question that the chairman asked. do you know why the justice department did not notify the defense counsel in each case of the task force's finding? >> i'm not sure that -- i'm not certain on notification procedures were back in 2004. i would have to get back to you on that. who was notified and who was not notified under the circumstances in which the decision was made. >> did the justice department share record with the fbi about what notifications went to the prosecutor? >> i would have to check on that, i'm not certain. >> okay. well, i hope there's one area where we should all be able to agree, it would be on this one. that defense counsel aught to be notified or the person in jail aught to be notified if there's other information to bear on the case. and chairman lehigh, i would like to work to bring public accountability on this just as we worked together in the army

crime lab issue a while ago. my next question deals with the airplane, but not your use of the airplane. it's a sensitive issue with you, so it is not about you. >> yes, sir. >> last month the associated press reported that defense secretary panetta incurred $870,000 personal travel to california using a government plane in accord dance with omb command to reimburse the pilots for the market rate. it is my understanding that the attorney general used fbi aircraft for personal travel. i understand that the fbi is charged for these trips along with the other trips the attorney general takes on non-fbi aircrafts, such as dod and faa planes. does the attorney general use fbi aircraft for both business and personal travel? >> he is required to use fbi --

not necessarily fbi, but he is required to use government aircraft so that he is in continuous communications contact. >> does the fbi charge the attorney general's use of the fbi plane against its own budget or against the attorney general's own travel budget? >> i do think it goes against our budget, but i have to check on that. the i didn't cancies between the billing of the department of justice and ourselves for the attorney general i would have to get back to you on. >> yeah. then the question comes, why would the fbi be paying for this? >> i -- i would have to look at that. it is probably historical. it may be that we are responsible for his security now wherever he is, at whatever particular point in time, whatever transportation he uses. and how that is specifically billed, i will have to go and check on. >> and it is my understanding according to my friend on the

left here, that this may have been a policy going back prior to this administration. if so, i still would like the information. then you won't be able to answer this, but i'm interested in the cost, so include that in your answer to me. and according to information provided me, the fbi may have had to lease a private plane because the fbi jet was reserved for senior justice department officials. would that -- >> we are -- the attorney general and the department of justice, the fbi understands that these planes are for investigative work. they are used for counter terrorism and criminal cases. and that any travel of the principals is second secondary to the use of the the plane for the investigative work of the fbi. >> i look forward to your responses to that. thank you. now on national security leaks, the fbi has reportedly opened an investigation into leaks about

the recent underwear bomb operation. it is my understanding that the information that was leaked may have compromised the ability of cia and our partners to do or use the same forces for similar operations in the future. i'm particularly concerned if the operation tactics were leaked for political gain as we have seen in the past with the authorized leaks from the white house about the operation to kill osama bin laden. do you agree with me that this leak was damaging to our national security to fight terrorism? >> let me start by saying that we have initiated an investigation into this leak. and also, as i think you indicated before that, leaks such as this threaten ongoing operations. it puts at risk the lives of sources and makes it much more difficult to recruit sources and damages our relations with foreign partners. consequently, a leak like this is taken seriously and we'll

investigate thoroughly. >> okay. i guess you have answered my question there, but the last point that you made was a point i wanted you to make. so i guess i would, regardless of political consequences, i hope you get to the bottom of it. our international parter ins have been weary of cooperating with us in the wake of the wikileaks affair in which our ability to keep their confidence was severely damaged. what effect do you think the leaks in this case will have on our ability to work with allies in combatting terrorism? >> my hope is that it will have minimal impact. and i know that there are discussions going on with partners oversees overseas to make certain that whatever impact there is is minimized. and precautions are put into place so that in the future it does not happen again. >> director mueller, you have identified fighting terrorism as one of the main priorities.

and in your written statement for this hearing you identified fiza attempts as a personal part. you encouraged faa and your colleagues in the administration, attorney general holder has sent a letter and initiated a proposal to accomplish that. i agree with you about the value of the faa tools and i support the clean authorization of faa. could you please describe exactly why the faa is so valuable, what authority does it provide that other statutes don't? >> well, it basically provides authority for intelligence agencies to gather or collect information on conversations overseas between persons overseas, non-u.s. citizens. and that intelligence is

tremendously important to our ability to analyze and predict threats against the united states citizens overseas and to the united states homeland itself. absent that, we would be in the dark when it comes to identifying individuals from overseas that harbor willingly or unwillingly persons to do us harm. one example i could give is the this case. it was recently concluded in convictions in new york. that is the case that benefited dramatically from the benefits of the faa. many of the other benefits would have to be discussed in a closed session. >> could i have just one short follow-up?

a two-part follow-up, is it critical we reauthorize faa this year. and is there sufficient oversight in checks and balances to ensure that the rates of u.s. citizens are protected? >> yes. it needs to be done this year. so we are not in limbo as we have been in the past awaiting legislation. and hopefully not having -- being carried for a month or so, but absolutely it is important to get it and get it quickly. what was the second part of the question, sir? >> is there a checks and balance system to make sure americans are being protected? >> i know the sit zeps offices are active in this. and also the intelligence committees as well as this committee in terms of giving oversight to this particular program. and to assure that to the extent

one can, that it is focused on those individuals who are communicating overseas and who are not u.s. citizens. >> senator cullen. >> thank you. i would like to thank you for your work to keep open the lacrosse, wisconsin, fbi office slated for closure. this decision will allow the fbi a better job at protecting western wisconsin and continue the strong local law enforcement partnership there. i appreciate your willingness to be attentive to my interest on this issue. director mueller, we all know this is national police week. and yesterday we honored officers who made the ultimate sacrifice included in the dozens of names to be added to the national law enforcement officers memorial this year is officer craig berkholz from the

wisconsin police department. as we remember the sacrifices of these brave men and women, we need to ensure that law enforcement officers have the federal support and the resources they need to keep our community safe. director mueller, last week at a house hearing you said because of the fbi's realignment in priorities toward counter-terrorism and limited resources, the fbi will have to, quote, prioritize in other areas, in particularly, in the criminal area they will suffer. could you elaborate a bit on that comment? >> yes, i actually think that the question was directed on the impact of frustration on the bureau. i think the question was something along the lines of what impact would this have on the bureau? to which -- and how will you handle it? to which my response would be to cut across all the programs.

it actually will -- >> we'll have to take a 7% to 8% cut across the boards. when we do that, we have to prioritize. and the priorities we have, counter terrorism, counter intelligence, piece nanlg is number two and siber is the national security. and you can not, particularly in the cyber realm, cut there. so you have to look for coverage or cuts in the criminal programs. and where we would end up doing it, i do not know, but one has to prioritize. we'll lose something in the neighborhood of 1,500 personnel if this goes there. it will be several hundreds of agents, almost 1,000 analysts, and almost 900 professional staff. it will be a very hard hit. but my answer was in response the a question about what would happen if sequestration hints.

>> how far would it be in respect to your ability to do the job that the fbi is required to do? >> well, there will be gaps in what we are going to do. we will probably have to ratchet back in the white-collar criminal program. we have thousands of agents now by looking at health care fraud, mortgage fraud, securities fraud, corporate fraud. we will, in terms of addressing gang violence around the country, we probably will have to cut back in terms of our task forces. our belief since september 11th has been me maximize our capabilities when we work in the complex of task forces. so we have hundreds of -- established hundreds of safe street task forces with one or two or three agents but leverage our capabilities with local law enforcement. we have to cut back in these areas. and that will have a, i believe,

an impact on those communities that do not have the capabilities of the bureau leveraged with the state and local law enforcement to address violent crime on our streets. >> director mueller, last week al qaeda recruited a suicide bomb tore blow up an airplane with a sophisticated device. fortunately, the informant was working for the cia. this was a tremendous victory for the united states intelligence. we were able to unravel a major terrorist plot and uncover a newly-devised weapon and obtain intelligence, but there appears to be a question whether this would have been detected by the airport screening. even if a more high-tech creep screening device was used, what

are fbi agents doing to ensure these types of devices don't make it onto airplanes? >> let me start by saying, in this session, i can't affirm that a predicate for the question, i understand the question with regard to the device. what we are doing is working with tsa, in particular, to ensure that any information we have, which would bear on tsa and department of homeland securities ability to pick up these devices, is in their hands so that we can make certain that we have the capability of alerting on these devices should another one appear. >> director m you can eller, counter terrorism remains your number one priority, the fbi plays a central role in protected american innovation and american businesses from secret theft and american espionage, which you referred to and estimated cost businesses billions of dollars every year.

the justice department has increased the number of investigations by some 29% in the last year. this big jump in the number of investigations suggest that is the problem may be greater than we previously thought. given the increase of investigations and the ever growing threat to american businesses, jobs and our economy, do you have the needed resources to continue to keep stepping up enforcement of economic espionage and trade secret theft? can we expect to see an increase in these investigations and prosecutions? >> an increase in investigations and prosecutions follows increase in personnel. we have now over 50 individual who is are focused solely on these particular cases. and quite obviously we have to prioritize the cases that we tackle. one of the major ones we had last year was make upload, take

down, i think you are familiar with the individuals in new zealand, but we are focusing, utilizing those personnel to focus on the most egregious cases we find. and particularly those cases which could result in harm to persons if there are false or inadequately manufactured products that are being sold. but going back to your point, this is a huge area. i can't report to say that we are making a huge impact on it. it would take additional resources. we would have to lock some up in regard to this same activity. >> senator hash. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, director. i personally have appreciated your service over all these years. you were nominated by president

bush for a ten-year term. in 2001 you were confirmed by the senate in september of 2001 with your ten your set to expire. in 2011 it was extended for an additional two years. i think that was a good thing to do. now if i had my way, we would keep you right where you are. i understand. >> my wife isn't hearing this. >> since your term will expire next september have you had any discussion with president obama about potential successors. >> i'm sorry, sir? >> have you had discussions with president obama about potential successors? >> i have, not recently. we had put a plan in place so that we would be prepared for the new individual when that individual comes on board. and we are preparing for 2013 when we would expect a new

individual to take the helm. >> i figured you would. a great deal of attention has been paid to the attention of ali masa duke. he has ties to iran. now this terrorist orchestrated a brazen botched kidnapping attempt of president obama that led to the deaths of five military personnel. he was in the custody of the united states military in iraq from march 2007 to december 2011 when he was transferred to the custody of iraqi government. and "the new york times" report from may 7, 2012, indicates an iraqi court ordered the release of dak duke. citing insufficient evidence to prosecute him. "the new york times" also reported that dak duke has been charged with, excuse me, war crimes including murder and

terrorist espionage before a u.s. military commission. is the fbi actively engaged with appropriate military officials on a plan to provide all necessary support and documents that would be needed for the prosecution of dak duke before the military commission? >> well, yes. not only would we be willing and able to cooperate with a military commission if he was -- if we obtained custody of dak duke, in the meantime we have cooperated with iraqi officials in providing intelligence and information for their proceedings in iraq. with several of our agents testifying in those proceedings. so we are frying trying to provide that information we have to the iraqi authorities in support of the iraqi authorities' charges against dak duke. >> and you are going to follow-up on that? >> we will. >> okay. your agency is conducting the investigation into the death of

border patrol agent brian terry on december 14, 2010. it's been a year and a half since this investigation began. in october 2011 a ranking gras house oversight and government reform committee chairman darryl isip wrote to you inquiring about the status of the investigation, the number of weapons at the scene and bolistabolist statistic tegzs. your agency didn't respond until may 4th, 2012, and the fbi's resauns only indicted that press reports of the third weapon were inaccurate. there was no other response to involve the status of the investigation. can i ask you, what is the status of the investigation? >> it's an ongoing, very active investigation. we, because of the seriariousne

of the offense and the loss of agent terry, any personnel that is needed, it gets top priority. because it's an ongoing investigation, i can't get into the details. we have when there has been a misperception out there of the facts of the case, tried to right them in the sense that there was a belief that there may have been a third weapon at the crime scene. indeed, there was not. there were two weapons uncovered. going in at this point of the investigati investigation. >> would you be willing to tell us who at the department of justice is responsible for overviewing that particular situation? >> is the department of justice? in terms of prosecution, the department of justice. >> who participated there in coming up with the idea and following through and giving these weapons to these -- >> that would get into the

details of the investigation. >> you can't get into that? >> i can't get into that here. >> you can't tell us who at the department of justice was in charge? >> i'm not certain that the particular united states attorney was in charge. i'm quite certain the criminal division would be in charge. i know this investigation is a high priority for allf us at the department of justice and at the fbi. >> the fbi has done great work in community outreach, particularly in relating to fostering a relationship based on shared security goals. given that the federal government has intruded into many aspects our lives over many years, it's imperative that federal law enforcement carefully and forcefully articulate that the fbi is there to protect them, not police them for unlawful conduct. i want to bring you attention to various flyers. one of the flyers which was received a great deal of attention, lists potential indicates of terrorist activities related to military

surplus stores. according to the flyer, customers who should be considered suspicious, include those who demand identity, privacy, insist on paying with cash, make bulk purchases of meals ready to eat, mres, in other words, and purchase ammunition. there are many americans this could apply to who have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism, and they're rightfully concerned with this type of government degree. on the bottom of the flyer in the smallest print possible, it reads each indicator is a lawful conduct. i think that disclaimer should have been very prominent and not hidden at the bottom of the page. this flyer and others like it, needlessly send mixed messages and have raised alarm among citizens. can you confirm that the fbi is not looking at people who

undertake such activities, and will you review similar documents before they're released? >> i will. we will, but i do want to put it in context. we do have what we would call trip wires out there. farm supply stores, ammon nm nitrate, if somebody by bys a substantial amount of ammonium nitrate, that's the type of thing we need to know about. other chemical companies where persons are making purchases that are highly unusual. a individual in texas who was in the midst of constructing an ied purchased chemicals from a company i believe it was -- it was in georgia or south carolina. the company came to us and said this is highly unusual. as a result of that tip, we were able to disrupt a substantial plot.

so we have a process out there, clearly, that having ammonium nitrate or camping gear in and of itself is not a crime. but i will, getting back to your question, go and review, have a panel review these to make certain they are done appropriately. >> thanks, mr. director. appreciate your service. you have given a lot of great service to this country. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. director mueller, as senator hatch pointed out, you have served both a republican and democratic demonstration. i have watched you carefully. you have never disappointed. and i think that's very impressive. i don't know whether this is going to be your last appearance before this committee in the form of an oversight hearing or not, but i did want to say that to you directly. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. as you know, title seven of fisa

foreign intelligence surveillance act expired december 21st of this year. this particular title allowed for electronic surveillance of targets outside of the united states. the senate intelligence committee as well as this committee has done extensive oversight over the government's use of these surveillance authorities. and we look forward to working with you to reauthorize the fisa amendments act well before the end of this year. i think we need to look no further than the recent aqap bomb plot to know that the threat is still out there, as you said. it's very real, and there is no question that they will attack this country if they can. for the benefit of members and so that the american people can hear directly from you about this intelligence collection activity, can you please explain the need to reauthorize title seven of the foreign

intelligence surveillance act? >> if we learn one thing in september 11th and one thing only, it was the need to share intelligence and gather intelligence to identify persons who would kill american citizens whether it be here domestically or overseas. the shock of september 11th in part was attributable to the fact these were individuals outside of the united states who were radicalized, who plotted, who then undertook the attack in the united states. we cannot wait until the attackers are on the shores of the united states to preempt plots such as the plot that was preemped last week. we cannot wait until the person gets on the plane and over u.s. territory in order to try to stop that plot. we have to know what is happening in yemen, we have to know what is happening in fatah,

pakistan, somalia, algeria, morocco, because in each of these places, there are pieces of the al qaeda that are operating and are seeking to attack us domestically. one of the key areas of insight into these activities is our ability to intercept conversations in a variety of media today. and with that intercepted conversations get a picture and an idea of what plotting is occurring overseas. if you take that away from us, take that pictures away us, if you take away the ability to gather this kind of information, we will be defenseless until a person crosses our borders. and we cannot allow that to happen. knl well, thank you very much. one of your legacies, of course, is going to be that you have put in place a very large intelligence component within the fbi, i gather it's above

10,000 people now working in intelligence. what is the actual number? >> we have approximately 3,000 analysts, but all of our 14,000 agents now in the intelligence community, you call them collectors. they're collecting, whatever they do, they're collecting information. and where asfor the most part in the past, we would focus on is it admissible in court, now it's collected to fill gaps. what do we know and what do we not know and how do we fill the gaps? we have 3,000 analysts, that has tripled since 2001. but also, the organization as a whole understands that we address a threat. it's not just locking up people. it's not just putting people away. but it's understanding the threat and preempting the individuals who want to attack. >> do you know whether a crimes report has been filed with the