questions. but we're delighted for your service. part of our job is to help you and the folks that you lead to do better. welcome. please proceed. >> thank you and good morning. chairman carper and distinguished members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss these important issues with you. we appreciate the committee's leadership and commitment to ensuring the security of the american people and look forward to discussing some of the progress we've made that you've outlined in securing the border how we measure that progress and the key areas we need to continue to address. representing the field operations today and we carry out our border security activities in all 50 states and 300 ports of entry and globally in 40 countries abroad. our mission is preventing terrorist and terrorist missions and we also interdict persons, drugs, agricultural pests and animal diseases

unsafe imports and goods that violate trade laws. at our ports of entry security is defined not only our able to prevent dangerous goods but also economic security through the movement of travelers and cargo. in other words, at our ports of entry, a secure border is a well managed border where mission risks are effectively identified addressed and legitimate trade and travel is expedited. with this committee's support we are more capable but we remain committed and we strive to develop programs and operations to make our border security efforts increasingly effective. as part of that the process of measuring and addressing our progress is a constant focus. we use a number of different types of metrics to assess our performance and facilitytation responsibilities these are both qual tative and quantitative include both effectiveness and efficiency measures and are assessed at the national programic regional and port

levels. we use these key indicators to assess our performance and evaluate trends and developments over time. it is important to emphasize there is no single number or target level that can effectively capture our full scope. instead there are a series of important indicators that we use to assess and refine our operations. qual tailively we look as measures to look at specific risks whether comprehensive and whether they can be improved. we use random baseline examinations of both people and goods to assess how effective our efforts to identify and address threats are and whether we use efficiency measures to determine whether our security operations are properly targeted. lastly, at the ports we use if a silltation measures such as travel and vehicle wait times to determine whether we are pursuing and deploying our resources in a manner that moves leaningt cross border traffic. in this vain i would like to highlight some of the progress. in our ant terrorism mission,

our priority mission, we measure our success by how effectively we identify and how early we take action to address them. through our national targets center, overseas praments in coordination with the partners, c.b.p. prevented 42 00 inadmissible and high risk travelers from boarding travel to the u.s. and identified and mitigated risks in over 100,000 ocean cargo containers and 2,000 air cargo shipments before they could come to the united states. similarly, our ability to identify and deny admission to persons seeking entry is a core mission where we have seen marked improvement with the implementation of new technology solutions. u.s. visit and the western hemisphere travel initiative have allowed us to enhance biographic and checks. serving as a significant deterrence to attempted illegal entries and the use of fraudulent documents.

and overall at the ports of entry our arrests have have diminished. with regard to our counter drug efforts we are continually assessing how our border security activities have changed the movement of drugs into the u.s. through ports of entry. the significant increase of nonintrusive inspection equipment has driven improvements in the effectiveness of our examination. as a result, smugglers have changed their tactics moving to smaller loads and much deeper and more so fisscasted methods and some of the avoidance measures that you outlined. accordingly larger seizures are trending down. we have also enhanced our efforts in bodes agriculture and trade protection to focus on those threats that present the greatest risk to the u.s. economy and public. we measure this by using three key types of metrics. first our total examination, second the interceptions and

seizures they produce, and third our effectiveness rate in undertaking those exams. all three show positive trends. in 2009 and 2010 we focused our protection efforts on increasing interceptions of the highest risk agriculture pest that is could result in millions of dollars of economic damage to u.s. agriculture. as a result we have seen a more than 400% increase of these most serious pests. these missions are pursued in the context of significant growth and international trade and travel. last year c.b.p. welcomed more than 350 million travelers and processed 25.3 million cargo containers and over 100 million air cargo shipments with a trade value of 2.3 trillion. air travel is up more than 12% over the last three years and is expected to grow 4% annually over the next several. land border traffic is also increasing and our trade levels are continuing to grow. as a result, we have seen

increased wait times in some environments. securing these growing traffic levels without impeding them is our core challenge and we are tackling it head on through a series of innovative efforts to deploy new technology and transform our business processes. we are increasing enrollment in our programs like global entry, automating pap irformse and employing automatedation. we envision border processes that are seemless, paperless and traveler directed. in some we have increased our mission effectiveness across all threats and inevirmentes while increasing growing demand and we continue to seek ways to improve. thank you for this opportunity to testify. i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you for that statement and for joining us today. mr. fisher, please proceed. >> chairman kearp and other distinguished members of the committee, it is indeed an

honor to appear to discuss progress and challenges facing the men and women of the united states border patrol. in assessing border security progress one only needs to travel the border and talk with frontline agents to witness and fully appreciate the investments made over the last decade or two. new roads and access to the immediate border have increased. numerous technological advancements have provided critical situational awareness and intelligence collection capabilities while at the same time supporting agents during ground operations. primary fence and vehicle barricades have fundamentally change it had way smuggling organizations operate and aerial platforms with advanced technology have sushly increased the way we deploy on the ground and have led to increased effectiveness along the southwest border. thanks in large part to this committee's support, substantial investment in personnel, technology, and infrastructure along the southwest border during the past several years have led to

the reduction of cross border activity. this is now enabling us to better respond to threats and managing risk. over the past two years, advanced anlitics and data assessments produce programs. has allowed us to reduce the percentage of apprehensions that result in a voluntary return from 41% in 2011 to 22% in 2012. moreover, the consequence delivery system that is contributed to the reduction and overall rate of reresidivism from a six-year average of 24% to 12% today. but as i have articulated in prior testimony, i will work to reduce the likelihood of attack against the nation and provide safety and security to our citizens as an ongoing mission. our focus now is to expand our operation. by taking an integrated approach that includes our partners at the federal, state,

local, and tribal levels. applying a risk-based strategy while moving towards a mobile and flexible workforce that can rapidly respond to emerging threats. our challenges are many not the least of which is our ongoing requirement for information and intelligence which provides frontline agents critical insights about those that would seek illegal entry into the country. in addition, detection capability continues to be a critical need in our implementation plan. detection to response to an immediate threat and ro to provide strategic situation wall awareness. i am often asked the question when will the border be secure? my general response is when there are no more dangerous people seeking entry into the country to do us harm. the extent to which the border is secure has more to do with known and evolving threats and our ability to respond to those threats and less to do with fluctuations and things like

apprehension numbers. although our progress has historically been described in terms of technology and infrastructure enhancements, the true value of our collective achievement rests with the agents and mission support personnel. their selfless sacrifice and commitment to excellence exhibited every day nationwide is unmatched in law enforcement. what our agents continue to achieve in the face of adversity is no less than exemplary. i am proud to represent them here today. i look forward to working with the committee to identify measures that adequately assess the state of the border and explain the return on the investment for the american people. thank you, sir. >> thank you. general, please proceed. welcome. >> good morning chairman and members of the committee. it is an honor to appear to discuss the securing our nation's borders. i appreciate the leadership and commitment to ensuring the security of the american

people. ir and marine is the world's largest aviation and maritime enforcement organization. a critical enforcement for border security. we're composed of 12000 federal agents and 289 marine vessels and operate from 84 locations throughout the united states. we protect the american people and the nation's critical infrastructure through the coordinated use of intergrated air and marine force to detect interdict and prevent acts of terrorism and the unlawful movement of people, illegal drugs and other contra band of the united states. at the borders, tactical support of c.b.p. as ant terrorism includes intercepting people and contra band, crossing land borders, intercepting aircraft and transportation vessels. developed information and partners with other federal state local and tribal law enforcement agencies to ensure our assets are in the right

place at the right time and to stop illegal activities. we utilize its unique capabilities to provide support for law enforcement along with disaster recovery emergency response operations. over the past year and consistent with our air and marine strategic plan, delivered an advanced array of aviation assets, sensors, information integration and capabilities in a variety of marine vesssls. delivered its aircraft with 18 to 20 years of service life at a fraction of the cost of the new aircraft. we've added 70 new or upgraded light or medium lift helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, predator unmanned aerial systems, marine vessels and other maritime and aviation sensors. have the first cell in

california and north dakota. the aircraft and broad aerial referred to the chairman at the start of this session. the mea provides us with missions. the broad aerial sensors termed vader provide unpralleled situational awareness and give border agents near realtime actual information without the limitations of ground radars or optical sensors. another key component is the unmanned arkte system predtr. to pro-vide critical surveillance to personnel on the ground. we own ten of those systems and its maritime variant the guardian which composes three of the ten systems. the predator can monitor large areas of land enhance situational air wareness. particularly useful for

targeting areas of incursion. from june to july of 2012 we deployed one of our assets to thedom kn republic, flew 37 hours and netted 3900 pounds of cocaine prowhich would have provided over $3 million street value. assisted california state and local law enforcement in their search for christopher dorner a former l.a. police officer suspected in multiple homicides and alluded catch tup for more than a week. on ferry 12, we launched a helicopter to assist local authorities in their search after they searched dorn tore the mountains where he barricaded himself inside a cabin to provide ground support and helicopter delivered one of the ice agents to the command and control center along with equipment that allowed the swat commander to see the video feed very helpful to that

apprehension. mr. chairman, our p 3 aircraft and its effectives in, has been instrumental in reducing the flow of contra band from reaching the united states while the vessels are still thousands of miles away. in fiscal 2012 p 3 crews were involved in the seizure of more than 117,000 pounds of cocaine. and in a first quarter of this year they have been involved in the seizure of over 2.4 billion of cocaine. working in conjunction with oam operate in offshore coastal waters to combat maritime smuggling. these interceptor vessels are the most powerful vessels used in law enforcement and an ntgral part to stop maritime smuggle. our air and marine operations center utilizes surveillance capabilities to provide air

demand awareness for agents at the border and within the interior of the united states. because of the continual support of congress, oam has been a significant contributor to bp's progress in securing the border. oam will continue to enhance our detection interdiction capabilities and work with partners to combat the risk that exists today and be prepared for tomorrow. chairman carper and distinguished members thank you for this opportunity to discuss our role in c.b.p.'s role in securing our borders. i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you so much for that testimony. i am temperatured to say the p was not a newer plane when i was starting to fly. it's amazing they're still going. served in iraq, drug interdiction for years in the caribbean and now this is pretty amazing. and i presume cost effective. that's good. mr. thank you.

>> good morning, chairman carper and distinguished members of the kefment thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss the significant contributions ice has made over the past decade in securing the border and our investigative work to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations. over 26 years ago i began my career in the federal government and since that time i have seen some water shed momentses in border security but as we all know none more defined than 9/11. at that moment in time when the plane hit the world center at 8:46 a.m. border security changed forever. at that moment in time i was a super visery special agent in michigan and my office sat blocks away from the u.s.-canadian border and there was a complete new urgency to securing our northern border as well as our southern border. since that crime and with the creation of the dovet department of homeland security we have made improvements. we have achieved a record

number of criminal arrests with the increase of nearly 25% in fiscal year 2012 over 2010. as the department's principle investigative agency and as customs and border protection investigative arm, ice has deployed nearly 50% to the northern and southern border with the remaining resources strategically placed along our coastal borders and ports of entry throughout the united states. in addition, we have special agents assigned to 75 offices in 48 countries around the globe. this global footprint is imperative to address the entire continuum of cross border crimes that we face. this includes at the border where criminal organizations seek to smuggle people contra band and money into and out of the united states. as wl as throughout the united states where the criminal organizations distribute their contra band and profits and finally internationally where many base their command and control structures. in 2005, we made a great step

forward as you mentiond in your remarks with establishing the first border enforcement security task force. today we have 35 located across 16 states and in puerto rico which leverage over 765 state local tribal and international law enforcement officers representing over 100 different agencies. to assist in addressing the threats abroad we also created transnational criminal investigative units which are bilateral, multidisciplined investigative units comprised of vetted international law enforcement partners. currently we have 12 units in n countries dedicated to investigating the universal organizations threatening our security. we launched the significant case review process in fiscal year 2011. this process focused our

resources to disrupted and dismantle the most prolific criminal organizations. as a result of our work over 175 of the most dangerous individuals in transnational organizations have been disrupted or completely dismantled. these at one time had the capacity to smuggle thousands of illegals, tons of this past thier ice -- year i.c.e. traded a government approach to address not only the most significant criminal organization but also the pathways they use. for ase these pathways reason. we identify what is the under -- thederlying reason underlying reason.

criminal organizations will adapt to another method. the goal is to not only stopped the individual criminals but dismantled the entire criminal enterprise and everything to him mitigate what they plan to exploit. thank you for the opportunity to be here. there's no question we have made great strides in progress in enhancing the border security. it will be my pleasure to answer any questions. >> thank you for joining us. welcome. we're glad you're able to join us today. about thisto talk and then it may be asked mr. fisher to talk this through some of these charts. do you think the borders are more secure? to the extent this is still a

work in progress, what are the critical one are two additional things we need to do? what do we need to do more and less of? the camp please be specific on that. -- if you could please be specific on that appeared in looks like the u.s./mexican border. >> i will see as a single as possible. the first charts is the southwest border. onis comparative apprehensions. if you look at the very top, the blue numbers are apprehension a list by sector is. apprehension lest by sectors. of the low that in the lower numbers in red are the

apprehension numbers at a point in time of the highest apprehension in the corresponding sector. will see ance, you black member book is the year in which what we called the high water mark was established. " we generally do is compare apprehensions with the previous year. >> you're saying apprehensions are generally down along the border substantially to where they were how many years ago? one recorded was in 1992 in san diego. 1992 about 2005, during that time of the border patrol historic plea was averaging millions of apprehensions per pound per year. is look in 2012 and each a

seeing continued decreased activity level. >> some say we are not as effective as apprehending people. having been there, we are a whole lot better. .hey are far more effective it is counterintuitive. how do you respond to that? >> i agree with you. it is misleading. whether it goes up or down, what can it became that we are doing a better job. the beginning. it is the start of much of it that we would try to describe.

these represent people we have apprehended. week and should be biometrics. we can give you a whole host of demographics. we are confident about that number. it does not tell the whole story. >> do you have the ability to know who is being apprehended for the second and third time? >> we do. what are we seeing? >> as a percentage, there are less people being apprehended multiple times. we can do this through their fingerprint identification number which is unique based on biometrics to be able to do a lot more analytical work in terms of who these people are, where they are showing up. we can study that over time.

it helps inform our agents in terms of the networks that are operating these routes. >> can somebody help us with the charts? thank you. a picture is worth a thousand words. ?hat do we have here tha thank you. >> this is a before and after photo of an area with in the tucson sector in the state of arizona. we have captured literally hundreds of both those which help us understand not just within our headquarters, but certainly those that would not have the opportunity to go to the border are perhaps not been to the border recently.

this was taken in 2006. there is a lot of debris. typically, you have thousands of people going across the desert. in some areas it took them hours. some areas took them days to get from the point of injury to either a stash house or a vehicle. along the way, this will be a load out area. they were getting ready to transition into a vehicle. things anddone these leave it in the desert and continue on. below picture is a depiction of the area whenever this was taken. we have recycling containers. >> this is an argument. i would be able to show you what

they are tracking each shift in terms of how many people are actually going through there. they're getting good in terms of individuals utilizing technology and their own depictg of being able to levels of traffic and people that are coming through to areas like this. >> coming look at the next chart please? -- can we look at the next chart, please? >> this is a protection of the before and after and the type of technology we would utilize across the border. you see an old generation night vision. said in a hearing i look like one of the night- vision equipment that when i was a young agent working in the arizona area, it is given from the military. and then being able to see 3 feet in front of you went in the allied with a big deal. then you fast forward and the

type of technology that is available. this house and differentiate the types of threat they're seeing out there. depiction captions one piece of technology. >> maybe one more and then i will yield to senator mccain. >> this is a snapshot of a before and after picture. if memory serves, and this is the douglas area within the tucson sector. depicts a portion pick of the border. the picture below it is the same area with a level of infrastructure. it includes primary offense, all themer road which allows

to respond to different threat. he will see a secondary fins. in the background you will see towers that provides advanced information in terms of the approach of anybody seeking entry over or through the primary offense. one interesting piece, what it does is it frees up the amount of border patrol agents that absence would require a lot more this. patrol agents to >> thank you for sharing these photographs with us. >> thank you. i agree with you. i think all of us are in agreement. i have been down on the border for 30 years. there has been significant improvements. we really do not know how significant they are.

he cannot rely on apprehensions as a measurement. the fact is, we have no measurements. let me read to you from the government accountability office a report of last december. " and the resources necessary to achieve it but is not identified milestones for developing and implementing performance goals and measures in accordance with standard practices and program management." official stated that the goals and measures are in development for assessing the project to secure the border between the ports of entry in since fiscal year 2011 they have used a number of apprehensions on the southwest border as a goal and measure. however, this measure does not

inform program results and congressional oversight and accountability. i agree with you that apprehensions are not the only measurement. we have no other measurement. in testimony before the house, he told republicans representatives "i do not believe that we intend that the bci will be a tool for the measurement you are suggestiong" when will we have this measure? if you do not believe that apprehensions are the answer, what is the answer? order for congress to make a judgment? >> i will list two things in particular. the first is the defected this

ratio. we want to know how many people come across the border. and of that number, how the people to we apprehend or turn back. >> you develop the metrics and the standards or not? >> we have. understandying to where it makes sense to capture that. towhat can i have as a basis determine the level of border security? >> when in the things we are doing -- >> are you sharing that with congress? >> we're starting to. >> that is good to know. >> since that report, these are things that we have been working with in the headquarters.

>> that is fine that you are doing that. you are not informing congress. certainly not this member. -- we have tomany make judgments. i hope you can get this information. i have heard more that you have done so. this has not happened. >> this is in the final stages of development. >> it is gratifying to know. that is certainly not what was testified before the house. think the arizona republic had a very interesting article, that basically we do

not have the metrics. we need the mattress and we need them very quickly. not need a trigger, that gives us a degree of forthcomings to how we will be. apprehensions are up around the border. >> approximately 13% compared to last year. >> that may have something to do with the perceptions out of the border. one, if there is a job market. and too, is sequestration is having an effect on this. sequestration harming your ability to carry out your duties? >> it is. >> absolutely. it would be helpful if we could -- from me a specific

new specific areas where you are able to carry out this mission. that's is up incredible importance and significance. march 7, i sent a letter to secretary of soliton up asking be what was expected to detainees who were supposed to be released from i.c.e. detention facilities. i received no answer. can you tell me why many were released? how many were released? my chain of command, i am over the portfolio. >> accused jurisdiction is that fall under? >> my counterpart. the deputye. we have

and deputy director and myself. >> you do not know the answer. >> i do not know the answer. >> you are familiar with the radar. >> yes, sir. >> you have seen it in operation in iraq. >> i have. i am familiar with it. >> i have seen it as an operation in iraq. it seems to me it is an incredible technology toll. have we got plans to acquire more of that? >> currently there is money for two more systems. we have plans to get to more. describe what is necessary to have major coverage for the border? >> for the entire border? i would have to calculate it and get back to you. >> that is why i said some into the record. what is providing them to be used in high traffic areas 24

hours a day? is funding.hat we need to do some things inside of my organization to get more utility systems. the other part is i have bigger systems. i have a loan system from the army. >> don't you believe that vader could be an absolute vital tool in obtaining effective control of our border? >> i think it will help us characterize what the border looks like. the end to end piece of this is quite complicated and large. getting full operational control is difficult. that will help us in a more comprehensive way. >> seeing is the most important step.

i have seen this in action including the battle of solder city in places where it has been extremely effective. we do is apply the requirements that would be necessary? uavs would be necessary in high traffic areas. if you indulge me one second. in arizona today, they will say there are guys sitting on mountaintops guiding out the drug smugglers up all the way from the border of to phoenix where it is strategic through most of the country. do you agree with that assessment? i am aware of it.

>> the cost of cocaine has not gone up a dollar in the last five years. that is the ultimate indicator if we are restricting the flow of drugs are not. that is part of this equation as far as border security is concerned. we need to pay a lot more attention. i want to thank you for your visit to the border. we appreciate your understanding and appreciation of the challenge we face. >> thank you. that senator mccain is is apparent to all of us. if we want to be able to say we have a more secure border, how do we measure that?

this is counter intuitive. this cannot be the only measure we use. i said some folks in arizona maybe if we had the ability to actually quantify the number of folks trying to get across the border, we will say it is 100. the number that turned back. let's say it is 10. and to be able to measure do a little bit of arithmetic and figure out how many got away. i hope we can do is work toward anystem approach that can do that so we can say borders that are more

secure. but to action have the numbers to back this up. that this an oversimplification. we can get there. >> thank you. i want to thank all the folks who testified for their testimony. since before 9/11 i been aware of a lot of changes. i have been aware of opportunities for smuggling drugs across the northern border. thate long fought deployment of military radar would be a very positive thing along the northern border. i was encouraged to intercept the low-flying aircraft. we could begin to receive canadian radar feet. can you provide me and to ever

it may be an update on how this initiative is going, and the eeds inveness of those fiel terms of what is going on? >> they are fully integrated into our center. this is combined with the feeds we of beads -- received over the united states. it gives us a book over the canadian border. opportunity.eat >> will this be able to be monitored. >> it will. should qualify. you have areas that will have gaps. downw would be something 5000 or 2,000 feet. >> some of the area were

there are mountains, that is low. we can be right on the assessment. are westion becomes, still thinking about anything under 500 feet? >> if they are at low altitudes we'll have to have a difficult time. >> we're not where we need to be? >> in terms of risk reduction we have done this by integrating what we currently have. know where they have coverage that extends all the way down to the ground. >> i will say this again. i hope that there are opportunities to expand this whether it is done with corporate agreements or by herself.

live 70 miles from that border on very flat ground. these income across the border. this is a concern to me. i hope there are proposals to forward to deal with that situation. whether they're talking about drugs or weapons of mass destruction. i just put that forward as an opportunity to move forward. on a recent trip i spoke to border protection agency were frustrated by some jurisdiction issues. in one case, they have action will intelligence to make a number of arrests and to able to

move forward. they had to defer i.c.e. at the end of the day, as we talk about immigration reform, nothing was done. the folks who could have been arrested and sent back to their country because of being unpapered were not. can you clarify how they are currently handling overlapping jurisdictions are even gaps in regard to the rest of undocumented individuals? >> i would be happy to. i will tell year places like inth texas are sitting down advance to an operation in doing what is called joint targeting. we will bring all of the intelligence components and. we will understand better about the networks and the organizations that we ever would individually. we are identifying with the

best enforcement approach. in some case it is going to be an investigation. we need to get better at that. issue, andut this you can jump in, what about the where there is actionable intelligence to move forward? i.c.e. does not have the manpower to deal with it. are we doing with that? if that is happening, that is a problem. we have to fix it. the president always talks about we have to quit working in silos. i agree. we have to work more as a team. what are you doing when there is a problem like that? is there opportunity for agents to make you aware of it?

if there is actionable intelligence, go after it ended it. >> mr. fisher and i have established some very good communications of the way down to the field level. i have not heard about this incident in years. i am not for sure if they are referring back to old days? >> i am aware of the facility being built. it is relatively recent. >> we have communications not only at the field level between the chief of special agents but also we have an advisory group that comes together to make sure those issues do not come apart. we are not telling people not to do it. we are making sure we are communicating.

>> i appreciate that. tothe end when it comes these things, it was the border protection issue. it was far enough for they could say it is not my job. on the other side of the coin, there.e. cannot do it, to saybe some ability this is what is going on. we're not doing anything about without being reprimanded. >> i have instructed of the supervisors that make this day to day judgments about deployment in managing risks. and ultimately lead up to them in terms of being able to respond. border patrol agents will generally not say it is my job. they'll try to understand what

their priority mission is. >> i appreciate that. my time is long gone. i would say this really is an issue from my perspective that deals with leadership. i several characters want to introduce for the record. thank you for your service. i very much appreciate it. >> thank you. i want to think the witnesses for what you do to protect our country. we really appreciate it. i have a question for you. what is the current protocol

for cpb to expect cargo? in newstand right now hampshire we have a seaports in the portsmouth area that ships arriving during the night of agentseld at sea as cpb are and able to board them to inspect the cargo as they customarily do. you get there at night and they're not boarding until the morning. when it the concerns i have is that this delay could create an unnecessary risk. it if somebody has contraband on board or they had people who should not be on board because they're there illegally, it is then the opportunity to sneak off while you are managing the night. can you tell me understand what correct thankthat

you for the question. we have expensive port calls for writing vessels and to our seaports. in terms of the passengers on board, we are aware of who they are 96 hours before the arrival. we will get them -- vet them. we have information on the cargo coming into these vessels that has been addressed prior to arrival. i can look into this specific question and get back to you. andhours of operation generally core hours. if they're being held comment that was probably in an effort to ensure group. was uptraband before loaded. >> i would appreciate your

looking into this issue for me. visiting, over there what i heard, and this is a change in policy, this is on the ground level. i'm hearing a lot of concerns about this thing done differently. gives the opportunity for criminal activity to flourish and undermine what we're trying to accomplish. from the perspective on the grounds, there is a change of policy of what has happened. this is an issue of resources. i just need to understand what your thoughts are on it. also to follow up, and they ask you about the northern border. however this is more appropriate to answer to answer this

question, and we appreciate the slides we saw. my state borders 58 miles of canada in addition to our seats for that we just talked about at the ports of entry. on the have a force boston area. a lot of places there that we focus on in new hampshire can you help me understand what the biggest threat are with respect to the security along the border with canada? we have a 58 mile border in there are other portions of border canada. what are our challenges their? >re? >> thank you. will we look at our borders, one of the things that is different

stems from the fact that you have approximately 90% of the population. peoplere hundreds of coming across the border to the south. to have to look at it a lot differently. one of the things we have to do within canada is we have over the years worked jointly in terms of the integrated border enforcement teams. we come together frequently. in many cases along the border, we are constantly sharing information, of bringing all of our resources tether and trying to understand what the picture is in terms of threats in the region. we had very good working relationships. emerging threats? what is the best way to approach those from a joint stand point?

we're trying to fill intelligence gaps or identify what additional resources we may need to into the area. >> what are the biggest threats right now? >> this goes back to measuring border security. i can tell you what we're seeing as far as continued persistence. hydroponic marijuana continues to be consistent. the launching of those illegal proceeds back into canada. organizationsee that predominantly used to be in smuggling cocaine and marijuana into the united states but often engage with organizations from canada and then route it through the united states for distribution.

propertyintellectual as well. many of the same threats we face .verywhere >> can you tell me how this has changed on the northern border? whatever matter is we're going to establish on the southern border, presumably they would apply to the northern border as well. years, there's been very little fluctuation in terms of application numbers. you have hit it right. this will not necessarily make sense in terms of trying to use those into northern border construct. you are looking at effectiveness ratios. we want to know how many people came in and how many be

apprehended. this would not necessarily be a good value measure in areas where we to, see a lot of that activity. there are metrics that we would need to establish to be able to extend this period it would be known and likely criminal activity that is coming into the ports of entry and how we then work as an international force to be able to disrupt and a along thethem way. >> i know that my time is up. i appreciate your all being here and for your testimony. thank you. >> thank you for those questions and for you being here. lake superior, international waters.

thank you. i want to thank all of you for your service to our country and for being here today. i hope you will convey to your hard working agents our indebtedness for what they do to focus on territorial integrity and our economic security at thought i might be the only senator deviating from the border. i guess all politics is local. on issues that are a particular concern. we have a large manufacturing base in the state of wisconsin. we have two major shipping point in milwaukee and green bay. i wanted to take this moment to talk about the border control responsibility in these areas.

if i do have time i want to ask a question about the potential effects of border surveillance on constitutional civil liberties. manufacturing represents a large share of wisconsin economy and many jobs in my states are supported by manufacturing. we are very concerned about unfair trade dumping practices by other countries. i have heard concerns about to techniques that are regularly used to avoid import tariffs, mislabeling goods in the country of origin 3 transshipment. address theyou can views on how great of a problem these are and other such evasion schemes and what are they doing

to detect these efforts and how can you improve even more? i recognize the department of commerce and the trade commission's play this in the same arena. theycurious to hear how are integrating their efforts with the other key players to ensure full enforcement such as real time information sharing. i think i will for this out to you. >> thank you. an important question and one of the critical responsibilities is to protect the trade in the u.s. businesses that rely on it. in terms of the problem of trade fared ms classification, that

can be done for several reasons. duty regulations, to seek a lower charge on the duty and to try to increase market share. focusedsomething we are on. i will ask my colleague to chime in on our joint efforts. we really reinvigorated our trade fraud efforts. in terms of what we do, we rely a lot of our advance that set and our ability to validate these through examination. we have our compliance measurements efforts which includes verifying sampling of trade from a variety of sources to make sure they're very high.

we also try to focus our examinations on those highet risk importers to take action. we have had some significant successes in the past two years as we built our efforts. i think he can talk about the property rights. this is an area that over the last year, especially the economy with the way it has been is to insure that we're doing everything we can to protect the u.s. businesses that are playing by the rules. one of the areas that i could go and on because we have done so much, i think that one measure that will tell you the level of seriousness that we are taking from b is is that this past year and fy12, these the more

time on commercial fraud than we did any time in my 26 year career. investigative hours and resources, we have spent a long time. we are using our best practices and sitting down to actually say what other criminal organizations are trying to do? what vulnerabilities are they trying to exploit. we share that so we can treat additional targets. one of the big areas is a honey gate. there is honey coming out of china. we change collectively between our two agencies the way that industry operates to this day. >> tell me a little bit about your measurements. you do not inspect 100%.

?ow do we know what we're doing >> i mentioned our compliance efforts which does do that random sampling of trade coming across. it looks for any violations, whether it was a mislabeling issue, fraud issue, and proper classification. we know from those assessments that we are well over 95% compliance. of those assessments help inform areas that are of higher risk. did the other key metric we utilize is a number of participants and our trade programs. they have accounting practices they have aligned, the importer self assessment program. these are companies that have validated their supply chain. we're familiar with their security measures.

we're familiar with how they interact. the two keye are measurements we use. i would like to send it to additional questions. i would be happy to ask you to respond properly. >> i apologize for not being here in your opening testimony. thank you for your service. if you do not get a lot of kudos. the get a lot of complaints. i want to formally recognize your service and dedication to what you do. ask some questions that have been asked. if they have been asked, tell me. a lot of the things i have heard since we have heard discussions on immigration reform, the

thames at non-border crossings have increased. is that accurate? >> could you repeat that? >> the last three months since we had a discussion in congress about immigration reform, the report i have gotten from some of my contacts have said that the number of attempted crossings has increase. is that accurate? >> this year, yes. do you have seen an increase between the ports of injuries. some of this is a hearing that they want to come and be joined with their families. there's a whole host of reasons behind that. >> i know you have had a lot of questions on metrics. '90s term is what you're looking at in terms of control.

is what you're looking for in terms of control. what we're seeing across in the border illegally. none other than mexican? >> this is approximately 30%. when you look at the individuals we are apprehending, 3% of those individuals are from a country other than mexico. >> 1/3 of individuals to form a country other than mexico. latino percentage are but not mexican? what percentage of people coming across the border ought not from south america and? >> i do not have the exact number. it is very small. are from 3jority

primary countries in south america. >> you know more about your area than any member of congress. you know the ins and out. if you were given the flexibility under the sequester to manager areas of responsibility by prioritizing what is most important down to what it is least important, we do have any difficulty doing that? .> no >> we're working through the issues. >> if we were to give you flexibility, you are the key people. you know what it is most important. if we were to get the flexibility, witten that make

your job easier with respect to sequester? would that not make your job easier with respect to sequestered? >> flexibility is diminished by percentage of the budget. >> you actually could be more effective under this sequester if we gave you the flexibility to manage operations the way people in the private sector gets to manage affairs. >> how many are familiar with what the gao has done of the past four years? we're looking at duplication and much of.

>> the have not finished the government. each of your agencies are in there. is where we agree with them. here's where we disagree. here are the things we think they have made better positive. here are the things we do not think are a waste of our time. not a good expenditure. if you would do this for me, that put a check for me back on gao. the are not always right. i learn, i think this would prove very beneficial.

job is to help you. it is not just to be critical. effectively are we doing this? can we make any difference on this committee in terms of streamlining back, making the more efficient that i will submit some questions for the records. thank you. ask you raiseo your hand or night. do you think the border is far more secure than it was half a year ago? how many think we can do a whole lot more to improve? how many think we can do a good deal more?

it is different than a whole lot. a whole lot is a whole lot. senator cobra and i were once on a hearing in the finance committee. you're talking about deficit reduction. when it because that testified was alan blinder. about health care costs. we're never going to do a good enough job on deficit reduction. i said what we need to do to get help control. we will find out what works and do more of that. i suggest maybe we will find out what does not work and do less of that. we need to find out what works.

it has led to the improvements of talking about today. we will find out what we need to do more of. understand as well what does not work as well. what is of marginal value. maybe we can do that in the budget constraint. ,n the border it appeared to me i am told that we now spend more andy on border patrol than we spent as a government on fbi, secret all combined. that is a huge investment. to make sure we're getting our money's worth, what can we do in the air, on seats, in terms of

intelligence? told back to what allen us, find out what works. what else do we need to do? we have one system. it is on loan. we cannot even own it. y dod but thene buyin company that developed it. i am told it costs about a million bucks a piece. >> that is roughly correct. >> can be used, talk about the number of platforms it can be used on. >> the only platform is a man platforms. it will give us more flexibility. they are doing some work on that. we're going to piggyback on that work. when they finish that we will try to piggyback on that work. >> and trying to get through

whether it is jobs or people. i would try to find out what the schedule is. in the ones that are not. one of the things i checked back with me is the need to do this so they can apply it almost brought the week, 247. olderd to figure out the airplane, how can that be used effectively. can some system the mountain on to lighter than air units? talk to us about which of those applications makes sense that it can enhance the effectiveness of the thousands of men and women across our borders.

as you know, it is a loan system. we would like to cook her -- procure more. use of the assessment. the actual censer cost about five times as much as the aircraft. we are putting more of these sensors on low-cost airplanes. it helps us. it is a money saver for us. and annette as few the cost of the drones. we will leave that to another day. the surveillance systems are on the aircraft. >> that was about a million dollar ball.

>> and because of the aircraft? >> i have to get back to you. >> maybe 100,000. how do we figure out to uses in a way that complements the use of the drones? to theets back integration piece. it is what we are working on. this is the one we have to get right. they're working very hard on operationcular integration. things we have not talked about his intelligence. i wanted to take a minute on that. he chairs the subcommittee that deals with, and security. .e have a guy here

we have books that can make sure the additional resources that are needed can be provided. and do not know that we'll ever get to that example. do you have 100 people approaching the border? we do. did some of them turn back to have the certainty? >> we can do that. we know how many people we apprehend. if it is 80, that means 10 of them got away. that is it. it eightballs apparent to think we can develop the rand to gy -- think we can develop the technology? the other thing i think the department is working on that

know a little bit about, we talked about with our staff, i am not sure that is going to convince anybody that the border is more secure. to think wee errand can put together this multilayer ?echnology on the ground is it not realityic? > i think it is realityic. -- realistic. you're on the right track and we would like to work with you and your staff as we're learning about the new technology and what it gives us to report out those variables that you're talking about. >> anybody else before i yield? >> i just want to make a comment. as the chief mentioned before, part of this -- we're going to want to use the technology that

we have, vaders as an example, to characterize the border and find out where it makes sebs. ex-- ld be fan taftically fantastically expensive. >> my thanks for the great hospitality that you extended up to me when i was at the michigan/canadian border and to share your insights with me i appreciate it. >> we appreciate you taking the time to come to the border with canada, which is an amazing border in a lot of ways. in some of those ways were able to witness and we're grateful that you were able to take the ime to get the hanses-on

experience on the borders. i want to focus on the northern border issue. this is what the g.a.o. said in their report. a few years back we asked the g.a.o. to report on border security and this is some of what they said. the united states has focused attention and resources primarily on the u.s. border ith mexico, which continues to experience higher levels of drug trafficking than the u.s./canadian border. the g.h.s. reports that the threat on the northern border is higher. there's also a great deal of trade and travel across this border while legal trade is predocument meant it is reported of networks of smuggling of drugs, currency, and weapons

between the two countries. now there's a huge gap in terms of our resources that are allocated to the northern border versus the southwest border. there was growth between -- in the last 10 years in the number of border patrol agents, which nearly doubled in the southwest rea -- excuse me, which nearly doubled from 10,000 to 21,000 but that growth was concentrated at the southwest border. almost all of the added agents were sent to the southwest border. 10,600 went agents to the southwest border and 1,400 of the border patrol and c.p.b. officers went to the northern border. there's a huge disparity here. we try to get into this at times

but despite that the terrorist threat is greater at the northern border than it is at the southwest border. nonetheless we see this huge gap in terms of resources, the ones that began -- that were there before 2004 and the ones that have been added since. let me ask you why is this given what the findings are d.h.s. have been that the terrorist threat is greater at the northern border, the amount of trade is far greater, canada is our number one trading partner. that means the risk of that trade is greater because there's for trade. why is this huge disparity? why does it continue, why does it grow? >> senator, thank you. i will let the chief talk to the patrol borders agents in the past decade. speaking of the ports of entry,

you're correct. the encounters with terrorist watches individuals are higher on the northern border than on the southern border. but we're focused on that threat and our partnership with canada has changed dramatically in the last 10 years in our intelligence sharing, on our benchmarking and a whole series of programs in terms of joint -- you know, integrated border enforcement teems. we're working together. this is a serious focus for us and i don't think at the ports of entry the resource levels are diminishing our ways to address our anti-terrorism mission. >> ok. 1,000 agents in 2011.

we maintain that level of staffing as the mandatory minimum staffing levels at 2,000. our cooperation with canada has increased over the years. if we do have any specific intelligence on whatever that threat is, which increases our capability of pors of entry to respond to that threat, we will move agents anywhere along the united states borders either if it is north or south to mitigate that risk may pose to this country. >> so we rely on better intelligence cooperation between ourselves and canada? >> that is correct but not exclusively. but that is a key indicator to identify those threats, those emerging threats that may be coming to our borders. >> we have better intelligence cooperation with canada than we do with mexico? >> i wouldn't say it is better.

there are different programs that are set up independent of what our relationships are with those countries, things that are based on treaties, things that are based on what we can or can't share. we may not do it in the same manner we do it with our partners in mexico as well. >> senator, i will just make the comment that we have a substantial air presence but st of what we see falls in terms with i.c.e. to provide security. >> there are entry points, walking paths, there are boat, -- i mean we have lakes up there that are huge where there is boating going on all the time. it seems to me it is a much easier boarder to cross illegally than the mexican border. we're building a fence where we

have seven or eight times there as we do in the northern border. to say that the northern boarder is the poorest is to exaggerate. it is not porous, it is nonexistent in places. there are hills, mountains right along the border where people walk across back without any awareness of it. then what the d.h.s. acknowledged is that this border is a source of a greater terrorist threat than the mexican border. it seems to me that it should be considered the the number one problem that we have more than illegal immigration that we're acting on in many other ways. my time is up. i do have a question i will submit to the record, mr.

chairman. it is about the uncontrollable overtime. has that been inquired about today? i will save that for the record ince we apro prison crated funds to continue that -- appropriated funds to continue the overtime. >> any questions that you would like to ask? >> i have a couple more questions i'm going to ask but do you have anything else you would like to add or take away? thank you. a few more and we'll be out of here in 10 minutes, i promise. one of the things that struck me when i was at the canadian border was the work we do with the canadian government.

some places we share resources, their ability to move across to border, canadian into their country and us into theirs. working with them as teams. the amount of intelligence that we share with one another and we talk about multiplers on the mexican border, the southern border. one of the great multiplers is intelligence. if we're going to use the vader systems and other air systems to allocate our ground forces on the border and the best way to do that is our intelligence. compare for us the extent -- the degree and the helpfulness of the intelligence sharing on the northern border compared to what we work with on the southern border? do you we can and compare and

contrast it. is thering the we can learn as deploying our resources on the mexican border to up north and the lessons learned, please. >> i will start and refer to my colleague for an additional response. what we're trying to do in the ports of entry is move our assessment of risk back the supply chain as far as possible. that is getting the origin of the threat, how that threat might move towards us. if you're look at the canada -- mexico collaboration that is who is trying to get into canadian mexico and who strige share information with them. -- who is trying to share information with them. similarly, we're looking at who is moving into the canadian mexico and try to pick out those people and goods that might present a risk.

we're doing similar things with both countries as far as working together in our targeting center to share the information, to benchmark how we identify the threat and that is going very well on both borders. >> senator, thank you for the question. we continue to learn how important information and certainly intelligence is and our ability to protect the country. as we learn things that may have implemented on the southern border in terms of collection we try to apply that on the northern border. one of the most important characteristics, at least our standpoint and implementing our strategy is recognizing there is a convergence of criminal organizations and terrorism. that changes the landscape on how we continue to learn from d.o.d. easterns, the intelligence community how they can support our ground agents on

the field and deploy resources to minimize risk. one way we understand to do that better is to work with the intelligence community through our own office and through the department and telling the analysts what is important to us. historically we never did that. we didn't have an intelligence cycle. as we're getting smarter about that we have identified what the requirements are. >> so ask your customer? you're the customer. >> >> i grew up always complaining as a border agent that no one is giving many intelligence. as i got wiser in my years that no one knew what i wanted because i didn't tell them. this says it is up to us to understand what is it that we need. i can't bake the same mistakes when i was running the border

intelligence division years ago. wen i found out they told me need. know what you i handed them a 230-page binder of what we needed and i sat back and waited. that's not what we need. we learn from the cooperations efforts with the department of defense on how we can do that each and every week we are getting better about the intent and capability of those individuals who wake up every day and they think about how to do harm to this country. i appreciate your leadership in helping. us prevent them. goodthink you brought up a point. we've been talking about the physical board earn the security measures. i can tell you it is changing. i was in detroit and 10 years

ago few knew i was going to cross with drugs. there was a good chance i would still get through because we did not have the resources and technology at the border to run subpoenas name. ou might get the license plate at the time. now running someone's name takes 12 seconds. we pushed the border out with engaging our foreign counterparts and international partners so we know the threat before it gets here. someone sitting in a cave, in a place that wants to do us harm enters a visa application and this will be vetted that night and we'll know before. technology has really changed a lot as well as our international footprint that provides the intelligence.

tell et leads and i can the airmen about the leads they can fly and it is a continuous cycle that all of us are dedicated to. > do you want to add anything, general? >> we share with the mexican government. if we have tracks crossing either way we coordinate on the tracks. on the northern side, it falls to our links with northern command and the northern american defense command. >> ok. this question flows from the work that senator mccain and seven other senators are doing to lead the way of a thoughtful comprehensive immigration reform proposal. -- e're able to -- i keep

for us to come to that kind of an agreement based on what we talk a here. ou're our customer in a sense. by question with comprehensive immigration reform, would it make it easier to make legal pathways for some, not all immigrates to focus on the criminal threats. we think about the risk and trying to be a risk -- sensitive to risk and deploying our risk where the risks are greatest. but how would you respond to that question? i don't care who goes first. >> i think in a word yes. >> i agree, yes. >> yes, sir, it makes sense to me. >> absolutely, sir.

>> all right. ok. the -- anything you want to say in closing? >> no, i want to talk to the general. >> i want to reiterate how much we appreciate your service and the service of those men and women with who you work with. this is important work. it is important to our country. i believe we're making progress. you showed us pictures that suggest that. the measures we're using are imperfect but they are encouraging. some folks who live south of us think that comprehensive immigration reform might pass and i think that is moving some people as well. but in terms of the questions, our border is more secure than they have been in the past? i think it is clear they are. we've heard that again

reiterated today. are we doing everything we can? no. are we doing everything we should be doing? no. are there are a number of wes -- steps that we can take to do a better job? yes. you've given us an indication of what those might be. do we have the ability to pay for them? i doubt it. we need additional revenues, we talked about the user fees might be helpful to enable us to deploy the resources that we discussed here today. we've had a chance to talk a better intelligence and use of intelligence. it can be very helpful as a force multipler. i leave the hearing in understanding the difficulty, the complexity of the challenges that we all face, not just you but us as well.

but encouraged that we're learning and getting smarter and using pretty good common sense that will enable to get us to the goal we seek. one of my favorite sayings is the road to improvement is always under construction and that certainly applies here. but the road is improving, we still have work to do to the extent that we can work on it together. we'll make a lot more improvement and in doing so we aid the foundation for thoughtful comprehensive policy. we can reduce the need for these people to make the illegal entry into our country. with that being said -- the hearing record will remain open for 15 days for additional statements and questions. , which i'm questions

sure you will, please respond quickly. with that, this hearing is adjourned. thank you so much. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2013] >> to find more on of the immigration debate, including congressional debates and rallies, on the "washington journal" you can find it online the c-span video library at c-span.org. on "newsmakers" california congressman, chairman of the armed services committee.

he talks about the president's proposed defense budget and takes questions on north korea. >> how should the u.s. respond to the south koreans if the north koreans do another ballistic test? >> i don't want to second guess what the commander in chief will make the decision. the military will give him options. i'm not the president. i don't have that responsibility, that ability, and i don't want to get out in front of decisions that he might make. i do think and i've said this before, not just on this instance but our whole posture around the world. i think we have to be careful on setting red lines and moving them and moving them. that has happened in the past, not with just this administration. but when you do that you

encourage people to move forward. i compare nations to individuals . i jufts meeting with some of our askedlitary leaders and i them if they had children. of course, they all have. do your children push you and they all do. that is human nature. you push until you get stopped. so that maybe an action that should be taken. remember when we didn't go take out iran and the israelis did. you know, sometimes it's best to take action. > "newsmakers" can house armed service committee chairman is on sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00

p.m. on c-span. >> this documentary comes from knoxville, tennessee. their message to the president looks at foreign policy in the middle east. they are third prize winners in this year's student cam competition. >> something with war that you should always remember, you have to know where it stops. ou don't know where it goes. you don't know what the other side is going to do in response. ♪ >> dear mr. president, you have been increasing capabilities. >> i don't want iran to have nuclear weapons because i have family in zreal and i visit them every summer. >> what unites everyone is a

deep concern about iran's nuclear program and it is held by israel and the united states trying to build a nuclear weapons program. the pressure is that the international community led by the united states and others as well would deal with this problem as an international problem. >> obviously, this not only affects israel families but it would have worldwide repercussions. it will be easy for the saudis to get a nuclear weapon if iran gets a nuclear weapon then you have a nuclear arms race. everyone would want a bomb. >> the fear, especially in

shington that a nuclear iran would make the -- it violence e] very dangerous. attacking alone is extremely dangerous as well. it is unclear and most people e skeptty call on how much damage iran can do with a nuclear bomb. some people estimate it is only a year or two of setting them back. >> this is an issue and and threat that the israelis have been expecting for a good deal of time. they have trying to figure out ow to develop an option on how to disarm iran. >> they want help from other countries, special the u.s.

the earn to an attack is sanctions, which could cripple the economy without putting as many lives at stakes. >> the most important thing is sounding -- signing the bill to the world about this. that the united states, the european allies, russia and china to take seriously this problem. the sanctions have become very severe that they are better off without nuclear weapons than trying to acquire them. >> the e.i. put an embargo in place in july. every single one of iran's oil supporters have cut or ended their purchases as iranian oil. we were able to put

unprecedented economic pressure on iran while minimizing the burdens on the rest of the world. >> the best option may not be perfect but it is some kind of deal. a deal that would be stop the .uclear weapons program but on the other hand gives the iranians some relief from the heavy sanctions they are facing. >> some people, including israel's president netanyahu says the work you've done has don nothing to stop iran. stop as done nothing to iran. >> it hasn't worked. iran uses diplomatic negotiations as a means to buy time to advance their nuclear program. isthe problem of using force

the loss of life that would come from a war, especially a nuclear war. >> to build our country, israel is very small but it has large military capabilities, at least for a country of its size. so the conflict between the countries full-blown would be likely involve other countries in the region. >> many people say to prevent wars we must take all possible fforts to stop iran. sometimes ligible] war becomes necessary but should

-- there willlast needs to be a major diplomatic ffort to resolve the differences to direct egotiations. war can converted but it is not -- at least we tried in every way to avoid the war. i think that's essential. >> so, mr. president, that means in order to protect our allies, the u.s. needs to make a decision regarding how it will respond to iran's threat and soon. >> the u.s. is facing that option. the u.s. will very much like to stop iran from attacking but

would also like to avoid conflict on its own. it is a very difficult situation where it needs to do two things at one. e, it has to credibly convey its resolve to not let a nuclear program advance in iran. without the u.s. resolve and u.s. seriousness there is little on stopping it from doing it. >> on my annual visit i visited i willment. rl , respect, trust that is what we need to make between the nations. >> congratulations to all the winners in this year's student cam competition.

to see more winning videos go to student cam.org. >> on the next "washington journal" jeff mason of the washington examiner discuss the senate, gun legislation and the upcoming immigration bill. they look at the backlog of claims at the veterans' affairs. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. now i.r.s. acting commissioner steven miller testifies on the impact of scombegs on staff and services. he says it is likely that the agency will close its doors for a day around the memorial day holiday due to the cuts. his is an hour and a half.

>> the hearing will come to order. today the sub committee is going to look at the activities and operations of the internal revenue service. we're going to hear testimony from acting commissioner steven miller. welcome, mr. miller. thank you for being here today to spend the afternoon with us. i want to thank you for all your service, all the years of service to the i.r.s. and our country and all the employees as well. want to specifically compliment the agency to be removed from the high risked list, think is a giant step forward. according to the i.r.s. oversight board, 72% of americans believe they have a civil duty to pay their fair

share of the taxes. but because our tax code is so complicated that this is easier said than done sometimes. so because of that it falls to the i.r.s. to help individuals correctly file their tax returns, pay their taxes and it also falls on you to investigate and find individuals who are trying to cheat. i know authorizing committees are working on tax reform and hopefully, this effort will include to make the tax code more understandable, more simple, and, therefore, easier for them to comply with and easier for you to enforce. you're also responsible for administrating numerous tax credit programs. obviously, that is a very troubling number. i don't think we ought to

tolerate that. the i.r.s. is the large est agency funded by the sub committee. you have over 90,000 employees. we don't have the president's budget yet. i don't know you have it. we're supposed to get it tomorrow. better late than nfer, as they say. but we don't know what is going to be in that. we know that the house resolution -- the budget resolution from the house and from the senator both include the sequester as part of that budget resolution. o what that means is, it maybe unrealistic there's going to be much of an increase this year but we don't know that yet. but certainly, this sub committee wants to work with you d your staff to work selectively to make investments where we need to make investments and make cut where is we need to make cuts. we want you to meet your

obligation to, obviously, collect the taxes and also pursue the people who cheat. so again, welcome acting commissioner miller. we look forward your testimony. i think the whole committee is going to be interesting in learning how you're coping with the sequester. how you're identifying this identity theft that seems to be growing every year. we've talked about reducing the burden of tax compliance. i think overall, understanding how you're making use of the resources that you have. with that, woiled like to yield to my ranking member for any opening statement he might like to make. >> thank you, mr. chairman and welcome back. we both welcome each other back. i join you in welcoming commissioner miller before the sub committee. the president's budget does not come out until tomorrow.

while you may be unable to share the details here us with today, it is my hope that you will be able to discuss some of the i.r.s.'s general priorities with us. obviously, as a result of the the ter and the funding, i.r.s. is left with budgetary holes that must be filled. we will hopefully get a chance to discuss the sequester and if you think that revenue will be lost as a result of the cuts to the i.r.s. i think the reduced budget for i.r.s.ological help to increase our deficit. i find it different that we increase compliance with less money and funding for the people who answer the many tax questions that taxpayers have. resources at the i.r.s. are used to ensure that people follow the laws that congress has passed and that americans pay the taxes

they owe. it is self-defeating to ask people to obey the law then reduce the number of people we have to ensure compliance. one particular area is the continued implementation of the provisions in the affordable care act. many are going to come online this year and unfortunately, the continuing resolution did not conclude the additional funding to help the i.r.s. to implement these necessary changes. the affordable care act celebrated its third anniversary and some people in congress seem to forget it is the law of the land. they need to answer any questions that taxpayers have a these new provisions. ignoring their reality will not stop the fact that the affordable care act is law. it will only create confusion for taxpayers and divert i.r.s.

resources from other initiatives. chance y, we will get a to discuss what the i.r.s. is doing to implement the affordable care act and how your efforts are impacted by the continuing resolution and the sequester. the i.r.s. is one organization that many americans interact with in some form. for many individuals it is the only interaction they do with the government. we need to make sure that the i.r.s. can do the job that we have combiven to them and they can serve the american people in a way that is responsive, efficient, and fair. as we move forward all of us can agree to do that. i thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. now we'll recognize acting commissioner miller for your opening statement. if you can