but there are things that were used to judge john carter gradually to represent central texas has always are across the country but particularly in texas deeply concerned about what happened at fort hood. and judge carter who is chairing a theme the subcommittee hearing that homeland security at 10:00 asked me if i could to ask you about hassan was brought initially to the fbi's attention in 2008. ..

all our decisions are a work in progress and so i appreciate the -- i told the general i love the idea of the commission to look at us especially as a new director is a great opportunity for me to get a new set of eyes on the work that we do. >> i hope you will truly swing the door open wide for these gentlemen and make sure that top to bottom the fbi is making themselves available anything and everything these gentlemen leave so we don't ever get a report like that. >> i will do everything in my power. i told my folks behind their backs this means a lot to me. i want a fresh aggressive

inspection. i want candid views because that's how we get a better especially at the beginning of a ten-year term that's the gift for me. so i will do everything to make that happen. with respect to fort hood, i am no expert. i've read the report and i've already been scheduled for a meeting so he can take me through it. one of the lessons learned so i can better understand what did we mess because i asked him from the report there were failures of communication. they didn't understand on the west coast into things were dropped. i want to understand better so i can understand what are the lessons we have learned and fixed as a result. >> are there jurisdictional problems on the army base or personnel? they have the jurisdiction to investigate, interrogate, talk

to anybody in the army base? >> i think so and there shouldn't be a problem there. one of the things that came out of the case was better coordination. i've read the report and i need to sit with judge webster. >> i wouldn't imagine there would be a jurisdiction problem. there have been state authorities of assault with a local dwhere thelocal da wantede somebody in the army because the district attorney and more enforcement they don't have the jurisdiction inside of the base. to pursue anybody that you want a u.s. military or government installation. we have the air force people to nick scheuer that there are not gaps or cracks into what information can fall. >> did the recommendation the

commission made can you talk about -- i know that he literally just got here but can you talk about what progress they have made in implementing the recommendations in the commission for the protocol training fax >> my understanding is that we coulwe've took them seriously ad agreed with them. the inspector general is tracking us on this but we have the process of adopting all of them but i will be able to give you a better answer in a couple short weeks. >> it basically was political correctness. he lived in my district for a loyal. if you look at the reports coming out i spoke to the doctors at fort good.

he came back with people from afghanistan doing certain things. no one wanted to say because it was political correctness. judge carter is right on target and it's important that there not be political correctness in the fbi and the judiciary so i belief that was the problem and he was in touch with all all i think it was a question of political correctness and nobody wants to say anything so therefore the families of those who were killed combine my office into the pain and suffering has never been adequately compensated but it was a question of political correctness.

>> i appreciate you having this hearing. thank you for being here and members of the commission today in your testimony you discussed violent crimes like sexual assault and the connection to the laboratory services. i'd also like to look at on the combined index system or codecs for the computer science technology into highly effective tools for linking the crimes. >> it is a concern to me because i understand that there is as many sitting on the shelves. this backlog is across the country and hasn't been processed as of yet into the victim's are all waiting for the

justice. the secretary was here with us today has taken the lead to this backlog and examinations within the county and the other statewide to create protocols on the backlog of all of the rates sitting out there. the federal government does provide grants to expand the capacity through the debbie smith program we could be doing much more. with my colleagues and the congressman lee we suggest the ways on that backlog but in the private sector testing and

employee new technology that allows 50 samples from the time of the booking. first question i would like to ask is about the use of the private sector laboratory testing and does the fbi have the authority to initiate a review of the policy standards and protocols related to the outsourceoutsource to dna testig profiles to be included in the index. what has been done so far. >> thank you. as the fates would have it, we met a few weeks ago in san francisco and she raised this question i haven't focused on to

that point and more eloquently than i can make the case that this is about saving people from indescribable pain and bringing to justice people who visit that pain among the innocent victims so we shared a sense of the mission i'm no expert which is why when i returned from san francisco i asked my efforts to engage immediately because i said i missed this passionate prosecutor in san francisco. you have to see if there is a way to help. my understanding is that there are people that know better than i that i have no serious concerns about allowing private sector labs to upload t codecs t there are ways to increase to leverage the private sector with the state labs to get that information. i understand -- i think the head of my lab is meeting with the district attorney. i don't know when but very soon

i hope to discuss whether we can figure out creative ways to address the problem without having private sector labs directly connect to the codis database and that we don't do anything together give you could jeopardize that codis database but there has to be a way to abide both of the concerns and achieve the goal. >> we have met and share the same concerns that you have, and i suspect they have an idea putting together a pilot program so the question really is what your interest in the kind of things that need to be done with your office be allowing the pilot project where the fbi could help limit some of the steps in the technical view so

that we can come out with some sort of a process and solution to this backlog. >> i don't know the details well enough sitting here which is why i'm glad she is meeting with the head of the lab cause my view there is a way to accommodate both of the interested but i don't know the details to commit sitting here. >> do you think there will be a timeline you could be looking at that you could get back to us so that we could track this? because the files and evidence in the evidence room is a bit much. >> i agree totally. if i could find out when the meeting is i will get back to you with an update. so in the next within two weeks from friday i should be able to give your staff an update on where we stand.

>> i see the ahead of the lab or the bus every morning and i've asked about this a number of times. it should be pretty easy for me to find out what's going on. >> i appreciate that position. and i just want to say thank you to your efforts. another one is the rapid technology. i understand the delay in the technology option that could result in the proliferation or the local database which would improve as effective for secure as codis or the fbi style database. so it's my understanding that the current turnaround in the police agencies will receive the matching of the convicted offenders that stands about 90 days or even more due to the processing backlog. so it makes the backlog even

more important to address. so can the fbi greenlight a rapid pilot study and it sounds like you may need a couple of weeks to look at this also. but through the pilot studies accessing codis and from the nonpublic laboratory studies such as the police booking stations and other similar stations and as the fbi supporter on the profile uploading from the rapid instruments and police booking stations and i guess the border checkpoint settings that are outside the process. >> i know enough to tell you i find the idea very exciting that this could be in police stations and people could be processed

aninthe results obtained quickl. they showed me the two machines that we are piloting right now to test to see how well do they work on is a repeatable come is it reasonably arrow proved because of that is the danger having these proliferate around the country. i don't know the timeline on those evaluations but it's something we feel a sense of urgency on and that is why they are pivoting the machines. >> i think trying to bring justice to those that are victims of sexual assault is going to be based on the outcomes in getting rid of the backlogs working with you closely on this and appreciate your sense of cooperation on the matter.

>> thank you mr. honda. >> thank you mr. chairman. i know it may be a bit early to begin attributes, but i want to tell you what a great pleasure it's been to serve him and i can't imagine the committee without the chairman and the extraordinary chair and a champion of human rights for the first day that he came to congress and it it's been a gret privilege to serve with you. >> mr. director, thank you for sharing that anecdote. i will have you know i've been married almost 20 years and in that time we've almost never had a single fight -- that i've won. [laughter] that is a joke i appropriated because it was so good. i want to do quite a few things but let me start with malaysia. i don't know if you're able to give an update at all on helping

them look at the hard drive. do you have an alice is when that will be concluded or how it is proceeding? there also have been some claims that we weren't getting adequate cooperation or rebirth adequately invited into the investigation. i've heard to the contrary they invited us from the beginning and the malaysian authorities were quite upset when there was speculation they hadn't been welcoming of our systems and i wonder if you can comment on that as well. >> our act from the very beginning was closely in contact with the malaysian law enforcement authorities with whom we have established a great relationship and we offered any as a one's that we might be able to provide. and they took us up on our technical abilities that involves the exploitation of certain computer forensic materials they've given to us. that work is ongoing.

i get briefed on it every morning. i have teams working around-the-clock to exploit that. i don't want to see more about that in an open setting that i expected to be done fairly shortly within a day or two. >> we have been keeping the authorities abreast of what we have been learning going forward quick >> yes, we actually have additional resources to speak to the counterparts every single day. >> and updated them and get new information from them if they have it. >> so have you been pleased with the level of cooperation or do you feel that there is other assistance we could be providing that they haven't been open to? >> i'm pleased with the cooperation if we have a good relationship with them. we have been taking advantage of that. >> one of the issues that has come up even though it looks like it is unrelated to the fact is the two passengers flying with a stolen passport.

this is still a hole in the traveling security system that so many thousands of people fly throughout the course of any given year with stolen identification. how confident are you, and i know we do a lot better job interfacing with the interpol database. how confident are you people that are fighting in the united states or to and from the united states or who they prefer to be on those flights, and apart from the risk of americans traveling on these foreign carriers, or their, are there other risks to the aircraft coming into our airspace due to the gap in airline security? >> i know that ron spoke out about this particular hole in folks around the world on the lost and stolen passports database that interval

maintained. that is something on all flights in the united states into and out of the united states. i'm confident that information is being checked on anybody that wants to come into work week the u.s. consulate don't see that as a vulnerability in the united states. i see it obviously around the world if folks aren't checking the database. so my concerns about airline safety with regards to flights, don't focus on identity. >> when you say routinely, does that mean the database is checked for all domestic flights or flights originating to and from the united states? panic my understanding is that it is checked in every flight into and around the united states. i don't know the answer. i could find out quickly with respect to the flights in the u.s. but i think if someone uses a passport for an id that is checked.

>> is it worth considering in the same way the state department issues a travel advisory when conditions in the country are hazardous should we consider the advisories about flying on certain airlines that don't maintain good security practices that don't check the database as a way of using the pressure of public knowledge to invest in the computer systems? >> that is a great question and is worth considering. i haven't thought about it and longer than these few minutes to think what the effect would be but it's certainly that my friend john pistol is looking at. >> my guess is they probably know better than the general public that wish to exploit and

it may help travelers decide where they want to fly and hope use economic pressure to get some of the international partners to use better practice. turning over if i could to the boston bombing lessons learned, the error in the system in a spelling, has that been corrected in the sense that if a name is misspelled do we have a better capacity to catch that so that if there are warnings to detain someone flying in or out of the country we have confidence those will be acted upon? >> the answer is i think so. i'm trying to remember what i've been told about that. i would have to get back to you on the particulars cause i know that was called out as a problem

that i can't remember what i've been told about how it was fixed. >> are there any changes in the practice protocol that have been brought about as a result in anything that wasn't necessarily a factor in the sense that it could have been done differently it could have been stopped but have there been changes in the practicpractices brought about a result? >> every incident is an opportunity to look for things to improve even if it wouldn't change the results so i can think of a couple we put into place we made it clear to the task force there is no prior approval requirement of an officer on the task force wants to share information with folks in his department. there was some concern it may have been misunderstood as prior approval and we've spoken to chiefs and sheriffs and what we

are doing is developing a protocol in the joint terrorism task forces so we leave you wanting to give the basis for participatiotheir basis forpartd sheriffs the cases were closing because in case they have an interest or question about why we are closing a particular thing that is a protocol that timing may be different in each jurisdiction. jurisdiction. it may be a weekly meeting at it maybe a monthly meeting that we need to make sure that if they have a chance to look at the work we've done and ask questions before we closed the case. those are two things that came out of the boston case. >> if i can turn to the international challenge that as americans coming back from serious about me have been radicalized. do you have the resources that you need in some cases to conduct surveillance or do whatever necessary investigation for people returning from syria

goes our manpower intensive requirements. is that covered in the president's budget and how will you handle those demands and the workload like cyber are already dramatically increasing. with the level of funding that you have given us and i hope i will receivthat i will receive h something although those positions we will have the resources to address that. one of the things you funded is the mobile surveillance team effort which i now have mobile surveillance teams all over the country and as we speak we are using those resources to address the problems of answer is yes if i maintain the current course in speed and higher back the vacancies. >> i know there is a dump i bume budget to accelerate our

handling and i want to acknowledge that would be very well invested from the allied governments and the frustrations driving and efforts to localize the data centers and use otherwise protectionist policies so hopefully we can help with the request. finally, i want to second mr. honda said with great interest the dna and the opportunity to use rapid dna as well as the work but when the task forces have done it are a request on the familiar dna that is in places like california. >> just to follow-up o follow ue things that mr. schiff raised

because there were as many as 7,500 fighters in serious of whom at least 50 are americans. we've also hear heard a intellit director pointed this as a threat. last month, the british arrested a former guantánamo detainee arrested on terrorism offenses related to the war in serious. according to the news reports the art concerned about the threats radicalized by their engagement in fighting. they arrested a 24 in this area in 2013 and in january 11 of this year. we want to be sure that we are not at risk of having those with training context with terrorists coming back into the u.s. and threatening our communities. i introduced before the recess hr 4223. the international conflicts which authorize the president to

restrict to places like syria where they are active at fighting and working with government or antigovernment forces. this would require licenses to travel or provide material support to such countries and establish criminal penalties if such restrictions were not followed. i introduced the bill noted by the intelligence and law-enforcement communities with regardlawenforcement communitieh regards to the radicalization of those that traveled to fight in such countries. how large of a problem for security does the fbi believe such the present and have you had a chance to look at the legislation we put in dealing with this issue? i appreciate mr. schiff raising the standards important. we did speak to different people in different agencies but do you want to comment?

>> i agree with mr. schiff and you. it's a serious challenge for us and one of the things i meant by the metastasizing threat. so we are very worried about people that travel out and they can come to the u.s. without a visa or citizens to travel back and forth directly. i hear about it from all of my colleagues in the law enforcement intelligence. so it is an enormous challenge and i like the idea of legislation. >> i'm sorry that i made. but as you know this time of year we have quite a few meetings going on. thank you mr. director and congratulations on your appointment. >> what could go wrong? >> nothing. we have a very friendly committee. i remember the days that this committee took very good care of the fbi when not everything else was happening right after 9/11.

with me ask you a couple questions. first of all the department of justice report found that the fbi ranked mortgage fraud at its lowest priority even after the fiscal crisis and then after the funds were given to investigate this type of crime the fiscal year 2015 budget doesn't include additional funding for work on this area. what are you doing to ensure they are still engaging in things like mortgage fraud and civil rights? >> what i'm doing is asking about it constantly because it is white collar enforcement is something i'm passionate about and soap but i know from asking about it is we have about 200 agents who do nothing but that work focused on mortgage fraud. the number of cases is coming down the further we get from 2008 budget remains something i have lots of folks working on in the field and civil rights

separately remains something that is uniquely the province of the fbi. >> as a national independent force, it's something that we have to do and there will remain a priority of ours. ..

was white-collar crime, frauds fall sort. those are crimes that you can actually clearly deter. you can be effective with enforcement there. so something i believe we should continue to do. >> just briefly -- which leads me to my next question. without telling us you're not allowed to tell us, what is the continuing relationship with the new york city police department? it's pretty clear to everyone on the committee, not within has some people feel about new york, it makes the largest statement for terrorists, what is the ongoing relationship? now that you're the new director and we have a new police commissioner. >> no one picks on new york and my presence because they know i'm from there. the relationship is excellent. although sometimes it's like two brothers. we love each other but sometimes

we wrestle on the floor but we get up. no one wants to stand anybody. we get up and then we love each other again. particularly on counterterrorism, it is really, really good. we do great stuff because. i had a great relationship with ray kelly, as bob mueller did. and think it will continue with bill bratton. i note his chief of intelligence john miller is an alum of the fbi. i think we know each other. i think the brotherhood system that is going to get even tighter, given some of those connections. so despite what people may have heard about us bumping with nypd, i don't see. i see us doing a lot of stuff together. >> i appreciate that. like i said, we have different issues as you note in new york city with the police department, stop and frisk and other issues. but when it comes to fighting terrorism and being able to single out a car with a car bomb

or something of that it's been very effective. people still suffer the effects of 9/11. we are hoping that continues to be something you can work on. let me ask you a question, as some of you, as everyone on this committee knows, and you should know also, i was born in puerto rico's i take great interest in what happens between the fbi and the commonwealth of puerto rico. sitting in that you're some years ago i asked a question which could've been considered by some as a throwaway question, i asked director freeh about the history of the relationship of puerto rico and the fbi. and he opened up and he said there's a part of the history that there's nothing we could be proud of. he quickly agreed to begin to release files, over a million files of that relationship that

went fast basically a group of people that wanted independent source of porto rico. but it turns out they went out after a lot of folks and hurt a lot of people in the process. those files had been coming to the senate in puerto rico and they're on a website. i would hope that the relationship continues with your office and your leadership, that we continue to open up those files and we find out what went wrong so that that kind of behavior doesn't take place again. and for members of the committee that may not remember, it was a time when there was very sees persecution but he admitted to it. it was -- >> co-intel pro. >> and hope that we continue there's been sort of a lapse now can we continue to to get those files that they would understand how the files have to show up. some of them have things like

doubt and as public of some of those folks were getting information to are still alive to understand how that works. but that's been a very important point. so in speaking to that when you respond to that, also respond to the fact that the last appropriations bill we gave the fbi $85 million to build a new facility in puerto rico. and 10 billion would come directly from dsa. so how would that help things and going back to where you continue to release the files? >> okay, thank you. i'll start with the file question first. although i don't know the particulars of the file issue, i'll get smart on it after i leave here. the principal one is a very much of the sense of openness and recognition of past mistakes and wrongs. in fact, my concern for that was embedded in something i announced the entire fbi workforce when i started.

you may know louis freeh required all new agents to go to the holocaust museum to remind them of the dangers of abuse of power in the gut wrenching way. way. i've added you to become going to require all new agents to visit the morbidity memorial as reminder closer to the bureau's own history of the dangers of getting away from oversight and accountability -- martin luther king memorial. i see the king abuses of a piece with the co-intel probe issues you're talking about and so that i will continue that commitment to recognize we are a great institution but we are a human institution. so we can't forget our history and if we do we risk repeating our history. said something i feel very strongly about. with respect to puerto rico, it is a major focus as you know, crime and public corruption, violent crime, drug trafficking. i got briefed on it my first week i think as listed in the command center and watched our

hostage rescue team execute arrest warrant against a dangerous violent gang in san juan. so it's a pretty of the fbi as with over 300 agents as you're signed in puerto rico. i'm informed tsa has a site for the new building at its on track to be built. so it will be done in a couple, three years? they said have you ever buil bua new building before? and so it's coming, not fast enough for my troops. we are not inadequate facilities there but it's coming. so that focus remains a big part of our work as i said especially on the public corruption and the violent crime fronts. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. on human trafficking, we had the national gang intelligence center, do you think even the connection between gangs and human trafficking it would make sense at the center also gather

and develop intelligence related to gain trafficking activities? do you think that's a good idea to have gained intelligence also the track the gain trafficking of young girls and sex trafficking? >> i do. it makes good sense to me because often we see as you said the organized criminal groups the might of traffic drugs or guns also trafficking people now. it would be great to get smart people thinking in a holistic way about the problem of human trafficking. >> the urban institute recently published an analysis of the underground commercial sex industry and identified some important recommendations, even if it's an obvious with better training on evidence, and giving better in the nation, sharing between jurisdictions and coordinator efforts. they recommend attacking this quote black market where it lives on line. which might involve strengthening the law. what is your expense and recommendation for dealing with forms such as -- if we can't

shut down back page.com, we really can't deal with the problem. in northern virginia where i know you know well, we had a group called polaris look at places in northern virginia weather was trafficking, sex trafficking. they came back with 81 locations, arlington, fairfax, prince william. but back page we are now finding in the shenandoah valley, back page. what are your thoughts about how we deal with the online back page problem? >> thank you, mr. chairman. just as i said earlier, that our entire lives have not been connected to the internet, the lives of those who would exploit children and engage in human trafficking are also connected in the same way to internet. so we see people finding comes,

pimps finding customers through these online forums. i have not thought through in good weather their first amendment issues associate with shutting down particular forms. body know when we do operation cross-country to try to stop trafficking when we do some of these operations like we just around the super bowl, we did in the tri-state area in new york. these online forums like the one you mentioned are the places where we see people going to find both to find victims and for customers to find, excuse me, for pimp to find people and for customers to find people but it's a good problem. i haven't thought through whether the our legal wrinkles to shutting down particular outfits but it is a big concern. >> it's really a big one year we had young high school students and after fox county system -- fairfax county system involved, the committee has put language in in a bipartisan way that in

the fbi, every field office involved and we appreciate it, and every u.s. attorney. neil mcbride who i'm sorry that you left, did an incredible job. he probably set the tone and style for every u.s. attorney. but we've got to deal with this issue. there will be two things. one, you have to go after the pimps. we understand the iris does want to do that. i think you need a major effort here to break the back, if you go after the pimps and start tracking their income, hit them and hit them and hit them and hit them and hit them. you are dealing with -- 13 or 14 year old girls. you are dealing with, from all levels and all families. and some locations even punish the young girls, if you will. we need places where by they can go for rehabilitation.

joe gibbs house is doing some things, but you really, and i would like your best people to look, how do we break the back of this? go after the pimps. have the irs put together a team. years ago when we had a different committee with a different jurisdiction, we had a national conference, international conference, bringing all of the people together around the world on international sexual trafficking. i had a group my church committee say we would like to deal with this issue of albania. do know what's going on in albania? deana what's going on in thailand? what about tysons corner? what about andy dale? what about yonkers? so may we need a national conference whereby the fbi, to bring all the law enforcement together, maybe do it, you know,

with skype and different ways to see if we can break the back. because this thing is growing. so if you look at the possibility of a national conference and also how do we deal with the pimps who directly go after -- you don't have to comment but if you would look at that and get back. >> i will. >> i would appreciate it. the 9/11 commission, the review, and you have a good group. with ed meese and bruce hoffman. attorney general when he was in the white house with i think the finest president in modern times. president reagan. congressman roemer was on the nine 9/11 commission. professor hoffman teaches this at georgetown. fresh eyes on the target. what would you like them to look

at? apparently you've met with them. what would you like them to do? i think it's a great opportunity, as you said, for you? but would you like them to look at what are you in communication in making sure that they no? >> oh, yeah. as you said this do for an all-star team. i told general meese i can stop calling general meese because he was the attorney general and i was first appointed, his name is on my plummet certificate. i think i make both of us feel old when i do that. but it's an all-star team but i'm particularly interested, anything want to offer will be of interest to me. i'm interested in how do they assess our effort to transform the organization into an intelligence driven organization? if something that i believe is a generational change that requires cultural change. a generation of 20 years so i think i could continue to push on for my 10 year term i would love their advice on how is that going to want to make it better,

what's not working well? because that is fundamental for the future of this organization. there are a number of other things but that one in particular. as a new director really interested me. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'll make this brief because i know with a number of other things we have to get to, but i was out at the joint terrorism center and i saw the great operation. i was out there actually for the launch of it. your team is doing a great job working with other people. also visited the center for missing and exploited children, in which this court nation is critical on all fronts. and so i think, that plays out in local jurisdiction. we eddie jones a few years ago with a significant uptick in shootings and murders in the philadelphia area, and working with the chairman we got some

additional focus through the task forces there, working with our local police. we had a 50 year low. so there is a connection to coordinate activities and working together in a way that really do make a difference. i want to thank you for that. as you go forward, again, this is probably information you can provide to the committee. you don't have to provide in setting, that as we consider the appropriations process, also of the things that come up, we want to be available to you as you go forward. and i want to thank you particularly in your work. you mentioned white-collar. the toyota son is a interest to me. -- settlement is of interest to me. this is a big settlement. some of those dollars go into, i'm sending a letter to the attorney general and the toyota. some of those going to medical

research and the youth mentoring. i think that the work you are doing is great, but we also need to be focused on trying to make sure a lot of a young people don't end up on the side of the road and trying to hurt them a lot earlier in the process. so i thank the chairman for the hearing, and then we will hear from general meese and a great colleague, timothy roemer, so look forward to that. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to reiterate my colleagues concern about and support for your work to help local jurisdictions clean up the dna rape kit backlog is actually important. and also to follow up on my good friend mr. fattah scorch about encouraging cooperation with ukraine. he's exactly right. the best place to do that is through the money. to the extent they're not cooperating i would hope you'll ask your folks to contact

chairman wolf, mr. fattah and let them know to what extent ukraine is refusing to cooperate. because that would be i think a great point of leverage that congress could help to ensure that those folks are cooperative. in the area of cybersecurity is something you into to my heart. congressman wolf, my dears good friend, took me out to see committee go out and see your cyber center out near dulles airport. i can't thank you enough for the work you are doing to its extraordinarily impressive. i know that we will, the subcommittee, do everything we can to help in that effort. i know there's been a tremendous problem that is out there, the public i know is aware of it, the chinese penetrating and stealing intellectual property. on a scale that i do think the world has ever seen before. i used to think the sex at

constantinople, was maybe the greatest -- it looks like the chinese approach was stolen almost all intellectual property out there. -- sacs. is not a fair assessment? have extolle installed but all n colonel riding -- colonel sanders rest of the? >> i hope neither are connected to the internet. it remains an enormous challenge speed particularly the chinese. >> the chinese. we cuts across all industries in the united states, all businesses. >> looking at the scale of cyber theft, the attacks, chinese government, chinese affiliated companies that are affiliate with people's liberatio people', they are the worst in the world.

>> it remains as i said an enormous challenge for us. that particular set of intrusions coming from china is a huge focus of the fbi. >> would you rank them as the worst in the world's? >> the most progressive and prolific practices in the world. >> i understand y'all done a marvelous job in helping private companies discover when they have been penetrated and fast have occurred. how do you pursue that? does the company had to initiate a contact with you? if you spot something that's happened, do you, and to help you, initiate contact with them? houston, texas, is to oil and gas industry what silicon valley is to the computer industry. oil and gas industry, companies i represent are good folks and they got tremendously valuable intellectual property that they

have spent millions of dollars to be sure they're finding the right places to drill. when you spot an intrusion, something happens to private company, you all initiate contact with them and let them know, hey, you've had a break in? >> yes. it runs both ways. if we see something coming, we are working to make sure we get it to the company, get it fast and give them information that they can do something with. a lot of them have expressed frustration, it's not good enough to come us what is about to break into your building. where and how might we protected? a we are getting better there and we're trying to get companies to be better at telling us when they see something. as we talked about, they have a lot of smart people into equipment so they may see something we don't. we've got to share together to create that aggregate brain we talk about. it goes in both directions. we are creating a national malware database -- >> what's the word speak was malware which we hope to be like a fingerprint database, national

resource so that if a company counter something that looks bad, they can send is that code. we will run it and tell them and say yes, we've seen this in this place or that. here's how you might address that. if we can create a big enough database and share information we can do better. >> my colleagues can help you with this. mike rogers, chairman of the intelligence committee, was the last year i think he had a piece of legislation that was designed to do that so the federal government would be a will to essentially create a database of malware, like whenever you log on, i use norton on my mr. kibble windows system. i love macintosh. and they use another one for my windows but whenever i turn the computer on, the first thing i do is update the operating system and the virus programs. if i remember quickly, chairman rogers legislation was designed to do essentially what you just said that the fbi is doing, so that businesses would be able to

log on to the central database, federal government update awareness of malware attacks and the company could download protection against malware. does that ring a bell? did that legislation ever passed? >> i think you're referring to there some broad cyber legislation that would allow private companies to share data about how the event attack with the federal government, the federal government to share data about maybe to look for so that one company can benefit and the government can benefit from looking for the signatures. >> just like we do when we update our own personal computers. >> it hasn't passed yet. >> we did that last year i think. >> you know, i think that may be right. the senate was, i think the sticking point was how to do critical infrastructure. and there are a few remaining issues about minimization of personal data that may be entwined with the malware.

so that's still something that needs to be worked out. >> which is what i wanted to follow up on. the chairman is generous with his time. my colleagues, our constituents are deeply concerned about privacy. law-abiding americans have an absent right to privacy. it's something texans are particularly passionate about as privacy leave us alone, let texans run texas. how do you do that? how is it in this era of the internet in picking up a cell phone and using it, how is -- just in your opinion, how should the fbi approach this problem in order to protect the privacy rights of law-abiding americans who are not the problem yet still didn't identify folks who are using for example, like hassan to come using the website and talking to this psycho overseas? talk to us about what the fbi is doing it with the subcommittee can do to help you do your job

to identify the bad guys, yet protect absent privacy rights of law-abiding americans when they are using their cell phones. this is so ubiquitous now or by the way, just a quick side store, astonishing to me that the cell phone to become so ubiquitous that the other night i happened to see my wife -- bette midler said she remembered years ago she used to resent all the autograph seekers. but she came in and i think one of the last shows jay leno did. she came in and she said for the first time in my life i walked past a wall of people that were waiting to get into the jay leno show and most of them never looked at me because they were all doing this with their phone. i did not autocrats. they wanted selfie's. everybody is using these. how do we protect our privacy of law-abiding americans? yet still allow you to spot when you've got a psycho communicating with these nuts overseas, or these people in

syria that americans coming back. tough challenge. how do you do in? >> it's a great and hard issue. those devices are ubiquitous. not in my office because they can be used by other nation states to try to listen to my conversation spent you don't even use one. >> i don't use one in connection with anyone in my office. which makes life harder but, because the kids get it takes me during the day. but i think the answer is just to talk about it. i think all, not just texans, i think all americans should be suspicious of government power. this country was -- >> thank you spent we built this country because we worry about humans and power. i think it's great to ask questions. we as government leadership and how we are using our authorities. i don't like the framework of trade-offs of liberty versus security. i think we're past when we do both. a dangerous neighborhood with a bad park where parents can go and kids can go play in the park

come when the police department puts officers on the part, liberty and safety are enhanced at the same time. people can play in the neighborhood because they are watched. so the internet is a very dangerous playground right now, we can enhance both liberty entity. we've just got to talk about. law enforcement has to have a present of accountability the bad guys. we also to make sure we are explain to people what we're doing with the innocent information and how we are protecting their right to be private. how to protect a private dinner with all the social media everything whether put everything out there is not my focus on privacy. but i can explain that the government uses our authorities, how we are overseeing, the role that all the checks and balances that our founders play. that's mighty. i should we talk about the if folks understand us, the angels in the details, not the devil. because i think we're doing it right. >> benjamin franklin said those would trade a little liberty for

all safety will find -- will end up with neither. >> i don't like the trade off framework. >> it's marvelous to say so. it's a great challenge and when i think that i know the committee, all of us are emitted to protect our constituents privacy. one but i've often thought about it, director, is if you think about it, patrick henry and the founders never surrendered their right of self-defense. to any level of government. that's really kind of the fundamental premise of our entire system become delighted to hear you say it but actually i think as law-enforcement officers to all of us need to remember as elected officials that we are servants and we are here to ensure that the best of our ability to preserve and protect that individual privacy and those individual freedoms that were passed on to us by our ancestors. and i'm delighted to hear you say that. something i want to work with you i know the subcommittee does in finding ways to spot the bad guys but protect the absolute right to privacy of individual

americans. if the chairman will permit if i could ask quickly about drones. when you're using a drones, for example, flying over the united states and i know you do, you have to. how do you protect the privacy of a law-abiding american in the privacy of their home? >> let me answer, we apply the same standard we apply when we are flying helicopters or planes conducting surveillance. we abide by the supreme court's teaching on where it is reasonable expectation of privacy, where the fourth amendment line is, we are very careful about that. and as you said, the fbi has a very small number of drones and they are sort of model aircraft sized things that we use only in the most dangerous circumstances where i can't send upon a because of bad government should have been, to see were a kid is being held captive or whether there's a situation where we will go in and try to rescue somebody. but we apply the same standards. there are rules and they are extensive. the wanted man in the fbi is

rules that govern our conduct extensive that when we can fly one of these things, what are the rules, where, all those things. it's boring but as i said the angels in those details because we are constrained as we should be. >> thank you for the extra time, mr. chairman spent i'm going to end but i'm going to mr. schiff to see if he has anything else. go ahead if you do. this is important. the bureau doesn't come up very, very much. anything you have, just go ahead and then i'll go through some things, yes or no. >> thank you, mr. chairman to i'll be brief, just to other areas i wanted to ask you about, director. the first is whether you think there are any changes to law necessary in the context of arrests made in a terrorism investigation? ..

if you could share your thoughts on that. >> thank you mr. schiff. when i was on the faculty this is one of the things that i read a lot about. my folks and i believe we have the flexibility under the

quarrels to conduct interviews, interrogations into terrorism cases. in the terrorism cases. obviously more clarity and flexibility would be better but we do run into the problem that you've identified about even under the quarrels to conduct investigation to try to address public safety we may run up against a hard deadline and the criminal procedure so i know that is something the department of justice has thought about and i do think it is worthy of discussion. >> i would be happy to continue to work with any of your folks on it. what i tried to do earlier i thought might read a different political needle between those that don't want the criminal justice system in the terrorism cases and those that don't want a lengthy delay between the present and i did mention the threat of a needle to get no support from either side.

i found the perfect sweet spot with no support. i think that the resentment clause has examination on some of the change threats that we face. we might be able to interview suspects in terrorism investigations to protect people at home and troops overseas as well. the final thing i want to bring to your attention this was a priority of your predecessor and i hope it will remain one under your leadership as well. i represent a great many constituents that are working in the film music and television businesses who struggle with the massive theft of their intellectual property online and i want to tell you that the enforcement of gu done by the fi has really helped.

but economists looked out of the period following the mega upload of 2012 and the indictment of the founder and its employees on the charges of the copyright infringement. prior to the indictmen indictmes been the 13th most popular site on the internet and they studied the sales in 12 countries before and after the indictment and down to that of the sales in the legitimate sources increased 10% following the closure. that's huge for one case. even though shutting them down didn't stop all piracy it was successful making it sufficiently less reliable to use and less convenient than it was before. some were willing to switch from piracy to the channels as a result. that indictment was the direct work of agents and the beer is dedicated to crime and worked in the committee and cooperation. i hope we can continue building these cases that are complex and

require a lot of resources shown by this study and others that if they pay off which means a lot to my constituents that work in the content industries. and i hope you can make sure the agents that are dedicated in the enforcement with the support of the subcommittee in fact continue to focus and work on the cases and other matters. >> i agree that this work is important and the engine is the creativity and you can make a difference in protecting the fruits of that creativity. so that work is going to continue. >> if the gentle man would yield for a second. he admitted that he had some difficulty. no matter what the circumstances there are certain rights on how they can be questioned and under what circumstances.

to the public safety exception is true throughout but there is a differential on what rights they have. you mentioned on the battlefield but all of us have a different responsibility to up hold the constitution and the roles therein. i didn't mean to infer that we should lose in any of that. i just want to make it clear for the record on that point. >> [inaudible] >> absolutely. but here you mentioned the boston bombing suspect. so i want the record to be cleared on this matter i want to get all of the bad guys but as the director said the moments before this, we need to not give

up our liberties. >> i think my colleague for his comments. the issue is both for american citizens and foreigners that may be brought into the u.s. custody on criminal charges. so it extends the challenge with both. >> the difference in the shoe bomber suspect and for someone who is. >> on the constitutional question, there is the statutory requirement of resentment in a certain number of hours and then there are some before the magistrate, but i don't think that's the statutory six hours or whatever it may be is the constitutional standard is so i would never suggest that we should do anything contrary to the constitution does it is in terms of how fast we have to present some of the magistrate.

i favor of moving more towards the use of the criminal justice system and its capacity to prosecute people in terrorism crimes and there are limits we ought to examine how we can make this feasible. >> i agree with that statement. >> i just want to get these on the record of people submit others for you but i feel not to cover some of these would be a neglect. on the internet, he inspired the magazine. four of the five came out. he inspired his son, 13 people killed. he inspired a kid in virginia.

half go tthe path go to my chur. he was inspired. i think somehow the bureau has to address -- sometimes we say we don't want to shut down in spy here because we want to get this information. we want to track and follow and watch. well maybe, not certainly but maybe had been shut down, the people from the boston marathon wouldn't have been killed, those people that lost legs wouldn't have lost legs so it is a balancing their limits coming in from outside. he is still radicalizing people from the grave and we have the ability to shut those things down. so it is a trade-off. what do you say to a mom. we didn't shut it down because we want to get the information to track x. and y..

that had we shubut had we shut r son and/or daughter -- so it is a tough issue. i think that inspire, for my own, speaking for myself, with a radicalized people like that, i would come in from outside and this is the motto be shut down because i don't know how you can look at somebody, the boston marathon and so -- you don't have to comment, but i think that we have to start making decisions and not always say well, you know, we have an fbi agent working the case and following this thing and if we shut it down, we aren't going to know that if we shut it down, tell me coming from yemen or other places we may have saved some lives we talked about the ig investigation of the care. can you confirm that the policy on the non- investigative care

remains in place click >> yes. >> the secure work environment, we will submit that for the record. >> the new headquarters i understand the initial solicitation process is in and they have received 37 proposals and established the board to review the offering and come up with a shorter list. who is on the board? do we know who is on the board tax >> i don't know. i think that it's five people, two of them from fbi. >> should the names be made public because i think that this ought to be -- when history looks back at it wherever it goes people see clearly these were five people nobody had any influence on them, this wasn't political. so, i think that if you can just submit for the record the five names they will go down in history and we can watch and see because i don't -- obviously i

favor virginia for a lot of different reasons but i think it has to be done in a way with so much integrity so that we can get the five names that we can put in the record would be helpful. meeting with the gsa and the trc they are up for approval. can you update us on the central records center in the winchester area? >> it's probably not beyond saying that it's on track just thanks to the committee and the congress it's been funded. another thing that seems boring to people is that it's vital to our work. but i cannot say more beyond that because i know that it's on track. >> i'm sure that we can get you the details.

>> do you have any comments that you want to make? >> we need a new one. it's one of the world's most important colleges and is 42-years-old and so it's the 1970s at its best but it needs to be -- we need a new college. we are referring it. i told my folks we need to go back to congress and i know times are tight, but this is the kind of infrastructure we have to invest in. this is a national university. so we will be coming back to talk about that. we are refurbishing and arranging the chairs on an old ship. we need to build a new ship. >> we are going to be marking up your really soon. there may be some language we could carry that would push this thing forward.

so the espionage think it's important for people to realize i'm seeing all these trips people are taking to china. china. i'i am seeing some of the busins community like china and every time you hear about this, you have to understand some things. the committee has a tough language on china. if you're catholic, there are 25 catholic bishops that are under house arrest, being tracked and in prison and. he's never been seen again and that is just in the chinese government. the former president is the one that together the policy of the crackdown in tibet. i snuck into tibet a many years ago. they sent them selves claim

because of his policy. this guy the business communities went over and they just went gaga to be with him. the chinese people are wonderful people. i think there may be any other capital appear on the hill. they want freedom. so, don't forget the -- they are having a heck of a time in china. alvin northern virginia, i mean, the chinese public security out to northern virginia people tracked it down, followed her and was photographing her in fairfax county. the chinese government. and so, they took everything off of my computer. and until there is some sort of

retaliation where they say from here on in you do this, this is what is going to happen, but there are evangelical pastors in jail, they plunder tibet. i understand and i'm not going to ask you to comment them about their spying efforts makes the kgb look like it was a elementary class. they are doing things so when people think in terms of china, the catholic bishop is in jail, they are executing people and shooting them and taking the cronies out and kidneys and selling them for $60,000. so you have to have a clear thought when you think in terms of china. but what have we learned from those experiences that you are

bringing up and the partners might prevent or respond to such an attack? if you could do that for the record also the terrorist explosive device analytical center has been established a redstone and the budget calls for 15 million increase, which will if it is appropriate become a part of the base. are you one scheduled for that? >> yes. to be open next year into the request is the operation maintenance because it will be up and running. very important. >> i think that we have taken the lead on the samples. would you submit to that question? it's a little bit different. we will submit the unmanned aircraft question.

onone of the mutual legal assistance treaty come and then the last one. it's now been a year and a half since the attack on the consulate and the cia and ask him benghazi. not difficult to arrest has been apprehended by the u.s.. in the cases when the foreign countries detain suspects the fbi was denied according to people. why has it been so difficult for the u.s. to bring any of the scores involved for justice? >> the answer is mostly it is a

environment in which to investigate and to apprehend people responsible and we devoted as you know a tremendous amount of work to this. laying hands on people outside of the united states especially in the challenging environment like that is very difficult. >> the fbi did a great job. people were killed in my district in front of the cia and to pick up a couple and bring them back and it's been 18 months now, i think 18 months. when i went to egypt i gave a letter to the egyptian government named mohammed's pe

11. is he still in egyptian custody and has the fbi had custody specs? >> we have had a good cooperation from egypt to that is the answer that i would have. >> can i ask you to please -- we are going to be voting on a billion dollar plus aid to the egyptian government. now, i am not surprised that morsi didn't give us access to him, that the current government who? that you all comin come in you a legal act -- i met with him, can you tell us -- could you have the state department or legal ask the current government and

say the question came from the committee that is going to be i think mr. schiff is on the operations and i and i am commig to be voting on whether we should give aid to egypt. i want the fbi to get in there and talk to this guy. you ought to be able to talk to him. i understand he had information. now are you aware of the problem the bureau had? he was -- dot tunisians picked him up and you had a team go out for 25 days, 25 days. tunisia wouldn't allow us on the millennium challenge country we give them no liens because they are so wonderful. they want to let the fbi talk to them and finally i think through some efforts of different people, they said the fbi team can back three hours later and said i saw him on television celebrating that he was -- we

should insist and i would have a hard time frankly voting for the aid to egypt. but can you ask the state department because we want to get to the bottom of what took place and if he has information and they want aid from us, if you could talk to him could you make that request? >> i will. >> okay. and then i think that is the secure work environment. mr. schiff. >> mr. chairman, follow up on that because i hope that the egyptians, chinese, ukrainians are paying attention and i want to read a great complete support for what the chairman mentioned that mr. schiff on the foreign operations committee on that package was put together do you all remember when the chairman and the subcommittee very

successfully persuaded them to finally build a heavy lift rocket and they were ignoring the statutory language the authorization bill said they had a heavy lift rocket to go beyond low earth orbit? i think that we should pursue and i would certainly support your efforts on chairman and granger to make the second part of the satisfied because i think you did that mr. chairman. you don't get the second half of the money for the commercial until you can play with the statute. you want to think about putting contingencies on the a2 ukraine and egypt until they give you access. >> i agree with you not so much on this particular part of it. i mean from egypt decided the other day too sentenced to dea

death. >> whether or not we can get a level with response to the chair man that the issue here for the country is eventually we are going to get these people here. it took a period of time for the justice to finally work its way. if we are a great nation we are going to be patient. we aren't going after innocent people we tried to get the people that did this. but in terms of egypt there's plenty of reasons especially at this day and age to think 500 people were on the wrong side of a political question of who should be president i think is something we should be supporting. >> and i just want to say you

put your finger on it earlier it's about the money. and if you could tell the chair man into the subcommittee for example who is not cooperating with you, what companies are denying access to the critical witnesses and individuals involved whether in benghazi or elsewhere how's ukraine being cooperative? he's exactly right and i hope that mr. schiff will find ways to make that contingent on their ability and on their cooperation for the fbi and the human rights violations. you are exactly right. and if i could also follow up if you could get that information to the subcommittee as quickly as possible. >> i need to think about what i can say and how i can say it.

you're right. i'm always astonished mike rogers who i think the world of from michigan told me the first day when he sees the fbi agent and confirms the story as one of my favorite, the first day at the academy first words out of the professor's mouth to the students after saying welcome to the fbi is remembered the defendant says it's not about the money its about th it's aboy because it's always about the money and as long as you remember it's about the money will be a good fbi agent. now get to class. is that correct? >> that is a question we are about to start. i will find out for the first words are. >> i would say that's what they did. [laughter] >> we want to get access to these individuals as the chair man was mentioned and also if i could ask is there anything that the chair and said in his characterization of the horrors

in the chinese communist government, not the people that have been inflicting on the human rights violations committed in a thing that he said about their human rights violations and their attentions against the unite united statese cyber warfare that you would disagree with? to characterization is accurate, isn't it? >> well, he said a lot of things, most of which i'm not expert enough to be able to confirm. though i dreaded the same things. but i know about is cyber especially regards to what i said earlier. there is significant flare and challenge for us. >> and that you consider cyber attacks as a modern form of warfare it seems to me the chinese communist into chinese government is in a way of war with the united states, the level of theft and aggressive intent. this is attacking us in the

cyber environment. >> i would leave the characterization to others. the facts are what we talked about earlier. they are very aggressive and in a significant presence in the cyber attacks of all kinds. >> two quick things. you have been very gracious and i appreciate it. these websites the chairman mentioned that not only the jihad websites to invite people tbut these horrible human trafficking websites, don't we have the ability to essentially intact those sites? if you can't shut them down why not just ineffective them so that anybody that touches them, the computer is fried? >> something i really wouldn't want to talk about in the forum. >> to serve them right you literally have to toast anybody's computer that would even touch one of those

websites. and then finally -- i hope you have that ability and please don't comment one way or the other. they deserve whatever they get. their computers are to burn as should they. the congressman from arkansas from a wonderful good man who served in iraq and the united states army i think he talked to us on the floor last year about the work that he did. he told us that he was aware that there were others in the austin, other backpack bombs in boston that didn't go off as everyone was on their cell phones and started making phone calls and all of the phones going off had the effect of jamming the other backpacks. is that correct? >> no. you might imagine the resources that we devoted to the investigation and there is no evidence of that. >> he also mentioned that the

fbi has a number of jammers that could decimate debate could detonate the cell phones and the local law enforcement is having difficulty getting access to those. it may not be something that you're familiar with to bring it to your attention and ask if you could follow-up with the subcommittee to do everything you can to help the local law-enforcement where it's needed in favor of where the threat and they knew it was coming into the local law-enforcement or the fbi could have had jammers that might have prevented those backpacks from going off. it's worth pursuing. >> thank you for the testimony and i want to again thank the men and women of the fbi and thank you for your service and also if you would give my best to the director. with that, the hearing is

adjourned. >> and now live coverage on c-span2. air force secretary deborah lee james will be a guest on the women in the international security group. today she will be speaking about women in positions related to america's national security. >> high. and if you've just come in, come on out and take a seat. wonderful. thank you all for making it out in the middle of the day and it's exciting to see all of your faces. a lot of them are familiar to me and a lot of them are new, so that as exciting as well. i'm the program chair for the women of the harvard women and defense diplomacy and development.

one of the two cosponsors for this event. and harvard w. three d. which is an defense diplomacy development was launched in the fall of 2013 and we are dedicated to cultivating women to become leaders that work together toward sustainable peace. our goal is to bring together leaders and future leaders within the professional sectors of defense, diplomacy and development to build trust and collaboration between the different sectors to create holistic policy decisions and solutions. and our network is very much, just as much about passion about our odyssey -- and as we are about supporting our members. so come if you are a harvard alumni of any of the schools or programs, we would love to have you be part of our family and community. and you can find more information after this event. we would like to thank the cosponsors, women and international security who also given us this space today. and if you are live tweeting

this event use the hash tag #secjames@wis. we are very excited and i want to direct the director who will be giving the introduction for secretary deborah james. she has been the director of the stockholm international peace research initiative north america since october of 2011. and she has -- she is also currently on the international wires and has been on the board since 1998. so she has been involved in this realm and in this effort for many years and we are pleased to

have formed a new partnership there and look forward to many more collaborations in the future. thank you again, doctor and i will give you the podium now. [applause] >> thank you and indeed this is the first of many events that we will do together. we are natural partners. women in international security and defense diplomacy and development. just a few words about wis it was an organization created in the 1980s, and really has a mission to support and promote women in the international peace and security broadly defined. we are an international membership organization composed of both women and men. we actually welcome men.

we have a presence in 47 different countries and also we have active chapters here in the united states particularly in massachusetts. new york, florida, california. the three main activities won his research, the second is capacity building and leadership training in the third is professional development outreach and networking. furthermore i would refer you to the website, wisglobal.org. we are at the end of women's history month which celebrates the struggles and achievements of american women, but in the president's proclamation declaring marx. he also called upon us to celebrate the women who make progress today.

and i think our speaker today certainly does that. i think she is an example and role model for many. and i would also like to add a personal thanks to her for the support that she has given women in international security over time. she became the 23rd secretary of the air force in december of 2013 and is only the second woman in that job. she is responsible for more than 290,000 active-duty guard reserves civilian air men and women as well as their family. she oversees an annual budget of around 110. i understand you're currently in discussion about that. operations of 5,500 aircraft, 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles and 63 satellites.

she heads up the air force in difficult times for the force, but i think that her experience and expertise make her particularly well-equipped to head up the air force at time when it is facing many challenges that have to do with people and personnel but also challenges that have to do with technology and the changing nature of warfare and the use of the military instrument. she is very well-equipped and she started out her career as a congressional staffer working on defense issues from 1993 until 1998 she was assistant secretary of defense for the reserve affairs and then spent ten years in the private sector. most recently as the president in the science applications international corporation.

today she will address the role of the women in national security. tell us a little bit about the air force plans with respect to the implementation of the 2011 u.s. national action plan on women, peace and security. she will tell us a little bit about the integration of women in the combat units and also share her personal story. so please, join me in welcoming secretary debr deborah james. she will speak and then take questions. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. i only called her chantal that way i don't have to practice her beautiful west main. [laughter] is a treat for me to be here and i appreciate the invitation and snuck in as we are concluding

women's history month. so very glad to be here in the last few days. and i'm told when i look around the room that there are people here who really represent various sectors of the government and nonprofits as well as the private secto privar the threat of national security connecting us together. and as you heard, i have been very pleased and privileged in my life to have had some of those in my background. plus, you'v you heard i've been involved through the years. so it's especially a pleasure for me to be able to spend sometime with you this afternoon. but as she said of the honor of my lifetime came in late december when i was sworn in as the 23rd secretary of the air force, which is a huge privilege. i will tell you i've never worked harder than my mortgage rates now in my life, but what a privilege it is to serve alongside actually 690,000.

we have been growing. 690,000 men and women that represent the active-duty, national guard or reserve command or civilian workforce. if you talk about our families which to me are also a part of the force that numbers are even higher than that, so it is a tremendous privilege to be part of that. i've been getting out and about quite a bit on my first three months because i am now three months on the job. i've been to a variety of the states and military bases here in the united states i think i'm up to 18 bases in three states. last week i had the opportunity to go into afghanistan. i saw the bases in afghanistan where the air force is serving on the front lines as well as those that we have in the middle eastern countries. basically it was a turkic trip where i got to see the missions

of the air force in action on the front lines and in quite an austere environment and as a reminder the core functions that the air force brings to the table are number one we are in charge of a hair and space superiority controlling the sky is into space advancing the u.s. allied interest we are in charge of command control bringing that information together being able to push it out of the decision-makers so they can make informed decisions. we are in charge of the global strike that represents our intercontinental ballistic missile community as well as the bomber force both conventional and strategic nuclear. we are in charge of surveillance reconnaissance intelligence i

should say. so this is a way that we get situational awareness that we can see and provide information on what is happening in on the battlefield in particular we are also in charge of mobility. so the army needs the air force to get wherever it's going into the cargo that must be transported. so anyway i got to see all of this happening overseas. i also was reminded and learned myself when i took over the air force also touch or civilian lives in ways we might not necessarily know it's almost magic the way things happen. for example when you are in your car and you are using your map application to get from point a to point b. that is dependent

upon the global positioning satellites that are flown and maintained by the u.s. air force not to mention the timing aspect that allows your cable box to tune into the morning news as you are having your cup of coffee to catch up on world events so all of this pertains to the air force and what an impressive air force is. to now be a part of it is very special for me. i want to talk a little bit about people in our national security. i'm going to zero and particularly on women and women in the air force and talk about the uniforms -- mostly today. i am a people person by the way, so i have learned over the course of my 30 plus years sometimes it's been in government and sometimes it's been in the private sector but

no matter what you're talking about even when you're talking about technology and weapons systems and so forth, your still talking about people so i a people person and that is pretty much anything, any problem that we are addressing it always comes down to people. so i want to talk about the part of the people that are women in the air force and give you an update on where we are with respect to opening up additional jobs but as part of the combat integration the secretary of defense orders and the secretary before he departed. opening up those additional jobs doesn't solve all of the issues, so i would like to talk about some other challenges women are facing and what i'm going to bring to the table to try to work on that area. and after that because i am a people person and i like to hear stories i wanted to tell you some of my part of my story that

have helped me throughout both as an individual contributor and as a leader. last i would like to open it up and let's hear what's on your mind and have a q-and-a period. as i mentioned when i returned from afghanistan i was impressed with the professionalism and dedication from the pilots and air patrol to the maintainers who have to fix all of the equipment to the logistics personnel that are important to make sure that we have these parts on the supply line and how do we get the fuel where it needs to be all of this is so important. these are largely between 18 and 25 who are doing this work into this tremendous combat power they hold in their hands on

behalf of the united states. so let's talk about combat power and integrating young women into the force and a fuller capacity but let's go back in time a little bit. i'm going to start with 1993 where the department of defense lifted the ban on women flying in combat positions opening up over 2,000 cockpits. i'm old enough and a proud enough to tell you that i was there in 1993. this is when i was an assistant secretary. the secretary of defense at the time and i had been with him on capitol hill so i was kind of part of his inner circle at the time and this wasn't easy to achieve. other positions opened up across the service as well but not everybody was on board with making these changes and so there was a certain amount of socialization of the idea that didn't go as far as some people wanted, but the way that we datedidit in 1993 with aspen ate

helm is what the traffic would bear at the time but i was very proud to be part of that effort that did open up when an air force particularly in the flying force. doctor sheila became the first secretary of the air force who was a woman and the first female service secretary in any of the services, so i am number two. there's still more to do. they've proven they are trained and ready to do it and have excelled. it was the 1994 direct combat exclusion for women and that has different effects on different military services.

he told all of us opened the jobs come to get it done in a certain timeframe, and if there is a select few for some reason you think it can't open up come back to the perception is the jobs need to open up over time. for the air force as some of you may know we were already leading the pack in terms of integrati integration. we pretty much have 99% of our available open to women. so put that another way there'ss about 4,400 jobs that are not open to women so the vast majority are open but there are still some that are closed. the ones that are closed are in the area of the special operations forces and some positions that serve with the army and marine ground combat forces so we do have certain air force jobs that are on the ground with the ground forces so we are currently working on an

implementation plan to validate gender-neutral job performance standards and working closely with other services and the secretary of defense to get this done. so it would be my expectation that these remaining positions on which there are seven code will be open no later than january 12016. and again we will have some standards so that doesn't mean all women would wish to work could compete with these jobs but those who will be qualified to do so and wish to do so these jobs should be opening up. now opening jobs to a wide group of skilled qualified people as far as i am concerned xmi as is our military capabilities because after all committed provides the greatest available tool possible. from which to choose from. is it, it makes good national security sense.

it especially makes good national security sense since we are going to be looking at a military in the future and it's crucial that we have effective people in our jobs. so this is as far as i'm concerned a strategic way and that is good news. of course there is more to go, but the goal is for the inclusion in the national security roles not to be some program that we talked about in the program over here and we update periodically. eventually i don't want it to be any kind of a program i want to be just the way that we operate them adjust the wa to the way te are and how we do business. and women should be expected, by the way, not jus just an in they level position in the various jobs, but my vision is for an air force we have women represented at all levels appropriated in the roles. but of course there's challenges to creating this kind of an inclusive organization.

i just talked about one we have to open up the remaining jobs. but there's others. so let me tell you what i think may be the toughest of all for the women serving in the air force. by the way women in the air force today compromised about 19% overall of the force which is the highest of any service but again, the percentages of women and opening up jobs this is in the whole story. this is the toughest nut to crack i think. some are more tough than others. first we need to recruit high-quality women into the force to begin with. that is those on the officer side and on the endless to decide and my assessment is we are doing pretty well on that. i've been out to the air force academy which is the number one

premier way that we get new officers into the force but i've been out there and reviewed their programs and i've also been out to the air force base to see how we bring the new members into the force so we are getting good numbers. they could be higher but we are doing well. that is my assessment when it comes to getting people in the front door but then we also need to develop them properly so that means we have to get them over time the right opportunities for command. we have to make sure they get the right assignments. again that is a very important thing. they have to periodically go from the professional military education at different dates in their career. these are important, but developing our women and making sure they get the opportunities

when it comes time to promotion, they promote while and compete well for promotion. we are doing fairly well in this category developing women in the early years. it's not so much in the early years but i will call it the midcareer time. this is particularly true when it comes to retention for that s where the toughest of all is to crack. it's retention in the midcareer area. in fact, women in this middle ground. co rf twice the rate of men in the military they are getting about twice the rate within each debate to reach that point so

not only is this a challenge for us but as you can imagine as you work your way up through the ranks of the available women to compete for those jobs is smaller and smaller and smaller so it has a ripple effect in having the right number of women as many as i would like to see in the upper echelons as well. and as you know it takes years to grow military officers and a seasoned ncos it just doesn't happen overnight. so that's it. it's retention in that career. we would have done a good day's work. so why do women lead in that field? let me tell you the top reasons. compatibility with their spouses. remember the military moves people around a lot. so we can't always send our

military couples to the same locations. personal circumstances could the children come it could be a parent that needs care or any number of circumstances. that is the number two reason that people leave and in the deployments we are coming out of 13, 14 years of persistent war and women have been fully engaged with that and they have been deployed, so that is the third reason those are the top reasons why women leave us. as i look around the room we have a lot of civilian women here. do any of these sound familiar? essentially trying to balance your professional life with your personal life and in the military you added those deployments for the first time we don't see as much in the civilian world and it becomes a very difficult thing to balance.

we have some solutions and try different things. so as an example i recently approved what we are calling that career pilot program. i first heard about this when i was serving on the defense advisory committee on women in the services and they learned about a navy program that has had some similarities to this. we just approved this pilot program in the air force and it allows active component error man to take up to a three year break that without losing their place in line for to speak for promotion opportunities and then return to active duty. you can do whatever you would wish in this three-year period. you could care for family members or do it for other personal reasons, and i want to make it clear this is open to all air men, not just women we

will see whether or not we get quite a few women who apply. by the way this won't be open to the entire force this would be a number of people and once we reach our numbers we will shut this down. it's a pilot program, but i am sort of standing back and watching to see whether or not a good deal a good many women apply and take advantage of this because this is the type example where thanks to the navy friends we came up with this idea but it's a way to see whether we can do better when it comes to keeping more women in the force. another way is if they are leaving the active-duty try hard to recruit them in the national guard reserve so we have a number of initiatives ongoing here. but basically this is the toughest and one i want to try to work on hard over the next several years. okay. let me shift and tell you a

little bit about me and the chief of the staff saying every error man has the story so line up a new man and i would love to share a little bit of my story with you. so for me it all started in a little town called rumson new jersey. so i am a new jersey girl. i grew up there. my mom lives there. she's 89-years-old, so i totally sympathize and empathize with all of us at that stage of life where we have to reverse roles and now care for parents who are getting old and need a lot of support. anyway i started out in rumson new jersey and went off to college and from college right into graduate school and onto columbia for a master's degree and my background was international affairs. that's where i got my degree. when i left columbia i moved down to washington, d.c. and i started applying for jobs.

the first was the presidential management intern program. it still exists today although i think it is the fellowship program i think. anyway back in the stone ag stot was called the pmi program. my first job was with the department of the armies of i started out as an army civilian but the great thing about this you can rotate to other organizations created the idea was a broad view in the government. so i did sometime in the army and i also had the chance to go to but we called the national security council staff that is now the nss and not the nsc. i spent about six months in the reagan white house and you can imagine as a young person i was very exciting. and then i also had about a six month stint where i went to the house armed services committee staff and i worked on the

military personnel and compensation subcommittee as an intern. while, as luck would have it for me i left and went back to the army intarmy into the house armd services committee staff within months had a real opening for a real job, and because i had been an intern and because he knew me and liked me and i was young and trainable they offered this job to me. ..