the state and if it untapped we need to support it. i don't see a lot of effort going forward and it maybe because the balkan fields in north dakota are richer in supply and the process is already underway. eventually i can see it coming to that part of the state. we need to be prepared. maybe there is lessons learned from what is going on in north dakota that we need to be mindful of. i personal think we should be moving more toward renewable sources of energy like ethanol and solar and wind. and to move way from the fossil fuel development we are doing. but we have to transition to that and need to make sure we make efforts to do that. >> mr. howie. 60 secondsism >> the environmental protection

agency is an agency that has gone far beyond the pail when it comes to regulating businesses. the government has regulated energy production and development out of business practically. i don't know if we could find out at this moment when the last oil refinery was constructed in this country. we need policy that would enable business men and women to invest in the development of our natural resources. i support oil andatural gas .. south dakota and frankly hiwater well. i know of a rancher who was drilling water 30 miles or so from rapid city and pumped oil for five days. it is here ladies and gentlemen we see government restricting

the governor. >> larry pressler 60 seconds on south dakota oil. >> i would get on one of the energy committees and work i would use my senior at it, which i can take back to the senate and get on one of the energy committees and work for legislation that would allow development of oil and south dakota with extreme environmental care. now i cosponsored three water pipelines in our state because we don't have much potable water in celtic -- south dakota. those pipelines have been built so my three terms in the senate i've worked on this water problem and i don't want to see anymore of our groundwater being polluted. there may be a way to do it and i'm in favor of it if we can do it in an environmentally safe way. people tell me a lot of stories about to be epa. i would see president obama and

i'm the only candidate running who has a personal relationship with him that i could see him and work with him. although i don't agree with president obama on a lot of things he's the president of united states for two more years than those epa regulations are handled by the administration. >> mr. pressler thank you. gentleman you have 30 seconds to answer this final question. what does it mean to be a united states senator? mr. pressler, 30 seconds. >> i believe it means to serve. i have devoted my life to public service. dr. barber the legendary professor at the university of south dakota used to tell us to do public service and i want to help the people of south dakota. the people of south dakota need help. we are a small state and you can rank one of the most corrupt states in the union. we need a breath of fresh air and my election will change the dynamics of south dakota politics and national politics.

>> mr. weiland what does it mean to be a united states senator? >> first of all you have to show up and people deserve a fair shake and they are not getting it from their government. government basically as i have maintained from the beginning of my campaign, get big money out of running our government and lining the pockets of politicians who are more just and shaking them down than shaking hands with voters. that is what it means to stand up and fight every day in the united states senate for everyday folks in the state. we are not the state of billionaires and corporations. they are real people. >> mr. howie? >> it's a significant position that allows you to be a voice representing the people and frankly we need a voice in washington d.c. in the united states senate who will demand that we return to the things that made our country great. those principles, the foundation of faith freedom and purpose and we don't hear a lot of talk about faith on the campaign

trail but we are after all a nation that was founded on judeo-christian principles and those principles provide an ethical basis to make good policy decisions. >> thank you mr. howie pirate by drawing of shows we determine the order for closing statements and mr. pressler we will begin with you tonight. >> i would like to ask the citizens of south dakota for the blessings of your vote. i've served in the united states senate for three terms and i think i did a very good job by all accounts. i can bring my seniority back and i can be a powerful voice for our state. south dakota needs leadership now both morally and ethically and across-the-board. i would go back into the senate and work on a bipartisan basis with both sides to achieve certain objectives for our state. i might also say that the working people of south dakota need help. they are barely getting by.

they are operating paycheck to paycheck and as i go around the state i'm amazed at what a difference there is between the very wealthy in the middle class. we are losing our middle class and south dakota and i'm going to take steps to help restore that. >> mr. pressler thank you. mr. howie her closing statement. >> i think south dakotans or conservative blog. most south dakotans believe the government spends to much money and frankly the choice in this race is clear. we have two candidates who voted for president barack obama. one supported harry reid financially. we have another candidate two is a former governor and double the state budget increased our tax taxes, left us with 127 million-dollar deficit in the scandal that keeps growing every day. there is a conservative choice in this race. i represent that choice and frankly my record demonstrates that i don't just talk about

conservative principles, i believe them. i'm a strong supporter of the defense of unborn children. i'm a strong fiscal conservative. i voted against the governor's budget which landed to the deficit and i appreciate your support and as south dakota's demonstrates his conservative values in this election. >> that's time and mr. weiland your closing comments. >> this is a big decision for south dakota and i can't begin to tell you what a profound experience it's been for me to visit every town in the state and to sit down and talk to the people of south dakota. most of my time on the road has not been out there shaking down big money. it's been shaking hands with your listening and learning. i really do believe we are at a crossroads in south dakota and frankly at a crossroads in this country. you have to have someone is going to stand up every day on the floor of the united states senate and look at that legislation that's coming across the aisle and how it affects

people in our state and not the big money donors funding their campaign. i will make one commitment to you tonight, one promise and you should never make promises but i'm going to make one that i will work as hard to keep your vote as i have trying to earn it this past 16 months. >> with that we have covered a lot of topics tonight. gentleman again thank you so much for accepting our invitation to come to this debate this evening. it's truly appreciated and of course thank your home for joining us as well both on ksfy our national audience and c-span. or election day is tuesday november 4th 4th. a presidential fourth. a presidential address is next.

>> up next on c-span2 the senate homeland security committee holds a hearing on national security threats. and an interview with the president of the university of nebraska about higher education. and the british house of commons debates scottish independence.

>> today the senate homeland security committee held a hearing on terror threats including from global computer

hackers, the militant group isis and homegrown terrorists. officials from the department of homeland security, the fbi and the office of the director of national intelligence testified. this is an hour and 45 minutes. >> good morning everyone. it's great to see you. welcome and thank you for all joining us. we look forward to your testimony. almost every year this committee holds a hearing to review a multitude of threats to our homeland and to examine how government is working to counter those threats. we routinely hear from the department of homeland security the fbi the national counterterrorism center about how we can best keep america safe and from those who would seek to carry out deadly attacks against our country and its people. we also hear about it actors in

cyberspace who want to drain our bank accounts and shut down our financial systems, our electric grid still are individually identifiable information and their identities as well as the r&d that will enable american businesses and their military to remain preeminent in the world. assessing these ever-changing broad threats in making sure our government continues to harness the ability to stop them remains a top priority for this committee particularly as we approach another 9/11 anniversary. this year are anniversary. this year are hearing takes on added significance as their nation confronts a growing terrorist threat in iraq and syria. as we sit here today are military is engaged limited airstrikes in iraq in an effort to dislodge a motel that thread. later this evening president obama will address our nation. he is expected to share with us in the world the steps he is recommending be taken in iraq and syria to reverse the expansion of the islamic state of iraq and syria to enable the people who live in those countries to reclaim their

lives. much of the world has been exposed to a steady stream of deeply disturbing images from those regions in recent weeks. brutal executions, human rights atrocities, repression of women and the seemingly endless procession of mass militants waving a black flag of jihad in celebration of their brutality. effectively addressing the threat from newly proclaimed islamic state will require multifaceted strategy and that strategy will need a military component and robust international coalition to execute. among the goals of the goals of that strategy goals of the strategies to ensure the islamic state of israel and syria also known as isis does not establish a long-term safe haven from which it can launch attacks against either our allies or our homeland much like we saw al qaeda do in the days before 9/11. today we will examine the steps we have taken a lot of the steps

we still need to take to prevent this from happening. we will drill down on this threat and its impact on our homeland both in the open hearing as well as a declassified briefing strictly following. that is not all we are going to do. in addition to examining our conventional terrorist threats the instability in iraq and syria may pose we will closely examine another major threat that affects our homeland and that's daily cyber attacks. every day nationstates and their affiliates criminals, terrorists, and hackers launching cyberattacks against the government agencies, or processes important parts of our daily lives such as utilities and financial networks. some of these actors want to steal her sense of information and sell it on the black market to gain a competitive edge. others are trying to make a political point. somehow others would like to cause large-scale economic damage or physical harm. many of them are good at it and

getting even better. we need to stay a step ahead of them. today we will hear in the open portions hearing and also the closed portion how we plan to do that. the steps taken to address terror threats in the wake of 9/11. congress clearly has a role to play here. actually several roles. one of them is an oversight ro role. it's one that we take very seriously. another is a legislative role that involves developing legislation to help enable america to anticipate and repel the cyberattacks we face on an almost daily 24/7 basis. in the last several months this committee has completed action and reported three separate cyber bills to the full senate. one bill would significantly enhance the capabilities of the department of common security cyberworkforce. another would better protect federal agencies from cyberattack and a third would codify the cybercenter that the department uses to monitor and

respond to the attacks to strengthen its ability to do so. i'm grateful to dr. dr. coburn and his staff are working closely with us on each of those pieces of legislation. yesterday in an op-ed in "the hill" newspaper secretary jay johnson recognized the efforts of this committee and he talked about the critical need to pass legislation through congress. i could not agree more. in closing as we mark the anniversary of 9/11 tomorrow let's keep in mind one of the key lessons we have learned since that fateful day some 13 years ago and that is the threat is always evolving. not that long ago creek ceased to rob a bank to steal money and now they click a button on a distant computer to accomplish the same goal. nation-states and rival businesses steel company secrets. now they send a spear fishing e-mail. terrorists to be a threat in the mountains in places like

afghanistan and pakistan. now increasing number of them are homegrown. they may be using european or american passports. as a threat becomes more sophisticated and more elusive and more diffuse we need to remain ever vigilant to ensure government is nimble enough to keep up with tomorrow's threats as they confront us. we have come a long way since 9/11. in many respects we are more secure than we were on the state 13 years ago but the world in which we live remains a dangerous place and there's always more work to do. what it comes to securing our homeland anticipating the next threat we owe it to the american people to strive for perfection. what does it say in the preamble of the constitution, in order to form a more perfect union. it wasn't the idea of forming a union but forming a more perfect union. the consequences of failure are simply too high.

the costs are too severe. i'm pleased to have with us today a panel of witnesses who work together every day to tackle the terrorists and cyberthreats we face. we are grateful to each of you are what you do with your life and your service to our country. now i turn to my partner and all of this doctor coburn for any remarks that he might wish to make. dr. coburn. >> well thank you mr. chairman. i concur a lot with what you said. i want to thank the witnesses today for testimony. one for what you do a number two for your vigilance and the criticism you take that is actually not informed criticism. the department of homeland security particularly has lots of problems and i'm so thankful jay johnson is the bare in general i'm thankful you are there and suzanne i'm thankful you are there and the others we put on the committee. we have a long way to go. i would disagree with senator

carper is i don't think we are any safer today. i think the threat to our country is just as great as it was pre-9/11 based on what's happening in the world. the absolute lack of control of our border especially her southern border and the inability and the corruption on both sides in terms of law enforcement on the border. i think we have a long ways to go but i know we have dedicated leadership now in all the areas that are concentrating on the same goal. i think it's a shame that the leader of the senate won't put the cybersecurity bill on the floor. one that creates true information and let the senate debate it so we can actually start to really protect the cyber aspect of our government. that requires all of us to work together in the cyber realm to ensure.

we are vulnerable today. we have seen both at home and security and in the private sector significant breaches. they will continue to read most of them or nation-state actors. china and russia specifically. we should not fall back from talking about what they are doing and why they are trying to both steal her intellect and damage our economy. these are real issues. this is an important hearing for the american people to hear in as much detail as possible what's going on and where we need to improve. again i would thank you all for your efforts, the fbi and the nctc, valuable contributions and having the privilege of sitting on both intel and homeland security i get to see as well as anybody what everybody is doing and everybody is working in the

right direction except the u.s. senate. my hope would be is that we would start helping you rather than hurt you. i yield back. >> i would like to associate myself with the remarks and we need to move as as been reported of this committee are thinking of this committee of thinking and said that some version of information-sharing. my hope is that we will have a chance to all for this year and if we can do more god bless us. on behalf of the members of our committee thank you for joining us today. our first witnesses retired brigadier francis taylor the undersecretary for intelligence and analysis of the department of homeland security. helen if you've been in that job now? >> four months. >> as secretary of dhs leadership, dhs components and state and local tribal and private sector partners with homeland security to keep our

country safer secure and resilient. general taylor came with 31 years of service in the air force warriors in the state department as counterterrorism coordinator is the assistant secretary for diplomatic security and eight years as vice president at general electric. our second witness is suzanne spaulding undersecretary for national protection program directed at the department of homeland security. as undersecretary one of her responsibility is coordinating overseeing policy and operations of the infrastructure production activities including cybersecurity. ms. spaulding spent more than 25 years working on national security issues in congress the executive branch and the private sector. this includes extensive experience working with many critical infrastructure sectors. welcome. our next witness is nick rasmussen deputy director of the counterterrorism center office of director of national intelligence. mr. rasmussen is heard

mr. rasmussen a circle and national security council where he is responsible for providing staff support to the president national security adviser and homeland security adviser and counterterrorism policy and strategy. prior to this excerpt from a variety of key positions for the department stay where he provided support for the arab-israeli peace process in the u.s. northumbrian agreed framework on persian gulf security issues. our final witness is robert andersen executives as director of the criminal cyberresponse and services branch of the federal bureau of investigation. in his position he receives an all fbi criminal and cyber investigation worldwide national operations critical incident response and victim assistance. during the 20 years he has worked at the fbi mr. anderson served in the hostage rescue team counterintelligence division and the intelligence division as well.

what did you do before you are part of the fbi? >> sir i was a delaware state trooper for nine years. >> were you in a good? >> i hope so. >> were you ever chirp or of the year? >> yes sir i was in 1989. >> we remember you finally. >> did you ever escort the former governor? >> he pulled me over a time or two. one other time he fired a warning shot. it's great to see you and thanks for what you did in delaware and what you are doing for our country now. thank you all for your service. your testimony will be made part of the record and we would ask you to keep your testimony to five minutes. general taylor if you would like to lead us off. >> thank you chairman carper and ranking member coburn distinguished members of the community. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss threats to the homeland and the threat environment.

i'm mindful that tomorrow is the 11th of september and i vividly remember where i was on that day 13 years ago sitting at the state department as the coordinator for counterterrorism. what has changed since 2001? are we any safer now? these are questions that have been countless times since a tragic day and rightly so. i come before the committee today to outline lessons we learned since 9/11 and how we are posture to address evolving threats on september 102001. a key lesson we have learned on nine 9/11 is we need to develop an agile homeland security enterprise that constantly collaborates and shares information and intelligence to identify threats and risks and adjust the operations is necessary to address the range of challenges the nation faces. the partners within the homeland security enterprise are the

first responders at the local level or decision-makers in capital cities and across america or here in our nation's capital required predictive intelligence and analytical products that help them make informed decisions to protect our citizens. the cornerstone of our mission at dhs has always been and remains protecting the nation against terrorist attacks. in fact secretary johnson just yesterday reiterated that counterterrorism is their most important mission at dhs. we are vigilant in detecting and preventing terrorist threats that seek to penetrate the homeland from land, sea or air. i will first address the current terrorist environment and then discuss threats to our efforts as they relate to each of the secretaries for priorities and mr. chairman mindful of the time limit i will submit other

remarks for the record and summarized a couple of things. first on terrorism al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and major concern for the department homeland security. despite senior leadership the group maintains the ability to conduct attacks against u.s. citizens and facilities and has demonstrated the ability to adjust their tactics techniques and procedures for targeting the west in innovative ways. the islamic state of iraq and levant is a terrorist group operating in as a military organization in their experiences and successes on the battlefields of syria and iraq have armed them with capabilities most terrorist groups do not possess. at present dhs is unaware of any specific credible threat to the u.s. homeland from isil however

we recognize isil constitutes an active and serious threat but in the region and could attempt attacks on u.s. targets overseas with little or no warning. isil with its sophisticated propaganda ability content on multiple on line platforms including social media to enhance its appeal. media accounts of the conflict in the propaganda in particular play role in inspiring u.s. citizens to travel to syria. where where that number of persons, more than 100, have either made their way or try to make their way to syria over the past few years and join the international foreign fighters. i will conclude with aqap has attempted three times to attack the u.s. homeland. their airliner plot of decembe december 2009 in an attempt

against the u.s. bound cargo planes in october of 2010 and the airline plot in 2012 demonstrate their efforts to adapt to aviation security procedures and underscore why aviation security is a priority area outlined by secretary johnson. in response to these recent threats over the past few months dhs has taken steps to enhance aviation security that oversees airport with direct flights to the united states. other nations have followed suit with similar enhancements. mr. chairman i will conclude my remarks and if you would allow me to submit the rest to the record. >> thank you general. ms. balding, please proceed. >> thank you chairman, ranking member coburn, distinguished members of the committee. thank you for this opportunity to be here today particularly

pleased to be here with my colleague undersecretary taylor and with our partners from the federal bureau of investigation and the national counterterrorism center. undersecretary taylor spoke with you about a range of threats that the department is focused on and i'm going to amplify a bit with regard to the threat to cybersecurity. and to discuss the actions that we are taking with our critical infrastructure partners to understand and address these threats both physical and cyber their information-sharing and capability building. first however i also want to note as we approach this 13th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11, three efforts that we have underway to heighten public vigilance and public awareness. this month, september is national preparedness month. october is national cybersecurity awareness month in

which we focus on enhancing the resilience of this nation against cyberthreats and november is critical infrastructure security and resilience month. all three of these are key mission areas for the department and all require daily collaboration with our stakeholders in the private sector and government at all levels. growing cyberthreats are an increasing risk to critical infrastructure, to our economy and to our national security. dhs uses cybersecurity information to reduce risk, to detect and block cyberattacks on federal civilian agencies, to help critical infrastructure entities improve their own protection and also to use the information that we developed collaboratively to protect their customers. we maintain a trusted environment for the private sector partners to collaborate

on cybersecurity threats and trends. this trust is based in large part on our commitment to privacy, civil rights and civil liberties. across all information-sharing programs with a particular emphasis on safeguarding personally identifiable information. so far this year at dhs's 24 times seven cyberoperations into the national cybersecurity communications integration center has processed over 600,000 cyber incidents. issued more than 10,000 actionable alerts, detected more than 55,000 vulnerabilities and dispatched over 78 incident response teams for on-site technical assistance. let me tell you about one recent success. within the last few weeks the united states secret service shared information on some malware with our cybersecurity

office for analysis. the results of that analysis and form the basis for an actionable alert that was distributed widely to our critical infrastructure. and that u.s. businesses to check their systems for this malware and identify and stop ongoing cyberintrusions thereby protecting their customer's data. while both the cybersecurity threats and the nation's dependence on cyberinfrastructure has grown exponentially in the legal framework particularly regarding the articulation of the department's abilities has not kept pace. as the chairman and ranking member have noted legislative action is vital. both the house and the senate have made real progress on cybersecurity legislation. i would like to personally thank this committee for all of its hard work that has ensured progress on this front on a bipartisan basis.

but we are not over the finish line yet. as secretary johnson wrote today there are areas of legislation was strong consensus codifying the cybersecurity responsibilities of the department of homeland security, making it easier for dhs and the private sector to work together to mitigate cyberrelated former abilities and enhancing the department's ability to recruit and attain that essential cybersecurity workforce. these authorities are vital to ensuring that the department has the tools it needs to carry out its mission on behalf of the nation. what celebrations continue on other elements of cybersecurity legislation we should not wait to pass bipartisan and broadly supported bills. you have come so far and the threat is so great. i urge congress to pass what it can now even as we continue to work hard on remaining

provisions. let me close by emphasizing that dhs is mission to strengthen the security and infrastructure requires us to focus on physical risks to infrastructure as well as cyberrisk because the majority of the nation's critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector. dhs works with those partners primarily on a voluntary basis to understand the range of threats of hazard share information and promote training and other capability building. dhs and the department of energy along with other interagency interagency partners for example provided classified and unclassified threat briefing. we do this on a regular basis to energy ceos and industry executives on the physical and cyberthreats. in the wake of the terrorist attack on a shopping mall in nairobi kenya dhs and fbi engaged in more -- and it's more than 400 malls across the united states to facilitate tabletop

exercises based on a similar attack involving active shooters and the use of improvised explosive devices. working collaboratively with our partners in the private sector we are advancing our core mission of strengthening the security and resilience of our nation's critical infrastructure against cyber and physical threats. chairman carper ranking member coburn thank you for this opportunity to testify today and i look forward to taking our questions. >> thank you very much ms. spaulding and we look forward to your answering them too. >> make sure your microphone is on please. >> thank you chairman carper think you've ranking member coburn emotion of the committee for the opportunity to testify today. nctc director matt olson and i don't often testify in open hearings so today's important opportunity we believe to share their understanding of what we see is an evolving threat and to share that understanding with the committee and the american

public. earlier in the summer 9/11 commissioners challenged national security leaders to communicate more regularly with the american public about the threat and we hope to do just that. as i begin this morning i went to frame this evolving threat in broad terms applicable cross individual groups and terrorist networks. the threat from terrorist groups as we see today is geographically diffused from a diverse array of factors and proving overtime to be both resilience and adapted to the counterterrorism pressure we are putting on it. the global jihad is movement continues to increasingly decentralized itself both in terms of geography and in terms of command and control. geographically speaking is no longer generally confined to the afghanistan-pakistan south asia region. now covers a broad swathe of territory from the indian subcontinent across the entire middle east levant and northern africa and western africa as well. of greatest concern to terrorist groups such as isil of taken a foothold in areas where governance is lax and lax

security is allow groups to coalesce train and plot. in terms of command terms of command and control we also see a trend of decentralization with the amir of an al qaeda affiliate in the arabian peninsula now serving as a general deputy to al qaeda leader i'm in al zawahiri. additionally the al qaeda core is increasingly encouraging groups of individuals to act in the paneling in support of the global movement. it's no longer holding an expectation that regional affiliates will discuss or clear their operational plans with senior leadership prior to execution. this evolution as a result of an adaptive enemy. our counterterrorism operations continue to degrade al qaeda's core ability to lead the global terrorist terrorist movement and plans sophisticated attacks worse place in the five in the fata but as a result of weeks of disclosures including those attributable to edward snowden terrorists now understand the scope and scale of western collection capabilities and their changing the way they

communicate. they are adopting encryption technologies and shifting accounts were avoiding altogether these electronic indications all of which frustrate our counterterrorism efforts. ensure we cannot connect the dots if we cannot -- we can't connect the dots if we can't collect the dots that matter the most in our collection is challenging in this environment in their many times you try but to focus on three specific areas the threat from isil the threat from the aqap and the threat we face from homegrown violent extremists. starting with isil. the greatest threat from isil to the united states is inside iraq right now which combined with syria is the power center. as we move further from that base of strength isil's ability to develop and execute significant large-scale sophisticated attacks diminishes. this is not to say it does not pose a threat outside of the region. certainly does. indeed the arrest in france of an individual and the subsequent discovery of explosive devices

in his possession as well as the killing of four individuals in the jewish museum in belgium provide evidence and indication of isil's emissions operate outside. both the responsible -- responsible individuals who fata alongside iso but these examples demonstrate right now isil's ability to carry out large-scale attacks in the west is currently limited. left unchecked however that capabilities likely to grow and present a much more direct threat to the homeland. with over two dozen westerners now believed to be fighting in syria and iraq we assess the threat to europe is perhaps more immediate but nevertheless in that space is not immune as the chairman and ranking member noted. over 100 persons from a variety of backgrounds from all across the country have attempted to travel to the region including some who have looked to engage with isil. most of these individuals are known or believed to have

western travel documentation that would ease their re-entry re-entry into the united states or other countries which is why identifying them as a top-rated for the united states and our partners. that's why so important for the international community challenged isil's regional ambitions to greater capabilities and work together to defeat and destroy isil. left unchecked isil poses an increasing threat to governments it considers apostate and not just the united states or european nations would also middle eastern and south asian and african nations as well. but may quickly turn to al qaeda -- a kite in the arabian peninsula. aqap were made to the al qaeda affiliate most likely to attempt transnational attacks against united states. the groups repeated efforts to conceal explosives devices to destroy aircraft demonstrate its continued pursuit of the west. it's increasing awareness of western security procedures and their efforts to adapt to those procedures that we adopt. the group also continues to

present a hybrid to his personnel and facilities inside yemen and saudi arabia and at saudi arabia and at any one time we are tracking several plots to our interests inside yemen, and the arabian peninsula hatched by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. the group also continues as the committee knows its efforts to radicalize immobilize individuals outside of yemen through the use of inspire magazine the english-language publication. the most recent issue its 12th issue of inspire was released back in march and continues to encourage bone offender attacks in the west citing specific targets in and estates the u.k. and france. let me also say a few quick words about homegrown violent extremists. the bomb was on line virtual in bremen receded a combined with terrorists sophisticated use of social media takes it difficult for us to protect our youth from messaging designed to motivate action homegrown violent extremists. we are working closely with partners that dhs fbi and the

department of justice to inform and equip families communities local governments and institutions all of whom provide the best defense and have the greatest ability to counter the narrative of violent extremism in their 20s. despite her efforts hvd's remain the most immediate threat to the homeland individual action by individual hve's. we expect the activity to remain the same as what we have seen in recent years over the course the next year and by that i mean we expect to see handful of uncoordinated and mostly unsophisticated plots emanating from a pool of hve's that amounts to up to a few hundred individuals. last year's boston bombing underscored the threat from the hve's to act brownley by themselves or in small groups and as we have discussed with is committing these lone actors who act eponymously are the most difficult to detect returned.

act eponymously are the most difficult to detect. i think everybody here would agree with that assessment. as well as her contacts and support networks. nctc's tie nctc's tied to data mart environment is a database of known and suspected international terrorists and helps us ensure all relevant information collected by the government on identified individuals including individuals identified as syrian foreign fighters all that information shared with intelligence law enforcement and screening agencies. we are absolutely relentless in the efforts to ensure that the data is as accurate as possible thousands entered accurately in

the records are as comprehensive as they can possibly be and we are mindful of privacy and civil liberties concerns with respect to u.s. persons. in the case of u.s. persons in the nomination to tie goes to the least four layers of review including illegal level of review to ensure that the underlying derogatory information is sufficient to meet established standards. our management at nctc of this terrorist identities has created a valuable forum for identifying and sharing information with partners in the community. our collective efforts identify and hansen expedite the nomination of individuals we assessed to be syrian foreign fighters and get their names and identities into the screening system. this work increases the chances we will disrupt potential terrorist activity from individuals. in closing mr. chairman and members of the committee we face an evolving centralized threat for me to be a set of actors who are adapting conflict to

countermeasures. our partners within the intelligence community must adapt to this threat operating within the bounds of our existing authorities and resources. we certainly appreciate the committees continue strong support in these efforts and i would encourage senators to visit nctc to see first-hand the breadth of the work we are doing with our partners. mr. chairman we have it on a posting on several committee staff in recent weeks and nctc to talk in great detail about some of those threats and it's gratifying to see the interest in your work we are doing along with the fbi and dhs. >> thank you and dr. coburn and i not only enjoyed being with you and that persons there to thank them for their service. it was quite important to me and frankly revealing. former trooper enters and it's great to see you. please proceed. >> thank you mr. chairman ranking member dr. coburn and members of the committee thanks for th the opportunity to be hee today to talk about the cyber

terrace and preservation how we are working with our partners to prevent and combat them. in my role as director of the fbi is the chairman said i manage multiple divisions within the fbi. as the committee knows the number of sophisticated cyber attacks against our nation's network have increased dramatically over the recent years. we truly expect them to continue to climb and grow. i could break down the threats to our country in four broad categories from cyber. spies, transnational organized criminals, terrorists and activist groups. the bottom line is we are losing a lot of data, money ideas and innovation to a wide range of cyberaverage series. if the editor to call me has recognized this and the severity of the threat and has made cyber the number one topic in the fbi. and his leadership the fbi's continuing to strengthen our cyber capabilities in the same

way we enhance intelligence and national security capabilities in the wake of 9/11. 2-d today's fbi ends intelligence to prove bands and respond to threats. we constantly seek to understand the threats we face in each of our offices both here and abro abroad. what is out there, what we see and what we might be missing. we know that to effectively combat the cyber threat we must continue to expand our partnerships both in government and in the private sector. in fact we expect director comey dh secretary johnson will soon sign a new cyber unified message for state and local law enforcement. this message makes clear that federal agencies are working together to ensure a call to one is a call to all. my law enforcement department report a cyberincident. also for law enforcement partner

relaunch the cyber shiller cyber shiller lines and on my one-stop shop that provides cyber training as well as the ability to report cyber incidents to the fbi. earlier this month we deployed a malware repository and analysis system. our intelligence law enforcement partners allows them to submit directly to the fbi and we share with their partners for triage and analysis of what's going on in cyber. we are also significantly enhancing our collaboration with the private sector. the passenger seats provided information about attacks. we have investigated them but they really didn't share provide information back. now we are. as part of our enhanced our reach their provided nearly 40 classifieds sector specific threat briefings to private companies over the past year alone. over the past several months the fbi and the department of justice along with many partners both at this table and abroad

have announced a series of indictments from cyber criminals. just to name a few encore performance which is obviously indictment of the five chinese hackers. black shades or remote access computer software that can steal and infect hundreds of thousands of computers around the world. we are calling these indictments the new normal because we expect them to continue on a regular basis. while the cyberthreat is one of the fbi's highest priorities embodying terrace and continues to be the number one part in the fbi it is complex and continue to emerge through many parts of our world we expect terrorist groups to use it since ability to recruit and incite acts of violence. syria remains a major concern is the ongoing conflict shows no signs of subsiding. due to the prolonged nature and the high-visibility of the syrian conflict we are concerned that u.s. persons within a just and committing will be drawn to the region of the world.

we can address these issues much more wholesomely in a closed session that follows the session and i look forward to doing that. in conclusion mr. chairman to counter the threats we face we are engaging in an unprecedented level of collaboration within the united states government and the private sector around the world and international law enforcement organizations that we be at this table talk to each and every day. we look forward to continuing to expand these partnerships and to work with the committee to defeat our cyberand terrorist adversaries. thank you again very much for the opportunity to be here today and i would be happy to answer any questions you have. >> thanks so much. glad to see on thanks so much for joining us today. the first question is from me would be for mr. rasmussen and general taylor. one of important themes of my life is to find out what works and i want to play off of that for a moment. go back to seven years ago

iraq's sunni awakening and a predecessor to ices was rolling along pretty well and then not so much. through the enlightened leadership of general petraeus, i think the good work done by the new prime minister of iraq working with sunni tribal leaders. al qaeda -- stopped and was greatly diminished. what can we gain from that lesson? is there anything that can inform what we do today? >> mr. chairman one of the things we try to do is think about the problem and the threat posed by isil to think of potential vulnerabilities we have been ways the progress they have made can be addressed. you point to some of the lessons

from previous efforts against al qaeda in iraq and there i think we did learn the group very much struggled struggle to gain legitimacy across the broader population of iraq when that population in iraq sans baghdad a representative government responsive to their needs. so the ongoing transition in baghdad that you're seeing right now that you alluded to i think is an important step in potentially giving the sunni population in iraq a signal that they do not have to turn or allied with isil in order to have their issues addressed to feel they are represented and marriages are protected inside iraq. that's an important lesson learned and it's one where we have seen progress in the last few weeks but over time we will see if that political transition actually has that effect that we are looking to see. i don't know that we can say yet how quickly that will happen but it's something i think was a

necessary precondition to any strategy against isil. >> thanks very much. general taylor and maybe for your nick one or both of you mentioned that the ability for ices to affect an attack against our homeland was limited but it's not time for us to sit back and assume it's not going to come but to prepare and be ready for it. what are some ways we are doing or should be doing to be better prepared? general taylor why don't you lead off and give nick sometime as well. >> certainly sir. as i mentioned we assessed the threat from isil primarily to be in the region nonetheless with a number of european and american set have gone to fight in syria

it manifests itself back in either europe or the u.s.. i think we have begun with the aviation security changes that we have made since july to make it more difficult for people to try to get explosives onto aircraft to bring the aircraft down that could be traveling to the u.s.. we have increased her intelligence cooperation with our partners across the world in attempting to identify people who have gone to serwer fight in syria. the intelligence is the one thing that helps us identify these individuals before they are able to act and using our intelligence systems to learn who they are makes us much more effective at interdicting them and third i think the focus on getting our communities aware of the risks -- countering

homegrown violent extremist. as nick mentioned probably the most immediate threat comes from the homegrown violent extremist who listens to the propaganda, reads it and decide he or she are going to answer the call and take up arms here in the u.s.. community awareness, resilient around these issues with our law enforcement partners, they understand that those elements are to look for as they encounter communities is a big step towards helping communities learn about this. >> thanks. nick. >> the only thing i would would add are two things unrelated to offense and one related to defense. if we are going to get ahead of

isil's evertz to develop a threat capability we have to over time shrink the safe haven and attack the safe haven inside iraq and that's something i know the present secretary of state have talked to with their foreign partners overseas. absent the ability to bring additional western potential operatives into iraq to that safe haven potentially train and equip and deploy them out to europe and the united states. to the more defensive piece of business i think we are engaged in right now and making progress on his aggressive information-sharing with all of our foreign partners who face a similar problem. this is an issue we have been engaged in for going on 18 months now. engaging with our european partners manage who face this problem more acutely than we do. certainly it's an easier path through syria and iraq. unlike a lot of the situations where it's difficult to talk

with partners about information-sharing this is a case where we are getting good pushback. they share the same since sense of threats of information we want to share about travel to syria or iraq can be used potentially to add to or watch listing and screening systems and give us one leg up in our effort to disrupt travel when individuals seek to leave syria and iraq. it's not by any means the only pillar but it's an important pillar and one that is noise easy to get our partners to work with us on. so widely shared at all levels of government we typically work with in government is making that level of vendor changed much more robust. >> thanks so much. my time has expired. when we come back further next round ms. spaulding you might want to visit the issue of information-sharing either an open session of the closed

session. dr. coburn. >> thank you. i hope the media that is here today actually listen to what you had to say, nick. a very cogent open assessment of where we are. not on the basis of scaring people but to inform them of where we really are. i think the other thing i would comment on is i'm really happy to see the fbi being aggressive on deterrence. for so long we thought we could build a higher and higher wall that people can't climb over. they are going to climb over every wall on cyberand we have to have both efforts. we have to have a wall but we also have to have the prosecutorial deterrence that says it's going to be painful. i'm very thankful for that and i hope to see more and more both domestically and internationally because of the cost. general taylor let me just ask

you a couple of questions as i may produce an intelligence product examining the vulnerabilities in isa student exchange and visitor programs under the visa program and whether it's a threat to national security? >> yes sir we have. we have published several threat pieces to support the student visa program and the risks that comes from that particular program working with i.c.e. and cbp. >> are those public or are those classified? >> i believe they are classified senator coburn but i will check. >> i will ask more questions in the closed hearing. it's reported that millions of people living on these overstays dhs is struggling with this population we understand that.

in the assessment of threat from a population that i it overstats a certain opinion of them on that? >> we have helped i.c.e. to prioritize its focus on the these overstays from a threat perspective. >> from my staff has been cooperative by the way, when we review the documents what we see today is approximately 700 miles of our southern border that are not secure. that is looking at the documents that you all gave us. can you all prepare a current assessment of the coverage at the border and a threat to national security posed by adversaries that potentially might transcend that border? >> sir if i understand your question you are asking me

cannily or have we? >> i am asking can we get on the basis of where we stand? >> absolutely yes sir and i would also add sir that the secretary has directed a comprehensive southern border security strategy which will have an intelligence annexed to it that will address what you've just described, the risk to the border and how we can better focus our efforts in securing those gaps that we identify our existing. >> do you have a timeline on that? >> we just approved it. at least the concept we are beginning to put meat on the bones so i can give an exact date but i will certainly have the staff check and get back to you. >> thank you.

>> mr. anderson does the fbi monitor cyberattacks against the federal government? >> we weren't to monitor cyberattacks around the world and the federal government but also the private sector. >> can you tell me which major departments of the federal government that haven't been hacked? >> i don't know if i can tell you that off the top of my head. i would probably have to go back and look. i agree that the current director that they haven't been hacked, i don't know they haven't been hacked or we haven't realized. >> they have all been hacked.

if you would, would you go back and give us a list of what your record show and you can do that in a secure setting or in an open session. i would like to see what you all see on that. i mentioned the deterrence and i'm pleased with that because i think you have to have both sides of the sword working. the rest of my questions i think mr. chairman are for classified setting so i will wait and ask those of nick and suzanne and others in the classified meeting. >> and senator johnson senator mccain and senator baldwin senator portman and senator ayotte. >> i would like to associate myself with senator coburn's comments about the need for us to face this reality. the need that the american people need to be in.

not about scaring people but facing reality. general taylor you started asking are we safer? i want to break that question down to two parts. one is do we have greater defensive capability to keep us safe but then has the threat grown? i does want your assessment of both of those. what is your assessment over the last 13 years in terms of our defense capabilities and by the way what is hampering our efforts you now and then really your assessment of the growing threat. >> thank you senator. as i mentioned i was state department coordinated for counterterrorism on 9/11 and party to her efforts then and have watched the government change its approach to this and indeed our capacity to share information to work together is

as good as it's ever been in the history of our country. we work every day with the fbi with the nctc in gathering information and sharing data so in that sense i think our capacity is much more effective than it was 13 years ago. there is always room for improvement and change but i think the leadership of the ct leadership understands if we don't cooperate that things will happen. the nature of the threat is i think nick characterized it best in 9/11 2001 we were focused on al qaeda and afghanistan. today i'll qaeda, al qaeda hearings adherence and other operating in north africa and the middle east and south afri africa. it's a much more diverse nonetheless they still see us as

a threat to the united states and operations around the world. >> mr. rasmussen i believe the threat is growing. i believe it's more grave. you had mentioned the effective edward snowden's disclosures. is that degraded our ability to protect ourselves and our intelligence gathering capabilities? >> i would argue yes and i will talk in greater detail in a closed session about some of the specific information or indicators that we have seen that have led me to that conclusion but i think it's arguable that collection data to get ahead of terrorist plots it's an arguable that collection environment is more challenging today than it was if we have not been dealing with these disclosures. >> in the foreign relations committee hearing we had deputy assistant secretary kirk and i asked him about isis.

he talked about 30 to 50 suicide bombers. we had an australian and german suicide bomber set themselves off in iraq. i'm concerned the talk i'm concerned the talk coming out of this of that this may take three years. first of all let me ask you to believe isis is something that being can be contained or managed versus destroy? >> i think of this in phases. in an urn -- near term we can take steps to degrade and disrupt their ability to carry out attacks. but to prevent yourself from having to deal with that in perpetuity we would have to go beyond that in look to destroy or defeat the organization and that is what the administration and the secretary of state have talked about over longer period of time time. that objective is not as easy to put a specific time horizon to.

>> understand that i'm concerned kind of like having a hornets nest. you identify the thread and you want to get rid of them. you don't want to poke it with a stick for three years. ..

our intelligence community partners look around the corner and see not only where their next groups might come from, where the next theaters of concern might be calm but what tactics and techniques and opportunities for innovation might exist in the terrorism community as well. that is harder. often relying on what intelligence. using your imagination. it is important work that helps us overtime to up targets to get ahead of those particular threats. cyber is one of those areas where we have not seen terrace necessarily develop great capability today but they certainly understand that the economic impact that innovation in the cyber world causes. we ss that over time that is the capability terrorist groups -- >> i want to cover that in this briefing. secretary spaulding, you talked about critical infrastructure. he talked about the physical and

cyber threats. i want to talk to us something that i have been briefed on. the threat of the mp. both in terms of the high-altitude nuclear blast which is kind of what i always knew exists out there and hoping that nobody has the capability of would be stupid enough to do with. and also aware of the fact that the massive solar flare represents a real threat. is that something that you are certainly aware of kiddy accepted and we are looking toward an -- >> excuse me. absolutely, senator. thank you for the question. it is certainly something that we have been focused on and working with our colleagues in the electric sector to find ways to address. i was recently in the u.k. at an international conference for structured security summit. the antis were there a clear

focus on those discussions. this is something very much on our radar screen that we are working with them to address. >> just real quick in terms of mr. anderson, the attack of the metcalf pg&e substation, do we have any further information you can share in open session, tracked down perpetrators to buy, but dealers in terms of what that was all about? >> we're heavily engaged in that investigation, senator. it would be easy it discovered that the we're doing inside the closed session. >> i think the chairman. >> thank you. >> i think you pair rita think the witnesses. taylor or rasmussen, recent reports, twitter and facebook of messages that would urge infiltration into the united states across our southwestern

border. >> yes, sir. there have been twitter exchanges among adherents. speaking about that as a possibility. >> would you treated as a threat? >> any infiltration across our border would be a threat. in the course of border security -- >> are you satisfied that we have sufficient border security to prevent that? >> i am satisfied that we are trying to build a border security capability -- >> are you satisfied that we now have the capability to prevent that? >> i and satisfied that we have the intelligence and capability at our border that will prevent that activity? >> it is interesting because an

american border dressed as gasol but what walked across the border, the rio grande river undetected. to something like that concern you? >> not undetected. he was known to the border security agencies. >> why did they stop him when he came across? >> i can't answer that question. >> you can't answer it because they want there to stop. that is a matter of record. the fact is that there are thousands of people who are coming across our border who are undetected who are not identified. to sit there and tell me that we have the capability or now have the proper projections of our southwestern border, particularly in light of the urgings, facebook and twitter

for people who come across our southwestern border is of great concern to the citizens of my state. i would like to hear your response to that. >> the security of the southwest border is of great concern to the department's and certainly understand the concerns of the citizens of this state. if i gave you the impression that i thought border security was what it needed to be to protect against all the risks coming across states, that's not what i intended. >> could you give us to the committee for the record what is required? achieve 90% effective control the border and prevent this threat from materializing? i don't think there is any doubt i don't see when you look at the growth and the influence, it would be logical as they're

saying on facebook and twitter to come across our southwest border because they can get across. the flow of drugs across the southwest border has not been decreased by any significant measure. would you agree to that? >> the flow of drugs continues to be significant. yes, sir. >> well, those of us who strongly supported comprehensive immigration reform are deeply disappointed and our lack of devotion of assets and funds and capabilities to secure our southwestern border which has been created a credibility problem in our states and across our country that we can guarantee people if we enacted comprehensive immigration reform that there would not be another

flow of refugees. i ask -- for illegal immigration into this country. now we have this phenomenon, currents, thousands of young children showing a better border, not trying to sneak across, which is showing a of our border. it has tailed off some, but it is still by the thousands. and it isn't this diverting the assets and the capabilities of our border patrol? having to handle this incredible influx of children from diverting them from other duties like trying to interdict drug smugglers and others? and isn't it true, can i say to him is really astonishing to me our friends on the left and those who were pro immigration

and ignore the fact that the brutalities that are inflicted on these young people, particularly young women as they are brought across by these coyotes is absolutely abhorrent and unspeakable. would you agree? >> absolutely. to your earlier question, we assess that the -- not only assess. we believe the border patrol has done an absolutely remarkable job in handling the crisis. >> they have been diverted. >> it's been a priority given the number of people of our border to focus on that issue. with resources as they are to our resources have shifted to perris. >> so it is always -- a phthisis

and the aggressiveness of isis and the information that they have been able to recruit in thd states of america, we know that because americans have been killed over there. it seems to me it dramatically heightens our requirement to have a secure southern and northern border. would you agree? >> absolutely free. >> thank you. finally, entertaining to me that it is like it all just happened. another will fedora. it is not about isis. people like me and lindsay gramm have known about it and went about it and talked about. we have done nothing to release him the tide, ice -- isis in the gas that we now see. hopeful that the president of the united states will finally recognize that threat and

outline to the american people some actions that need to be taken. many of us predicted this and side coming. it comes as no surprise. >> we thank you as well. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. taylor, mr. rasmussen, what start kilobit more about the estimated hundred u.s. persons who have left to join the fight. is this investment or do we have a sense of who this hundred plus people are, names to move there from, how much detail to we have ?

>> that travel has not happened. individuals that travel, individuals that traveled and come back to my travel and perhaps been killed that number is all encompassing and does not reflect an estimate of who is is i quit their right now today. more we can say with greater precision in the closed session. i think we can reassure you that we have some significant detail behind that broad number. >> great. i'm going to drive past a couple more questions in open session on this topic. we will see how far we can get. with regard to that number is a differentiation, specific differentiation between those who are actually joining isil and those, for example, i traveled to turkey now over a year ago, but there was certainly american citizens of syrian descent who were there

trying to provide humanitarian relief in the fight or trying to do what they could to help the moderate rebels from of a moderate elements try to the participate. >> the individuals who indicate in a tent or have traveled who go over not necessarily knowing who they will affiliate with when they get there. they simply was to join the fight. and where they actually end up affiliating plays out over time. we may and may not have intelligence on that. you're right, the number of travel to syria coming days and a wide variety of activities. >> but that hundreds or wherever we are talking, over a hundred, you believe they are engaged in

the battle with the isil extremists. >> with extremist relevance. want to be careful and not in it down because you know there are a number. >> before i get to that second point, do we have a sense that are in particular allies have granny affirmation on their citizens who have traveled to syria as we do yours? >> i think it's not a constant feature across the whole of europe. in some cases was some of our partners with whom we work the most closely the answer is absolutely yes. they have a very detailed understanding of individuals and in fact have done a great deal of work talking to in many cases individuals who have come back from syria in order to try to understand both the appeal and the experience and how they make -- what contribution to the

threat picture back in their homes that they may present. devoted to adjust that effort. i would not argue that this is constant across all of your. southern and eastern europeans closer to the front line traveling to turkey and syria, the capabilities just simply are not as well developed, not as low resource to handle a large national security challenge like this the way that some of the more traditional partners arm. but as i pointed out in my statement is a bit of a good news story that the willingness to at least lock arms and share information is something we have seen pretty constantly across the board. >> just to enter for a second. senator coburn, can you just give me a cautionary note? are good feeling for what is appropriate to say and what is more or less the clothes

setting? again, ask questions, should be deferred to the next part of our hearing. please do that. >> so do we have a sense of how many u.s. nationals are engaged with al qaeda globally? obviously a much greater fragmentation. even in particular al qaeda and the arabian peninsula, do we have the same sort of grignard affirmation? >> again, i think it varies depending on which affiliate group you're talking about. the conservative talk about specific cases involving specific individuals and another seven. >> okay. can you describe in open session for the committee what we know, intelligence about the relationship between isil and it al qaeda?

is it rival, is a cooperative? are there rudy each other on? what do we know at this point about their relationship? >> well, one of the things that i think has been a development that we have spent a great deal of time trying to understand and assess is the degree of conflict and tension between isil and court al qaeda leaders, as i said. and i think what you could argue now you're seeing in a sense a contest for competition for primacy in an overall effort to lead the global gian with isil increasingly posturing itself as the legitimate follow-on or error to the al qaeda vision and what that is also doing is causing, i would argue, intellectual ferment in that broader purview. we see that in affiliate's that seeks to decide for themselves,

to be aligned or maintain fidelity to our traditional bonds of loyalty. i think one thing that we can observe pretty obviously is that success breeds success. so that when isil has had success on the battlefield and taking over large swaths of territory that has served as a draw not only to foreign fighters who might want to choose where to bring their capabilities but also to individuals who may be affiliated with other al qaeda groups to the side would like to know where it is the most talked and where my ability to impact can be felt most acutely. and there is no doubt that the level of individual al qaeda, that is out there. it is something that will play out over time whether isil was a plans al qaeda core in terms of

overall. but it is clear that things trend in this direction for a long time and one can make an argument. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the testimony in the opportunity nasty questions in another session. and there is some much to go over. i want to talk a little bit about what you have said today and what some of my colleagues have asked about in terms of isil and the situation. i think it is important not only will we do now but also to look to afghanistan. and what we are doing or not doing to ensure that we don't have a similar situation. with regard to afghanistan, how

do you assess the security forces there, the afghan security forces as compared to the iraqi security forces? >> i would want to -- >> typically the capability to conduct counter-terrorism operations against the taliban and al qaeda partners. >> i believe we have made a substantial amount of progress in bringing the afghan national-security force up to the level where they can carry out counter terrorist operations against known terrorist targets inside afghanistan. what will be -- will we will not know until we see over time is whether the afghan government is able to sustain that capability, invest in resource and sustain that capability over time so that they are able to do this as they encounter threats.

>> greater capability than the iraqi security forces? there is no u.s. support. >> i am reluctant to put it in comparative terms. the right expertise or knowledge would be happy to give you an answer. >> i think it would be interesting. here is my feeling from the reports which were made public. in fact, the security forces were further along at the time in which we chose to pull out. if we decide to do the same thing in afghanistan the president has said he has plans, we may have a similar situation given the assessment of their capabilities to be able to have very effective counterterrorism operation. i just make the obvious point that we need your help in terms of learning lessons and a

roughly taking those lessons to afghanistan. there has been a lot of attention recently to president obama's comments last january about regional terrorist groups being like university teams in relation to isil. following that back-and-forth. those years, soldiers that followed to make it a peaceful place, those comments are particularly disconcerting.

as you well know, we took serious losses. in 16 month time frame when the time and lost 46 marines. twenty-two were killed from one rifle company in columbus. obviously it affects a lot of our communities including back, i'll. i would ask you, and 2013 to the intelligence community identify that al qaeda had expressed interest -- interest? >> yes. we can talk about the war in closed session. >> in 2013 to they assess the threat exists is? >> absolutely. >> do u.s.s. that the iraqi security forces early this year had been operating without u.s. troops riverside for two years, took any successful actions to the rest control of pollution from isil after they seized in

january 2014 or earlier this year? >> i would like to give an answer for the record because i am certainly aware of iraqi security force counter-terrorism actions, but i want to be specific response if. >> what is it? wresting control back. >> not wresting control back of areas you describe. >> you know, i just think again we should learn some lessons from this. over the last two years, access to fighters and resources as well as inconsistent counter-terrorism operations are pressure from the iraqis to escalate? >> certainly true that they have escalated their operations and taken advantage of the lack of our real border between iraq and syria which has allowed them to move resources back and forth to escape counter-terrorism pressure.

>> well, i think your answers to these questions are helpful. understanding why we should be doing and looking for to afghanistan, being sure that we are prepared to take the steps to avoid a repeat of his. let me change the topic, if i could. this has to do with the ebola crisis. amateurs to hear what work your office is doing. and i were 2300 people may die. who tells us today they expect 20,000 people die relatively soon. other groups have much higher estimates. if you could tell me how you're monitoring the situation in africa, what you're going. >> sir, my office works with the

office of health affairs leading the department in an interagency response to the ebola virus. the consequences take me to the u.s. as well as the african region. interagency meetings on an issue and trying to get aid to those countries to stem the spread of the virus. >> you feel we have an effective interagency and intergovernmental coordination? >> i think we have affected u.s. interagency and intergovernmental coordination. this is a global problem and is going to take a global solution to solve. the nations in the region are less capable in certain cases of handling the kind of infection that they're seeing. it will require a global effort to extend this particular issue. >> i understand health affairs is taking the lead.

in new take a look at what u.s. government it? we intergovernmental and entered the agency to -- interests is a process. >> have not personally looked at it. my most recent experience, we had an effective interagency coordination on at. >> i'm concerned that we are not being as aggressive as we could be in of the agency would take a look at what we have done in the past where we have been relatively successful, not just with foreign aid but also the specific steps we have taken to try to get more countries engaged and deal with the issue. one final question, do you have any insights on how you see this developing and what we should be doing here in this country? and noticed that you talked about the national prepared this

month. one of my concerns is based on recent reports we are not prepared. we have unfortunately the situation where if a pandemic were to occur there are shortfalls including expiration's on down to some of the medical responsibility necessary. thoughts about that? >> i would prefer to a respondent holistic way and consultation with my colleagues. >> we appreciate you getting back to the committee. >> thank you. thank you for those questions. senator, and after you have spoken i'm going ask mr. mr. anderson. we have not picked on you enough one opportunity, a point you want to make a share with us before we get the closed session. now. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this

important hearing. i want to tinker with this is what they do keep the country safe. secretary taylor, wanted to follow upon some of the questions that senator baldwin had. and i would ask all of you to give me some insight on a comment that i heard from our fbi director. i think it's important that the american people understand what we're dealing with in terms of not only americans but westerners who have potentially travel this area or of interest in traveling to syria and joining with one of these extremist groups, including isil you had testified that more than 100 u.s. persons your tracking and have identified those who have intended to go, those who have gone and some of own, have been actually engage in killed. i note that the fbi director said in august -- and i give you the number of 100 americans, i

can't tell you with high confidence that it is 10200, 10500, 100 or thousand more because it is so hard to track. here is a very important question and i think people need to know. that is, do we really know? and how many of these two we really have a track of and how many don't we have a track of? >> senator, i would share the director's comments in terms of we don't know we don't know. and i think those -- the context in which he was making those comments. we have very high confidence on the number that we do know, and we have systems that help us identify more day in and day out abcasix here today and give you the number of over hundred and tomorrow it may be based upon

intelligence investigation, the fbi, more identities that we did not know about before. >> but is the reality now while we have confidence in the hundred that we really don't know how many more may be part of this? >> i think that's a fair statement. >> i assume that's why the director who i have a lot of respect for made that statement when he was specifically asked about how confident we are in the number. >> well, given home run violent extremists, given the nature of foul people radicalize data. is difficult to say with any degree of certainty that we know all that could be wanting to join this particular effort. ..

any individual that we can do an investigation is in r. individual whether abroad or in the united states. we dedicate an immense amount of resources to covering individuals we know about. i can't get into all those in the session but we will detail it in the next session. >> let me ask you, the 100 that we know about what authorities do we have to revoke their passports?

in other words, you are a united states citizen and obviously you are entitled to certain rights so what can we do to make sure that they can't get back into the community if we believe that they have have joined for example and extremis group like isil who has brutally and perfectly murdered to american journalist? >> senator dodd is a very complicated question in terms of taking away america's passport. there are judicial means to do that. i am not an expert and map it became get you the answer of whether the authorities would allow that to happen. >> we need to understand we certainly don't want a situation where you will talk to someone and you don't have the authority to detain them. they are in a position where they have to appear before a

judicial authority but in the interim they are not detained and they have open access in america so i would like a follow-up to what the processes are, what tools you have at your hands when there is obviously evidence that an american is involved with a group like isil so that we can understand whether those authorities are efficient so i would appreciate a follow-up on that. i also wanted to ask what i understand from your hearing your testimony today you said the threat of isil is regionally focused, meaning the region of where they are operating in iraq and syria and the surrounding regions. what kind of access do they have to financing? >> that has been one of our great concerns as isil has surged in iraq that they have had the ability to draw on a wider array of sources for

financing including kidnap for ransom, simply occupying and taking others holdings. >> i heard an estimate that they are making $1 million a day. is that a fair statement? >> that's a fair estimate. >> is. >> as i understand they have safe havens and syria, correct? >> guests. >> they are obviously taking over more territory in iraq, correct? is their design and one of the reasons the concerns we have with regard to what's happening in iraq right now? >> that is their ambition in iraq in recent weeks iraqi security force action in combination with united states military action has been the ability of isil to gain more territory. >> but they have territory right now, you would agree with me? they have territory and syria and territory in iraq. the elements to make money and when we think about this threat, the passport issue, it's not

just about americans. i know secretary taylor in your testimony there are about 2000 westerners but i have also seen estimates of 7500 potential foreign fighters from all different countries that have joined this conflict starting in syria. i don't know how many of those have joined isil but this threat goes beyond thinking about americans. i know you talked about a story about more communication between our other countries with regard to these individuals who have joined these extremist groups but we also have a visa waiver program with countries like the united kingdom and france and so how good is our intelligence and ability to attract those individuals? we talk about the 100 so we are worried about are people but thinking about the individuals that don't need a visa to come travel to the united states of america. as i understand it there are

thousands. the numbers that the united kingdom and great britain is facing is much bigger than united states. can you give us an assessment of how good of a track we have on them and what ability we have to stop them from coming to the united states or to know exactly where they are so that we don't face a situation where someone is -- you know that james foley video. that individual who committed that barbaric murder, he was clearly from great britain. you could tell from his accent so individual like that coming to the united states and then participating in an action here. can you give us a little more insight on that because i think it's important for people to understand. >> yes maam. i would prefer nick to talk about the intelligence cooperation that we have which is significant with our european partners and daily we exchange information. more importantly the visa waiver

does not mean people come to this country without screening. every passenger coming to the united states from outside the united states is screened through our terrorist screening system and if there is derogatory data they are not allowed to come to the united states. >> that assumes we have the data, correct? >> that assumes we have the data and that is what intelligence cooperation is all about, making sure that with our partners in europe and other places that we are getting that data and getting it in a consistent fashion. >> so i think this is obviously a very important issue as well is knowing and tracking who these individuals are who if we don't have the data we may allow them in our country without being able to stop them from coming. my time is up but i just want to say one thing that concerns me.

what concerns me as i know we have talked today about believing that really the focus on the threat of isil is a regional threat but here we have sophisticated terrorist organization which our own secretary of defense has said is beyond anything that we have seen and in fact we have a situation where you know secretary dempsey described this group as an imminent threat. we have combined with, they have financial means to make money. they have territory and some safe havens. we know that in january their leader basically threaten the united states of america. we have seen through their actions the brutal murders of these two journalists that obviously the threat that they faced, the type of there -- barbaric actions they are willing to take against americans and we know that these people who joined this we are

not quite sure how many there are and they could return to the u.s.. i'm concerned that it's an understatement to say that this is a regional threat in terms of what my present to us and our homeland. >> mr. chairman qunai response to this one? you are using the word regional and i by no means meant to mean directed at the united states because isil has the capability to threaten the united states not just proper but our embassies personnel and diplomats and unofficial americans. >> as i set up a lot of her time to utilize the safe haven they currently are enjoying. >> right now you don't think they have the capacity? >> right now we assess they do not have active ongoing plots in the nicest homeland. >> that's a different question whether they have the capacity. we don't know of any active ongoing threats are plots.

>> we do not assess right now that they have it capability to mount an effective large-scale plot inside the united states. >> large scale. >> another piece of this you can't necessarily count for individuals we talked about under the category of homegrown homegrown bioextremist who may self-identify as acting in sympathy with isil. maybe perhaps never having touched isl leadership but in the aftermath of a potential attack may be here in the homeland it might self affiliate. i don't mean by any means to minimize the threat to isil. that's not my intent. i simply trying to describe in a sense concentric rings and the levels of concern we have at present versus what we see developing over time. what you describe at the foreign fighters is what gives them the capability to threaten the homeland over the longer term. >> thank you. >> i was at one point. you have to take in fact the

excitation of various members of isil to come across our southern border. it's out there. it's in the social media. i know you while they're looking at that the factors that's pretty scary. you talk about what we don't know, we don't know the people who are coming across our border and what the threat is. we don't know. >> i said mr. anderson we would take the opportunity to offer an opposing thought, please. >> thank you mr. chairman. if i could i would make a closing remark in turn back to cyber for a second. the one thing i think the committee needs to know and they probably do is when it comes to cyber i have never seen more cooperation in my law enforcement career than i have in the last year or so. the people at this table dhs secret service a large variety of intelligence partners we all get it. we get that this is something that's going to go through from

now until the next several years in our government has a deep concern to work together and work towards a fix. you know we talked a little while ago about the number of federal departments within our government that possibly could be hacked or if they were hacked and just didn't know about it. i think one of the things we are all working on in the legislature is also is trying to figure out how to share real-time information with our private sector partners. i think that is absolutely imperative mr. chairman and i think my colleagues would echo that. one of the main reasons is because everyone knows a lot of are classified and very sensitive technologies are developed, designed and built out in the private sector way before they are ever classified. our adversaries know this whether his counterintelligence counterespionage economic espionage counterterrorism they have had the pleasure over the years to testify with director of intelligence and chairman

feinstein and dr. coburn many times regarding this kind of scare for us. i would tell you the one thing that i see is the government coming together as one on this thread and working towards a positive fix. thank you mr. chairman. >> i would just add to that the threat of isis and these other terrorist groups, are they a threat quack sure they are. it's not any time to pat ourselves on the back and become complicit. it's time to be more vigilant. we will see what the president has to say tonight. i believe it will be very strong and working with nations around the world to destroy this. that is what we are looking for hopefully that is what we'll get. i would also say i go back to underlying root causes. we talk about underlying and root causes and i would say

number one al qaeda in iraq was on their back. they were almost done about seven years ago. the policies of the iraqi government actually help them get off the map and back into the game to be the threat they are today. my hope is the new government that is being stood up in iraq will be part of the solution to help us accomplish what we did seven years ago and to do it again. not only this time for good. it's been great to have you with us and i appreciate her colleagues being with us here as well. we will move to a secure setting and with that the portion of this hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] a twe

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join the conversation. follow us facebook, on twitter. washington journal continueses. ost: this week, we kicked off the monthlong series of interviews with the university presidents as part of our c-span bus's big 10 college tour. this morning, joining us on the at the campus of the university of nebraska in interim s the president, dr. james linder. thank you, sir, for being with us. begin with the size of the university of nebraska lincoln. and also the cost. thank you, greta. it's a pleasure to be with you today. guest: i appreciate the fact at you're doing this service to educate the students and the public at large about the education.of higher the university of nebraska's system has four campuses, one of university of nebraska lincoln, which is a big 10 school.

15,000 students in the system. that represents record enrollment for us. the cost of an education in lincoln is about $8,000 a year, is lost in the big ten. of state tuition at $22,000 a year. how much financial aid is there available? three quarters of students receive a grant or scholarship depending on what year they're in in education. host: the gallup did a poll in april. young adults cite college costs as their top money problem. wondering, and this is -- this has sparked the debate in our country.

college worth it? how do you answer that question, dr. linder? guest: well, i think the university of nebraska regents the state legislature have had access and affordability more many riorities years, even before the recent costs.ions on and we believe nebraska, the it, the s worth opportunity to educate the next that tion of nebraskians go out, form companies, service have degrees to support technology is essential growing technology and having an informed citizenry. are how many majors available at the university of nebraska. guest: wow. that's a stump the president sort of question. e have many colleges and many

degree programs. some lead to a bs, graduate rograms and certificate programs. it exceeds 100 in total. nd that includes both on-line education as well as education campus.curs on you address the issue of job place m. after kids graduate, what's the getting a job? and how do you encourage or do pick courage kids to majors, professions, that will get you a job when they graduate? guest: a lot of important questions that you ask there. i'll dissect that a bit. first of all, in terms of the college experience. we want our students to be aware of the fact that they should