receive has been cut in the various different grants. congress will ultimately do what you believe is necessary and appropriate by way of funding, but that is where we believe we needed to make some reductions. i do believe these grants are important. >> i will stop you there. we will certainly be following up on that. last november i wrote a letter along with a congressman from my state dribbling about an issue at the austin strobl international airport in green bay. this airport, which is a port of entry has hosted the cbp green bay port office for over 20 years.

in july 2011 cbp informed the airport that the current port office did not meet its needs and that the general aviation facility would be necessary for cbp to remain at the airport. the airport subsequently worked with cbp to construct a general aviation facility and spent over $3 million to meet cbp specifications. unfortunately in july of last year cbp reversed course and informed the airport it would no longer occupy the facility. let me emphasize that this was after the airport pay more than 3 million fund construction of the facility. this was after the airport worked with the cbp on the design and after cbp signed off on the facility. this is unacceptable. as i make clear my letter

there are no laws or rules that we can find the prevent cbp from occupying the general aviation facility, so it has been over four months since we wrote that letter and i raised the issue with the commissioner. i want to ask you today and raise this to your attention , we will you commit to looking into the issue and responding to my constituents concerns? >> i am aware of the issue and i'm looking into it and will ensure you receive a prompt response. >> when can i expect that? >> how about within the week. >> i would be great. >> out don't know what the statuses, but i will ensure you get it within the week. >> thank you.

the great work that you do on behalf of the people of the country. i want to reiterate what was began, those of us on the northern border believe we are entitled to a level of protection and border security that we do not always see. we measure the positions that your folks have already said, this is what we need. recognizing the challenges and recruitment. i want to reiterate the absolute critical importance of getting more attention to the northern border. with that said, couple of things. one of the things i frequently hear from folks on the southern border is that there is not really a plan. and that there is not a

sense of coordination. what is your response to that? >> two years ago we created joint task forces for the southern border. where a joint task force dir.director is responsible for coordinating all of the dhs assets and resources devoted toward border security in the southwest and southeast. partpart of that is that every year they have to submit a plan for border security which includes i just people but other prohibited items, illegal narcotics and so forth. we do have strategic plans for how we intend to secure the border. >> why do you think other law enforcement agencies believe there is an overall strategic plan? >> am not sure.

the communication seems to be a gap in what you say you have. the people who work for your agency actually understand what that is. as we are talking about movement of narcotics, movement of marijuana, we all agree it's basically carried across. one of the concerns i have is that there is typically being tunneled across. live in talking about technologies. do you believe you have a tunnel detection strategy

and are you deploying the best equipment? if you can't answer that in open session it would be good to do some kind of secure briefing. >> we have a tunnel detection capability and a focused effort. >> right. do you believe there has been enough allocated to that kind of technology? >> within the confines of the caps we have to live with, yes. i could always use more in the absence of budget restraints. >> i am interested. wewe have an opportunity to see some of this in israel. i am interested in what kind of tunnel detection you have , whether we are doing -- supplying the number of resources that reflect our

concern. i would just like to talk about 1st responder grants. whether is trains, in fact terrorism activity and yet we see a decrease in that kind of funding for 1st responders. there going to run out of time. on the front line. there is not enough federal agents, federal personnel to protect the country. asking a minimal amount of investment and help secure that mission. and the last place we should be cutting is in my opinion 1st responders whether it is a train for it is responding to terrorism and being prepared to respond.

but we had a high-profile incident of a train exploding, the single thing that he received. it is the plate every day. let's not lose sight of our partnerships with the local folks. >> really complement you on your work and dedication. i appreciate your leadership. happy that the committee has past two bipartisan bills and made it a priority. past authorization. grateful to leadership in helping us to me come together. i am pleased to see the funding in this bill, really

becoming a part of the president's budget. i seem to see it that way. 10 million in grant funds and 39 million for activities targeted at preventing and preparing for responding to complex coordinated terrorist attacks. my concern with the language is that the majority of the money will be spent on preparing for law enforcement response. intended to create partnerships for community groups to do work to prevent radicalization before law enforcement gets involved. it seems as though the funding is not targeted toward the idea of cbe in the 1st place. how do you envision this

being spent and how can we ensure that we are bolstering some of the efforts we are already starting to see signs that it can be fruitful as opposed to the law enforcement response ignoring community organizations, universities, educators, tech folks, and others. >> the language you read is for 16. >> right. >> to be candid i have the same reaction. upon closer examination 39 million of that is for terrorist attack preparedness which is important. but it leaves just 10 million for our cbe efforts. as i explained, it is a huge priority. one of the things i heard repeatedly is we need resources, help supporting our efforts at the local

level. my recollection from the language you read is that there was someone in their they give me some flexibility. >> and i will say, you and i both know budgets reflect priorities. the investment being made and what i found from being a local leader and you know this better than i that creating partnerships and relationships is incredibly valued not just in cbe efforts but also in helping to protect radicalization in the 1st place. one thing i want to say is i'm curious if your folks give back to me, concerns from the muslim community that all this is focused on the muslim community.

hate groups that are perpetrated violence and terrorist activities. activities. i am hoping some of this gets focus they're as well. just quick being that you and i have this kinship in the level of the state of new jersey, i just want to bring to your attention even though you spent so much of your time here. i need you to comment on something i get so much anger and frustration and people the liver metropolitan area which is the lines of newark airport which are just outrageous. the holiday season, it was reported that we had such long lines and led to delays exceeding our. about 200 passengers missing a flight. i believe we have got to do something to create more efficiencies screaming at me

on social media and the like. what flexibility you have on focusing on where the problem is. i find other airports in the region, just don't see it as bad as what people are experiencing. we now spring and summer travel season is approaching. can we do something to alleviate this problem. >> a couple of things. 1st, part of the increase in wait times due to increased volume of air travel. part of it is also do to the emphasis that the administrator has put on

airports group of those no longer line. join tsa pre- check for the shoreline. with respect the budget is the case that in 16 and 17 we have reversed a steady decrease in the number of tso's for this reason, so this budget submission reflects holding steady with an emphasis on technology. that way we are not focused solely on risk-based strategies that lead to a decrease in personnel. we have reversed the trend to deal with wait times and the like. >> can someone get back to me, i understand the pre- check morning, but you tell people to show up an hour

before there flight it seems like we should be telling them to. get back to me with a plan to reduce wait times. >> a lot of it depends on whether you are terminally or terminal c. >> understood. >> right. >> sen.senator peters. >> thank you. i want to thank secretary johnson for your testimony. i also want to thank you for your recent visit to michigan to meet with members of the arab-american muslim community. they expressed a number of issues come out and talk directly and listen to the community and alec forward to working with you and your staff.

>> i would like to discuss. absolutely critical to our nation's trading commerce. in terms of freight measured by the value of shipments going through the ports of entry, detroit and port huron ranked two and three in the country respectively. and i know you know that firsthand as well. i appreciate the earlier visit. happening at the border crossings. last year the committee hearing he testified that

the case for expanding customs capability at the blue water bridge was clearly there. customs and border commission responded that the blue water bridge remains a top priority. the delay in the modernization of the customs plaza has become a burden for the city of port huron and st. clair county generally which continues to lose out on potential revenue has the land that was required for the expansion. over a hundred properties were demolished to prepare for the expansion. as a large area of vacant land which does not do much for the tax base. there are other issues that must be dealt with glenn new revenue would help offset that, not to mention again

very critical for our nation. obviously efficient border crossings will be critical as an economic issue given the candidate is the top export destination for 35 states nearly 9 million us jobs depend on trade and investment. as a priority in the beyond action. that'saction. that's why i'm disappointed the project is not received funding so far. you have heard those concerns before. there is a need. the project is ready to go. i hope if you could explain why the department did not include funding for the blue water bridge. >> senator, as you noted, i have beeni have been to the blue water bridge crossing the back of the tractor-trailers myself.

and as i said last year, i think the cases there. i can report to you that after projects currently underway or soon to be under construction, the expansion of the customs capability of the blue water bridge is the highest priority. as i said, i think the cases there. it isit is not just a top priority but the highest priority on the list. >> any sort of timeline. >> i don't have one sitting here but i'm sure customs and border protection can give you that. perhaps to accelerate. it is my understanding some of these alternative financing projects they even

speed that up. concur that might be another way. >> in my experience great minds can think of creative ways to come together and solve problems. >> public-private partnerships unlike. >> i appreciate that it has gone from a high priority to the highest priority. >> if it is on paper it must be true. >> i personally also believe >> thank you, chairman, mr. secretary. you have an important job. i wanted to follow-up with the senators talked about in the northern border. actually, this committee passed a bill called the

northern border security review act essentially making an assessment of the current state of the border and to me that makes sense as we look at resources. >> it sounds right. >> thank you. i appreciate the chairman getting that out. i also wanted to follow up on the questions that the senator asked you about the heroin interdiction and it would be helpful for us to understand what has been the trend because of the committees, the testimony i have heard is that we have seen a significant increase in production of maryland. the southern border and amateurs interdicted. new hampshire, the price on our street is so cheap.

what we are doing on the streets and obviously to protect people. i wanted to ask you about the issue of fentanyl. as much as 50 times more powerful and it is a huge driver. >> heroin and heroin seizures over 14. fictional i don't have off and. >> that would be excellent. we have seen that combination. someone i know in recovery from an amazing young man described send -- fentanyl has a serial killer.

understand the numbers and whether those of increased as well as heroin. i also wanted to follow up. i understand youunderstand you just came back from a trip from turkey. the issue of the foreign fighter flow to get your perspective on where we stand with regard to the foreign fighter flow with respect to isi s and in addition to that recently before the senate armed services committee we had gen. breedlovegeneral breedlove who i am sure you know, european commander come before our committee and i asked him about the refugee issue and he told me that he is concerned that criminality, terrorists command returning foreign fighters are clearly a daily part of the refugee flow. give me an update on what you see happening and how much he sees this is one of

their strategies, how much is this from homeland security perspective something you are focusing on? >> all good questions. i was in turkey last week and met with my counterpart. the minister of interior. and we are making good progress in terms of information sharing with the turkish government signed several in the use of the government to enhance information sharing both with respect to cargo inspection and people. and we agree to further discussions and further areas that i would be happy to brief you are in private come although i think it was a very productive visit.

we know from prior experiences that members have left the area posing as refugees. that is a fact. in terms of -- so i agree with the comments insofar as the worldwide refugee problem is something that poses a risk in terms of what is trying to be done. in terms of refugee resettlement in the us, as i am sure you know, we have a thorough, multilayered process before someone is resettled. it takes something like 18 to 24 months to complete and we recently added further enhancements to the security of the process. which will most likely had

to delays but we are also adding resources and personnel to satisfy our undertaking. we have a thorough process and are adding more and are always looking at whether more is necessary in terms of our own refugee betting. >> do you think that process can eliminate all risk? >> the way i like to say it is that in a free and open and democratic society that has a tradition of humanitarian goodwill and obligations when it comes to refugees and immigration heritage, we should welcome with open arms people who are in need for vulnerable but we should do so carefully. and i believe -- i think the american people understand that in a free and open

society we cannot erase all risk. police should do our best of security while maintaining a values. >> thank you, secretary johnson. to me this is really command as i look to live fully support ensuring that we are country, vibrant country of immigrants, something i have been supportive of including productive immigration reform and border security. but i respectfully disagree with you on the risk factors. risk and strategy to actually try to purposefully infiltrate the overflow of refugees. thank you for your work and all those that serve underneath you. we all travel so much and i am appreciative of those who serve underneath you because they do important work for the nation.

>> thank you, mr. chair, secretary for being with us and i just want to mention that i do certainly appreciate the work that you and your employees have done i think you provide such a valuable service to all of us. i would like to take a minute to discuss an issue that has arisen but it is affecting our levied districts across the missouri river as it relates to accreditation under the national flood insurance program and as you may no, accreditation and certification of river levee is desirable for communities and property near the river because it ultimately affects the affordability of their flood insurance rates, , and i understand the involvement in this process is to review and accept certification provided by a party it is seeking

accreditation on levee model flood insurance rate map as providing 100 your protection, but the cost of the certification is really creating havoc for a number of these communities in my state. so my questions on this is, number one, in the eyes of fema how is a rural community with almost no taxpayers in my particular area itself we have just a handful of families that live in farm in these levied districts, and they are supposed to pay for at a minimum a million-dollar evaluation by a professional engineer. this is not good news for a number of these families command i don't know how they can reasonably accomplish accreditation when it is so costly.

so i'm not sure if you have ideas on how these communities can pay and number two, why is it fema has different levee certification standards than the army corps of engineers when it comes to reviewing the effectiveness of the levee? ..

a spill is not quite same as a leak, but the classification in the federal government really do concern me. what are you doing to address these types of situations? >> my view is that given our cyber security mission should be a model for other agencies and departments. i am familiar with that article. i know that our cyber security experts and intelligence analysis are focused on addressing spills. my recollection is that the article is not accurate in all respects. i'd be happy to look into that. >> that would be great. i appreciate it. i do appreciate it and thank you for your very good work up there. thank you for all your employees as well. thank you mr. chair. >> thank you senator ernst. i've been cranking up numbers here. i got your sheet on on a company children big difference here is you are including all accompanied children including from mexico and i was talking about unaccompanied children from central america which is a

big problem. let's get through this because it's important. it affects your budget. you are budgeting for 75000 unaccompanied children from all sources, correct? >> yes. >> if you take a look at 2014, the crisis, we can put the chart back up there, that was in total about 68,630 1,000,631,000 unaccompanied children. this is only central america. year-to-date we are 10% above 2014 numbers. >> 68,005 41 is what i have. >> that's right, for the entire year. year-to-date the entire year. year-to-date in 2016 we are at

23000. if you include all in a company children, we are up 10% which would apply we are going to be 10% over 68,000 which is about 75000. that's including mexican children as well. mexico is four times the population of central america. yet mexican unaccompanied children are somewhere between 20 and 25% of the problem. that's why i isolate unaccompanied children from central america because we treat them differently. i'm trying to figure out what the best way is to address this problem in which way is the best to reduce the flow. the length and adjudication processes one, the fact that when unaccompanied children from central america get here, there apprehended, the processed and dispersed and, the point i'm trying to make is there should be alarm bells ringing right now because in the first four months

with just unaccompanied children from central america, were up to 49% over the first four months in 2014. we are up, up 49%. that would imply that if you run the numbers outcome about 77000 unaccompanied children from central america. i backed out my assumption because we've had about 1000 unaccompanied children the first four months. if i assume it's 1000 for february, i can come up with a number were still 28 and a half% ahead of 2014. that would imply --dash do you

the early indications show it's going to be worse than 2014. it's going to affect your budget. here's what concerns me. the great efforts of cdp, we've gotten very good, very humane at processing and dispersing. i said earlier about the situation in columbus, this is a a -- this is not a humane situation. this is an in norma's problem and we are not addressing the root cause in our public policy ought to be what should we do to stem the flow, not figure out

how we can more efficiently process and disburse but how do we address the incentives that is incentivizing people to come here? >> a couple of things. i hope you don't mind if i exceed your 36 seconds. first of all, nobody in dhs, cdp , ice or hhs is feeling as if a crisis has been averted. whether it 75000, 68,039,000, it's a whole lot of kids. it creates a real problem for us. it overwhelms my resources, hhs resources and taxes a lot of other resources. i do think the compare to 2014 is imperfect in that there is a certain trend that existed in 2014 that doesn't exist in 2016.

the numbers in january and february 2014 were considerably higher than the numbers in january and february 2016. having said said that, much of this is seasonal. i think we have to assume that march is going to be higher than february and april is going to be higher than march. may june july will probably do what it typically does. we have to assume that we are not going to see numbers as low as 3100 for the rest of this fiscal year. that is why our budget request assumes 75,000 in 2016. 2016. now, i agree with you that you can put a lot of broader security at this effort to deal with kids who are not seeking to avoid capture. there's only so much you can do by way of border security immigration enforcement.

however, i do believe that it is important that people in central america see that people are being repatriated back to central america which is why we have been visible about our efforts in recent months and i do agree with you, chairman that the underlying factors have to be addressed. congress appropriated 750 million for central america and i am impressed with the new president of guatemala. i hope you had a chance to meet him when he was here a couple weeks ago. he is a dynamic leader of guatemala and i hope, and i have optimism for that country. given the new leadership there i am optimistic. we have to do more and we are seeking to do more to help those in central america with their border security, through training programs and vetting programs, we have to do more in central america which is the heart of the problem.

just in my 26 months months in office, i have learned that as long as you have powerful underlying push factors, poverty violence, drought and so forth, there's only so much border security you can accomplish whether it's more personnel or more walls to deal with people who are motivated to leave their homes and travel thousands of miles to come here. >> we create an awful lot of push back. that's the purpose of that chart. it had some pretty tremendous pull factor. they learned the term, credible fear. all all the sudden were not sending them back. they started sending people back immediately and the flow stopped. we were in guatemala and honduras. we met with the president-elect at that time.

i also met with the president when he came here last week, two weeks weeks ago. we actually saw a repatriated station of illegal immigrants return to the airport and during the reorientation speech and this was paraphrased and translated to me, the guatemalans were told doesn't matter how poor, how rich big or small, this is still your motherland. remember remember you have to love your country. please remember that before attempting to leave the united states. they erupted in to applause. reprocessing center was very moderate. nongovernment agencies were ready to help them. there was a phone bank and one minor. he was separated from the group of adults. their form of child perspective services.

we talk about these push backs. the president of honduras asked us, please fix the ambiguity in your laws. they are encouraging our citizens to leave our country. let's face it. this is the united states of america. i don't know how many people from around the world wants come come here, but there are literally hundreds of millions if not billions of people who want to be in america but we can't accept them all. there has to be legal process and we have to look at the incentives we create in our own laws that are the pull factor. there are factors all over the world. we really have to deal with what we can deal with here. those countries are beautiful countries, but as long as we have the farmers who make 50 times what they can make on normal crops and they don't have to deliver it anywhere, they come pick it up. senator carper was saying the same thing. from our 14 years of border security, the conclusion i came

to is our insatiable demand for drugs that is causing so many problems as well. my point is let's look at this with clear eyes and acknowledge the reality and deal with the policies we've enacted over multiple administrations and acknowledge the fact that these things aren't working. we really have to look at what we can do ourselves and state what should be the goal of our policies to stem the flow as opposed to what were doing right now in your budget. you've done a great job with great humanity with what dhs did in the crisis in 2014. it was pretty extraordinary. that's not the solution. bottom line. i've got a couple questions. >> let me make something, let me me say couple things. first, i agree with what

secretary told you. he told me the same thing. about the situation in 2006. i share his view that illegal migration is market sensitive. it reacts information in the marketplace about what is going on and what you can expect to happen after you pay the coyote $6000 you've migrated all way up your. so, that is why to the consternation and unhappiness of many, i've been public about our enforcement efforts. just the first five months of this fiscal year, with regard to central america, after all these people go through the credible fear process and having their claim heard in court and having appeals run and so forth, just this fiscal year we have sent

back 28,000 people to central america. nobody is sitting on their hands. we have sent back 28,000 people 28000 people to central america. >> on average 14 flights a week. people are being sent back routinely. >> out of how many that came? were talking about unaccompanied children, you're talking about almost all adults. what is the total that has come and of the 28,000 is what percent of the total? >> the number of total who have come in just this fiscal year, sure it exceeds the 28,000 number because a lot of them go through the litigation of their asylum claims. as you know that takes months and months. doj has a limited number of judges to hear these claims. once we have gone through those processes, i am sending back as quickly as possible. >> i understand that and i appreciate that fact, fact, but you know the total amount that's come in? since when?

>> since the beginning of year. how many came in illegally that we know of? >> so far this fiscal year there have been 152,000 apprehensions on our border. >> and how many get by without us knowing about it? >> one of the reasons we are both interested in developing better border metrics. >> it is a large of number, without a doubt. presumably, all these people are in deportation proceedings at one stage of the process or another but as you know it is time-consuming. we are routinely sending hundreds and thousands of people back to central america and i kinda made a big deal about that. >> one of the reasons we only have a thousand mexican unaccompanied children is we can send them back right away. it's just easier to do it so there's. >> it's a different situation

it's not quite the same situation. >> why is mexico different situation, just briefly? >> the pushback features are not the same and the economy is better. mexico is a much different country than 15 years ago when the number of illegal migrants coming from there were far greater. so i think it is notable that though our economy is improving, the number of apprehensions on our southern border is a fraction of what it used to be thanks to the investments we and the congress have made in border security over the last 15 years. could we do better? absolute. are we concerned about another spike? yes we have to prepare

for and we are concerned. nobody's popping champagne court. just yesterday adam meeting with the sec. of hhs on this problem to try to anticipate what could be the worst. again, as i said i don't think 2014 is a great comparator. i think trendlines are different but still we can see seasonal migration trending up again, absolutely. >> the other thing that's different is mexico. they have of i vibrant middle class. they didn't have that 20 years ago. partly that could be attributable and they still have rule of law on this country and they have their challenges in mexico in that regard. the folks that are coming out of what a mama, the secretaries been down there and i've been down there, if we lived in those

countries trying to raise our families, we might want to try to get them out into a safer place two. cyber security. i know we've talked a little bit about that over the last several years. we've talked about a lot. they provided greater hiring flexibility and the other piece is to try to reconcile the difference of the responsibilities with respect to protecting our.gov domain. we've done that in a thoughtful way. and we have a real-time system were actually able to respond in a real-time basis rather than a year after an intrusion.

we have provided funding for all of that and you now have had an opportunity to begin hiring cyber warriors. how's it going. >> first well, thank you for taking on this complex subject and pushing a really good bill last year. thank you also for the cyber legislation we had in 2014 that gives us additional hiring authorities. we are competing in a tough marketplace against the private sector that is in a position to offer a lot more money. they are making very aggressive efforts to implement the 2014 legislation and be in the interim do a lot of things in terms of recruitment we need more cyber talent without a doubt.

we are not where we should be right now. that is without a doubt. >> let me interrupt. one of your top cyber people went to georgia tech and i'm sure she was making good money. she was gave it up to work at the department of homeland security. the reason why, when i talk to her about it was that she felt an obligation and a desire to give back to her country. it's all well and good that it has work for other companies and businesses, but in this case there's something to be said to appealing to patriotism.p:f

some of these monies will be used to expand intrusion detection systems across the board and to bring in the new personnel that we talked about for your cyber ops. how does the budget support implementation of the cyber security information sharing legislation that was enacted last year when we worked on it together? how does the budget support implementation? >> short answer is, further investments in maintaining our technology and building upon what we have. further investments in the

system and cdm, legislation specifically authorizes dhs to go into other federal departments and agencies and detect and monitor arm block intrusions. that is a good thing that congress gave us the authority to do that because we were finding considerable uncertainty to do that. one of my top priorities for federal civilian.gov, while instilling office is to have e3 a in place to block intrusions across our civilian system before the end of this year. i think that's one of the legal mandates in the bill. but, as as i've said, einstein is also a platform for building additional capabilities. were not just going after known intrusions but also suspected intrusions. there are pilots out there to do that now and i think we need to build on that in the future.

so the funding for additional technology implements legislation that was passed last year. >> just a quick question to follow up on encryption. we hear a lot in the media about apple and the disagreements that they have with the fbi. it's a serious matter. we have a mass killing in san bernardino where 14 people were killed by a couple who were radicalized. there's a cell phone, and apple cell phone that's in question that was not owned by the killers but was owned by the county where the husband that actually worked. we have a role to play here. the administration has

spelled-out their own views and i think there's actually some people who don't want to speak, it's a tough tough issue. as we consider legislation on the issue do you want to shed some light? >> my advice is that ensure that you have the views of all the stakeholders from the tech sector from the intelligence community and from the law enforcement community, federal and state. one person who comes to mind for example is the manhattan da. he was a friend of mine and has been very vocal about the encryption issue from the local law enforcement level. he reminds us that basically any crime that involves communication, not just federal

crime is harder to detect because of the encryption issue. i do believe that there needs to be a real adjustment in the pendulum. i think the response of the demands of the marketplace and the tech sector has gone a long way toward encryption. it has in fact created a situation where crime and potential terrorist plotting is harder to detect. i and others do agree that there needs to be a recalibration. i support the government position in the case involving apple in california and so, if we are to grapple with this problem, i think smart people can't solve the problem but we have to ensure that all the stakeholders are represented in that discussion.

>> we continue to welcome your counsel. chairman, we worked a whole lot on trying to put legislative language authorizing some of the friday want to leave some of your reforms in place for the next secretary? will these reforms help get them off the high risk list and do the work more effectively? >> first well, through our very able undersecretary who is sitting right there,. >> what's his name? >> rest feel. he's a former practice of mine. we worked a long way. i believe very strongly that a lot of the things we are doing

to remove the pipes in dhs and have a more strategic approach to budget making, acquisition and so forth should be institutionalized. it's not just something that should exist while i am in office. i think it will make the department a better more effective place for homeland security if we move in the direction of more centralized and more strategic approaches to our homeland security mission. we have been far too often and we need to move toward a model more like the department of defense rehab joint duty, joint tax forces and the like. there are provisions in the current law that create some limitations on our ability to do that. i'm sure our staffs have spoken to you about that in the current insecurity act. authorization of our unity of

initiative is something i very much support which includes reforming and restructuring. i have seen the legislative language that i know your community is working through now on a number of these things that i support that. i support the good work there. >> i thing is fair to say that we support what you're doing as well. thank you so much for joining us. >> i saw some questions as well. i will step through them. by the way, i do appreciate you working with me on a board metrics bill and the fact that you recognize that we need to understand the situation. let's talk a little bit about critical interest infrastructure. i talked a little bit about ted koppel's book, lights out.

out. we held a hearing on this. we had james woolsey. the mp commission in 2008 cast your department with a number of quick fixes. they basically reported that there hadn't been a lot on that. we witnessed the unsolved attack on a substation at metcalf. you read about the cyber attack on the power grid system in ukraine. you look at the potential of solar storms and geo- magnetic disturbances. look at north korea. i'm concerned about around. these threats are real. i guess can you just talk about, across the board the infrastructure, particularly particularly the electrical grid which is the number one,

electricity's go down and lights go out, were in a in a world of hurt and we have these massive power transforms. doctor garwin, he is a real national treasure. he referred to him as one of the true geniuses he ever met. can you speak to me on what the department has done in terms of the charger were given based on the 2008 commission on critical infrastructure, particularly electrical grid where we had on that? better than we were but there's more to do. i don't agree with everything in ted koppel's book, but i think he was right to put a spotlight on the issue. since the earthquake in japan in 2012 there were a lot of lessons learned for u.s. government and

private sector critical infrastructure. since that which was sort of a seminal event, we've done a lot more partnering with the private sector and infrastructure to work with them and sharing best practices and information about potential for a cyber attack on power grids. we do exercise it now with them. we are in a better place than we were. there was a dhs team along with an interagency team in the train recently that was a cyber attack that led to a power failure and were not at a position to attribute it to any particular source. that was a cyber attack. >> it would have appeared to have been fairly sophisticated, yes. that must be a wake-up call for

those who have not already been awakened by this problem in this risk. we are working with critical infrastructure all the time. i have spoken to ceos of utilities about this program and they are concerned of this issue as well but there is more to do. >> what does the lead group in your department suggest? >> we have a lead secretary for infrastructure who is part of this effort but also our cyber security efforts as well. >> i went to work very closely with with you and over the next few months just do as much as we can legislation legislatively. i have more questions but alternate over to chairman mccain. >> thank you very much. welcome back. couple issues, real quick, we are terribly short of staffing at our ports of entry on our southern border.

we pass legislation which would expedite veterans being hired, we've done a number of things, but we are still for example, their 20% understaffed. it's well it's well over 100. you see these vacant lanes and traffic is stacked up behind it because we don't have the personnel. it's my understanding that it takes about 18 months and we did pass legislation that would expedite veterans and former military but were still not making up for that shortfall. i am the view that we need to have some kind of incentive pay or hazardous duty pay at ports of entry that expires true

experience high-traffic. >> we are not where we need to be. no argument from me there. cdt needs to and is to making aggressive efforts to hire and bring on people faster, to get get them through the polygraph exams. i fully support the hiring of veterans and making it easy to hire veterans. i understand you are interested in legislation to deal with pay in these areas and i'm happy to look at what that would look like. >> it's a very tough environment. all of our southern border and i would argue, in arizona, it gets particularly warm. i can understand how tough the duty is. i think we provide incentive pay

for hardship is positions. i hope you would look at that and be introducing legislation on it because it's just not sufficient. we are well over a hundred agents short. it's either there's something wrong with the level of staffing required or something wrong with the level of personnel. i know that you know that there's an academic of manufactured heroin. those depths have been described by some governors, including the governor of new hampshire as an epidemic. the heroine is being transported across the border and arizona and has increased 223% as the

drug cartels transport and distribute the drug to the united states. i think it's particularly interesting now with the passing of nancy reagan, reagan, just say no to drugs was something that we ought to do a lot more of. do you agree that the heroine drug overdose deaths are skyrocketing. that's a fact that we get from the governors. aren't most of this, these manufactured heroin coming across through the ports of entry rather than smuggle off the border. what you propose we need to come back to what some governors describe as a port epidemic? >> i agree most of the heroine's

that is seized is seized at ports of entry on our southern border. that's what the facts and statistics show as opposed to maritime, for example. we have seen greater levels of seizures by border protection and hsi. we have created a national task force with the department of justice to deal with the heroine epidemic specifically, part of the task force mission that i created two years ago, which is modeled, by the way of the structure we have in arizona, is the illegal narcotics, not just illegal migrants. i want rj tf to be focused on narcotics as well. we are in alarming increase. this needs to be a national effort.

we are seeing seizures at higher levels without a doubt. >> it also seems that the problem is increasing, according to the governors, rather than rather than decreasing. i agree with them. i agree with the whole supply and demand. it seems to me that despite our increase, the problem is growing worse. would you agree with that? >> yes sir. >> you have any ideas? >> i think we need more resources at the federal government level, not just dhs, but d.o. g and four needed to send data effort to deal with this effort. i hope congress can get some recommendations from you. >> quite frankly i've not seen anything like this. when i travel to new hampshire and hear the governor say it's

an epidemic in her state and throughout the midwest as well. maybe also some time we all talk about demand, but nobody seems to want to discuss that aspect of it as well. i know that's disappointing to you. finally, on the children showing up the border, is one of the answers allowing increasing our embassy and consulate capability in those three countries, el salvador, nick water growth and guatemala so they can go there rather than showing up on our border? >> yes or, i agree with that. i think you for the good work that you do. we have some spirited discussion from time to time, but i appreciate the work you are doing. finally, as nancy reagan inaugurated, maybe we ought to be talking more about trying to

address the demand side of this problem rather than blaming it all on the mexican cartels. i'm glad to blame it on them, but there is a demand. do you agree? >> i agree. you have to deal with the demand in the supply. >> pinky mr. sec. >> thank you senator mccain. we mentioned earlier that what i've come to in this committee and the root cause is the insatiable demand for drugs. that is an important component. we are trying to work on a piece of legislation to address that. here's an idea, in terms of drugs at the border through course of entry, we held a hearing and i know you're busy with the armed services committee. it's incredibly interesting on canine units. the red teams, the failure rates because it is difficult to detect these things went to

university of pennsylvania where they've got a groundbreaking canine training unit there. there's unbelievable capabilities. in the hearing, we didn't really increase the number of canine units. i want your evaluation. in an approach to airport security for bomb sniffing and potentially drug sniffing and all those issues, do you think it is good to explore the efficacy and expansion of canine units throughout your different missions? whether it's drug interdiction or trying to potentially step out bombs in airports, that kind of thing. >> there's actually no better technology than a dog knows. they can detect certain type of

explosives and other items. i've seen us expand the use of canine set airports in the past year to look for prohibited items in airports and in and around airplanes. i do believe in canine use. it is very, very effective. there's a number of our missions that we use, not just aviation. >> we haven't really increase the numbers. is is that something you want to look at? >> i think about 2500 units totaling dhs, but it's been pretty flat. do you think it's so effective we should be looking at it more? >> i understand you had a hearing dedicated to exclusively this? >> canines are very effective. one the things i was fascinated to learn when i was in turkey last week is that they are not

as opposed to using canines there as one might expect them to be. they are embracing this too. i think it is worth looking at, yes. >> let's work together on that per the final thing, i want to talk about personnel. what do we need to do to take it to your sabbatical and come here, or whatever program we can come up with to attract those individuals. i am very impressed with the individuals like yourself and your entire team here. the quality of the workforce, these people are patriots and they take their mission serious about keeping this nationstate

safe in understanding the constraints. i'm a private-sector guy. i understand the constraints. we have to put our heads together and figure out what do we need to do so your department is staffed with the best and brightest. there are plenty of patriots in america that will do it. let's try and breakdown the barriers we create bureaucratically. >> we have terrific career people and i agree with what tom said which is we ought to appeal to people's sense of of patriotism and hey, how about spending a couple years serving your country, working for for the government and cyber security which will better enable you to get that traffic job later on in the private sector. >> they have a marketing ad campaign trying to make it really attractive to, not going to these apps, but go in and figure out how do you make an economy run with the information

technology. maybe we can do something like that. again, we want to work with you in terms of what senator mccain was talking about so the refugee and asylum seekers can do that within central america rather than making the dangerous journey. we want to work with you in terms of reducing our insatiable demand for drugs and the passing of nancy reagan is an important reminder. that actually worked. it was very effective about reducing demand for tobacco. we should try the same thing with drugs. again, i want to think your entire management team and thank you mr. sanctuary for coming here and for all of your efforts. this was not an easy job. it's an enormous challenge in your working hard to try to keep this nation safe and secure. thank you for your efforts. with that, the hearing record will remain open for 15 days until march 23 at 5 pm for submissions and statements to the record. this this hearing is dropped. >> thank you.

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