tell you that your fight to give your sons and daughters a better future with more opportunity rather than less is a tough fight. well, you know what? i kind of like tough fights. i've always been drawn to tough fights. perhaps it's the toughness of the fight that tells us the way the hidden god has of telling us that we're actually fighting for something worth saving. our children's future is worth saving, our country is worth saving, the american dream is worth saving, and our planet is worth saving. we are all in this together. we need each other, and we must help each other if we are going to succeed. i need your help, and i thank you so much for allowing me to be with you today. thank you very, very much. [cheers and applause] ..

the great privilege of serving as yr ceo to the 2016 democratic national convention. [applause] it is my job to make sure our

convention is successful to welcome our 50,000 attendees to ensure that the buses run on time and that the 15,000 hotel rooms are filled and the 20,000 journalists have power and connectivity in the 200 miles of cable is installed. [applause] more importantly it is my job to insure that our convention gives nominees the strongest possible springboard to launch into what is sure to be a general election campaign and to demonstrate to the world and at the party that our nominee and the party is ready and able to lead. it's a tall order but we are up to the task.

building a convention is like building a house. we are digging the foundation, laying the groundwork and building piece by piece by nearby layer. nobody should try to build a house alone and that is why we have a great construction team of seasoned professionals who work with me me everyday every day to ensure that we deliver on time, on task and on budget. in addition this isn't my first time running a convention. i was ceo of the convention in denver and that makes me the first person in democratic party history to have held the position twice. [applause] today i'm here to talk to you about why i am so extraordinarily proud to be a democratic woman. politics and civic engagement is in my blood.

some of my fondest memories as a child or in voter registration drives and annual trips to albany with my church. and one of my earliest memories is of barbara jordan during the watergate hearings. watching her strong intelligence , insistent powerful woman using big words and asking important questions and i asked my father who's that lady and my dad explained to my nine year old self who she was and what she was doing and why she was doing it and i knew that i wanted to be smart like her and strong like her and persistent like her and a democrat like her. [applause] 50 years ago, fannie lou hamer

attended the 1964 convention and demanded to be heard in depressed her rights to be seated as a delegate. as i rolled wrote in the ranks of the democratic party, i was in awe of the tenacity of the fearlessness of women like her. and i used to think she could not have imagined this time into this day. she couldn't have imagined all of us together in this room strong, accomplished, powerful women working together. she couldn't have imagined me in this position. but one day i realized that wasn't true. the reason she fought so hard and made so many sacrifices is precisely because she couldn't imagine us, she did believe that one day all of us together,

organizers and executives, we would be possible because she believed that one day us strong powerful women could and would be together in a room like this working and planning together because she held a vision that one day a black chick from brooklyn hood and would be ceo of the democratic national. [applause] not once but twice. that we could be union presidents in the college presidents, that we could be party chairs and members of congress and governors, that we could be on the presidential ticket and we could leave the presidential ticket. they believed in the party and the baby leaped in us and what we could and would become, that one day we would stand together fighting for the soul of our country, fighting to preserve the values of our party, fought

and burned by women like wilma and susan b. anthony, women like rosa parks and geraldine ferraro. women like my other coming your mother, like our cousins and sisters, women who were missionaries. strategy crafters and message makers because we are the party of freedom fighters, community activists and ceos, teachers and firefighters, mine workers and environmentalists, the working class and folks that have a little extra. we worked together to create opportunities for every american. we fight together for the truth and justice for the case of fairness and equal become honor and diversity because we

understand we don't all have to be the same to fight for the same thing. we understand diversity isn't just words on a paper or something we talked about. we are winning and we make something out of nothing. we take little and make it much. you can't out run come out to think or outvote us. we are the backbone of our party and this nation. so we fight because we believe that every american regardless of color, creed or zip code should have an equal opportunity to achieve their potential. we fight for the left out into the left behind. and the left behind. we fight for the american dream and the promise of america should be the practice of

america. these are the values that we will present to you and the nation and the world july, 2016 and if there is no better place than philadelphia the birthplace of american democracy. there is no better place to showcase our mission and our values, our strength as women and priority as a party so join me in philadelphia july, 2016 and let's make history again. god bless you. [applause] ♪

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♪ >> we are bringing live coverage of the annual leadership forum issues conference today hosted by the democratic women's alliance here in washington, d.c. and the democratic national committee. this democratic hopefuls an opportunity to present their vision for keeping the country moving forward. so far we've heard from

candidates the former maryland governor martin o'malley, senator bernie sanders, governor lincoln chafee who took the opportunity this morning to announce that he is ending his person at the white house and coming up next, we expect a video looking at the site of the democratic national convention in philadelphia and then remarks from hillary clinton and later this afternoon its president obama speaking at about 4 p.m. eastern. if you missed any of the appearance yesterday before the investigation for the september 12 attacks on the consulate in benghazi we will be airing that in parts tomorrow. it starts at noon eastern and then we will conclude with a final few hours on sunday at noon eastern on c-span. ♪

♪ ladies and gentlemen please take your seats so we can continue with our program. ladies and gentlemen, hillary

clinton. [cheering] ♪ [cheering] >> good morning. thank you all. thank you very much. it's been quite a week hasn't it lacks thank you all so much.

i'm absolutely delighted to be here as some of you may know i had a pretty long day yesterday. [cheering] but i finally got to answer questions, something i've been pushing for literally a year, and i'm just grateful i've recovered my voice which i lost a little bit but as i said at the start, i wanted to rise above partisanship and reach for statesmanship and that is what i tried to do. [applause] now i'm delighted to be here with all of you to be here with a group that actually focuses on the issues. you are women after my own heart. i want to thank you and all of the turkic speakers you've heard

from it will hear from including my friend and leader nancy pelosi. [applause] and i want to say another word about a great democrat who's always been a champion for women and families. vice president joe biden. [applause] he fought for the violence against women act and so much more, and i'm confident that history isn't finished with joe biden. as he said the other day, there is more work to do. and if i know josie will don't show he will be right there with us on the front line. and i want to thank all of you for putting women's voices, women's ideas, women's lives right where they belong, at the heart of american politics. it is sometimes hard to believe,

but the notion that women should be equal partners in the life of our nation is still pretty new. that's why the leadership forum was created to help make that ideal a reality. during a 1992 campaign, we traveled all over the country together and we spent a lot of time in people's living rooms and in their backyards sitting around kitchen tables talking with mothers, daughters and grandmothers about their lives, and we heard so much. we heard about the dreams for the future that people had themselves and their kids, and we heard a lot about the struggles that made life harder than it should be. the problems that kept women up at night. again and again we would hear you know, no one has ever asked us these things before. to a lot of them it seemed like

watching tim just wasn't very interested in the actual real lives of women in the country. so, we decided we had to make sure that in this party, our party, women's voices would always be heard. but in this party, our party the problems that keep women and their families up at night would always be front and center and we wanted to bring more women into the electoral process as the voters can advocate the organizers, fundraisers, candidates and elected officials because we know when half the country come indeed slightly more, half the planet and more than half the democratic party. we want to make sure that women and families are better represented in politics. we need to get more of us involved in politics at every

level. when women lead, families succeed and now 22 years later -- [applause] women are a greater force in politics here in the country than ever before. we are voting in greater numbers, increasingly we are the decisive voters in national elections. more women are serving at higher levels of government. they are not wanted, not two but three women on the supreme court. [applause] and the number of women who have served in the senate and the house have grown exponentially. and now of course another presidential election season has begun and i'm giving everything i can to make sure that the issues that matter most to women and families are front and center in this race.

i started my campaign last spring doing the same thing that i did all those years ago when i ran for the senate, traveling across the country, visiting people at home and school and businesses and actually listening as they told me about their lives, the good and the bad, the hard. it was an amazing experience. he finds the time and space to give people the chance to talk to you instead of talking at them. they will share what's in their hearts. many families do feel things are a lot better for them and they get credit as they should to president obama and his administration. [applause] the president's leadership and the hard work of the american

people hold our economy and nation back from the brink. in fact, we could have had a great deep russian, not a great recession. so as i travel across the country i try to tell the story of what president obama inherited, the worst financial crisis since the great depression. so america is standing again but we are not yet running the way we should be. and families are still stretched in a million different directions and so are their budgets. costs keep rising but most people's paychecks haven't moved in years. the corporate profit and ceo pay keep rising. quality childcare costs more than college tuition in many states and the minimum wage is a poverty wage. millions of americans are held back by student debt and at a time when more women than ever

are the family's main breadwinners. too often, they still don't get equal pay. and women of color earn less than others. [applause] and just this week the department of labor released new data showing that as our economy gets stronger, men's pay is going up more than twice as fast as women's pay. one of my town halls in nevada we called him a little on a little girl who was sitting with her for her and you never know what kids are going to ask you which is why i try to call on at least one if they are in my town hall. she said if you are a girl president will you be paid as much as a boy president? [applause] i said i think so. i think that's in the law.

[laughter] but i think as a single mom and i met that was juggling a job and classes into community college while raising her three kids on her own, she's doing what she has to to get her children a better life and she doesn't expect anything to come easy -- he asked me if there anything we can do so it doesn't have to be quite so hard? i think as a student who told me that paying for college should be the hardest thing about going to college or demand i met whose mother had alzheimer's. he's a teacher in canada for a full-time caretaker, he can't quit his job or he wouldn't be able to support her. you know what he does, he brings her to work with him. there's nothing else he can think of and he told me this was so much sat us because this isn't what he pictured for his mother's golden years and it's

not just women taking care of aging parents, it is like this young man all of our caretakers deserve a lot more support. and the same goes for other policies like paid family leave, fair and predictable shifts, higher wages for you don't have to work two jobs to make ends meet, and you can actually be home with your kids at night. and these are not just challenges for women they are challenges for all americans because i firmly believe that when we fight for women we are fighting for the entire country and the reverse is true as well. when we fight to make america stronger and more prosperous, we are also fighting for women. when we fight to make college more affordable than stupid deathless punishing work to hold corporations accountable when they tell just one try to prices or falluja or environment or exploit workers, that's fighting

for women and men in america and when we fight to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants, we will make social security even stronger or to protect and improve the affordable care act because everyone deserves access to quality affordable care. [applause] and that access should include basics like reproductive care and birth control and prenatal care and. cancer screenings. that's why we had this planned for parenthood against the attacks that are being waged. [applause] when we fight to protect equal rights of all our people no matter what they look like or who they love, and when we fight to stop the epidemic of gun violence that is claiming innocent lives every single day in every corner of our country,

that is fighting for women and men in america. you know, i've been told to stop shouting about gun violence. first of all, i am not shouting. it's just when women talk some people think we are shouting. [cheering] and second, i will not be silent because we will not be silenced coming off by the gun lobby, not by the size of the challenge come him and not to not buy any of it. stopping gun violence is worth fighting for. i'm ready to go and i hope that you are with me. [applause] none of these fights are new to me and i know they are not new to many of you but we do have

our work cut out for us because there are so many people with a very different vision for the country. and they will say, do and spend whatever it takes to expand the out of touch out of date checkout. for those that say they hate big government, republicans sure spend a lot of time trying to restrict women's reproductive talk and reproductive rights. [applause] >> after my experience yesterday, i am just amazed that they are even talking about setting up another special investigative committee. this time to investigate planned parenthood. and i think we all know by now that is just code for a partisan witchhunt. haven't we seen enough of that? .-full-stop i would like those republican candidates who are advocating against planned parenthood to meet meet the mom

that caught her cancer earlier thanks to a screening of planned parenthood or a young woman that avoided an unintended pregnancy because she did have access. i know i talk like this republicans will say i'm playing the gender card create you know what here's what i say. calling for equal pay and paid leave and women's health is playing the gender card, then deal me in. [applause] [cheering] there is a long campaign still ahead of us, and other candidates from the other party

may be out there talking about what's wrong with america, trying to blame people for it. wow that's not me. i'm going to keep doing what i've always done and that's fight for you and fight for your families. and i'm so grateful for the hundreds of thousands of grassroots activists who are joining me in this campaign, not only those that are fortunate to be in rooms like this one but the workers and students and teachers and parents and grandparents all across the country who are giving 1 dollar or $5 at a time because they believe in what we are fighting for. so, we have come a long way past 22 years. i'm proud of this organization and all that it has achieved. the women's leadership forum has

changed the democratic party. [applause] you've changed it for the better. we are stronger than we've ever been. so, let's keep fighting for that better future for our children and our grandchildren. some of you i'm sure no i have the most amazing extraordinary granddaughter. she really does keep me going. and thankfully my daughter and wonderful son-in-law sent me videos and little pictures which have been a great boost along the campaign trail, and i think a lot about her future. i think about what kind of opportunities she will have. but i also think about what kind of opportunities all the children of america will have you yet what kind of country will she become an adult in and what kind of world will be

waiting for her because i don't think that it's enough for anybody that my granddaughter, your children or grandchildren, certainly the granddaughter by the former president should be able to pursue her dream when so many of our other children are feeling less behind. for the first time in american history so far as i know more than half of the kids in the country schools are eligible for the free or reduced price lunches. poverty has returned with a vengeance. we've made a lot of progress against poverty lifting families out of poverty act in the '90s. i think it is a verifiable fact that our economy does better when we have a democrat in the white house. [applause]

both my husband and a president obama inherited economic challenges from their republican predecessors. both worked hard with my husband. i was dealing with an economy that wasn't going fast enough but then took off with 23 million new jobs with incomes rising at every part of our economy top, middle, low and income people all were doing better. we handed over a balanced budget into surplus to the republican administration and they squandered it all. not only did they cut taxes dramatically on the wealthy but they basically got out of the way of corporations. they took their eye off the financial markets. they didn't pay a penny for the war that they waged and you know what happened. and it took another democratic president who you will hear from later today to come in --

[applause] and accept the responsibility which he did to try to repair the damage that had been done. now everything i've talked about before, all of our rights and hopes were at risk. the republicans once again are successful at making the same argument they always make. it's discredited and it doesn't work but that doesn't stop them. they will be back talking about cutting taxes on the wealthy, getting out of the way of corporations. we know what that leads to come increasing inequality, exploitation of workers, potion of our environment, denial of climate change, refusal to move into the 21st century with clean renewable energy, a failure to

provide early childhood education and universal pre- case of every kid has a chance. you can listen to the debate for hours and unfortunately, some of us have to. [laughter] you won't hear a single solution to any of the problems we are facing here at home or around the world. so my campaign is really an effort to try to build an america where everyone went in and man can rise as far as their talent and hard work take us, where everyone has a shot at achieving their dreams and living up to their potential and guess where a father can say to his daughter you can be anything you want to be even president of

the united states. thank you all very much. [applause] ♪ ♪ that finishes up this portion of

today's coverage of the women's leadership forum. we will be back this afternoon for remarks from president obama to go on at about four eastern and will be able you will be able to watch that on the companion network. a reminder that you can see coverage of the conference online at any time, c-span.org. the final speaker this morning appearing here fresh off the testimony from the committee yesterday. we will show that a gun that the government will c-span networks and here's how you can see it again. there was no credible actual threats known to our intelligence committee against our compound. >> the white house will brief

today spokesman eric schultz who will answer questions today. that is set to start at 12:30. we are planning live coverage when it starts on c-span2. road to the white house coverage coming up today. republican presidential candidate donald trump speaking at an event in miami that starts at 7 p.m. eastern on c-span2 and republican ted cruz scheduled a town hall meeting in council bluffs iowa. we will have a:30 on the companion network and also open up phone lines to take your calls and comments area there's more from iowa tomorrow with the jefferson jackson dinner in des moines. democratic presidential candidates including hillary clinton expected to take part. you can see that gets underway at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span. now fbi director testifies before an oversight hearing of the house judiciary committee to

discuss the range of security issues being addressed by the bureau including the challenges of encryption technology for law enforcement and the use of surveillance aircraft, cybersecurity in and the screening of refugees coming into the u.s.. congressman bob goodlatte it is about two hours and 45 minutes and we will show as much as we can until today's white house briefing starts. that is scheduled it is scheduled for 12:30. good morning. the committee will come to order it without objection the chair is authorized to declare recess of the committee at any time terri and we welcome everyone to this morning's hearing on the oversight of the federal bureau of investigations. and i will begin by recognizing myself for an opening statement. welcome, director, to the second appearance before the house judiciary committee since the confirmation as the seventh director of the federal bureau of investigations. we are happy to have you here with us today.

once again i commend your distinguished service to the nation and i'm confident he will continue to serve honorably at the helm of the fbi. today the fbi continues to face the effects of one of the worst national security leaks in the nations history by edward snowden. they spearheaded the passage of the act a bipartisan law that ended the controversial national security program and provided expanded oversight and transparency of america's intelligence gathering. the usa freedom act ensures that federal law appropriately respects civil liberties while providing the necessary tools to preserve the collection capabilities and thereby weaken national security responsibilities. i want to again thank the director and many women of the fbi are working closely with members of the committee to ensure passage in an accident of the usa freedom act. events over the past year the middle east have deeply violated

the world's compass with scenes of unimaginable brutality at the hands of isis. in particular the appalling and indiscriminate targeting of anyone who fails to abide by isis to establish a global caliphate has resulted in the shedding of the use of blood by the most revolting methods. as a radical is one of terrorist organization, isis made mandates conformity to an ideology that forbids no dissent. as americans with a strong history of protecting religious liberty we stand in total opposition to isis decimation of christian populations in the middle east into the bushes tactics. america is not immune to the isis propaganda of terror. american teenagers have been radicalized in part by isis conservative social media efforts promoting the killing of fellow americans. and just last week, a

like-minded cyber hacker was indicted for providing isis with information on u.s. service members. the director, you are at the forefront of protecting the country from those who patiently plotted to do harm. i'm interested today in hearing more about the fbi efforts to combat isis. three years ago our diplomatic mission to benghazi libya was attacked by terrorists in four americans including the ambassador were killed to get as of today, only one subject has been apprehended and placed on trial. i'm interested in hearing more about the status of the fbi's investigation to bring together other terrorist killers who murdered four of our citizens. separately, it was revealed this past year that former secretary of state hillary clinton used a private e-mail server to conduct her official business while serving as secretary of state. two inspectors general have already reported about classified information was

contained within the secretary's private e-mail and referred the matter to the justice department. while the lack of transparency related to the use of the private server to conduct the nation's diplomatic business is troubling it also raises significant questions concerning the security of national secrets and the potential insight that such a calm setup may afford the intelligence service into the day-to-day record of a top level government official. on the technology front, the issue known as going dark has been at the top of the fbi's concern in recent years. encryption technology is exciting and can effectively secure private indications when desired. in fact over 15 years ago, i led congressional efforts to ensure strong encryption technologies and to insure the government could not automatically demanded

backdoor key to encryption technologies. this enabled the encryption market to thrive and produce legitimate encryption technologies for legitimate actors rather than to see the market had completely overseas to companies that do not have to comply with basic protections. however it is true this technology can also be used by those that wish to do us harm. adoption of new communications account used by those in the harm the american people is outpacing law enforcement's technological capability to access those communications in legitimate, criminal and terrorist investigations. in light of the administration's recent announcement that it is not currently seeking the legislative support to its going dark challenges, i'm interested to hear your perspective on whether the administration's newly announced approach worked in an ad hoc fashion with communications providers is an adequate solution. finally, violent crime appears to be on the rise across the

country particularly around the major metropolitan centers. it is disconcerting to watch the games of the past decades unraveled in an explosion of community violence. we've also witnessed several incidents in the past years but unfortunately have led to the increase in the community tensions with law enforcement. the tension will hopefully be resolved through improved communications, accountability, policing practices, and various other initiatives. i hope to hear the fbi perspective on the reasons for the increase in crime and how to ensure that law enforcement officers and the citizens they serve can coexist in a safe and respectful environment. income inclusion, mr. director, please note this committee sincerely appreciates your efforts to keep us safe and of a hero at action consistently performed by the men and women of the fbi to protect the country. i look forward to hearing your answers on all of these questions today as well as on

the other issues. at this time i'm pleased to recognize the ranking member mr. conyers for his opening statement. >> thank you chairman. >> good morning director. we welcome you for this second appearance before the house judiciary committee since taking office on september 4, 2013. the fbi mission is a complex undertaking to protect the united states from tourism to enforce the criminal law and to lead the nation's law enforcement community. and yet as fast as the mission seems i think all of the discussion we will have here today can be distilled into one

word, trust. trust in the executive branch. trust in the fbi as an institution, trust in state and local agencies that police the communities, and in many respects i think that we agree on this point. for example, you have spoken powerfully about the hard truths we must keep in mind when we discuss race and policing. particularly when we discuss the use of force by police officers. i'm told that you require all new agencies to study the fbi interaction with doctor martin luther king jr. and to visit his

mom or you let the title basin. i'm also advised that you keep on your desk a copy of robert kennedy's approval of j. edgar hoover's request to place a wiretap on doctor king. these are powerful reminders of the troubling and not-too-distant history. it's not difficult to draw a line from that era to recent events in ferguson, baltimore, new york and cleveland. and that's why your work to build trust between police and our community is so important. nowhere is that efforts more apparent than in the call for better data on the use of force by police. although the fbi is a national

custodian of crime statistics, the data is reported voluntarily and inconsistently. you have been honest in your assessment that official statistics in this area are so incomplete as to be embarrassing and ridiculous. we need a better understanding of what drives police to this force and we cannot study the problem without reliable data. i urge you to continue to press your state and local partners for the consistent and accurate reporting to the national incident-based reporting system. just as we must rebuild trust of certain law enforcement units, we will look at your testimony today to reassure us about a number of programs and activities at the fbi.

earlier this year the public noticed a small plane playing in a tight pattern directly over the site in west baltimore. other reports from other parts of the country including my own district in each right raised questions about the presence of some of the aircraft. the fbi has since confirmed the existence of this area will surveillance program. on june 3, 15 members of the committee wrote you to ask for more information about this program. the team provided our staff with a briefing soon thereafter. but the public still has many questions about your real surveillance and you said that there is a great deal of missing information about this program.

i would like you to use your testimony in the presence here today to explain from your perspective how this program works and why we should trust the bureau to operate. similarly, i think we would benefit from a full description of encryption than what you have called it the going dark problem. over the past year, you called for a congressional mandate to give the fbi special access to otherwise encrypted data. i have a difficult time understanding this proposal. every technical expert who has spoken on this issue has concluded that it's technically impossible to provide this access without also compromising

our security against the actors. even if it were feasible for the cost of the technology sector perhaps billions of dollars to implement the scheme and perhaps billions more from loss of business overseas where the united states government surveillance programs have already taken a toll on the industry. and even if it were technically feasible and easy to implement, the new rule for the united states would succeed in keeping bad actors from using a break of encryption which is open source, free and widely available to companies based overseas. as the chairman argued when we had the debate in 1999, only by

allowing the use of strong encryption not only domestically but internationally as well, can we hope to make the internet a safe and secure environment. i agree with that sentiment, and you have made several statements and i hope that you can help us to reconcile that you win you call for special access. and finally, because the rigorous oversight is necessary for public trust, i hope that you will commit today to full compliance with the inspector general act. for the past five years, the fbi has resisted the mandate of that law. the inspector general of the department of justice is to have timely access to every document

required to carry out his duties noncompliance has consequences. this committee waited until february of this year to receive a report about the fbi used of section 215 orders from 2007 to 2009. the public waited until may for the unclassified version. in the middle of a national debate on government surveillance, we waited for six years for critical information. ..

>> we welcome our distinguished witness today, and if you please rise we will begin by swearing you in. do you swear that the testimony you're about to give shelby the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me god? >> i do. let the record reflect the witness has responded in the affirmative. on september 4, 2013, director comey was sworn in as a seventh

director of the fbi. he began his great as an assistant united states attorney for both the southern district of new york and the eastern district of virginia. after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, director comey returned to new york to become the united states attorney for the southern district of new york. in 2003 he was appointed deputy attorney general of united states attorney general john ashcroft. erector komi is a graduate of the college of william and mary and the university of chicago law school. we welcome you again today to your second appearance before the house committee. your written statement will be entered into the record in its entirety, and would ask you to summarize your testimony in five minutes. and with that we welcome you again to the committee. >> thank you, chairman goodlatte, congressman conyers. it's good to be back before you and the numbers of the committee for my second annual oversight hearing. i expect to be back for eight more during my 10 year term

which i look forward to very much. what i thought i would is just explained to the committee in very short form how we at the fbi think about ourselves and a couple of the things that are prominent in our work today. i think the fbi invest be described in a single sentence. we are a national security and law enforcement organization that uses, collects, and shares intelligence and everything that we do. that sentence captures us in two different ways. the first half we are a national security and law enforcement organization. there's great strength to the american people and having our criminal responsibility at our national security responsibilities in the same place, perhaps no more better example is the strength gained from that combination than the rule of law as the spine of the fbi. it is a great thing i think for this country that the people responsible for

counterintelligence, counterterrorism and the criminal were all have as part of there being the rule of law and the bill of rights. the second half of that since we use, collect and share intelligence and everything that we do, is the description of what i think we've always been but what we're trying to get so much better at since 9/11. that is being thoughtful about what we know, what we need to note and who needs to know what we know so we can be more effective in protecting this country. i want to touch on two topics under our responsibilities. start with national security. the threat posed to us from isil's crowd sourcing of terrorism using social media is a significant feature of our work. it was an especially taxing threat the fbi dealt with earlier this summer went all over the country in hundreds of investigations we were trying to evaluate where people are from consuming eiffel's poison to acting on it. through the internet, so-called islamic state has been pushing a

twin pronged message to troubled souls all over the world and all over our country. the first prong is come to the so-called caliphate and live a life of glory. if you can't come, to. to where you are. kill anyone. killed uniform, military best ball. of messages, since the summer of 2014 aggressively in a very sophisticated way to thousands of consumers on twitter. twitter works to sell books or movies or magazines. it works to crowds of terrorism, and so in every state with investigations trying to understand where people are on the path from consuming to acting. this is a different paradigm than traditional al-qaeda paradigm because this is not about national landmarks and sophisticated, carefully surveilled inspect this is about trying to motivate murder anywhere by anyone. and, unfortunately, it's a message that resonates with troubled souls seeking me. so earlier this summer

especially in may, june and july we are faced with the prospect of whole lot of people acting out on this inspiration or direction from isil. and thanks to great work by the men and women of the fbi and our partners in state and local and federal law enforcement we disrupted a whole lot of efforts to murder innocent people in the united states. that work though continues at it is made to take the difficult by issue both you and mr. conyers touched upon. our mission is to find needles in a nationwide haystack and with hundreds of investigations aimed at doing that in all 50 states. but increasingly what isil does is move the real-life ones who might be going to kill on their behalf off upwardly mobile messaging app that is end-to-end encrypted. at that moment until we may have found becomes invisible to us even with court orders which is how the fbi does its business. so that's the challenge we face called going dark in real, living color.

we are trying to interdict, trying to stop, trying to understand people on the cusp of acts of violence. and increasingly a to will the american people count on us to use is less and less effective. i don't know exactly what to do about that, frankly, i think my job given the responsibility i have is to tell people there's a problem and we need to talk about it. so i look forward to the conversation about it with you. our responsibilities in the second family to touch very briefly. we do corruption work on protect children, fight fraud, hold a lot of work with our partners run the country to address violent crime. something very disturbing is happening in this country right now in law enforcement and and violent crime. i imagine two lines. one big us in law enforcement and the other being communities we serve and protect especially communities of color. those two lines over the last year or so have been working away from each other and that continues. each incident that involves police misconduct or perceived

misconduct than one line away. each time an officer is killed or attacked in the line of duty billions the other one farther away. in the midst of the arcing away from each other, maybe because they are arcing away from each other we are seeing a dramatic spike in violent crime especially homicide in cities all across the country. in communities of color especially, especially young men are caught dying at a rate that dorsal we've seen in recent history. it's happening all over the country and happening all in the last 10 months. a lot of us in law enforcement are talking and trying to understand what is happening in this country, what explains the map we see, what explains the calendar, why is it happening all of the country, why is it happening this year? i don't know the energy to do. we are struggling with the. we simply must focus on this. because all lives matter. this is not a problem america should drive around. we should stare at it as we stare at we should all work for

wasted then those lines back towards each other because we need each other. we need each other to make sure our communities are so. we have achieved in 2014 historically low violent crime in this country. we cannot let that slip away from us. i am grateful for the hard work of the men and women of the fbi on these challenges. i'm especially grateful for our partners in law enforcement around the country to help us address those. the fbi doesn't have a lot of fancy stuff. we have people. we have great people, thank goodness, who are americans who care deeply about protecting all their fellow citizens. i'm honored to be in this job market to watch what they do and help them. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, director comey thank you, director comey. we will now proceed undefinable with questions for the director. i will begin by recognizing myself. since the passage of the usa freedom act, love struck a balance between privacy and national security from is the fbi experiencing any difficulty

in complying with the new law? >> we have not, mr. chairman. we have to get down to the place where the system, the alternative system for telephone metadata has been built but so far we haven't seen an adverse impact speed but you're getting very close to that i think, when the metadata collection will be turned completely off. >> yes. end of next month i believe. >> even with a decades worth of information on iraqi refugees didn't we still encounter cases of domestic terrorism conducted by those admitted as refugees with significant less information on potential syrian refugees come is it true you can't ensure that the iraqis experience is not going to be replayed? >> thank you, mr. chairman. yes, you are correct that we could discover in people that come in as refugees, iraq a number of people who are of serious concern including two that were charged with their fingerprints on it provides

explosive devices from iraq and is no doubt that was a part of it less than excellent betting that had been done on iraqi refugees. as good as an editors pick the good news is we've improved dramatically our ability as an interagency. all parts the u.s. government to query and check people. the bad news is our ability to touch data with respect to keep the may come from syria may be limited to that is we don't know much about somebody, there will not be -- >> much less than we would have access to when we were in iraq. >> i think that's better. >> and have extensive networking and access to information about iraqi citizens. that simply does that anyway compared to the lack of information we have today about syrian nationals who are seeking refugee status in the united states spink i think that's a fair generality that the data grid available to us from iraq from a decade of our folks being there and telling people is

richer than the data we have from syria. >> the director of the national security agency has said former secretary of state clinton private e-mail server would be a sought after target for a foreign intelligence agency. he also played a foreign intelligeintellige nce agency, particularly and adversaries could benefit from acquiring and exporting sensitive and classified information at the top level u.s. government official? >> mr. chairman, i respectfully say that's what i'm not going to comment on. as you know the fbi is working on the referral given to us by inspectors general in connection with former secretary clinton's use of or private e-mail server. as you also know about the event we don't talk about our investigations while we're doing them. this is what i am following very closely, get briefed on regularly. i'm confident we the people and resources to do it in the way i

believe we do all our work which is probably, professionally and independently i don't want to do anything that would compromise my inability to do it that way by commenting beyond the spin how about answering my generic question not directed at the specifics of the case, but rather the question of whether you believe that a foreign intelligence agency, particularly an adversary could benefit from acquiring and exporting sensitive and classified information of a top level use of government official? >> thank you, mr. chairman to help you understand why i don't think it's appropriate for me to answer that. i want to preserve my ability to oversee this investigation in a way that is both in reality independent and fair, it is perceived that way. i believe that beer is three things that were competent, independent and honest. i would venture the american people have confidence that this how weird in a business. if i could answer questions like of which is a reasonable question, i would i could infringe upon the. >> you said that encryption

represents the going dark problem in high-definition. earlier this month he does it in front of the senate homeland security and government affairs committee that the obama administration has decided to no longer seek a legislative remedy to address the challenges law enforcement cases with encryption in going dark. what has changed and do you agree with the concerns that i am the ranking member, mr. conyers, have expressed about some of the proposals that have previously been made with regard to addressing this problem? >> what did administration has decided is it's not going to seek a legislative remedy now so that we can continue the conversations we're having with the private sector, with allies around the world and with state and local law enforcement your future impacted by this but i think that makes good sense. i don't think were yet to a place we know exactly so how

would we fix this legislatively? this is a very hard problem. i think you and mr. conyers have raised serious questions and concerns. i believe this is an incredibly hard problem because two sets of values we all care about, safety and secured on the internet, i'm a big fan of strong encryption. it helps us fight cybersecurity, helps us protect all that matters most to us personally and as a nation and public safety that we all care about. those two things are colliding with each other. there is not an easy answer begin an important both of those values are and what's at stake i think we're to wrestle with it. we are continuing to do that. we are having very good conversations along all the dimensions i said and we will continue it until. >> i just came from a meeting with bill gates who indicated that the progress being made in quantum computing is dramatic, and that computers of that high capability will soon be able to crack any kind of encryption that anyone has.

that i found to be very interesting information. i have both good and bad news -- good and bad use of that because that could be seriously abused and if they the privacy of law-abiding citizens, but it also will be a source of solving your problem when you encounter encrypted material by people who are suspected enemies of the united states or criminals capable of using high-technology to protect themselves and if they prosecution under the law. do you have any comments or knowledge about the current state of quantum computing? >> nothing that would be useful to you. i've read about it in the popular press. i only eight years left in my term. i have a hard time imagining a police officer in new york city in a kidnapping case having

access to quantum computer anytime in the near future when they encounter a device that's locked, and so maybe someday that's an answer to the challenge, to the conflict of those two sets of values. i don't see anywhere in the near term. >> thank you. i now recognize the ranking member for his questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome again, director comey. you observed that the "washington post" and the guardian are becoming the lead source of information about violent encounters between police and civilians. you called the state of fbi statistics on these embarrassing and ridiculous. and now that you've had some time to reflect on them, do you stand by this comic? >> i do, mr. conyers.

i think it's interesting for those of us in government who care deeply about these issues, especially the use of force by law enforcement, that we can't have an informed discussion because we don't have data. people updated about what the movie last weekend i many books were sold how many cases of the flu walk into an emergency room. and i cannot tell you many people were shot by police in the united states last month, last year or anything about the demographics, and that's a very bad place to be. >> why does the fbi have trouble collecting this information? >> the big challenge, mr. conyers, is that it requires cooperation from 18,000 law-enforcement organizations all around the country, and we aren't big, diverse country of many different sized organizations in the law-enforcement space. we've never all sat together and said let's change the way we do this. i'm optimistic we are about to do that. >> you are working on the

problem then? it'is coming together? >> barry hart. the good news is chiefs and sheriffs get it and wanted in a position we as a country can have informed conversations. so what i've been asking for resonates within. i'm going to speak to them again at a huge conference in chicago next week and i'm optimistic we can get a much better place. it's going to take is a few years but i think we can get a much better place. >> i hope so. your written testimony take a rather dim view of the so-called going dark problem. you want private companies to understand the public safety and national security risks that result from malicious factors. use of their encrypted products and services. in the past you have balanced comments like these with an honest assessment of the benefits of strong encryption.

i want you to take some time to do that here. why is encryption important to the internet economy, to cybersecurity, and in many cases to our personal security? >> encryption is vital to our personal security because all of our lives are now online. i like people walking their cars when they go into a store. i like people to lock their homes so people can't break in and steal what matters to them. now what matters to us as people and as companies and as a country are online, and so it ought to be secured in a way so people cannot steal our innovation, identities, information about our children. so encryption is a very good thing and the fbi has long said that. a challenge we face is we never lived in a world with locks that could be opened on a judge's order. now we face the world for all of our lives will be covered by

strong encryption and the judges orders under the fourth amendment will be unable to be complied with and there are significant cost to the. the. that's what i meant by the conflict of the values, public safety and security on the internet, and that's what makes it such a really hard problem. >> thank you. over the summer we received reports that a single engine cessna operated by the fbi and mounted with surveillance equipment had flown multiple times over metro detroit, including two lengthy flights over dearborn where many citizens feel reason to distrust the fbi because of their religious or ethnic background. you have been forthcoming. can you give the public a similar overview speak with sure. i'd be happy to, mr. conyers.

when we investigate criminals or spies or terrorists, a key tool is surveillance, to follow them. we follow them a lot in cars. we follow them on flickr there are plenty of circumstances where both of those options don't work with real welcome and so since the wright brothers we have used airplanes to follow people in our investigations. if a spy is goin going out to mt someone and it's an area where we can't park cars will sometimes try to get a small plane update be able to get eyes on their contact. i hope this is a shock the american people. i think i should be in trouble with india for not doing this. we use planes in are predicated investigations to conduct surveillance of people who are under investigation. we did not use planes for mass surveillance. so the good folks in michigan who saw a plane in the air, a lot of them had a chance to meet with the sec after having explained, look, this is what we do in criminal cases. it should make sense. we have a small number of

airplanes. action we wish we had more to follow people in places where it's hard to follow them on foot or in a car. >> thank you for your response to my questions. >> thank you. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. forbes, for five minutes. >> thank you for not just thing about for your your service. i wanted thank your staff. under the dedication they put into serving this country. we appreciate continue. if my friend where he would also commend you for selection of william and mary as an undergraduate, and i will take if we couldn't convince you to go to the university of virginia law school, chicago is probably a good second choice. but have a question as i listened to the ranking of a today talk about trust, and he talked about the symbols catch up on your desk regarding his brutality and efforts by law enforcement. but you mentioned it was

important to have reality and perception, both of those, when you look at that trust. tell me the symbols come if you would, because what he race was important, but tell me the symbols on your desk or in your office that would give me comfort in knowing that there was also a perception that you were equally looking at organize groups that were coming into areas like ferguson and baltimore to ferment unrest, especially groups or outside those communities, especially those groups who may be impacting violence against law enforcement. because as you mentioned there are two curves not just one curve. >> thanthank you, mr. forbes. personal to make sure the record is clear, what i have on my destiny as a message of the importance of restraint and oversight within government, and so it's a wiretap order that relates to martin luther king. it's not about on force, police misconduct which is something we take very sure so.

i have devoted my whole life to law enforcement. i come from a law enforcement family. one of the things from in the office is bigger my grandfather in 1929 escorting a dangerous felon to jail, my grandfather was a detective who was up to a significant police department. i care an awful lot about making sure law enforcement has the confidence of the community, and we conduct ourselves well, that we protect law enforcement from attacks. what other things in my office is my phone. whenever a police officers killed him like a dude or called chief or sheriff of the slain officer to offer condolences of the fbi. i make far too many phone calls. we care about both, making sure law enforcement acts will and that we investigate people who are law enforcement whether it's groups, sophisticated groups or individual actors. it's a future of all the work that we did. >> i would just ask at some point in time if you consider for the record the data you have

on these outside groups that are coming into these communities when we have situations like this might be stirring up unrest, and a special activity against law enforcement. and also any data you have regarding the impact or even the numbers of gang members that may be currently being released by the government who may be here illegally because we ask those questions about what did they can of that data. second question i would have for you, the opm bridge impacted over 22 million current form and perspective federal employees and contractors to considering these individuals use personal e-mail accounts for the own personal intimidation and store private information relating to financial transactions, their children and health care, defense the opm bridge has made these individual more vocal to social engineering tactics used by hackers? in what ways could encryption and ends the security of personal information of those who gather information compromised during the opm bridge because i think the opm

breach is disaster because it's a gold mine for fort intelligence services. that would allow them to use that material to conduct very sophisticated socially engineered spear phishing attacks, for example, to penetrate. peoples system. i think encryption is very important protect people's information. i don't think encryption would directly blunt that particular vector because it would allow a nation-state does a meeting of from my sister about my nephew with an attachment and is highly likely of opened the e-mail and click on that attachment to see them as two separate problems, both serious problems. >> with that idea for. >> recognize the gentlewoman from california for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you, director comey for being here again. the national background checks as was great as result of the

brady act of 1993 before i was in the congress. and it requires backend sales by licensed gun dealers are subject to background checks but allows transactions to proceed after three days unless the fbi stops the transaction based on criteria such as felony record or domestic violence misdemeanor convictions and the like. under the rule even if the fbi has a complete its check, but you has the discretion to complete the sale after three days have passed and they haven't received a red light from the fbi. it's my understanding from news reports that the man who shot and killed nine people at the emanuel african methodist episcopal church in charleston, south carolina, on june 17 was sold a gun by a dealer who waited five days but did not receive a response from the examiner. now, the shooter had a drug possession conviction that if it

had been found by the examiner would've prevented the gun sale. due in part to an air and issued arrest records and also the large caseload and time constraints placed on the examiner, again. didn't receive the red light that would've prevented this gun sale and possibly prevented this massacre. so i have a couple of questions. first, what can we do to make sure that we have a timed response ever have the data available to prevent the sale of guns to those who are not eligible to buy them? number one. number two, should the law require a green light from the fbi to prevent fire arms transfer to those prohibited by law from buying them instead of the red light system that we have no? and do you think we should examine the amount of time that we give for background checks beyond three days if we don't go

to an affirmative green light system? >> thank you. with respect to the case of dylann roof, as you said, the law gives dealers must wait three days can business days, to give the fbi and opportunity to conduct a background check. and the circumstance that gun dealer was notified it was in delayed pending status and at the end of three days if it is still in delayed pending the candidate has the discretion to transfer or to wait. large gun dealers would. this gun dealer transferred which was consistent with the law and were a number of errors in the processing of his that allowed his drug possession arrests to be missed. so the gun was transferred. we have stared very, very hard at that have tried to forget what we can learn from that. there were some easy fixes to our processes but we are looking at bigger fixes to see whether we can search resources, whether we can add innovation to make our processing faster. the other key piece is going to be we must get better records

from our state and local partners so that when our examiners cory at database they have a disposition reported.gov tracking again. we are having lots of productive talk conversations with state and local law enforcement who see in the wake of the paint of that tragic the importance of giving us those records. that's what we're doing to try to improve our processing. the policy questions are really not for the fbi. we comply with the law as it stands today which is, we have three days to get it done. we will do our best to get it done in three days. if congress were to change that we would comply obviously. >> getting back to encryption, i understand the concern you raise your today and in the past, but the experts really say trying to get a backdoor is a mistake. all the way from the inventors, the encryption people, an excellent report from mit, if

you the backdoor, the hackers will get it and china will get it and will be less safe. that leads me to a question about the use of encryption by the fbi. are you encrypting all other data about your fbi agents and your personnel and your payroll, all of your systems? >> we do not encrypt all of our data. we use encryption on a significant amount of our data. i have to follow up to give it up particulars on a percentage breakdown but it's an important feature of our work. >> i would like to follow up because i was stunned at the office of personnel didn't have that important data encrypted, the federal government should protect itself by encrypting this data. we know that we are being hacked constantly by state actors and enemies of our country, and i'm sure they would love to get data about the fbi as well. i look forward to doing greater details on that and i yield back, mr. chairman.

>> recognize the gentleman from california and. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i've got so many questions and so little time so try to touch on each of them and bear with me. on stingrays i'm going to ask you to tell us now or for the record how you control the access to these products when they're not being used, how do you control them when they are being used, not just at the fbi but to the extent that you are cooperating with nonfederal agencies around the country that have these devices. and specifically i'm very concerned that since they are being used at times without warrant, almost mostly, and you are a least some allegations they been used to track policeman score friends or wives activities and so on that they are too powerful a tool not have a series of controls. and i'd like to get some of these you can answer for the record. i think on that i would like to

have a full understanding of the federal policy and controls. in the case of encryption i'm only going to ask you, along enter provide for the record, any and all studies you have to show the value of encryption and the value of your access for ability to not go dark. and if it's classified i've looked at in a classified session, but i'd like to fully understand the value and the studies related to that general direction of the administration. but i'd like to take up for today more, a question on some historic pieces. of you offices away they are dealing with secretary clinton and those comments i won't ask about those today. i think that is certainly an ongoing investigation to her use

of private e-mail for transmitting what turned out to be sensitive information. but in the case of late 2011, well before you tenure, solyndra went bankrupt after accepting have been dollars in taxpayer money. at the time we begin investigation in an adjacent committee, oversight committee and we were told by the inspector general that we could not talk, he could not talk to us because the fbi at that time had an ongoing investigation. it's now four years later and the department, the ig did release information and we have not received any indication from the fbi. today i would like to ask you, who at the fbi made decisions not to bring any charges against solyndra executives, and what the basis was to find no fault in that loss of $509, and particularly since there was evidence provided publicly by our committee that there were

emergency effort to get some additional money to try to have their bankruptcy delayed, and that was done by federal employees, including a jump in and jonathan silver. you may remember him a 2013 the president stood beside the attorney general and declared that there would be serious investigation by doj and fbi into the political targeting done by the irs. months later the president declared there wasn't a smidgen of corruption related to the irs. director, you know that, in fact, there was a targeting, the evidence is convincing. where do you stand on bringing accountability to those involved in all levels to targeting conservatives and pro-israel groups by the irs, including both passionate including but not limited to lois lerner? >> thank you, congressman. with respect to the first two, the stingrays an exception, we

will get you information on the record, for the record. with respect to solyndra, first of all, just to clarify, the fbi doesn't make decision to prosecute. we investigate, bring the evidence used the dish i appreciate that but there's either a decision to refer for prosecution or not. to the extent that it was what i would like to evidence that it was referred but not prosecuted, to the extent to which a decision not to refer one or more, that would be helpful. i appreciate the other part of justice and the other part and we will have the attorney general here shortly. >> gotcha. we worked the solyndra matter very, very hard and hadn't reviewed by two different u.s. attorneys offices, one in california, one in new york, who both make the same decision that there was insufficient evidence to bring prosecutions. probably limited what i can say about the details because it was a grand jury investigation but that's the upshot of it. i had a lot of folks working very, very hard.

one u.s. attorney's office looked at it. i asked to be brought to a second u.s. attorney's office, my alma mater in new york. they looked at it and decided it was insufficient basis. that's where the matter stands. with respect to the irs investigation, as i stated it is the pennies are not able to talk about it in anyway because it's still a pending investigation. >> mr. chairman, i just want to close with a very short comment. it was 2010 when we became aware that the irs was targeting conservatives. it's now 2015, almost 2016. i really would appreciate if the fbi would come up with a timeline that says an investigation is ongoing and aggressively pursued if a certain period of time passes and nothing has happened. i would only ask that five years begin to become an amount of time in which the fbi can say we can say with a straight face it's ongoing, if it's five years later, and nothing has happened. thank you, mr. chairman.

>> thank you. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first i want to welcome you. i'm a big fan of yours. at the same time i would like to ask your question to understand you keep a copy of the fbi's request for wiretap on dr. martin the king junior under desk as remind of the fbi's in the past was wrong, is that correct? >> correct. >> i commend you for that. that occurred during to edgar hoover's tenure as director. as you know, j. edgar hoover did some awful, terrible things. in his life, and as fbi director. he started the going tell pro, i might be is pronouncing the. spent i think you got it. >> which arrested civil rights judgment civil rights workers, dr. king in particular. others. political activist and homosexuals.

he was abusive. he was the opposite of justice. is efforts to silence dr. king and out homosexuals working for the federal government were horrible and distinct honor nation's history and on the fbi. it's been reported at one point even had a letter sent to dr. king threatening to expose all kinds of private information, selected search officially. the letter suggested dr. king should kill himself to save himself from embarrassment. there was only one thing left for you to do. you know what it is. you have just 34 days in which to do. you are done. there is but one way out for you. you better take it before your filthy, abnormal self is bared to the nation. this was the head of the fbi. is treatment of homosexual so stupid. he called it the. he ordered the fbi to identify a foot in the. was even suspected of being homosexual in the federal government. there is a documentary been done on this on yahoo.com by michael

isaac off called uniquely nasty. i watched it and was shocked. premiered at the museum. its second what the fbi did. in 1951 hoover issued a memo to top fbi officials saying the supervisor will be a person responsible to individual for alleged sex deviants. this was discovered through a foia effort two years ago. bfi eventually clicked more than three and 60,000 files on gays and lesbians support in 1962, he outed a young campaign aide and went on a war on him and senator vandenberg, republican, eventually committed suicide in the senate office because what they're brought out about his son and what they're doing to destroy him. j. edgar hoover was a man who does reflect the good people of the fbi or reflect which he and the fbi are trying to do today. the fbi's own website declared

that going tell program has rightly criticized by congress and the american people for a bridging first richmond -- -- yet his impending is to grow on fbi building which agree his neighbors not want to find people today try to bring about justice in our country? >> i'm sorry? his name speak with yes, sir spend on not falling the question. >> i sang does it not reflect the quality that the fbi individuals and the fbi did they have been pursuing justice and being fair and not using tactics to attack minorities in this country? >> thank you, i'm sorry. the fbi today is vastly different than it was under its first director. in some of the ways you mentioned and in lots of other ways. i keep it under the glass of my desk not to dump on hoover. i never knew the man. but to make sure people understand the danger in becoming come in falling in love

with the own view of things and the danger in the absence of constraint and oversight i'm somebody who believes people should be very skeptical of government power. i'm a nice person. i supposed you should trust me but you should oversee me and i should be checked and i should be balance. it's there to remind me -- >> i agree and i appreciate that but do you agree his name is not reflective of the fbi stands for and what to fbi agents up-to-date believe in and to? >> i think that's fair. hoover did a lot of good things for law enforcement and the united states, did a lot of things for the lens of history we reject as improper. so i am no historian but i would imagine is when was the you have to take the total measured to forget what's bad and what's good and i'm just not equipped to do that speed i would like to see his name taken off the building. i'm going to reintroduce the bill but i would hope as i mentioned to the last time we have a new building sometime in

the future this thing for somebody like you spent well, i appreciate that spent or congressman edwards or attorney general kennedy. i yield back the balance of my time spent the chair thanks the gentleman and recognize that children from iowa for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director comey, thanks for coming to testify. iges would comment that i appreciate your response to when you use the reference of the less efficient at that was a different set of dogs that apply today than back in those days. i'm looking at our values today and am watching as there's a fairly strong push for sensing reform in the united states. i've watched as the president or the administration at least has directed that thousands be released onto the streets before they serve their terms. and that we've seen that some of them have been charged with homicide and found guilty. i think the number is rent 121 or so. i saw the number 36,007 felons

released at a subsequent number. climate blurred by the parade of releases we've seen and now we see, what appears to be a group of legislators that believe we can save tax dollars by releasing more onto the street. are you aware of any studies that would help us quantify the impact of these releases in terms of either prospect of crimes that are likely to be committed or perhaps even quantifying it in terms of the dollar value that is suffered in great huge whopping chunk by crime victims? >> i'm not aware of any studies all that. is not that it would be. that's sort of a policy question but i'm not aware of any. >> they are very hard to find. i've searched a long way back. i'm only going from memory, it occurs to me that 1992 there was a justice department study that did quantified numerically the cost of crime. but do you any studies that show statistically whether there would be more or less crime that would take place because of the

releases, the early releases to? >> i'm not aware of any studies on that spiri speed and qualityf professional estimate? i don't need a number. would we have more or less crime? >> i know we face as a country significant challenge with recidivism and i reoffend rate among people who are released. mike holbert is dedicated to the proposition that law enforcement contributes to a drop in crime. it's not entirely responsible for this book a drop in crime over my lifetime but it is a big part of it so that's what i think about it spent mandatory sentencing statistically shows have had a positive impact on reducing the crime initiative american? >> i think so. they had been an important part of my work as a prosecutor, recent people can discuss whether it should be at this level or this level of some mandatory sentence, some fixed cost but the punishment is very, very valuable in incapacity people and developing cooperators. >> sometime back i sat down with a very impressive chief of

police who remarked to me about the very high homicide rate in the inner-city of his city, and his response was that the black on black homicide rate in that city was roughly 98% of the homicides that took place. i do know that we discussed these kind statistics, and i would be hopeful we could find a way to do this and alleviate this situation that we have. i say we got into a void on this but are you aware of any data that reflect what i represented to you? >> i think there's a lot of data collected by criminologists and others on the demographics of homicide victims and perpetrators. i can't decide if he off the top of my head but i know there's smart people hav who have done t work. >> and that 98% number come up with be shocking to you if it were proven to be to buy a legitimate study? >> i don't think it would shock

me, in particular neighborhoods that are heavily concentrated with people of a certain demographic background but i don't know the number off the top of my head. >> is the investigation of planned parenthood currently taking place in the fbi? >> i know as i said i'm not able to answer the question because i don't know enough. i know there's been a lot of written to the department of justice about it. i'll have to get back to you on that one because i don't know the status of matters within the department within the fbi on the sitting here this morning. >> has anyone from the administration to your knowledge ever sought to influence you or any of your subordinates on whether or not to investigate a crime? >> never spent and specifically not planned parenthood if it would be include? >> that would be included this bit i think that would be consistent with your competent, independent and honest characteristics of the fbi. i just posted this question that company quickly go another way. u.s.a. freedom that, you are

implementing it now and the of access to more or less information than before the usa freedom act was passed? >> it really hasn't changed because we are still under the old telephone metadata is as good as i said to the gym i thinthink the new one kicks in t the end of november, currently our world is unchanged spent the you expect more or less? >> i expect more actually. >> that will be interesting to follow up on if i had another minute but i will yield back and thank the gentleman -- and thank the chairman. >> recognize the gentleman from california. >> i want to discuss issues of very public federal investigations against chinese-american scientist or treated as spies and have their lives turned upside down over all the charges dropped. most recently the case of an american citizen and a well-respected professor who is a picture of the physics department at temple university. he lead a normal and peaceful

life as a scientist professor and researcher of his two daughters and a wife and a quite pennsylvania neighborhood. had no corrected the vision of violence just an average american in academia. but when the fabric of the about it doesn't armed fbi agents stormed into his house with their guns drawn to he went handcuffed in his own home and his team got and his wife in pajamas and directed outside of the house at gunpoint. the state of charge, wire fraud. however, in the interrogation it was clear his being accused of being a spy for china. sensed in his life has been turned upside down to a loss turned upside down to his losses sto past year of the physics department come his reputation was irreparably damaged his wife endures psychological trauma as does love him and himself at august the charges against him were dropped. my understanding of cases of wire fraud is a german people

are not even handcuffed, let alone arrested operating from the family, neighborhood eskimos i can put rather they be given an opportunity to sossaman and if so what is being invested for wire fraud they're usually informed about such an investigation by target letter. but we know that dr. xi is not alone. sherry chen was also recently arrested, a u.s. citizen come and the point of the national weather service in ohio. she was arrested at her place of work, led in handcuffs pastor coworkers to a federal courthouse 40 miles away where she was told you it would face 25 years in prism and a million dollars in fines. several months later all the charges were dropped without any explanation. this is reminiscent of course of another u.s. citizen whose life was ruined when he was at accused of being a spy for china only to have 58 of the 59 charges dropped.

let's not forget that during world war ii 120,000 japanese americans lost everything they had and were imprisoned in desolate camps because they were accused of being spies for japan. three quarters of them were u.s. citizens. 70 years later not a single case of espionage was proven. i am particularly concerned about this because it is a stereotype that asian americans are perpetual foreigners no matter how long they live in this country. so my question to you is, is it is common practice to a dozen armed fbi agents arrest someone for wire fraud, someone was not a flight risk and poses no harm to law enforcement? or is there a presumption of guilt when it comes to chinese americans because they are viewed as spies for china? >> thank you, congresswoman. at the outset the challenge i'm going to answer the challenge is

i can't talk about the facts of something that is of an investigation, including ones that are painted i guess i can say this. first of all we operate with no presumption that anyone is guilty of any stereotype on any particular person. we are a fact base organization but we are required to gather facts and then three prosecutor presented to the judge to make a showing of probable cause before we can get a warrant to arrest anybody. hold onto people in this country are arrested on wire fraud charged i've been involved in many cases where people handcuffed and arrested because wire fraud is a very series phil liggett the particulars of the case i cannot talk about but i would not connect the dots in the matter that you have. that's probably all i can say about the individual matters. >> we understand the threat of economic espionage is real and we do not take it likely. however, we want to make sure in all cases it is due process and otherwise innocent americans did

not become suspicious because the person taking those actions as an ethnic surname. yet in the case of dr. xi his investigation came out of the blue. yet the ideas he was being investigated, primarily because he did nothing wrong as evidenced by the dropped charges. deny many chinese americans are being surveyed? >> i do not. >> i will personally follow up with you on this issue to figure out what is happening in cases like professor xi and that we can make sure that no other american, regardless of the origin or background, endorse this kind of egregious humiliation and shame. and with that i yield back spent the chair thanks the gentleman and recognizes the gentleman from texas for five minutes. >> hello, director comey. thank you for being here. i don't think i've ever told you but back in july, august timeframe of 2007 i was talking

with a powerful democratic senator, and we agreed that you had a great reputation for justice, honorable man, that would potentially be a good attorney general. ended up being -- you would discuss very favorably by both sides of the aisle. we appreciate your work. i want to touch on something my frienfriend steve king brought . i know there's a lot of talk about how we need to have reform and people being released from prism, but as someone who has worked with the system, i have prosecutor, i've been a judge. i've been court appointed to defend, and isn't it true that some people are actually plead for nonviolent offenses do so as part of a plea agreement where

the prosecutor drops a gun charge or some charge of violence in order to get a plea in the case and a lesser sentence? haven't you seen that happen? >> i've seen that happen. >> so that's why for so many like me who is a former judge who saw those kind of plea agreement take place, even though i was in the stateside, it's shocking to see people come from the outside and say, this wasn't a fair sentence, without really considering what could have been pursued and what was a transaction, an agreement between the prosecutor and defense attorney that the judge consider all the circumstances and came down on the side of the agreement. i want to touch on something else you would set about with iraq refugees, you have a database, apparently, up

fingerprints from ieds, evidence that had been obtained from iraq. that i understand that correctly speak with yes, sir. >> now, with regard to the masses of syrian refugees, i'm not aware of a lot of ieds that we've gotten evidence, we've gotten from which you could get fingerprints. is there such a database the? >> i think that's right. there may be some come at a right of other intelligence sources that made helpless try to understand who people are but the point i was time to make his we had a whole lot more information in iraq because our soldiers have been there. >> that ghostly concern of mine. i'm not the biggest fan of the u.n., but they have data i pulled from the website this morning that says, started off the more than 43 million people worldwide on a forcibly displaced as a result of the conflict of persecution, and it

goes on to say that children constitute about 41% of the world refugees, and about half of all refugees are women. so it was very disturbing to pull this from the u.n. website in september that says of the 381,412 rifles they came across the mediterranean sea just this year, up to september, that 15% were children 13% were women, and 702% were men. and then when you take that along with our dni james clapper saying that this provides a prime opportunity for islamic state groups to attack western targets, he said quote, it's a disaster of biblical proportions. and then you take statements that have been made by isis leaders themselves, that they

been able to place more than 4000 warriors in with the refugees, this inordinate number of men. has that right concern in the fbi along with what you testified before a isis having people in every state speak with yes, sir, it's the wrist we're focused on anti-did everything we can to mitigate. >> but without a good fingerprint database, without good identification. i mean, how can you be sure that anyone is who they say they are if you don't have fingerprints to go against? if the documents, i've been on the border and i've watched people exchange identification information and decide to use the other ones. is a good way to avoid that that the fbi is able to use? >> the only thing we can query this information that we have come and so if we have no information on someone, it never crossed our radar screen, never

been a ripple in the pond there will be no record of been there and so it will be challenging. .. we used to have pretty strong --