lection have been four days ago after the president death in mah. the ruling party candidate with a narrow victory. so some giving the magnitude and complexity of our global complexities and our intelligence in my mind has never been more important or urgent so i have trouble reconciling this imperative with sequestration and i thank you for your attention

now i turn to general flynn for his statement. >> good morning members of the committee. thank you for this opportunity to testify for this support and the entire defense enterprise. many are directly supporting u.s. and allied military forces in afghanistan as well as 141 countries around the world. i then the director of t2 for nearly a month and i cannot overemphasize how proud and privileged and to serve their nation in this capaty as our defense strategy highlights our nation is at the moment of transition. the global security environment as director just stated as complex challenges with a threat of adversaries the united states intelligence system demands have skyrocketed elite

expected to increase united states faces an uncertn security environment marked by similar threats from nation states, non nation state actors and criminal groups, highly adaptive and terrorist networks the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the everblooming of cyber attacks as well as critical components of the infrastructure. a look at the latter threat as the most dangerous. this opening statement reflects the best analysis based on the worldwide human intelligence and counter intelligence and measurement collection as well as the world class media exploitation and capabilities. we executed was close collaboration with the intelligence community partners, our international coalition partners with utilizing the full range of

open source is available with today's information environment our customers run the gamut from president of the eyes states to combat commanders but the most important customer is the soldiers sailors eight airmen and marines to serve our nation around the world to protect our country. the thought restating what director clapper has already addressed we face an interconnected global operational environment characterized by a multitude of actors. this unprecedented threats continue from the continuing threats from the insurgency tee havens inl qaeda arkistan, a p upheavals and elsewh the middle east, thenar cystine nuclear and missile developments north korea continuing provocations, the

growing seriousness of he dow industrial base and their critical ever structure the mcgovern and networks and the business committee from china and iran and that power if places significant demands with the entire defense enterprise. i believe the most pressing threat is from cyber attacks the daily occurrences are damaging on a variety of levels and they're not only persisting and dangerous the likelihood of serious damage to national security is very real. potential adversaries are more capable of conducting cyber operations. cyber attacks remained an important transnational threat to the united states was day actors such as china, russia, iran and north korea integrating these capabilities into the gathering methods and doctor and. malicious factors including terrorist organizations

demonstrates the willingness of a limited capability to use cyber editing means to attack u.s. interests. one final point* regarding cyber attacks we need to keep in mind, behind these attacks are human beings. some corn on state, some are state-sponsored networks, a bit each with increasing capabilities to do damage to national security. and since o ss includespv strategic warning with the enduring impact of the fear of spring and the ongoing turmoil and serial of -- syria and territorial disputes and transnational threats they all underscore our need for strategic warning and foresight from strategic surprise. stay on state conflict conflict, instability, resou rce scarcity remain at the forefront.

however strategic surprise not only has the goal by our adversaries but not -- now stemming from the dynamics of the small and varied interactions was no relevance to the department of defense to alter u.s. policy. to uncover these challenges dia in partnership with the committee are combat and command monitor the interactions between military and social development and replays these events in the context of history, culture and human geography and a decision did fantasia in the face of unforeseen events. technological change has the potential to create supplies and on state actors may surge with capabilities to counter other capabilities

and the rapid improvement of commerciaoff-the-shelf technology aids development commercially in fact, counicationtospee the proliferation of commercially available technologies. some of dia to have changed integration pride has undertaken several initiatives intended to increase the efficiency of the defense intelligence enterprise. we need to take the right lessons learned and more closely integrate our intelligence operations of the combat command intelligence community and coalition partners. to conclude, today's focus on combat operations against transnational terrorism around the world does not preclude other threats come to the four along with vital

u.s. interests. him must be able to provide timely intelligence across the spectrum and in close collaboration with the intelligence community t2 strengthening collection and analysis and with the nation's closest allies the men and women of dia know they have a unique responsibility to the american people and take great pride in their work. i present their analysis thank you for your continuing confidence your support is vital to us as well as national security and alex forger answering your questions. >> we will start with eight minutes for the first-round. director clapper, iran has m to stckpile itrrentl under iaa

safeguards that the ada is they could have weapons-grade uranium to produce nuclear weapons at a short period relatively. give the assessment that iran could not diverted safeguarding material to produce the weapons before this activity is discovered. can you tell us how much warning you thank you have. >> we hold the most likely assessment it favors to move to highly enriched uranium with the dead giveaway no other reason other than a weapon the most likely scenario is they would do that covert the to slow the time or actually lengthen the time they could develop

if the weapon. clearly to a breakout with the facilities they have now to enrich uranium as you said descender safeguard and supervision that clearly is a bellwether. if they were to do that that is the least likely scenario is it would be a fairly brief time a indicated in the satement. fairl bref t>> al kinds of acts to affect that time over a period of months and not years. >> with your assessment to

produce nuclear weapons? >> we have not. they have not yet made that decision and that would be made by the leader. >> can you give us the assessment of the current sanctions regime against iran? >> it is having a huge impact on our economy. no question with any measure you use inflation, unemployment, and availability of commodities having a tremendous impact by any measure that said it just yet has not induced changes in