vote:

vote:

pipefitter, vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to change their vote or to vote? if not, the yeas are 50, the nays are 49. the nomination is confirmed.

under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all of those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it, the motion agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to executive session to consider calendar number 624. the presiding officer: the -- all p those in favor saya. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, stuart kyle duncan of louisiana to be united states circuit judge for the fifth circuit. the presiding officer: mr. mcconnell: i senate a cloture motion to the desk.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on stuart kyle duncan of louisiana signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. mcconnell: i ask that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you very much. it's very exciting to have maile pearl with us on the floor just moments ago. certainly the first time i have seen a little baby on the floor of the senate and maybe a good symbol for the work the senate

will be doing in the future. congratulations to tammy duckworth and her husband. we are looking forward to seeing little maile as she grows and prospers and all of the chapters of her life ahead. i'd like to ask unanimous consent, mr. president, for quinn nugar have privileges of the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you very much. when accepting his nobel peace price, the humanitarian and holocaust survaifer elie wisele said, wherever men and women are persecuted because of race, religion, or political views, that place must at that moment become the center of the

universe. as we look around the world today, there are far too many places where men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views. but a place that really stands out is the nation of burma. the rohingya people have endured unimaginable pain and suffering. since august of last year with assaults by the military and nearby groups in burma, 350 villages have been burned. women and girls of all ages have been raped. over 700,000 rohingya have fled

their nation for neighboring bangladesh to escape this horrific, horrific assault. in just the first month of this crisis, doctors without borders says well over 6,000 rohingya were killed, including hundreds of children under the age of 5. as one u.n. advisor on genocide prevention has said, the rohingya have endured what no human beings should ever have to endure. now we are seeing the brutality of the burmese military followed by deliberate strategy of isolation and starvation. several times in recent years, nicholas crease t from "the newk

times" has reported on the rohingya. he entered the country on a tourist visa. he was warned by the burmese government not to do any reporting, but he did. he traveled to a total of five rohingya villages working hard to be able to see these places in which everyone was banned from going. back in november, a group of five members of congress went to visit these same villages, and we had two senators and three house members, and we were told by the government of burma that we would be allowed to visit the villages but at the very last moment, the government rescinded its invitation. two months earlier in september of last year, the leader aung

san suu kyi had said that burma had nothing to hide and the international community was welcome to come and see for themselves. so five members of congress went to see for themselves and for their constituents and to be able to report back to the entire nation but weren't allowed to see these camps or these villages that had been burned. but nicholas cristoff did succeed in going and here's what he said and i quote, what i found was a slow-motion genocide. the massacres and machete attacks of last august are over for now, but rohingya remain confined in their villages and to a huge concentration camp. and our systematically -- and are systematically denied most education and medical care.

and he continued saying so they die. no one counts the deaths accurately. but my sense -- that's nicholas speaking -- my sense is that the myanmar government kills morrow hinge ga by deny -- more rohingya by denying them health care and sometimes food by wielding machetes or firing bullets. matthew smith from the human rights group fortify rights said, and i quote, these tactics are right out of the genocider's playbook, underfeeding, systematically weakening the population has been characteristic of other genocides. we weren't allowed -- the congressional delegation wasn't allowed to go to those villages to see for ourselves. we were allowed to go to the capital -- to sittwe where the rohingya live. we were told we could visit the

muslim quarter. i am standing when i took this picture, i'm standing in the muslim corridor looking down the street. what you see is a police station at the end of the street and a barrier. this neighborhood is caught after from the rest of the capital. if you think of the early stage of the warsaw ghetto when people were not allowed to leave the neighborhood, that's what's happening right this moment in the capital of rakhine state in sittwe. it's illegal for them to leave. in fact, the folks who live there have stores that have been locked up and shut for years because they're not allowed to leave this neighborhood and go open their stores. there is a hospital right around the corner and they're not allowed to go to it. instead, they have to get safe passage to a camp, an internally

displaced person's camp outside of sippwe, get to it, get a referral slip, come back to sittwe and get to the hospital. an incredible, difficult logistical challenges between this neighborhood and the hospital that's right next door. now, this happens to be in the capital where folks can stand along these fences and make trades for food. they can receive on their smartphones international support, but imagine if you took this neighborhood and lifted it out of the city and placed it out in the countryside where there's no supporting community around the outside. maybe no cell service so you can't receive money on your cell phone. there are 120,000 people living in these camps, i.d.p. camps in

rakhine state, 120,000. and then think of those folks who fled those 350 villages that were burned, that fled and saw their family members shot, their family members raped, their family members burnt inside of the huts that were torched in those villages. now what nicholas sl saying, the folks that remain are being subjected to slow-motion genocide through starvation and deprivation of medical resourc resources. this is beyond acceptable. that condition is a form of ethnic cleansing. it is a form of genocide. and the united states should be absolutely vigilant in leading the world to respond. now, those folks who fled the

safety -- fled to safety in bangladesh, they're also continuing to experience extreme hardship. this is a picture from the hillside where we were. there's still a few trees standing, but the trees have been coming down to provide firewood and to provide various little supports to keep the houses upright. mostly these little houses, these little shelters are being built on split bamboo that's split into a very tiny piece, tied up into a frame and then plastic is draped over it. hard to imagine what this camp is going to look like when the monsoons hit. the monsoons were supposed to hit a few weeks ago. they haven't yet. but they could hit any day now. and these camps are going to become a devastated mess when that occurs. there are now 900,000 rohingya,

700,000 from this last horrific year and several hundred thousand from previous episodes in which they were attacked by the military. terrible sanitation makes these camps a breeding ground for cholera, diphtheria, and measles. there's a lot of concern that when the flooding comes with the monsoons, that will be when the sanitation systems overflow, contaminate the water, and cholera epidemic will follow. as save the children and other organizations have said, the rohingya refugee crisis is a children's emergency. the camps are full of young men and women. this little boy here, he had built a little, tiny kite and was flying it around, just a

scrap of plastic and two little scraps of wood. and when i first saw it, i saw it fluttering in the air. what is that? and he brought it down and showed us here. you see the shadow on the ground. children just trying to be children, making a little toy. but this young man and the other children, they're the lucky ones who got out alive because the survivors tell us about infants being ripped from their mothers' arms, thrown alive into the burning fires. toddlers murdered in front of their families. countless teenage girls and even younger raped. infants and young children in both the i.d.p. camps and the refugee camps are still dying, a disease -- of disease and malnutrition. those surviving now have to grow

up in camps like this. where will they go? how will they thrive? they have to figure out right now just how to survive day to day. when i was in bangladesh and at this camp, there was an international group that had set up a tent and was enabling the kids to come and play games, to draw pictures, to sing songs. and this young man here -- by the way, here's congressman cicilline from the house side. this young man was showing me the drawing he had made that shows helicopters shooting at the villages. this is a piece of what these children had experienced. and many of them had drawings of helicopters and trucks shooting at the villagers as their families fled.

so i hope that the children have many joys like making and flying kites, but they are carrying the scars we cannot even begin to imagine. so now these children, homeless, without a school, access to minimal health care, have to figure out how to go forward. in one of nicholas' articles, he spoke to a 12-year-old child in a camp and asked him what do you hope to do when you grow up? that's a question we often ask children. what do you hope to be? what do you hope to do? and the child responded, quote, i don't have any dreams. that's a fairly heartbreaking response. young age. dreams crushed.

just the challenge of surviving day to day. every child in the world deserves to be able to dream. the rohingya in bangladesh today are facing an impossible challenge. they are in a refugee camp that is full of hundreds of thousands of people with inadequate infrastructure. they would like to be able to reclaim their villages, return home. and quite frankly, bangladesh, which is hosting them, would like them to be able to reclaim their villages and return home. but they can't do so without enormous effort on the behalf of the very government that sent its military to annihilate them. they need international protection. they need a change of heart of the leaders of burma. aung san suu kyi is a nobel peace laureate because she stood up for democratic process and

suffered years of home detention as she pushed to have democracy restored. so we in the world have expected her to stand up for this community and say it is unacceptable for these rohingya families to be persecuted, this community be persecuted in this fashion. but she has not stood up. and i know so many members here have encouraged her to reverse course and stand up and not be part of this ethnic cleansing and part of this genocide. only with her change of heart, only with her championship, only with her determination to have burma respected on the international stage and human rights respected in that nation will the return be able to happen. right now there's no expectation

this can occur. however, there was an interesting story this past week. earlier this week, a facebook post on the official page of burma's information committee showed this family being repatriated back, a family of five being repatriated. they were being checked out medically, receiving packages of rice, mosquito nets and blankets according to this post. but, you know what? no one really believes this story. there's no international agency involved in protecting this family. were they even refugees to begin with? we don't know. what we do know is that the story itself said they're not going to be able to return to their villages or their village. they're going to be sent to an i.d.p. camp, an internally displaced persons camp.

there's already hundreds of thousands of people in prison camps like this. so while this is meant as a public gesture to the world, burma is sending them to a prison camp. let no one in the international community be fooled. and the publicity campaign also showed them receiving national verification cards, but not citizenship cards. they're not being welcomed back as citizens. they're still being stripped of their citizenship. so even in their best effort to pretend that they're doing something positive, this family is being denied citizenship and sent to a prison camp. the international world must respond. and how are we to do so? let us all encourage the president of the united states, our president of the united states, to speak about this horrific international case of

genocide and ethnic cleansing. since august we've not had one word from the leader of our country about this horrific crime. we need to hear from our president. the world needs to hear from our president. second, we need to pass the repatriation resolution that has passed the foreign relations committee unanimously, calling for the safe and dignified, voluntary return of the rohingya people, that demands that the united nations must be part of any formal agreement. it has the unanimous support of the senate foreign relations committee. let's put it on the floor and have the unanimous support, unanimous support of the u.s. senate as well. third, let us have on the floor and pass the sanction bill called burma human rights and

freedom act. this, too, has passed committee. this targets the military that perpetuated this genocide. it doesn't allow those military leaders to travel to the united states. it doesn't allow military weapon sales to burma. it cuts off military cooperation, except for humanitarian cooperation and training. to target the military that perpetuated this crime, to send a signal that this is unacceptable. what else in the world, what dictator in the world is looking at what occurred in burma saying, we, too, can drive out a minority community we've gotten tired of? the u.s. must respond. and, fourth, we need to invest in the education of the children who are in those refugee camps. they're there with no schools. if it takes several years for them to find a permanent home,

if ever, we can't afford to then go years without education, without schools. let the international community invest in their education and let the united states lead in that effort. and let's give strong international support to bangladesh. bangladesh didn't have to open their borders to this flow of 700,000 refugees from across the river in burma. but they did. in a humanitarian way, they did. they said we will not let you be shot down on the banks across the other side. come and find refuge. but now the government of bangladesh needs international financial support. they are a poor country, poor in a way we can't even imagine. that nation is half the size of oregon, and when it floods, it's a quarter size of oregon. now, oregon -- my home state -- we have 4 million, 4 million citizens. bangladesh already has 160 million citizens. there is no space.

that's why these camps, they're crowded onto hillsides, carved into the dirt because there's no place for people to be set up on flat land where it's easy to establish facilities. those five things are what we must do. for our president to be a vocal international leader and bring the international community together, to pass -- second -- the repatriation resolution, third, to bring to the floor and pass the sanctions bill, the burma human rights and freedom act, to send a message to burma and to the rest of the world, to invest in the education of the children, and, fifth, to give strong international support to bangladesh, which is doing all it can but is in a very difficult spot to receive so many in an overcrowded and impoverished nation.

ellielie wiesel said, wherever n and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or personal views, that must become the center of the universe. let us then make burma and the refugee camp in bangladesh the center of the universe and come to their assistance. thank you, mr. president. mr. reed: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today to continue my series of speeches about russia's actions in the 2016 election and the threat russian aggression poses to the 2018 mid-term elections and our -- midterm elections and our national security. free and fair national elections are the foundation of our country. the framers created a unique

system that has stood up for over 200 years and has served as a beacon around the world. regrettably, russian hybrid operations and maligned influence against the 2016 election has put the sanctity and security of our democracy in question. our duty as citizens and as legislators is to recognize this crisis and take concrete steps to protect our democracy. we must force 0 climate of vigilance when it comes to election integrity. i want to take a moment to review what happened and offer some steps that we should take immediately. now, some may say there was no interference in that talking about russia's meddling against our democratic institution is fake news. i wish it were fake news, but the facts are very clear and acknowledged by experts of every political viewpoint. let me take a moment to review what happened before i discuss the threat and what we should do.

15 months have now passed since the intelligence community released its assessment which concluded that the kremlin interfered with our elections. this operation sought to weaken our democratic institutions, amplify and exacerbate societal tensions, and generally to sow chaos. clear evidence that the kremlin sought to influence the 2016 presidential election. the key findings were, we assess russian president vladimir putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the u.s. presidential election. russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the u.s. democratic process, denigrate secretary clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. continuing, moscow's influence campaign followed a russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations

such as cyber activity with overt efforts by russian government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries and paid social media users or trolls. russia's state-run propaganda machine contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform for kremlin messaging to russian and international audiences. in february of this year, leaders of the intelligence community appeared before the senate intelligence committee and reaffirmed thesifiedings. in a related action in february the special counsel's office issued indictments against 13 kremlin-linked trolls for conducting, quote, information warfare against the united states. with the purpose of interfering with the u.s. political lect electoral processes, including the 2016 u.s. presidential election. these tactics are aspects of a larger coordinated operation of hybrid aggression conducted by the kremlin using the broad

spectrum of military and nonmilitary tools at its disposal. the main tennesseeests -- the main tenets are information operations with cyber tools which people commonly think of as hacking, propaganda and disinformation, manipulation of social media, and maligned influence which can be deployed through political or financial channels. furthermore, throughout this hybrid campaign, russia has denied its involvement and engaged in deception to hide its fingerprints. russia recognizes that for now it's military capabilities are limited relative to the united states and nato and it will seek to avoid a direct military conflict with the west. instead, russian tactics leverage their strength and exploit our open society and free markets in ways that they hope will have a strategic impact without leading to conventional war. as laid out in the russian

nationalist strategy of 2016, the kremlin's approach to how they respond to conflict includes weaponizing tools and resources from across their government and society. the russian strategy states, quote, interrelated political, military, military technical, diplomatic, economic, informational and other methods are being developed and implemented in order to ensure a strategic deterrence and a prevention of armed conflicts. this strategy describes the conventional and nonconventional arenas of warfare as the kremlin sees it and how russia has utilized all the tools and statecraft to engage an adversary without, in many cases, actually firing shots. these different disciplines can be called a russian hybrid approach to confrontation, below the threshold of direct armed conflict, which has been developing and escalating since the earliest days of putin's rise to power.

russian attacks have not ceased since the 2016 election. as the former f.b.i. director james comey so pressentl press - presciently stated, they'll be back. the kremlin has been emboldened by the success of the operations to date and warned that hybrid operations will continue. at a senate intelligence committee hearing in february, c.i.a. director pompeo confirmed that the impunity has seen -- intelligence community has seen russian intelligence to affect the 2018 midterm elections. d.n.i. director coats stated that our will conduct more cyber operations. the agency heads from across our intelligence community agree with this assessment. warps from our current and former intelligence officials

appear to be spot on. there has been a steady pace of russian operations deployed against us, our allies and partners with varying degrees of inintensety. the techniques unleashed against us as laid out by our intelligence community would key ploy with maximum intensity during last year's french presidential elections. there was also evidence of hybrid operations against the german federal elections held in september of 2017. kremlin-linked trolls targeted the people of spain, exacerbating divisions during the referendum on catalonian independence. outgoing national security advisor h.r. mcmaster said we have seen initial signs that the kremlin is using tools from its hybrid arsenal against the upcoming mexican elections. at the last month's poisoning of the former russian spy and daughter on british soil, an estimated 2,800 linked bots were

unleashed to amply ply decisions among the british people. while the majority of the interference appears to have come from russia, others are catching on and deploying these tools as well. as highlighted in the "economist" last week, a coalition of i understand indonesian religious extremist groups used propaganda and disinformation to affect a local election in jakarta last year. the front-runner, a christian, was false li accused of insulting islam and huge rallies were organized against him. in the end, he lowest to a candidate that had -- he lost to a candidate that held the support of muslim groups. this more overt interference has been coupled with covert information operations augusting social media to smear a candidate they deem not muslim enough. a second christian candidate in an upcoming indonesian election

in a country that has estimated a 90% muslim population. and has been featured in a video that falsely claims to be part of massive church building campaign. with voters in this area spending an reasonably of four to five hours a day looking at social media, videos and messages have quickly gone viral. as this example highlights, these campaigns don't even have to be sophisticated. they use the tactics out of the kremlin's playbook and they indicate how ubiquitous this type of activity is becoming across the world. we also continue to see evidence of the kremlin and kremlin linked agents deploy hybrid schools to sow division to amplify he social tension here at home. we don't have to look far for examples. kremlin linked trolls flooded twitter with messages intended to sow division and

disinformation in the wake of the tragic shootings in las vegas and parkland florida. one candidate gained 1,100 russian origin twitter followers over a three-day period with many of the accounts appearing to be artificial. january, the press reports indicate that fancy bear, the russian military linked hackers penetrated and perpetrated attacks on democratic national committee in the 2016 election, have been attempting to penetrate the e-mails of senate offices in the runoff to the 2018 midterm elections. kremlin propoganda outlets continue to try to capitalize on open press and public debates to amplify division. in sum, kremlin and kremlin linked agents are still trying to hack us, our allies, and partners to fuel their information operations.

they are still using trolls and bots to manipulate social media and targeting us with disinformation campaigns and still deploying propoganda. in the absence of strategic action to detear these kinds of attacks, russian sees the 2018 midterm elections as another prime target. despite this threat and multiple warnings from our intelligence community, the trump administration officials have testified to congress dating back to last spring that the president has not directed his cabinet or senior staff to work on a strategy to protect our democratic institutions. when i asked defense secretary of secretary mattis whether the president directed him to begin intensive planning to protect our electoral system against cyber attack he was not able to point to any guidance indicating the president recognizes the urgency of the russian threat or the necessity of preparing to counter it during midterm

elections. on june 21, 2017, i asked officials from the department of homeland security whether the president directed them to come up with a plan to protect our critical election infrastructure. they responded no. on october 19, 2017 i asked leading officials of the pentagon, the f.b.i. and the department of homeland security who are in charge of protecting -l critical cyber infrastructure including our electoral infrastructure if the president directed them to counter the russian threat. they could not point to any specific direction coming from the white house to do so. on february 13, 2018, i asked the top directors of our intelligence community whether the president had directed them to take specific action to blunt or disrupt ongoing russian influence sreufrbgts. -- activities. i received no affirmative responses. f.b.i. director ray said he had

not been, quote, specifically directed by the president. admiral rogers who serves as head of the national security agency and cyber command responded, i can't say that i've been explicitly directed to, quote, blunt or actively stop. the other witnesses could not point to any directives to blunt russian influence operations either. on february 27, 2018, i asked admiral rogers whether he has the authority and the capability to disrupt hacking operations where they originate. he responded he does not have the authority from the president to go after these perpetrators and stated that the government as a whole has so far, in his words, opted not to engage. the bottom line is that the president has not directed anyone in the intelligence community, his cabinet or elsewhere in his administration to develop or implement a strategy to disrupt, blunt or retaliate against russia for its hybrid aggression against our

democracy. this threat is clear and it only grows as we move closer to our midterm elections in november. it is past time for the president to step up and provide strategic leadership against russian interference. russia has gone to school on our social and political divisions and our democratic institutions and will continue to adapt. they have learned how to exploit our vulnerability and planning future operations to hit our blind spots. we are fooling ourselves if we are only looking to protect against threats from the last russian operation. we need to be prepared to blunt what comes next. february testimony from the armed armed services cybersecurity subcommittee highlights this evolving threat. professor richard partnip, a cybersecurity expert said the election was the stone age

relative to the sophistication of cyberring activities we're likely to see in coming elections. russian expert heather connolly from the center for strategic and international studies testified at the same hearing. in her words, if we're preparing for what russia did in 2016, it will be very different in november. it will be very different in 2020. is it would look more american. it will look less russian. this is adaptation. we're already fighting the last war. as an article from the may issue of atlantic portrayed, we may soon find ourselves in an era where adopted images are used to further aspects of hybrid operations. new technology exists which can super impose a person in an activity they did not participate in. the genre is one of the cruelest most invasive forms of identity thefts in the internet era.

a casual observer can't easily detect the hoax. as was highlighted recently on a "60 minutes" show, we know the russians targeted elections systems in 21 states in the 2016 election, and that kremlin on kremlin link compromise websites or voter registration systems in seven states. the fact we have not yet taken steps to correct all the vulnerabilities does not inspire confidence for the 2018 midterm elections. as former f.b.i. agent and expert on russian information operations, clint watts said recently on "meet the press" that at this point we can't ensure the vote is accurate or not changed, and that his number-one priority would be protecting the elections and the vote ahead of the 2018 elections. we cannot continue to have a wait and see attitude with regard to the kremlin's hybrid operation because next time it could and likely will be worse.

they might actually be able to change ballots or tamper with voter rolls or carry out another operation stpwaoeurl -- entirely that we haven't even thought of. we are behind the curve in preparing our defenses against russian interference in 2018, these elections that are coming. even by the administration's own admission we are not doing enough. in an october 18, 2017 hearing it was asked of senator sessions whether the administration was prepared to counter russia and other add adversaries. attorney general sessions responded probably not. we're not. and the matter is so complex that for most of us we're not able to fully grasp the technical dangers that are out there. this is not an acceptable response to such a pressing problem. russia attacked the heart of our democracy and if we do not try to find solutions and guard our

infrastructure, we are derelict in our duty. one of the last acts of the obama administration was to deem election infrastructure critical which put it in a priority category for systems to guard against election interference. while appropriate and important, that is the mere beginning of a solution and we hardly have progressed in the last 14 months. i recently asked general scaaparotti, the head of european command on the front line of blunting aggression in europe whether we had a sufficient hold on government to combat hybrid operations. he responded that we did not have an effective unification across the government and affirm that additional focus was needed immediately because of the nature of the threat. we need a hold of government approach with the weight of the white house behind it. we need an approach that will enable coordination across the different agencies of our government and support effective

outreach and collaboration with state and local officials and the private sector, including the media. given the nature of russia's asymmetric aggression conducted below the level of conflict we must deploy a range of tools including cyber, diplomacy, economic sanctions, financial investigations to counter foreign corruption, money laundering and maligned political influence and strategic communications. this administration is not effectively deployed the nonmilitary tools in its arsenal and has been slow to respond in any meaningful way. the administration's dithering is exemplified in its foot-dragging in utilizing the state department's global engagement center to counter russian propoganda and its delay in implementing sanctions to punish russia. while recent actions to dispel russian diplomats after the poisoning of a former russian

spy and his daughter on british soil and a decision to implement sanctions targeted against putin's base of power are encouraging they do not add up to a policy of effective deterrence. in this regard i would note a former defense department cyber policymaker recently testified to the armed services committee that a standing joint interagency task force is required to bring to bear the right capabilities and resources spread across the government to respond effectively to russian aggression. such a task force would utilize expertise from across our government, including the intelligence community, the department of defense, the state department, the department of homeland security, and the treasury department and would allow effective coordination and collaboration on policy to counter russia. the minority staff report for the senate foreign relations committee on russian asymmetric operations in europe recommended a similar mechanism. i think this is a good way

forward and intend to continue to work with my colleagues on the foreign relations committee and other committees of jurisdiction on how best to stand up such a capability. the senate intelligence committee of which i am a member has recently issued recommendations to improve election security. the committee urges retaining state's primacy in running elections and providing them with necessary assistance, creating effective deterrence, improving information sharing on threats, and securing election-related systems. all these important steps and should be implemented without delay. several of my senate colleagues have thoughtfully incorporated these recommendations into legislation. the secure elections act. and i strongly support this effort. this bill would improve information sharing between federal government and local election agencies. assist states with cybersecurity preparedness and support them in

replacing outdated and insecure electronic voting machines. i thank senators klobuchar, lankford, collins and heinrich for their work on this bill and look forward to working with them on further legislation to protect the institutions that are essential to our democracy. and as i laid out, these operations against our elections are part of a broad pattern of russian hybrid attack against us and our allies and partners. as vice president biden, former deputy assistant secretary of defense michael carpenter reminded us in a recent article on foreign affairs, more than a decade has passed since estonia became the first country to see its government institutions and media organizations attacked by hackers based in russia. in the intervening period the risk of a far more debilitating attack has increased, but planning for how to defend it, against it has lagged. there are countries such as those in the baltics that have been dealing with these russian

threats longer than we have and developed approaches for countering them. the department of defense who regularly deployed eastern europe in the baltics made the unique position with state and local officials and explained procedures they learned from european partners. wr-rdz to building a -- with regard to building a credible deterrence, one of the key recommendations it does not appear we have mounted an effective policy against russia. as d.n.i. coats testified earlier this year, russian influence operation in cyberspace are intended to achieve strategic objectives and will continue less and until there are clear repercussions for russia. in february lieutenant general knack sew knee testified to the armed services committee that the russians amongst several other adversaries don't fear us and have said not much will

happen to them in retaliation for cyber attacks. cyber command rogers testified to the armed services committee that vladimir putin has concluded there is little price to pay for russian aggression against the united states and has no incentive to is to be hybrid attacks. outgoing national security advisor mcmaster's last remarks admits that we have failed to impose sufficient costs on russia. in the absence of presidential leadership to stet a policy to send a message to our foreign adversaries that we will not stand for attacks of this nature, the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2018 requires a comprehensive plan from the administration to counter russian maligned influence. that plan is overdue. the act also requires the president develop a cyber policy including any capabilities that may be used to impose costs on adversaries in response to a cyber attack or malicious cyber

activity. there is no time to waste. and i urge the administration to deliver these strategies and actually implement them, which would work towards imposing costs on our foreign adversaries. i intend to return to speak further on this issue as i believe the american people deserve a comprehensive explanation of the threat that faces our democracy. i also intend to work with my colleagues on additional measuremeasures to cure our elen infrastructure. none of this is to say that states will lose their primacy over elections. in rhode island, one of the states that has taken this very seriously, adopted new technology to streamline voting. my state is also working with the department of homeland security to shore up election security. but election security must be at that national priority and the federal government must be a reliable partner. and i must commend our secretary of state for her great efforts. one thing remains clear -- the

russians attacked our election process, the heart of our democracy, and are primed to do it again unless the administration provides effective deterrence. this is not a democratic issue or a republican issue. it is an issue of national security. as the old saying goes, fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me. we have no time to wait. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. mr. sullivan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the junior senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: thank you, mr. president. and today i rise, as i like to

do at the end of the week, to talk about somebody in my state who's made a real big difference in my state of alaska, in many ways to the country, and it is a good tonight for me to come down on the floor and talk a little bit about alaska, although my state does a really good job of selling itself anyways. it's what we refer to in my office as "the alaskan of the week, requestings "and it is a great opportunity to talk about not just the wonderful things that we have in alaska. those of you watching in the gallery or on tv, the wonderful mountains, oceans, how beautiful the state is the. right now the sun is out again and shining high, snow is melting, the buds are coming up, birds are coming back, but it is a really good opportunity for me to talk not just about the natural wonders but the people, the people that make alaska such

a great place. and, mr. president, while it doesn't get as much attention as it deserve deserves the incrediy fascinating and sometimes tragic history of my state, it is a good opportunity for me talk to my colleagues about that and the people who have worked hard and been part of that history and have helped to heal some of the scars that have been left from that the history. so, mr. president, along with talking about the beauty of alaska every week, we talk about someone who's made a difference. and this week i'd like to recognize dmitri philimanov and all the work he's done over the decades for his community and for his state and really for his

country. dmitri was born in 1944 to rena and phil izanomov on st. george island, one of the two principal islands of the privalov islands in alaska. surrounded by the bering sea, the privalovs are about 750 miles from anchorage and about 500 miles from the siberian coast. the privalovs are really one of the wonders of the world, particularly with the nature that's there. stellar sea lions, walruses, s seals, and depending on the season, more than 2.5 million sea birds. they call privalovs islands

home. the gallop gus of the north it is sometimes called because of this teeming wildlife. you'll also find the warmest, most resilient people anywhere in the world. the privalovs as well as the entire aleutian island chain has a storied and, to be honest, sometimes painful history in our country. a history that has shaped dmitri's life. first, when alaska was a colonial possession of russia, russian if you are seekers decimated the aleut native populations on these islands through warfare, disease, and, yes, even slavery. then 75 years after the united states purchased alaska during

world war ii, japan invaded and occupied kiskanatu island, the western most islands of the island chain. now, a lot of americans don't know that, that american territory was invaded and occupied by the japanese during world war ii. it was the first time since the war of 1812 that american soil had been occupied by an enemy. the japanese dug in and held these two islands in alaska until the mid-1940's, until 1943. when american forces recaptured kiss can a net -- kiskanettu in the brutal cold. that campaign to retake the island resulted in the deaths of

about 1,500 american servicemen, more than 600 were missing, and almost 3,500 were wounded in action. major, major battle of world war ii. less well known is the impact this conflict had on the aleut peoples of alaska. as a result of the invasion, nearly 900 aleut civilian residents of the pribilof islands and aleutian islands in alaska were relocated to temporary internment camps in southeast alaska. among those interned were dmitri's parents, two of his brothers, and a sister who was born in the camp. now, deme tree himself jokes -- dmitri himself jokes and laughs that in his words he was actua actually conceived in the camp. mr. president, the treatment of our american citizens -- these

are great american citizens, patriotic, serve in the military at higher rates than any other ethnic group in the country. but the treatment of these american citizens in these camps is a dark spot in american history that not many americans are aware of. the camps are basically abandoned buildings. conditions were all of, crowded, unheated, unsanitary. some even died in the camps as a result of these horrendous conditions. our citizens in our country. yet, like so many alaska natives, as i just mentioned, who were not treated well by our government during this time, dmitri, nevertheless, signed up when he was of age to serve his country in the military. in the 1960's he joined the army and served in the pathfinder

detachment at fort rucker, alabama, and he was an airborne soldier. eventually he made his way back to alaska and met his wife victoria and started a family. he is the proud father of five. and he began to work at the aleutian pribilofs island association, hard work, dedicated work, where he is now the president and c.e.o. of this association. the association has had numerous accomplishments under his leadership. since 1985 it has greatly expanded its programs for the people of the pribilofs and the aleutians and its budget has grown from about $2.5 million to more than $18 moll to fund these important -- $18 million to fund these important service programs under his leadership. for years he did something that was so important that this body

was involved with here in the united states senate. he worked closely with alaska's congressional delegation at the time. senator ted stevens, senator frank murkowski, and congressman don young -- to work on, educate the congress, educate the senate about this difficult history during world war ii and to help pass legislation entitled the aleutian and pribilofs island restitution act, which compensated surviving aleut victims of the internment camps where they again, american citizens, sent by their government during the war to internment camps in alaska. not many people know that history. he not only knew it, dmitri lived it, his family lived it. but what he did that was so

powerful was he helped heal it. he helped heal it right here on the floor of the united states senate. he then helped pass the aleutian pribilof restitution trust to oversee money ahe although indicated to rebuild some of the buildings, houses, in this part of the alaska that were destroyed during the war and the fierce battles that rage in my state during world war ii that not many americans are aware of. so that's a great life. that's service. did i my tree is also an artist, helping to preserve alaska native culture through his beautiful drawings, particularly of russian orthodox churches in the region, churches that he has worked tirelessly to maintain throughout alaska. these are beautiful, beautiful churches. a lot of talents, a lot of service, and he also does

incredible elvis presley impersonations. he is a man of faith, of perseverance and kindness and as i've mentioned here, and tried to highlight just a little bit of his life, he has devoted his whole life to his people, to my state, and really to this great nation. in may he will be recognized by his colleagues for this service and 40 years of humanitarian service and for helping heal the wounds of this country that came about during world war ii. so we want to thank him for all he's done and his beloved pribilofs, in alaska, in america, on the floor of the senate. and, dmitri, i want to thank you once again and congratulate you on being our "alaskan of the

week." mr. president, i'd ask unanimous consent that my following remarks appear in a separate place in the "congressional record." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: so, mr. president, i want to give a little bit of an update on what's been happening on the senate floor in the last few days because there's a lot going on. and i think sometimes it is important to explain to people watching in the gallery, people watching on tv, people watching back home in alaska on what's happening here. we had a big vote yesterday. twa as big vote particularly for my state but for the presiding officer's state of louisiana, any coastal state, on the coast guard bill yesterday. and it was a strong bipartisan vote, but we just missed getting 60 senators.

and to be perfectly honest, twas a disappointment. it was certainly a disappointment to the men and women in the coast guard who are serving our country all over not only america but the world, exceptional service. this body was unable to get the authorization bill that sets the policies and funding and spending for the coast guard, and that's, that was sad, in my view. a big disappointment. we have principled differences here in the senate, but on this we had been working hard. we had been working really hard across the aisle. i chair the committee, the subcommittee on the coast guard to try and make sure we had plenty of senators who would support this. so my team and i worked for months on accommodating my colleagues' concerns about the bill. pretty much every request for an amendment, every request for

fixing the bill, in certain ways we abg come tkaeulted. so i -- we accommodated. i thought we were going to get to the point where we had way more than 60 votes to pass this votes for the men and women of the coast guard to make our waterway, economic opportunities more efficient, put more maritime workers to work. but at the end of the day we couldn't get to that magic number of 60, which is so critical in the senate. disappointing to say politics got in the way, for some people who had committed before to make sure this got over the goal line weren't there at the end. we'll keep working on it, mr. president. it's too important for my state, too important for the country to leave the men and women in the coast guard and some of the other important issues we were taking up in that bill not completed. so that was the, what we call the legislative calendar. that's legislation on the senate

floor we're trying to move. we'll keep working in a bipartisan way there. now i want to talk a little bit about an issue as it relates to the executive calendar. what do i mean when i'm talking about the executive calendar? in the senate, under the u.s. constitution, we're in the personnel business in addition to being in the legislating business. under the constitution, we have a role, the advice and consent power of the senate to confirm the nominees that run the government that come from the executive branch. the white house, the president put forward nominations. we hold hearings and we confirm them. mr. president, i've been speaking on the floor a lot about this lately because by any measure, by any historical measure, the senate, unfortunately, has slowed down, delayed, and obstructed the

confirmation of members from the trump administration who we're trying to get confirmed to serve in the government. and that's also sad, that's also disappointing. the statistics are very obvious. a lot of us have tried to get the press that usually sits up there in the gallery to write about this. they don't seem to care, but they should care. the american people should care. whether you voted for this president or not, once somebody wins an election and they start putting forward people, good americans to serve in their government, what we should be doing here is holding hearings, seeing if they're qualified and then voting on whether or not to confirm them. unfortunately what's happened -- and it's all out there, by any historical measure, my colleagues on the other side have filibustered and obstructed this administration's nominees to serve their country at a

higher rate than has ever happened in u.s. history. now i've come down here and talked about this a lot, and i keep coming down to ask the senate minority leader and some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle why are you doing this? why are you doing this? let me give you one example. in this first not even 18 months of the trump administration, the filibuster -- that's a procedure used here on the senate that can require much, much extended debate, has been used more in the first 18 months than it was in the previous four administrations combined. why? well, the other side, at least i've been asking the question why are you doing this. they don't really have an answer. i haven't heard anyone explain it. i know they got part of their

base, you know, is really upset about the election a year and a half ago. but it's time to govern now. we've got to get people in place and just vote on them. if you don't like them, if you don't think they're qualified, vote no. but we have time and time and time again examples of qualified people who are being held two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine months for no reason. and it just doesn't make any sense, mr. president. so the reason i'm mentioning this is that there's now talk that not just in terms of a filibuster, but there's the possibility that my colleagues on the other side might, as a total group, all of them, might come together and all vote against the president's most

recent nomination to be the secretary of state. that's the current c.i.a. director mike pompeo. i certainly didn't agree with everything the obama administration did. but if you look at the history of the united states, particularly as it relates to nominees to head government agencies who run national security agencies -- the department of defense, the secretary of state -- these have typically been given a lot of leeway from the senate. so, for example, in my relatively short career here, i sit on the armed services committee. president obama put forward a number of candidates to serve in the government at high levels in the department of defense to help run our national security. one was the secretary of

defense. i didn't agree with him on everything. secretary carter, ash carter. what i did was i sat down with him, had discussions with him and we brought him up for a floor vote and i voted to support him. let me give you another example. the secretary the army. that's eric fanning put forward by pr*epl. i didn't agree with everything eric fanning was focused on. i sat down with him, had good discussions with him. he was being held by some republicans and i worked to try to get him freed and confirmed. they were well-qualified individuals. so, again, even if you don't agree with everything that an administration is doing in terms of foreign policy -- and there were elements of the obama foreign policy that i supported. there were a lot of elements that i didn't like. when they put forward well-qualified individuals, i thought it was the duty of the

senate to sit down with them, meet with them, discuss your issues with them, and then vote on them. and typically in that realm, the vote has been supportive, whether you're a democrat or republican. let me give you a couple of examples. secretary of state tillerson, he had 55 senators vote for him. secretary of state kerry, john kerry, 94 senators voted for him. secretary of state clinton, hillary clinton, 94 senators voted for her. condoleezza rice, i worked for condoleezza rice for a number of years, a phenomenal secretary of state. 85 senators voted for her. secretary colin powell, voice

vote. that means essentially 100 senators voted for secretary powell. secretary madeleine albright. i've gotten to nomad lynn all bright well over -- gotten to know madeleine albright over the years, have a deep respect for her. democrat. 99-0, that vote. warren christopher, another democrat. voice vote, that means 100 essentially. james baker, another great secretary of state i've gotten to know over the years. 99-0. you see, mr. president, this is deep history, where in this body you're not going to agree with everything with regard to a president's foreign policy, but on these kind of nominations, the history of this body and our nation has typically been to be

supportive. so mike pompeo, current director of the c.i.a. my friend from tennessee, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, bob corker, gave a speech earlier today. he talked about mike pompeo's qualifications. they are really impressive qualifications. he went to west point. by the way, he graduated number one in his class at west point. he went to harvard law school. oh, by the way, he was the editor of the harvard law review. this is a smart guy, at the top institutions in america. he served in the army. he served in congress. he was very involved in foreign policy when he was a member of congress. he was a businessman. and now he's the director of the c.i.a. probably in terms of an

individual in washington, d.c. that has insights on what's going on around the world in terms of our national security challenges, there's probably no one who has more insights on this than mike pompeo right now. so there is no doubt by any measure, by any standard, historical standard when you look at our previous secretaries of state, mike pompeo is well qualified. he's well qualified. but there is talk -- and i hope it's only talk -- that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are going to en masse vote against him. mr. president, this would be getting into some dangerous territory for the united states as a country. as i mentioned, the tradition in this body is to vote to support the president's secretary of state, particularly if he or she is a well-qualified individual. the other side has been

criticizing the trump administration for not having enough nominees for example, the state department. we need to get more nominees out. the white house needs to get more ambassadors out, more assistant secretaries, more undersecretaries. but as i've mentioned to my colleagues a couple of times, they can't have it both ways. they can't have it both ways. what do i mean by that? you can't say to the administration you need more ambassadors. you need more assistant secretaries. you need a secretary of state to run our foreign policy. and then when those people are nominated by the president, then you delay, delay, delay, delay, delay. that's having it both sides. that's having it both ways, particularly if it's a candidate like mike pompeo who's very well qualified. another criticism from my colleagues on the other side of

the aisle is that there's just too much chaos in the administration right now. too much chaos in foreign policy, domestically, internationally. and there's some truth to that too. i'm not going to deny that. but part of the reason at the state department there's been challenges is because this body has been slow rolling the confirmations of the nominations. again, you can't say we don't want the chaos, and then talk about voting along party lines to derail the nomination of mike pompeo, because that will actually continue and create the kind of chaos that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are railing against and say they don't want. and, mr. president, chaos in the

national security and foreign policy personnel world for america, that's not what we need. nobody should be for that. nobody should be for that. i want to submit for the record a "washington post" editorial from just a couple days ago. it says simply "confirm mike pompeo." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: now the washington has not been a necessarily a strong supporter of the trump administration, but right here their editorial is saying the senate needs to confirm mike pompeo. and they make the point that i'm trying to make here in my remarks, which is by rejecting or delaying pompeo's nomination as mr. trump juggles multiple crises around the world without adequate