that's going to affect people perceptions. if we increase investigations domestically, that's going to affect a community. and we have to build into those required and necessary preventative steps additional programs to address the second order of facts, so you're not worsening the situation inadvertently. again, that applies to screening, that applies to homegrown extremism, it applies to overseas efforts. >> gentle lady from the virginia islands. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and welcome and thank you for the tremendous job you're doing with these challenges the country faces. my first question is to both of you. i want to focus on another part of the southern border that i don't think gets enough attention. as the representative from the u.s. virgin islands, i'm always afraid not enough attention i

being paid to the caribbean, in either assessing the risk or building strong partnerships that we need in that region. so do you feel comfortable that the partner and center are seeking and getting adequate information from the caribbean and even from south and central america, where there are countries there that are friendly with areas ithe world that have radical islamicic extremism, or are there any effos, for example, to prevent radicalization, reduce the likelihood of radicalization or to help the governments in those country s countries to strengthen their capabilities to do so? >> representative, i have, myself asked somewhat similar questions, in part because of the increase in special interest aliens we're seeing get up to theexican border. what are the roots, how are they gettin across? it's a terrorism issue, it can be a human trafficking issue, a

drug trafficking issue. >> all of it. >>ll of the above. in this open setting, i would prefer not to give more of a detailed answer, except to say that i share your concern to make sure we not lose sight of this part of the world as we plan our protection strategies. and we'd be happy to sit with you in a classified setting to give you more information. >> thank. >> representative, i would laely say the same thing. i think there actually are some interesting pieces that i can't go into in an open setting with a particular focus to radicalization and movement of travelers and we do spend significant time on the caribbean. i will also tell you, there has been good cooperation in the past. for example, i believe it was 2007, the cricket world cup that was held in the caribbean, and that provided an opportunity to help the region develop more effective screening of travelers. and of course, more towards

south america, we have ongoing concerns about the influence of terrorists -- state sponsors of terrorism in that region and their presence. >> thank you. i've also been away from the committee for a while, but while i was here before i did put a lot of pressure on the then secretary to beef up the office of health affairs and to make sure thatines of authority and response were clear between them and the department of health and human services and that they worked seamlessly together. given your response to the question about biological threats, what role does this office play and are they adequately staffed, resourced, and placed to be effective? >> we're working very closely with the department of health and human services on a number of scenarios, pandemic planning being one, but also medical

countermeasures in the lht of were there to be a biologic attack. and we have been working with them on protocols, who would do what, when, and where. do we have the surge capacity to handle if there were to be a, say, anthrax attack. we've been tabletopping some of these things. so, representative, the work between our departments, i think, has been very good. i'm not able right now at table to say, do they have enough resources? all i can say is that we believe the biologic threat is real and we believe it is something that we need to keep maturing our efforts about. >> thank. and director leiter, from some of the reeding that i did in preparation for this, it seems that there's still some turf battles and disalignment, i ess i would call it, regarding lines of authority and some stovepiping within the intelligence community, which

would be very, you know, dangerous if it does exist. so wre is the communication and integration and the collaboration? is it where it needs to be in the intelligence community? >> like every government official, i will say, it's good, it can always get better. but now i do want to give you some perspective. i've been doing this since 2004. and where we are today, it is night and day. and secretary napolita and i sit on what is called the counterterrorism resource counsel, which is chaired by george clapper, it includes bob mueller,he director of the fbi, the director of cia. and we have met every two weeks to delve in as senior leaders for hours on end about how we can integrate our missions better. that is night and day from where we were in 2004 and 2005, and frankly, it's night and day from where we were in 2009. so i think there are always some tensions when ornizations are

trying to do the right thing and think they're trying to do the right thing and someone else disagrees. not all that tension is bad. on the terrorism issue, i think -- i have never seen it better integrated than it is today. and just one other point about integration, you mentioned the health and humanservices, we are integrated with them and dhs. they are in charge of refugee resettlement. and they play a critical role in helping us work with new immigrant communities to reduce the likelihood of radicalization. again, that sort of partnership between the counterterrorism community and an organization that is responsible for refugee resettlement, four years ago, never existed at all. >> the gentle lady's time has expired. the gentleman from arizona, mr. quayle. >> thank you for being here and giving us your testimony on a very important subject. madame secretary, while i was reading your testimony and listening to your opening

statement, the one thing i was a little puzzled and it surprised me was the lack of emphasis on the southern border and how we're going to continue to protect the southern border. and the reason that i was a little surprised by that is because the rise in the escalation of violence between the drug cartels and the mexican government as they continue to try to tamp down on the various drug cartels that are really ravaging the various areas along our southern border. so the reason -- and that was the reason i was surprised. was it left out of there just because do you think we have operational control of the southern border, or was it just not part of this particular testimony? >> well, thank you, representative. it was not emphasized in this testimony, because i didn't think it was within the scope of this particular hearing. i will send you the speech i gave in el paso about a week and a half ago, specifically to the southwest border. and in the major point i made

there, a major int, was that while we are working with mexico on the unprecedented level of violence there, as the cartels fight for territory, separate, terrible crimes aside, and there have been some, but we have not seen systemically that violence come across the border. and i've said, don't bring that across our border into the united states. we will respond very, very vigorously. and the communities along the border themselves, you can talk to mayor sanders in san diego or the mayor of el paso and others, and they will say themselves, they are from a safety standpoint among the safest in the country. we want to keep it that way. and then lastly, you referenced operational control. i think you're the third member now. and i've said before and i'll say again, that is a very narrow term of art in border patrol

lingo and doesn't, and should not be construed as kind of an overall assessment of what's happening at the border. >> okay. i understand that. and you mentioned el paso, you mentioned yuma, you mentioned san diego. these are areas where the border patrol agents have been actually beefed up and we actually have barriers and these are the areas that have actually had the expenses put down there. and we've seen the apprehensions and you stated in your statement over in el paso abouthe apprehensions going down. but do you know how many illegal immigrants have crossed the border, the southern border in the last two years or year? >> well, it is an estimate. it used to be the estimate was that we were catching one in three. i think the commissioner would testify if he were here today is that we're catching a much higher percentage. and it's a combination of things, of the congress, of what it has invested in this border. the manpower, the technology,

the infrastrucre. the area that is my top focus down there is the tucson sector. we do have some fencing in nogales, as you know, but we are continuing to basically surge manpower and technology into that sector to shutt down. >> well, and from that, if you look at what has been happening, where the national guard troops are going to be taken out, starting june through august, is that correct? >> well, their current term ends in, i believe, june. i don't know that a decision has been made as to whether they will continue or not. and that will be an interagency process with the department of defense and also the white house involvement. >> now, when we talk about statistics, and statistics can always be skewed a different way, how well do you think that it actually represents wat's going on in the southern border when most of the statistics revolve around apprehension and not a really good understanding of what's going on in the rural parts of the border, where

ere's not as much enforcement and a lot of rancher sand the like are getting inundated from what the reports that they give with drugsmugglers and human smugglers across their properties? >> yeah, i think you're talking about the rural areas of the tucson sector, and as i said before, that's where we'll really flooding ours now to shut some of that down. and we are in constant touch through my office with the sheriffs along the entire border. the sheriffs tend to havehe non, you know, the rural areas, because they have areas outside of municipalities. and we're working directly with them. on where we need to put resources, what they need. for example, one of the needs they had last year was help paying overtime and we did move overtime money. representative miller's not here, so i think we can say it, from the northern border down to the southern border to help cover some of that overtime. we keep looking for efforts like

that, but i can guarantee you, presentative, that this is something that gets daily attention at the department. >> thank you, madame secretary. >> gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. >> welcome aboard. >> thank you, secretary napolitano for being here. i'm aew member, but i'm coming from a decade of law enforcement experience, dealing with a lot of these issues as a prosutor. and in fact, one of my last cases just a few months ago dealt with an issue that really called into very serious question the issues of aviation and transportation security. it's the situation -- security to deal with issues. and the 100% you had in november for successfully checking everyone that's on the watch list and making sure on inbound u.s. travels as well as within

the country that they're checked. but in my case, it wasn't involving a person that had a ticket. it wasn't even involving a person that had a false identification. what occurred in that case is a young man, -year-old young man from north carolina had stowed himself into the wheel well of that plane. and it departed from charlotte and his body was found in milton, massachusetts, when the landing gear of that plane was coming. and despite the tragedy of losing a young man like that, it raised enormous questions about tarmac security. his video never showed up with investigations, to my knowledge, in the airport. or it didn't even show up near the perimeter. so what really, i'm concerned about, is what is being done by homeland security for safety on the tarmac that's vital for our aviation security and what other

agencies are you working with in that respect? because if it wasn't this young man that just stowed himself for his own reasons, if that had been a person with more nefarious motivation, think of what would have happened to that 737 commercial airliner or any of the other airliners that were there at that time. it really raised enormous concerns about aviation safety and i would like you to address what's being done on the tarmac as well. >> well, a couple of things. one is, i'm going to ask tsa to respond directly to your question, representati. the question of who controls what part of the airport, it's a combination. we work with the local airport authority on the areas of -- and we set standards and requirements for things like the perimeter. they are to carry out those standards and requirements. clearly, if somebody, a

16-year-old, is able to circumvent those sndards and requirements and get into the wheel well of a plane, there has been a breakdown. and so i can't, sitting here, tell you what the after-action analysis was as to how that happened and what corrective action has been taken, but i can share with you that i suspect that already has occurred and we'll get it to you. >> i appreciate that. mr. leiter, were you aware of this incident at all and, you know, really the concern is not just which agency is catching the ball at a certain time, it's there has to be a seamless way for the agencies to deal with this locally. or all the invasive procedures are there that when you're getting a ticket are for naught. >> congress pann, i wasman, i wt only through the press reports. it took some time to figure out that he was first stowed away in the plane when the body was first found.

what we have been concerned about for quite some time, not just here in the united states, but overseas is the insider threat to aviation. those individuals who even if they're not sneaking in, have credentials either to restricted areas of an airport or work for an airline, understand the watch listing procedures, understand the screening procedures. and i know dhs and nc work together with the airline industry to discuss those vulnerabilitie vulnerabilities, screen individuals, and the like. t we'll certainly continue to work with secretary napolitano on this ca to see whether or not there is a broader perimeter issue. >> i would welcome that information. and i can speak for myself and i think for the members of the committee that this is an area that we'll work with you on, because this raises really serious questions, not just in the boston area, but also in the charlotte area. in the charlotte area, ye, right. >> thank you. >> gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and secretary napolitano, thank you for being here and dirtor

leiter. last night, the house fell short of the votes necessary to extend certain parts of the patriot act. and could you just comment on that, please, the ramifications if those provisions are not extended? >> congressman, as i've testified before, several years ago when this was up, the patriot act remains a very important tool, especially with respect from my perspective, to have t patriot act expire would be extremely problematic. >> i share the view, i have a deep concern about abuse of these powers and i would like to know and my constituents would like to know what specific practical steps are being taken to properly balance the tension

that exists between our freedom and our security. if you could unpack that a bit, i would appreciate it. >> absolutely. it's a more than reasonable concern. there are authorities and protections. there are three provisions. the business record provisions, the lone wolf and roving wire. first of all, in almost all cases there are very, very similar tools being used in the criminal context. in all the provisions, there's a rigorous oversight within the executive branch and the foreign intelligence court. in the case of business records, a showing has to be provided to the court of the appropriateness of the order. they then can do oversight of those records and the like. i think this is in the words of ronald reagan, trust and verified. it's trusting they will do it

right an verifying we are doing it right. >> are there examples within the department where you have identified an abuse where an employee abused his or her power and you have taken action? >> congressman, i apologize, i am not quite the right witness for that. i really have to defer to the department of justice. i know in other contexts, nttc has had situations where u.s. personal information w not protected to the way we expect it to and are required. we discipline those individuals and submitted the findings to the department of justice. so -- >> that's a fair answer. i have the privilege of representing virginia second district, home to a beautiful port, entrce to the chesapeake bay. port security is a great concern to me.

again, it wasn't listed in the opening statement as a high-level concern. please address where on the order of threat assessment does port security come in. >> i'll ke that one representative. >> thank you. >> again, it was not in the statement because of the title of the hearing and the scope of the hearing. port security is keenly important for a number of reasons. our ports, around our ports where we have chemical facilities, the safety of containers bringing cargo into the united states and how they are handled. the ability of the coast guard to protect the ports. they service the captains of the ports. we have major initiatives urnds way in all of those areas and in particular, we are worki globally on the security of the supply chain which really, with

the international maritime organization becausehat affects how cargo is brought across the seas and into the united states. >> thank you. i yield back. >> gentleman's me expired. i want to add, it's been closely watched for at least five years for now on the issuef port security. it's a major, major issue. it will be addressed, i can asha sh sure you of that. the gentle lady from california. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you madam secretary and director leiter. i think you have the toughest jobs around. it's easy for us to sit hereand poke holes, but you always have to be anticipating where the next threat is coming from.

we have got a system where, if i understand it correctly, the visa waiver program could easily accoodate a terrorist to come to this country. i realize tha we probay have it because we have comedy between our countries and the like. i worry about the lack of exit tracking of visas and i worry also about cargo surveillance. i had a briefing last week in my district from loc mechanics concerned of the repair work being done offshore now. they showed me pictures in el salvad salvador. show your id as you come in. there's no tracking. you could have phony id, no one

would know. you could anticipate there are lots of holes still out there. that al qaeda and a number of other terrorists are seeing those same holes. from your perspectives, each of you, what do you think is the biggest hole we have to close? >> well, representative, thank you foyour kind words. i have gotten out of the business of ranking because it is -- it's fluid, it evolves and changes based on the current intel. it requires us to react to what has occurred and to be thinking ahead with respect to the situation you referenced in el salvador. one of the things that illustrates is the absolute importance of good intel gathering and sharing. not just within the united

states, but abroad. when something is significant as trying to infiltrate a pord and get something like a radioactive or bilogic weapon inside a cargo container, say for example, our ability to know ahead of time to be tipped off and know what to look for in october as with the air cargo planes, absolutely critical. as we move forward, strengthening those intelligence gathering relationships is also important. >> congresswoman, also thank you. secretary napolitano has a harder job than i do. i'm loathed to actually give you what the greatest vulnerabilities are. i know that al qaeda and other terrorists are listening to what we are saying. i dot want them to know what i

think are our greatest vulnerabilities. happy to talk to you about it in a closed setting. what i will say is we have to look at our greatest vulnerabilities in terms of likelihood and consequences. there are lots of things that happen where we could have weakenses. the consequences along that angle might not be that significant. we have to balance the most common attack and most likely attack with the one that has the greatest consequences. in that respect, the chairman raised chemical, bilogical, nuclear weapons. i don't thk that is remostly the most likely avenue or al qaeda or al qaeda inspired terrorists to attack the country. the consequences would be so great, we have to invest significant resources to guard against them. >> to follow up on the el salvador issue should we be

requiring american airlines not american airlines but american airlines to make sure they have strong kinds of security systems in place when they are doing the work offshore? it appears they do not and we don't require them to. >> representative, i need to know more about the el salvador situation but as i testified earlier, we are requiring 100% screeninof all in-bound at high-risk cargo on a passenger plane. those are terms that would -- that meet or require certain levels be met. we work with the american flag carriers on those. they are part of the system even from inrnational ports. >> congresswoman, i will add, if i could, the challenge you

identify is uniqueeither to el salvador or aviation. this counterterrorism effort is a global effort. it's why we spend so much time on aviation security, port security, intelligence, information sharing. we are reliant on our partners doing what we think needs to be done to keep the homeland safe. >> time has expired. the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. >> thank you mr. chairman and madam secretary. thank you for being here today. i wanted to first after thank the gentleman from the virginia tide water for mentioning the patriot act to ensure our constitutional rights as americans aren't trampled. i consider myself a tea party congressman. many of my colleagues here in the freshman class feel the same way. so, during the course of getting to this office, we were

questioned a lot about certain things that united states were doing with regard to patriotic americans who may label themselves as tea party folks. who peacefully assemble and petition the government for the first amendment rights we have. i'm concerned and they are concerned in south carolina about a report of april 2009 from your department titled right wing extremism and political climate feeling resurgence in recruitment. i understand the house passed a resolution of inquiry in the last congress a this committee held hears on it. to my knowledge, that document has never been retracted or corrected. the question for you today is does your department consider military veterans or groups dedicated as single issues a threat to homeland security and a higher risk to engage in

activity? >> i thi that's for me. as i said earlier, that was a report that was begun under the prior administration and issued by mistake by our department before it had been properly edited. now, to the point, of course we don't consider patriotic americans to be terrorism threats. of course, we work closely with our military. my department, we have now -- we have had aggressive hiring within military and veterans coming back. we have almost 50,000 veterans in my department, not to mention active duty coast guards. we are reliant independent. >> thank you for that. >> there you go. now i think a larger point is that as we do our work, we cannot categorizey ethnicity or religion or any of those

sos of things. we have to make decisions based on intelligence and intelligence sharing and risk about particular individuals. that's the way that we have directed it be done in our department. that is what's required under the united states constitution. while the fbi is not here today, and the department of justice is not here, they have very stct standards in that regard. >> what can you do or what steps have you taken to ensure this type of reporting as demonstrated doesn'tappen again? because in my opinion, we have targeted a group in that report and we never retracted that. i don't want that to happen again. >> that report is no longer available. congressman, i would simply say i have been the secretary for almost two years since then and you have not seen a similar

report come out of the department. >> thank you very much. i yield back the balance of my time. gentle lady from california. >> yes, thank you so much mr. chairman and thank you to the two witnesses here today. always yr frankness and efforts to work with the community. when there's been much discussion on the house in terms of reducing budgets back to 2008 levels. madam secretary, i would like to hear your opini, if that goes into effect, how would it impact your department and what would you specifically see might need to be cut since we are not provided that direction. >> well, that is a very difficult question to answer. but, this congress in a bipartisan way has been building this departmt. it put 22 some odd agencies together.

it gave us the most varied group of missions of any department. they touch directly on the safety and security of the american people. they have asked us to protect our ports. they have asked us to protect our borders. they have asked us to protect our communities against terrorists international or home grown and the cyber world. we have been building to meet those missions. that's what we do. so, we are going to be and the president is going to be very careful of his requests. you are under the same fiscal disciplines as other departments. there are places we can eliminate redundancies and we are looking for those. to simply take a big old thing and sago back to 2008 without understanding operational impacts for this kind of work,

would probably not be what i would advise from a budget tea standpoint. >> thank you for that comment. i think it's helpful to us all. my second question is we have several trade agreements on the horizon, korea is here. on, columbia and panama is coming. you have heard several questions to do with the ports. when we asked the question when you first became secretary about implementing the 9/11 recommendations do that we have to redo these agreements. how involved have you been with the trade agreements on the table, if at all. if you have, do you see the possibility of us implementing these 9/11 recommendations with those trading partners? >> i have not been personally involved in negotiating the trade agreements. we will have to get back with you whether individuals in the department may have been.

so, i'm just going to have to leave my answer at that for now. >> okay. in particular, korea is a great concern. it's my understanding it is coming. we want to make sure any future agreements that he is in line step with you for what we need to achieve for the committee. my second question, in this committee, we will be having an upcoming hearing about looking at the potential radicalization of muslims in this country. as i just heard your response, your department, you don't evaluate based on race, religion and so on, you are basing your decisions on intelligence. if that's the case, what percentage, if you have one, could you say appears in terms of people we need to b concerned about? would you say 50% muslim?

would you say 50% -- if you could give us kind of a general idea. >> it is a absolutely tiny percentage of the u.s.-muslim population and the global islamic population are those we are concerned with at the counterterrorism center. if you look at the numbers, they are significant in the number we have. in terms of the muslim population, it's minute. >> thank you. with my remaining 49 seconds, i have been doing work and continuity of government. the department has done an amazing job of coordinating various agencies and being prepared. the last ones ready are us as elected officials. madam secretary, i plaon working with your folks to explore how to better prepare as elected officials.

we have to step forward when the disaster occurs. we need to know who to call and how to be helpful and not a hindrance in the process. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> the gentleman from texas is recognized for five minutes. seasoning thank you mr. chairman. at the risk of being redundant, i'm the fifth or sixth person to express concern over the 44% operational control number. i think you have done an admirable job defining that as a term of art. what i would like to ask is let's take the word operation out of there and define the term control as to what the average american would say. what control do you think we have over th borders now? >> i think, in terms of manpower, technology,

infrastructure, we hav effective control over the great majority of both borders. particularly at the ports. then we e using manpower in new technologies to help us between the ports. it is a project that is never ending. we are relentless in it. we recognize, when you are a country as large as ours with the land borders we have, that you are never going to seal those borders. that's an unrealistic expectation. i would say on my top priority in terms of effective control is the tucson sector of the southwest border. >> you also mentioned you didn't feel like some of the violence from mexico is spilling over into the united states or crime. just as a personal side, i would like to take issue with that. i really do believe th what we

have got is a very effective distribution of narcotics coming in and used by terrorists to bring in the tools of terrorist trade. theasy accessibility to drugs in this country means we don't have the level of control we would like to hope. >> indeed. one of the things that -- all i will say in open setting is that we have, for some time, been thinking ahead about what would happen if say al qaeda were to unite with one of the drug cartels. i'll leave it at that. >> if i could add, one of the things we posted december 2009 in looking at other avenues, we invented several d.e.a. analysts

trying to make sure the narcotics information was being shared. >> great. jumping over to the tsa and i realize this is probably outside the scope of this hearing or something we might want to take in a more classified environment, but where are we with respect to implementing a trusted travel program that might mitigate the impact of law-abiding americans of having to undergo these intrusive tsa searches. my 21-year-old daughter had a false positive on a body scanner and was subjected to a search that rises to sexual assault in most states. it seems like a way to pay for itself by user fees to leviate that burden on at least the people that chose to take advantage of it. >> absolutely.

we are moving as swiftly as we can. trusted shippers and travelers. we have well over 100,000 americans signed up for trusted air programs like global entry. i would be happy to sign your daughter up, by the way. i think that's the way to go. we need to have some way to effectively separate passengers and cargo that we need to pay specific attention to from tse we don't. we will always have to do random searches. unpredictability has to be a tool in the tool box. we have to look toward a system where we have better ways to tear and focus on who needs to go through what kind of screening or what needs to go through what kind of screening. >>o you think it might be a cost effective way to use global entry for cost effective

flights. a cost effective way to implement it? >> we arelooking at that now as possibility. >> thank you. >>he gentle lady from texas. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. i'm grateful forhis hearing. welcome secretary and director leiter for what i think is an important discussion. let me lay a premise for a series of questions quicy. the people of mexico, many of us live on the border view them as our friend. i do believe there is a war going on. it's a drug war. it's a violent war. it's smuggling. it is a war. when you have two young teenage boys, high school leave to cross the border for what is perceived as an innocent acvity at this

this juncture and wind up dead and you can count thousand that is died, we have a vicious and violent war. my first question i'm going to ask is as we look to the border, is the homeland security department and customs and border patrol protection as the agency able to decipher the and i think the flow of undocumented individuals coming across the border is coming dow to that kind of war versus individuals who have come to reunite with family members whetheyou agree or disagree to come to work. has the administration worked away from immigration and border security as being partners and trying to fix the problem for us? th that's the first question. the other is to compliment ts

for the progress it's made. i am a propon ent of ensuring our rail is safe and i hope the administration will look at the legislation we had last year that did not move and i'm hoping to work with this majority and committee to work on it again, hr 2200. republican members of this committee joined in. aviation seems to be the most attractive target. in your perspective, are we where we need to be in aviation security and can you tell me that we are not going to go through the battle of 2001, which is to expand privatization of airport secure. i think we are being responsible and made progress. we have a new and enriched democracy with diverse persons

of many different faith. i'll ask the question i think has been answered before on dealing with our friends ofhe muslim faith. specifically madam secretary, and i'll provide you with a letter. he was a family person and had a religious visa approved. shortly there after, it was disaroved and that person was deported. once deported, i's a complicated process, leaving a family destitute. we can't imagine the circumstans. i think it's harsh. i ask the broader question as to how we address the religious visas and are we going to see the muslim community unfrly targeted? they have a right to their faith as well. we are aware we must be diligent. lastly, i would be interested in

an answer on this is about our cultural competency and the reach in that department to be diverse and whether or not we have a diverse leadership, which would be under your leadership, director leiter. >> representative, let me take some of those in order and we can respond more fully. >> secretary, keep the answers short. we have three or four minutes. >> i'll try to keep it short. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> tsa privatization, the administrator chose not to expand it for a number of reasons, some security related d some cost related.

he has announced that policy. as you know, the administrator is the former deputy director. with respect to the mexican border and the drug war in mexico, we are highly cog any sent of the deaths in mexico particularly in the northern states of mexi. we are working closely with the caldron administration on that. we have individuals in mexico themselves working on these issues. we are being very, very vigilant about that war. i will say it again, do not bring that war into t united states. we nd to work with mexico to end the war. the administration is committed to immigration reform. >> that includes comprehensive and border security? >> indeed.

lastly, with rpect to the particular case of the relious visa that you referenced, why don't i get that from you and i'll respond in writing. >> and the cultural issue including the muslims. >> i will be happy to -- why don't i respond to that in writing. >> can i raise a question to yo i would appreciate to have a classified briefing on the border as it relates to the drug cartels or the pourousness created and the distinction. that is my perspective serating out undocumented persons coming. >> i will work on that. there's bipartisan interest in that, i believe. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> time is expired. the gentleman from missouri. you are up next, if you want.

okay. i will yield to -- not yield, yeah, the gentleman from florida. >> madam secretary, we have previously discussed the importance of visa security program and the need to expand the security units to additional high-risk areas around the world. i understand the dhs for fiscal year 2012 from the office of management and budget does not propose additional funding and reconsiders what the personnel receive for the purpose. i find this recommendation troubling. the personnel deported overseas to hh risk posts are uniquely qualified to review the applications and identify individuals that might be attempting to enter the united states to do us harm.

did you agree with the omb recommendation, with the visa security program? >> if i might, representative, the budget request is not yet out. it will be out on monday. my first hearing is next thursday, yes, next thursday. i think, if i might ask your fore barns for a response at that time. >> okay. i would like to keep in touch with you on this. >> duly noted. >> thank you. one more question. as you are aware, terrorists involved in 1993 and 2001 world trade center attacks entered the united states on student visas, later violating their terms. they have been concerned there are problems in the issue

process. how concerned are you about to fraudulent use of student visas or any visas for that matter? >> do you want me to take it? >> we look at all kinds of visas. you are right. there is a hisry with student visas. there's an ongoing interest in student visas. we have built in extra protections fr student visas with monitoring the countries that sponsor those students. >> i would like to get to you. i have recommendations of my own as well. >> very happy to do that. >> thank you very much. gentleman from louisiana is recognized. >> thank you mr. chairman. we heard several points about our port security. as we talk about trade deals, i guess my question to you madam secretary is that, is there a way to evaluate or enform us,

for example of south korea and their port security? our security is based on how well they do their job over there. as these trade agreements come up and are negotiated, i think it's very important for people like my district, which has the port of new orleans and the trade down there. is there a way to get some information on that? >> congressman, yes. we will respond to you in writing on that. i know one of our six international locations for our maritime cargo is scanning technology was in the republic of korea. we will get information to you. >> second, watching what happened down in louisiana with the bp incident, how safe are

our rigs? give me an assessment on, for example, our loop, which supplies a lot of stuff for the rest of the country. looking at how long it would take to get it back up or stop the flow, how safe are our rig that is are off the coast of all the gulf states? >> i have been on the loop and met with those individuals and there arextensive security precautions taken around that area. so, there are no guarantees in this business. i think the director and i would both agree on that. do i think they are taking all reasonable security precautions? i think they are. >> thanyou. i yield back the remainder of my time. >> thank you.

thank you. congressman davis. >> thank you very much. >> you are recogzed. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman, madam secretary, mr. leiter. thank you for being here. as new member of the committee, let me just ask if you would quickly help me sharpen my understanding of what we define and designate as being terrorism or acts of terror. >> congressman, there are numerous definitions. national counterterrorism center uses one of those, which is premeditated politically motivate violence by a nonstate actor. the key piece there, ally the key piece that it comes down to is politically motivated violence. >> madam secretary, i'm

interested a concerned about the impact of illegal narcotics on life in our country. and indeed throughout the world. we know that afghanistan supplies 90% of the opium trade. there's also questions about its relationship to fund the taliban and the relationship with al qaeda. could you tell me what our goals are there from a dhs standpoint? what are we attempting to do in that region? >> well, congressman, i think a better person to address that question to would be the secretary of defense. but, what our goal is at dhs, working with the government of afghanistan, i was just there

between christmas and new year it's to assist them in building their capacityto have control of their own borders, particu r particularly their ports. to have the trained and vetted units necessary to do that. >> if i could just add, as you know, the enforcement agent has a significant prence in afghanistan. as you say, some of the funds do go to support the taliban and could go to al qaeda if they don't already. it's an important piece to note. it highlights the moral on this front too. al qaeda and the talan per suing what they are viewing an

islam, they are shipping heroin and opium over seas. >> it's considered by many the transptation capital of the world. we place a great deal of focus and interest on airline security, airline safety. bu i also ha concern about what we are doing in relationship to truck transport, busses, the large number of people who make use of them and of course rail. could you elaborate a bit on what we are doing in those areas to make sure that there is security and safety? >> indeed, congressman. we have a whole surface transportation program and strategy that we will make available to you. now, it's a little bit

different. so much of it is controlled locally. busway systems and railway systems. chicago is fortunate. they have built now extensive security in the -- within the mu n nis pl limits. we have added so-called viper teams, which are transportation security teams. dogs and equipment in the transportation environment. >> let me thank you for much and again, as other members have done, commend you for what i think the outstanding work is that you do. i certainly look forrd to working more closely with both of you. >> thank you, sir. >> i thank you mr. chairman and

yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you, sir. doesn't appear anyone else is here. i thank the witnesses. thank you for your time, your valuable testimony and the members for their questions. members of the committee may have additional questions and i ask that you respond to them in writing, please. the hearing record will be held open for ten days. the committee stands adjourned. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] c-span3 c-span2 [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national

cable satellite corp. 2011] >> i think that is not only one of the day higher challenges facing higher education which is how we maintain a healthy lifestyle and get kids to have the strength and the judgment to say no. >> r.grerald turner will discuss college students tonight. >> this morning, a political roundtable with steven dynan of "the washington times." we will previewed the rollout of the next federal budget and later, a georgetown university professor discusses the moslem brotherhood and the situation in egypt. "washington journal" is next.