there must be whistleblower protection. can you address how you feel about whistleblowers and retaliation within the department. >> i would be happy to. should i be confirmed i would do everything in my power to make sure there's no retaliation. i feel whistleblowers are an important part of the way democracy functions and i was happily recently the president signed into law and other whistleblower due to efforts, but i believe within each department we need to ensure not only various environment of of trust and respect, but a safe place for voices to be heard.

it's vital we understand concerns of employees. >> let me also address contracting after disasters. we are all very worried about all of the americans. for the first time i believe, in my lifetime we've been unable to restore a sick living necessities to thousands of americans for weeks now. i'm confident you will get other questions about puerto rico, but i want to hone in on contracting you've awarded more than 2 billion in contracts, twice the amount the agency typically conducts in an entire year just since hurricane harvey struck. what circumstances do you think is appropriate to award no-bid contracts and what could you do

to prepare the agency with contracts that have been competed that could slide into place in the aftermath of a disaster. >> thank you for the question. should i be confirmed this is an area i would like to work with congress on. we need flexibility and accountability and agility in these contracts so in some cases we need to adjust the rules such that we can get the mission assignment to the people, but we have to make sure there is accountability and that we have checks and balances and internal control, so i'm not fully aware of every particular avenue fema has pursued, but i think what we need to be aware of is the innovation should be balanced with accountability. >> generally what i'm looking to here's that you have a bias against noncompete contracts. >> i think it's a very last resort in my opinion. if it's life-and-death there may be circumstance-- >> that's my point and what i really hope happens is that you

begin a comprehensive effort-- we know these disasters are coming. we know there will be disasters, natural disasters across our country. i believe a lot of this is climate. that's another discussion, but in order to have standby contracts that can be competed that takes leadership from dhs and fema. of course you have to knew it no-bid contract if you have nothing prepared for the moment when you need thousands of people restoring electricity. >> i agree. i think we need better modeling and based on that modeling and understanding we need to work with state and local governments to have this contract in place predisaster. >> you and i discussed yesterday one of the biggest concerns is our ports and my colleague to the left here and many other and

senator johnson all of us are so concerned about the public health crisis that grips our nation in terms of the death toll from opioids. we know a lot of this is coming in-- in fact i think if we do a close analysis we will see more in the ports. meanwhile, we are adding more border patrol officers on the border to agents on the border and we can't-- we are cutting port officers where we need more manpower. thousands of folks are short. i will get you electric shock, but i would like to you-- for you to address a make a commitment you will look at this in balance and address it that we are actually potentially overloading the border control and ignoring the ports. >> senator, you have my

sentiment and i look forward if confirmed to working and understanding needs on the border. as you know and we talked about combination of personnel and technology. technology can always serve as a supplier if implemented correctly. we need to understand where and how the director coming in, the best commendation resources including personnel to combat that. >> how did you like that, mr. chairman, three seconds. >> senator portman. >> first, thank you for your indulgence. first, welcome and again we are delighted by stepping up to take on this important role in one thing mentioned earlier was congressional oversight and there's been frustration expressed in this committee over my tenure on this committee the

last several years that we don't get the kind of responses that we need to do effective oversight and this is not a partisan issue and shouldn't be and as the chair of the subcommittee we have worked on a totally bipartisan basis and done but-- good work, but it requires the administration to be responsive. i would say it might be helpful to give a specific example rather than talk generally and it has to do what-- with what senator mccaskill talked about with focusing on the supply side with drugs coming into our country. i won't get into detail about the investigation, but we are trying to get information from the front lines as to what's happening with regards to looking at packages. we know that no is the number one killer in my state of ohio, increasingly the drug pushing out here when another opioids. most of it comes from china. private carriers as you know

have to provide data which we will talk about in the second. traffickers use the postal service and we want to know how to stop this poison from coming to our community and we all in this committee have focused on the demand side and not important, but we also know if we can stop the poison from coming and it will save lives and at a minimum cost, so we went to interview the online people who are actually doing the inspection of packages at jfk, at your other sites were yet the post op is bringing in overseas packages. we are told by dhs those are two level people and yet interview the supervisors and we can persistently introduce the supervisors. they don't have the information. i will tell you even the supervisors refused to look at the e-mails to provide us responsive answers which was frustrating.

they told us to talk to the online people, so dhs refuses to allow us to talk to the online people and we go to the supervisors and they say we don't have firsthand knowledge, talk to the folks on the frontlines i went to give you that is a specific real side-- real concern we have and i think it the senator here he would echo my concerns. we don't want to go to subpoenas, but we will and i would just like the commitment that you expressed to me in private in our meeting about this broad topic that you will work with us to enhance the responsiveness of the department it's a big strong department with the challenges and a layering. we want the commitment you will work with this committee, which is the committee vested with the responsibility to provide oversight of her dhs to respond to congressional inquiries. [inaudible]

>> to be very clear with respect to the policies regarding oversight and transparency. i believe those are keys not only to leadership, but to the effective partnership required to combat the threats today, so you would have my commitment that any question you have we would be responsive and provide you the information you need to do your job which helps us do our job. >> a message from the top is important and again my colleagues, both sides of the would appreciate that. on this issue of drugs coming into the country, let me ask you about an initiative. most members of this committee have been involved in the stop act that says with regard to private carriers you have to have the advanced electronic data as to what's in the package, where it's from and where it's going, be able to

identify those packages and stop some of the poison coming in and i has seen the facilities of these private carriers. at the post office, there's not that requirement through the postal service. in 2002 congress required private carriers to do it. that was 15 years ago and even today the post office is pushing back, so what i would like to hear today from you is your commitment to getting legislation through. it's simple. it says the post office has to require the same advanced electronic data so your folks can identify this poison coming in and we talked to cpb and they are interested in this legislation. they need this tool and when we talk to postal inspectors and law enforcement, same thing. the legislation has not moved in part because the post office has pushed back and in the last two weeks the commission the present formed on opioid specifically is the stop act, so it's now on

record officially. can you give us your commitment to help us get this legislative fix in this one area completed so we can make progress keeping the supply of the drugs out of the country's? >> yes, sir and should i be prefer-- confirmed i will provide technical assistance to make sure we can implemented effectively working with the us post office and border control to make sure they have resources and personnel they need to play their part. >> thank you. so many other questions. for the record i will ask questions with regard to security. this is one of the issues we struggle with. i will also ask questions on the management side for discussion earlier about the complexity of the challenge you have a particular workforce management, but we appreciate the fact you are here today with your experience and background to help break-- during a critical time. mr. chairman, please note i am yielding back 38 seconds.

>> i will note i appreciate that. senator. >> thank you, senator for yielding back i will utilize those 38 seconds. thank you for being here. assuming you will get confirmed hopefully montana will be on your docket for places to visit so you can look at a number of things your agency impacts in rural america and in the lines of airport security the law enforcement officer reimbursement grant, are you for my with those? >> can you repeat that? >> it's a program to help law enforcement agencies to secure local air force-- airports and i think it's eight important program and what i believe about it is that administration would have eliminated this program through their budget.

i think it puts a whole bunch of things that risk by doing that because it provides opportunity for weak links. my crack staff tells me the program is still at risk by the administration and i went to know what your view is on those and then i will have a follow-up. >> thank you. should i be confirmed it is something i would want to look into. there's a mix of ways in which the department of homeland security can work with state local officials. the area around the area-- you can walk in without screening, so there is more we need to do. dhs can provide training. they can provide information, so guess you have my commitment. there's a common nation of resources dhs needs to provide in working with state local officials. >> i would tell you that in the end whether it's called a different program or not, but

small airport security is just as important as big airport security so i would hope you would fight hard like that for that. i will speak for myself. it's-- i'm never been a big fan and there's number of reasons why. i think we can get this pounded out, but it will require visiting-- bipartisan visiting with a number of senators to make this work so that we don't end of doing things like in montana having to cause citizens additional dollars, so i need your commitment you would work with us on this issue to move it forward and like i said it would be they bipartisan manner to get the solution because it's been around as long as i've been here >> yes, sir. >> border security is a big issue and if i'm asking questions already asked, forgive

me. the president has been an advocate for a wall in the southern border. as you well know i serve as ranking member on the appropriations homeland security committee also decides this committee, so the question i have is from your perspective number one i assume you have been on the southern border? >> yes. >> you have seen it. what is your view on a wall and what's your view on technology? >> first of all i would like if i could to quote something senator mccaskill said at the beginning. the president has stated and it's something i share that there's no need for a wall from sea to shining sea. we need to work with operators and it should i be confirm i would look forward to speaking with officials on the ground, law enforcement to include cbp to understand where we need some sort of physical barrier. technology plays a key part and

we can't forget that. there's a lot we can do with technology. >> in a more cost effective way, i might add. there was a report due by your office august 3, i believe on a comprehensive review of what the plan is for the border. i did not pass my staff, but we have not received it and that may be one reasons we have it marked up that comment security is appropriations bill. number one i guess is could you see if you could-- assuming you get confirmed put the gas on the pedal to get that because i think it's really important we have a plan that we don't back into, but we actually have a plan moving forward for the southern border. >> yes, sir. i think should i be confirmed the plan needs to be linked to any appropriation. >> absolutely.

>> do you have any plans of the top of your hand-- had on port security? >> i think what i would say is we need to continue to evolve with the times, so everything from cyber security threats we now face to additional perhaps more innovative ways in which the threats-- >> is there any technology you know it that supports don't have that they need? >> i am aware of some additional screening equipment that we are looking up highly being and using at the borders. i'm not aware of constraints that the port environment might provide, but we need the best and brightest in terms of personnel and technology at the border. >> thank you very much and i would like the chairman to note i yield back a minute and 13

seconds. >> this is fabulous. i think we all appreciate a by the way. >> thank you, mr. thank you, mri won't disappoint you. you know it's coming, a question on the northern border. the northern border threat analysis was released in july after our bipartisan legislation that senator kelly and i cosponsored. obviously when we look at the northern border it's 5500 miles with a very very historic and significant partner in terms of canada, but that doesn't mean we could ignore our northern border threat assessment. dhs has committed to me that items such as improved facilities, better retention and better use of technology will address-- be addressed in this strategy, but that's only a first step in implementation must be prioritized during the

budget process. i'm going to ask a series of yes or no questions. would you commit to pushing in the next dhs budget for sufficient funds to execute the northern border strategy including funds to begin improving facilities, recruitment and retention at remote and rural locations and smart investment in technology to improve domain awareness? >> yes, i will. >> will you commit to me the northern border will be a priority if confirmed? >> it must become a guess. >> in order to understand, montana shares a border so if you want to come to montana, we will make it so you come to montana and north dakota at the same time and you will see that in border security that is particularly difficult in terms of recruitment and retention of staff and again monitoring and securing the northern border facility and that would be that wide-open space north all the way over to the montana border.

it's critically important we get more of your commitment on the northern border issues. another program within the department of homeland security, which i have taken a interesting is countering violent extremism section and we have not heard a lot about it, but obviously when the chairman went to a number of those incidents, a number of those are really home main: what kind of situations and we want to make sure we have relationships within the organization and within the communities to avoid radicalization, so will you commit to evaluating the program and dhs and reporting back to us in 90 days on your initial plans regarding the program, its goals

and its grants and how you intend to prioritize the mission of this organization, which i think is a little at sea at the moment. >> i think it's critically important and i would ask that you pay particular attention to that problem i was struck by your opening statement where you announced as we all do with the principles that you believe in the principles of our founding documents and what constitutes our country and one of the great founding principles of our democracy is that we are a nation of laws and i think over the last couple months we seem to find policy announced in unconventional ways and policies challenged in court's in ways that doesn't advance the goal of the administration. just delays the goal of the administration, but yet we aren't shearer who's doing the policy and how we can affect seamless integration and

implementation if dhs isn't involved, so wanted to just give you an opportunity to respond to this question. if you are, in fact, confirmed and you determine that a policy announced from the white house is in fact potentially illegal and going along with what dhs is able to do within not law or regulation and it's otherwise not in the best interest of dh as or the american public will you take up and repeat the president's statement of policy before congress and of the american people and then that the law of regulation to fit the policy that's been stated or will you tell the president and the white house that he has proposed limitations on his power and otherwise it's outside the bounds of law and regulation and beyond what is good for, in fact, the department?

>> thank you for the question, senator. i fully intend in all cases and always to comply with all laws. i would expect the same as any employee or member of dhs and i also would answer your question yes and tell the president if i thought of to clear policy violated the laws of our country that perhaps more importantly it would be my intention at every instance to speak with him and other white house staff prior to any announcement of policy to make sure they understand operational constraints, legal constraints, resource constraints and the insights of other stakeholders that would need to be part of the implementation. >> i think over the months we have had a suspicion that sometimes the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and you come from roles that have been supportive with deputy chief of staff, that kind of religion you are in a new role with this new job meaning you have to represents the constitution. you to fulfill your constitutional obligation and you have to be accountable to

this committee, so i would appreciate ongoing dialogue and making sure that that commitment is actually carried forth and so thank you so much and i would note that i left 48 seconds on the clock. >> duly noted. senator peters. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here. and for your willingness to serve in this capacity and i also want to thank you for the opportunity that we had to meet in my office to discuss a lot of specific issues related to michigan and i appreciate that opportunity and if confirmed look forward to working with you on-- going forward. we have seen an uptick in hate crimes across the country and in my state of michigan recently and i'm concerned that this administration has failed to give these incidents the full

weight at attention they certainly deserve. purse, do you condemn white nationalism and white supremacy? >> absolutely. >> do you condemn anti-semitism? >> yes. >> do you condemn islamic phobia >> yes. >> i ask because if confirmed your tone and rhetoric as the secretary will be extremely important for the men and women who you lead as well as for all of the american, so let me turn to an incident in charlottesville, virginia. do you agree the individual charged with the murder of heather was a white nationalist or at a minimum guided by extremist ideology? >> yes, as i understand it, that's the case. >> as a potential leader of a massive and diverse workforce do you agree with the president's comments related to the charlottesville incident namely there were are fine people on both sides?

>> all i can say is what i believe and what i would do should i be confirmed, which is that i disavow any form of violence whether it's anti- somatic, white supremacist, any kind of radicalization, anyone who chooses to expose their thousand through violence and should i become secretary i would do all in my power to work with state local government and communities for awareness and also to provide that key information sharing that enables them to anticipate such threats. we cannot tolerate it. >> well, in the aftermath of charlottesville, they are urging congress to broaden the scope of the current countering violent extremism programs. nevertheless many nations leading civil rights and community groups including the american muslim communities has been focused disproportionately on mod for smit led outreach and

it's flawed and counterproductive in many respects. want to be very clear, law enforcement should in my mind continue to engage community leaders across the country. that's important. however, this engagement should in some ways be decoupled from efforts and without adjustments the current approach often permits and i have heard this from folks in my state the perception of mistrust, perception that are routinely exacerbated by divisive and polarizing messages-- messaging, coming out of the trump administration so my question is what are your thoughts on reframing the dhs mission to focus on engaging communities through a full range of government programs and agencies. for example integrating the department of education, health and human services and others. you can expand on your thoughts. >> i believe it requires both

fall weight and strength of the us government. there are many different avenues in which we understand individuals become rather a lot-- radicalized so the short answer is yes. should i be confirmed i would work with the other cabinets to utilize tools and resources and information they have, but i believe the only way this works is to constructively and continuing engage communities. we have to build that environment of trust and respect so they feel they can come poured in a safe way, not face retaliations and have alternatives to an otherwise valid path. >> if confirmed will you commit to studying this issue and include the prospective american ethnic and religious minorities in that assessment? >> absolutely. yes, sir. >> as you know secretary kelly visit my home state of michigan early in his tenure, which i appreciated the cheekily with that arabic community which is large in that state and i hope he would visit----

[inaudible] >> acting secretary duke said she would provide this committee with information related to the portion of dhs budget spent on the messy terrorism versus international terrorism. will you ensure that happens if confirmed? >> yes, i would. >> an ohio man was charged with murder following that charlottesville incident. of the department of justice has also opened up an investigation. as you know unlike international terrorism there is no domestic terrorism statute on the books. do you think legislation is required to address domestic terrorism? >> sir, that's a good question and as you know i think many americans in the wake of charlottesville were surprised to learn there is no such crime as domestic terrorism.

that doesn't mean the fbi and department of justin it, state local law enforcement don't have laws and tools they need, but should i be confirmed it would be a conversation i would like to have early on with director rate and the attorney general to make sure we have the tools we need to prosecute such activity. >> do use any shortfalls now you are concerned about? >> no, sir. i intend to study them. >> but you do plan to have a thorough review? >> yes. >> i look forward to working with you on that as well. do you support laws and policies allowing police and other authorities to demand proof of citizenship or immigration status based on their perception of that an individual might be undocumented? >> i do. i believe in forcing the federal immigration laws of the united states and i defer to state local laws which i would also comply with and have any employee should i be confirmed who works with me to comply with as well. >> so, in your support to

clarify what's in your mind what would constitute reasonable suspicion and how with that differ from racial profiling? >> i would have to understand what states would argue the difference would be. i would do that and be happy to report back if i am confirmed or as a question for the record. >> very good. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman and good morning and congratulations on your nomination. thank you for meeting with me in my office last week. i appreciate it. before i get to my first question i will add to the course of those of us who have states with a northern border that we are looking for real attention to the northern border reports and the improvements we should make on the northern border, but i wanted to start the day just on the issue of really are strategy in combating

isis. as you pointed out as a former dhs chief of staff and current white house chief of stack your family with with challenges of the department and the nature of the terrorist threat to our homeland and for the past several years dhs has led the effort to address foreign fighter flows to the us and allied western countries to iraq and syria. today, the so-called is crumbling with the isis stronghold having been taken by allied forces. that thousands of foreign fighters who joined isis' links could form as former fbi director james comey put it a terrorist group that could seek to carry out attacks on western countries. in your response to committee questions you alluded to steps you take if confirmed to address emerging threats and the next generation of terrorist threats. i would like you to specify what steps you will take if confirmed in the first 30 days to address

the threat of our terrorism. >> thank you. first, what i would do should i be confirmed is to speak in detail with the leadership at dhs currently from intel and analysis, but in general i think what we have to realize is the threat has changed, so what we see now are more of an inspiration, less directed attacks, but they are no more dangerous when they are inspired and the other challenge we face with inspired attacks which we see throughout the world and particularly in europe and unfortunately here as well that terrorist or would-be terrorist, people inspired by terrorists are very common-- >> so i understand because iraq time constraint what concrete actions would you take. one of the reasons you have broad support is because you have been there recently and are ready to lead.

>> i was sick awareness, outreach and ensuring our intel with space leading towards a different model making sure we use a joint task force like mentality within the department to make sure we leverage all the different parts and to be very clear in prioritize with the threat is making sure we address today's threat and not yesterdays or the month before. >> thank you and i will likely follow up with you on that a bit. i also wanted to follow up on some questions you've heard about countering violent extremism. you referenced in your answer to committee questions that dhs must increase its capabilities to address terrorism exploitation at the internet and social media for radicalization. you talked just now about the need to constructively and continually build up relationships, but can you tell us more about how you would do that? >> yes.

dhs has been working with the providers, social media providers and that's something i would commit to continue. we need to find the terrorist substance on the internet and remove it. we know they are using it to inspire and instill propaganda and perhaps cause confusion as we have seen in other circumstances, but the internet social media are vulnerable to such manipulations and in the we need to move-- work in partnership to remove that. >> you also mentioned in our meeting in our office the need to partner moms and moms and i am trying to get at what you mean by that. >> well, we have heard and my reference was to some of the different association, nonprofit organizations, ngos and partners we spoke to when i was at dhs. they count in their experience the best practice in the best way to do community outreach and increase awareness was to work

with those two groups of participants, so-- >> sorry for interrupting, but my time is short's. dhs has a unique office called the office of community partnership that does exactly what you are talking about and what you referenced in answers to a couple of questions now, but while you are at dhs as chief of staff the number of personnel in the office was cut in half. grants program was eliminated and the director-- [inaudible] >> what's more, you rescinded previously awarded grants made to several organizations. among the groups that had their grants rescinded was a group of performed white supremacists working to pull others out of violent white supremacist groups in the muslim public affairs council, which has a track record of engaging muslim american community throughout the country on this issue, so can you tell me the reason why

you took these actions at dhs specifically why did you resend grants that had been carefully vetted and how does this harmonize with your desire to increase dhs capability to address terrorist exploitation of the internet. >> i think the short answer is it was an attempt to make sure any grants distributed would in fact be affected, session note awards were pre-awarded if you will just prior days to the new administration and what then secretary kelly did was put a hold on the award, the final announcement of those grants and asked the office of community partnership to look at the metrics so we could build the metrics in the front and to make sure any taxpayer money was successful. taxpayer was one consideration as well-- >> so, the question is what has been done since because i would assume those metrics could have happened by now and it's not my understanding that we have issued more grants and meanwhile

the office has been cut in half, so it doesn't lead to a real desire or sense of urgency. >> should i be confirmed i look forward to hearing about the results of the grants, so they have been awarded as you know, but it's been four, five, six months depending on the grants. with the metrics in place it will continue and i'm hopeful we will find best practices we can then scale and work with this committee to ask for any additional resources, personnel etc. we would need. it's a vital part of what dhs doesn't we need to make sure we do it in a very effective way. >> thank you. >> senator harris. >> thank you. on september 5, the administration announced it was ending daca and prior to that date were you part of any decision-making process to

terminate daca? >> prior to that iran-- i was instrumental in putting together the policy process at the white house so there was a series of meetings with an inner agency at various levels of government that are either helped coordinate in terms of establishing process and in some cases i participated as a deputy, as one of the deputy chiefs of staff. >> so you are part of a meeting held in the white house in the roosevelt room in late august that involved attorney general jeff sessions and white house senior adviser stephen miller and dhs acting secretary at the time elaine duke? >> i believe so, yes ma'am. >> as you know, more than two months have passed since the administration decided to end it daca for nearly 700,000 young people and during our meeting last week with the issue of daca was raised i was encouraged to say the unit work on this.

>> absolutely. >> daca recipients includes hundreds of thousands of individuals enrolled in colleges working fortune 100 countries and serving our military and every day since that announcement they wake up terrified. every night they are afraid there will be a knock on our door at midnight removing them from their home and carried apart their family. under these circumstances, do you agree legislation must be passed to protect these young people before the end of this calendar year? >> i believe we must and we zero it to them to find a permanent solution and it's no way to expect anyone to live, a month, two months at a time. >> while congress works on this issue and hopefully we will work in a bipartisan way and i have every hope that will happen, if confirmed will you commit that these young people will not be on enforcement priority while congress is working to fix the problem? >> yes ma'am.

>> in order to participate in the daca program the government asks these applicants to share personal information about themselves and their families so they could qualify for daca and a frequently asked question document available stated that their personal information would not be used for enforcement purposes. two weeks ago i sent a letter with 38 other us senators to dhs asking the agency to keep its promise by not sharing the information it demanded from the asian people to deport them your? name: not received a response. if confirmed, do you commit this information will not be shared for enforcement purposes? >> first, i commit to you we will get a response and secondarily yes, as i understand that there are extraordinarily limited circumstances that involves specific national public safety and to my knowledge there are no other reasons or exceptions to enable that information to be shared.

if there are any i commit to you to talk to you about it and work out a solution together. >> and it will you commit to this committee if confirmed that you will make that interpretation and then them-- information will not be shared and you will make that policy position clear to all members and employees? >> absolutely. >> thank you. at a september 27 series i asked acting secretary duke to extend the renewal deadline for daca recipients. it did not happen and it's been reported roughly 21000 recipients were not able to gather the documentation of the $495 required as part of the filing before the deadline. if confirmed, will you reopen the application process and allow these individuals the opportunity to renew

their status? >> i would commit to you to look into it. i'm not familiar with specific numbers, but if there are extenuating circumstances we should take into consideration i would look into those and talk with you further. >> i urge you that part of the extenuating circumstances that should be taken into account is a national survey that found 57% of americans say right now they don't have the ability to pay $500 of an unexpected bill and additionally there have been natural disasters around the country including in my own home state where americans have lost their entire blogging, paperwork and they are barely getting through the day much less have the ability to compile expensive-- extensive documentation and i urge you to prioritize that fact when you think of the extenuating circumstances. of february 20, dhs released a memo in quitting seven factors immigration enforcement and during a meet the press interview april 16, former secretary kelly stated quote just because you

are in the united states illegally doesn't necessarily get you targeted. quoting him. it's got to be something else and we are operating more or less at the other end of the spectrum and that is criminal multiple convictions or do you agree with that assessment? >> yes, i agree we should prioritize criminals and any others from a national security perspective. >> the deposition of criminal is what? >> i would defer to you, but i would follow the law and whatever the law tells me a criminal as that is what we would target nothing less. >> in deference to me and i appreciate that i would urge you to consider the definition of criminals to be people who have violated the law in terms of violations of the penal code and those are criminal as opposed to people who are undocumented and in this country because of situation such as dreamers when they were brought here is young

children and know no other home accepted this. >> the criminality that i would be talking about with respect to enforcement priority is above and beyond illegal entry. >> it's been widely reported between january and september of this year ice arrested nearly three times the number of individuals with no criminal history as compared to the same time last year. if dhs is a focused as you have indicated and if confirmed under your leadership on true criminal it's clear that the front-line officers have a different impression and if confirmed will you issue a written directive to the agents that they prioritize enforcement activities in a way that targets criminals to pose a public safety threat and not dreamers or daca recipients? >> yes. i understand that to be the current policy, but if there is any question we will clarify. >> in particular, will you agree to issuing a written directive to the

agents that that is the policy of the agency? >> yes. i would. >> ray. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here and for your leadership in the past and what you're doing currently to serve the nation and your willingness to go through this process. this is not a fun process. a hiring issue, customs and border patrol and several other entities within dhs, it takes well over the standard 100 days for hiring, which is again way too long for federal hiring process. customs and border patrol around 450 days to my car when a jet. there was a request putting in the password and additional $100 million to be able

to help fix that process. that's on top of the $65 million that was put in place last year to help on the process. that's $165 million to improve a broken process. my question for you is how do we get this fixed so it doesn't take 450 days to hire a person to help custom border patrol and why does it take $165 million to fix the process? >> good question. i think hiring is something that would be the top of my priority list if confirmed. set-- senator hyde mentioned specific concerns for the northern border. another area where you know we had difficulty not only hiring but retaining people you need to look at it holistic league. the system needs to keep up with the times, so whether that's the way in which we are advertising, and the way in which we allow those to apply. as i understand it some websites where jobs are listed the links are bad

some of this is something we have a low hanging fruit, if you will, but holistically we had to have internal control in place to ensure not only on the hiring side, but also retention and professional development. the cost, should i be confirmed, i would look into. >> let's walk through that. i serve on appropriations as well as homeland security here, so this is something i tracked carefully of something i think we can do for less than $165 million to fix the broken process, but at the end of the day we have to reform how we do hiring and what happens with hiring. senator tester brought it to you earlier a request that was brought in to the administration by august first, to get a comprehensive plan for border security and that's been mentioned by multiple entities. obviously the first part of this is the discussion of the southern border. you have mentioned we are not talking about awol from sea to suck

shining sea. technology in some places. we need to be able to not only the cost, but the strategy on the southern border and we will want to know the same thing for the northern border. there is a higher number of aerial systems on the southern border than the northern border for the northern border is more open quite frankly none the southern border and its 2000 miles longer so we need greater attention to the northern border and to be able to figure out cost. the initial cost estimate that came in the appropriations committee was about $20 million a mile for the construction of the wall 10 years ago when we were building 650 miles of fence that exists currently that was about two half-million dollars a mile so i'm trying to figure out why the cost has gone up 10 times in 10 years. we do have inflation, but it's not that great, so that's an area we need greater clarity on to determine how we are securing a border and

doing it with the taxpayers dollars in mind as well. >> i look forward to working with you, should i be confirmed. >> i appreciate that and we have spoken before about the election security issues and what we face with foreign actors trying to interfere not only with free speech, but our election process itself in one of the things i raised when we spoke last was about the length of time it took to notify the state they were currently probed by foreign actors. that is a lengthy time that's much too long, around 14 months and went they were actually notified you are being probed. we have to notify them, so the two main questions i will have for you to work together on, one is clearance for state elected officials to have a more rapid communication and the second one is at the end of an election time that

will work with states not to determine what their election system is. that's the role of the state. and their equipment is all the role of the state, to make sure a state can actually audit their election would be helpful to help in that process, so what i'm looking for his cooperation on dealing with things i would assume the american people will assume a bus will be done a year from now when there's a large scale election against. >> yes, sir and you have my commitment. when i went to vote this week in the virginia election i was concerned that the scanning machine started asking a variety of questions. i think we all have to be aware and work with the state and local in the role of dhs is to respond to requests from those officials and ensure that the clearance to receive the information and offer a variety of tools to ensure from the supply chain through to that dissemination that it is protected and i would also offer redundancy is important on the back end of the audit, whether it's paper ballots or physically moving the ballots as they do to california as

chaperoned by the highway patrol, we need to ensure that integrity of our electoral system. >> i agree. i brought this to several folks both in fema and now leadership with dhs that we have a long-standing issue where congress determines in the 1990s that nonprofits were eligible for disaster aid. that in the 1990s was redefined to say it doesn't include houses of worship so churches, synagogues and mosques can't get disaster aid and often those houses are the locations for distribution for food, supplies, clothing and everything else in the area, but they have been defined as not nonprofits which i think is an overstatement and i think we can try and help clarify and it's also something i think the administration has the authority to clarify what it says nonprofits it doesn't exclude faith-based nonprofits especially after the case earlier this year clarified from the

supreme court that we can't ever go to a house of worship and tell them you can't participate in your government if your faith abased. that gives an unfair decision for any house of worship to say yes, you can participate with your government as long as you give up your faith first. that's not something we will do, so to maintain a conversation along with senator tester to bring the real id issue in the main point for me as waivers and decisions on waivers and how we will settle the issues from the state in that zone making decisions and they need to be made as early as possible the longer it takes the more difficult it is to be able to arrange things around back. thanks again for your service. >> thanks for being here today and again, congratulations on your nomination and look forward to working with you. what are the key steps in your opinion to securing the border into enforcing immigration law and what are the key

metrics you will use to evaluate performance. >> i would say at the start metrics are vital. i just don't think we can effectively and efficiently spend taxpayer money without them, so we need to work with stakeholders, work with this command others to make sure we have metrics that are indicative of performance. lots of-- sometimes metrics can be designed in such a way to be a compliance exercise and that's not what we need. we need something to demonstrate the performance. having said that, the steps we need to take, i think we need to look at it as an integrated system. spent a little time talking about it's not just physical barriers. its personnel, training, technology, working with state and local and understanding a variety of things that may be needed in special circumstances. i look forward to reading the border

strategies that i know dhs is finalizing. should i be confirmed at that time i look forward to working with you in more detail, but i don't think this can work from a appropriations perspective without this metrics and i think they should be transparent, one that can be measured, repeatable and once we have the ability to update if they prove not to be as useful. >> and that also includes making sure you are enforcing immigration law within the country as well? >> yes. >> and in that needs to be measured and understood not only by dhs pot, but the general public as well. >> agreed. >> you asked, i think some of my colleagues have talked about the northern border and i want to emphasize the northern border as well. and went to ask for your opinion in regard to the use of unmanned aircraft technology for border security. >> i think it provides

us a very interesting capability as a force multiplier. to have that situation awareness and the sensors we now have available to us in a less to detect a variety of threats across our border, anything from something in the cbr perspective through to people, to illicit goods it's a force multiplier and we should be looking at it and ways in wish to integrate it as any new technology we need to look at the vulnerabilities to make sure we secured up front, not trying to add security on the back and >> you would support the use of unmanned aircraft technology as a piece of border security on board the north and southern border? >> if the operators and folks on the ground believe it can be useful , absolutely. >> what about defending against unmanned aircraft, whether that be at the border or even address it in terms of potential threats within

the country? >> that is the flip side in our use we would have to on the front and think about the vulnerabilities that they could provide or how they could be used to do us harm. we have seen unmanned vehicles, small ones from everything providing explosive devices through to unfortunately dispersal devices for chemical or biotech. we have to take that seriously. as i understand it there is work dhs is undertaking today on that, but that's when we have to watch carefully and including our planning and resources to combat. >> raises everything from privacy issues all the way to a potential threat, as you said. in grand forks, north dakota at the technology park which is part of the northern plains test site in the nation for ua yes we are already working on some of those issues and we have a partnership between, not only that test site, but

also the university of north dakota school of aviation with the u.s. air force. with the customs and border protection which has responsibility for 900 miles of border security all the way from the great lakes on the way out west through most of the montana border and then we have companies like northrup and general atomics, reaper and global hawk, so this is an opportunity for us to work with dhs on developing all of these things and so you and i have talked about this. again, i ask for your attention to looking at how we can partner with what we are talking about with this technology. >> yes, sir, you have my commitment. >> the other thing i want to ask about is we saw this attack in new york city and in this case the use of a truck.

talk to me about, not only how we prevent or do more to prevent those types of attacks, responded to them, but also how in your opinion we can address this radicalization of people either who are radicalized overseas or here in this country, so all three, you know, how do we prevent, how do we respond and how do we address the radicalization? >> onto the protection front as you know dhs offers a variety of tools and resources with respect to any soft target attack took its vital in my opinion that they continue to do so. should i be confirmed it would be something i would want to work with state local law enforcement to ensure they receive at the need everything from information sharing to vulnerability assessment of soft targets through active shooter drills and exercises formed with the fbi are crucial in ensuring they have

the tools they need. i would work closely with the department of justice to ensure we are offering everything we can from the federal government perspective as to the relic is asian issue in my mind we have to look at it in almost two different points pick the first point being why and how do or dozen individual become radicalized within our country, what are they reading, accessing, hearing and what are they not reading, accessing or hearing to enable them to become radicalized. .. >> showed at the conference i look forward to working with dhs but also to the many organizations law enforcement communities and international partners have looked at these issues to determine the best practices we can use to raise awareness and eliminate this

threat. >> that ability to network with all the other law enforcement agencies, security agencies, not only in this country but other countries such a huge part of what you do. you reference that and i think that's absolutely right. thank you for your willingness to step up and serve in a very challenging and demanding position, or report position. we appreciated. >> before throw to senator carper, want to follow down the same path for continuity. one thing i was struck by is in the recent new york terrorist attack using a truck, apparently he read the how-to manual on the internet that should what kind of truck gives you better maneuverability, two reels in the back, on the back axle so you have better chance of running over people. what is your understanding, i'm not a lawyer, of the lawfulness of that type of how-to manual on the internet and what you think

what to do in terms of -- we don't explore child pornography on the internet. it's illegal to download. what should we do in terms of that type of how-to manual, on the internet? >> i would offer i think we need to have a serious discussion frankly in conjunction with the executive branch and the legislative branch to really look at this issue of content. obviously our rules and values we hold dear enable each one of us to speak freely within this country. having said that there is a point at which certain very specific descriptions of weapons, how to conduct attacks. we often jump right into terrorist use of the internet but there's something before that. i do think we have to have that conversation and then work with those who provide and enable that information on the internet to find a a way to identify and remove it, should we determine that it's not appropriate. >> i will want to work very closely as you explore the because this is a different kind

of enemy. >> absolutely. >> the old way, the whole tools are not working. >> thank you for visiting with me earlier this month and thank you for being here today. one of the things, i want to say to senator mccaskill is glad to have you back. a number of bosons can elect to focus on root causes, not just addressing symptoms. take a short time. what would you say the root causes of hundreds of thousand people try to get out of central america, honduras, guatemala and el salvador to get to the united states? what are the root causes of that? >> yes, sir. i think it's, as we often say in common, what that means is the conditions on the ground unfortunately in some of these countries are such that the citizens believed to have a better opportunity if they go elsewhere. on that note what i would do should i be confirmed --

>> that's a good job. >> we could throw that in your, too. should it be confirmed is to continue to work in partnership with those governments. went to increase the prosperity there if there's a variety of programs you and i discussed including the invites prosperity but you help the committee find jobs, track the private sector, enable the community to be resilient in such a way that it and of itself provide the private citizens would want to stay. i also as you know feel very strongly that our drug demand in this country is also an underlying factor of that push, if you will. our drug demand is like no others. americans unfortunately we have a higher drug rate, not only death rate but use of illegal drugs in the country. >> that's good. as you know the comptroller general office produces heavy at the beginning with the new congress something called a high risk list and high risk ways of

wasting money. one of the things was, about four years ago was the fact were spending a lot of money in this country trying to prepare for and fight against the rising oceans. we see the messages of climate change every day. the oceans are going higher. do you believe it is primary cause like him being. >> was believe it, the climate is changing. i can't unequivocally state its only caused by -- >> that's not my question. >> there are many contributions. >> do you believe it's primarily caused by human beings? >> i believe that climate change exists but not prepared to determine causation. >> really? why not? >> is a duplicate -- >> there are people from almost 200 nations gathered, focus on this issue, on this issue of

them. 98% of our scientists, they say this this is a problem and where the root cause. if we have to sit there and say it's not really clear, somethings happening at a think it is clear and i will go on to my next question here i enjoyed meeting with you. i think you're smart. i think you are well spoken. i worry a lot about her leadership and your experience as a leader and a lack of experience. i've been privileged to have a chance to provide some leadership in 23 years in the navy, privileged to be governor of delaware for eight years and hopefully provide a decent leadership there. the i get me taking on an agency that 240,000 employees scattered all over the world and leading them in the right direction would be daunting for me. tom ridge, it was daunting for him. janet napolitano, daunting for her. jeh johnson, daunting for him. why should we believe that as smart as you are and is spoken as you are that someone, who as

far as i knows never led an organization of even 100 people, much less 240,000 is ready to take on this responsibility this large and out? >> yes, sir. so i'd like to offer, i have been privileged to have opportunity throughout life professionally volunteer and other endeavors to lead, give me a big part of managing is to be very clear about mission, to be very clear about roles and responsibilities, to empower those that are work with, ensure the of the tools and resources they need. many of the leadership skills that are brought me to this place are scalable. what i would do should i be confirmed his work with the operational components, ensure that my expectations of them are very clear, i believe in accountability and but hoped you would hold me accountable. i will hold others accountable but i believe we need to acknowledge successes. what i would be led by our my principles of leadership,

integrity, transparency, teamwork and unity of effort. i would work with her many women at dhs to ensure that only to have the tools that they need but that we consistently have the opportunity to audit, internal controls and hold them accountable. >> do you pledge, you may want to take this, do you pledge to respond to regional request for administration of this committee? >> you have my commitment. >> talk to us about the reorganization or possible realization national protection, nppd. whether through that agreement between you and become just like about what your views are. >> yes, sir. first of all i know it's been said many times i will sit quickly. i do think should i be confirmed i would be very much opted to work with you to change the name. it truly does confuse stakeholders. it eliminates some of the positive morale that comes from having a very clear mission statement. but leave it at that.

no talked about that and doesn't talk to with you but extensively. cyber is operational mission. other parts of critical infrastructure, security resilience today the operationl missions. so any reorganization should take that into consideration and find the best way to balance those who should get headquarters if you open the national capital region and those who should be in the field working draft with the owners and operators of critical infrastructure, the private sector and, of course, are still local travel territorial partners. there's more that we can do that i don't know that we need to do it, for any other reason then driven by the mission. >> thank you. i think i'm the only democrat i know that quote richard nixon to richard nixon once said the only people who make mistakes are those who don't do anything. i make a lot of mistakes. i've made a lot of mistakes in my life. i learned from my mistakes and suffered from things i've done well. talk to us about a couple of the biggest mistakes and how you learned from the. >> yes, sir. a couple of my biggest mistakes

are, in general, i would say speaking, i have learned to speak quickly, clearly and repetitively when i disagree with something that is being proposed, is the best cause of action, the most effective way. i also blogged repeatedly through a variety of experiences that policy cannot be made in aa vacuum. it must be informed by those operators and operational environments. there are many times we all have that great ideas. they're just not going to implement in the way that which is the original intent. i would also say resources go hand in hand with any policies and strategies. authorities must be looked at in terms of the best way to leverage of them. there have been times when i have perhaps adjusted -- suggested a new authority was needed from a a policy perspece only to find out upon further examination that there was authority. adjusted to be differently leverage. do a complete review before looking for additional authority

is very important. >> richard nixon would be pleased. >> senator daines. >> it's nice to hear you quoting richard nixon there, senator carper. i have some close but -- >> do you do an imitation? >> i was quoting john f. kennedy this week, so good bipartisan quotes. it's great to see you again. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you for your service. thank you for your willingness to continue serving our nation as our secretary of homeland security. regarding leadership i think it's a fair question from a senator carper. i will note that two prior signatures of homeland security both have stated that you are a leader for our times in a letter that was submitted to the committee, as well as the son of a u.s. marine, a 4-star marine sat right there not too long

ago. in fact, he put his full confidence in you to lead that organization working with them tells me a lot about his confidence in your leadership. i have a lot of confidence in general kelly, secretary kelly, chief of staff kelly here at picking great people to lead organizations. so i'm confident of your leadership abilities. ms. nielsen, one of the greatest successes this administration is been the revolt of president trump's signaling the message will enforce its laws. this led to quantifiable improvements at dhs and the leadership of general john kelly, secretary kelly, with you as chief of staff. apprehension rates for illegal top was border crossings have dropped nearly 30% year to date, compared to last year. and someone sensing over a 60% reduction. drug seizures of increased by many measures, and morale has

improved as well. in your prehearing questioner used data border security was the highest priority from your risk perspective. as secretary how will you maintain this positive trajectory we've already seen mitigating the risk and further securing our borders? >> yes, sir. thank you. i would just offer i think deterrence plays a key part, deterrence and partnership. when i was at dhs as chief of staff under the secretary kelly, we had the opportunity to travel and meet with government officials in our southern neighbors. anti-taliban very publicly and speak directly to the people, in some cases please don't take this dangerous journey. it's dangerous to you, dangerous to your children. you are putting your life in the hands of those who have no other concern for you than the money that they can take from you, trying to smuggle you or traffic you across the border. so i think the constant communication with the partners

is important. deterrence is important in the part of deterrence i think general kelly was her successful at is making very clear we will enforce our laws. it's why don't we do so. we will do so shoud i be confirmed, i intend to do so. we also need that nicks on the border you and i talked about that's not just people come not just physical barriers but it is that technology and the policies and procedures that enable us to send a quick response ask something similar simple as a road along a piece of physical barrier enables us to monitor it and respond should a threat to be able. so that's a variety of things we can do in conjunction with state and local governments that i would plan on continuing. >> i appreciate your comments on the humanitarian side as relates to what's going on where you are enforcing the law, in fact, that's having on children, on vulnerable young men and young women, both coyotes that you

mentioned. when we see a four-legged coyote in montana we have certain response that it will talk about here, but let's just say i'm grateful to see both the hard number results were seen coming out on the southern border now for your leadership but importantly the soccer area of helping these women and children, young people to otherwise be very vulnerable to what happens. ms. nielsen, as we discussed, i spent 28 years and private sector before i put a suit suit and tie on and came up this hill, 12 years with a global cloud computing company. we face cyber threats daily. we were delivering security for customers, many of which were fortune 500 clients. you also have an extensive background in cybersecurity. recently in columbia falls montana the school district was hacked from overseas. they were using the stolen data of children and faculty to make

very violent and very direct threats. crimes of this nature surpass the authorities and the resources of state and local law enforcement, and we were very grateful for and dependent upon resources coming from the federal government to get to the bottom of this threat. as the sect of homeland security income if confirmed, you will lead the whole of the government cyber efforts. how will you work to make our citizens and their personal information safer from these worldwide attacks? >> thank you, sir. and i did enjoy our extensive cyber conversation. thank you for having that with me. i think we would look at information, the threat has changed. if i were sitting and even ten years ago talk a lot about confidentiality. data breaches continue to this day as you know but what is perhaps more concerning is the building of those who would do us harm through the internet to

change the integrity of that information, or the ransomware and other attacks to make it not available. so it happened in example that you gave, was there both able to get in, take information the id then use it for nefarious purpose. that's different than the more traditional criminal data breaches waving to do with over the last 15 years which still exist but we have morphed now and perhaps more dangerous area. in particular the integrity of information whether were talking about control systems or your blood type, my blood type. i would like it to be correct should have a need to go to the hospital. so ensuring that we have integrity of information, we have resilience built in, redundancy for key assets to include information becomes vital. when i look at the way in which we have worked as a department of the last 13 years, i think it is served as well to develop and create partnerships within the private secretary of state and local governments. what we need to do perhaps as an

extent, the next evolution is to look across sectors, across regions and to really look at those critical assets and critical pieces of information that we need to ensure that we are protected. in my view there is an enhanced federal in and that protection. >> thank you. i'm out of time. the only other concern have about where this is all headed is in the area of quantum computing. the fact our nation very likely may not be in a leadership position anymore in terms of that kind of technology ability for perhaps others to break encryption, and that threat is over the next hill here that is looming even closer as we speak. i look forward to seeing you in montana. i didn't get a chance to talk about the northern border but we have one and we would love to take you up to the northern part of our state and take a look at what's going on there with our northern border. thank you. >> it would be my pleasure. >> i share your concern we are

not having to leadership on quantum computing. that is something we need to keep our eye on. we will start a second round. senator mccaskill, i will defer my questions to the end. >> i know that you are very involved in an after action report on katrina when you work in the bush administration. if confirmed, when you commit to a public after action review of the federal governments response to harvey, irma and maria? >> yes, ma'am. >> i i want to talk briefly abot counterterrorism in the budget. there's just pretty aggressive cuts in the budget. while we're committed to increasing the funding for a border wall come for immigrant detention and interior enforcement, it is severely cutting programs like the viper team which are essential in our airports, cutting those teams from 31 down to eight.

also the urban areas security initiative, which is very important to cities like new york where we saw the terrorist attack recently. that they tell my security program, state emergency management performance grants, completely zeroes out the law enforcement reimbursement program that also serves our nation's airports, completely use the the countering violent extremism program, completely zeroes out the complex coordinator terrorist attack program. the total is $582 million have been taken out of these programs. let me ask you first come are you aware at this point whether nick city were not in any of these grant programs in their response to the deadly attacks that occurred there recently? >> i don't have any doubt that they did. >> i would love for this committee to get information, if you are confirmed, as to how many attacks in new york city

have been prevented? because they prevented a bunch of them because of this funding, and what role did this funding plate in their response to the recent attack. do you know of any rationale for cutting the vipr team so significantly him knowing what is going on airports across the world? >> as i understand the determination was simple balancing of risk. there are variety of threats as you know that tsa faces not just in aviation but also in maritime and mass transit land. >> you think metrics have evaluated the risk on more wall versus the vipr team? >> i'm not aware of that particular cost-benefit analysis has been conducted but -- >> your predecessor admitted to us there's been no cost-benefit for the wall, none, none. we are getting ready to try to spend like i could jillion dollars on something there has been no cost-benefit done. i would certainly like, you're really good at metrics that i like to talk about metrics. we are discussing it informally

up here. i would really like you to take a swing at the metrics of the programs being increased in terms of real risk to our country come in terms of homeland security versus the programs that are being cut. because that's what the analysis should be. it should be based on politics. they should be based on the metrics of risk. and if that has occurred, frankly, it's going to surprise me. but if it has i will be the first to admit what you willing to admit a moment ago about making the state by inserting this is been done on the basis of politics rather than risk. and i will look forward to you give me back about. >> yes maybe if i could offer quickly. i think it has to be risk-based. i think that we fail when we don't look at risk across the department. frankly, across the interagency because there's other departments to play role in homeland security. i couldn't agree more it has to be risk-based. it can't be done in a stovepipe . >> it kind of dovetails with some the questioning of my

colleague, in that we all, no one here wants you to do anything but prioritize people are in this country illegally that are committing crimes. there is no argument there. there is no red shirt, blue shirt. there is no divide on that. but that's not what a lot of these resources are being used for right now. there are resources being extended that i don't think that analysis has occurred, and i'm particularly worried as it relates to some of the funding that has really joined state and local law enforcement with the federal responsibility of homeland security. the more we abandon those programs that knit us together, the more vulnerable we are going to to an attack. i will look forward to getting back to me on that, and i will yield the rest of my time. >> thanks, senator mccaskill. let me chime in on risk-based because i think there's another component that has he risk-based but also combined with our other effective solutions.

if there's an easy solution, you have to country on that as well. senator harris. >> i join issue with senator mccaskill on this point about resources, and just as a point of emphasis on priorities, we discussed this earlier of the previous administration prioritize violent and serious crimes, and any conduct that would pose a risk to national security. do you agree that that should be the highest priority with limited resources, serving that is worthy resources you go in terms of deportation and enforcement action. >> yes, ma'am. >> on october 24, 10 euros girl by the name of rosa maria hernandez was being rushed to a hospital in corpus christi for an emergency gallbladder surgery. customs border patrol officers stop the endless and then followed it to the hospital. immediately after rosa maria's

surgery was over she was arrested and taken away from her family. current dhs policy prohibits enforcement actions at or near sensitive locations such as hospitals, schools and churches in less prior approval is given or extension circumstances is. despite a vicious at the hospital after surgery was over. if confirmed, you commit to maintaining dhs' policy as relates to sensitive locations? >> i do, and should any further clarification be needed i would ensure that that occurs. >> and fact on that appointment -- point, i would urge you to actually issue guidance to agencies, to the agents, if confirmed, that this policy exists in this type of thing should not happen again. >> i would and in conjunction with the commissioner and director. >> thank you. in your questionnaire used it as dhs chief of staff you have a

job of overseeing 240,000 dhs staff and had resources and budget related decision-making authority and responsible for the office. last week the dhs office of inspector general issued its annual report on major management and performance challenges based on the department. and the report reads court dhs often failed to update and clarify guidance and policies, ensure full and open communications between employees and management, offered sufficient training and reduced administrative burdens. call reports are replete with examples of insufficient training to enable and enhance job performance. have you read this report? >> yes, yes, i have. >> and you are probably aware that the inspector general issued a a similar report last year? >> yes. >> so the obvious point there is a sense of been no improvement since last year. if confirmed, will you agree to report back to this committee

within the first three months by what you put in place to correct course, any particular emphasize the importance of training the employees of dhs and clearly communicating policies within? >> i will. and also my other two big takeaways from the report were they focus of effort and that we have internal controls smi leadership. >> have had experience of running a law-enforcement agency of almost 5000 people as attorney general of california, it's good to be based on my experience that when you're running a large agency you cannot run just from the top down. it also has to be from the bottom up. that means clearly giving guidance and training in particular to the men, the good men and women who have the authority, the power and responsibility to enforce our laws. there have been many nominees who have sat in that chair with varying levels of appreciation of that point, but i would like

you to commit to this committee that you will prioritize training and clear communication and guidance to an agency of hundreds of thousands of people. >> absolutely. >> hanky. at agents and intelligence committee hearing, dhs assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communication asserted dhs was developing a policy to upstate secure the election system. just yesterday as you and you make in virginia and new jersey had election. if confirmed, what is the timeline particularly the deadline, and you and i talked about this in our meeting, for establishing and delimiting a dhs policy? >> yes. so as you are aware, then secretary johnson clarified that, in fact, election infrastructure is considered critical infrastructure in a partnership model, donating counsel has been created. since he spoke i verified that is, in fact, in existence today.

it works close with the election commission, uses third-party certifiers to certify the election structure and then also provides a variety of other vulnerability assessment and others. so should it be confirmed i would absolutely very soon upon confirmation ensure that we have reached out to all states and territories to ensure that they have what the need for local and state and federal elections. >> are you giving yourself a timeline by deadline to accomplish that? >> i will give myself one but i'm also cqi like to make that deadline in conjunction with the state and local officials and would be happy to report to you what that is. >> thank you. it has been reported the administration is moving forward on a policy that would lead to expedited removal of unaccompanied children who are rising at the border having fled and cargo violence. if confirmed, will you please share with my office any policy memos that the department is planning to implement affecting the processing of unaccompanied minors?

>> yes. >> are you aware of the administration's policy shift in that regard? >> what i am aware of is expedited removal as you know is limited in most cases to those who are from canada and mexico. i just didn't there's an attempt to work with congress to ensure that when appropriate anybody who comes with an illegal entry can be, if they are appropriately in a situation where the need to be deported to do so and expedited way to save them from being detained in our country, but i'm not familiar of any particular policy or other descriptions. >> you are aware though that the unaccompanied minor issue as it has been playing out in the last few years is not about the children of mexico or canada. it is a central american countries and, in fact, the five top murder capitals of the world. >> yes, ma'am. >> okay. are you aware of the shift in the administration's policy as relates to those children? >> to anybody from other countries that illegally enter

including those children, yes. >> what is the shift of a policy? >> as i understand it, united states i would dive into the policy papers and descriptions but as i understand it, the concern is right now the system is such did a variety of other factors that when somebody does come in illegally they are detained and sometimes their detained for quite a long period of time as you know. >> of running out of time so as to one more question. do you agree with a policy that would expedite deportation of unaccompanied minors who are coming from the central american countries? >> i believe in reuniting children with their families. if their families are not here -- >> are you saying you would deport those children to reunite with her family said actually put those children in the process of fleeing violence and what those children to be safe and in the united states? >> in the case i would want to work with you to understand more about the implications. >> thank you. >> i apologize for taking out of

order. >> that's all fine and appreciate it very much. i appreciate the chance to have a second round of questions. ms. nielsen, i just wanted to start by expressing my concern about your answer to one of senator carper is questions about climate change. when you're in charge of our country security come when you're in charge of our response to natural disasters you need to be a to rely on science and technology and consider and assess the science and technology that you are being advised with objectively. and put it well before politics. what i heard in your answer was politics before science. that concerns me very, very much. much. as governor of the state of new hampshire when we're dealing with natural disasters one of the first things we did was have great weather service, the national weather service on the phone advising us as to what we are going to see, what we going to be dealing with. in dealing with security

measures i had to rely on engineers and technologists about the power of certain kinds of responses to possible threats. so just consider this a concern expressed by me that if you're willing to dodge the question when 95% of the world scientists agree that the primary cause of climate change is human activity, that concerns me about your qualifications to take on this role. >> could i just answer that come if i could? >> of course. >> i was cut off from senator carper as well. what i would have said is that not only do i think the climate is changing but i think it is vital that we increase response change on modeling, are prepared and responses. >> of course it does, but if you're unwilling to acknowledge that the primary cause of it is human behavior and you are not going to be able to change the modeling appropriate. what we're looking for his people are willing to acknowledge that there is a huge an incredibly well vetted

peer-reviewed science that tells us that climate change is primarily caused by human activity. one of my concerns as many of your fellow, should you be confirmed, fellow cabinet members are also people who will not acknowledge the primary cause of climate change and they're often people who would be advising you in times of considerable natural disaster and threats. and they are not willing to listen to science theater. i'm going to move on to the question that i wanted to ask in the second round, but just hope that you might educate yourself about what science is about climate change and the primary cause of it. our country safe you really does depend on that. now, onto election security guy wanted to follow-up on senator harris line of questioning because according to a report from early october and title

russians to have an open path to u.s. elections subversion. dhs high-level outreach teams known as the government court any counsel which i think is what you're just referring to, are only just now reaching out to states to assess the election cyber needs. mr. chairman, i'd like to submit this article for the record without objection. >> without objection. >> and it seems that you just confirmed what this article said, which is that dhs has only tried to reach out to states chief election officials within the past few weeks. we are more than a year away from russia's hacked apart election. we just had gubernatorial elections in two states yesterday. we are just months away from the 2018 election cycle. why did it take so long for dhs to establish this government court needing counsel, and what actions did you take as dhs chief of staff to accelerate establishment of this council? >> thank you for the question

and for the opportunity to clarify. so dhs as understand has been working with states for many, many months, 14, 15 -- >> but the question is, my understanding is it just turned out to reach out to the chief election officer it's an absolutely critical step. >> i don't believe that is correct. when i was a dhs reinsured that following on the roof at secretary johnson did we establish what was called a subsector, coordinating council which is primarily the private sector site if you will come also a summit government folks on it. the gcc is a specific sister part of the partnership model. that was recently stood up in conjunction with the commission that is really focused on third-party certification of the infrastructure, not the vulnerability, not the monitoring or the threat information sheet which has been occurring since at least prior to january.

>> i hope you will read this article and we left for the discussions about it. my concern is whether, in fact, election security is really a priority for this president. >> it must be. >> and did you do anything in the white house to accelerate preparations to make sure that our cyber, election cyber systems were secure? >> only from a policy perspective. i didn't have any command or control or any assets at my disposal in my white house job, but yes, ensure that the policy process addressed any risks we face today. >> are you comfortable our states will be able to defend against russia's hacking efforts in the 2018 cycle? >> i would like to be in a place like an answer that should i be confirmed. i cannot to that now. i don't know. that should be the goal we should workings everything we can to ensure that that does not occur. >> so it is a priority adores to to ensure that the absolute bedrock of our democracy is

protected before our 2010 elections take place? >> yes, ma'am. >> we had your commitment if necessary to ask for additional funding, to ask for additional resources to work with the states to ensure that when people go to the polls, remember there is early voting in many states, they can be confident again that the election systems and each and every state our secure? >> we must do it in partnership, yes. >> thank you. i yield my time. >> by the way, i would love to work with you and other members because he should embrace a number of times in terms of the resiliency models we're using to design a hearing to look at that. one question i would want to have on the table during that hearing felt is if we spend literally billions if not hundreds of billions of dollars trying to address this science, this problem, what kind of bang for the buck do we get? again, i would love to work with you on designing a hearing to elicit the kind of information.

but let me start, ms. nielsen, my question is kind of down that same path. last week we held a hearing with fema director brock long who i believe throughout this process including the hearing conducted himself well with the unprecedented disasters his face with after 172 172 days on the. obviously government has learned a lot of lessons from katrina but one of my concerns, i i haa poster of their produced by the foundation showing a dramatic increase in the number of fema declared disasters. i'm concerned about the moral hazard, the reliance of state and local officials on the federal government to not only respond but also to understand exactly what the risk are what i think that's primarily the state and local responsibility. i believe, i think this is the question i have for you, you talk about the partnership model. who really is primarily

responsible for the response to natural disasters and what is the mecca dhs' role from the standpoint? what you understanding? >> i'd like to answer two different ways. first, i believe the primary responsibility is the state and local tribal governments. they know the committee, they know the quality was the best. upon request it is the role of the federal government to provide assistance. that can be in the form of funding from the disaster relief fund. that can be in the form of personnel, , additional surge capacity if you will. it can also be in training and exercises and of the preparedness activities pre-hazard in terms of the bang for the buck part of the question i think we need to look at it, , it's not a question of eliminating or eliminating what it is when providing over all but ensuring where doing it in the right way in partnership with the state and local government. perhaps there are some grants on the front end that can help them capacity builder perhaps there are other ways in which we can distribute money after an event

to ensure it is been effectively and efficiently. >> it seems to me after katrina and all the other disasters we learned different state and local governments are better prepared than others. that's a pretty important assessment that fema, dhs goes through to try to identify maybe point out to states there some best practices in other states that you might want to follow. having been involved with katrina and the after action report on that, what were the lessons? what with the primary lessons learned from katrina and what with the lessons learned from previous disasters that i really do believe set us up to respond and preplan from the last run of hurricanes? >> over all what i would say is i think all of the major disasters have shown us given the size and scope that our plans had to be scalable and agile. unfortunately, as yours here in dod and military construct, plan

rarely survives first contact. reason for that is because there's always contextual in terms of the given consequences of any given storm. the unity of effort concept i believe in strongly. it needs to be presented in a way that all parties understand the roles and responsibilities but also understand those could be different given the size and scope of the storm. katrina what we saw is we need to do more ahead of time. we needed to pre-position pre-. we needed to ensure those contracts that senator mccaskill mention were in place prior to an event so we were not trying to contact last minute. the rules and response was needed to be very clear, when was appropriate for the national guard to be included? when was appropriate for active-duty forces to be utilized as part of a mission assignment? a lot of it was learning the lesson that when something is that big and the scope is that complete in the local government as you mention in that case was

incapacitated, what is the additional federal and of this can we support? >> we've had a number of questions about the wall. i would refer you by the way as were designing the prototypes, i was in israel and the respond with a think 140, 150 my wall, built at $2.9 million per mile. pretty effective. that would be a pretty good mileage prototype. we were together at the southern border in san diego. one of the things i was struck by was the almost unanimous viewpoint of immigration judges about how over time based on presidents, often president cited by the ninth circuit we really have picked holes in our immigration laws that create the incentive for illegal immigration. i'm all for better barriers where they're needed but i think we do need to address the incentives created in our laws. could you speak to that issue? >> yes, sir.

something that actually had the pleasure of speaking at various capacities at the attorney general and other state and local law officials like those in san diego. the law has to to be clear for it to be not only for us to enforce it but for a to serve as a deterrent. so the more that unfortunately they are taking a ways if you will either the discretion of the application or the backlogs or to the lack of immigration judges, we deceive ourselves for not enforcing the law but didn't affect the law was meant to provide to begin with. certainly should be i be confid i look for to having this conversation with attorney general, understanding the need for immigration judges to quickly and competently enforce our laws on that part of the system, and to work with state and locals to see what's working and not working at their level. >> i look forward to working with you. as were trying to solve the issue of dreamers, from my standpoint but he may think is to stop the flow of chile coming

in from come stop incentivizing them to take every dangers journey on the train the call the beast. again i just want to thank you for your past service, for your instance serve as senator lankford pointed out this confirmation process is not particularly fun. as former sectors as i said in my opening statement you are agreeing to step in position with a very daunting task. i think you shown yourself very knowledgeable. you have a great deal of relevant experience. i think you for your willingness to serve. the nominee has made some financial disclosures, provide response to the biographical prairie questions submitted by the committee. without objection this will be made part of their record with the exception of financial data which are on file and available for public inspection in the committees office. the record will remain open until noon tomorrow. if members wish to receive

response to questions from ms. nielsen prior to anticipate committee vote on this nomination to more than the sum it question for the record by 5 p.m. today. this hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] >> this week the u.s. government made it harder for americans to visit cuba and do business in the country. rolling back some of the changes under the obama administration. a panel will look at u.s.-cuba relations hosted by the inter-american dialogue live at 9:30 a.m. eastern heater on c-span2. the national archives post three event on the vietnam war to commemorate the open up its remembering vietnam exhibit. live coverage starting at noon eastern on c-span. >> c-span, where history

unfolded daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable-television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >> congressional republicans have put out to tax reform plans. one from the house and yesterday the senate put out its own proposal. coming up with her from senate finance committee chair orrin hatch and other senate republicans talking about their tax legislation. >> today as chairman of the senate finance committee i'm releasing a chairman's mark for the senate version of the tax cuts and jobs act. legislation that, combination of years of effort to reform our nation's tax code. we've been at thisat long time n today's marks, marks significant step forward in this