and we take you live now to capitol hill. the first capitol hill national security forum. homeland security secretary kelly and members of congress will address a number of issues ranging from cyber security to nuclear arms.

a bloody civil war rages in syria displacing millions more. china the is militarizing islands and threatening neighbors and russia is instability through cyber attac attacks. regime funds and arms international terrorists. like minded groups continue to spread an idealology. each day it becomes clearer and clearer that the challenges we face are becoming more complex. as a result the surgeurgency be

working togethers greater and greater. we must confront the most pressing issues with policies that transcend. national security must run through the center of the aisle. today's forum will give us a chance to lead by champexample. we'll hear from our current ambassador, former cia director and two former secretaries of homeland security among many others. throughout the day we'll exchange ideas and debate international trade and strength of our military. cyber security, the role of nato and renewal and expansion of

democracy and human rights and other important topics. we will also have a chance to discuss the legislative branches will work to carry out a coherent national security strategy. we can all be proud of the party we belong to. the partisan ship must end at our water's edge. we are americans first and that is what this forum is all about. now i would like to introduce our first guest, a good friend of mine, secretary of homeland security john kelly. if there's anyone who understands why we must work together it is our current secretary of homeland security. he has dedicated his entire career to safety and security of the american people.

as a marine he served in leadership positions in europe, iraq, the pentagon and is a four star general in charge of the united states southern command. in this role he oversaw the united states military operations contingency planning and security cooperation through central and south america as well as the caribbean. he has made it clear counter terrorism and cyber security must be top priorities in keeping our homeland safe. he has also been very supportive of our committee's efforts to pass the reauthorization of the department of homeland security since its creation. landmark legislation that we intend to pass on the floor of the house next week. finally secretary kelly has been

a great advocate for the dedicated men and women of dhs who wake up each day and carry out the mission of safeguards the american people, our homeland, our values with honor and integrity. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming secretary kelly. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. >> thank you for being here at this conference. let me just commend you again for the job you have done and the moral of the department. i know you went down to the border. i can tell you when i have been down there the moral of border patrol has gone up expo then shlly and i think it's through

the entire department. i know you have been on the job for about five months now. i want to kind of dive into the hot issue of the day. as this article makes clear fatalities already more than tripled last year's ramadan season. we have had multiple attacks in iraq, afghanistan, europe and yesterday in flint, michigan we had an attack against a police officer in an airport. can you sort of the comment on that and what is the department doing to prevent this? >> thanks for the initial comments. i appreciate it. i have to say i have talked to

hundreds of members of the work force whether they are in law enforcement here in washington. i never once received any individual feed back other than i love my job. i think i'm making a difference to protect the country. i doesn't matter if it is on the 110 degree border or somewhere in the united states. the point is they all love what they do. the reason moral is so low is they haven't been given so much over the last wlafrmt we are looking to protect them and cover their backs and make sure they have the tools to carry out the mission. >> as far as ramadan goes the uptake in violence done by a very very small percentage of peop people, but it is what it is. we are in the middle of it.

they are out there doing what they think their religion and think they are supposed to be doing in flint, michigan, for example, completely off the screen who attacked this police officer who will be okay as i understand it, in flint, michigan. we have seen these terrible things that have happened in europe. in paris they dodged a huge bullet because the individual ended up that rammed the police car ended up dying before he could do all of what he planned to do. what are we doing about it? it is extremely difficult for us to get our arms around it. generally speaking it's free and open and protects privacy. it's very hard to detect someone who is about to do something. you know, everyone has a right to go on whatever web sites they want to go on. so the fact that people are on web sites that happen to be --

whether they are white supremists or islamic radicalism, until they do something generally speaking the best law enforcement can do is watch. i don't know how to predict it. we obviously have law enforcement professionals that once they take action it doesn't matter if it's an islamic extremist or white supremist we know how to track them down and it's that front piece that i don't think in every conversation i have particularly with my counter parts overseas and everything in between, it's how do we prevent it from happening? how do we prevent the young person from taking the next step? they all have various theories on it. they all have various initiat e initiativ initiatives. i want to take what little money i have and give it to what i consider to be the time proven

things, law enforcement from an outreach point of you and communities and developing relationships with whether they are church, synagogues or mosques so that there's an open line of communication so they know if they see this happening in the home or they see it happening that is to say the move towards radicalism or they see it happening in the churches or mo or mosques they know to call someone. >> he was kicked out of his mosque for being so radical and we didn't know about that in advan advance. as we are making progress now, that is causing a new challenge. while it's a victory in one sense it's squeezing -- there were 50,000 foreign fighters and

that's forcing them to go elsewhere. can you talk about that foreign fighter threat and particularly i think as i look at it, i think europe is very much in the bulls eye. >> az tas i talked to my counte parts around the world that is the thing that the fear is the best word here. large number of foreign fighters returning to europe, as an example. europe is the best and worst example. many cases these individuals left european union under the rad radar. they don't know if they have spent the last two or three in syria and iraq and they are returning under the radar. there's no indication in many cases that the individual is now a combat hardened individual and

is now returning. we see them urning everywhere. in a few places there's fairly radical individuals, places of worship there. we are seeing individuals leave and return to the caribbean. that's pretty close to home. think tourism. think cruise ships. we have seen them returning to australia, singapore, indonesia. the good news is it is being redu reduced. can the advantage is they have planted a flag and said this is ours. they are going back as little cancer cells back into society

and we really have to be very very careful. >> and tsa, a lot of people think all they doo is screen at the airports. the other side is prevents people and bad things from get sbo ing into the united states. can you talk about the threat of potential fore fighters either coming into the united states or the aviation threat that's currently out there. >> when i first took the job my idea what tsa is they made me take my belt off at the airport. i have since learned it is unbelievably deeper and broader than that. it's a world class laboratory. they literally blow up

airplanes. tsa see that is and we can use that information to want our partners not to mention individuals that are try to go buy a ticket or transport to the united states. they are incredibly capable. the aviation threat, i would say to the press and in hearings the threat is real. it's constant. it's relentless. there are multiple cells, not just one group across a number of different terrorist organizations. the threats they are developing are incredibly sophisticated. one of the reasons they are working so hard to make them so sophisticated is they fear tsa.

tsa is still relative to aviation safety. so the point is that the aviation threat is very very very real. i came over and briefed congress while i was doing it in mid-march. i put a number of final puts of departure i put them on a list

where we did not want anything bigger than an iphone to travel in the passenger compartment. the threat was real, immediate and we reacted to it. since then we have engaged any number -- first of all, the aircraft industry as well as tsa counterparts around the world. we have come up with a plan to raise it to a much higher level. i have sent experts to interact with the eu. i'll send more are to brussels. we, the united states, department of homeland skurd, are drooifg this effort. i know routine aviation will be

raised to a much higher level. we have kind of a step-by-step process. some things we can do in the next couple of weeks and then maybe a year and then it would be as new technology comes on is commercially available. we'll require individuals to do that as well. the bar will be raised much higher than it is today. my focus is to the united states, that is to day an airplane takes off and comes directly to the united states. there are 271. right now it is this electronics protocol. my desire is that all airports rasz their minimum security to what we say it should be.

passengers can travel with electronics. we'll ask them not have larger ones in the passenger compartments. >> the threat is real. it has been a the crown jewel since 9/11. we have seen them try to bring down airplanes. it's a constant evolving threat. i think you're taking the right precautions to protect americans. i don't know if it will expand beyond the ten airports but it will be threat based but i commend you.

>> our desire is to take them off. they will be treated the same. they were put on there because of a real threat. it wasn't because of skin color or the way they live their lives. they were the most threatethrea. it seems to me that government can try to shut down content but then you get into constitutional issues. under their service and terms

agreements can require that jihadist material not be placed on the internaet. it seems to me it may be worth pursuing. >> i think kind of the rules and thinking they are operating under that our country has been operating under is probably five or ten years old. just like in terms of child pornography sites we need to have a stricter set of rules to look at some of these sites and bring them down maybe faster. i know theeuropeans, what they have dealt with are paris, manchest manchester, oning people down on westminster bridge they have really stepped back from their thinking as i think we should.

you know, i wouldn't argue against that. the one constant that i have seen, the one constant has been in the internet. my son was on the internet and he did this, whatever this was or my daughter was on the internet and she ran away to syria to become someone's bride. the one constant is the internet. i'm not blaming the internet but beneed to step back and say maybe stricter rules on what's hung on the internet.

i think it's one of the dees to getting a handle on it to stop this threat. >> i don't know if we can do anymore than we are going. paren parents in places of worship this is before an event happens and then be willing to seek help for the child, not to arrest the child but start the process of putting them on some type of watch and letting the child know this. i don't know if you can prevent

it. again, islamic radicalization is to have parents and church leaders willing to identify them and get help from them. >> on the travel ban i know it raised some issues. but the vees thisa waiver progr those are the seven countries. but i think in the meantime really the goal is to have high threat areas. so as this is still in the courts and it was going to be a

six month pause anyway, has it been working onramping -- on ramping up in areas? >> we have been very very cautious about getting where where the court tells we go. i have a real good sense of right and wrong but it doesn't always work when it comes to courts and lawyers. i have dad just be very very conservative about where we go an this. that said, there's been a recent ruling. but i think as lodge as i have been in this job, it's can we identify the person for who he or she really is and then some

how predict why they are coming to the united states. i think finally when they get done they don't turn into a burden. i have been looking at other immigrati immigration and they have very very -- like we do. we allow over a million people a year to come to the united states legally through a process that congress has dictated that would lead to citizenship.

we have a process. we are anti illegal immigrant for sure. >> sure. >> we need to control the borders. the point is we have a right to do that and as i have looked at everything from the way the u.n. does business in terms of identifying people or teceven t way our state department looks at people requests visas. i think we have a long way to go as to identifying who the person is and whether they can support themselves as they come here. it would be those three questions need to be answered properly. and they can't conduct in the united states. i think we have a right to know

who's coming in. i think it is absolutely appropriate. the case cries out for that. we had the black widow who came in. social media was not examined. we have a visa security bill co coming out rather than investigate a terrorist attack after it happens in the united states. >> you know, an awful lot of time -- it gets into the press and it's usually bits and pieces of facts. but i think these 325,000 people that come in every day by air, 325,000, the vast majority coming here for legal purposes but some aren't. these folks are pretty good at -- first of all, if an

individual is in the database more often than not they don't even get on the airplane we are pretty good at stopping them. we look very hard at criminals. they have gone overseas. that's why in tiney numbers every day we ask individuals to open up citizens as well. we ask them to open up their social media. you would be surprised how often -- there would be people having sex with he l boys orally l girls that's an indicator who the person is. in the case of a -- we have to allow that men. we can at least identify them

and start a legal process. shifting to the border direct trafficking, human trafficking, potential terrorists coming in. you and i, when you're commander spoke, as chairman of homeland security, with potential ties to terrorists working together, that is the threat that i think we are trying to stop from coming in. aviation, you try to stop that. the land border, being from

texas i moe the threat there. i know the drug cartels are right across the border. so the president, and i know under his leadership you will be implementing a robust security plan which i think is long overdue. we have the political will to get this done. we will be introducing in the congress a border and interior enforcement bill to help give you legal authorities to do things you can't do. can you comment on what you were planning to do down at the border and what the wall is going to look like? >> you know, over the deck saids that american drug demand really began in a big way, that drug demand that has fuelled an

enterprise, a world wise enterprise and then distribution in our country. over the decades because of the nature of the cartels that have become incredibly sophisticated in mexico they have now captured the u.s. market. so marijuaheroin is transport te yi united states. methamphetamine has moved out of the united states and is di tributed back to the united states. in all of that an incredible amount of profit. so oning up into the united states is sected worldwide. it mufs people, ie tops, drugs. it have sophisticated. it is something if we don't get our arms around they control all

of this. we are already experiencing it. the leading cause of death over 50 is now drug overdoses. the fact that we are the most med dated planet on society where the united states, 5% of the world's population down sums about 90% of o, piods that are legally prescribed. 60,000 people refly died of this last year. never go to -- i have said repeatedly it really starts 1,500 miles south of the rio grande. most people don't know that. we have great partners.

that begins with columbia and mexico and everything in between. they want to work with us. our drug demand is brutalizing their societies that's where it starts. the incredible amounts they take off makes us look like we aren't doing anything in the united states. their journalists who are killed, attorneys general who are killed, prosecuting attorneys, but the point is it starts down there. as we move close ever to the bo the collaboration is very close

and paramount. physical bar jers work. physical barriers do work and so we are in the process, i think the chairman knows of collaborating with a number of contacts. >> and i was down yesterday and i think your experience is vital we have a little bit of time to talk about a very important issue and that is cyber security. people ask what keeps me up at

night, isis, al qaeda but cyber has great capability for great devastation can you very briefly -- the threats are real. what are you doing in the department to combat this? >> first thing i would say is oftentimes people ask me what keeps me up at night. so many things keep me up at night. i don't go to bed anymore. we are very very very good at cyber but so are they. we have been effected by cyber, manipulated by cyber. tts time shlgs i think, to do

somebody about that. but anything that we can do in the department, in the country, to better prepare, to protect our own nets and make that protection available r, which w do. we have world class partnerships. relationships with states in many cases they don't like us talking about, you know, what we are doing with them that includes a commercial world. when we give our word we won't violate it. when some one wants to be kept off of the screen as far as a

company, if we commit to that then we'll keep our word. the point is we are under assault and anything we can do is to say the lee. it is right out in front of this. >> thank you, secretary. my time has expired and it's been a real pleasure to have this clat wihat with you. thank you for everything you do for the country. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you. [ applause ]