gerous financial tools. and then when it all goes down the taxpayers of this country bill the mouth. >> the headline on the event so far is bernie sanders calls himself conservative. i will ask this question just to get it out of the way. are you running for president? if so we will the result be closer to the 1971 special election for the 2012 reelection? >> with a little bit of luck no great secret. at a time of the middle class is disappearing, when we have grotesque levels of income and wealth inequality, when climate change threatens not only this country but the entire comment when you have a handful of billionaires in the process of buying the united states government political system i think it is imperative that we have candidates who stand up for

the working families of discussion are prepared to take on the big money interests. don't tell my wife that. she does not necessarily agree. >> of power to turn off the tv right now. on the other hand i understand political realities. when you take on the billionaire, it ain't easy. and if i do something i want to do well and it is important not just from my ego. it is important for millions of people who share the same set of beliefs that i'll. so to so to do it well we would have to put together the strongest grassroots movement in the modern history of this country. millions of people are saying enough is enough. they're going to have a government that starts working for working families rather than just the top 1%. i am going around the

country doing is talking to a lot of people. there's a lot of sentiment that enough is enough and we need fundamental changes that the establishment the gut feeling that i'm going to have to reach is whether there is that willingness to stand up and fight back. in terms of money that's all of the story. this is also the situation was. a candidate who reached out and generating a lot of excitement and he had 2 million people. and in and in my senate race my average contributions $45 so he had 2 million people

phenomenal response putting in 100 bucks is $200 million, 20% of what a cold brothers themselves percent of what the code brothers themselves are prepared to spend. can you take that on? i don't know the answer. maybe their is no turning back. i surely hope not, but we have to look at the reality. >> on that issue they often have two objectives. the 1st is to win nominations. they're been there been plenty of candidates in our history who have one to advance an agenda even when they did when. and so obviously you have had to thought about both sides of this equation. but if i run and learns how can i have an effect on the agenda of the winning candidate which at this.i think the democratic side we assume hillary clinton without hurting our chances

against the republican? i think the politics matter because you're trying to advance an agenda. >> if i do this people just have to appreciate how difficult the decision is. having said that, let me tell you something about myself or looking at a candidate who ran for transfer mayor three times in the house and twice for the senate. the only negative as iran. negative as discussed me. and in my state they don't work. if i run and secretary clinton runs what i will hope will happen is that we would have a real serious -- a woman i respect and is an intelligent person and is interested in issues and i

think we would have a debate about how you rebuild crumbling middle class a debate about how you reverse climate change a debate about foreign policy and the wisdom of the war and how we deal with what we did a debate about trade policy a debate about wall street and that would be good for the american people. it is not my style the trash people or let ugly negative ads run. >> would you reregister as a democrat? >> that's a decision i have yet to make. there are a lot of people who say republican party, democratic party of the same you have to start outside of the two-party system. other people that say you have to run. go or the action is and get media attention you have to run. that's an issue on talking to a lot of people about.

>> as i began to journalists 1st. my colleagues who is both a brookings person and a journalist, if you want to jump in now or later who among journalists would like to ask a question? say it again. >> bench records are from politico. the pressure to compare yourself to hillary can't make it harder to introduce yourself to voters on your own terms? >> we will tell your story. i do a number of interviews. i tried not. usually no matter what i say it becomes hillary clinton. so to answer your question

if i run i am running on the issues that i talk to you about. clearly in terms of your request her name recognition is about ten times greater. introducing myself. this is the interesting point. when you look at the republican agenda which comes boiled down to more tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations, cuts in social security, medicare, medicaid, what percentage of the american people do you think support that? also ten or 15 percent. you look at what i'm talking about jobs programs, raising the minimum wage, climate change, we change, we have a lot more. the question is how we get together.

>> do you view the working families endorsement as a setback? >> am not sure she we will be running for office. >> you have a thought? >> i knew elizabeth warren before she was elizabeth warren. she was brilliant harvard law school professor. we brought her to vermont to do town meetings and she blew me away with her ability to deal with complicated economic issues and in a language that people that understand. i'm a big fan. and we work together on a number of issues. >> way in the back. >> thank you. i am wondering if sen. warren, she said she's not running for president, if she were to get in the race with that

change your plans? >> this is kind of what media does. they like speculation. >> you'll forgive me. >> do you want to commend? >> mark shields appear in the middle. welcome. it's great to have you here. >> thank you. no one would accuse you of being morning in america. >> you maybe. >> but what does give you hope? >> my wife often tells me that after we speak after pass of the tranquilizers and the anti- suicide tips. i've been trying to be more cheerful. she will tell you where i am optimistic.

regardless of the political views if we sat in this room to mark 30 years ago and i were say to you i think our country despite the terrible history of racial prejudice in the year 2008 we were elected african-american president may be reelected four years later and overcome our racism and do that people would have said what are you smoking? thirty or 40 years ago you have one or two members of the united states senate will women. for women. today would've had states on governors senators members of congress are women, and while we still have a long long way to go to break down barriers in this country no

what he would deny that we've come a long way. i pointed to the 1st woman police officer back in the 1980s. working on capitol hill today is not such a big deal. this disability issue. when you and i were kids and families had a baby born with a disability was an embarrassment. kids were institutionalized. today we have come a long way as a result of the ada and other programs. kids with disabilities are loved of wealth and our schools are part of a committee. we have made more progress on that than anyone would have dreamed. last but not least if you

and i were talking ten years ago and you said i think maybe some of the more conservative states of america gay marriage were no longer be a big deal, you would have thought that would be completely crazy. i got a kid schools conservative parts of of the state and ask what you think about gay marriage and a look a look at me like i'm crazy. he asked me about optimism. those are the the areas where we have now taken it for granted. a black president. so what. so i believe we have the capacity to change. you taking on the greed and the power of the billionaire class brothers are out to destroy social security, security medicare, medicaid and bring us back to the 1920s. this is a tough act but i am optimistic. i think we have the capacity to bring change and have done in recent years.

who do we have the gentleman who has his hand up right they're. >> sen., i would like to ask you your opinion on the speech the prime minister netanyahu is planning to give to congress? >> people disagree. the disagree. the president of the united states foreign-policy. the idea the president was not consulted is wrong and not a good thing. >> are you thinking of not going? >> am not thinking about going, i'm not going. >> how many of your colleagues do you think are going to do that? >> you're sounding like the media. you want me to speculate. >> i am the media.

>> i appreciate your votes. i wonder what you think we can do to stop this pantheon of endless war. >> thank you for phrasing it that way. it goes without saying that this is beyond pathetic. and anyone who tells you they have a magical solution this problem is getting the. what i do believe the most important thing that we can do is to demand that the people in the region play an extremely active role militarily and politically. politically. it will shock people in this room to no that the country that has the fourth-largest defense spending in the world is not

france not the uk owned by a group of billionaire folks. the united states and the muslim world should be supported, supported, but nations in that region are going to have to put some risk in. >> can you imagine a useful force resolution against isis their would be framed in a way you can vote for? >> look, isis what they have done, done, you can't even speak about it. but as this woman aptly pointed out there are some of my colleagues in the congress who have in mind and endless war. god war. god knows how many years. afghanistan and iraq and the

-- i was chairman of the veterans committee. 500,000 men and women who came back with ptsd and traumatic brain injury. terribly impacted. having said that, i don't have a magical solution. the regional activity of the countries were most impacted >> let me press you on that. if pres. obama called you up and said, i know sen. sanders and a lot of people in the senate and house are very reluctant to keep that wars in the middle east and yet you agree that isis is a particular threat. can you write me a resolution that you could vote for?

>> sputnik international news. i just had a a follow-up question on what you have raised about the oligarchical trend in us politics. i just like to no what kind of impact that has on the united states as a world leader so how this trend in the us impacts economic justice worldwide. >> the impact.

really think that you would put up the keystone pipeline think you may have something to do with the fact that the brothers how it impacts politics is what i'm afraid people with money we will have more influence. i give you one example. the people the economy

there are people with. and right now what you have is an effort on the part of the banks to talk about more authority rather than letting the new government start to implement the agenda and the promises that it makes. the country. but to answer your question globally the browns were facing in the united states are not dissimilar to what other countries face around the world. as much wealth.

>> thank you. larry genco. i agree with most of what you're saying, senator. i would offer one caveat. if you're going to invite people come and do it in the summertime. >> keep away from speculation. it scares me a little bit. >> i would not be supported. >> the gentleman in the back.

as the last question. >> sen., thank you. i talked. i talked to some of your constituents in vermont and it says something that they like about you is your independent nature. >> that's the word they usually think of. [laughter] >> and keeping it nice. the fact that you are independently like that. do you think that if you become a democrat, does that hurt you with not only your constituents in vermont the people around the country when they vote for you and like the fact that you are not affiliated? 's. >> i could be wrong. i think they're are a lot of working-class republicans. and i think in vermont and around the country they're are millions of people who say

your not a democrat or republican, i don't no what stand for, but i'm with you. you. so much frustration with the two-party system. to try to put together an independent political effort he would have to spend an enormous amount of time to get on the ballot. and just i want to close by saying that the late mike arrington used to say that he was for the left-wing of the possible. possible. i think that are pushing the definition of the possible. i thank you for enlightening exploration of what can be done. if i may use the phrase, phrase, what is to be done.

thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the senate this afternoon approved a measure that would expand restitution for the victims of child pornography. pornography. that vote was 98 to zero. coming up tomorrow senators will vote on ashton carter's nomination to be the next defense secretary.

tomorrow morning's washington journal on the president's request for authorization to use military force against isis. and isis. and representative jerry mcknight talks about isis the keystone xl oil pipeline and other legislative items. later our tour continues. washington journal is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> here are some of our featured programs. saturday morning at nine live coverage of the savanna but festival with nonfiction authors and books on topics like the disappearance of michael rockefeller, a british company of relevance to world war ii and for women spies during the civil war. sunday

>> officials from the fbi, home -- homeland security department testified on a

1st deal with foreign and domestic terrorism threats to the us. >> the committee on homeland security will come to order. the committee is meeting today to here testimony on violent islamist extremism and the th

these fanatics want nothing less than the destruction of our way of life and their ability to match words with deeds is growing.

in in recent years there safe havens have proliferated in the ranks of swell. we're no longer talking about terrorist groups. groups. we're talking about terrorist armies. they now control the territory the size of belgium governs millions of people, draws billions in revenue and command tens of thousands of facial -- foot soldiers. their latest act of barbarism was on full display with the horrific murder of more jordanian pilot. this evolving islamic terrorist landscape has given rise to the threats of foreign fighters returning to the united states and homegrown terrorism. the reason terror attack in paris and other attacks and plots and belgium, germany the uk and australia canada, and here are proof the threat has surged and

enemies are dead set on attacking the west. this map behind me shows the widespread surge in isis linked terror plots over the last year alone. as alone. as mr. rasmussen notes in his testimony, more than 20,000 fighters from over 90 countries have made their way to the battlefield to join al qaeda isis, and other extremist groups making this the is the largest convergence of islamist terrorists in world history. that number continues to grow despite months of airstrikes up to 5000 fighters are westerners many of whom were able to travel into the united states without obtaining a visa. more than 150 american citizens have attempted to or succeeded in getting to the battlefield. and we no that some of them have already returned to our shores. ..

>> >> i am also concerned the programs that are emplace are far too small to confront a threat that is growing so quickly. to dash hope to hear how the administration assesses the danger posed by foreign fighters the privy westerners and the threat of homegrown terrorism here in the united states. i hope you will hear how the administration is responding planning to ramp up its response to those challenges.

this morning and i to welcome all witnesses but especially mr. rasmussen with the national counterterrorism center with his first appearance before congress after being confirmed as director. we look forward to his testimony. focusing on the security issues ranking member and myself are establishing a task force to combat terrorist. for the u.s. government efforts for a terrorist travel into the foreign fighter threat. to ultimately provide recommendations to the committee how they can approve when dash improve against the dangers. i very disappointed the state department chose not to send someone here today

but which does play a key role. i recently sent a letter to the white house expressing my concerns to resettle tens of thousands of refugees here in united states. i.c.e. this could explain to this effort in order to deploy operatives to the federally funded you tidy pipeline. before closing i'd like to reiterate that we look forward to working with mr. thompson to accomplish the shared goal to protect the whole plant and now recognize the ranking member. >> thanks for your comments and holding today's hearing. also think it is a director for his first appearance before the committee but

then to think the rest of the panel but then with the government's efforts to counter violent extremist of. i would like to express window -- condolences at the beginning to the american aid worker that was taken hostage by the islamic state of iraq. u.s. officials have confirmed she was killed by the terrorist group. mr. chairman other recent terrorist attacks across the world have magnified the revolving credit from the state actors other actions such as the be heading in the terrorist groups of averting a major diem pilot shows the nature of this terrorist group. last month the chairman of

the joint chiefs of staff indicated that the radical ideology of isil causes other terrorist groups to be brand themselves to emulate isil. top u.s. officials may pose a direct threat to this country and those inspired by the ideology of al qaeda in other groups as we look to these threats, each attack has reemphasize in the global reach of terrorist activity. in there is a cyberattack from sony pictures entertainment and in sydney australia we witnessed a terrorist attack at the end of a 16 hour standoff to innocent people were dead. in paris there is a series

of execution-style murders with al qaeda and the arabian peninsula has taken credit for this attack. and serves as a reminder the threats that we face arne evolving quickly. to receive classified information that lets us know the nature of how the federal government is dealing with that. in spite of this the majority continues to make political gains with funding with the department of homeland security. mr. chairman i feel it is meaningless to have a strategy if we're not prepared for the means to achieve them. i hope you make a point houbara holdings of funding

as americans look to you terrorists hostages. with the department of homeland security is under the threat of a shutdown and with the continuing resolution. it is important that my republican colleagues stop playing politics and pass the deal just funding bill. without a fully funded department of homeland security, keep the kids and are we really ready to stand before the american people? to recognize their needs than declare for the sake of partisanship to make the nation more vulnerable by not funding ths?

we have significant challenges that have been outlined. but if we don't have a fully funded budget on a continuing resolution that puts them the risk. so what it takes for us to deal with this threat as a resource. i look forward to the testimony but i also look forward where we can get the department of homeland security. the with that i yield back. >> thanks to the ranking member.

with the secretary of analysis for department of homeland security april 2014 he held a variety of senior level positions over his 35 year career of government service most recently serving the assistant to secretary of state for diplomatic security and then we have honorable rasmussen sworn in at the national counterterrorism center december 2014. he served as a deputy director since june 2012 prior to returning with the national security council. and from the counter terrorism and thank you.

michael steinbeck and the assistant director of the espy -- fbi counterterrorism division to hold the variety of positions at fbi headquarters with the bureau and most recently served as deputy assistant director the false statements appear in the record we now will recognize secretary taylor for his opening statement. >> distinguished members of the committee i am pleased to be here today with my eight colleagues to discuss the foreign threat in the current efforts to disrupt the terrorist travel. i would be remiss if i did not highlight one of the biggest threats to the security of our homeland for the park -- funding for the department of common security ended is imperative

that congress pass a full year in vhs appropriations bill for 2015 as long as it operates under a continuing resolution there is a whole series of activities and public safety that the department just cannot do. the men and women of teeeight just neva partner for their efforts. time is running away their urge congress to pass the full year appropriations bill as soon as possible. the four infighter threat to continues to be a security threat to our allies and the events in australia, canada australia, canada, in france and belgium underscore the foreign fighter threat is no longer a problem restricted such as northern syria and western iraq for represent to be aware of any threat to the homeland however recent

events have demonstrated the need those both at home and abroad. is constantly evolving as well as recruitment every have not previously seen before. of the islamic state of iraq isil is a very sophisticated propaganda a capability. using media content to enhance the appeal of terrorist organizations. this propaganda encourages supporters to carry out attacks and it could be conducted with little or no warning. with that very threat counter violence extremism in the homeland. secretary johnson has

directed teeeight just to build of a partnership with our state and local law-enforcement partners in ways that enhance community relationships to build resilience with extremism. the secretary recently appointed a coordinator to oversee the various programs to come across the department. additionally since september 2014 secretary johnson has personally participated in direct engagement of stakeholders with chicago, columbus, ohio and los angeles and boston to counter extremas some so to share information with local officials with the behavioral indicators to link to radicalization the

d.h. jazz program focuses on empowering communities and local law-enforcement at the local level. to probe -- to propose to host the summit only international and domestic. ths will also host an event for domestic stakeholders' february 17 at the white house specifically for international partners to be hosted from february 19. now let me turn to the specific efforts its vhs is undertaking and since july

july 2014 weeks later the vhs added additional force with the united kingdom and other countries end tsa is directed by secretary johnson also conducting an immediate short-term. those that our unnecessary but then currently to have pre-clearance operation in six countries and we are hopeful it will negotiate to have clearance operations at their locations.

the department continues to work closely with european borders with the record agreement is to the dhs the subject to the data protection laws. in addition it will propose partnerships with the waiver program to improve respective abilities. just this past november the secretary increase the data field where the the sun -- visa is not required to enter into the united states. in those letters submitted before they traveled to the

u.s.. with the efforts to track to the united states without the visa. the terrorist threat is dynamic and to continue to challenge us. >> mr. chairman of the fight to end my statement there thank you. >> lecter now recognizes mr. rasmussen for his opening statements. >> members of the committee committee, i really do appreciate the opportunity to be here today to talk about foreign fighters and homegrown terror and the efforts as we are pleased for my first partners from the fbi will work closely and cooperatively every day as the true community of

professionals and i am grateful for that partnership. i will briefly describe to highlight the social media role that has been played in the process to conclude with efforts across the federal government to counter the threat. now begin with foreign fighters come as you know one of the most pressing concerns is the ongoing flow of foreign fighters to syria into the country of origin. the battlefield clearly provides combat experience and with access to care networks that ultimately our targets. foreign fighter travel is unprecedented that we have seen the past few years.

and other prominent conflict zones at any point of the last 20 years. united states and allies are increasingly concerned with more than 20,000 fighters and 90 different countries of origin. and the number includes over 150 u.s. persons those that do attempted to gore to the conflict zone. but be cautious it is difficult to be precise because they come from a wide variety of sources is. i would rather focus on the trendline. in addition to a the four fighters -- the foreign fighters the majority of those better going to the conflict so right now are looking to fight isil in

syria and iraq. also the complicating factor that they do not fit one stereotypes or profile coming from various backgrounds which highlights the need for a strategy and early engagement to dissuade individuals from the conflict zone. :to and from the conflict makes the disruption in challenging. there is no single pipeline outages syria. extremism has a different route from land or air or sea. looking to turkey because of the geographic proximity proximity, the cents a share the threat has even closer cooperation with u.s. federal agencies and international partners particularly europe resulted

in the development of stricter counterterrorism laws and increased efforts of porter's security and more willingness to share a threat information with partner nations. although we are making significant progress work remains. to be willing and able to identify foreign fighters as they transcend their border to stop them from leaving their countries to travel abroad. now looking at extreme media of the weighted group uses social media to attract aspiring foreign fighters. the chairman and ranking member both mentioned in opening remarks the behavior we have seen from 83 in recent weeks and the verdict of the jordanian pilot and also from japanese hostages.

media capabilities have the ability to have cop -- propaganda continues to grow this is more adept than al qaeda ever was with its affiliate groups to use the social media tools to reach a broader audience. since jaime very one more than 250 products have been published on line and the capacity use these products comes from a potential audience of the local sunni arab populations populations, individuals with coalition countries and populations around the world in using the most popular social media platforms 22 facebook can twitter. but that they reach far and

wide almost instantaneously into the ever growing number of additional languages. with content we have seen these horrific images with the adversaries on the battlefield have been executed but we have seen images of a family friendly under the isil rule as it tries to entice disenfranchised individuals and not just of battlefield experience. a loss so generate that cater to a younger population that reference western branding with popular video games better looking for fulfillment. the threat we face is that individuals and are inspired are from propaganda that can

come with little or no warning. they are loaded actors who could operate in plan and execute a single attack without providing warning progress the community because the white -- monica church activity that occurs in the united states and we're looking for signs that last year's attack in canada may have others with additional attacks the rhetoric may play a role particularly with target selection to a target government officials for military personnel. working with partners across multiple disciplines and to counter extremism. to shake up broad effort of those traveling to syria we will result the specific identity to uncover any

derogatory information we have. they're also looking closely and working hard for a partner agencies to pursue with potential access to individuals in the whole land so they can be watched listed. as it overemphasizes the importance of prevention in the rest of our ability to dissuade individuals from joining in the first place. then we continue to refine and the gatt the preventive side. to be more proactive and community awareness with the goal to keep the tools they need to do something about a before manifest in violence.

in direct daily collaboration has led the creation of tools across the country working closely all across the country i would like to point to one quick example. last year three young teenage girls tried to travel from denver to use urea through frankfurt germany were there we're disrupted. working together with dhl said department of justice sent officers to meet and talk to the greater denver community to raise awareness about the terrorist recruitment threat. we're working with our partners said is tethered to address the specific effort to identify in recruit from syria and iraq we have had outreach to expand the toolkit with our dhs

colleagues to regularly delivered an exercise program that brings together a law-enforcement to run to a hypothetical scenario. we realize we cannot institutionalized without scaling up those efforts and that is something that you said tiryns and rework to create more programs to ensure that communities across the country can be locally in their own community. and it sinks up facing with the efforts of the white house to facilitate the local development of the frameworks all across the country. i will stop there. >> thank you. we have many members of alaska questions. we now recognize

mr. steinbeck for his statement. >> to members of the committee in the ranking member thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the -- discuss the democrat of the islamic state of iraq the known as isil in the continued threat to the united states. the threats remain among the highest priority for the fbi and intelligence community as a whole but it is a blending of that extremism with the ideology that is the latest adaptation of the threat. conflicts in syria and iraq are the most attractive for extremist. we estimate 150 americans to travel or attempted to travel to join an extremist groups. although it is small remus consider groups like isil

have on individuals in the edited states you are inspired to have facts of violence. isil has proven greaseless in a violent campaign that is the latest terror group to have like-minded extremists. from a homeland perspective it is the widespread reach to the internet and social media that is most concerning. to be dangerously competent with its nefarious strategy. using high-quality traditional media platforms as well as social media campaigns to propagate ideas. like al qaeda and other organizations, i still use the internet to communicate and recruit. of mike for them if they

have demonstrated the effectiveness to spot potential recruits. social media has provided isil with a technical platform and operational direction to help bridge the cap as a communication tool it is a group to exploit and one recent example occurred this past week a group of five individuals were arrested to conspire of resources to a designated terrorist organization active in syria. isil is also targeted for the lone wolf attacks. they've released a video we a social be reiterating the encouragement of loaf of wonder attacks in western countries specifically advocating for attacks against soldiers and law enforcement and intelligence

several events have occurred over the past few months that indicates the call to arms has resonated among its teethirty sympathizers. in one case a man was arrested in cherry in ohio after he obtained a weapon after his intent to conduct a capital:washington d.c.. using twitter to get the support for isil based on his support. likewise recent events reflects the power of this message with the need to remain vigilant for small-scale attacks. region also understand community and world events through the eyes of the committed individual may trigger action as we see the attack on military personnel

and that the hostage situation in australia that will attract international media attention and may inspire copycat attacks. isil is not the only high-profile terrorist organization concerned. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula poses an ongoing threat. there online magazine advocates for a lone wolf to attack it with the western targets to use in effect it -- and expensive tactics. december 24 released another edition how to build the ied. lastly social media has led groups such as isil to use the internet more effectively to spot potential recruits with the widespread horizontal distribution of social media

they can target sympathetic individuals to radicalize. is there to travel or conduct a homeland attack now to have direct access into the united states like never before. as a result it is imperative the fbi and all law enforcement organizations understand the latest tools that are equipped to prevent terror attacks in the home in. we live in a technologically driven society in just as it has been adapted to modern forms of communication so has a terrorist. through social media there quickly all pacing technology designed to allow the intercept of the content the gap that is referred to as going dark must be addressed with criminal matters as was national

security matters. we must build partnerships to ensure appropriate collection as possible. most companies are not required to have lawful intercept and as result services are developed as out in the ability for law-enforcement. the fbi is utilizing all investigative techniques to combat the threat they posed tuesday misstates. we've previously liken intelligence with ongoing threats proposed site isil and aqap and others. in partnership with federal, state, and local agencies agencies, we remain vigilant to ensure the safety of the american public be assured

tuesday ahead of us read of the homeland. i thank you for this opportunity to testify within the threats posed to the homeland. i will answer any questions at this time. >> the chair recognizes himself for five minutes. the americans have seen americans angeles be headed by the executioner with isis and it is a wake-up call for the united states. kayla mueller was recently executed and the jordanian pilot in one of the most terrific video as i have ever seen in a very sophisticated hollywood movie production style lit on flames. they are barbarians. there at the gate and we

want to keep them outside and i am concerned some have already returned. my first question is reno there are 50,000 isis they have confronted to get back 20,000 rigo these have western passports back to get them in trenton to the united states. and as a director mentioned mentioned, there are hundreds of americans through travel to the region to fight with isis. some of them have returned to that is a classified number. but my first question is for those who have, what assurance can you give the american people, what confidence to rehab for those who join the fight in buttery doing to make sure they don't attack in the

united states? >> in talking about the numbers come to your right to raise questions of the call to did is i tried to say we know what the bill but that comes from a wide variety of sight -- sources there is more information we cannot collect from our partners or other intelligence and it is possible there are greater numbers of foreign fighters and potentially even more from western countries from those travelling to the conflict zone. i will leave the question of what we can say but it is the highest possible priority. >> survey we know there is a

number that we don't know about. those that have returned from syria every single one is run on the joint terrorism task force regardless of the intelligence as we build the case to disrupt weather in the forum of deportation or in the form of prosecution. every single one of those is the fbi investigation that we seek to elect at the root cause of their travel and ultimately the if in support of foreign terrorist organizations with the prosecution for some other disruption spin again my briefings as a federal prosecutor islanders than that and i want to command

the fbi for their efforts. in was the difficult task and you don't know what you don't know. with the intelligence on the ground if it is sufficient to properly identify these individuals. a lot of all land is security is about travel. the karzai group with. >> host: teed with bombs -- there is concern our earpiece and partners have not been fully cooperative to get samples in the pear is a tax those on the no-fly this to be sure that the information with them. i don't know what they're doing about that but with turkey with their cooperation as demonstrated

by the female terrorists in a crash restore who left and went to turkey. what are we doing to ramp up these efforts in particular? >> as you indicate one of the major ongoing concerns is on an airline coming to the u.s.. as i indicated in my remarks , we have taken action in since july to we are but security in the middle east and elsewhere for those individuals to exploit travel. the secretary has directed additional requirements

under the visa waiver program to restrict the amount of data with the community records both with vhs in the intelligence community to spot individuals who may be involved in various activities. we are concerned we only know what we know and ripping up a over work with european partners around the world has increased since the attacks in paris last week with the five countries' ministerial has a clear eye of understanding dash sharing of information across all partners is critical to the ability to detect. now we will speak to it as

we begin to track these individuals to get better confidence if somebody would try to circumvent the security system we could know who they were and what they were trying to accomplish. that is not a perfect system i just saw a report that continues to grow that cooperation with european partners over the course of the last six months stick of the state department was here they could answer the coordination and cooperation in database and the terrorist watch list. we had a time to recognize that with privacy concerns as well in canada and i hope we can work set out to have the free exchange to keep

these terrorist of the airplanes stopping from the united states. i am very concerned and i sent a letter to susan rice about the refugees in syria and turkey. i have been over there and have seen them. most of them are women and children but there are real actors that concern the. this would be a huge mistake to bring the refugees into the united states that could potentially be radicalized. not only are we trying to keep the foreign fighters out but a federally sanctioned party to potential terrorist did the united states it may be an awkward question but deal agree with that policy we

should bring in the syrian refugees into the united states? >> i am not in a position to agree with the policy that is with the secretary of state. >> you think it would pose a threat? >> we are concerned of people coming to the united states who may come up for nefarious purposes and therefore under our responsibilities want to make sure that if they are asked for air the individuals throughout the world to come to the united states we have applied the most rigorous screening available. >> i think we have learned that lesson in the past. 70 dash squier given with the intelligence community partners would be as thorough as we could make it

>> but very succinctly would that bring in the assyrian refugees to pose a greater risk to americans? >> it is of concern to but what we want to do to hold to that screening process to unearth those that we have concern. >> we don't know what we don't know. there is a risk to try to be identified captions from the terrorist groups. >> the chairman recognizes the ranking member. >> is it our procedure for anyone come into this country that we provide a

thorough vetting of those individuals before they are allowed to come? in the kisser. is stick is that your understanding mr. rasmussen? finigan national counterterrorism center provides the information in that allows the screening agencies to make the decisions on entry or exit. >> you have to have information first so the concern is we don't have the system on the plate -- and place on the ground to. we would be vetting databases a toehold in tradition -- information on those individuals. >> the executives for national security recently released a report that u.s. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are currently operating without

a concept of the federal level. this inhibits the ability to have activity of counter terrorism. there is concern there could be potentially homegrown violence here in the united states. do you agree? >> we don't agree with that consumption we believe it is as strong and effective as it can be today effective what is available. we do not agree. things could be better reworking at that the at the lack of the enterprise approach is not a fair assessment of where we are

today. >> the strategy piece is outdated but the though of dash information four or five years old. have they looked at what has gone on now? >> have you seen one with a business executive? >> yes. >> you have outlined in great detail the impact of not being funded. we are talking about the threat to foreign fighters and homegrown terror. can you and in short order indicate to this committee what kind of impact without money the department would be facing? >> not a total list but 2.

6 billion in funding for new grants including homeland's security grants and 680 cannot be approved or disseminated under the current continuing resolution. 90 million for upgrades with video surveillance during the rio grande valley to enhance detection capability 142 million getting through to the election cycle there is a long list that we are precluded from without a full funding bill from congress. >> one of the things that we are confronted with as well as constituents is we all have federal buildings in our communities. after the situation in paris

, the secretary ordered an enhanced effort to at the federally protected facilities. with a lack of monday kiver risk of some of those buildings? >> we are continually trying to enhance our security efforts at facilities across the country that we're in charge of protecting and specifics if they could continue that i would have to take it as a question to get back to you. >> mr. smith? >> i would yield my time to recall the from texas. >> that gentleman from texas, i appreciate you

coming here i know the difficulty of of the time having spent nine years chasing al qaeda and organizations like that i have difficulty. the men and women in your organizations operate since september 12, 2001 and thank them for their hard work on behalf of us. when i was in pakistan and a gas -- afghanistan the bad guys would drop letters on people's doorsteps and now they have social media you have highlighted that with your documents. who is coordinating the effort to counter that ideology of social media? twenty% is cutting off the head of the snaky% addresses underlying concerns.

who is leading that to counter that in each agency? >> i will start. in terms of the counter isil strategy with the effort to defeat isil the state department has a lead with the overseas environment to counter messaging effort that would defer to stem to explain the range of activities with a summit meetings designed to coordinate so the partners of the coalition and doing their part? as i described in my testimony we have the effective agencies the a

department of justice and rework to gather almost seamlessly with initiatives the it is the law enforcement but to have her reach into community organizations is to have those occupations that it gives them reason. and to provide analytics support and content generation to help with the effort of not reach with a domestic environment. we are as seamless as we could almost be with our work together but the question is scale. are we doing enough and do we have enough reach to all parts of the country where this is a problem? we are not there yet.

the summit will give us the chance to do that peace. >> just one note to of context part of the message has to be pushed down at the local level just like parents have to watch their children on the internet for social media for pedophiles we have to have the same message you have to have interaction like the case of denver and others we see a lack of understanding by parents and guardians to what is going on. that to walt needs to be monitored and provides quite a bit of free check the local level. >> the next question is to parts when i was in the intelligence community frequently traveling to countries i went dry feet because it was easier so

that concept of broken travels the were you doing to monitor those who may go to syria but not directly? and what a new intelligence capabilities do we need in syria for you to better do your job back here? >> first to the nature of how we monitor broken travel, it is a concern. booking a flight to the end destination then go other places as we understand that phenomenon and we can use our travel data to spot those instances is when they occur and i mentioned earlier to take that information against the other holdings in the community to better understand. it is not perfect but it is an issue leander stand to how that works to use our

trouble security tools to monitor most effectively. >> did did the challenge of collecting intelligence right now. without going into too much detail is tremendously challenging because we're not present on the ground in a traditional way with a diplomatic intelligence presence so we have to be more creative and innovative to close the cap. we can talk about them in closed sessions with they have prioritized at the top of the priority list to devote efforts to do so. but we have not close the gap to understand what is going on the ground in syria but those that we have stops

when we get there rand don't have enough insight into what happens when they're on the ground in syria and that is a gap we're trying to close. >> they covered is sufficiently. >> i yield back. >> said gentleman from rhode island. >> thanks for your testimony and ever bite to return to a discussion about tracking those individuals in the conflict zone in iraq gore syria that have western passports. it is mine understanding to put our arms around to attract those passports but this morning we are talking

about maybe a hundred a people with u.s. passports but it is in the thousands but yet those individuals could travel or those from a the visa waiver countries and what i am hearing from past testimony it is very difficult to track those individuals because of certain and governments that our reluctant to share information with their citizens due to privacy concerns. i was just in munich this past weekend and met with britain's secretary of confetti -- defense and he confirmed it is a concern but not so much in the u.k. because that information sharing is not restricted

from great britain but an issue with a continental european countries. so border redoing to close the cap? >> talking about sharing of information with european partners it is useful to think about it in two different ways. one is structured routine information that was mentioned by secretary taylor. . .

potentially populate with information about specific individuals that can aid our screening process. i don't want to paint an entirely dire picture of our european partners because i would argue that an intelligence channels it has been almost unprecedentedly good. there are areas where we can get better more cooperative sharing arrangements. we did want to differentiate. differentiate. both data sharing discussions that are

sometimes more difficult. specific sharing about known individuals. often quite responsive. >> what i want to get to should we be insisting on trying to work with our nato european partners to change, or can congress play a role in trying to ease these privacy concerns? for example, do you believe the judicial redress announced last week is part as part of the ppd 28 review? >> i would say the privacy concerns in europe are significant not just in this area the for information. the chairman referred to it earlier.

there are now new laws in several countries enhancing and sharing, the discussion at the eu this week about a upn are the european parliament will move forward to pass a european wide. our requirement that allows for that data to be collected across europe. that would be a big step. it it does not work then we can work bilaterally with individual countries to share data. the important thing thing is using every tool and the toolkit to get the information shared between us and our partners.

we're going to use every tool in the toolkit to make sure those relationships work and work effectively. >> i would just add one thing engaging european legislatures or parliaments anything we can collectively do use it for the purposes that we have asked for an handle it responsibly and in accordance with the terms on which it is given to us european partners and increase the flow of information. >> i appreciate your insight. getting all the information that we need. it's a blind spot, a problem >> south carolina. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> i would ask we schedule a classified hearing briefing with the intelligence community. >> that's a good idea. >> thank you.

>> dir. rest mucin, al qaeda still alive and well still a threat to global freedom. >> they certainly pose a significant terrorist threat all of these terrorist groups are still active. >> yes. >> not get hung up on the 50 shades of terrorism, talk about terrorism and the groups are a threat all over the globe. let let me lay out a scenario that actually happened. back in late may to europe, arrive in brussels, of foreign fighter has traveled to syria syria about a year, i believe that radicalized shut up a

jewish museum very real because this foreign fighters fled out of belgium to france and was captured in marseille trying to catch a boat or plane to north africa. had he gotten out of europe into north africa he would've disappeared. this was a foreign fighter that take advantage of open borders in europe remember from talking with the folks in europe at that time that germany had information about this individual that failed to share it in a timely manner. open trial border region and visa waiver.

the ability of foreign fighters to get back traveled back, traveled to europe hop over from portugal or spain and disappear. rejoin the fight or travel back to the middle east and continue these evil acts. and so an outpost snowdon environment where i believe the reason germany was slow to inform the french or the belgium what was revealed at the time about the united states spying on chancellor merkel. and so let me ask you are we communicating with our global allies? and how do you see that communication being hampered? either one. let's talk to mr. taylor 1st.

>> i think our communication is robust. it's not perfect. certainly the challenges within the zone in terms of free travel understood by the killer has the discussions about pnr and other sorts of data exchange between the countries to better remedy that particular circumstance that you describe. it is not perfect yet but i think they recognize the security deficit that is created with the counter cross-border movement that is allowed within the zone and are looking at ways in which they can renew that. i would tell you that the bilateral and multilateral engagement on this issue is daily and consistent and

robust. >> and 41 seconds. >> you are right to.to an overlay or overhang. i would argue that since that time we see an increased sense of shared threat among our european partners precisely because of attacks like the brussels attack and certainly what we saw in paris and belgium again recently. so i would argue there is a bit of a pendulum swing to this process that is, for the moment trending in a in a direction of more sharing and willingness to share information. i would argue in intelligence channels that is not something that happened in the last two weeks. it has been been a pretty consistent refrain. the politics are difficult. i would argue a lot goes on and we can be comfortable.

>> i thank the gentleman. my time has expired, but communication is key. i appreciate the i appreciate the lenience and i yield back. >> the gentleman from new york. >> thank you. changed profoundly. they relied traditionally on complex plots involving explosions and airliners. now in september of 2014 2014 and isis leader told would-be recruits not to bother coming to iraq or syria but to launch attacks in their home countries. they have called for attacks on soft targets in the west by any means available including using a car to drive at pedestrians. the other issue is

technology. as mr. steinbeck and said technology moves faster legislation, a lot faster. you characterize the fbi has labeling this going dark. it it is increasingly difficult to monitor the communications with them terrorist networks. the networks. the proliferation of often encrypted covert, coded information to prevent unauthorized use from skype to gaming forms to other new technology has made surveillance tremendous technologically demanding in some cases virtually impossible. moreover, apple's latest's latest mobile operating system came with a default encryption and google's android is soon to follow. in these systems companies do not have access to their customers passwords and thus

cannot capture there messages. now messages. now, from a customer standpoint from a consumer standpoint that is a good thing but those who are malicious the malignancy of terror takes away a major tool that law enforcement use to thwart terrorist activity in its planning stages. so could you comment on that and what it is, if anything, we can be doing? there was a time when publicly on telephone companies were all too willing to cooperate with law enforcement agencies for wiretaps and those kinds of things. that is no longer the case and this poses a major, major challenge to western law enforcement officials.

>> sir, i agree with you. the threat is diffuse evolving, diffuse evolving and so i think sometimes we focus too much on the other end versus the threat whether it is a complex attack, courtney did attack, or a more more simple use of a vehicle as we saw in jerusalem. we need to focus on the threat. the commonality and in many of these threat streams is the internet and social media. i think we need to start with education. there is probably a little bit of backlash but also the tv version. the reality there is a very structured process in place reviewed by a judicial on the criminal side or in the court. i think we are not looking to snoop where we should not be allowed to, but we have to have the lawful ability to intercept whether you are talking about an ongoing

criminal matter, a dangerous criminal matter where you're talking about a terrorist communicating overseas are within the united states. it needs to start with a public message for all of us to explain exactly what it is and then we need to go back and provide legislative tools much like they were with coolio that apply to not just a small number of telecommunication providers but applied to the majority of those providers who served as communication platforms. and. and i think that is an issue that needs to be resolved head on immediately. i know from the fbi perspective we are engaging with the international association of chiefs of police, the sheriffs and the beliefs and others to explain our position and to show them very much that we are not crying wolf. this is a problem. in a closed session we can show you the numbers, but it is of grave concern command your.is right on. without that lawful tool with this contact.

>> thank you for raising that important issue. i think it is going to provide a mode of communication for not only criminals but potential terrorists to communicate without any

>> without our knowledge and was not under fbi investigation. it was only after his attack that we learned of his activity. i think that incident really reinforced our understanding of the need to have better intelligence on what is going on. >> i agree with you. how did we miss it? what has changed? how did we miss them mac what has changed? >> are better understanding of how these people move where they move working with foreign partners in terms of sharing intelligence. the intelligence is coming out in the communications patterns.

>> are there any concrete steps you can describe right now? >> i think i would share that with the fbi in terms of what the fbi has done. >> what have you done? >> sir, we have extensively changed our methodology for tracking travel across the world to the us and out of the us to these sorts of locations and in working with our intelligence partners across the world to better identify the linkages between potential americans? >> with all due respect is that information classified? >> yes. >> moving on i'm curious to get an understanding of how you characterize the threat?

by what name does your agency referred to what i describe as a global jihadist movement? you're talking about foreign fighters, but the larger picture trying to get a mind's eye into into your view of it? how do you describe this threat. >> radical extremism. >> okay. >> global extremists. >> mr. stein. >> i don't care what you call it. it. it's a threat to us citizens here and abroad. people trying to conduct violent attacks. it's a threat. i don't care about labeling. i worry about they're intent. >> i appreciate and agree with you but you can't fix a problem if you refuse or are unwilling to label it. it it is more than global extremism. there is a particular global extremism. the fact that none of you want to say characterize it concerns me because that is not identifying a problem. but moving on yet again

they consider the muslim brotherhood is a terrorist organization and i am wondering in the interest of pursuing foreign fighters if that comes into your consideration radicalization and how it is perpetrated? do you look at those organizations connect those boats wander around the country with impunity and may or may not be involved in radicalization. based upon the fact that some nations consider them a terrorist a terrorist organization, does that work into your calculation? do you have any knowledge of radicalization or participation by either of those two organizations? >> if you're asking me if i consider the muslim brotherhood a concern, i do. absolutely. at the core they are

concerns about the ideology and radicalization. >> so do you do investigations? have any investigations led you to those organizations of all? >> absolutely. there are historical investigations. we don't focus on the group. the individual has to have intent. that is where we focus the effort. >> i yield. >> in deference to these individuals, and in their reports they refer to it as sunni extremism. i believe it is radical islamist extremism. it defies me why the administration will call it that. i will support these three witnesses who in they're reporting call the threat

what it is. the chernow recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your service. i want to go back to your 1st remarks. you were talking about your concerns with the budget and homeland security. security. as a dangerous game of chicken going on right now where in reaction to the president's immigration efforts the reaction has been to threaten withholding of the very funding the protector homeland security. now i don't think in the minds of the public that they think they're we will be an absolute cutting of those funds because that would be so radical of a a reaction that i don't think they think that is feasible. however, my.is the reaction of going from these stopgap budgets, continuing resolutions from

month-to-month backwards and forwards, that presents real limits on what you can do itself. i want you to focus on the fact that forget about for a 2nd the threat of just the coming -- cutting off of those funds. right now the way you are functioning as a threat to your ability to deal with our security. can you talk to that? >> we have spoken to that. the threat that we face is evolving and changing. he needs the flexibility to adjust tactics and techniques as this threat evolves under the current issues with the extenuate resolution. i would add one other thing. before this committee and before the authorizing committee or the intelligence committee as i came on board one of the major issues discussed was the issue of morale. we have 220,000 employees in

our department who every day come to work to try to secure this country. and it sends a terrible signal in my view to them and their responsibility when the congress is not fully funding the effort that they are charged with accomplishing. not only from the ability to react to the changing nature of the threat we have a challenge in our department and ensuring our people understand that we support them. >> i thank you for that. as we are talking about all these things that we should be doing you are limited right now and being able to address those things because of this stopgap or continuing resolution. along those lines one of the programs i am interested in a particularly that the director talked about in

general was a program in los angeles some of the money is going to find that. joint with homeland and with the justice department in general and is the effort dealing with the national strategy on empowering local partners to prevent violent extremism. to me that is a critical.going forward, and forward, and i see it in my own home state in boston and our ability to deal with that. director, can you comment on that? >> the three cities that you mentioned our pilot cities in an effort to try to test and see what we are doing an effort to counter violent extremism and is something scalable. the three pilot cities are going to be featured at the

upcoming cbe summit the white house is convening and there we will be an obvious opportunity to show other communities the benefits of participating in an effort to pull all the different tools of the committee together not just the federal tools. tools. this largely has to be a locally led initiative. >> this committee has done much work particularly in light of the boston marathon bombing in showing the multiplier effect of dealing with local and state and county resources. very. very important. very quickly one other.with the passenger name record information. 2013 information. 2013, the european parliament has languished. it is great to your cooperation is occurring

but they are not talking to each other, and without that we have a a problem. can you see any changes or recommend any changes? >> sir you mean the stalemate. >> with the european union. >> the european parliament. >> of course the visa waiver program agreements are with individual countries. we are looking to strengthen within that bilateral relationship the exchange of information under the visa waiver program. we would love to see the european parliament come through. that will not dissuade us from engaging bilaterally on the information exchanges that we think we need. >> i agree with you. there has been discussion. we compromise our security in doing that.

i yield back. >> the gentleman mentioned boston. receive the presidential medal of valor for public safety. the chernow recognizes the gentleman from florida. >> thank you for coming today. i also pass along my best folks circumstances are difficult. my for respect and appreciation for what you do when i think about terrorists coming out of a dangerous part of the world like this and what's going on, i always think to turkey you mentioned it earlier.

on the one hand turkey is a proud history, secular history how many thousands of tourists go to the aegean sea every year. and a member of nato. on the one hand these folks out to be motivated to get things under control. it has been long history of problems with the kurds and also it almost feels like ambivalence with respect to the violence on the border. it does not feel like we can solve this problem over there and therefore over here without pinning down where turkey really is. and i don't know where they are. and if we can get an ally

who is a member of nato to help us in the region am not sure what we could expect from anybody else. i am befuddled on where this is going and how we could ever have success without turkey and am really interested in what you have to say about that. >> are absolutely right. success the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the conflict zone requires a functioning effective partnership with the turks across the whole range of issues intelligence, law enforcement, diplomacy, all of that. it is also true that turkey will look at its interest through the prism of there own sense of self interest and how they prioritize particular requests that we make for cooperation does not always align with our prioritization. that's just a simple fact.

we have a complicated, ongoing discussion with the turks and all the turkish government elements about the specific ways in which turkey can contribute. i wish my state department partners were hear to talk you through the different ways in which they do that. tremendously useful and yet from our perspective we think there is more to the relationship that we could get. >> the political landscape has changed with the 114th congress. 43 republicans and 53 new democrats in the house house and 12 the republicans and one democrat in the senate. the 1st african-american republican in the house. ..

>> the house veterans affairs committee examined the present 60 billion-dollar budget request for the va. it's an increase of 7.8% from fiscal year 2014. va secretary rob mcdonald and other officials testified before the committee at this two hour an