coming occupy c-span3, a hearing on enforcing u.s. customs and trade laws. then defense secretary carter and joint chiefs chair general dunn ford on the military budget. after that, president obama presents the medal of arts and humanities. later, we'll look at challenges facing the u.s. intelligence community. now a hearing on enforcing u.s. customs and trade laws. customs and border protection commissioner gil kerlikowske testified. this hearing is just over an hour. >> good morning. the subcommittee will come to order. welcome to the ways and means trade subcommittee hearing on

executive -- or effective enforcement of u.s. trade laws. i'd like to extend a special welcome -- warm welcome to the honorable gil kerlikowske. i think most members know that gil and i were partners in the city of seattle a number of years ago. gil was the police chief in seattle, and i was the sheriff in king county, which is -- seattle is the county seat for king county. so we partnered on lots of things prior to coming to the jobs back here that we hold in washington, d.c. it's been a pleasure working with gil and to have him here this morning. as you know, he's the commissioner of the u.s. customs and border protection. and brings a lot of experiences with him that helps him lead that team. today we're going to talk about robust enforcement of our trade

agreements and trade laws. they are essential to ensuring american businesses and workers are treated fairly by our trading partners. strong trade enforcement goes hand in hand with the opening of new markets through trade agreements. it's part of our commitment to the american people that we don't just assign trade agreements and let our manufacturers, farmers, service providers and workers fend for themselves. if foreign competitors ignore their obligations, we'll call them out. u.s. customs and border protection, cbp, plays a key role in ensuring our trade agreements and our trade laws are enforced. and that legitimate trade is facilitated. customs serves as the nuts and bolts of trade. and a strong customs service is vital to our competitiveness, safety and security. offer the years, the volume and

complexity of trade has grown, and the challenges that we confront such as stopping the invasion of anti-dumping and counterveiling duties and protecting u.s. interlectual property rights have grown as well. as we face increasing competition around the world, we must keep legitimate trade flowing by focusing on our enforcement efforts of high risk trade. the trade facilitation and trade enforcement act, or the customs bill, which became law earlier this year, was the result of many years of hard work and commitment by the members of this committee on both sides of the aisle. in it, we established the necessary balance between trade and facilitation and trade enforcement that will help american businesses succeed and keep us competitive. streamlining legitimate trade will increase u.s. competitiveness in the global marketplace and create jobs here at home. the customs bill reduces

paperwork burdens by increasing the dimminimous threshhould where paperwork is not required from $200 to $800 as well as for the u.s. goods returned and for residue of bulk cargo contained in tankers. these improvements save time and money for our small, medium and large businesses that drive our economy. the customs bill also modernizes and simplifies duty draw back. in place since 1789. to increase accountability, the customs bill also strengthens and establishes reporting requirements for existing cbp trade facilitation programs such as the centers for excellence and expertise, trusted trade programs and the automated commercial environment. these programs cut the red tape in government, reward businesses for good citizenship and streamline trade.

the customs bill reporting requirements allow us to do our job as the committee of oversight, of ensuring that cbp stays on track with these programs, strengthening enforcement of u.s. trade laws is the other major pillor of this customs bill. enforcing u.s. intellectual property rights and counterveiling laws prevents our competitors from gaining an edge by cheating. the customs bill establishes tools for cbp and holds it accountable to clamp down on invasion -- evasion of anti-dumping and counterveiling duties. enhanced targeting of high-risk shipments by requiring information from brokers and strengthen interna controls over new imports. to protect intellectual property, the customs bill requires the cbp to provide right holders with samples to help them determine if imported products are counterfeit. i want to congratulate my fellow subcommittee members and thank them for their hard work on the

customs bill. former trade subcommittee chairman teaberry who led our efforts together with chairman brady. dr. vistani for his tireless efforts on the enforce and protect act. mr. marchant for his work on reducing paperwork burdens for residue in instruments on international traffic. mr. young for his good work on his diminimous bill and the country of origin markings on certain goods which is common sense approach to increasing transparency. mr. jason smith and ms. sanchez were also very constructive in working on the enforce protect act. we also worked closely with mr. blumenauer, mr. kind and others on the enforcement fund and they joined ef eed several members it force labor. and ranking member rangel was instrumental.

today we'll have an important discussion about cbp's efforts to implement this you critical law which if carried out effectively will enhance our competitiveness, level the playing field and prevent our competitors from gaining an unfair advantage. just on another note, mr. rangell. our witness today has to catch an airplane so we're going to be going to three-minute questions. i yield to the ranking member for his opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for calling this hearing. commissioner, we recognize your tremendous responsibilities and we are here to help for you to point out how you can be more helpful especially during crises that we're going through. we all are concerned about the forced child labor law. we understand there hasn't been enforcement over 16 years.

anti-dumping and intellectual property, the chairman has actually covered that. we recognize that you have to leave. we will keep our questions short and hope that you might do the same with your responses to facilitate your departure. and we join with you in support of the hearing, and how we can be legislatively helpful to you, chairman. i yield back. >> thank you mr. rangel. today we're joined by one witness, commissioner of u.s. customs and border protection, mr. gil kerlikowske. and as i said, we're going to limit questions to three minutes. he's going to shorten his opening statement, and mr. kerlikowske, you are recognized. >> [ inaudible ]. >> check your microphone. >> am i on? okay. chairman reichert, ranking member rangel, members of the subcommittee, it's an honor to be here with all of you.

and it's an honor to talk about cbp's role in enforcing what is an incredibly immense and complex area of u.s. trade. we enforce 500 laws and regulations on behalf of 47 federal agencies. after the irs, we collect more money from the federal treasury than any other organization. and we understand and recognize the importance of our enforcement efforts and enforcement has been my entire background before coming to cbp. illegal and fraudulent trade practices threatened our economic competitiveness, the livelihood of american workers, and consumer safety. i certainly want to thank the members of congress, and particularly this committee, for the trade facilitation and trade enforcement act. cbp has been around since 2003 and has never been authorized. and now having the authorization and our regulations and rules all located in one place along with our increased enforcement authority is a huge milestone

for us. the numerous parts of the act are complex. we're very engaged in fulfilling every measure of the act and the number of reports that congress has required. and during the entire time that this process went on, i think the collaboration and the cooperation of the subject matter experts that cbp has in trade have been very important. we have prioritized the policy, legal decisions, changing resources within our organization to meet this law, and that's been very important to us also. the chairman mentioned a number of the changes. the fact that you have approved a group of individuals that report to or work with the commissioner regularly that represent the trade stakeholders, and that's all been important. i certainly acknowledge,

despitor best efforts, that we're delinquent in some areas of the deadlines on the act. but we're working diligently to put all of that into place. going from not having authorization in 2003 to having this is a great step forward. so thank you. >> thank you. and we'll go to questions quickly. just a couple from me. the customs bill provides cbp with new tools to better enforce ipr, enhances operations for collaboration with rights holders in the united states and expands cbp's seizure forfeiture authority to cover unlawful circ circumvention authorities and stops counterfeiting at the source. can you tell us what cbp has been doing to implement these measures and how they're assisting you in your efforts to protect intellectual property

rights? >> i think the most important thing on the intellectual property rights is the fact that we co-chair or have the deputies position in the intellectual property rights enforcement center that is run by immigration and customs enforcement. well over 20 federal agencies sit in that one location and work very hard to target what may, in fact, be a counterfeit or intellectual property rights violation. i think the highlight that i saw over the christmastime was, in fact, a very dangerous product, hoverboards. certainly dangerous if you try to get on at my age and balance on one, but what i would really see is the fact that the underwriters laboratory's seal, they were countered seals. we've seen over 50 fires with these. work with consumer product safety, we worked very hard to

make sure that kids didn't get those gifts, that perhaps they were expecting. that's just one example. i know there are a number of other examples where i'd emphasize to you all that collaboration and a close working partnership with other federal agencies is absolutely critical to us doing our job. >> could you also updatoe us on the status of sea circ circcircu circumnavigation devices called for in the bill? >> i know that's under review. we're working hard with members to produce, not just that information, but also the information that is certainly necessary for some of the other reports. and i'd be happy to make sure that we provide an update to your staff on that. >> okay. and lastly, you did mention that you recognize that you're a little behind some of the reporting requirements.

do you have any sort of plan to make sure that -- because it's one of the ways this committee stays in touch with what's happening within your organizati organization. we're interested in your work in particular. and seeing these reporting requirements established in the customs bill implemented, how have you progressed and proceeded forward with the policy that addresses that? >> so your office of trade put together a spreadsheet that actually shows all of the requirements that we have to meet, whether it is in reporting or rules that need to be promulgated. regulations. training and information that needs to be -- that needs to be communicated to congress. when we not only put together that spreadsheet about where we were on each one of these requirements, we also took a look at what are the most important, according to staff members and others and triage those. i would tell you that we're well

on the way. a number of things have already been implemented, and people have been shifted to deal with these responsibilities. but i would tell you that we're well on the way before the end of this calendar year to be able to have the majority of these reports, regulations, requirements in place. and we will be more than happy to keep your staffs aware of this. our progress. >> so knowing you personally, i know today we have your commitment that we will have those reports. thank you. mr. neil, you're recognized. >> thank you mr. chairman. commissioner, each day 125 americans are dying from drug-related overdoses, and it's acute in parts of massachusetts, particularly in the old cities. many of these victims are succumbing to powerful synthetic drugs like fent nol which are more powerful than heroin. the toll these drugs are taking is alarming and unprecedented,

and i joined pat teaberry to offer a bipartisan effort to hopefully stem this growing epidemic. stopping these drugs from coming through the borders as you know is a priority. the synthetics trafficking and overdose preventions act is designed to prevent dangerous synthetic drugs from being shipped through your borders. it would require shipments through our postal system to provide electronic advance data such as who and where it is coming from, who it is going to, where it's going and what's in it before they cross our borders. having this information in advance will enable cbp to better target potential illegal packages and keep these dangerous drugs from ending up in the hands of drug traffickers who do great harm to our communities. congress wants to give you the tools to stop these drugs from crossing our borders. would you agree this bill would be perhaps very helpful and there are more tools you might suggest to us at this moment that can provide better help to get the job done and help fight

now what's become a national issue? >> congressman, i really appreciate the effort that members of congress, and i participated in three field hearings on heroin and phentenol issues around the country, from arizona to massachusetts. so i know that this is a significant issue. as you know from some of our reporting, our seizures of phentenol have increased but that still unknown issue of that which is shipped from overseas and comes in through the air cargo. having a manifest in advance to be able to target, rather than just the random selection that goes on now and with the explosion and increase in air cargo, that information would be helpful. i'd be happy to continue to work with you and the members of the -- members of the committee and the subcommittee to make

sure if there are additional tools needed. the difficulties with fent nol in trying to detect it and the dangers to personnel. it's a tremendous threat not only to the populous but also law enforcement personnel. thank you very much for the work you're doing on that. >> a colleague recently said before fentanyl is treated that if a dog or human were to sniff it in its rawest form it could kill them? >> that's correct. that's why we don't treat canines. and in the hospital set, the fentanyl patches are absorbed through the skin as powerful pain killers. raw fentanyl that comes into contact through nasal passages or skin absorption can be dangerous to personnel inspect andy other part is the

department of state working closely with the countries where we know that this is illegally manufactured and then shipped. and we had some success on synthetic drugs, working with the government of china a few years ago when i had a different job in the administration. but fentanyl, your recognition of the significant danger that you just mentioned is an important one for us to consider. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. smith, you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you, commissioner, for being here. thank you for the service of the men and women of customs and border protection. obviously, the tasks in front of your agency are important from keeping us safe from terrorists to leveling the playing field commercially for u.s. industry to compete on a level playing field. so we thank you for your service. you mention in your testimony

that cbp enforces u.s. trade agreement commitments. so i would ask that with china currently negotiating the regional comprehensive economic partnership with 16 countries in the pacific region, what would you say is at stake from ap enforcement perspective, should the u.s. fail to act on trade agreements moving forward? >> so one of the most important things that we recognize and do is, frankly, on the trade enforcement issues, we're the pointy edge of the spear. when it comes to the discussion n negotiation and work with members of congress on trade agreements, we take the advice, although we have embedded someone with the ustr and ambassador perlman's office. we try to judge all the information that comes to us as these discussions and negotiation occur. we try to make sure our point of view, which is how is this going to be enforced, and what are we

going to be able to do to enforce it, is absolutely critical. we recognize that we not only have that border security responsibility, but we also recognize the economic security responsibility that we have. and when the chairman and i were in seattle and you would see that port, you knew how important it was to facilitate, particularly exports of produce from washington state to make sure that it got out. so we will work closely with congress. we'll work closely with the ustr who is the lead on this, along with the department of commerce to make sure that the enforcement priorities are recognized and that we have the tools and the capacity to be able to do our job. >> thank you. but do you see lost opportunity if we fail to take action on trade agreements moving forward? >> it's kind of -- it's a bit out of my portfolio and a bit out of my lane.

we tell the people, again, with ambassador ferralman and the ustr, we tell them what's important to be able to do the enforcement. we also let them know that we have to be able to be in a position to expedite cargo coming into the country safely and expedite our exports safely. but when it comes to that area for me that is more of the political decision, i'm kind of out of the politics and i'm in the enforcement business. >> all right. thank you commissioner. i yield back. >> mr. blumenauer, you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, mr. commissioner. >> thank you. >> i want to follow up a little bit. you alluded to the fact that enforcement is complicated. it involves numerous agencies. you have a piece of the pie, not all of it.

i would note that this committee has been aggressive in trying to advance a trade enforcement trust fund so that there would be resources, at least in the house side. there's $15 million to try and enhance that effort. i assume a portion the other

enforcement provisions. i'm very familiar with the incident from last december involving the peruvian lum wer and the fact that how that was brought to our attention . the primary enforcement authority, but with a number of people that we have at our ports of entry and the amount of information that we collect on cargo and our national targeting center makes a huge difference. so, one, we could not have had better cooperation and

collaboration, whether it's on educating us about steel, and the dumping of steel or the alleged dumping of steel. and also on timber also. >> mr. chairman, i appreciate that. i see my time expired. very quickly. but this is an area that i hope that we again might explore. we've got several agencies that are struggling with making sure that a provision in existing trade agreement is honored. and i'm hopeful that we can continue to work with our witness and others to see if we can sort that out to make it work better. >> thank you, mr. blumenauer. dr. vistaboustany. >> enforcement is clearly important, which is why i work very hard over a number of years to give you the protect act which provided a full array of tools so you could be much more effective and aggressive going after abuses. one of my priorities was ex 605.

you're aware of it. and this was to undo a great injustice that came about because of inaction at customs and border protection. with respect to crawfish producers and other small producers across our country, honey, mushrooms, garlic. we've seen them entitled to anti-dumping as a result of dumped crawfurb from china, well over $100 million in abuses in duties owed. unfortunately, slow enforcement from cbp, unjustifiable delays from insurance companies that post these bonds. these collections are still under way and going painfully slow. we had a breakthrough with $6 million collected from one insurance company. and instead of turning over that money to these crawfish producers who are going out of business, cbp chose, instead, to deduct 90% of that to pay itself interest. section 605 was designed by

myself and senator thune to stop that and to assure that these poor producers who are going out of business are paid what they are owed under american law. and, yet, i understand now, cbp is simply ignoring this section 605 as written and putting its own wishful analysis in place to continue to hold on to this interest. frankly, that's unacceptable. and i'm not going to let up until this abuse is corrected. >> a kocouple of things i'd mention on that. it wasn't until -- in fact, the craw fish producers and the others came to washington, d.c., asked to meet with me and we sat down that i had the recognizing and the information, the fact that when we collect those interest duties, that the interest went back under the law, under the existing law then that the interest went back to cbp. i said when i was a police chief, if you were the victim of a crime and the perpetrator had to pay a fine, the fine

shouldn't go for the police department. the fine should go back to the victim. that's been changed. and a lot of progress has been made. i was proud and pleased to see the $6 million. i would tell you there's another substantial amount of money that is in the works also to go back. the one thing where i think there is certainly some disagreement, and i understand that it's in litigation right now is how far back the understanding is that interest payments would be, in fact, returned to a victim. it's also a bit of a technological problem because we have to figure out in those fines and information collected what was interest versus what was the penalty. and not all of our systems are that accurate and that flexible to go back x number of years. if you think about our interest now and working very hard and

we've even gone to a collection agency to look at a collection agency that could do a better job of going after the money we've been unsuccessfully attempting to get. so i think we're pretty close, but i understand your frustration and i recognize it. >> we want as prompt action as possible. this has to be resolved because, if america is going to lead in trade, we have to have enforcement of our laws. and they have to be enforced with the intent that congress lays out. thank you. >> mr. kind? >> commissioner kerlikowske, first of all, i want to commend you. i worked hard to get involved in the exploitation act. since its enactment in february, the anxiety has brought four enforcement actions already on china on that front.

and for 85 years, there was a prohibition against it. because of a loophole, it was seldom enforced. now you're taking that tool and running with it. how pervasive do you think this problem is? how many more future actions -- before you answer that, can i also get your opinion, because it's my sense that in those bilateral, multy lateral trade agreements we have with other nations, those nations tend to act like better actors when it comes to playing by the rules. not trying to cheat. living up to the standards and values that were include in those agreements as opposed to nations we don't have any trade agreement with. is that an accurate description of what you see out there? >> i think what i've seen is the leadership that the united states, and i lead the delegation to the world customs organization, 180 members. and what we've tried to communicate to customs organizations all over the world is that they need to have this

reck nognition and understandinf facilitating lawful trade but also the importance of doing enforcement. in too many countries that i've seen, the issue is always around how much money can customs collect, versus what is their investment posture. because it costs -- it takes people to do the enforcement, and it costs money. so i would tell you that i think we've made some progress in that particular area. it's hard for me to judge exactly the forced labor and child labor issues and prison labor because one of the things that we did was to reach out and gather as many of the nongovernmental organizations who exist within those countries. they are frankly the eyes and ears on the ground. and we needed to make it easier, and we needed to welcome the information that they would give us about what is a potential violation. and as you know, there's only a reasonable suspicion standard.

it wasn't a probable cause standard. we can take action on a less critical amount of information, and i've made it clear to everyone in our organization that we do need to take the action once we reach that threshhold of reasonable suspicion. >> what about nations we have a trade agreement with versus the vast majority we don't as far as compliance and playing by the rules? >> you know, i don't have an opinion. i have a list of the number of free trade agreements we have, but i have never really given it the analysis about whether or not they are greater at playing by the rules. i'm sure there's some real experts that can inform you. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. paulson. >> thank you, mr. chairman and commissioner, thanks for being here. a key compoenent is the

completion of aid and the international trade data system. these systems are going to help provide customs border patrol and other federal agencies to improve the realtime information on imports and manual processes get streamlined, auto mated and 200 different paper forms are end up being eliminated. a.c.e. has been in development for a long period of time, but i want to commend cbp for the great strayeds you've made in the last couple of years towards implementation. there are some minnesota businesses that i've had contact with that continue to express some concerns about the implementation process because large companies, of course, are able to be in a position where they can absorb large losses that may result in a shipment that gets held up at the border. but the smaller companies that operate on a relatively thin margin, they don't have that same luxury. can i just have your commitment or can you chat about how you'll continue to work with the trade community and partner with government agencies as that

roll-out goes forward to make sure it's smooth? >> sure. part of the fact that in our authorization, that you have affirmed that there will be a standing committee that will report with or to the commissioner that represents trade stakeholders. freight forwarders, importers, manufacturers, et cetera. we've had that in place for a number of years, but frankly, a change in administration could have done away with that. the fact that is in the law now, i think is one very helpful. so four times a year for two days each, we get direct feedback from the people that are doing the work. and we've had great part participation in that. i would commit to you two things. one is that we are very intent, and after all of the platforms that have been launched, that ace will be a running, viable, commercial entity for both the private sector and also for government by the end of this calendar year. and we appreciate the support

from congress for all of the work. and if you go back, even when we were working through some of the more difficult platforms, we ended up having daily phone calls with well over 100 participants, including the small business people to make sure they were getting their questions answered and to make sure we were doing our job of telling them, where are we with the implementation. so thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. pascrell? >> thank you, mr. chairman. american companies that invest in designing and market iing vad products are losing sales and seeing their brands tarnished by manufactured products that violate united states law. i'm pleased the customs bill we passed earlier this year included several provisions to

strengthen intellectual property rights enforcement at the border. including raising the enforcement priority for counterfeit products. so we don't want open borders to people, and we don't want open borders to products, yet that's exactly what's going on here in terms of products. given this enforcement prioritization for counterfeit products, can you outline the screening process for packages marked as gifts, and can you share any new steps the cbp is taking to enhance enforcement in the area? >> i can. i think there are several things. i can't give you specific information on the gift issue. you're mostly talking about the air cargo environment and the mail environment. i'll be the very first to admit to you that given the explosion of e-commerce and air cargo,

this is one that we're working on very closely. having manifest information in advance is certainly going to be an issue that's critically importa important. having enough people at the locations, at fedex and u.p.s. and our international -- our five international mail facilities is also important. and the fact that u.p.s. and fedex have been incredibly good partners in putting forward enforcement funds and essentially boots on the ground to assist us. the international -- the intellectual property rights center for the targeting is very important, and about two weeks ago, we cut the ribbon on the new national targeting center for cbp which has been mentioned. we're making progress. >> thank you. i'm very concerned about the staffing shortfall at cbp. that's very dangerous. we have four borders. you'd think listening to the congress we only have one

border, the rio grande. that's it. we have ports in new jersey that are facing increased wait times for incoming shipments. the staffing. how would this impact staffing shortages that you have. and are these -- are there things you can do to address the shortfall. >> so we're very disappointed that, one, we haven't been able to hire, with the money congress gave us, a number of years ago, after working closely with members to show that when you put people on board at cbp, they actually help to make money for this country by speeding things through. we are a law enforcement organization. we are not about to reduce our stringent hiring standards. and i haven't spoken to a local police chief or sheriff or federal law enforcement official that has not expressed a

difficulty hiring. but we're working very closely, and i think the bright spot is one with the military because we're now accepting, and i just was down in ft. bliss to recruit people. we're now looking for people to leave one uniform and come into another uniform coming out of the military. and also reducing the amount of processing time because there are a lot of jobs available for qualified people. and we've gone from over 400 days of processing time -- way too long -- down to about 160 days. so we are making progress, and we're going to do our very best to use the appropriated funds that congress has given us to hire up to the number that are authorized. >> mr. chairman, in conclusion, i would really, since we worked very close on public safety issues, i would really ask you to take a look at the number of personnel that they have and the more responsibilities that have been given to them, now that we've discovered that we have

three other borders. we need to take a very extended look at this. and i would trust your judgment as to the conclusion. thank you. >> mr. pascrell and i chair the law enforcement caucus together. and as the commissioner said, sheriffs and police chiefs across the country are having the same problem that his agency is having, and that's finding, first of all, people that want to come into law enforcement positions. secondly, not only finding people who have that desire but who have the qualifications. and i commend the commissioner for making a statement that there is no way that he is going to lower his standards. and i think that should hold true for law enforcement agencies across the country. so appreciate your concern and, yes, i'll look forward to working with you on this through the caucus. mr. meehan -- >> thank you, mr. chairman.

and thank you, commissioner, for your long service to law enforcement. and i thank you for your efforts in working so quickly to help draft an interim guidance with respect to the enforcement protect act. we're already seeing some cases that are being prosecuted or investigated, and i think that's very, very helpful. but as you know, we're getting a lot of activity on the part of those who find ways to circumvent the process. when i was a united states attorney, we worked, and i'm glad to hear you talk about collaboration with other partners. one of the most effective things that we had to use the federal laws to enforce violations were things which invited the participation of interested parties. and actually the investigative resources. we were then allowed and able to work with. when i looked at your efforts with respect to the drafting of

the interim final rule, you narrowly defined it, parties to the investigation, more narrowly than i would expect it would be. can you look at that and determine whether we ought not have a larger classification of those who can participate in, as a, quote, parties to the investigation? i think we're going to have an awful lot of resources that could be available to help us get around this. >> congressman, i appreciate your recognition, particularly of keytam cases and i work regularly with the u.s. attorneys, particularly the u.s. attorney s that are border u.s. attorneys. in the keytam cases are not as a u.s. attorney, they're not always ones -- the one that's going to get any headlines. and number two, they can be very labor intensive. we've done a couple of things. we have some real subject matter experts in these cases. and we want to be able to hand to an ausa, an assistant u.s.

attorney on a silver platter, a case that is already put together and to make it easy for them. the other thing is to call whether it's the district attorney in new york or the former u.s. attorney in los angeles when they've made those kinds of trade cases. i've called them up to congratulate them and to tell them how much we appreciate their work. i'll be happy to go back and take a look at the recognition that you have because -- >> my time is limited, so i want to ask one more question with respect to specific importers. part of the problem we see, particularly in the steel industry is the possibility for them to go through third parties to dump into another country and to get that steel into the united states. and one of the problems with steel, but it can be any number of products, is the requirement that we go back more specifically and identify the country of origin. and it works against the ability to have more of a deterrent

effect. can you see if there's any ability to drop the requirement for allegations to identify a specific importer to be able to police this kind of circumvention? >> sure. i'd be happy to look at that. i'll also tell you we made significant improvements with our laboratory sciences division to be able to test steel, regardless of whether it comes from mexico or canada or another country to be able to determine the country of origin and, in fact, whether, as "the wall street journal" just recently reported on some allegations and concerns about aluminum and steel in mexico. our scientists are better at determining that country of origin now. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> mr. dogget? >> thank you, commissioner? customs is aware.

71 containers spilled with amazon forest timber estimated to cover football fields, almost 4 million pounds arrived from quitos, peru, in the port of texas. based on actionable information, customs properly used its legal authority to exclude that shipment for 30 days, did it not? >> yes, we did. and that specific actionable information came from the peruvian environmental authority. after that, as you know, a coffin was carried through quitos with his name on it, and he was eventually fired by the peruvians. during the year, other than what the peruvians did, what has customs done? have there been any shipments of logs from peru that have entered the u.s. since that time?

>> congressman, i'm not familiar with any additional shipments of timber from peru. i was very involved that weekend, as many of our personnel were, on making sure we had the right authorities and the right people. because if we don't allow that commodity then to come into the country, and that commodity so longer makes a profit, that sends a powerful message back. >> it's your belief that since that shipment arrived at houston, that there have been no other shipments in the united states of peruvian timber? >> i can't answer that, but -- >> that is a question that i -- i didn't want to surprise you with any questions today. that was one of the questions i sent you last week that your staff said that you could answer today. >> i'm sorry. you know, i think i probably received about 120 different questions from different members. i'm happy to take a look. >> can you tell me one of the other questions i asked was during the eight years that the

peru trade promotion agreement has been in effect, do you know how much peruvian timber has been imported into the u.s.? >> i don't. >> do you know the answers to any of the questions that your staff said you'd be prepared to answer today? >> i do know, and i think i've been -- i have done my very best to help make an understanding that with 60,000 people and 800 people -- >> my only -- i appreciate your testimony but since i have 30 seconds. my question is can you answer any of the questions i posed to you last week that your staff said you'd be ready to answer today. there are five of them. >> i think i did -- >> you have not answered any of them yet. do you know when you can answer them, when you can provide an answer to those questions? >> i think i can provide an answer at the conclusion of the hearing -- >> i would liked to have had it before so we can discuss it. but you are aware of the percentage of that shipment in houston that was in legal timber? >> i'm aware of that shipment

having worked it all over the whole weekend with the ambassador, the department of commerce, the department of agriculture. so it wasn't like anybody was asleep at the switch on that. and we need -- >> i think there is a question about indifference, but you know the specific percentage of that shipment of 4 million, almost 4 million pounds of timber. you know the specific percentage that was illegal timber, don't you? >> i don't know. i don't. >> your office knows that information? >> and i'd be happy to communicate right after. >> yes, sir, but i had an opportunity to ask you about it today and that's why i sent you the questions in advance that you have not answered, but thank you. >> okay. >> thank you, mr. doggett. mr. marchand? >> thank you, mr. chairman. commissioner, i represent one of the largest airports could you share with us

please the problems, the major challenges that you're presented with in enforcing the trade pact 2015 as it relates to dfw airport and specifically the larger pors in the united states. >> i need just a little bit of clarification on the trade or the travel issues because we get a lot of air cargo that comes in and so the inspections of air cargo whether dfw or miami we have our agricultural inspectors many of whom will graduate from a class today down in georgia so we do a lot of inspections of those things whether it's fresh produce or others or people coming in that, in fact, have

plant material that could harm our industry and get 112 million international passengers a year and the challenge is that an airport besides dfw at lax. and make sure they're protecting the environment. you know, the infrastructure improvements that were made to our ports of entry as a result of the american rerecovery act were immense.

many of those projects were already planned in the works. keeping up with an infrastructure order to enforce the efforts to enforce the law effectively. >> we have a number of plans to increase and our ports of interest and jet blue, the work going on at houston and others, they were included where you have input. >> we worked closely with the inner agency and nsa and others and closely with members of congress that have particular interest in trying to improve their facilities. i couldn't agree with you more when it comes to an efficient well planned infrastructure for international air travel makes a huge difference in us being able to enforce.

>> so that no matter who she might be about a plan for infrastructure we could include your plan of that overall plan and do you have that? >> we do have that. we do have that plan. we do work it through the agency. >> your commissions when if you can recommend anything to this committee can help you. and already pass. it would be helpful.

>> thank you for being here today. >> it's no secret there's a major trade agreement that will come before congress and outside of the scope of this hearing i have major concerns about several provisions of that agreement including intellectual property protections and that said i'm not confident that agreement will move forward. there's a school of thought that we should wait to consummate any trade agreements whatsoever until we fully enforce all existing trade agreements and i feel very strongly as do so many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that we have to be very vigilant of enforcing trade agreements. this is why we supported a new trade enforcement trust fund. new legal options to those whose rights have been violated or intellectual property stolen and your agency, customs and border protection we have given you new

tools to go after those that would evade antidumping and counter vailing duty provisions so my question is this, though i know you have already reassured us that you will be vigilant what impact do you think it would have on say indiana manufactures. indiana ag producers that want to sell to 95% of the world's consumers that are outside of the united states if we waited until we fully enforced every trade agreement. >> i think my answer on full enforcement is one that i'm often asked in other settings and that is on border security. also exactly what is border security and what are the numbers? we make a lot of seizures. we seize a lot of products. and we work hard to be open and transparent with the agriculture and stake holders and i think

you all have heard them repeat through from the trade. full enforcement is probably one of those in the eye of the beholder and i think the fact that we send a strong message to the rest of the world that we're going to work hard to seize the laws that congress has passed. >> so in short, do you believe that we can make significant improve ms stay vigilant and enforce our trade laws while opening up foreign markets and food, fiber ets. >> i think that we know very well these -- >> yes. thank you. >> i yield back. >> mr. chairman, i neglected to ask you for unanimous consent in the record of the hearing. my letter with the questions that i referenced. >> thank you mr. chairman.

i recently called the stop act. reference to you. >> referenced to you earlier. to try to keep he elicit drugs from entering our country from foreign posts. this last weekend in cleveland ohio several folks died from overdoses of these drugs. and electronic security screening to packages and coming in from the u. s. postal system. it currently applies to the same package and it's introduced in a senate on a bipartisan basis as well and last week in the senate the operations stated and would allow it to be more effective and targeting potentially elicit

shipments. do you believe that having access to advanced shipment. and elicit shipments. >> just the information that's been helpful in recognizing people that shouldn't get on an airplane because of advanced passenger information in the same way with cargo that comes into this country that has manifested for instance on a ship 72 hours in advance and even preloading, having that information so that we can do everything that we can based upon risk is important and yes a agree. >> thank you. certainly i appreciate your efforts on drafting the interim final ruling. i was trade chairman when that process began and we're very clear that cvp was to operate under deadlines. and final determination and if

in your interim role sir it seems to imply that these rules are aspirational so in our opinion there's no flexibility under the statute. could you clarify to the committee. what plans you want to follow in terms of time lines set in statute by congress. >> we do want to obey and follow all the time lines that have been set and i wasn't aware of the kind of distinction that you were talking about that the proposal and more aspirational and i'm happy to spend a little time looking into that and finding out about that but we were given a lot of time lines with a lot of work and meet those and do our best to prioritize and triage those as the most important to the subcommittee and the committee as a whole. >> i appreciate that. thank you for your leadership,

sir. >> thank you. we are through questioning rather quickly but i want to give the members that are still present here one last opportunity if anyone has a burning question left i'd like to recognize that member. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. just continuing then, commissioner, this action that you took in september of last year concerning this 4 million pounds of timber, had that ever been done before or since? >> we have seized lumber. we have seized limber in the past and held it. of course it can be expensive and difficult when you're making those seizures. >> yes, sir. >> so when you do make those seizures who is responsible for storing the timber? >> we ask that the private sector that the party that was involved in this, that they bare

the costs of that rather than the american taxpayer. >> they are requested to provide a bond or insurance on the timber. >> we request that they make the payment whether it's through a bond until a final termination is made but we want that. we work very hard to try to get that money in add sans on a seizure storage. >> with the information that has come out that's still a very significant portion is illegally harvested. for holding. and it's a great deal of information and testimony woe have a lot of boots on the ground and places where usda and consumer product or others don't.

and last september. and we need to make sure that we do it in conjunction with the information that they provide us. you're right. >> and you don't -- you say you do not know how much timber has come into the united states in the last 8 years. >> congressman i just don't have that right in my mind. it actually may be in the book. >> all right. >> so i may be able to get it afterwards as well as to find out how much of that has been expected. >> i'm happy to tell you that. >> is the 4 million pounds of timber, is it still sitting in houston today? >> it was excluded from entry into the country. >> does it sit in the ship? what happens to it. >> the profit that could be made coming into the united states

could not go back -- >> is it being held in houston? >> i don't believe it is. >> you think it's not anywhere within the boundaries of the united states including -- >> i don't believe it is. >> are you able to identify to us the importers of that timber. >> i believe we have protests filed by several different organizations. and this is litigation. >> and the other member have to be recognized. >> i want to thank commissioner. >> and also committing to providing us with follow up information and reports that we have requested. please be advised that members will have two weeks to submit written questions to be answered later in writing.

those questions in answers are part of the hearing record and i urge interested parties to submit statements to inform committees consideration of the issues discussed today. with that the subcommittee stands adjourned.

n

nsh. and several agencies are preparing for a government shutdown. not surprisingly but as we talk

how likely is it that the government will shutdown after friday. well, they're committed to make sure that it doesn't happen. the biggest disagreement right now is to flint for the water crisis there. and also for also the louisiana disaster aid for the terrible flooding that happened there and that senator mitch mcconnell said earlier today he indicated that there could be a deal to revert one by friday at midnight. and taking it out of the continuing resolution. >> senate testimony cats and blocking the efforts to move forward. is it mainly centered around the issues you just mentioned. >> that's right. there was a vote to advance legislation today but that lost by 16 votes. that was a 60 vote flesh hold.

the question is still over aid to flint and louisiana and a few other states decimated by floods. >> this whole issue of the aid to flint gets a little complicated because the senate did pass aid to flint in their version of the water bill which the house is now taking up so why is the issue coming back up here in the continued resolution. >> the issue is house republicans that haven't agreed to the language that passed with 95 votes so senator of the gop whip today acknowledged interviews with reporters that the house republicans have made this a little bit complicated by not agreeing to language in the water bill and so now they're trying to be able to figure out if they should move forward and if they can put it on to that spending pill, that ten week spending bill that will fund the

government through december 9th. >> what about funding to fight the zika virus. how was that handled? >> so that was a major contention throughout the year. senate democrats filibustered legislation because of a provision in there that they said would block funding to planned parenthood and affiliate to puerto rico. that language has been largely resolved. it's been -- you haven't really heard too much about that issue at all. it's in the language now. it's $1.1 billion and both have been able to claim the victory. >> it's really this language on flint and on the louisiana flooding. >> we have been focussing on the senate. what about house leadership. what have we heard from speaker ryan or other republican leaders. >> so the house is really in wait and see mode to try to figure out what the senate is going to give them.

in such little time there's very little that they can do to change the out come of this. >> you know, going back to that tweet from national journal which points out federal agencies at least being prepared for a possible shutdown. and the shutdown lasted 16 days but there wasn't an election just around the corner which members have to go out a campaign for. does that put pressure on members to get done by friday. >> they want to two out on the campaign trail and spend the next number of weeks to go home and talk to their constituents and they want another long recess. >> rogers covering a changing story on the cr and the following report on twitter and also at national journal.com. thanks for the update. >> thanks for having me. >> cspan's washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you

coming up wednesday morning. oklahoma republican congressman and eliminating government waste and campaign 2016 and then tennessee democratic congressman talks about the upcoming funding deadline. increasing legislation on police violence and his call for justice department investigation into the trump foundation and our spotlight on magazine segment features things and the magazine's editor will talk about his article in which he accuses the democratic party of using certain tactics to incite anxiety over discrimination and exclusion in order to solidify support from minority groups. be sure to watch cspan's washington journal live at 7:00 a.m. eastern wednesday morning. join the discussion. >> federal reserve chair janet yellen is on capitol hill wednesday and she'll testify before the house financial services committee on monetary

policy and regulation of the financial sector. live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on cspan 3. >> our cspan campaign 2016 bus is traveling throughout new york this week asking voters what question would you ask the candidates at the debate? >> i'm brian murray, my question is how do you feel about the transpacific partnership and if elected would you do anything to change it and make it more favorable for americans as a whole? >> i've heard a lot of people say we're getting screwed over piano the transpacific partnership in general and even though i'm in favor of it i want to know how you feel. >> hi. i'm a professor of communications at st. john fisher college. my question if i had a chance to ask it would be to ask plflt trump why it took him so long in the face of all the evidence to the con rare to finally agree

that president obama really was a citizen of the united states and when all the evidence came out as late as 2008 or as early as 2008, why he still persisted in proposing that idea? >> hello. my name is cody and i'm a junior political science and history double major in albany new york and if i could ask any question to the candidates it would be what are your thoughts on common core and what direction do you see america's education system going if you're elected in the next four years? >> voices from the road on cspan. >> now the defense secretary and joint chiefs of staff testify about military budget needs. the senate armed services committee hearing is just under three hours.

>> good morning. i ask the committee to consider a list of 40 pending military

nominations including in this list there's a nomination of general johnny highton for reappointment to general and to be commander of united states tra steejic command all of these have been before the committee for that length of tile. it's 40 military nominations to the senate. >> so moved. >> chair second. >> all in favor say aye. >> aye. >> motion carries. >> the senate armed services committee meets this morning to receive testimony on u. s. national security challenges and on going military operations. and thank you for your service and thank you to the men and women and their families for service and sacrifice during these challenging times. this committee conducted regular hearings on u.s. national security strategy and on going military operations and we have devoted special attention to the

chaos engulfing the middle east and the u. s. military campaign against isil. it would be up to the pu tour to render a jult on this administration stewardship of u.s. interests in the broader middle east but in the opinion of this one senator it's been an unmitigated disaster. president obama sought to pivot away from one of the most strategically vital regions of the world out of a misplaced hope that quote, the tide of war was receding and that we should focus on, quote, nation building at home. that would draw u.s. power created a vaccum filled by the worst actors in the region. suni terrorist groups and the iranian regime and proxy and now putin's russia. just consider, over the past 8 years, this administration has overseen the collapse of region mall order in the middle east

into a state of chaos where every country is either a battlefield for regional conflict, a party to that conflict or both. and makes al qaeda appear modest by comparison but both terrorist networks expanded theirs from west africa to south asia and everything in between. and this is shackling iran tps ian power and ambition. both is billions of dollars in sanctions relief has transformed into advanced military capability and support for terror i feel and then there is putin's russia which has reclaimed a position to influence a middle east that's not enjoyed in four decades. the best that can be said about this devastating legacy is over the past year in part thanks to our witnesses today president

obama has at least begun to unleash americans fighting men and women against isil. they're fighting with skill and courage despite enormous risks as reports of isil's use of mustard agent against u.s. and iraqi troops around us. as a result we're fwraj yulely eroding territorial control and key personnel from the battlefield. reactive and micromanaged by the white house. we have 500 troops in iraq. one more step down the road of gradual escalation. but thanks to the talent and dedication of our men and women in uniform we're making progress. isil will be expelled from its strong holds. the day of liberation will come later than it should have but it will come.

this will be a tact car length success but it is unlikely to lead to strategic gains because the administration has failed to address and at times has exacerbated the underlying conflict. the struggles for power and identity now raging across the middleeast. isil is merely a symptom of this deeper problem and may be taken eventually but that will only likely reignite the battle for the future of iraq. a battle in which we have an important stake. the biggest problems still lie ahead. combatting the influence of iran and it's militias and addressing the kurds and their place in iraq and the disenfranchisement of the iraqis that gave rise to isil in the first place. libya, we had success but what remains is a divided nation

littered by militias funding with arms and governance and political unity. conditions that will remain and western terrorism. and we also began targeting isil and afghanistan and a resurge in taliban continue to destabilize and terrorize the country while national army causalities reremain unsustainably high. and yet it was in this environment that president obama chose to with draw another 1,400 troops. nowhere however is america's strategic drift clearer than syria. after over 400,000 dead and half the population driven from their homes after the worst refugee crisis of the century that now threatens the project of european unity, the administration still has no plausible vision of an end state

for syria. instead, while russian and syrian regime aircraft bombed hospitals and marks and 8 ware houses and other civilian targets president obama sent his secretary of state to tilt yet again at the wind mill of cooperating with vladimir putin. even committing to sheer intelligence for coordinated military operations. this agreement would be deeply problematic it would mean the u. s military would own and there by undermining their own strategic objective of a political transition they're not holding up their end of the deal as nearly everyone predicted. assad declared an end to the

ceasefire. bombs are falling again on civilians in aleppo and an air strike reportedly carried out by russia killed 12 members of a un humanitarian convoy. nonetheless, administration officials are desperately trying to salvage this agreement, likely because they realized that without this diplomatic fig leave the abject failure of their syria policy would be evidence and because they know as does everyone else that there's no plan b this should be another lesson that a recipe of failure our adverse tears will not do what we ask of them out of the goodness of their hearts or out of the suffering of others. until the united states is willing to change the conditions on the ground in syria, the war,

the terror, the refugees and the instability will continue such will be the inheritance of our president. american influence has been squandered. america's adversaries neither respect or fear us. america's friends are increasingly hedging their bets and america's policy options have been significantly narrowed. and what's worse, america's military will confront these daunting challenges with constrained budgets, aging equipment, depleted readiness and a growing set of operational requirements driven by other escalating challenges, europe and asia. we are asking our military to wage a generational fight against islamic terrorism to defeat great power of rogue

state competitors in full spectrum combat. i would be the first to admit that congress is failing to match resources to rekwierls but the failure of the president is worse. it is the duty of the commander and chief to be the strongest advocate for the needs of our military but president ball balm has been more interested in using the defense budget as a hostage to extract political concessions for greater nondefense spending. secretary carter, i hope you will use the opportunity to offer some clear answers to these troubling questions, senator reid. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. we'd like to join you in giving the security challenges that face the united states and you're always deeply appreciated and very timely.

particularly this moment. while significant work remains to at the feet isil the united states in coalition military operations have resulted in iraq and syria. most notably isil has been driven out of a significant amount of the territory and a number of keyboarder crossings in syria and key towns in iraq. the cumulative effect has been to cutoff key lines of communication for isil restikting their ability to bring in fighters and move equipment and personnel across the battlefield. it appears that isil is under more pressure now than at any other time in the campaign. unfortunately in syria it appears the cessation of hostilities is not going to hold and we look forward to the progress and the aspects of this campaign and whether there is a possibility or renewed in the

knew tour. we're also focused on our military operations and diplomats and other policy makers to address the continuing political challenges in iraq and syria. even after the coalition retakes mosul the work of our diplomats and military spell jens communi -- intelligence community will be over. >> they are provided the critical resources necessary to perform this work. with with regard to afghanistan i support the position to maintain 8400 troops and important message to the afghans and taliban and others in the region that the united states remains committed to ensuring this stable afghanistan. we look forward to your assessment and what more we can do to support the development of

the afghan national defense and security forces. despite a challenging security and political environment they continue to be a reliable partner and u. s. and allies in eastern europe russia continues it's behavior and persist political gridlock lout the region and ships and aircraft deploy the region and they continue to provide support and training in eastern ukraine in violation of the ceasefire greels. they have undertaken robust

efforts. i look forward to hearing your thoughts on the progress of and plans for such efforts. north carolina remains one of the most dangerous and difficult national security challenges that this country faces. earlier this month, north korea conducted it's fifth nuclear test demonstrating that the north korean regime has little interest in resuming party talks. while we made efforts to put strong and effective sanctions in place to curb nuclear development china's unwillingness to enforce those sanctions has undermined u.s. and international efforts to bring north korea in line. finally our long-term military strategy depends on five years in the future. after congress passed the 2015 bipartisan budget act and however there is no budget for fiscal year 2018 and beyond. without another bipartisan agreement that provides relief

from sequestration they'll have to have a budget that adheres to the budget gaps and could be undermining strategy and modernized platform and equipment and we must not let that happen. thanks. >> this is the last time for this year we appreciate your appearances for the armed services committee and we look forward for the testimony and both of your for our service to our nation. secretary carter. >> thank you very much. chairman, ranking member reid, all the members of this committee, thank you for having us here and chairman and senator reid thanks for taking the time to talk to me before this hearing. much appreciated as always and

for hosting him by my side where he is always time and very pleased and our country is very fortune. to have him similarly i want to thank you for hosting the service chiefs last week. i appreciated your comments to them about the inefficiencies and dangers of budget instability and gridlock as well as the risk of sequestration's looming return. i look forward to addressing those topics more today with you. i also appreciate your support for our men and women serving around the world. military and civilian alike. you always provide it. they are the finest fighting force the world has ever known. no one else in the world. is stronger or more capable and more innovative and more experienced and has better friends and allies than they.

that's a fact. that's a fact americans ought to be proud of dod is addressing each of the five challenges described to in our budget testimony this spring and that the chairman and senator reid touched on mainly russia, china, north korea, iran and terrorism and on the last in the wake of this week's attacks in new york, new jersey, and minnesota we remain as determined as ever to continue countering terrorists around the world that seek to do harm to our country and our personnel more on that. as we testified this spring we have been planning for our activities with the 2017 budget that we have submitted and that we developed. that budget adhered to last fall's bipartisan budget deal and overall size.

and break through investments and pioneering technological frontiering and reforming the enterprise and building a force for the future. requiring not only stable resources but also time. nothing more important than readiness to me or to the service chiefs. that budget has yet to be funded by congress. i want to discuss with that you today but because this is partly on going military operation let me begin with an operational update on our campaign to deliver isil a lasting defeat.

it's focused on three objectives. the first is to destroy the isil cancers parent tumor in iraq and syria. it's the sooner we destroy the fact and idea of islamic state. the safer all the world will be and that's absolutely necessary. it's not sufficient. and our third objective is to help protect the homeland. this is our responsibility for the partners in the fbi and justice department and homeland security and the intelligence security and state and local law enforcement but dod strongly supports them and since last fall we have taken in steps to

accelerate this campaign all enabling capable forces. that's the only way to eastbound sure isil's lasting defeat. while we have more work to do the results of our effort are showing. in iraq we have been enabling the security forces after retaking ramadi and establishing a staging base. the isf went on to take, retake heat, fallujah and the development of mosul and the collapse of isil's control over it. and the final assault will commence as with previous operations. in syria our coalition also

enabled considerable as a results by our local partners. they retook a key link between them and then clearing a key transit point for isil's external operations and plotters and providing key intelligence insights. and on the air and ground intelligence and as we do so we're managing regional intentions and keeping everyone focused on our common enemy. meanwhile we're systematically eliminating having taken out 7 minutes including chief of external operations. he was one of more than 20 isil external operators and plotters removed from the battlefield.

we're also continuing to go after attempts to develop chemical weapons as we continue to ensure that u.s. coalition and iraqi troops are protected from that threat. and just last week in one of the single largest air strikes of our campaign we destroyed a pharmaceutical facility near mosul that isil tried to use as a chemical weapons plan. we also tried to get the economic structure. oil wells, tanker trucks, cash storage and more and we continue to take the fight to isil across every domain including cyber. with all this we're putting isil on the path to a lasting defeat in iraq and syria. particularly as we embark on a decisive phase of our campaign. to collapse control of mosul. with respect to the syrian civil

war i want to seek an arrangement if implimenting and get russia pushing it last for a political transition which is the only way to end the syrian civil war. and it's been deeply problematic. let me turn to our second objective. in libya, thanks to u.s. air strikes undertaken at the quest of the government of national accord, isil's territory is now reduced to a single square kilometers and i'm confident isil will be ejected from there. meanwhile in afghanistan we work with with our afghan parer ins to conduct a large operation against isil over the last two months dealing severe blows and

defwrading it space and recruiting and there will be more coming. dod continues to provide strong support to our homeland security and intelligence partner. this is the number one mission of our northern command and we're supporting our partners in three critical ways. first we're ensuring the protection of our personnel and the dod facilities where they work and reside. second, we're disrupting isil external operations and third we're also disrupting the flow of foreign fighters both two and from iraq and syria. it will not only stem the flow of foreign fiegers but messaging recruitment and spread of its ideology. going forward, the collapse of control are confident that our

coalition will achieve will put isil on a irreversible path to lasting defeat. but after that, to take a point that ranking member reid there will still be more. >> political challenges remain. for that reason the stabilization efforts cannot be allowed to lag behind our military progress. that's critical. making sure that isil once defeated stays defeated. a lasting defeat requires strategic patience. and we must be ready for anything and including any attempts to remain relevant even if only in the darkest corners of the internet. >> let me now address issues tod faces an institution and how you can help. we have three grave concerns related to processes in

congressful one, budget gridlock and instability. two, micromanagement and regulation. and we heard all three are sere warehouse concerned but here today how close to the fiscal year and i want to focus on the first. and often in ways taxpayers can't even see. it baffles our friends and it's strategically unsound and it's

unfairly disspiriting to our troops and families and work force and it's efficient for our defense industry partners too. we're now 8 days away from the end of the physical year but instead of stability we're going into fiscal year 2016 with another continuing resolution. this for the 8th fiscal year in a row. that's a deplorable affair. and can do to our institution. and it's where the dollars are. for example, the cr that goes past december would undermine our plan and quadruple reassurance initiative and at the time when we need to be standing with our native alabama lice and standing up to deter

russian aggression. i know you'll return here in november to pass defense appropriations and national defense act and i look forward to working with you then. >> however i cannot support any approach. and not the stability that comes with it. not if it shortchanges the need of our fighters. not if it needs funding lower priorities instead of higher priorities. not if it undermines the ability to pass budget deals that could lead to the imposition of sequestrations 100 billion dollars in looming automatic cuts to us and not if it acts extra structure that we can't afford to keep ready in the long-term which will only lead to a hollow force. i'm confident and hopeful that we can come together again. today america is fortunate to

have the world's greatest military. i know it. you know it and critically are potential adverse tears know it too. only if your help know that the finest fighting force that the world has ever known remains that way for years to come. >> members of the committee, join secretary carter this morning. before offering a brief assessment i'd like to associate myself with the comments made with the service chiefs that testified before this committee

today. and today we have a competitive advantage over any adversary. hah point should not be lost on our allies it should not be lost on our enemies and should not be lost on the men and women of the force and we remain confronted with traditional state activities tors and violent extremism they invest in capabilities that reduce that competitive advantage. also through competition that has a military dimension that falls short of conflict. examples include russian actions in ukraine. north korea's rattling and activities in the south china sea and activities throughout the middle east. in different ways each of these

nations leverage economic coercion and cyber capabilities and unconventional warfare and seeking to avoid a u. s. military response. >> meanwhile they remain a threat to our partners and our allies. as evidence by this past weekend's attacks they seek to radicalize others. in doing so they're seeking to fundamentally change our way of life. the joint forces engage in responding to each strategic challenge. we're focused on adversaries and prepared to respond should they fail. we also remain to that before they emerge. and i'm encouraged by iraq and syria. we also graded the islamic state capability in libya and west

africa and afghanistan. coalition operations supporting ground forces in the chairman mentioned this ranking member reid mentioned this, secretary did, disrupted isil's ability to monitor external attacks and reduce control and limited freedom of movement and many leaders and reduce the resources that are available. most importantly the coalition has begun to discredit isil's narrative and it's aura of invini invincability. we also recognize the need to invest in the future. we don't have the luxury of choosing between challenges we face today or the challenges we will face tomorrow. to meet tomorrow's requirements we must take action today.

an we must develop and enhance the capabilities and space and cyber. and we must also preserve the edge in our conventional capabilities. in the end we must maintain a balanced inventory of capables and capacities to meet the full range of challenges that we will confront. in closing i am concerned about readiness today and i'm more concerned about a competitive advantage in the future. and we will be at this advantage in the future and the committee shares my belief that we should never send our soldiers into a fair fight. thank you chairman. >> thank you very much general. thank you for your come mens about the testimony of the service chiefs. we appreciated it too. we have shocked or at least surprised or had a conversation with the president of the united states. that's the in my years of service and

membership of this committee. and general dunford, in your professional military period, is russian an akiquagmire to syria? >> it's not to my understanding that would not appear to be the case over the last 48 hours, chairman. >> this is not the first time we've had one of these agreements. it's beginning to fit the definition of insanity of doing the same thing over and over again. suppose this fails again, general dunford, what do we do then? what do we do then? we just saw, as you know, evidence of a chemical weapon and we knew that a chemical weapon's factory was

functioning. what's plan b. is there a plan b here, or do we just keep going back to the five star hotels in geneva and have meetings with our count -- and come out with various declarations. what do we do if this one fails? >> chairman, we have a wide range of mill options. >> give us one. >> chairman, if i could finish, we have a wide range of military options that we would provide to the president should our policy change. >> is the present policy working? >> against isil, present policy is working. >> syria, with 400,000 people killed, 6 million refugees, is our strategy in syria working, succeeding? >> with regard to political transition. >> with regards to the whole situation in syria, is our policy working? >> chairman, i would address the

policy our focus from a military perspecti perspective -- >> i'm asking is military strategy succeed s? >> as far as you're concerned, we ignore the 400,000 dead and the 6 million refugees that's caused by assad, do you believe that assad will leave power? >> i can't really judge that right now. >> so you can't judge that. >> i can't judge the long-term projects. >> in your professional military opinion is it a good idea to set up operations with the russians? >> we don't have any intention of having our intelligence share

intelligence with the russians. >> that's part of secretary kerry's proposal that we set up operations with russians. >> the u.s. military role will not include intelligent sharing with the russians. >> do you support such an idea that they should share intelligence -- military intelligence information with russia and syria. >> what the president has directed us to do is establish a joint implementation -- >> i was asked for your professional military opinion, not what the president has told you to do. i'm asking in your con fir ration hearings if you would give your professional hearing, i expect you to hold to that. is it your professional military opinion that it would be a good idea to have an intelligent sharing operation with russia in syria? >> i do not believe idea it would be a good idea to share intelligence with the russians. >> thank you, general.

on the issue of sequestration could i just mention, i hope it got the attention of all of my colleagues that everyone of the service chiefs said that presently sequestration puts our men and women who are serving in military and greater risk at the same time the president of the united states is demanding -- is putting the risk to american servicemen and women as the same level as funding for the ea. and so it is just remarkable to a lot of us that we don't take care of the compelling argument of caring -- reducing the risk of men and women who are serving the military demanding that there be nondefense increases expending at the same time. all i can say is i thank you secretary carter and general dunford. the latest information

concerning a chemical shell, obviously, shows that they're doing a lot of things, including a chemical weapons factory which adds a new dimension to the threat to the lives of the men and women who are serving in the military. i still look forward to hearing from secretary carter and general dunford what is the strategy, if the present strategy continues to utterly fail, and frankly i haven't heard that. senator reed. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. secretary and general dunford, one of the fact that appears to be influencing, is how do you govern after you militarily succeed, iraqi security forces succeed with iraqi