able to keep in pace with that. this roving wiretap simply allows law enforcement to be able to track the individual rather than the phone. and you have to appreciate that law enforcement is operating in real time. i have heard many references as well to the idea of the sort of lack of due process. and because we are dealing with the issue of a potential terrorist, we are looking at it differently from the context of thprobable cause context, but we are going before the fisa court. mr. rogers explained specifically that the need to take these same information of probable cause before a court and even if that phone is anged aftethe fact, we have to report back to the judge. about what has been done with that phone. the protections have been built in with what congress did. i was in the justice department when we came before you and you fixed these provisions. significantly. and lastly, i now chair a subcommittee on homeland security dealing with the issue of terrorism and the lone wolf

provision. it was janet napolitano who talked about the changing nature of the threat and this being one of the most serious times since 9/11. mr. speaker, we must stand together and support those that are on the frontline with these commonsense changes that have already been put into the bill. we are not going over new territory here. what we are doing is allowing those on the frontline to use the tools before them to keep america safe. i urge support for this provision. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to again bring your attention, mr. speaker, to section 215, and the difficulty with which we in this body and the american people as a whole have with regard to exercising overght over abuse of government authority. an example that i gave earlier, the american library association, confirmed that the federal government went into a library and asked for the list of everybody who checked out a

book on osama bin laden. recipients of 215 orders can't even disclose that they received such an ordero anybody but their attorneys. so what ability do we have as the people's house to exercise ersight about whether there are abuses? it's been brought up by several people on the other side, my colleague from wisconsin, oh, there aren't abuses. if there is a secretive process that prevents us from knowing about abuse, how are we tonow whether therer abuses i also want to discuss section 206 that we are discussing today. the provision of the bill that allows the government to conduct the roving wiretaps. this ayou los allows the gornment to obtain warrants that don't even specify the personr object that's being tapped. it could involve tapping an entire neighborhood of telephones. the suspect might use, an unnamed suspect, might use or might not use. there's nothing even specifically prohibite from being an entire city of

television -- telephone calls being tapped. we don't knohow it's been used. before the amendment clearly states the warrants need to specify the person and places to be seized and searched with particularity. mr. speaker, we began this session of congress by reading the united states constition, including the fourth amendment, here on the house of representatives. we did that to help make sure the executive branch or the legislative branch don't have unfettered power to decide single-handedly who and how to search private citizens and seize their properties. the founding fathers were rightful worried about the possibility of the central government issuing generalar rants -- war rents that would give it far -- warents that would give it far-reaching power interconvenient in the private lives. we should honor the founder father's -- founding father's requests. now, the justification used for this provision is that the government needs to have the

ability to spy on a suspect as they move from phone to phone. now, no one objects to that authority when the security of the american people are at stake, but that doesn't mean that the government shouldn't have to specify who they are going to spy on and under what conditions. in fact, under federal criminal law, the government's already required to state either the person or place that's subject to the wiretap. it's these sort sorts of commonsense provisions we can achieve bipartisan consensus on to provide a longer ter stability with regard to the necessary provisions of the patriot t. . the final section that will be re-authorized in the bill, section 6001, teals with the quote-unquote lone wolf provisions which allow credit surveillance of nonsit zepps in the u.s. even if they're not connected to any terrorist group or foreign power. now, this authority is only granted in credit courts and again, threatens our understandings of the limits of

our federal government's investigate -- investigatery powers. it blurs the line between domestic national security and foreign intelligence. it's clear we allow a process to improve this. my friends on the other side of the aisle say they're worried about the growth of goth. yet despite the rhetoric of how the government is trying to take over your lives, this, their fifth bill under a rule actually gives the government the ability to spy on innocent americans. no wonder so many republicans join so many democrats in voting against this bill earlier this week i urge all of my colleagues who are worried about the unchecked growth of the state, anyone who seriously believes in protecting e rights and liberties of americans or anyone who simply thinks we need to take some time to look at these issues dnd e-- and debate them to vote no on this bill an force a zugs of these issues rather than vague

promises of future hearis or future markups, let's accelerate that timeline, mr. speaker to ensure that the concerns of the american people to help prect what it means to be an american. what is so close to our identity as americans protecting our individual liberties as according to the founding fathers articulated in our constitution we can reconcile that with the need to protect the american people and let us begin that work and with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado yields back the balance of his time of the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: i yield back the -- yield myself the plans of my time. the ly w for us to guarantee the rights of every american and ensure we will be going down the road to be a safe nation is to pass this extension so that these very able gentlemen can proceed with the kinds of hearings that are necessary to ep sure that all the rights with

we heard from the head to head the cia, it peaked director of national intelligence. tomorrow, 0 b will talk to mike rogers -- we will talk to mike rogers about national security. it "washington journal" is like each morning at 7:00 a.m. on c- span. >> now provisions and the bill

ending, lawmakers are trying to and provisions. . follow it online. you can find a full video archive at c-span.org/congre ss. >> the teacher and president tonight -- denied calls from protesters. he proposed it to the egyptian constitution and the military. after president mubarak, we will hear from the vice president sulieman. this is 20 minutes.

>> i addressees today -- address you today. i address you all with the speech from the heart, in a speech from a father to his sons and daughters. i give you a new generation of egypt.

i will not relent to penalize all those respond simple. i will hold those accountable to the law. i its stress the families of those innocent victims. i felt the same pain he felt. my heart went out. i felt the pain he did. this is a commitment that cannot be waived. i am adamant to fill of the promises.

this commitment stems from my conviction of the genuineness. mistakes are likely in any political reason team. it is important to commit to mistakes. we can penalize those responsible. in my capacity as president of the state, i cannot find any embarrassment at all. it comes from the wrongdoings.

i will not accept this from outside. my fellow citizens, i announced in plain words that i will not come to the elections. it is combined with what i have offered to the nation. i announced that i will adhere to this position. i will remain adamant to continue to shoulder my responsibilities. i am safeguarding the interests of the people and so the authority and power is handed over.

there is transparency. it will be transferred. i will continue to keep it. i have laid down a clear vision. i realize that demands in compliance with the legitimacy and in a manner that assures this, we are laying down a framework.

he is among all the forces of society. i laid down this vision. i'll is committed to my responsibility to take the country from these harsh moment. i am looking forward to the support and backing of every person. we ensure the proper implementation. we have initiated a very constructive dialogue. this dialogue has yielded the

agreement. we can lay this on the right path. we will continue marching into this path. this will go day by day. there is a peaceful transition of power. they have converged on the formation.

they ensured this precise limitations. i am keen on the information. in addition to the victims that have fallen, which is deep in our heart, i handed down my orders to speed of the investigations in the last week.

yesterday i received the report. i in response to the report and by virtue of the powers vested in the state proposed the amendment of six constitutional amendments. i am prepared to propose to

amend the articles. these amendments are aimed at streamlining the requirement. they answered that it is fair and transparent. it also gives the jurisdiction to rule upon the validity of the members of parliament. they can scrap article 179 of the constitution. it aims at creating a balance of protecting the nation from the

perils of terrorists. suitable circumstances are available. the priority now is to restore confidence among all egyptians. there is confidence in the transformation. it can never be reversed. egypt is going through hard times. we cannot tolerate these circumstances. our economy has suffered losses and damages day-by-day.

it will end up in a situation where they are calling for reform and change. the current moment is now relating to egypt and the current situation. of generations are lying in the same trench. we should continue engaging. with out any and minty. -- without any problems. stability and peace to our citizens and to restore the

normal way of life to the egyptian streets. there is loyalty to the homeland and sacrifice. i have exhausted my life defending the homeland. i went to war. 51 victory. i lifted the days of occupation. i also lived through the days of victory. it is the happiest day of my life when i lifted the flag of egypt. i never break under orders. i work for peace and independence.

i never sought power or popularity. i am certain the majority of the people are unaware of who president hosni mubarak is. by am fully aware of the crossroads we have had. base of my conviction, egypt is going through a defining moment in its history. we are required to rise above of differences and put the rest of the nation above the homeland. they are required to delegate the powers.

i am fully aware that egypt -- the will of people cannot be dented. egypt will be back on its feet through its people. we will not allow others to gloat over us. we will show our ability to materialize the demand of people by the civilized unconscious dialogue. we shape our own decisions. it is according to the demands of the people.

it is unique. it is the foundation and essence of our civilization? this will live on. the spirit will live on so long as people -- in this spirit will live with in each one of us. it will live on in the mind hosd conscious. i have yearned for this nation. i have safeguard and my personality and trust.

. above all, egypt will remain until i hand over the banner. it is the beginning of my life. it will remain a beloved homeland. i will not separate from the soul. you will remain honest, proud, people, standing with your head held high high. may god safeguard the people and guide them to the rightful path. made peace be upon you all. [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

the president has given priority. after being delegated by the president to shoulder their responsibility, to safeguard the stability and security of egypt and the acquisitions and assets, to restore peace and security to the egyptian public and restore the normal way, i request one and all to contribute to achieving this goal. for i have no doubt that the egyptian people are capable of safeguarding this. we have opened the door for dialogue. the road map has -- the road map has been laid down.

the door is still open for further dialogue. i am committed to carrying out whatever is necessary to ensure a peaceful transition of power appears your -- power. to safeguard the revolution.

it is a civilized dialogue. i call on all the citizens to look forward to the future and we can make this feature bright with freedom and democracy. you are the people of he rose. -- of a hero's. we cannot allow those perpetrating intimidation. leads' march forward that will guarantee the realization of the demand. it is toward a peaceful life where it is a top priority for

which we can sacrifice everything. i call upon the youth of egypt. go back home go back to your work. the country need your hand. let's join hands. do not listen to the satellite television station his main purpose is to still with this. only listen to your own conscious. we have started work, relying on god.

they defended the country and the constitution. the clock is ticking. let's march forward. we will work in the spirit of a team. i had taken the oath to work for this homeland with all the power i have to maintain the security. you work and god will see your

deeds. suleiman [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> president obama released a written statement where he said the universal right of the egyptian people must be respected. he also called for instituting a process that would end with a democratic government but did not call for host name of bark -- for hosni mubarak to step down. coming up, they testify about airport security features. they question the head of the intelligence agencies. we will talk to the ranking member of that committee. this weekend, george friedman

offers his predictions for u.s. foreign-policy over the next decade. donald rahm spelled out sits down with a historian to talk about his memoirs. the director of the iranian studies on iran. we provide coverage of politics, public affairs and american history. find our continent any time. we take c-span on the road with our local content vehicle.

it is available in more than 100 million homes. >> the administrator of the transportation security administration talked about a full body airport screening machines today. members of the committee also questioned him about the obama administration's recent decision to allow workers to unionize. this hearing is one hour in 40 minutes. >> this meeting will come to order. i live like to welcome

everybody into this first subcommittee meeting. i want to think mr. pistol for joining us. we have had a strong working relationship. the topic is terrorism and transportation security. security. i would like to welcome our witnesses, tsa administrator john pistole and thank them for being here today. we look forward to your testimony and appreciate your time. let me first state -- first and foremost i tsa is a counterterrorism agency and it must maintain that mission as its primary focus. if there are programs or offices within the tsa that do not correctly support the primary mission or could operate more efficiently, the subcommittee will oppose it if you are

taxpayer dollars could be better spent at tsa to achieve a greater level of security. it's also important to say that the outset that regardless of what other committees in the house may want you to believe, this subcommittee is the candidate with primary jurisdiction over all of tsa. in this road plan to exercise vigorous oversight of the agency and security of all transportation modes, including aviation, cargo, rail, mass transit, tracking a pipeline. were tsa is succeeding, we should applaud them. whether struggling to address vulnerabilities or to work with stakeholders, we should help them find new solutions. we can all agree that this safe and secure flow of passengers on commerce draw most of transportation is critical to our nation's economy. tsa is the federal parliament to ensure this happens within a framework and includes many stakeholders. in many ways post-9/11 security has been a security out of react to tactics by the tsa. existing practices with benefit

from a proactive intelligence-based decision making process. >> mr. pistole commode discussed trenches in this area i look forward to strengthening these programs and tsa. also at times, tsa's efforts are counterproductive to industry or lack coordination with industry. other forward to examining ways to bring best practices of the industry and tsa together for better security and safer transit. i want to emphasize the subcommittee will examine how tsa is that tax dollars, suffice it to say is that a large government agency in paris waisted tsa peered over the last few months there've been a series of high-profile media stories on this issue. i have met with gao in the department of homeland security at a cheap to discuss acquisitions and spending practices and scheduled hearings on the issue in the near future. i believe we should not automatically separate national security from as close purity. i believe tsa and taxpayers could benefit from a procurement

acquisition reform and i plan to pursue them. finally, it seems there is some at daily kos by the tsa isn't in the news making headlines. believe me in this business we are in, that can be both good and bad thing. just last friday was announced the tsa would allow employees to vote on collective bargaining framework that can lead to the unionization of employees. you and i spoke with on friday before the decision was made public and i continue to appreciate your willingness to get this important before we talk about the things the newspapers. with regard to collective bargaining rights were tsa employs a express concern before and will do so again today. because of the potential impact of the decision i'm going to allow a lot of extra time for you to fully explain your decision making on bargaining framework and for members to ask questions about it. in sum, we must be vigilant against terror is focused on attacking us in the taxing of our transportation systems.

i met with administrator pistole on multiple occasions since becoming chair. i'm very pleased with the fact is significant one for semantic counterterrorism experience. i believe is the right person and look forward to it for them and transportation security. thank you for your service for nation and throughout your career in thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us today. i now want to recognize the ranking member of the subcommittee come the lady from texas, ms. jackson lee for five minutes for an opening statement. >> good morning, mr. chairman. i grew if you want to thank administrator pistol for his young years of service. i'm delighted to be joined by the ranking member mr. thompson of mississippi and to acknowledge our new members, mr. davis of illinois, spears of california and mr. richman of louisiana. we are delighted to have the opportunity to serve the american people on this particularly important committee. mr. chairman, let me first congratulate you on your

chairmanship of the transportation and security subcommittee and let me say that i look forward to working with u.s. we have done before during this congress and as we work together to ensure that the transportation security administration as the tools and resources it needs to secure all modes of transportation, including aviation, mass transit, passenger freight rail, hybrids and pipelines, but additionally make note of the fact that every american, mr. chairman, is used about a transportation that we have responsibility over at some point in their life. it is a large and looming challenge to ensure the transportation mode of this nation. in a thank you for the opportunity to work with you. let me also welcome as i indicated to get a new members on both sides of the aisle and i look forward to working with all of them. tsa's operability is broad in its challenge in securing transportation against terrorist attacks is critical to the

nation's overall home at the purity of her. over the last four years during my chairmanship of the subcommittee, we evaluated cargo security and passenger planes, passenger and baggage screening technology and processes, security of foreign repair stations, general aviation security, registered traveler program and administration of tsa's program for service transportation security. might i add that we introduced along with chairman thompson a major purgation security initiative, h.r. 2200 of the last congress, focused on the growing professional development of our members said the tsa team in a number of other very important security reforms. i hope mr. chairman, will have an opportunity to look again and work together with you. mr. chairman, and from early discussions with you we share the same commitment to securing nations transportation systems to administrator pistol coming will commute into the sub

committee and look forward to your testimony. since you were confirmed a month ago come you've been presented with the merida challenges from explosives shipped from yemen to enhance patdown screening that is giving. and through it all you show leadership and determination and trying to get it right in addressing thread eternal transportation. i specifically remember engaging with you during the transportation enhancement process during thanksgiving and christmas am actually going out my airport in spending three days during the thanksgiving holidays, watching professional tsa officers began their work under very difficult circumstances. we have commented on notice. we have commented on the sensitivity of our particular traveling public and i hope we can work through those issues. recently have made two critical decisions that must run before appeared for state grants for your decision not to ask and screen pressure programs for airports to opt-out of using tsa

screeners in order to contract private screening firms. why should we go back? we went forward after 9/11. there is no reason seemingly to retrace the steps again, but we must also ensure that we grew up all of the procedures and processes of tsa. but for that to mitigate current and future threats at the aviation, as i said let us not forget the past. on the fateful day of september 11, 2001, for the passengers transited by the 19 hijackers were operated by three different security firms, contracted by air carriers at the three airports where the terrorists are parted. some of them, north liberty and washington dulles, citing various with this process, congress widely disguised and subsequently played a critical role as one of the most important security players for securing commercial aviation. but can this intelligent based

administration of tsa screening programs, we have hardened aviation significantly against terrorist attack on the tsa manages a small group of ftp airportcome including san francisco and the district of our distinguished colleagues from california, we must be careful not to institute a system of hodgepodge screening companies working at different airport across the nation and i appreciate you looking at this carefully. i also commend your decision to accept bargaining rights to transportation security offices. just as with other security professional on customs and border protection in federal protective service, tso spotted the summer season performance appraisals. ranking member now work very hard on this issue. just like the two agencies another one for one-person agencies across the nation, collective bargaining will in no way negatively impact security, but will in fact improve morale and performance of hard-working

tso's. the chairman i may disagree in some of these issues, but we do have agreed to in common. leonardi discussed the moscow airport and look forward to those hearings, particularly as we saw the last conference in the mumbai attacks. there is certainly a lot to do with. the chairman i've also discussed the importance of continuing oil left off in the last congress in securing mass transit and other service modes of transportation. again recent history and brescia from madrid in spain have shown that transportation is a terrorist target to many to be prepared. mr. chairman, you thank you again for your commitment to work with the side of the aisle so we can approach these issues in a company that manner. this is going to be a good year and i yield to. do not agree to generally be. we are going to have a great partnership. the chair recognizes the ranked member of the full committee, falcon full committee, gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson for a statement. >> thank you, chairman rogers

for holding this important hearing. i also graduate to your chairmanship of look forward to joining you and ranking member jackson lee and evaluating critical transportation security issues during the 112 congress. additionally, i would like to welcome mr. pistole to his first hearing in congress. we have taught them a number of occasions. i absolutely join my colleagues in thanking you for the outreach that you've done since you've been administrator and keeping us informed. please keep it up. also, let me say that your decision to grant collective bargaining rights to the transportation security offices at tsa is the right thing. as you know, i live with representative lori and ranking member jackson lee has been championing collective bargaining rights for tso's first several years. as proven by the performance of

other federal security officers of the collective bargaining does not diminish our security. in fact, i have great neo-and continue to believe collective bargaining can improve workforce morale and productivity and thus will positively impact tsa in fulfilling it mission to secure our transportation system. too often, we've been inundated with tso's concerning poor work place conditions, vague and inconsistent performance appraisal processes and in effect of training programs and practices. further, a top concern continues to be affording tso's the same benefit and personal standards as other employees in the federal pace is done. i look forward to continuing to work with you to implement this new collect to bargaining framework so that all the key

issues are addressed. mr. chairman, last congress center oversight act duties of tsa's program, we held several hearings addressing critical transportation security issues. i have taken particular interest in the deployment of advanced imaging tech knowledge and machines in our nation's airport another urged tsa to implement privacy and efficiency safe hard to accompany the use of this type elegy. ..

to conduct a civil liberties impact. as i have sent millions of times, millions of taxpayer dollars have been sent on this technology. lenny to be sure it is a template in a brisk based manor. we need -- we have had many conversations about the need to work collaborative lee with other agencies. i hope you continue to strengthen the relationship was stake holders, particularly in the area of cargoes security and screening. i like to address the threat with in the transportation community.

i look forward to learning more about the specific steps to focus resources and mass transportation modes. transportation in today's hearing. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you mr. thompson. other members of the committee or a device to their statements may be submitted for the record. we are pleased to have the distinguished guest with us today on this important topic. we will remind you mr. pistole your entire statement will be submitted for the record and you are now recognized for summarizing. >> thank you, chairman rogers and ranking member jackson lee and tom some good to see you and the new members of the subcommittee, welcome to the subcommittee. i'm pleased to be here today to discuss transportation security administration, our operations, our mission and the terrorism threat that our country faces and the men and women of tsa

confront every day. tsa of course was created in november of 2001 with a compelling mandate to prevent terrorism attacks like 9/11 from happening again. the and so began the not yet ten year history of the organization of dedicated men and women and secretary napolitano and director leiter testified yesterday we face an enemy which constantly involves tactics and techniques and as we have seen the threat is real. tsa plays a critical role in protecting the nation's transportation network as part of the u.s. law enforcement and intelligence community counterterrorism efforts. it is our responsibility to stay ahead of the terrorist threat through risk-based intelligence driven security measures with our partners here and abroad utilizing the leader interconnected system that gives us the best opportunity of detecting and deterring threats as we follow the embargo plot pivots so to make the best tools we employee effort to combat terrorists are accurate, timely

intelligence and partnerships. one of my first initiatives that tsa was to expand security clearance to a greater number of tsa employees in the field. this ensures our explosives experts are supervisory tso, transportation security officers and behavior officers have the information they need to better confront those who would do less harm. the other two are partnerships with other national security agencies and foreign counterparts, state and local law enforcement agencies and business community, especially airlines and air cargo carriers and of course, the american people. we've seen, going back to christmas day, 2009, and the air cargo what i mentioned, that concealment and design of explosives are being done in not only social norms that detection capabilities. we've expanded the use the trace detection and enhanced pat-down procedures and will continue to deploy the advanced imaging technology. we are always seeking the proper balance between security and

privacy. in that regard i am pleased to report we have begun field testing of the automatic target recognition, atr for the machines being field tested in los vegas, atlanta and washington national airports. the software could eventually eliminate the need for tsa to review passenger images. instead, a generic icon with highlight areas required just on screening, thereby addressing the privacy issues that have been raised. it would be the best technology and engaged power force is vital, so last week i announced my decision our security officers and tsos would have the right to vote for or against union representation in a fair and transparent process consistent with the order. i also laid out specific terms for a limited, clearly defined framework consistent with tsa's security mission should tsos it be like a union. this framework, which is unique in the u.s. government, reserves

tsa's capability and flexibility to respond to the evolving threats. let me state clearly, tsa's priority is the safety and security of the travelling public. all 628 million of them in a 2009 and again in 2010. as administrator, i'm committed to the vaulting tsa into a more agile, high-performance organization that can meet the security threats of today and the future. as i mentioned earlier, tsa ability to push of intelligence information to our front line workforce and quickly change procedures based on threat and intelligence is paramount to effective security. all factors along with cost in my decision to not expand the privatized screening program, beyond the 16 current airports as a clear and compelling reason. going forward, i believe that we had tsa must use more of them risk-based approach to the checkpoint of the future, using common sense informed by intelligence, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach for the passenger screening.

with that, i look forward to working with this subcommittee as we develop and implement the security solutions to help mitigate a dynamic and changing ferc landscape. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. pistole. we know you're very busy and we very much appreciate you making yourself available today. to work with us on this topic. i'd like to recognize myself now for five minutes for questions. recently i had a meeting with the railroad industry and that he expressed a couple of concerns that they would like help with. one is they would like more specific information, more concrete and specific information on the current threat that tsa is aware of and to work with them to deal with those threats. the other is they would like to have a more mcwhorter mutual relationship to establish goals that both you and the industry

feel like what most effectively deal with the threat. so could you tell me what, if anything, you've been working on to address those two areas? the communication threat information as well as setting the goals with the rail industry. >> yes, mr. chairman. since i started last july, i've been looking at not only pushing the intelligence out to the tsa work force, but those partners who in industry are ultimately responsible for implementing the safeguards that need to be in effect. i've met with both executives and security officers from the st. rail and passenger rail areas, and there are several developments. i am clearly committed to working in a partnership to provide the related intelligence. of course it is usually strategic intelligence. there may be a threat, for example, amtrak and the northeast corridor, or there may be something about a terrorist such as in madrid or london or moscow or mumbai who attacked

rail with out any tactical actual intelligence. but we are to pushing of intelligence in a classified setting and unclassified as appropriate on both strategic and tactical. one very positive demint on the second point about working towards mutual goals is in the ring of the toxic immolation hazards carried on the freight rail to the downtown metropolitan areas including washington, d.c.. really because of the partnership and the initiative of the free to industry having these toxic inhalation hazards there has been a 90% reduction over the last two years in the threat to some of these urban areas. that was done based on the initiative of the industry with assistance from austin to do grants and things like that, so it is a partnership and that is why i am committed to do it. -- there's not limit on your ability to communicate the threat? >> no, it's just a question of

obviously it comes from other agencies and u.s. intelligence community we get information from them and in the form of what is this a memorable and they want to protect mathis, so they may not say this is an intercept from this communication but we have intelligence command for a sample not related to treat or rail, but on december 23rd we've received credible intelligence that al qaeda and the arabian peninsula was considering using p.e.t., the same as christmas day bomber and against the saudi official and the cargo plot. the same explosive in thermoses. so they wrap the thermos around the line of the thermos sweep was that literally of the same day we receive it to the u.s. carriers, and so it's that type of intelligence we are always trying to produce, so the intelligence officers are doing enhanced screening of thermoses from that day and that continues

to read >> tell me, shifting gears a little bit, sheila jackson lee a little earlier mentioned the airport, the private union contractors and how to had made the decision to seize that effort. tell me about your thought process of making that decision. >> so, conceptually i see that tsa should be a federal counterterrorism agency, and we are best able to train and deploy and execute on a mission as a federal work force. that being said, with the 16 privatized airports i'm always open to innovative ideas and opportunities where we can improve either in terms of our efficiencies and how we go about doing things for better security or from a business efficiency standpoint. and so some of the reporting was in a skilled programmers no longer open that's not true. but i do want to see clear and compelling information or evidence that would benefit --

there's got to be a reason for making the change, and if we went beyond the 16 in any large measure it would make it more challenging in terms of how we do the immediate flexibility and ability that i want in the federalized work force. >> why would inhibit that flexibility? >> so, for the example, the airports that were mentioned san francisco, kansas city, seven in montana and the key west and croswell and other places. i don't have the flexibility to move those individuals to another airport, because they are not employed by tsa, their private contracts. so if there is -- well, for example, the natural disaster katrina, i could not take those for the surge capacity to deal with that or if there's specific intelligence about a particular airport unlimited. i can't move those individuals. and if we have a change in how we go about our protocols, such as with the enhanced pat-down, it's just a more cumbersome process frankly.

>> thank you. my time is up. the chair now recognizes the gentle lady from texas for five minutes of questions. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. i think i would agree with administrator pistole on the importance of the role of tso officers as part of our fighting terrorism team, and i and the more we can enhance the training skill is coming to be enormously helpful. the 1. i would make in your remarks, my comment on that one, terrorism doesn't make an appointment, and number two, we have seen the franchise of terrorism meaning single individuals can be actors that show up at airports anywhere around the world. but let me ask a question you might incorporate that because it has to do with the pat-down

procedures and the ait machines and working with flight crew and pilots, and fact section 1614 of the implementing recommendation 9/11 commission call for the expedition of flight crew and pilot for security at checkpoints. i think you know yourself it has been a point of contention. where are you in evaluating the process, and will the system include a volumetric component as was piloted by tsa, will you focus on the pilots and the crew including flight attendants as the legislation directed? no one mentioned the second of it is a trust a traveler program and many people are inquiring. this is a very full question. the other part of it is i think the chairman and i agree on notice and keeping the dialogue. i mentioned to you we heard about changes in the enhanced

process on a local television and was concerned about that. can you help us as to why that leaked and why some of us at least were not aware of that in the procedures and at least the fact that changes were coming? >> thank you, ranking member jackson lee. to the first point about terrorists, that's absolutely what we have the layers of security and why we do the random and unpredictable screenings at different airports in different ways. we have the detection officers, a whole range of panoply of options. as part of the overall continuum for the u.s. government in terms of our counterterrorism strategy, and you are absolutely right. there are single individuals who may be inspired by whether it is al-aulaqi or some other who is radicalized on the internet and then made -- go home to see how to make a bomb themselves without ever communicated with anybody else, which is the key

opportunity to intercept that information. that is one of the key challenges. how we go about doing it. that being said, i am very much interested as i mentioned buying opening statement using the risk-based approach. information we already know about every passenger as name, date of birth we know whether or not they are the watch list but then as far as a sometime that day trusted a traveler program, if individuals are willing to give more information about themselves so we could do criminal history czech and other checks, then we might be able to afford them a different type of security screening. so i have several working groups on this looking at a number of different options and that is the reason why i decided in november to change if the screening of pilots because these are risk-based approach is. if they are in charge of the aircraft frankly i'm not concerned if they have a prohibited item because they could put the flight down.

halloween night of 1999 when i was with the fbi coming off jfk off the coast of rhode island where the co-pilot put the flight down to 232 people. so it's not the physical screen that's going to detect that as what is in the first. so we are working with the airline and the pilots' associations to expand the three projects that we have, whether it is at bostick, but to allow them to use an identity based way of getting to the flight as opposed to the fiscal screening. the flight attendants' association also we are still in discussion about that and what that might mean. so interested in expanding that to not only the trusted travelers but how we define those. so i would be glad to discuss that further with the subcommittee as more time is available. >> one quick question. you've been meeting with stakeholders on the explosive screening mandate. my question quickly is why are

you doing that? why do we need the input? but more importantly, what happened to the aviation security advisory committee that we asked about last year to establish the security of faizal committee on the air cargo to look at some of these issues? >> the advisory committee has been working group reinstated as of last month. the secretary decided that with commissioner ellen person from cbp, myself as the co-chair and douglas smith from the private outreach office facilitating that. so that has been reinstituted. thank you for that suggestion and follow-up. the outreach in terms of the cargo is basically a one to make sure we don't dictate something to the industry that they are not capable of implementing without burdensome cost of them or inability to comply. so that's why we are working very closely with a flexible in the free area with ups and fedex, post october 29 and the cargo plot. working very closely with them to say here's what makes them, here's what we can do collaborative flea on a

partnership rather. >> i've got other questions, mr. chairman, but i will yield that. >> we will have another series. the gentleman from illinois is recognized for five minutes. -- before, mr. chairman. minister pistole, thank you very much for being here. mr. chairman, i commend you for so quickly hosting an important hearing like this. administrator pistole, let me refer to a couple things you need in your opening statement. to emphasize a few times a risk-based approach to the passenger screening. this is obviously an issue that in the general public often breeds confusion. explain in basic or more complicated terms what goes into that risk-based approach for the passenger screening? >> thank you. right now we are not there.

so we do use a one size fits all approach which i don't think it's either efficient or beneficial for the traveling public or for security. what i would like to do is spend more time with those that we assess based on all the information available to us and maybe a higher risk, clearly goes on in the botts list and things like that. but do we have further information either from intelligence or information volunteered to us by the passenger or that we see by the protection officer something suspicious about a person. so that is where we are moving to command again, i will have more information as the year goes on billion permitted to doing something this year that would demonstrate a different paradigm for how we go about doing the passenger screening, who we screen and how we screen. >> it sound like much of that will be based on the intelligence gathering. spec part of it will be. and again, it's something there is obviously privacy issues and there will be issues that are going to be very attuned to, but

a frequent traveler, for example, is willing to voluntarily provide information like they do for other trusted traveler programs like the global winter coming into the u.s. through customs, then yes i'm interested in doing that and making sure that we can guarantee need to verify the person and then make their risk-based judgment. we are not in the risky elimination business, people stop flying, that's not an option. people will have a car accident, no guarantee a must stop trading. as we don't eliminate risk but we try to mitigate risk in an informed fashion and that's what i'm committed to doing. >> to leapfrog to another issue, tsa created the partnership program airports can apply to have checkpoint screening done by private contractors currently being done at 16 airports. in your estimation, what was the partnership begun to begin with?

>> as a part of the enabling legislation of the aviation transportation security act, it was required that the five airports do a two year act to see whether that works. some members felt strongly that that should be an option, so that five was done november 02, november 04, and then other airports apply so we are at the 16, but they're just hasn't been -- there has only been to applications since i started the job last year. one that just came last week after i announced my decision. so it hasn't seemed to be that much interest in the program, so that is where it is right now. >> was the private to the pilot program deemed successful? >> yes. >> okay. and the -- at the 16 airports where it is currently being practiced, is it fair to say that it's been fairly successful as well?

>> yes. of course they filed the exact protocol standard operating procedures that we have the of the 435 or so airports around the country. they have to use the same equipment, the same training, all those things. it's just the actual individuals have to work for a private contractor rather than tsa. >> and the expansion beyond the 16 airports, that's got to come from the airports themselves? air force have to apply for the? >> sure, they apply and we evaluate. in my announcement i'm simply saying i want to see something and compelling, something substantial that would make sense to justify the changing from what the systems are already working. >> thank you. mr. chairman, i yield back. >> the chair now recognizes the yanking member mr. thompson for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. pistole, i appreciate your frankness and responding to the

question. let's look at the air cargo for a moment. as you know recently received notice that the department has done the 100 per cent passenger cargo screening. has there been any problems relative to cargo being interrupted or not delivered on time with the implementation of this 100% screening? >> no, congressman, it has worked efficiently through a combination of certified cargo screen kissell these, about 1200 of them around the u.s. coupled with the screening demint airports. >> and i think that's part of closing the portability loop that pretty much all of us identify. moving to another area, prepare

stations. i'd understand that you are in the process of going into rulemakings and for what ever reason we don't have it. can you give us some idea of when some of the proposed rule making will be completed? >> we have the domestic stations obviously that you may be referring to the foreign repair stations? we work with the tsa in terms of their certification of those facilities and being qualified to do the repair work especially on the u.s. carriers support of the challenge is how we dealt with eight what they are doing meets our standards in the u.s.. so certain countries have the security protocol measurement are just not as thorough so that's part of the challenge how to work with the host government and the civil aviation authorities and cargo companies to give that highest level of

competence when they are making the repairs to the aircraft there's not something nefarious also taking place and part of that is the screening of the mechanics who work in those buildings and it is a logistics challenge for us to validate, inspect and validated the stations so that is part of what's happening. >> can you give us an idea -- >> i have to get back with you on that. i don't know of the top of my head. >> the reason i say this i think we have gone beyond the expected time on that so if you could get back to us we would appreciate it. for the record also mr. chairman, i want to kind of a share with the committee relative to the collective bargaining issue, there are already people who have collective bargaining rights

within the department of homeland security. our customs and border protection offices, immigrations, customs enforcement and the field protective service, but also within the federal government, we have the department of defense police, a united states capitol police, united states park, united states marshals service, the department of veterans affairs as well as the united states mint who police, but also the issue of security and whether or not the collective bargaining compromise that security. i would like to see that the two officers who brought down the shooter at fort hood were members of the american federation of government employees union, so i think those heroes deserve recognition and just as a side bar they were union members, so i think they did a wonderful job, and i hope

some of the concerns of collective bargaining and union can be put to rest because of that. i guess the only issue of mr. and administrator, you talked a little about it, is implementing with our imaging machines the new software. can you give us how long the pilots are expected to go before we can recognize as a result on that? >> yes, congressman. the testing began last week washington national here port and atlanta this week and we are doing between 45 and 60 days of testing to assess whether the results we had in the lab will be commensurate with what we are experiencing with real passengers and screening it is

too early to see a thread and i know from last they guess it's going well and we are working through some issues. ferc symbol, an individual with a ponytail may show up with an anomaly that could be of a machine because it's may be slightly out of the algorithm that is normal, but it is easily resolved with a visual inspection, so it's part of the training for the tsos to say okay how we resolve that, and then but of course completely i believe addresses the privacy issues that have been raised because that generic object and that icon of a person that is the same for every passenger as opposed to the individual with the area highlighted with anomaly, so it is a targeted pat-down of that area, which again, it also addresses the pat-down initio some people have concerns about. >> thank you. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama, mr. brooks, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

a few questions with respect to collective bargaining. if they even asked a former union who would they be bargaining with the? >> under the construct of the health legislation it gives tsa a administrator great discretion so it the only national local collective bargaining and would be with them the headquarters of tsa so we wouldn't have the the bargaining and it would be procedures that proved at the national level. it would be reviewed ultimately on the day-to-day basis. and the collective bargaining would be such as awards and recognition, guidelines and processes and things of that

nature. how we know that won't be expanded at some point to the future to include many other items because the enabling legislation gives the administrator that discretion as to what can and cannot be bargained about, and so without going through the cafeteria to say i would like this and this, i don't want that, so what is on the tray right now are just those items that i believe pam do not adversely affect in any way, so the successor administrator and would have to agree to add things to that. >> if you or your successor or to change the scope of what the collective bargaining could be about, and it would be changed? >> yes. >> will but the union committee be should the disagree with a the result of the collective bargaining? >> again, because of the broad authority there is basically a final decision - one of the administrator and there is no

from that. >> well, traditionally, unions have collective bargaining doesn't go as they wish. the exercise strike right and the exercise is to the work slowdowns. how we have any assurances that wouldn't happen in the united states and disrupt our security at the airport as a piece? >> again, congressman, because of those unique and abroad authorities have said being the administrator, none of those possibilities or options if any employee he doesn't show up for work would be disciplined and there is no issue on that under the collective bargaining. all those prophecies and engagements will remain in place. there is no work slowdown or stop or strike that is allowed and m employee can be fired for doing those things. >> it seems our country visited this issue back in the early

1980's with the professional air traffic control organization as you probably recall it as president ronald reagan ultimately have to fire all of the employees. are you willing to do the same thing? should any of these tso workers decided to exercise work stoppage or slowdown or strike? should they disagree with your determination of the collective bargaining process? >> sure, congressmen. aboard allow anything to happen that will adversely affect the security. if an individual or a group of individuals are not performing their duty as defined, than it would go through the normal process of the discipline. >> you are willing to terminate if need be shut these individuals unionize and should they engage in work stoppages or slowdowns of any sort. >> i can envision that because it's not traditional collective bargaining so there is no right

to do that so if an individual wants to risk losing their job by not showing up or doing the work slowdown than they would be alternately result in termination. >> the reason i bring up pet coke is they get no right to do the ordering when ronald reagan returned them to work so they were terminated and i trying to get a clear yes or no answer. if there is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement should they engage in a work stoppage or slow down or engage in a strike? are you to fallujah them in mass? >> i am, yes. >> thank you. >> the chair now recognizes the gentleman from illinois for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, and let me say from the beginning that i am in favor of tsa employees having

the right to organize. i also want to feel less safe and secure and protected when i travel, and i also want to feel that the american public and all of the public who make use of our transportation system can feel the same way. i note in your memorandum relative to the collective bargaining you stated that the surveys have shown tsa ranks poorly in terms of the employee morale. how important do you think morale is in terms of service and do you think the organization or the right to organize the union would have a positive impact on morale

building. >> thank you. as you are aware of the survey in place the best place to work it was ranked out of the agencies. during a number of town halls around the country they are of course listening to the security officers and management and executives in three separate sessions. what i felt was a great deal of frustration with the lack of uniform consistency and the way we handle our policies so that is part of what i informed my decision and judgment to allow them to vote recognizing the 13,000 of the 47 nelson or so currently paying but collective bargaining, so why the fear is a lot of destruction among the work force with these personal issues that can be improved with better uniform consistency and so that's part of my reason and

rational allowing them to vote on whether they want to have a union representing them. >> there's the possibility of public employees slowing down the work in some ways disrupting the normal flow of activity. what was perhaps individuals who have grievances were dissatisfied what can they expect to do to get those results >> the existing rules we have in place will continue, so obviously they are encouraged to work through that on a partnership basis. if that doesn't happen, then depending on what the issue is and the concern they have other

opportunities to raise its collective bargaining is voted on in a union is elected with a representation at a hearing or whatever would come out as a result of that issue. >> of course i come from chicago where it is obviously quite cold right now and it's good to be from there, that is away from their. but we are also the transportation of the region as a matter of fact they suggest the transportation center of america and the cost of the strategic location. much of that relates also to surface transportation. are there any new thoughts, provisions, guidelines that are

being proposed to increase safety and security related to surface transportation? >> we recognize the surface particularly trained subways who have been subject to multiple acts around the world as i mentioned earlier. the challenge is how we shore up the defenses for individual getting on a passenger train or a subway, so we have done several things partially the trees british and security grant program working with fema and local authorities. we provide over $300 million last year for a number of transportation systems including some of those in chicago that used that money for several things. one is training of officers there may be additional que nine programs. it may be such things as evin and new york city where last

year they were able to hide your 120 or so officers in the nypd just for enhanced security in the subway with over 450 subway stations of new york city that was money through the grant program and we also have viper teams in the response teams which are at -- designed to be visible, unpredictable deterrents to those within it is here in the station or the penn station in philadelphia, new york court in chicago, and some of this grant money working with state and locals because we recognize we can't be all pilat all times we can't install strips so we have to work through the local partnership with state and local police. >> thank you very much, i yield back. >> my friend and colleague from california is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you very much.

thank you administrator pistole for your service to the fbi and now. thank you for taking some heroes on the issue of the full-body scanners. when that can a little while ago i name a few months ago. i would like to ask about your decision to the screening partnership program. do said members of congress when they enacted the legislation when the pilot project. the project was conducted you said the results were good. you then said however you made a decision with respect to granting collective bargaining rights to employees because you listen to them and what would be a good idea they should vote but you're doing and the airports of the country the right to vote. airports, a number of them to be involved in this and to basically now raise the bar so there has to be a compelling reason. do you have that same standard when you decide with respect to

collective bargaining compelling reasons? >> i think those are two distinguishable issues. >> was the standard when used in collective bargaining? it had to be a compelling reason for you to do it. i don't understand why you're doing it in this case. you said the surge, you need the flexibility of the surge, and yet you then testified only a couple of airports have asked for it. there's 400 some odd airports. are you saying adding to war would complicate your situation with respect to flexibility for the surge so you couldn't accomplish a task? >> what i'm saying is i didn't see a compelling reason to add to the existing 16 that would be a reason to make a change from the existing approach of using federalist work force in most airports. >> when we pass the legislation we wanted to see whether that would work. we didn't say there would be a

compelling reason to go further. the idea was to have a pilot project to see if it would work. you told us that worked but now you're saying it has to be a compelling reason. i don't understand the bias against the private sector frankly. that's what appears to be to be. if you look at the experience in san francisco international airport which has been outstanding that airport provided competition to the others and when this program first started, one of the highest rates of injury of the entire work force in the nation were screeners. the private employer in san francisco decided instead of having all of the screeners lift heavy baggage, they would actually get heavy baggage lifted and pay them a different rate. and what happened? they didn't have the same injury rate that the public sector did and in the public sector saw that was a good idea and the did that. the idea of competition allows

those kinds of things that could happen. that's why i say you have to have a compelling reason and you talk about katrina. how many private sector people responded to katrina. you're telling us that somehow because these folks work for a company that makes a profit that that somehow different? i'm just trying to get this idea through my head as to why you have this thought that we can't have private screeners when airports are saying they would like that alternative. spearman understand i believe your concerns. >> i don't believe you do based on what you said. >> i hear your concerns. we'll get a perspective what happened prior to 9/11 with private screeners. private screeners versus federal screen as i believe there should

be federal work force. estimate your answer you believe a federalist work force. >> i missed that in my comment before you or your commesso -- >> so you believe in a federalist work force rather than one that has private folks working at the direction of those? >> that's right. >> that's my philosophical approach a division defederalized work force to respond to work in the private sector? >> yes, i practiced law before i became an fbi agent. estimate is their something about the private sector that makes them unable to participate in the security of the country? demint absolutely not. >> i'm astounded to say that since that is contrary to what the congress indicated they wanted done today wanted a pilot project to see if it works. it has worked and you have said

in your testimony, but despite that you say we shouldn't allow it to go further because you believe about to be federalist work force. >> i am saying i am open to the possibility of that is why have an airport comes in and can demonstrate there is a compelling reason to change because they can do things better the line open to that. i'm not ruling that out, congressman, i just -- >> what is your body is against private-sector people being involved in security? 85% of our critical infrastructure owned by the private-sector are you suggesting we need to federalize 85% of the critical infrastructure in this country because somehow only federal workers can do the job? >> we have just the two airports come and request because there hasn't been a rush to knocked on the door to have airports submit application to do this to this gimmick would you believe they might be discouraged by your

comment? >> until the time of my announcement there have only been one and one came after the announcement i think to try to demonstrate -- >> encouraging what you said so far. >> i don't know how they would take that. >> they would say that you have said it ought to be a federal screening work force that you have to find a compelling reason which means you give them a higher bar and all sorts of reasons to believe it will interfere in your flexibility to respond to a potential disaster, and frankly i do understand what you say philosophically i disagree. i think that congress disagreed with you and frankly i'm very disappointed because i think that you are basically saying your setting a standard that's not in the law because you have for whatever reason reason for believing those in the private sector can't do as good as a job as those in the public sector and i am sorry to hear that. >> the gentleman yield back and

i recognize the gentleman from louisiana mr. richmond for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. pistole, just three quickly, can you touch for me on dhaka rail to become and i know that it's probably in many districts, but our rail alliance goes through neighborhoods close to schools and close to big sporting venues and a number of other things and my -- one of my concerns has always been what happens if the rail line is used as a weapon. the share bridges with our automobiles many times. so can you touch on that for me? >> i share that concern recognizing the vulnerability and access not necessarily associated with aviation and as i mentioned with the attacks around the world particularly passenger rail and the partnership we have with the freight and passenger rail in terms of their actions they can take with the government regulation to say it makes good

business sense to reduce our risk and the example i gave the 90% reduction and the hazard risk through urban areas by industry's own initiative that is the ideal model caribbean where the industry does that voluntarily. it's not a regulation. it's simply because it is a good business sense. so we work closely with whether it is the amtrak or other rail police address the security chiefs of both freight and passenger at several different settings, and what we hope to ensure is the partnership will make informed decisions what they should do to protect the rail. >> the -- my last question will be a general question on the future of the card in the program where are we and where are we headed with it? >> 1 million cards at this point.

i could check the number to be sure but i think that's right. it's not where i would like it to be pitied it's taken longer than it should and there haven't been the successes i would like to see in terms of trying to ensure the best possible safety by those who have access to the most critical areas. so it's -- i am focused on that and want to make some improvements in the timing of the rollout. it's taking too long frankly. >> thank you for your time and i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. speaking of cold weather, questioners from minnesota so we can't. >> thank you, mr. chairman and from my home town was 31 degrees below zero and i love minnesota. i do. good for ice fishing right now. thank you.

i appreciate you coming today. appreciate your service to this country and have a couple being an airline pilot seemed to grab my interest. last week the tsa began testing new software and as the automated target recognition. this is used as the current advanced imaging technology ait machines. the software will enhance pessin to pervvijze by eliminating passenger specific images into of the potential threats items on generic out line of passenger instead of the visit images we have seen all over. the tsa is conducting a pilot of the software of las vegas and international airport. jackson atlanta international airport and washington reagan airport as well. have we gotten any feedback from the passengers regarding the program so far? >> just from last vegas, mr. chairman. this is something we are getting positive feedback because the passenger actually sees the

image now along with the security officer opposed to a second officer, and it gives the passengers the confidence there's something for example on the right hip it means i forgot to take my handkerchief out of my pocket or something as opposed to a complete pat-down to try to resolve that anomaly. so far tsa should be commended for listening to the public. my concern though is in this technology make sure they can see any size of the object on the passenger from the top to the toes of full screening without getting into detail. but obviously the christmas day bomber presented one of those touches since we are field testing this. it is actually the same equipment, just a different depiction of the image.

it's to detect those types of nonmetallic bombs as the cut on christmas day there is a 100% guaranteed silver bullet just the best technology and we are trying to improve that to respect currently the new software is being tested for the millimeter wave machines and when do you expect this to be piloted back scanner ait? >> the manufacturer is working on the auto detect function and the algorithm so we are thinking about what the leader this summer with lab testing and field testing in the fall. estimate of the pilot project does go well do you plan to put these machines in every one of the airports or we have obviously the funding is would be the key. >> yes, as much as the budget would allow we will convert the existing if it is a to our conversions of its minimal cost as soon as we are able to do

that assuming we get the good result we are hoping for. >> excellent. thank you for your time and i yield back. >> the chair recognizes himself for a series of questions. currently, transportation workers have a number of different identification credentials. among these but not limited or the card we already talked with, commercial driver's license, hazardous materials endorsement, and the secure trade car. these credentials all have a separate application process and require separate background checks many of which are redundant. stakeholders in the transportation industry experts strong concern to me that we need to address the redundancies. can you tell me what you can do to get some relief? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i agree with you and the industry that there are too many cards but to many applications for too little return on the

process. i don't have much in terms of positive news on that. it's larger than just tsa or even the department. so working through a number of areas on the universal rule of having ideally one card the would get access to the question if a person has access to the report of the applications if they don't need access to the airport if they don't need access to the commercial driver's license with a cast that endorsement there's different applications for different people. very few people who would have all of those needs of access such as the sensitive area of the airport so there is some basis but i think it's become much too cumbersome and i look forward to working with you and the committee on streamlining the process. >> i'm glad you offered that comment. one of the other things going on in the various sectors of the transportation is inviting them

to give proposed rule changes with their its regulation that's redundant or is just overly burdensome. and i would urge you to tender those to consider us working to get rid of redundant and unnecessary rules, and i don't know if you've had the anybody in your department looking at the existing regulation that can streamline, but i would urge you to do that because it is becoming problematic for a lot of the different sectors. my colleagues on the committee would be disappointed in me if i didn't bring up k9, going to do that to the economy zealous advocate for the use of the k9 explosive assets and i would like you to tell us -- you mentioned earlier the use of those. tell us where you are with that sector of your security. >> i am a big proponent of the

k9 program and the actor will detection of explosives but also the deterrent effect of those possible terrorists who might be deterred by the presence of a >> k9 candler regardless whether it is involved or not. i am also heartened by the initiative through auburn university of the vapor wait technology. the devotee for a dog trained to not just hit on the package or the backpack or whatever it may be containing the explosives but pick up the vapor as somebody has walked through, for example at moscow the question would be if there had been a deeper trained dog in that area even after the person walked through that bald would have likely been able to pick up on something like that so in terms of what we are doing tall burned and a

number of additional opportunity to deploy those dogs as the budget rule out. >> i hope that is what we will see and the budget next week and the president expressed her desire to see the assets utilized in the sectors of our security system. as you know, the facility that you had what one is the money that has been suggested by the secretary spent to expand the facility is the man to be at its maximum capacity. it's going to generate two under 75 the year. we are going to have to have a second site at least for the production of those assets and training, hoping you are working for the secretory on that and and i can assure you want to be a partner because we need those at sifry airport and at every rail station and they are just a very low-cost very effective

asset. my time is up and i now recognize the gentlelady from texas for another series of questions. >> thank you mr. chairman, administrator pistole i recognize my appreciation. i want to give some questions not aimed at you, but in any even if i could get quick answers i would appreciate it. you need to answer the original question about the notice to the ranking member at that time the chairwoman of the changes that occurred, the change that occurred back then, but let me skip and not go all the way back to november but the changes that occurred in the immediate last two or three weeks that i called about and saul first on our local tv program that changes were coming to the enhanced process and was aired on our local station in houston. i would like to have better communication, so if you answer that when i give you the series of questions, first of all, and

i want to reinforce and think you i think that your whole process on the stp were thoughtful and and it's important to acknowledge again the security operations at airports to private screen has cost the government more money and we are cost conscious but we don't want to be cheap on security and i think that's important. also believe, as i asked my earlier question, that it's important and we have an integrated system of the federal screening the of the agency to quickly react to terrorists and threats in a more secure way. i also believe the mention of intelligence is so very important in my want to congratulate you for getting a high number of security to be defined by also specifically a note appreciation for colonel tester fisa within my jurisdiction and she has done a great job. let me publicly say i look forward to touring the cargo space you've been in fighting in the hope to be there shortly. but i want to follow up very

quickly and now these are the quick question status report on the tsa repair station we been working on that repair station security a long time and if i can just get one or two updates. on the international front after yemen we rushed overseas to establish, and also the christmas day bomber incident, the last point of departure in foreign countries, and i'd like to know what we have done, what about our agreement on how we in congress can be helpful and what tools or resources to help you achieve passenger baggage and the security at the foreign airports and i know some of those are international agreements, but we need to know how we can ramp it up and move all labeth faster. i have always been concerned in making sure that america and the american federal government look like america and i know that my friends agree with me.

so i am very interested in a targeted, forceful, a meaningful approach to diversify the executive and mullen executive level at the tsa come and working with people from diverse backgrounds i ask that question of the psychiatry in putting people of different faiths, religion, particularly the muslim community, and i'm also interested in homegrown outreach for hispanics, african-americans, asians and native americans, and of course texas anglo-american speed a diverse work force that reflects everyone. so, i'm hoping someone was writing those questions on if i can get some answers from you again quickly. thank you. >> thank you, madame. i wasn't sure if you wanted those answers right now? let me briefly on air cargo with yemen, i was in yemen five days ago with the authorities, the

country team very briefly, fully engaged with industry to ensure that any cargo coming from yemen once we lifted the hold which was put into effect immediately would have the best screening possible, and we are still continuing the foot process and can give you a further update -- >> and put it in writing to read what are you working on the international agreement? >> yes and working with the aviation organization and the world customs organization. >> the repair station, as i mentioned earlier event of the specifics to it i have to get back to you on that. >> very important, and as you know this whole idea of what happens when an hour or airplanes or expos overseas and need repair as the gentleman from rhode island had begun working on, but we need an extensive answer on that. >> diversity, and that you know tsa has the most diverse work

force not only in the dhs but in the federal government, and we've got all the figures on that. >> let me get that in writing because you say that all the time and what you're talking about is the tso officers and by talking about the executive level that is very important, and i want to speak with the chairman on this professional development issue. when i travel through what i hear is bright intelligence folks with no place to go. so we need to sort of get an understanding of how we advance, give them the opportunity to be professionals and move forward. so i really want to ensure you have never gotten about this noticed situation on hearing the news on the television as opposed to the chairman and myself -- >> and i apologize for that, ranking member sheila jackson lee. if there was something -- i am drawing a blank on what that was. >> we are talking about the aic. our news report before i even knew anything about it that you are changing.

>> from the atr testing? >> this is not 2011 and i'm going back to november. >> obviously i want to keep you and the chairman fully informed, and when i don't do that that is on me to do a better job. >> i just want to say it's not only the chairman that mentions k9 on this issue. i look forward to you hopefully pumping that up with talented, healthy animals that are a great asset and i hope we will be able to visit. with that thank you for your indulgence and i think that will yield back at this moment. >> the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and understanding being in the military and the airline pilot understand is the best way to go about this is it leaders security because there are layers of threats. there is no silver bullet as you

say. it starts basically from when a person purchases a ticket to win the right to the airport to when they check their bags or not to when they go through a screening point to when they actually go on board the aircraft. so in recent terrorist attacks in the moscow airport, unfortunately, this was conducted in a non-secure area. that's one of these threats and these layers of security or so important. i was just wondering what are your thoughts as the tsa increased security for the bonds to your area's, and one of six promising and we've gone through several times myself as for human intelligence, human interaction, we can discern a lot of these threats before the actually enter more of a secure area. >> i was wondering what your thoughts are. >> i couldn't agree more

congressman. i believe strongly in the behavior detection and observation of individuals and we have a number of officers trained in that regard. i'd like to increase that in terms of the training and capabilities basically to upgrade that even more because that is a good return on investment. we work as far as the non-secure areas of moscow. we work closely with the airport police and the other major airports in the 28 largest airports get the best course the smaller airports which may or may not have a dedicated police force, so we try to do that in conjunction with them recognizing will enforce the authorities and their ability to protect and detour somebody coming in from the curbside. although the intertek detection officers are outside of this area in the on secure area looking for people going to the checkpoints, it is much an opportunity i think for the airport police and others to detect in conjunction with us.

so given our responsibilities particularly at the checkpoint and beyond and the federal air marshals on the flight i look forward to working with the subcommittee on additional things we can do, so there is a whole range of things we can do and i of land that in a paper to the secretary and we provided information to the russian authorities to ask for what can you do in terms of reading things such as vehicle checkpoints, l.a.x., los angeles international, from time to time they will do a random vehicle checkpoints before you ever get to the curb. that's something that can be done. you can have more fiber teams walking and there's a visible of deterrence, so there's a whole range of opportunities looking at with the resources are in the budget and things like that. >> i couldn't agree with you more because of the leaders of threats we need intervention as well. >> a good way to present it.

>> also, following the confirmation hearing you comment to the shift from airplanes to the ground transportation, and you reviewed that they're real and subways are equally important, and i couldn't agree more. i wouldn't want your job. as a threat against the aviation importance we also have to take a look at our grant transportation, and the resources allocated to the aviation security efforts account for roughly 80% of the tsa's budget. do you see that moving at all? >> working with this committee and the rest of congress very interested in the opportunities that we would have to do more in the transportation because i believe that there are some vulnerabilities that are just inherent in the construct of being able to get on the train without any screening. we do five rent teams in high profile case is whether it is the invitation, new york and things like that the nature of the system is more vulnerable.

the rail themselves are vulnerable in certain respects and if you go into a lot of detail from that perspective i agree that more should and could be done. it is a question of at this point we take something away from the aviation security to address that, and i am reluctant, given the terrorist interest and continued interest in aviation plots. >> thank you. one last question and its generic and i don't expect much detail, but what keeps you awake at night? >> the unknown, and this is based on my 27 years of the fbi, the unknown that somebody we haven't identified being able to do something and we missed. >> thank you. i yield back the rest of my time. >> which recognizes the gentle lady from california for five minutes. >> if i could just welcome this

speire to the committee. >> thank you mr. chairman and the ranking member. i reserve the oversight government reform, so i snuck out of that committee to come and say hello to mr. pistole. i would like to explore the issue of the foreign repair operations. we are struggling with how we can create more jobs in this country, and meanwhile, some of our carriers are offshore in the the repair work of many of their facilities. so we have mechanics now out of work. but the more crushing issue and the one you're going to be concerned about is the fact that in a briefing that i received just last week, the security at these four and locations -- foreign locations is very, very little, and i was shown pictures

of how they actually checked people in and it's basically with the car you can pick up everywhere. it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to get one of those to get into the area to stow away a bomb or some biological warfare that could create serious problems. so number one, what steps are you taking to beef up the security that these airlines are evidently not pursuing in these four revenues and second, is there some thought to bringing these jobs back to the united states so we could have a great sense of security and more jobs here in the homeland? >> thank you, congresswoman and welcome to the subcommittee. clearly the issue of the foreign repair stations is significant. i want to address the job issue too much because i'm focused on

security aspects. but clearly the carriers at times need those repair stations based on whatever has happened in terms of maintenance or repair that is needed. you have precisely identified with the challenges are. there's a great inconsistency around the world is to the locations as you were briefed on last week. our challenge is how we can do without inspecting those with any sense of assurance and confidence that they are doing what they should be doing in terms of screening the employees mechanics of work. screening of the material that they bring so not something that they are actually putting on the plane that wouldn't be found what there is a cargo bomb or something else. so our challenge we simply don't have the resources to do what i would want to offer the american people and the airlines as a high level of confidence in the security of the organizations,

so we work with the host governments bilaterally and also work through the international aviation motivation that sets minimum standards but it really comes down to how do we trust and verify. so we have to have some amount of trust in our foreign partners, but the question of the verification and validation is what they are doing, and i can't give you a positive report on that today as yes every single former repair station meets the standards we would like to see here in the u.s. comes of it is something we are working on but it's not there yet. >> let's not even talk of the foreign carriers, let's talk about the u.s. carriers that have of short their mechanical repair work in el salvador and around the world. we do have the authority over them, do we not? this is united airlines i'm speaking of. >> obviously we work with united and the facility to basically

assess whether their standards are of two hours, and if they are not, then we can say you are not allowed to do that repair work. so it is incumbent upon not only the station but the airline and the host government and the authority to ensure that the case. my concern is being able to as i mentioned to validate what they are doing. >> i guess what i'm asking them is on want you to assess the security in el salvador as the repair facility that united runs, because it appears to be to justin complete and lack of and if you not have authority to force them to beef up their security, then we need to make sure you have that authority in the than any other penalties that should be opposed. ..

in his people out of concern they can go through the regular one. as a recipient of an artificial hip and artificial knee, i get a chance to get up close and personal with your screeners every time i fly. and if you want everybody to testify as to the newly aggressive enhanced pat downs, i can testify to that.

i am very strongly in support of getting these advanced imaging imaging -- well, the various types of advanced imaging facilities out there. and i was wondering, would his decision-making and which do not. ever talks about reagan. i was a much better experience than on the patdown. i play it in a dulles, which is a pretty important airport for the national capital region. and they've just completed a new terminal. the just completed a new entire floor for people going through the process, yet i have not seen a single enhanced image piece of equipment they are. is there a reason why --

>> in this national region, we don't have any at dulles. >> yesterday, three days ago. >> we do what the list. i don't know the exact number. it's been and will process the last several months of being deployed to make a check point. the method lets you find it because i will use it. >> anyway -- >> how do we decide, which airports get them as we move them on? it seems to me that you are committed to that and believe in them and you believe now that we can even do a better job of assuring people of privacy concerns, even though i believe we have done a pretty good job in the past. >> what is the process for deciding -- is that an airport request? thing i guess, several fact others be at one of the airport authority configuration they are

, the machines to take up more real estate, more space than metal detectors. some airports we have to reconfigure the check point. and so there's our ports, speaking generally no, airport said that the space and willingness to take those machines is where we went first. then the survey have to do costs involved, all of those issues make it more complicated. so if they longer process. we've got 2200 check point around the country. the budget doesn't allow for every check point. i'll tell you, listeners will airports. do not recall was when i left sacramento when i went to the one that the list to announce weeks ago in a set off the detector. i went to the patdown. after he got the patdown they said you should have asked for the machine. no one told me there was a

machine. it might be hopeful that they give an opportunity for people to use the machine if they want to get the machine. i will be happy to testify for anybody as to the less invasive privacy aspects of going through one of your new pieces of equipment as opposed to having the patdown because their people are doing a very good job at that. i talked to about the secure traveler program. are we checking for things or are we checking for people? >> so right now we are talking about prohibited items and assessing the person and that's what i was talking about earlier in terms of using market intelligence wrist-based approach. clearly i think very many opportunities for tonight to go into detail with the subcommittee at a later date. i'm still working internally, but i think there's some very good options will see later this year. the max for several years we've

been arguing it make no sense for the pilots to go through when they controlled the airplane later on. it -- i just posit a question. if you have a group of people who are permitted under the laws of the united states -- did the highest classified review you can possibly have -- it seems strange to me -- maybe you have intelligence to share with the reader to find the members of congress rss that caused. but all i can face your people to a very good job of making sure that i know that they do it through examination of me every time i go through. >> i appreciate that. i will note we have a briefing by gao because of soreness covert testing of beef this every time, but they said the

most recent testing in january they found to be the most thorough and the best. i think the subcommittee will be interested in some of the ways forward of the risk based approach in taking what more we know about a person, doing some prescreening basically to go to identity-based screening. >> you folks have done a good job. every time i forgotten hairspray, they've can't knit tonight detroit out, so i appreciate that. >> we have 16 at ait dulles now. >> the gentleman yield that. i have no further question the ranking member has no further questions, so we will close. i wanted in? for your time and your answers symbol think the members for their questions. we will hold a hearing open for 10 days. members may have written questions to submit to you and i want to get those in a timely manner. eveready given you for questions from the aaa key and i urge your

timely to those to address your we are eternally grateful for?a

their sacrifices.

i also want to welcome the committee's new ranking member. his dedication and talent may serve this committee well. he is also a friend. it never hurts to have a former prosecutor on your side. i am looking forward to discussion and the questions and answers that follow. i want to talk a moment or i would like to -- the committee to go and the new congress. taking a strong evaluation of the 10 years where the budget has grown exponentially and change significantly. the budget, cyber issues, and many others. it is a profound honor and a

tremendous responsibility to a similar role of the chairman. the u.s. intelligence committee is vital to defending our nation for many threats that we face. i've no doubt tt our hard work for mark because -- intelligence professionals is the reason why there has not been a successful attack since 9/11. despite numerous disrupted plot antel qaeda -- al qaeda. our job here in congress is to make sure that our intelligence agencies have the tools and a 40 they need for their mission. and that we never stop working to improve the intelligence committee's effectiveness. we'll be critical when we need to be. we will be supportive of we can be. we will take a critical look at the policies which were given by policy-makers when you are asked to complete a mission. that begins with reasserting the committee for a series -- when it was established in 1977.

i plan to do my part to restore thatradition. i will need the help from every member of this committee. i want to pass a meaningful authorization bill. we are already working on the 2011 bill to be quickly followed by the fiscal year 2012. the commission recommended that congressiol authorization work more closely on intelligence matters. the house intelligence committee voted unanimously yesterday to allow appropriations members to participate in our hrings and briefings at our goal here is to close -- it might be frustrating for you on occasion, but at the end of the day, we will give a much better product for you to do your jobs and complete remissions. the 10th year anniversary of 9/11. they transformed our country and

the way we view national security. many threats we have faced have continued to evolve. our response to keep pace. whether they are positioned to face the threa of the future. congress has made a historic change is since 9/11 to update the laws that authorize and governor intelligence committee. we need to keep pouring to make sure -- working to make sure that the laws keep pace. critical provisions of the foreign intelligence surveillance expire at the end of this month. we need to authorize these provisions. they are needed for this

modernizatio the bill has been a vital in this -- has been vital to protecting our nation. we need to work toward making these tools permanent. we must reinforce legal authority concerning detainee's. one of our best intelligence sources in the war on terrorism. we need to examine a system for intelligence collection and long-term detention that is flexible and can endure changing circumstances and challenges no matter where the detainee is picked up off the battlefield or in the war. executive orders are not gd enough. this problem requires legislation at -- legislative action. the recidivism rate has reached an alarming rate, 25%. that is just the ones at we know of. we need to take a hard look at the detainee tnsfer and release process. we have never had a good debate over the institutions we put in place after 9/11 to prevent

another attack. the national counterterrorism centero be more of a driven organization. we need to move beyond the debate. this is a more important point. beside the staff, must certainly strength. the real issue is that what we are asking them to do. missions should drive the size of the staff, not an arbitrary number. you have shared them with me and other members of the committee. we want you to succeed. the fbi is a unique institution straddling the foreign and domestic threats to our security. i am especially interested in the efforts of the fbi to bud an intelligence service within a law enforcement agency.

the fbi has made progress since 9/11 and has become much more intelligent striven. as the fort hood and how -- tragic -- tragedy showed, -- al qaeda has increased the use of westerners and americans to penetrate our defenses. the thrift is further complicated by an act of violence by homegrown and south -- self radicalized american militants. we depend on the fbi to address this growing threats. our nation has invested heavily in our interest -- intelligence capabilities and 9/11. the intelligence budget has grown exponentially. we have to reach an understanding about the return on the investment in terms of real improvement to our security. history is littered with examples of the consequences of nations that lived beyond their means for far too long. the american people have become

justifiably concerned about our budget deficit. we must seek greater efficiencies in the existing budget to refund new or expanded intelligenc programs or return the savings to the american people. achiing significant efficiencies will require some hard choices. i look forward to having a good discussion about the pros and cons of different approaches to getting there in the coming months and years i urge the intelligence committee to remain open-minded about the alternative sellite architecture that could potentially meet current requirements at a much lower cost the taxpayer. i am studying my options carefully and i would suggest you do as well. while further budget growth is unlikely, i will will line against any cuts that endanger our key intelligence capabilities. it is not a luxury. i want to avoid the mistakes of the 1990's.

making sure that our troops have the best intelligence support possible is one of my highest priorities. i will focus more on that in the coming years. it is the only authorization committee with jurisdiction over the national intelligence program and the military intelligence program budget. it is a unique position to ensure that our civilian and military intelligence efforts are integrated and coordinated. the reprogramming has not been provided to this committee. under house rules, we have concurrent jurisdictions wh the armed services committee. this has been something that has been going on for almost three years. i am sure that it is a misunderstanding.

i would appreciate your assistance in getting this problem resolved so that there are no unnecessary delays to the reprogramming of these funds. the creation of a cyber command at fort meade was a step in the right direction. we believe some legislative changes to achieve the necessary unity of efforts across larger united states government. we have a great deal of talent and when it comes to cyber defense, we do not have the policies and a legal authorities to make your job easier. the speaker of the house has passed the congress meant to lead the efforts. he will have the full support of the committee and the development of cyber security legislation.

i believe we need to have a go debate over whether -- where to draw the boundaries of what the united states government defend and how we can help any critical and the structure or industry players that are left outside the parameter of defense. the wikileaks fiasco should lead to an increased focus on information sharing within the united states government. we miss critical opportunities to prevent the 9/11 attacks because of our failures to share information between government agencies. the committee has made tremendous progress and 9/11. we cannot allow the wikileaks disaster to be an excuse to halt or reverse this programs. we need to make sure that we may learn the right lessons from wikileaks. the right lesson is to redouble our efforts to promote information sharing while protecting the security of that information. i like to call it smart access.

it is the system -- in response to that fiasco, the intelligence community and defense department has put together a good plan to implement smart access tools to detect our presence of data. -- are sensitive data. these long overdue fixes will not be cheap. i believe they are well worth the price and the investment by the american people. this committee will monitor the implementation of these fixes. with that, i look forward to working with you all. i look forward to your questions on the threats that face america. i know they are many. i know the hours logged are also

many. we have had the privilege of meeting many of you on weekes and nights. i hope that is not to lost on the american people. with that, i want to thank you. i yield to the ranking member. >> thank you, mr. rogers. congratulations on your chairmanship. we commit to work together in a bipartisan way in this very serious issue that we deal with. director of the iowa, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, director of national terrorism center,

assistant secretary of state euro of intelligence and research department of state bassador i want to point out that karen used to work with us on this committee. today, thank you for joining us here today. the hearing is a rare opportunity were members of the intelligence committee give an assessment of the threats we are facing around the world. on this committee, our highest priority must be keeping our country and citizens safe. the stakes a high and the challenges are great. we are committed to giving these professionals the resources and capabilities they need to counter the numerous threats that america faces. everything from all qaeda to homegrown terrorists living in the unitedtates. at the same time, it is the responsibility to give a comprehensive oversight. we will demand accountability

from the community and expect that we will be kept fully informed. our job is not to tear down the agencies, the build you up to be the strongest that you can be. our role is oversight. good intelligence is theest way to prevent terrorism and keep the world safe. since our last hearing in february of 2010, we have seen situations where -- saving countless lives. last october, to chicago bound bombs were placed on it ups and fedex planes in hopes of pulling them up. the plan was disrupted. no one was injured because of good intelligence. in november, a somalian teenager planted to bomb a christmas tree lighting ceremony, but was caught in an undercover sting operation. a pakistanian from virginia was arrested for planning a simultaneous attacks.

he was nabbed before anyone was hurt. because of good intelligence. we also know that we need to do better and we can do better. last may, a young man trained by the taliban packed a van full of explosives in times square. a ss-by noticed that it was smoking and called police. the terrorist was sentenced to life in prison. you cannot turn on the television or open up a newspaper and not hear about the unrest brewing in the middle east. mass protests continued this week -- to sweep the region. president mubarak has agreed to step down in september. a new government will take over, but the protests have not subsided. egyptians deserve open and free elections. i know they look forward to the future of a greater freedom with a government that is fair and responsible egypt is an

important ally in the region. our goals remain the same. a stable middle east, a partner in the fight against global terrorism, and the protection of vital energy supplies. the future government of egypt must support the peace treaty with israel. are professionals are working diligently to provide the latest revolt -- intelligent about the situation in egypt. they do not have a crystal ball and cannot predict the future. we are always pushing him to gi us more intelligence. in nearby iraq, forces are being drawn down. in afghanistan a 30,000 troops search is under way. yemen, somalia, and pakistan are trouble spots when it comes to terrorism. america's national security it hinges on the security across the region. -- the stability across the region.

the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is approaching this september. this sobering milestone the minds of our fight against terrorism and it is far from over. almost 10 years after the most deadly terrorist attack, or principal challenges the same. identified terrorist plots and stop them before this hurts americans and our way of life. we must also address itself a radicalization and the threat of terrorism by americans in america. in addition to the oregon case, she pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. these are the people we have caught. we are more concerned about the one still out there that we have not. terrorism is not our only challenge facing national security. we must not forget about mexico. the violence in mexico is an american issue. police and elected officials who

were taking a stand against the drug trade are being threatened and killed. we put so many resources into the middle east, we must also increase our support to mexico. but it has a direct effect on american people and citizens. north korea and iran still pose a significant difficult to america. iran continues to stir up things and play a game of cat and mouse. the prospects for a diplomatic dialogue are not going anywhere. china and russia oppose their own national security issues. they are real issues inhe steel is. we cannot ignore the fact that the chinese and other governments are engaging in cyr attacks. these attacks can cause big problems, even though they are gathering little national attention. cyber attacks -- they keep our

electric grid running and protect our water supply. if these systems are disrupted, it could have catastrophic consequences. we already have examples of what is possible. last week, the nasdaq was attacked. trades were not affected, but hackers penetrated certain internal software. the website wikileaks disclosed tens of thousands of classified documents that could put sensite diplomacy in jeopardy. when mastercard, amazon, prevented their supporters from making donations, a group attacked these websites and shut them down for a period of time. cyber threats are real. the threat from cyber attacks is real and must be addressed. the last issue i would like to discuss the space. we have some of the best satellite but america is the

most powerful country in the world because of the fact that we control the skies. satellites are important because they keep us safe. wheezed into track suspected teorist iran the world. -- we used them to attract suspected terrorists ound the world. when our troops climbed a hill on the battlefield, they know who was on the other side of that hill because of technology. we can find that needle in a haystack because we have the best satellites and the world trade you may have heard the president mention our sputnik moment. more than 50 years ago, the soviet union a rock star world by launching sputnik into space. america entered the challenge and landed a man on the man. the space industry was born. american made a massive investment in research and development.

america amid worldwide headlines in just about every kid on earth wanted to be neil armstrong. today, there is -- america's dominance in space is fragile. when it comes to a rocket launch capabilities, other countries have seen costs drop, but the united states has not. we are spending more per rocket launch than anywhere else. the united states has committed to a to company alliance to handle all launches. other u.s. companies are showing promise. the must get costs under control. we must consider other approaches. we must in short every dollar is used wisely. you caught the good programs would be bad we must revie each proam on

its own merits. we must identify what is working and get rid of what is not, including redundant programs that cost us too much money. we must do what is right for the american people to keep our families and communities safe. i have great respect for the men and women of the intelligence committee -- communities. they live in the shadows. i refer them to the offensive linemen. you only hear about them when they make the mistake. i wanted knowledge these players for their service by giving them the research that th need to get the job done. >> this will be open portion of the hearing to approximately 12. we may push that to trouble >> 15. -- 115. >> i wanto thank you for having this open hearing. it is a wonderful way to start this session. i hope weill consider the

opportunity to have more of these. the american people need to know how our intelligence mmunity is working to keep us safe. and have a classified hearing after word if need be. thank you very much. this is ry useful. >> i will turn it over -- >> thank you, rogers. i am very pleased to be proud to be joined by my colleagues. the reason we are all here together is important to both before the -- the intelligence community is a team. is a community. i am very proud to be associated with my colleagues here today who represent hundreds of years of public service and

volvement in the intelligence professionals. i want to comment on two of the organizations. the fbi director has led a remarkable transformation of the as bite into intelligence driven organization. -- the fbi i into a intelligence-driven organization. i think we are doing a lot to change the paradigm about what has been a strange relationship between dni and cia. the cia is a national treasure. i am proud to be associated with the agency in this capacity. before i get into remarks, i want to say on behalf of all of

us, we appreciate your support we need your oversights and engagement and your part -- and your partnership. in past capacities, i have been associated with a few oversight committees. what i see happening here is a reversion to the original. spirit of what was intended these committees to be. i want to endorse something about the in portions of the patriot act extension. it expires at the end of this month. this is critically important to all of us. we know this is a matter of discussion and debate in both houses. we would favor a three-year extension to coincide with

extensions -- it not possible to cover this full scope of worldwide frets. i want to take this opportunity to highlight four broad areas of significant concerns for u.s. national security. we have submitted a longer stement for the record that reflects the collective insights of extraordinary men and women. they're deeply committed to deliver -- to gathering intelligence. the first and foremost of these concerns is terrorism. countertrorism is our top priority.

intelligce committees to help avoid potentially devastating attacks. we have apprehended numerous dangerous factors across the world. we are deeply engaged with our foreign partners to detect and prevent terrorist actions and will remain vigilant despite the degradation of the organization against al qaeda to attack the west. we're especially focused on their resolve to target americans for recruitment and respond affiliate's across the world. we've seen disturbing incidents of self ricalization among our own citizens. the intelligence committee helped disrupt plots here in the united states. home grown terrorist are numerically a small part of the

global threat, they have a disproportionate impact because they understand the connections here and have easier access to u.s. facilities. counterterrorism is simple to our overseasperations. the people of the afghanistan are up against a determined insurgency. pakistan also confronts a terrorist who threatened to destabilize the government and attack the citizens. although u.s. comt operatns

have come to an official close in iraq, it remains a high priority. another major concern is proliferation and weapons of mass destruction. the proliferation threats environment is a fluid the arena that reflects the broader global reality and increasingly it free movement of goods and information. thisnvironment is critical, it also alls the know-how related to chemical and biological nuclear weapons as well as missile delivery systems to be shared with ease. iran ia key chalnge. we saw a popular movement challenging the authority of its government. we saw the iranian government cracked down on a parts of authoritarian control. we look forward to discussing iran more with you in closed session.

we see a disturbing confluence of events. iran continues to advance its uranium enrichment capabilities. north korea's nuclear weapons also pose a serious threat to both regionally and beyond. there is a willingness to be engaged in dialogue and cray's international recognition and. it has shown a troubling willingness. i want to highlight a major asset to the community, the reity that we live in an interconnected world where instability can rise and. quickly beyond the borders. examples of this include the

seven fault of the regime indonesia -- in the '20s jazz - tunesia. questions have been raised. the answer, i believe, is yes. for many years, the intelligence committee has been are of the instability in north africa and has reported on those tensions and their implications. specific triggers cannot always be known or predicted. intelligence can reduce the uncertainty for decision makers, but not eliminated. whether those decision makers are in the white house or the congress. but we are not clear volume. the intelligence committee has provided critical intelligence

to allow this crisis and has been reporting on demographic changes, political expression for decades. in our interdependent world, economic challenges ve become paramount and cannot be underestimated. we are also extremely focused on cyber threats and their impact national security and economic prosperity. this threat is increasing and scope and scale and its impact is difficult to overstate. industry estimates that production of malicious software has reached its highest level yet, with an average of 60,000 programs each day. some of these are what we define as advanced persistent threats, which are difficult to detect and counter. we are seeing a rise in

intellectual property and theft. it cost businesses approximately $1 trillion. we believe this trend has only gotten worse. out much of 2009,aid they had been the targets of systematic efforts to penetrate their networks. the entries and attempted to gain access -- drug trafficking, emerging diseases, water availability, humanitarian disasters, and other global issues. in the face of these challenges, we must remain attentive to all developments in all parts of the world. that is why we must sustain a

robust balance our rate of intelligence capability to cope with this wide variety of potential threats. i would also like to take a moment to emphasize that counter intelligence concerns will continueo worry me. these disclosures has been very damaging. i have dedicated my career to protecting information and i want to assure the committee that we are working to better

protect our information networks, increasing our ability to detect insider threats and expanding awareness of foreign intelligence threats across the u.s. government. i believe we can and will respond to the problemsf intrusions and we must do without -- our intelligence capabilities are as well. intelligence committee is better able to uerstand the vast array of interlocking concerns and trends.

i began a thorough review of the organization. other statutes and executive orders and the activities that they direct. upon review, i decided to reduce pensions not required by law or executive orders that are not coronations. identified elements that should transfer out of -- into another agency that on behalf. we do not need to do everything. based on this, it is being reduced in size. discussed these plans with you and ask for your support and i look forward to presenting this in greater detail i believe the office can provide

true value. we thank you and the distinguished members of the committee for your support and your dedication to the nation. my colleagues and i look forward to your questions and discussion. thank you very much. >> one of the 800-pound gorillas in the room is this finger- pointing happening in the town about the leadf intelligence on egypt. one of the things that struck me is that the morning, he still believed he would be president. by afternoon, he was on a helicopter on his way out. i want to give a direct assessment on the intelligence

leading up to and real-time intelligence. cnn and fox are currently reporting that mr. mubarak may step aside today. i wanted to give you the opportunity to talk to the american people about real-time intelligence a where we think we are. let me offer -- as i indicated, the intelligence committee has long identified the conditions that exist in the middle east this is a characteristic of many of these countries. when tngs began to heat up in

tunisia and the demonstrations in the streets were run by an autocrat to a been there for 23 years, it appeared to have things under control. it is hard to foretell the impact of a fruit vendor who had fruit stolen and self immolated himself. that served as a catalyst for more widespread outbreak. as you alluded, he made a very snap decision, he was not thinking about that. he made a sudde decision to leave. that, in turn, was galvanized by 1,300 miles to the east at what has now become a full-blown uprising in egypt. i read that occasion to go back

and review the thousands of reports that were done, and extensive reporting on social media, for my part, we have done the work on reporting this very dynamic fast changing situation. as i said before, i think it is important to distinguish between mysteries and secrets. secrets are -- it is harder for us to discern and predict. it is our place to lay out the conditions, what the potential options are, and if we can make

some educated -- that is about all we can do. he had a great metaphor about this. earthquakes inalifornia, you know the conditions, or the tectonic plates are, where the fault lines are, but predicting the onset of the earth, that is moreifficult. i will turn to leon and see if he has additional comments. >> my congratulations to you, mr. chairman. thank you for your leadership. thank you for your support. i look forward to a partnership with all of you. we cannot do this job alone. we have to rely on the congress and your leadership to try to protect americans. i thank you for that. >> the purpose of intelligence is to provide the most accurate, most timely intelligence we can to policy mars so that those

decisions can be made. with regards to this region of the world, we have long provided a serious of reports that indicate the nature of the problems in that region, and aggressive regimes, economic and political instability, stagnation, a lack of freedoms, the need for political reforms. all of that has en provided in a numerous amount of intelligence reports. almost 400 reports were provided that basically describes the concerns that we saw in this region and the potenti for disruption. i think the area where we need to do better collection is when it comes to the triggers that

ignite these conditions. and cause the events that we have seen take place. there are a number of triggers out there. it was large unmet expectations of the people tha are there in these countries. to are the large numbers of youth that are there. many of them are better educated and many of them are unemployed. the whole role of the internet. the ability to put a demonstration together in quick time. that is something that we need to pay a lot more attention to in today's world. lastly, the role of the military. there has always spent a feeling that the military ultimately could control any demonstration in any regime. but the loyalty of the military is now something that we have to pay attention to because it is not always one that will

respond to what a dictator may or may not want. as a result of these kinds of triggers, i think is important for us to do a lot more collection in those areas. what we have done at the cia has established a 35-member task force to focusp specifically on these elements. what i have asked for from all of my chiefs of stations is better collection on issues like popular sentiments, the strength of the opposition, what is the role of the internet in that particular country, so that we can get better collection and better information to be able to provide to our leaders. i have used the earthquake analogy because people can tell

you were the tremors are. our biggest problem is how we get into the had a somebody. we're trying to get into the head of a camp in north kea, the supreme leader in the iran trade everybody assumed that the dictator in place that he was going to crush any type of demonstration. i do not think he was going to -- he knew he was going to get out of town. we were in a much better place to look at egypt. we provided a number of reports about what was taking place there.

as you can see, i got the same information that you did. there is a strong likelihood that mubarak may step down this evening. that would be significant in terms where the orderly transition -- >> if you had to give a grade, how would you give a real-time intelligence? intelligence provided to policymakers. >> i would give it at least a b +. i am prepared to discuss w in closed session. >> if you could address all qaeda's intentions to secure radiological and other weapons that we might consider mass destruction. >> chairman, al qaeda senior leadership has been committed to obtaining advanced weapons of mass destruction for some time.

we assess that they're senior leadership in pakistan remains committed to obtaining all types of weapons of mass destruction, but thanks to some ostanding and effective offensive action, we also assess their ability to do so is greatly diminished since 9/11. with respect to the affiliate's, we believe that the arabian peninsula remain committed to obtaining weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons. we also remain focused on the availability of precursor elements within the homeland to include chemical and biological materials. >> you would break their intention as high? >> yes. >> that is the current threat that is ongoing. >> the threat remains high in

pakistan and in yemen. >> the pace of modern communicationsechnology is clearly evolving. i am concerned about the gap in the ability forhe fbi and other agencies to intercept communications with court appral. can you talk about that going dark problem that we have and discuss what risk that might mean for stopping a potential attack? >> mr. chairman, back in 1994, a statute was passed that required communications carriers to be in a position to provide communications to law enforcement or the intelligence community with a court order. since that time, communications have changed dramatically. no longer is it a telephone company that carries the

communications. it can be google, facebook, microsoft chad, a number of ways for communicating. our challenge is to assure that this an appropriate court order issued by a court, with that in hand, we go to one of those carriers, they have the solution in place to be responsive. we would be working with the congress in terms of trying to -- were we not to do that, we will do is a great deal of insight into the planning and preparation of individuals that are contemplating terrorist attacks. this will be an issue that will be working to resolve. >> this is done to the court system. there is due process here. the starting premise is that we

have a court order and believe that an individual is committing some kind of crime. the key medication is being utilized to for that crime. there has been a process in place. >> at the end of this month, up surveillance -- can you talk abouthat threats that is? give some examples of why that is so and pour into the defense? >> these are the patriot act provisions that are up for reauthorization. there are three elemts of that. the first is called the business records provision. with a court order, it allows us to get certain business records related to ongoing national security and investigation.

this provision has been used over 380 times. were that to expire without -- it wou be a substantial detriment to our capabilities. the second elements is approval for roving wiretaps. you designate an individual who was a subject and is communicating and is using a cell phone, ipad, itunes, sum game consoles, we do not have to go get a separate order for each of these communications. we did a wiretap approved by a judge. that has been used more than 190 times since its inception back in 2001. to liz that would be -- to lives that would undercut our ability.

>> the last provision is called the lone wolf provision. it would allow us to identify an individual and understand that that person is a national security risk. this was an issue in the 9/11 report in terms of the inability to show that one of the individuals there was part of a group. it precluded us -- this was passed to ensure thaall we have this evidence, we bring it to a court, we can utilize our tools to -- the threats increasingly is low levels. these tools are essentia for our ability to identify terrorist in general, criminals in general.

>> in each of those cases, you talked about the requirements to get a court order. in your mind, is due process for any united states citizen for any reason lost in the process in the extension of this lot? >> it is not. we do not have the unilateral capability to issue these orders. it has to go through these -- to a judge. the judge will insert- will issue the order. >> could an fbi agent go to court and give a roving wire tap on a child pornographer? >> no. they could not. i will deal lot more with you in the closed session. >> mr. ferguson, i would like to echo what the chairman said about the programming. our committee has not been fully informed of the matters on

the the program. by law, we are required to oversee that. we need to get this resolved amicably. it is important for the department of defense to know thate feel strongly about this issue. we but like to get with the wall and resolve this matter. >> yes, sir. i discussed this last night at senior levels. we are very willing and take a serious approach to have an exchange with you. >> that is our role on the intelligence commission. it is very important to us. we have the patriot act. it is an issue that is very controversial. it was defeated just this last week. the bill is coming up again for

a vote probably this week or next. if the bill fails again, what will that do to your capabilities? how will it affect our national security? >> the privacy issues ar generally raised in terms of this piece of legislation. it requires a communications carrier to provide us the information. again, it is going through the judicial system. the communications will be turned over responsive to this court order sprayed in terms of the impact on our abilities,

others in the intelligence community and law enforcement committee, their ability to do their jobs. the business records are necessary to pursue the investigation. to assure that there are no ga in picking up communications we have a roving wiretap der. if we do not have that order, we have to go back and there will be a delay going from the cell phone to another cell phone to an ipad or some other device or a specific court order has to be on each of those devices. that will be exceptionally detrimental. we will have caps and we will lose coverage. we will have to have more persons on surveillance to identify when a person gets a new handsets. on the issue of the lone wolf a provision, it would handcuffed

in those situations where somebody is contemplating some sort of unilateral terrorist act, but we cannot put that person with a particular organization. consequently, it would holus up again and preclude us from getting the authorization for a wiretap. >> one of the key issues when you are dealing with a person's civil liberties, they are all americans and we have a constitution. the checks and balances work ve well. it is important that we make sure that we follow through with

those checks and balances. >> there is substantial oversight over this process as well. we have an inspector general. we havour own procedures internally. of course, we have congress. theserocedures that are up for reauthorization are well reviewed. >> i gave examples in my opening statement what about situations where we were able to deter the attacks were planned by those individuals. if you did not have the resources of the issues that we're voting on with the patriot act, do you feel like you could have been successful? >> it is hard to identify and isolate a particulariece of on going investation. i am comfortable in saying that to the successes that we have had would have been much more difficult to come by absent the tools that we have been operating with in the current

legislation. >> thank you. my questn relates to the secretary's statement yesterday that are fraught level is now the highest that it has been since 9/11. we will go a little bit deeper into this issue. i am concerned that the. is due to our homegrown terrorism. it represents a very difficult problem for our intelligence communities. we have to keep our country safe. that is our number one priority. but we also have to pay attention when we're talk about american citizen's constitutional rights. i leave that to directer mueller. really maybe later too, can you talk about the threat from homegrown terrorism, what we're doing about it? and do you agree with secretary

napolitano that our country's threat has been the highest? >> i might suggest since mike was present for that exchange that he speak first and then perhaps director mueller. >> congressman, the full context of these remarks, i think, iompletely agree with the secretary, which is we face actually -- jim is so -- but the fu range of threats is the most diverse and most complex that we have faced. it is not that we are looking at one specific threat now which brings our threat level to a very elevated level. it is that we face a ideologically diverse seof threats which is the greatest diversity and complexity that we have faced since 911. with respect to your point of homegrown extremists, we have seen last year and the year

before a heightened state of radicalization and mobilization against homegrown extremists. we've seen signs of the beginning of networking of homegrown extremists. the good thing about this is they still lack the sophistication of the threat we've seen from pakistan and yemen but as i noted yesterday,'hood proves quite clearly that you don't need to be sophisticated to be deadly as terrorist. >> do we need to ramp up our resources because of this threat because of this statement that has been a serious threat level since 911? you run the fusion center. director, you collaborate all this. director mueller you can speak for law enforcement. >> i will echo director mueller's point about the patriot act. that is a resource that we

need. and as the threat is increased on the homeland and become more diverse, those tools have become more not less relevant nce 911. with respect to resource, anti t.c. launched more attacks and we worked with the f.b.i. to get efficiencies but we continue to look at increasing our watch listing ranks to try to tease out the very minute piece of information that are often required to identify and disrupt homegrown attacks. >> let me just clarify one thing before i answer your question, sir, and this is in response to your question of congressman rogers. if the legislation was not passed would you not get robic title path. if it was a child pornographer

we could. >> thank you for clarifying. that's why i asked the question. >> if you're a drug dealer, you're fine. if you're a terrorist with a radiologal bomb we can't get it. cannot, that's the point. >> thank you. >> going back to the question of the -- the threats now. this is from our perspective and this is with what the secretary said yesterday, this is a very bad time. it's gone up and down over the years since september 11. but we're in a period which reflects changes from our perspectives. are the threats coming out of the fata out of yemen or right at the top? >> i think mike would agree with that. and then we get down to the homegrown extremists which have grown because of ease and acktess to the internet, use it to pross le ties and it has

grown by leaps and bounds. and that provides a substantial challenge to us. you ask what we do to identify these pockets of radicalization. task forces are working with law enforcement, working with our capabilities in terms of identifying those who are identifying with radicalization whether it be with the internet or the community which we are jointly addressing. i mentioned two other areas that are a threat within the united states. one as it relates to individuals going to somalia to fight. we are closely monitoring that situation as well as threats from al-qaeda in iraq individuals that have had some association with al-qaeda in

iraq. and all of these are task forces that we operate in along with our work with the fusion centers along with the homeland security as well as nctc to identify those radicals. >> director of homeland security and congressman panetta. >> i'll just echo what the secretary said yesterday about the four pillars of the holand security security enterprise, but the areas that she mentioned yesterday that are fundamental into addressing this homegrown extremist issue are f.b.i.-led. the fusion centers which are owned by the state and the major urbaareas in the country to do information sharing and analysis and to support the jtps with

information but also the national suspicious activity reporting initiative that we work very closely with the department of justice and the f.b.i. and t secretary if you see something say something campaign. those last two are critical to identifying pieces of information that may be useful in another contextr triffle or criminal trives or criminal activity. in lig of the difficulty of deterring and disrupting these small less sophisticated attacks, we believe the role of the public and local law enforcement isoing to be critical in identify that. >> we're going to have to wrap up further questions. but at a later date we need to focus on the issue of cyber security. i believe these are one of the

bigger attacks of the country. and we need to educate the public on how serious this issue is. >> well, it's a good lead-in. director clapper you had several bullets in your written statement abt cyber security. and you said that the impact is fficult to overstate. but as you know there is really a difference of opinion about whether we're talking primarily of annoyances, you know, with computers th run slower, whether we're talking about crime, theft of property and certainly a lot of money thas stolen or whether we are talking about a matter of national security. and so i would appreciated if you and the directors could talk to us about the degree to which cyber threats do pose a threat to our nation's security because that is relevant to how much money and what kinds of authorities we have to look at

to deal with the problem. but first, we need to understand whether we're talking primarily about crime or whether we're talking about national security. >> well, the effeccan be the same whether it's thsource of an attack or intrusion comes from a criminal be it domestic or unorganized international ring -- national ring. from a nation security standpoint the threat by certain nation states is quite profound. if in fact the capabilities that we ascribe to them are actually exercised. so i think what we see in terms of these penetrations some of which i alluded to by way of example and what the potential is there i think emphasizes the importance of this whole issue of cyber protection. i think we're very interested

in the -- the administration is in engaging with the congress on the multiple legislative proposals that have been put forth. but it is potentially a huge threat to our security. i think the department of defense's stand-up of cyber command is, you know, department's clear recognition of this and the importance of having a cyber arm in a war-fighting capacity and similarly the department at large, the department of homeland security sees this from a domestic perspective. in the interactions that i participated in with key industry officials, i think there is a growing awareness of the tential vulnerability to this country because of our huge dependence on cyber for a whole range of things. >> without a question of doubt,

it's very large national security issue in a variety of ways. if you look back historically and see what russia had done in estonia or in georgia before offensively in exercising its military might in the cyber arena as an example, you have in the counter intelligence not just intelligence officers but you have probes and capabilities of this intruding into networks and ex-fill traiting the information that would be beneficial to you that previously you would have to recruit somebody inside to obtain which makes it much easier for those trying to steal our secrets -- to steal our secrets. you the possibility of assault on infrastructure and bringing down pieces of the infrastructure if they're not adequately protected. anthen there is been a crime

in banks and robbing banks of millions of dollars ove night by intruding and upping the limits on say a.t.m.'s. the problem from our perspective is we think of it in particular categories, crime versus government involvement. you don't kn if it's a group of individuals at the behest of an actor or a high school kid across the street. for us it's coming together as entity and bringing our skill sets together before we denominate it as a crime or intelligence probe and working together to identify to the tribute of the intrusions and decide what terms to take whether treating it criminally or other national security challenge.

>> i don't think there's any question. but this is a real national security threat that we have to pay attention too. i know there are a lot of aspects to it. the internet, the cyber arena is -- it's this vastly growing area of information that can be used and abused in a number of ways. when it comes to national security, i think this represents the battleground for the future. i've often said at the potential for the next pearl harbor could be a cyber attack if you a cyber attack that brings down our grid system, financial system, brings down our government system, you could paralyze this country. and i think that's a real potential. that's the thing we have to pay attention to. other countries are designing a specific capacity whether it's iranr china. we're the subject of hundreds of attacks to try to get

information. we've got to department defenses against that but we've got to put our assets in places where we can provide sufficient warning that these attacks are are coming. >> mr. thompson from california. thank you, mr. chairman, thank you for the work that you and all the grt men and women who work for you provide regarding safety and security. i have a couple of things that i'd like to touch on. first there's been a lot of discussion about the extent of certain provisions of the patriot act. i think it's important to know that there is still some concern about the vivel liberty side of these provisions. it's a bipartisan concern and it's a concern reflected across the country. so director mueller i hope you're willing to work on improving the patriot about so we can be as safe as we possibly can be without

sacrificing the civil liberties of the american people and i know there's a bill in the senate and they're working on that. -- to achieve both of those goals. general clapper, i've got an issue in the ranking member alluded to it and that's what's happening in mexico regarding the drug trafficking organizations there. somebody said that this could easily spill over and be an even larger problem. i'll submit as it already is. they're growing dope in the lands throughout the country. it's very prevalent in my area. and there's been aood effort on behalf of local law enforcement to really go after this. but there seems to be somewhat of a disconnect at the national

level. i know that i mentioned the relationship between the mexican dr trafficking organizations and what was going on and was directed by someone who said we have no information that that is the case. but if you talk to state, local even federal folks who are on thgroundworking these issues, they'll tell you that it's very much the case. in humble county just last week, they made a big bust on heroin with direct ties to direct trafficking organizations in mexico. so as we're debating how we're going to handle this, it's quickly spinning out of control to be even greater problem. i certainly hope we could marshall all of our efforts to come together to fair it out and stop this horrific problem

because it's already an american problem and it has all kinds of connections to terrorist opportunities that we cannot afford to allow to continue. and i'll just ask one more question, and i'll take my answers off the air and general clapper that is, as we continue to meet tough budgetary problems here at the federal level at all levels of government, the need to provide the best possible intelligence isn't going away. we're asked to do a lot more to ensure the safety of america and americans and do that with an either shrinking budget or a flat line budget. and the terrorist challenge

that we face aren't going to be shrinking, and they're not going to be flat lining. they're going to be growing. so can you give us an idea how you're going to be able to handle that? >> let me make a brief comment about your well-placed concerns abou mex co. i was going to -- mexico. and i was going to ask about homeland security security as well. this is a problem. we've raised this issue in terms of its priority and the national party framework which is the guiding dirtion for priorization of issues to category one which is the highest. we are working with the appropriate mexican officials in support of president calderon's campaign internally. but there's no question this has huge concerns for us here

in the united statesecause of the obvious potential, not only potential but actual spill-over in the border states. with that i would ask karin to speak. >> these guys have actually seized our public land. and they're creating huge problems, public safety. people can't use our public land. they're contaminating waters, tributaries. it's the spill-over effect that just goes on and own and on. >> karen? we have an unprecedented effort right now along the boarder in materialof resources, technology to do our best to security the border. and i think we're doing a better job than has en done before. we are very concerned about the possibility for the spill-over for the kinds of cartel violence that we see in mexico where they're actually fighting er specific roots into the u.s. we have not seen that type of

system metric violence spill-over, but i'm not going to tell -- systemic violence spill-over but i'm not going to tell you it doesn't exist. so we've been working with d.e.a. to attempt to focus on the flows of illegal flow of cash and guns that go way beyond just the border. but as far as the border is concerned, we're seeing all of the staff going in the right direction. we've got seizures of drugs and money and guns going up. and captures of illegal immigrants going down. we're going to continue to work that and we're very concerned about making sure that we plug any potential gaps or holes that could provide an avenue for terrorists across the border. it's a continuous focus but clearly there is drug-related violence and the entire law enforcement community is working that. >> thank you.

>> just to answer briefly your commentary about our budget challenges. i have been through this before. i was -- served as the director of the intelligence agencies in the early 190's. when we were directed to reap the piece as it was called then by virtue of the fall of the soviet wall, whiche d. we took substantial cuts which came to a screeching halt with 911. and then we ramped up again. so now the pendulum will swing back. all will undstand that we're going to be in for some belt-tighting and given, you know, the funding that we have been given over the last 10 years since 911, that's probably appropriate. this is a case where we must work as partners. we in the community and you in the congress to help guide this

, i personally hope to profit from mistakes that i made i think when we did this in the early 1990's. we have one outside group that's very familiar with it. they sent me some recommendations on areas we need to consider for examination in the personnel structure and acquisition. i have not actually looked at those recommendations yet. of course, this will be a subject among the ice community and leadership. this is an area we need to work with you. >> thank you all for your service. and director mueller thank you very much for what the f.b.i. and the great job you did in north carolina, nojust in the case but with the conclusions of daniel patrick boyd who pled

guilty to being a homegrown terrorist yesterday. i hope there's more of that. i know how hard it is. director clapper, i wanted to make a statement of concern and then i've got a couple of questions to follow and i wanted to answer them all, if you would please, whoever would wish to. it's concerning the muslim brotherhood. i'm concerned that they're using egypt it as a graph. and we don't grasp that threat. the brotherhood isn't a danger just because they're terrorist because they push an extremist ideology that causes others to commit acts of terrorist. according to the department of justice and the f.b.i. the brotherhood is actually inside america. i hold this up from the holy land foundation finance support trial. evidence was introduced by federal prosecutors titled "the

explanatory memorandum." the document says the brotherhood is engaged in and a quote a civilization jihadist. their work in america is a grand jihad inliminating and destroying the western civilization from within and the last page lists the name of 29 organizations in the u.s. whom the author who was a member of the muslim brotherhood claims are involved in this so-called civilization jihadist process. so the danger of the muslim brotherhood is not just encouraging terrorism through their ideology but also trying to take over government. so everyone has to succumb and live under their ideology. the 911 commission record says we must learn about their

ideology. do you considering -- consider the muslim brotherhood dangerous? and can you talk about the memorandum and do you see the muslim brotherhood dangerous based on that? should we consid them as front groups of the muslim brotherhood here in america? and to your knowledge, do our intelligence, agencies act in any official capacity with those organizations that are listed in the memorandum? >> let me speak to the muslim brotherhood as an international movement. and then i'll ask director mueller to speak specifically to it here domestically. the reason i do that, of course, is because the muslim brotherhood is prominent in what's going on in egypt and the mideast. it's an umbrella term for a variety of movements.

in the case of egypt, a very heterogeneous group largely secular which has issued violence and has decried al-qaeda as a perversion of islam. they have pursued social ends, betterment of the political order in egypt, etc. >> it's not the violent side. i'm interested in the nonviolent side, which is what i was talking about. >> in other countries there are franchises of the muslim brotherhood. but there is no overarching agenda particularly in pursuit of violence, at least international. with that since there are entities that are associated with the muslim brotherhood i' asked director mueller to speak to that. >> obviously, elements of the muslim brotherhood have

supported terrorism, right. >> to the extent that i can provide more information, i'd be happy to produce those in closed session. but it would be difficult too it in open session. >> i areciate that very much. i also wanted to mention relative to what's going on with al-qaeda and i know that some of you brought that up before. but this in particular when you talk about the internet and the web inspire which is the fourth edition and what they're doing and how they're encouraging people in america, young people in america in a way that we've never seen before. we've got to pay more attention to that. i know you're very much aware of it. samir khan who is considered to be the editor of this started in the basement of his parent's home in charlotte, north carolina. and we go from there. my frustration was that he was allowed to operate here even though we tried to shut him though we tried to shut him down and of course he moved to