based on the lessons learned, we issued our recommendations to fix some of the systemic problems that led to tamerlan tsarnaev falling off our radar. i hope to think, in a small way, the recommendations we made in this report can make a difference in preventing the tragedy we saw in boston from occurring again in the homeland. i'm pleased to know and to hear and report that both the fbi and dhs are already constructively implementing the recommendations of this committee's report, and i commend them for that. let us hope that such a tragic event like this never happens again. with that, i would now like to recognize the heroes in this hearing, in this committee room here today, the watertown officers who are with us here today who were directly involved

in tamerlan's takedown, and taken off the streets once and for all. sergeant john mcclellan, officer joseph reynolds, officer magill colen, officer michael comic, and of course, chief devo. gentlemen, would you please stand and be recognized. [applause] the chair now recognizes the acting ranking member, ms. sanchez.

>> i thank the chairman for holding today's hearing, and i also extend my condolences to the families of the four people killed during last week's shooting at fort hood. additional prayers are with the 60 people injured during that shooting. i do want to recognize the first responder community and medical personnel for their incredible response to the shooting. as of today, the joint terrorism task force does not consider the shooting an act of terrorism. however, the investigation is ongoing. i am going to read into the record comments from our ranking member, mr. thompson. incidents like last week's shooting and last year's boston marathon bombing, we are reminded of the importance of our first responders. i again commend the service of our witnesses, former commissioner davis, the chief, the sergeants, and i thank professor leonard for recognizing their courageous efforts in his research. resilience and response are two

of the reasons why almost a year ago the boston metropolitan area why almost a year from ago, the boston metropolitan area remains strong. i wish mayor walsh, president of the boston athletic association, and all the runners and volunteers participating in the 118th boston marathon well as the race commences on the 21st of april of this year. even though boston is standing strong, it would be a disservice to the community not to take a look back. there are still unanswered questions about the tsarnaev brothers. we owe it to the people of boston and the people of america that officials do a thorough review of that situation. last april, the inspectors general of the intelligence community, departments of homeland security and justice and the central intelligence

agency, announced a joint investigation into whether intelligence was properly distributed and acted upon in the months and years before the bombing at the boston marathon. i find it rather unfortunate that the review was delayed because of the senseless 16-day government shutdown in october of 2013. partisan disagreements create serious gaps in homeland security oversight, and this is just one example of the myriad of setbacks that the shutdown yielded. another development since last year is attorney general holder's january 13 announcement that the u.s. would be seeking the death penalty against dzhokhar tsarnaev, the alleged boston marathon bomber. he was arrested and indicted. i have declared my confidence in his receiving a fair yet aggressive prosecution in the united states district court for the commonwealth of massachusetts.

mr. chairman, as a former federal prosecutor, you know attorney general holder's decision to seek the death penalty is a game changer. i'm sure you are familiar with the intricacies involved in a capital case. as i reminded the committee last year, as we fulfill our constitutional oversight responsibilities, we must be careful not to jeopardize a federal prosecution. this applies in both the words that we speak to the public, as well as the publications that stem from this committee. unfortunately, some of the actions that have extended from this committee have not been helpful to the department of justice. on march 25, a majority staff report endorsed by a minority at -- a minority of the members of this committee was released to the public. less than 48 hours after the report's release, tsarnaev's

defense team filed a motion in the district court citing this report. i reemphasize that as members of congress, especially as members of the homeland security committee, we are held to a heightened standard. we are trusted with both classified and unclassified briefings and meetings with members of the intelligence community. therefore, the words that we speak or publish about alleged terrorists transcend the halls of this congress and are not taken lightly by the public. furthermore, this not only applies to events surrounding boston, but also to other events with pending investigations. reaching conclusions before facts are known puts the reputation of this committee at peril. and thus, we must exercise discretion in our questioning, in our statements about events, suspects, and the links to others that may not be in custody.

but in spite of those limitations, mr. chairman, we can still use our platform to have a productive discussion about the boston marathon bombing and act on outstanding matters. for example, we can and should discuss the funding given to the first responder community. last year, at the committee on homeland security's first hearing, former commissioner davis said without grant funding, "the response would have been much less comprehensive than it was, and without the exercises supported through the urban area security initiative funding, there would have been more people who died in these attacks." and professor leonard's testimony also indicates that this type of preparedness is what makes first respondents effective. the sergeant is testifying today that local municipal governments are not financially equipped to take on the increasing burden of these catastrophic attacks like

boston. it is time that we not only listen to the first responders, but that we also take action. not only after last year's hearings, but also hearings throughout several congresses, members have heard about the importance of these grant programs and the success stories involving them. accordingly, i urge members to oppose the administration's proposal to shift focus away from supporting state and local efforts to develop terrorism-related prevention and preparedness capabilities by morphing the homeland security grant program into an all-hazards grant. i'm not convinced that the under funded grants consolidation proposal would provide sufficient support for first responders across america to build and maintain the capabilities necessary to respond as effectively as the first responders in boston and

watertown did after the bombings last year. we learned from 9/11 that it is the local responders that are there on the scene. i cannot support any grant reform proposal until i'm convinced it would provide the support necessary to maintain the terrorism preparedness capabilities that we have spent building now for over a decade. also, i agree with the chairman that we cannot ignore that information sharing between federal, state, and local authorities needs strengthening. since september 11, information sharing silos that the 9/11 commissioners recommended be addressed continue to be exposed after tragic events. we need to work together to develop ways to fix that problem as soon as possible. we must also consider the economic costs of terrorism. in response to the events of september 11, congress enacted the terrorism risk insurance act

of 2002. that measure increased the availability of terrorism risk insurance to at-risk american businesses by guaranteeing that the government would share some of the losses with private insurance should a terrorist attack occur at a building. that act is set to sunset this year. according to the rand corporation, allowing this act to expire would harm our national security. last year, mr. thompson introduced a bill that would extend the act and add some needed improvements. and i urge my colleagues to co-sponsor the legislation. even though it has been almost a year since the bombings, there have been some game changing moments. some ships are still anchored. as we continue to seek answers, i remind us to be responsible and to act within our constitutional boundaries.

the people of boston are looking for our leadership on this issue, and i yield back the balance of my time and ask that the full statement be put into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. i thank the ranking member. i understand legal standards very well. i would do nothing to jeopardize the prosecution. also, as a member of congress, i understand our responsibilities of oversight under the constitution of the united states. as recently quoted in "the boston globe," "this shouldn't be about democrats and republicans. if you cannot put that behind you on an issue like this, then i don't know when you can." i couldn't agree more with that statement. with that, the chair now recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts who has had more impact out of this tragedy than any other member of this committee, mr. keating, to introduce today's witnesses. >> thank you, mr. chairman. by way of introduction, i just

want to realize and have us all realize that it is almost a year to the day of april 15 when we were all shocked, not just in massachusetts, but around the country at the news that the lives of four young individuals were taken and hundreds more were injured in the boston marathon. if i could, in this introductory period, i would like us to take a moment to remember and honor the lives of krystle campbell, 29, sean collier, 26, lindsay liu, 23, and martin richard, 8. there is no doubt that boston's handling of the marathon attack will serve as a model for cities around the world on how to respond to mass homeland security incidents. for this reason, it is important to look back and analyze the steps taken before, during, and after the tragedy.

we are honored today to have before this committee public safety officials from boston and watertown whose actions directly impeded further damage and loss of lives during the attack and in the days following. in that regard, all of our witnesses today can provide unique perspective on the best methods to increase our nation's resiliency, adaptability, and transparency within the homeland security realm. our first witness, former boston police commissioner edward davis, is currently with the john f. kennedy school of government at harvard university. mr. davis was appointed by another great leader, former boston mayor thomas menino. in this role, commissioner davis led the boston police department's response to the boston marathon bombings on april 15. the heroic actions and quick thinking of the men and women under mr. davis's leadership, as well as that of the

massachusetts national guard, the boston national guard, medical personnel, and indeed, civilians, led to the survival of 17 critically injured civilians. i have known mr. davis throughout his 34 years of law enforcement, and he served in the lowell police department. he was named superintendent in 1994. during this period he was recognized for reducing the crime rate and lowell quicker than any other superintendent in the united states of america with over 100,000 residents in the city -- in cities of over 100,000 residents. commissioner, thank you for your service and your service to the city of boston, the commonwealth, and to the country. it is an honor to have you with us here today. we look forward to your testimony. we also have the chief of police at the watertown police department, mr. edward devoe. the chief sits on the executive board of the massachusetts chief of police association and played a crucial role during the

manhunt for dzhokhar tsarnaev. his leadership made national headlines, and when five of his officers found themselves in a battle that involved both gunfire and homemade explosives on a small street of watertown. chief devoe, we are grateful for you testifying here today. finally, sergeant jeffrey pugliese is the second-generation officer of a watertown police officer. he was born and raised in watertown. having been promoted to sergeant in 1993, he was on the night shift during the early hours of april 19, 2013, when he came to the assistance of his fellow officers. after a grueling exchange of fire, he came within six feet of

tamerlan tsarnaev and eventually chased the suspect, tackled him to the ground, leaving him time to rush those hurt on the scene to the hospital. members of this committee had the opportunity to visit the scene and were able to see the amazing signs of heroism and the impressions that the bombs and bullets made throughout that street. sergeant, thank you for your incredible service. and even though i'm not introducing him, i want to thank professor dutch leonard from harvard, and ask consent that the report that professor leonard is going to talk about today has been submitted to the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> i yield back. >> professor leonard, thank you for being here. i guess i am somewhat of an alumni. you produced an excellent report

and analysis of the boston bombing, and i look forward to reading that and sharing my thoughts with you. thanks so much for being here today. full written statements of the witnesses will appear in the record. the chair now recognizes commissioner davis for five minutes for an opening statement. >> thank you for inviting me to speak before you today. [inaudible] i'm sorry. i came before you last may as commissioner of the boston police department to offer my insights into the information sharing that occurred before and during the events of last april. i also came to you on behalf of the boston community, and

specifically for people whose voices could no longer be heard the guys of the attacks of these cowards. i ask you to remember the lives of martin, krystal, lou, and m.i.t. police officer sean collier. let my comments reflect that nobody can ever make up for the lives cut senselessly short. next tuesday will mark the one-year anniversary since two pressure cooker bombs were detonated on a stretch of boston street that leads to one of the most inspirational sites an athlete can view, the finish line of the boston marathon. a lot has changed in that one year for the hundreds of victims wounded in the attack. life has been altered, yet on a daily basis we continue to see and hear the inspirational stories of those victims. stories like that of adriana of boston, a professional dancer who returned to the stage last month despite losing part of her

left leg during one of the explosions, or jeff, the iconic image of him being wheeled away from the devastation by a good samaritan is emblazoned in our minds. he just announced he is engaged and is going to be a new father sin. martin richards' sister who inspired a team of runners to run on her behalf. or the dozens of nurses and first responders who will be undertaking their first marathon ever next week in honor of the victims whose lives they helped save. there are hundreds more stories i could share with you. i just want to make sure that none of them are lost to time as we continue to examine the events that led to the attacks in the actions that unfolded in the days and weeks afterwards. i also want to speak on behalf of the community, not just boston but the greater community at large. in the year since i have traveled across this great country talking about the lessons learned from this tragedy, i have come to realize the community that rallied

beyond the boston strong numbers in the millions. that is how the nation felt after these attacks on our freedom and how the innocents were caught in the paths about the explosion. many questions were raised about who knew what and when and what information was being shared. over the past year, the level of interagency cooperation that has occurred between local, state, and federal law enforcement has been critical to ensure we have found ourselves answers to the many questions that have been posed. within the first few minutes of hearing about the explosions on boylston street, my first phone call was to a friend and colleague at the fbi. we worked side by side through swing week and i considered him a staunch friend and ally. he offered all of the services of the fbi and other agencies to make sure we not only apprehended the terrorist responsible for the crime but also to ensure our interagency collaboration affords all of our agencies the critical information sharing needed for the organizations to operate at peak efficiency.

what all of us learned that week in the ensuing 12 months is how the big our community is beyond the partnerships within levels of government. how the law enforcement community is obvious. with me are some of my colleagues from the neighboring watertown police department. the community where the manhunt came to an end and the community that found its neighborhoods under siege like never before. boston police, watertown police, none of our agencies could have enjoyed the success we achieved without the involvement of a much larger community that felt personally victimized by the attacks. that is the community that has been come to and known as boston strong. in the past 12 months, boston strong has been used as a rallying cry for an indomitable spirit, a sign of resilience and perseverance. our hometown baseball team, the red sox, found inspiration from its message to win the world

series. it came to personify our exceptional patriotism and commitments to neighbors helping neighbors. in new england, we do not just see it is a cliché or hashtag on twitter, we see it as a proclamation that we stand together in the face of unimaginable atrocities to hold fast to our ideals and basic tenets of freedom. boston strong became an exclamation. by a community that wants the world to know that it can rally in the face of adversity and, armed with the necessary information, can work with its government partners to achieve a safe and desired outcome to a horrible and senseless act of violence. when he came to our city a few days after the attacks, president obama told the world that boston would run again, and he is right. we run to support the dreams and personal aspirations of everyone who will be lacing up their sneakers to complete the grueling course. we run for the ideals that this

kind of event brings our community together to celebrate everything that is great about our city, our state, and our nation. and we run for those who cannot be there this year. krystal, lou, martin, an officer sean collier. all of us run together. thank you. >> the chair now recognizes chief devoe for an opening statement. >> thank you for the privilege of doing this. i am extremely proud to be here today representing the men and women of the watertown police department. our goal has always been to be the best police department in massachusetts. i had the privilege of meeting you and others in the committee when you traveled to boston and watertown. i thank you in the members to learn about how the watertown police department and community responded to the events of that day. before i speak about the actions of the watertown police

department, i would like to give some background. patriots' day is a special day in boston. it is my favorite weekend of the year. businesses and schools are closed in massachusetts for most people. spectators line the 26 miles of the boston marathon into boston, cheering on the elite runners but also the regular people who run for charities. the boston red sox play at 11:00 a.m. after the game, all the fans walked down to kenmore square and watched the final mile or two of the marathon. you have not lived in boston long if you have not in a spectator or volunteer or runner. this year i will run with 12 of my officers. it will be an emotional day as we run the route and cross the finish line. the boston marathon will be held in less than two weeks, and more people want to be part of it. they want to come together and celebrate those who died and were injured last year.

they want to remember officer sean collier of the m.i.t. police department who was ambushed and killed before the two brothers headed into watertown. we have all seen what occurred at the finish line of the marathon on april 19. commissioner davis has spoke about that, how well and impressive his department responded that day. i am here today to talk about the events that occurred in watertown on april 19. that seemingly quiet overnight shift suddenly turned into a war zone. for the first time in america, police officers were attacked with guns and bombs on a quiet back street of my community. those two brothers were trying to kill my police officers and had plans to kill and injure more innocents. the handful of officers on duty that night acted heroically and defended watertown without regard for their own personal safety. they displayed courage and bravery as they stubbornly defended our community.

my officers were at their best when they were confronted with the biggest challenges of their careers. their split-second decisions and actions went far beyond their academy training, but i assure you they will not be taught in academies across the country. it has been said before, but as police chief i want to state it again -- the actions of my officers saved lives here in boston and new york city. i want to introduce those officers. again, i would like to point out officer joe reynolds, the first officer to confront the two brothers. he had no idea who he was up against. when we got notified, we did not know it was related to the boston bombing or sean collier. joe was immediately shot on. john, sitting behind him, was the next officer on the street. he got a round through his windshield and the bullet went right by his ear. they continued to fight on that back street of watertown. miguel and mike showed up

shortly after that. when officer colon showed up, he had trouble getting out of his cruiser to help. you will hear about all of the heroic things he did. mr. chairman, during these trying days last april, two individuals attempted to strike fear and take down a city. they attempted to terrorize us all. in the end, they accomplished nothing. they will never know what it is. when america gets knocked down, we pick ourselves up and get stronger. we will not be intimidated. watertown is stronger, boston is stronger, and in my opinion the entire country is united and stronger. the strength and resilience and even defiance is what made boston strong, and i know if an attack occurs in another city in our country, they will respond in a similar way. the watertown police officers on duty that night stopped these evil brothers from leaving with

a cadre of weapons to carry out their deadly plan. in the following 18 hours, our entire department of 65 officers was tested and worked around the clock to keep our communities safe. we received unprecedented support from the surrounding police departments and federal agencies, and as a result the second boston bombing suspect was captured. i want to thank residents of watertown for their patience and support. it truly took an entire community. mr. chairman, when i begin my comments today, i mentioned our goal was to be the best police department in the state. i'm not sure if we have reached that, but i can tell you one thing -- in those moments, we may have been the best police department in the world. i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you, chief, for that compelling testimony. and you are right about the best police department in the world. with that, we turn to sergeant

pulgiese for his testimony. >> good morning. thank you for inviting us to speak here this morning. it little background on myself. i'm a police officer 34 years at the watertown police department. >> can the clerks help with the microphones at the witness table? is that better? >> background on myself, i have been a police officer 34 years in the town of watertown. prior to that i served in the u.s. army from 1974 until 1978, military police assigned to the brigade in berlin, germany. what happened that night, i finished my work shift when i heard a radio broadcast that officers from my agency were following an alleged carjacked vehicle. i knew the current shift had four patrol officers and a patrol supervisor on the street that night. i thought i would head out to assist the officers in the event

it became a pursuit or foot pursuit or any assistance was needed. while en route to the area, i heard another broadcast that the officers were now taking gunfire from the occupants of the alleged carjacked vehicle and were requesting assistance. when i arrived on the scene, i heard gunfire aimed at my vehicle and in moments i heard an explosion. i advanced to the area where the other officers were taking cover and returning gunfire. the suspects were eventually taken into custody. i'm not really at liberty to go into minute detail of the incident. one of the suspects is still awaiting trial. but i will endeavor to answer any questions you may have. i would like to make note that in today's ever-changing environment of violence, local municipal governments are not financially equipped to take on the increasing burden of such hostile actions. in closing, i would like to say all of the officers in the watertown police department, those officers who were there

that night, their ordinary guys put in an extraordinary situation and performed extraordinarily well. once again, thank you for inviting me to speak at this hearing. >> thank you, sergeant. thanks for your acts of heroism, taking down the biggest terror ists since 9/11. we now recognize professor leonard. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for inviting me to testify. my thanks to congressman keating for his tireless work that has brought the boston marathon issues to our attention. i'm honored to appear today with three genuine heroes of that week. commissioner ed davis, chief devoe, and sergeant pugliese, and the five watertown police officers who gave such a great account of themselves when they were the best police force in the world. each of them will tell you he is not a hero. but i feel very strongly today,

and i think we all know, we are in the company of heroes. i am dutch leonard, the professor and co-director of the program on crisis leadership at the kennedy school of government at harvard. for the last year, others and i have been doing research on the boston marathon bombing, supported in part by the international center for sport security. this was a team effort from the beginning, and all of my colleagues were huge contributors to this. one of my co-authors, christine, is with us today. the views i am presenting are my own, not those of harvard university or any other organization. our work was done in honor of those who lost their lives or suffered grievous injuries. we focused on the issues of command and coordination. others are examining issues, as the committee has, of pre-event intelligence. our report about why was boston strong was released last week.

the title refers to the local descriptions already referenced, boston strong, of the resilience shown by first responders and survivors and the community during that week. my first message to the committee is about the first responder part of boston strong. incident command works. the national incident management system that this committee mandated in the homeland security act of 2002, section 502, part five, is starting to work. before nims, first responders worked without effective multi-agency doctrines of how to combine and incident management. too many times we watched while vitally needed resources were not effectively deployed. boston strong is a good illustration of what can be achieved. we believe the response in boston over that course of that week is as good as one could have reasonably hoped.

so why were people and organizations able to be so effective? we found three answers. first, because senior and ed devoe, were able to come together and form a joint command structure. that was not a result of chance. it was joint planning and exercises involving numerous agencies over many years in the planning for and production of fixed events. some of it funded through grants from the homeland security department. third, other communities can do this, too. any community can engage in joint planning and execution for any major fixed event. paying your dues on good days builds the infrastructures of interagency familiarity, respect, and trust, and has an immediate payoff. if a bad day ever comes, as it did in boston, that structure is literally a lifesaver.

our research suggests several areas where further work needs to be done, but if we had to choose just one thing to improve, it would be to add at the tactical level micro-command, the ability for people to quickly come together in an organized way. that would be in parallel to the national incident command system of macro command that allows the senior people to come together at the strategic level. my second message to the committee is about the community part of resistance to terrorism. it is again on display this year as my daughter and the chief and thousands of others trained to run in this year's marathon. boston strong encompasses what everyone did and does to stand tall and proud in the face of two murderous thugs with terrorist intent. boston strong is not a form of hubris or arrogance or naïveté. it is a form of pride and defiance and resilience.

terrorists, in the end, are few and weak. he could never defeat us. but we could voluntarily surrender to them. and we must not. if we cower in fear, if we abandon our commitment to a free and open society, we do their work for them. we cannot defend the american way of life as these five officers did that night by surrendering it. preserve, protect, uphold, and defend. boston strong affirms the oath of office. boston strong says we will defend the american way of life by continuing to participate in it. the community part of boston strong is a good place to start in thinking about what resilience actually looks like. thank you, and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, professor. let me just say we all felt on that day that we were all citizens of boston. the way boston and the people

responded with resilience, with and strength was truly inspiring i think to the nation. i am wearing my boston strong pin to show my support and well. stop the chair now -- as well. the chair now recognizes himself for five minutes. commissioner davis, welcome back. it has been almost a year since we have come up on the anniversary. they say that a man's true character is tested in a time of crisis, and your character really shine. you're a true leader. you were a calming influence for the nation, comforting influence for the nation, in a very dangerous time of crisis. i cannot think of a better man at a better time than you, sir. >> that's very kind of you. i had a great team, mr. chairman. >> we have so much respect for your service and dedication, and you will be remembered for a

very long time. you and i have talked quite a bit since that tragic day. your response efforts were heroic and brought an end to these terrorists who were on their way to times square. can you tell me -- i don't want this to be a "gotcha" exercise, but i was think of something like this happens, we can always analyze and determine what we can do better to make sure this never happens again. can you tell me personally from your background and experience from this event and your law-enforcement background, what are the real lessons learned from the boston bombing? >> mr. chairman, i would like to commend you for the work you have done, congressman keating, and all the members of the committee that have reviewed this. i have taken a good long look at

the report that came out, and i think that the recommendations that are broken down into four categories in the report are really the best steps to take to deal with any shortcomings that were identified. there is nothing in there that cannot be accomplished simply. those recommendations will cause a more comprehensive and effective system to protect our nation to be put in place, and i think that those should be followed. >> i appreciate that. i think that -- as i said in my opening statement, i'm pleased to see the fbi has begun to implement these recommendations, along with the department of homeland security. that oversight is at its best. thank you again for your service, sir. chief, you and i talked about the tragic event that day, but also the acts of heroism on

the part of you and your officers. in taking down one of the biggest terror threat since 9/11. what i was interested, maybe surprised to find out is once he was taken down, you are not even quite sure who this person was. and that after the fact learned that he was indeed the boston bomber. can you tell me -- we talked about this, hindsight is always 20/20, but would it make sense to include local police department when something like this happens, when a terrorist attack occurs, after the event occurs to bring in the local police departments in the area for briefings and for participation with the joint terrorism task force? >> thank you, mr. chairman. yes, i do think so. i believe, watertown, 65-man department, all the big cities

have that, but watertown represents most police departments across the country with limited resources. it does not make sense for us to have somebody at the jttf on a full-time basis. but when something like this happens, we need to have access to that and be brought into it, updated, and play a role. i think some of the recommendations you are making in your report touch on that. we need to have a seat right away. there were obstacles we had to do before we could. i think there can be improvement, and your committee is helping make that happen. >> i appreciate your insight on that. i think that is a potential future recommendation, that local police departments be brought into these crisis situations so you can possibly identify a suspect before rather than after the fact. i just want to commend you and the sergeant and all of the officers, the four behind you, for one of the biggest acts of heroism.

you are correct, for 8 1/2 minutes, you are the best police department in the world, and i would say you are still a great police department. >> thank you. >> my time is expired. the chair now recognize the ranking member, ms. sanchez. >> thank you, mr. chairman. following the september 11 attacks, the department of homeland security developed a national incident management system to improve the ability of first responders to coordinate multi-jurisdictional response efforts. how have federal grants enabled response organizations to implement nims, and would reductions to or changes to the structure of our federal homeland security grant program, such as what the administration is suggesting is that we clump everything together -- do you feel that approach is correct?

would it harm you if we did it that way? etc., etc. >> i can tell you from experience that the programs as they are set up have been very effective. our ability to coordinate with other agencies, our ability to train on the nims system and game it out on table tops and in real-life situations, when we were dealing with the sports victories and things like that in boston, that money all comes from our homeland security grants and funding. the other thing that we have is the equipment that is necessary to respond to something like this. before the program, our equipment was antiquated and not up to the task. when we were called to service that day, we had exactly what we needed to go in and clear the neighborhoods and do the work that had to be done in watertown to catch these guys.

so i think the program as it exists works very well. >> chief? >> i would agree with the commissioner's comments. in watertown, we don't get as much funding as boston would, nor should we. but watertown partners with 50 communities surrounding boston. >> in my area i have two uasi recipients, but they work through the local police departments to make sure that everybody is buying things that everybody can use . if we have a swat situation, you have the right things. that the way you are seeing it? >> exactly right, it makes no sense for what are town to buy swat equipment or vehicles, but we can partner with the towns and cities to team up.

it does not make sense for me to have a swat team, but it makes all the sense of the world for us to have a 40-man swat team for all of those communities to have a rapid response team, and to have the vehicle and attack equipment to respond. watertown was able to participate with our law enforcement, along with boston and state police and national guard, and be able to protect our own community, so those grants went a long way. the training that goes on, you can never prepare for what happened in watertown, but trading makes for police officers, professionals, training, training, training. we need to do that to be up to perform when we are challenged like we were in watertown. >> i think my police departments are very concerned about all of this being lumped into one line item. whenever we consolidate programs into one line item, we generally

also reduce at the same time the amounts of money available. so it makes it difficult. thank you, gentlemen. i also have a concern about the harvard white paper on the boston marathon bombing, identifying communication to the public as an incredibly important issue, particularly in light of this 24-hour cycle, everybody trying to put something up, all the rumors that go, all the things that fly, and then get repeated and repeated and america gets scared or is incensed or whatever goes on. social media. you know, things we have become to face every day. but for jurisdiction that has a real crisis on its hands, it can be difficult. can you tell me -- what have you done? what did you learn from that experience? have you set up different protocols about how you share information, what you say to the community and the public?

what are the lessons we can learn from that? >> we had a significant presence on social media prior to the event. you cannot have an event and then start a twitter or facebook account. you have to understand how that works. in the years before the april 15 bombing, we used twitter and facebook to get information out. we don't even do press releases anymore. we just posted on social media and the press monitors it. what's good about that is not only do we speak one way, not only can we send information out to the public and the media, but a dialogue exists on social media. we are able to understand how people are reacting to what we are saying and whether we are getting the real message across. it's a very effective means of

getting information out to people quickly, effectively, in a crisis. there were no cell phone usage. the cell phones shut down at the marathon because of overuse. >> we saw that on 9/11 also. >> we were able to revert to social media and get messages out to people who were trying to find loved ones after the event. we were telling them where to go, what to do. it's an effective means of communicating with people and speaking back and forth, the dialogue is very critical. >> i also want to hear from the chief, if you will indulge me. then i have another follow-up question. >> i think the boston police department did an incredible job about getting the news out and getting reliable information. there was so much misinformation when the media came in and they relied on the boston police department to get it straight.

we had to notify residents at 2:00 a.m. to shelter in place and we had a communication system where we could encourage people to shelter in place, notify their neighbors, and that worked as well. boston really assisted us as the manhunt went on to make sure residents in greater boston were getting the right information through social media. >> do you think that other agencies, other police departments are as advanced as you are, commissioner? not even using traditional media but putting your press releases out? >> there are very few departments who do that, but it's the coming more of a realization among the major city chiefs that this is something to invest time in. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> i want to associate my remarks with respect to the response training.

boston's first responders had emergency response training exercise that was funded with homeland security grant dollars and i know that made a big difference in the saving lives that fateful day. >> there's no question. >> the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. king. >> at the outside, thank you for the outstanding work you've done on this report, the time and effort you've put into it that represents the very best of what a committee should be doing, especially when we have such a topic like this that can inflame emotions and there can be distortions. the fact that the two of you work so well together is a tribute to both of you. i'm proud to be on the committee with you. commissioner davis, police chief deveau, i thank you from the assistance you've given over the years.

when we are talking about what we've done -- i'm not just here to give tribute to you. i have great admiration of you. the confidence you project was absolutely essential. in addition, within moments of the bombing happening, how you were able to put everything in the place, securing the site, ambulances, everything that had to be done was done. you had no idea that this was going to happen and they are involved in a gunfight for their lives. how much effort is put into training every year? you have to have as many contingencies as possible and i guess hope for the best. it happens it can be put into good use. how much training goes on in the course of a year? how much do you put in to try to provide for contingencies?

>> we try to train as much as we can all the time. some of the best training we got in the regional training is working with boston. championship parades or celebrations, even going back to the democratic national convention in a number of years back, we always work with them. we train all the time. our units train with boston and the state police trying to do that. if a sports team practices and practices to get it right on game day, that's what we need to do. we need to train, train, train. dollars are limited. we try to put it the right ways, the money that we do get federally, and with ed davis leadership we've done a great job in the greater boston area working together to have that

work under the unified command of everyone doing at that particular day. that was based on all the training we had done with the cities and towns around boston, with boston. >> there was a specific training that occurred the year before when we put a mumbai-style attack together and we used u.s. money to fund a couple days of training. we took over different venues in the city and played out what would happen if there were multiple attacks on the city. that was the first time we had engaged the medical people into the training. that was called operation urban shield, and it was very effective because a got the medical people lined up with us, and when we went to the hospitals and had to take over

some of the emergency room is because there were potential suspect there, because we had done training with them beforehand it went much more smoothly. that same year we had done homeland security training that came in through dhs. two huge trainings in addition to a continual process of training for our swat teams that happens routinely. >> we've already gone over the issue of information not being shared before the event and that has been discussed and is being addressed. coming from new york, i was struck by the fact that when dzokhar was being interrogated, no one talked about it but they did not know that they were the only two involved. could have been others on the way to new york yet new york was not told about it in commissioner kelly learned about it two or three days later. he asked why i did not tell him but i did not know anything about it other than the fbi said

something. going toward the future, what is the protocol if you find a possible additional attack being planned? should that department be notified? it could have been anyone along the atlantic coast. >> i really think that may be holding this information too closely in the interests of prosecution or having justice be the only thing that we think about, because in addition to justice, there is the issue of public safety. our system is so focused on a close hold and maintaining on -- all the evidence for the prosecution that it is certainly the right thing to do, but i

think that singular focus must be tempered with the overall safety and security of the community. >> there could have been another attack being planned in new york, philadelphia, trenton. >> i understand the commissioner's concern. >> like others on the committee, i went to watertown to find out exactly what happened and not only did i have a minute-by- minute reefing but he stood in the pouring rain for an hour which was above and beyond the call of duty. maybe you can get line of duty disability for that. thank you for coming. thank all of you for coming. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. >> i would like to ask consent to clarify for the record congressman sanchez's statement that it was dzhokhar tsarnaev in

federal custody. i wondered the motivations of the attack, how it came to be, how it could be prevented in the future. because of that, it took me to russia twice to try and get information to see if there was a link between the north caucasus region, chechnya, if there was any connection for the motivations of this. in the course of doing that, i learned that authorities here in the u.s., the fbi and later the cia were given detailed information about tamerlan. i did encounter some frustration with our own federal agencies in that regard. there is a real concern about information sharing across the board, but there is an obvious multiplier benefit in sharing information and the testimony

before the committee, we were told there is roughly 800,000 local police that could be utilized in this effort and there's about 14,000 fbi agents. one of the sensitivities behind the lack of information sharing is a concern that as you spread information among sources that there could be leaks. there is that in addition. to me, in your job right now, people's lives are in danger and you already hold very sensitive information that if it were released in your own community, people to be in danger. could you comment on how you maintain that confidentiality every day and how i think there's a greater risk in not sharing that information with local police authority? >> since 9/11, police chiefs

around the nation have received secret and top-secret clearances so that they can be involved in the conversation around these issues. the intent of that was to make sure that there was wider distribution, a wider spreading of the type of information that would be helpful to add in watertown and to myself when i was in boston. i think that the intent is really good and people have recognized that it should be the way that it works but when you are dealing with such large organizations over time, sustaining change is difficult. that elastic band tends to pop back to where it was. besides having good intentions and having good policies, there has to be a constant testing of systems to make sure that they are in fact working, and that is where we need some work. >> i would agree.

depending on what the intelligences, and needs to get down to our level. it's value-added. could be more information they are not aware of that the officers behind me are aware of it we could share information and we have to continue to build that trust and move this forward as an example to get better. >> during the whole course of this, the committee is trying to really have a continual mother what happened before with the initial information, what happened during the attack, afterwards. and i think this committee has done very well to fill in all of those areas. there is an area that i still have questions about. i want to learn about this and particularly the mission or davis could be helpful in this regard. i just wanted to see procedurally what was going on and i think we could do that without jeopardizing anything, frankly, at all.

there was a "60 minutes" segment broadcast about the marathon bombing and the f ei response. i learned for the first time in that segment that the images that ended up being the images of the suspects, those images were available on wednesday. furthermore, i recall on wednesday there was a press conference that was announced for national audience, i believe that the boston police station or wherever it was being held. and at the last minute it was canceled. could you shed light on what the nature of the press conference was? do you recall? are there some procedures that took place or some steps to fill in the blank?

there was a desire among everyone at the table to be out front on this as often as possible, but that particular juncture, it was a decision made somewhere above me that there would not be a press conference but that was between the f ei and the justice department people. >> you don't know the reason behind that? or what happened in 24 hours before there was another press conference? thank you for being that candid. to me, that goes to show one more time that maybe there should be more information sharing at all times during this because i would have thought whatever was going on during that time, frankly the boston police should have known what was going on.

i will just yield back my time to the chair and i appreciate that. like the chair recognizes mr. king for the purpose of entering a question into the record. >> if you could submit the answer this question in writing, it's important on this. you mentioned the idea of micro-command as an issue that needs to be better addressed. what exactly did you mean by that and why is it important? if you could submit an answer to that i would be very thankful. >> the chair recognizes g gentleman from pennsylvania. >> i think each and every one of the distinguished guests for your being here today. in addition to the way you have responded in the past with all of your officers, you are talking about the chief. you're going to run in this next marathon and the idea that it's

not just how we responded in the past but the result to demonstrate to those who want to create terror and our communities that it will not happen. the idea is that the nurses, the officers, and others will run 26 miles in a marathon is quite a commitment. i want to touch on this thing that peter mentioned. i appreciate the professor's focus on this. the concept of incident command was really a significant achievement. as a former prosecutor i appreciate that while you are responding, chief davis, you were doing two things. or stand foremost, you were responding to make sure those injured were safely evacuated and it was remarkable that within half an hour, these people whose lives could have been lost were in trauma centers taken care of that you are securing an incredible crime scene.

that is the very substance of the information that becomes subsequently the evidence, chain of custody, and other things. necessary for the prosecution to try and protect it. i appreciate the concept of chain of command that there really are a key questions and peter asked one of them. i would be interested in having the two chiefs and professor, if you have a moment. when you were making decisions, and in that chain of command, there were a couple of different kinds of things. there was a distinction between policy decisions and procedural decisions. that is where you get the command structure. those of you who know the receipt jurors about how to secure a crime scene, how to keep a community safe, how to respond and put your officers in but there are also questions. you made a determination to release the photographs of the two individuals.

you made a determination to shut the city down to secure watertown. a remarkably courageous, political decision. if you could discuss higher distinguished between the two and how you work with sometimes political officials that may not have the same sort of background and then you were talking about that you focused on this micro-and that was the officers who were responding to the scene. the unit in watertown knows each other but in the small communities, it could be me next town over -- reading, everett, somebody. the officers are coming in and they don't work with these guys. how do you create a structure when they are walking in and the structure of being able to create a response? these are all good lessons learned so if you could talk about policy, police chiefs, and professor, if you want to take a moment talk about the issue like roe, it would be helpful for all issues like micro.

>> these are very astute and i appreciate you asking these questions. the procedural piece was fairly much laid out through our practicing and with dealing with multiple homicides that occurred day in and day out. we are frequently called to the scene where people have been badly injured, multiple people shot. our first responsibility is to save lives and get them out as quickly as possible and get them the medical attention that they need. very quickly after that, it happens very fluidly. the crime scene gets locked down. this particular crime scene was complex because there was the distinct possibility that there was a third device. we were not only locking the crime scene down to preserve evidence that preserve the lives of the first responders.

everybody left the scene, left the field. they left until the bomb squad could go in and do their work but it becomes very methodical at that time. in the 18 minutes it took to clear the victims, very clearly after that, a process was put in place of clearing and evidence collection. one of the first things that we did was tell our technical people was to start to collect videotaped. it played an important role down the road. as for the policy decisions, leaving the hospital and coming to the command post, he was joined there by governor patrick. our job as police officials, myself, the kernel from the state police, the fbi, was to give the political officials enough information so that they could get information out to the public to calm fears but also make decisions around big

political issues, like the closing down of the transit system. our role was to be advisers. we advised. we told our elected officials exactly what we had and not the time the decision was made to shut down transit, there were a series of events that were playing out that gave people the idea that they could very well be a broader conspiracy with other people involved. there were courageous decisions made based on the best information that we had and we provided it to the elected officials and they did their job. >> my time is up but maybe you could jump into that. you have an appreciation for both aspects of the policy decision as well as the micro

piece. >> you are focusing on the most important question here. do not take incident management for granted. it's not an accident. it's incredibly important. what's important about it is it facilitates to mandy and coordination across many agencies. the capabilities we need for these big, horrible issues are in many agencies and they should be. the issue is how to bring them together effectively in the moment and it's harder than it looks. it is not self-executing and it is not a natural act for those agencies to do it. it has to be practiced in advanced, worked on and developed. there is the political interface with the strategic operational. the governor and the mariner acting with commissioner davis, the chief, and other operational officials to figure out if we will shut down the city, release the photographs, which is a more tactical type of issue but that political issue is enormously important and they are silent on

this question of how it should work so that needs more work and that's the macro level of command and coordination. the micro level is when the sergeant brought to the scene because he is naturally part of a system in which there is command, in which the officers know each other and that is in contrast to the dozens of other officers that showed up from many different departments at the same moment or thereafter the gun fight was over and they did not have a natural command structure and we need to work on that. that's what i mean by micro command. we need to remember that this is the most important asset. it's not a natural thing to have happen and it requires work in practice ahead of time. for me, the most important lesson of this whole experience is that any community can do this but not every community has and we need to keep that that.

incident management on display shows what can be done the we should not assume that it is now universal. we need to keep working on that. thank you for asking the question. >> it's frustrating as a philadelphia fan do have to realize you get the practice because you have all of those victory parades, patriots and someone else. >> win the series. [laughter] >> the chair now recognizes mr. payne. >> commissioner davis, chief, the administration is proposing to consolidate homeland security programs and the state homeland security grant program into one pool. based on the testimony heard here and some of the comments in ranking member thompson's

statements, quite a few of us are concerned about that prospect. under the proposal, grantees would no longer be required to dedicate 25% of the grant awards to law enforcement and terrorism prevention. do you have concerns about proposed consolidation in reference to those? >> i think the program as it set up is working very well. i'm not briefed on the exact idea on the change but if it results in a reduction in overall money, i think it's problematic. >> as congresswoman sanchez stated, sometimes in the consolidation, the amount of the dollars are drowned down as well, consolidated. that is a great concern to quite a few of us on this committee in

through congress because we know how those grant programs have been exceptional especially in an area such as mine. i'm from northern new jersey and i have the port authority, rail, airport. the grant has been phenomenal for us in that area. let's see. chief, would you like to mention or make a statement in reference to that? they're no longer to required to have 25% of the grant to terrorism prevention activities and that is our concern that

money could be deviated for reasons other than those. >> i agree with the commissioner. the current system is working and i think your boss is an example of it working very well and i think it should stay in place. >> basically, i will yield back in the interest of time. >> we certainly appreciate it. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from california. >> thank you to our witnesses for being here today. i stand with boston and command you for your work. commissioner, you and i spoke before the hearing and pointed out that it was urban shield training that they had gone through. it was also an exercise that you held yourself. i wanted to bring to the witness and the committee's attention that one year later, we still, i believe, face terrorists whether abroad or here, individuals

influence by publications they received or on the web. i was disturbed to read and learn in the most recent addition of the al qaeda arabian peninsula publication that there is a picture of a young person sitting in a tram used at san francisco international airport in the english translation with this person sitting there, "for how long will you live in tension? stand up. tools of destruction. some will your bomb.

assemble your bomb. ready for detonation." several passengers a day use that tram to connect to bart. >> congressman, it's good to see you again. in the month after the april 15 bombing, inspire magazine had a whole issue dedicated to the tsarnaev brothers. this kind of extremist propaganda on the internet if it is not countered with something does tend to create problems for us. we are talking about this at the kennedy school right now in getting proper information out on the web to really fly in the

face of what these extremists are putting out there as the truth. when you see that kind of a picture in there, when you read about the attacks on the infrastructure, around the transformers that were out there, it's hard to figure out what is real and what is not a threat. we need to do what we can as a nation to stop it from happening. >> commissioner, knowing that, at least in this most recent publication, the san francisco area depicted.

what do you think they should do about what is provided? police department has that responsibility and i'm sure they are looking very closely at this threat. you just need to be vigilant. that's clearly what needs to happen. i'm sure there are a series of inquiries on what can be done to tighten up the system. that would just make more sense. >> just to follow-up on mr. payne's questioning, is your position that you would prefer a grant system through homeland security that is not consolidated? urban shield and other exercises

are funded through a specific grant and it could be threatened should consolidation take place. >> it works because it goes right to the city and gets watered down when it goes right to the state. >> the chair recognizes ms. clark from new york. >> i thank the witnesses for bringing their experience to bear in light of the response of the boston bombings. i was on the security council during the 9/11 event and had jurisdiction in the council over the rebuilding of the fdny.

my question goes to how well we have institutionalized nims. my first question goes to professor leonard. in your report, you mentioned the response agencies should develop procedures and practices to better control self deployment. that is something that we new yorkers are keenly aware of in the 9/11 event. can you provide some best practices for the types of procedures? how do you think self deployment tactics could be warranted to prevent immediate threats of death and destruction? how do we strike that balance? what can we change in the protocol to address that? >> a goes exactly to the issue we were trying to raise in that report.

self deployment did happen and there was a lot of dispatched -- officers from other areas were told that they should go. the watertown police department is very organized in its response. self deployment is inevitable in some of the circumstances and also it's not necessarily a bad thing. in the presence of self deployment, when you have people from different agencies all arriving in sequence, they'll get there at the same moment. what should they do? we don't have good doctrine about that. the senior officials who arrived did that. the chisam commissioner davis and several others and immediately formed a command

structure at watertown mall. it's at the tactical level where we don't have training. we cannot expect them to know each other but they can develop protocols for how they could combine so that we get something a little more organized. the referenced standard is not that they should be like a college drill team and a half time show. maybe we could provide some doctrine so that they could, through training, establish a somewhat more organized response. in watertown, senior police officials on some of those incident scenes were able to get things organized but it took a little longer than some might like. >> chief, from your experience, what would you take from your experience as to how we can best manage the inclination of law enforcement and first responders?

people are just going to come knowing what it means for their jurisdiction, their people, their town, their families. what should we do to move closer to managing a circumstance like that? >> nims has worked. the unified command we had in watertown worked quite well. ed davis and i have known each other for about the teen years. there was complete trust between us. as other police commissioners showed up, the kernel from the state police and everyone like

that, there is a bit of a disconnect when other departments show up from various cities and towns. i think we should go back and look at it. when there is somebody from leadership, if they are the highest-ranking person in that area, they have to have the knowledge and the ability to take control. we do not do it that well now. we need to do a better job of self deployment. we needed those officers that we needed them to work quicker together and better together. did you want to add anything? >> at is correct that at the micro level the observations are right. more work needs to be done there. we change that doctrine after columbine.

the protocol was to secure the area and wait for swat team to arrive. columbine told us we don't have that luxury anymore. an untrained to put together a contact team to go out and address the threat. but we have not done is come to the realization that the contact team may comprise many. how would a structured and who is in charge is part of the nuts and bolts of this. >> thank you. i yield back. >> i thank the chairman for the committee hearing in the report. excellent work the committee did on that.

i appreciate you bringing up a moment of silence for the fort hood shooting and south carolina stands with texas just as we stood with boston last year. the red sox are my team. i am a braves fan. from time to time, i do like the sox. after reading the report, mr. chairman, the term stove piping kept coming back to me. it is glaring today. the report points out that the information was there. if the dots were connected, i remember the testimony from commissioner davis last year. jttf, if your officers were informed and had the ability to do more research, maybe this tragedy would have been prevented.

we hear a lot on the committee about lessons learned. i'm tired of just learning the lessons. we have to start complying those lessons. if we do away with the stove piping, as a government, agencies like the fbi, components of dhs, admit that they are not a thief demand they cannot control that information and they cannot be everywhere, nor do we month them to be everywhere. if they will rely on the boston police, the watertown police, the elements in my state whether it is the county sheriff or state law enforcement division, if that information can be more readily shared, i believe we could avert more tragedies. i don't want to sit here one or two years from now and have this same conversation. we had all the information. we failed to connect the dots and we fail to let those close

to the situation know about the threats. government is large and cumbersome. where the flexibility and true ability lies is on the ground with those who can ask the questions in the supermarkets, churches, committee clubs, neighborhoods. i will get off that rant. there has unquestioningly been significant process in the 13 years since 9/11 with the barriers, walls, stove piping prohibiting information sharing. commissioner davis, i know you are not in your role as you are this time last year, but from your perspective, could you share?

>> the director has done nature meant this job. he has said and done all the right things. it appears as though we're moving in the right direction. the recommendations that this committee has come up with are exactly the way we should be going to make this a more comprehensive system. if they are not put into code, they are simply that, a recommendation. if congress in its wisdom sees this as a good thing it should be codified. the system has to operate that way. like the rubber band snapping back that we talked about earlier, it makes it impossible to do that. the other thing i want to mention is this is a story of numbers.

there are fbi agents working on terrorism and 6000 local police officers have a we are a force multiplier. this has to be a recognition that if we're going to have -- i've had the ability to work in the uk and other agencies and other countries where there is a system from top to bottom. that should be our model so everyone is working together and recognizes this is not my ball. it is everyone's responsibility. >> wasn't that the original purpose of the jttf? >> yes. i think the fbi came 90 yards down the field by establishing the jttf. there was some bureaucracy that prevented it from going over the goal line. those recommendations push it

over the goal line. >> i sit in the stands and watch games. when i see the coach run the ball up the middle over and over and they are only getting a yard, yard and a half. the fans around me are hollering at the coach. why are you running the ball up the middle? sitting here in the stands and looking at the jttf concept than the failures pointed out in this report, i hope the coach reads this. i hope we don't continue running the ball up the middle and getting down to the goal line and not able to get across. 100% gets us across. i hope they listen to you.

i hope they listened to everyone involved. i hope they read the report. mr. chairman, you are doing a great job in pointing this out, laying out the roadmap. we have a responsibility and i think we are doing a good job telling the respected agencies where we need to go, laying out the direction but not just laying them out but helping them proceed down the road. thank you for that. god bless you. god bless massachusetts and may god continue to bless america because america was with boston that day. with that, i yield back. >> let me just close by saying having worked with the joint chairs of the task force, they do good work. it works 99% of the time. we have to be at 100%. in this particular case, some things fell through the cracks, but it's our job not to make people feel bad about that but see how we can do better in the

future. these one and two mann operations are very difficult to detect and disrupt. that is the new evolution of terrorism, of al qaeda, of radical extremists. as commissioner ed davis said, i want to commend the new fbi director comey for bringing a model of cooperation. i have talked about the state and local cooperation. they are a great or small the flyer to an agency that is very resource strapped. the locals know the streets. they are the eyes and ears on the ground. i think it's indicative that one of the first things the director did was to bring police chiefs to the table to renter into a memorandum of understanding.

they did not know what was happening on the jttf's and that needs to change. the emphasis of that, i know his chief of staff is a big state and local fan. this will ultimately make america safer. i think your recommendation to codify them into law is an excellent idea. reports are coming out all the time but if it is codified and has the full force and effect of law it is even stronger. i commend you for that recommendation as well. i also want to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle for all the work that they put into this report particularly my staff that has worked day in and out for a year with all of the relevant agencies doing a good

job. i want to thank bill keating, my good friend. working together with you in developing this report, traveling to moscow, you and i have been joined at the hip and i think it's very significant. our heart does go out to the boston community. as we approach the anniversary of this bombing, this tragedy, i think it will be a time to remember, a time to heal, and also a time of pride because boston is strong. >> if i could? i just want to thank the staff. you've been to boston and you

have traveled every footstep on the way and i want to thank you for your personal involvement. this is a very and poured into our area, very important going forward. i want to thank our brave law enforcement officers that are here for the work you have done once again. i will say moving forward, we have been working on legislation that we will share with everyone. some of the positions change so you could have someone more open and they could be shared by someone. going forward it's important to get the laws changed so we do not have a report that just sits on the shelf is we cannot afford to have this kind of tragedy. all of our work will be important. i turn back and thank the chair.

>> let me close by thanking the officers. you are true heroes to me and this committee. thank you for my watertown police patch. i will wear this very proudly. with that, this hearing is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> three people were killed and more than 260 wounded when two bops went off at the finish line of the boston marathon. day, the day when federal taxes are due will we will continue the facebook hole through the day. is your tax bill to hide -- too high or too low or about right? you can join the conversation at

c-span.k.com/fac throughout this week, we are featuring key supreme court ruling so far this term. court struck the down in overall limits on money in individuals can contribute to federal elections. the court ruled the restrictions

are unconstitutional. that is tonight at 8:00 on c-span. >> edison was a plant scientist as well as interested in the other sciences. he knew that it did not freeze in fort myers so a lot of the interest he had in this area were based on his love of plants. the united states was relying on foreign rubber and we were heading into war. they decided the plant material and the process should be done in this country. they were traveling all over the world collecting lance and had -- collecting plants and have people collecting plants and sending them back here to fort find to his laboratory to the source of plant material that could produce rubber efficiently and commercially.

the laboratory was put here because of that reason, because they could grow the plants on-site and do the preliminary research on site. the laboratory was interesting. at that point in american history, there was no patent process for plants, chemicals. heart of the reason why this lab was so important was that it cost the u.s. government to come ,orward with the patent law which said if you invented something with plants and it was a process that was worthy of patenting, it was issued. weekend, book tv and american history tv take a look at the history and literary life of fort myers, florida. eastern on noon

c-span 2 and sunday at 2:00 on c-span 3. the chicago council on global affairs hosted a discussion with the founder and director of riverside school in india. she outlined innovative strategies for improving education in india, including the design for change program launched in 2009. it has spread to over 35 countries. this is about an hour. [applause] >> maybe we could call my husband and children. they have more interesting lives . thank you so much. it has been amazing. it has been cold, but i have had the warmest reception. hostsst charming

has warmed my heart. back with memories and friendships and so much goodwill. a fellow.onor to be i would like to share with you my story for the next 20 minutes and i am hoping you will think i am worthy. the story of riverside approach design for change was not about social activist wanting to change the world. everything changed when i became a mother. let me introduce you to my son. he is now 23. a was six years of age when

teacher removed choice from his vocabulary. he had chosen to write his version of the essay the cow. it got me thinking about choice. every day, from choosing tea over coffee or putting a man on the moon, or choices define who we become. it is this word that we remove from our children's vocabulary. them they have no choice but to listen to what we have to tell them. and then we wonder why our children do not become empathetic responsible, creative citizens. that day i removed my son from school. what was i supposed to do now? the easiest solution would be to

change his school. i had a problem with the system. this asked me to respond rather than react. what is rather than saying what is wrong? otherwise, we will end up solving the wrong problems. the heart of the design process is the fact that you are not helpless, change is possible, and you can drive it. otherwise, we always end up landing somebody for something -- blaming somebody for what we cannot do. hopefully, my child will turn out ok. my response -- designing an education model that would .mpower children

in 2001, riverside was born. the last 13 years, the curriculum has been designed using a simple four step process. how empathy, ethics, engagements, and elevation are embedded of each of these steps. we designed all of the equipment and the tools and the curriculum to get our children to start valuing doing good and doing well. them excited about problem solving, design thinking, scientific inquiry, as well as recognizing that their worldview had to change by including ethics, excellence, and engagement. i want to show you how amazing my kids are. i will show you my children.

the first story is a story of what happens when you blur the boundaries between school and life. here are my 10th-graders, designing a new ice cream flavor for a leading blue-chip company. lessons in social entrepreneurship. ♪ >> i was the project manager. design a blue-chip ice cream brand and we were given a time of one week to present a presentation. the ice creamof as well as the price of the ice cream. we did not know if we could achieve so much in such less time.

>> excellent presentation, well-balanced. [applause]

>> promotion, marketing. >> eventually selected as a permanent product. we can use for any social cause of our choice. ♪ click the second story is a snapshot of doing good and how that drives the school. -- a story of 25 grade three students.

they realized their bodies needed hearing aids and they were not helpless. they could raise the money to get the hearing aids. this is their story. ♪ >> what was the video about? >> he was inspiring because he was playing football.

>> ♪ >> i am feeling very uncomfortable. >> we want to help them get hearing aids. ♪

♪ >> helpless by some hearing aides -- help us by some hearing aides.

♪ >> this approach demonstrating when children do good, they do well. about math, science, and english? children are outperforming the top 10 schools in india in math, science, and english. the final video i will show you is the graduating project that our children do. it is the time when they will graduate into a world and they need to be able to cleanse their inner self in this process. experienceular happens literally a month before

their final exit examination. that is when every parent goes crazy in india. when a child is in grade 12, the child does not see the light of day. you have to have perspective. and forour children three days, they spend the time meditating, reflecting, eating silence.e, -- being in the head, hands, and heart. jumpt's completely bungee

into this experience. >> this is going to be a very internal experience. ♪ nowhe one thing i have for

-- patience. if i go there again, i will be a lot more patient. i was looking for an experienced to get out of that place. but to look at it from their point of view -- that is what their life is. ♪ >> silence and reflection.

even all the meals were taken in silence to slow down and to understand that slowing down is important. >> reflect, ok? respect and patience. >> take the memory back with them to remind them of always having perspective. never again telling themselves, oh, my god, i am so tired. it is all about perspective. >> suddenly you are hit by

reality. that is what this is about. it is not about your hands, it is about your heart. >> a pretty important milestone in life. our children will become citizens of this country and this world. >> every child we graduate with a certificate. those are the certificates -- that is what we have been seeing with the first graduating batch. take it beyond the school. my school has 370 children.

it has to touch children's lives that do not come to riverside. in an ideal world, it every society has to take care of its children, right? societies will have 250 tv channels instead of safer community spaces. what if the city could design for not just childhood? the children will nurture the city. this was a dialogue we did with municipalities, police, citizens. we have the best design college in the best business minds. the city has not benefited from these best minds.

how can we all come together to make the city child friendly? i will share with you three snapshots. our children are often told not to play in the parks. services like multiplexes that close down the doors for the child in the street. how do you open up the doors to our children? the busiest street for traffic and make it a playground for children. iran for the first time street.ake corner i said, no. i want main street.