that performance as a public performer. you initiate every set of signals that activate the setting in the program. >> if there are no furrer questions, we'll submit. >> mr. clement you have three minutes remaining ming >> first, i have to correct the fundamental difference. mr. fredrick said that if you only -- if you're that's just wrong. here is a minimum royalty that every cable company pays so that is just wrong. this is not a case as mr. frederick would like to say where the user pushes a button and after that point a hapless bystander.

>> they are not just a passive bystander. maybe in the reproduction context just pushes a button there is only one person that reproduces but what is the conduct is answered by the transmit clause. congress specifically looked at this and said there are going to be lots of situations where the accepteder sends a transition to the user and the sender of that transition if it allows a con terp rainous performance unlike the record company, they are a transmitter. >> tell me the consequences of our decision today. >> do you put them out of business or do they go and negotiate a license with every caller: right holder?

they are not a cable company, they are not a satellite company so they can't go into those systems of payment. what happens now? >> it gets back to chief justice's question which is if they provide something that is a benefit there is no reason people won't license them. but if all they have is a gimmick they probably will go out of business. >> they are going to have to find caller: right owners who owns something that was written by a silent film in 1915. the problem is that they might want to have perfectly good things people want to watch and they can't get permission. that is a problem that worries me and it worries me again once you kick them out of the other systems. >> it should not worry you. if they need a license maybe congress can revisit it in tech

knowledgeically specific ways for cable and satellite. there are other ways to get content. >> do you have other rebuttal points? >> i did. and one gets to the h.b.o. point. they want to say there is no public performance going on at all. to understand how crazy that is if they approach hbo and say we want to carry your content, they would say we don't need a public performance license all we need is a production license because we don't involve ourselves in any public performance at all. they provide thousands of paying strangers with public performances over the tv. it's like magic. >> the case is submitted. >> following the oral argument on tuesday attorneys representing abc and aereo spoke

riefly to reporters. i just want to say that obviously, we're very glad to be before the court today in the cases here on the petition that we filed trying to seek review of the second circuit decision because we got the second circuit decision was profoundly wrong and a real threat to the nature of the broadcast industry as we know it and we are very happy to be in court today. we are obviously very pleased with the way the court considered the arguments. i think they understood the technology. they understood the fact in this case very well. they will focus on the interpretation of the statute and we conveyed to them our relatively straightforward position which is that a service can not provide live tv over the internet to thousands of paying strangers without engaging in a

public performance. it's as implies that in the statue protect public performance rights that are at issue here and there technology and service violates the public performance right. inaudible] i don't think we perceive a weakness there. we presented this case ultimately is a question of statutory interpretation for the court. that is certainly the way i think the court will process this. they are obviously concerned about the consequences for the broadcast industry and for other technologies. i think they also understand that there is a fundamental difference between a service that provides content in a first and cents and something that provides essentially a storage service. some ways it's the analogy between a car dealer and a valet parking service. one provides cards to the public and the other simply provide

your car back to you. i think you can make potentially similar distinctions in this case. ultimately, of course, what we urge the court to do is to decide the case of aereo in the leaves of those for another day. inaudible] >> i don't think i would do anything differently which is not to say that any argument could not be improved upon. the principal point of oral argument at this stage of the case is really to answer the justices questions and the briefing does a lot of laying the groundwork for the case and we felt like the justices had very good questions and we were happy to try to point them in the right direction in terms of ur view of the case.

>> were there any questions that surprised you? >> one of the questions in this case, i suppose, does implicate how the copyright laws are going to apply in the digital age. we certainly think there's nothing about the digital age that makes the copyright law obsolete but some of the arguments being made on the 2other side of this case that suggest as long as the content is provided by the push of a button then the provider of the content is not doing anything, i think that could revolutionize the technology in the digital age. our view is that congress clearly addressed this issue back in 1976, the technology neutral terms. congress went further and said any device or process an hour later develops within congress has spoken on this very clearly.

[inaudible] copyright cases in my experience are interpreted as questions of statutory interpretation. some justices maybe start with more concerns with content providers and others. >> what's at stake? >> i think what's at stake is really the nature of broadcast television as we know it. if a company like aereo can somehow provide content to lots of paying strangers without it being a public performance, i think at least some of them will have to rethink the way they provide content. the traditional understanding has been, certainly since 1976, when someone like a cable company retransmits broadcast over the airwaves to the cable consumers, they are certainly engaged in a public performance.

if one changes particularly in a way that suggests that over the air broadcasts are uniquely vulnerable to this type of maneuvering, i do think companies will have to take that into account in determining where they provide content and what form they use. >> he said things went well. >> i've been to more than one argument where more than one erson who heard the argument had a different impression. they were asking the right questions and we certainly think we provided the court with a straight or would interpretation of the performance. think you. -- thank you.

>> my name is david frederick and i'm outside counsel for aereo. from our perspective, the issue in the case is whether consumers who have always had a right to an antenna and a dvr in their home to make copies of local over the air broadcast television, it should not be infringed simply by moving the antenna in the dvr to the cloud. the court's decision today will have significant consequences for cloud computing. we are cautiously optimistic, based on the way the hearing went today, that when a person watching over the air broadcast

television in his or her home is engaging in a private performance and not a public performance that it would implicate the copyright act. thank you very much. >> we've got a get out here. thank you so much. sorry. o questions. >> so some scientists found a gene that was switched on. someone may die from eating corn engineered ically . ntaining an aler general soy has a seven fold increase in

a known al general. this wasn't intended. this was the process of genetic engineering, the process that's used to create the soy and corn we eat. .> we are a health organization no problem with t.m.o.'s. e all of these part of a conspiracy that a person with no scientific training as just uncovered. these are not organizations with some scientific sounding name, these are real medical and protective organizations. in europe which is very anti-g.m.o., all over the world. here is the e.p.a. which we pay attention to when it comes to global warming or something like that they say would not pose

unreasonable risk to human hemmingt and the environment. >> this weekend on c-span, how fe is genetically modified food. and this weekend on book tv authors and panels or the realities of war, feminism, journalism, worl politics and finances saturday at noon and sunday on c-span 2. and on american history tv georgetown professor on title nine, discrimination against women in sports. saturday at 8:00 p.m. and mid night on c-span 3. >> white house press secretary jay carney spoke to students about media and public affairs. before his appointment mr. carney served for joe biden and >> jay carney spoke to

george washington university students about media and public affairs. mr. carney served as director documentation for vice president joe biden and he worked as washington bureau chief. we will show you his remarks tomorrow night. here is a quick preview. >> i remember we had some discussion during 2012 about if it is appropriate for the president to give interviews to john stuart and others -- jon stewart and other. s. the answer was yes because most people we are trying to reach would most likely watch the daily show. i think you can look back at 2012 and a series of interviews the president gave, probably the toughest interview the hat was jon stewart. robably the most provocative interview he had in the election year was with the anchor of the daily show. >> what does that tell you? >> i think you guys should examine it and write about it. that is a broader discussion about where the media is or the

traditional medias today. it is also reflection on the fact that somebody like jon stewart is actually very smart, sophisticated consumer and presenter of the news. he packages it in a way that draws eyeballs and young eyeballs which is what we were looking for. >> you can watch all of secretary carney's remarks saturday night at 8 p.m. eastern ere on c-span. last july, the city of detroit filed the largest chapter nine bankruptcy in u.s. history. ichigan governor rick snyder served kevyn orr. today, he gave a keynote address at the american bankruptcy institute is premiering -- spring meeting. this is half-an-hour.

[applause] >> one of the things he didn't mention was up until last year, he was part -- he was one of my clients. n addition to being a dear friend, i don't miss the fact that he makes those 12:00, midnight calls asking me what the deal is and why we don't have the definitive sheet. thank you for that rather engaging interruption. up it is nice to be on the side f your friendship. this represents some of a homecoming for me both a gritty -- both figuratively and literally. trish redman who was at my first term.

those famous words, don't f it p. we have been in the trenches of many battles. my friends every year. some of my investment bankers that are here on this matter. some of the judges i have appeared in front of and i assure you i am very thankful you did not hold me in contempt. i noticed some of the pictures they usually happy with my mouth open which is not my normal state of affairs. what is interesting about what al says is bankruptcy is unique in america. what i thought i would do is discuss three points with regard to detroit -- how we got there, what we're doing now, and what we see happening. i will do that by invoking a point of privilege that my wife reminds me of regularly, the

five b's a public speaking. "be brief, brother, be brief. [laughter] al is right, i got involved in this matter as a part of the pitch team to receive the epresentation. when we went in others were there and when we went in we had a very frank discussion, and one of the questions they asked is, do you need an emergency manager? i thought i went off on a tirade, this is a ridiculous uestion, and i guarantee you i will work with every schmuck you get to do that job. they called the next day. despite my initial answer, i am comfortably discussed in my petite bourgeoisie position.

i decided it was a call to service, an obligation to a city that has been so unique in this country's history. it is the motor city, motown, the arsenal of democracy, a border town, the jumping off oint for the underground railroad, a city that has been central to the history of america, a city for so many reasons that has fallen down on hard times. i have not spent a lot of time focusing on a retrospective of why. there is enough attribution. there's enough blame, and you can read that. most of the free papers have chronicled detroit's arc to where it is now well. when we came in, we did an analysis, but one of the things

that was striking is while the bankruptcy was filed july 18, 2013. the process had been going on for years before that. the process began in 2011 when the governor made a move to say i am going to take on detroit. 60 years of decline, of neglect, and i will to get it on in my watch. there's no upside here. the governor gets 2% of the vote from the county. he began with a review team that can march of 2012 that issued a report which ended in a consent agreement in april 2012. failing to meet the conditions of that agreement, a memorandum of reform had specific obligation that was approved in two city council votes for those provisions. failing to meet those, another

team was empaneled in december of 2012 and issued a report, and the governor issued 22 pages findings of facts of the condition of the city. most of you have read it. $18 billion of total debt. roughly $2 billion in unsecured credit. 0% of the fires are arson. 40% of the streetlights out. 78,000 units abandoned. as you drive through the city, in certain parts of it, it looked like a shadow of the former great american city of was. the one thing that struck me of going into the city is the resilience of its people. while the city of detroit may be bankrupt, the people of detroit

are not. they have a commitment to their city with the hope that they do dream of better things and that it shall rise from the ashes, the motto of detroit. what struck me in that retrospective is hopefully there is no cause and effect behind this phenomenon, but other cities i have gone to had a similar text. out of law school i went to miami. in 1981 there were periodicals -- "miami is dead," "paradise lost," "race riots," "fires and brimstone. "it is never going to come back. if you go to south beach, there was still the old training center where mohammed ali trained. everybody thought it would never come back.

within a snapshot of five years, it began to turn. investment flowed into the city. 300 sunny days, great beaches. i think i want to go back, especially when i hear about the snow. the city began to grow and thrive. in 2001 i came to washington. my office was on e street, between seventh and the 9th treet corridors. from it i saw buildings that were burned up from the 1968 riots. shaw, u street, nobody would go, too dangerous. from there, abe pollin built imself a stadium, and now we see thriving condominiums, gentrification, people coming back into the city supporting a space and despite the

rognostications it was never going to happen, happening with dispatch. new york, i met with the director for the city of new york, and he brought some photos, and i said, that is detroit, and he said no, that is 30th street. hriving. it does not matter. every city, baltimore, inner harbor, pittsburgh, three rivers stadium, every city has an opportunity for revert, and that is what struck me about detroit. the costs of debt and unfunded obligations and conduct a borrowing from the pension funds and calling it deferral, unsustainable. the fact that last year we had a citywide service on a $1 billion

-- the city would not function. you cannot cut enough of the fte's and services to balance the budget. and it was apparent. we tried initially to suggest we can do this without ankruptcy. i received some pushback on that saying that was sophistry, too ambitious. but what we have seen from last july 18 until now, in the past three weeks, we have made great omentum. some of you had read about it, he settlement with the bondholders. a confident member of this group took me to task a couple of times for putting out a deal that he thought was too rich, and i will take a beating on behalf of the city every day,

but drove it down to one of $77.6 million. the interest rate was being calculated on a nominal amount of $800 million. $400 termination fee. the transformation of that settlement is to make the $50 million of principal reduction payment. the city is paying down its debt without the risk to its casino revenue. the settlements with grs, pfrs, others, and hopefully more to come, and today we are to file yet another plan of adjustment. it took us from the needs that were apparent and had been

discussed about for many years, to a point where we had a framework in bankruptcy to provide a structure and mediation is a process to provide a venue to resolve many questions, and some of the counterparties share this. let me tell you, there has been some heavy lift, late nights, and lot of positions, some people walking out, some people crying, all that kind of good stuff. we are getting it done. more importantly than that, three months ago in november -- ix months ago -- i was up on seven mile, as i drive around the city to get a feel for what is going on. we are hanging between 500 and 800 lights a week. i want to take a look at the blight. i wanted to get a look to see how the buses were running.

i was driving by that street corner, and i told this story before. there is a little princess, the age of my daughter, little pink backpack on, waiting for the bus. she is waiting for the city bus, because we cannot afford school buses. on that bus which she rides with adults and older children. it is her way to school. if that bus is late in november when the sun goes down at 4:30, if she is out there by herself on a cold bench all alone, that child is at risk. every day. she has to walk from the a stop past blighted homes. monsters live in those homes. people live in those homes. the risk to the city is tremendous. what we are trying to achieve to provide an adequate level of services for that little girl, for people who have done nothing wrong and expect to be paid and provide as sustainable and

future for the city is crucial. the next steps, because we would like to take some questions. as part of a long race and we are now coming around the third turn and we have the fourth turn and the straightaway coming up, we still got a lot of lifting to do, because despite the successes we have had we have to negotiate definitive documents. we got to get through a planned structure with some of our counterparties. that is going to be difficult. we have to get the funding n. the $18 million. we have the foundation community, kellogg, greater southeast michigan. others have come in with 366 -- $366 million we have state

legislature and the governor hat is appropriated to re-hundred $50 million and $100 million from the dia community. we have to get that in. we also have to come up with an exit strategy that leaves in place some post-emergency oversight which is state-of-the-art, the expectation state of the law, and every other restructuring like new york's reducible corrections system that lasted from 1935 until 2008. here in the nation's capital, still had to have four years of a proposed balanced budget over actuals that it met before he could get out from oversight. likewise, from detroit, that will have an obligation to keep true north. let's talk about that true north and where we're going next. we do see a brighter future.

we have a new mayor. he is as committed. he is as committed to turning around the city and detroit's renaissance as anyone. we have the city council that is actually talking and working with the mayor. they have even voted for some of the proposals that my office have proposed because it is in the interest of the city. we have city fathers and mothers. roger penske, or and gilbert, committed to the city for years. $1 million over the past 10 years to the city of detroit coming in, professionals, some of whom i talked with this morning, about what it means to be involved. downtown, central court, nine square miles, 97% leased. you cannot get an apartment downtown in detroit if you wanted to. we had investors that came in who trip over each other. we had a group of investors from

china who bought three buildings because the value proposition and the relatively low acquisition cost smells all a lot like miami, washington, d.c., baltimore, pittsburgh, and other cities that have gone through a renaissance. but that is nine square miles in a city that is a 130 mile square. you could fit austin, manhattan, and san francisco in our borders. the city has got to deliver services to all those 139 square miles. so there is still work to be done. what i say to people about the efforts we are making, this is almost, not quite easy, but long overdue and expected. it is what we do as restructuring professionals. we look at assumptions, come up with proposals, and cut deals that make sense. but that is the least of it.

i and my team, my core team, how many more professionals can you cram into a conference room? i said it depends, is a christmas eve or new year's eve? my core team is my ex law firm jones day, my investment bankers, ernst & young, accountants, and they have been doing the work since 2012, and they have been stellar in the way we handle ourselves. we have not thought, have not played games, i have not posed a reduction in force. i have not set of deadlines or proposals were if you do not agree, i take a quarter-point off every day thereafter. we tried to be reasonable and forthright and fair with our answer. to some people's position, a little too much so mama but the important thing is we have to leave the city in a way that is able to move forward together so they can seize this moment to rebuild a great american city. so what do i see? i see a city on the way to a renaissance. committed folk with good faith, the city has been remarkably patient and secure. when i came in, there was a gentleman that showed up at city

hall, the usual, uncle tom, here is a bag of oreos, all that kind of stuff. i said, if you have some milk, i like oreos. now i am having lunch with a gentleman. you know what they say? what can we do to help, how can we pitch in? we thought you were going to be darth vader, but you have proved herself to be reasonable. we want to take a moment to make the city better for that little princess in the backpack. that is what it is about. but i also see much effort. that core, those 700,000 residents, deserve and expect services in a city that has to come through the arc and grow. i'm going to speak personally for a moment. on two fronts. number one, it's been a

privilege for me to have this opportunity. i said i didn't want to do it a cousin, frankly, i was thinking about the usual stuff, what kind of toy am i going to buy, how much am i spending my pension plan, and it seemed like a sacrifice, but i cannot tell you how much worth it it was for what we are trying to achieve. the second thing, although i did not know she would be here, but now that she is, i would like i went to stand up so i can say to everyone, thank you for being supportive. thank you for being patient. [applause] you can probably tell i am proud of her. the reality is, back at home, she tells me to take out the garbage and walked the dog. i don't care what you are doing in detroit. [laughter] but i want to thank all of you also because from the judge to the mediators to the

professionals to the part that i'm playing, as al mentioned, this is a restructuring effort that shows what everyone in this room does, the unique capacity in america to take an enterprise, be it civil, municipal, or private, restructure it, and given a rush start, to given the opportunity to thrive and grow. there are many people out there in the community that do not quite understand what we do. many of them look at bankruptcy as a bad sobriquet, as opposed to a business tool that has grown and achieved normalcy in how we achieve it. whether it is doing something in detroit or doing something in a private enterprise, i'm just proud to be a small part of your brother and and be given this opportunity to allow the city to rise from the ashes. thank you. i'd be happy to take any questions. [applause]

i'm going to get off scott free? ok. no, they are coming. >> what will happen with the art collection? >> good question. last year, when i came in, i kept saying -- we hired christy to do an appraisal. as you all know, christie's is one of the most preeminent organizations around. we hire them in april and there were stories that kevyn was going to sell it all off. i will say right here, first of all, thank you to christie's. they lost some commissions in the process and people were calling them carpetbaggers, but i did that for a reason. we spent the following seven

months saying to the community, this is an opportunity to save yourself. if you do not, we may have to sell some art. we are in bankruptcy, you sell assets, that is what you do. fortunately, as a result, the foundation community came, and one other conditions of the funders for that $860 million, none of the art to be sold. in our plan, we are going to preserve the art. it is one of the most seller art museums in the nation. we have four diego rivera's, wonderful paintings, but the interesting thing about the assessment, everyone thought that we had 60,000 pieces of art worth $50 billion. really, only 400 pieces of those 66,000 have value, so we will have the opportunity to preserve the art institute, a great facility. not just for the city but for america. that was an opportunity we did

not have seven months ago. >> [inaudible] i'm sorry, i cannot hear you. >> [inaudible] >> i think your question is am i monetizing assets in the city. some and some not. under chapter nine, it is different. 903 and 904, i can use bankruptcy speak with this crowd. the judge, presciently, in an order said that the city had the discretion to make those decisions. we looked at the opportunity and there were three principal issues we have to deal with.

one was dia, the other was the detroit sewer and water department, which we are going through an analysis now, to see if a mediation process will go through to create an authority for benefits of the city. there was bell island. the fountain was designed by the same architect that did the supreme court. that island we have leased to the state so that we can preserve it for city residents. that is generally what we have done so far to try to maximize value for our creditors. >> kevyn, i'm from chicago. we have our fair share of challenges, financially at the state and city level. i'm a high level, i'm curious, what lessons have you learned that could apply to other cities and states around the country tackling the same issues? >> thank you for the question. every time i go out i try to

say, all municipalities are different, all cities and states have different enabling legislation as far as what they can do, all have different tax basis. chicago has a quite healthy tax base. one of my favorite cities. i used to go to hamburger hamlet quite often before it shut down. $19 billion in pension obligations. generally speaking, at 40,000 feet, i think your mayor is well aware of this, delay does nothing for you. the reality is, one of the ways we were able to get pensions to 100% for our police and fire, uniform retirees, and roughly 95% for general service retirees, is that their market investment in the pension funds paid better this year. partner of that is that there is oversight.

there is a statute that says i will make criminal referrals if there is inappropriate behavior. there are people in prison as we speak because of misbehavior. if people behave in an irrational way and deal with the issues early on, you get over the risk. it does not get better. which issue with destroyed -- this issue with detroit has been coming for 50 years when population began to go down town and for 25 years more acutely when it was clear the tax base could not support the services, and in the past 10 years, when the city of a million lost 240,000 residents, 24% of its population, that is a city that lost the size -- in the city. there were plenty of warnings but you have to take the opportunity to do with them. yes, ma'am, and then yes, sir. >> after this extraordinary example that you had set for all of us in this room, what do you do next?

what can you do that would match this kind of assignment? as a political career -- is a political career something you would consider? >> my boss lady is in the room, so the answer to the second question is no. the first answer is a warm island with my wife and kids. i do not now. i cannot say i have enjoyed the process because there are so many different images to the process i did not imagine. one of my staffers said, i'm not a politician. one of my whiny moments. he said, you were not elected, so get over that. i have since learned to put that cloak on, but i'm looking forward to taking it off. there are no political aspirations inside this heart. i've had enough. >> you talk pretty eloquently about detroit's population loss

and the fact about the job losses are also equally well-known. have you seen signs that the city is stabilizing the population? my friends who live in detroit say they continue to lose people even sent the 2010 census. >> the reality is we are probably at 685 but there are some shelling population loss. in the central business is to there is growth. we do not have enough housing for people coming in. the other thing that makes it good, in the next three years, detroit will have five major infrastructure projects in that city for tens of thousands of jobs. we have a new bridge. we are such an important trade route for canada, they will build a multimillion dollar bridge, a welcoming center there, a new arena coming in, we have light rail going of the corridor, as well as indigenous

development. not auto job necessarily, but new opportunities for residents, and taking many of our young people. i had a meeting with the united way yesterday and i could not tell you how many groups were dedicated to training our young people so they could get into apprenticeship jobs and become skilled tradesmen. we have a lot of work. i do not want to be pollyanna-ish. 139 square miles. the population with loss we have suffered a significant, but the opportunities that are coming the way of the city in order to turn that around are at least much better than if they were not there, which would be a different story. there is a reason to hope that is based in reality. >> keep up the good work. >> thank you so much. that is kind of you. [applause]

>> in closing, once again, thank you all. it is good to be back in the bosom of the restructuring community. i will stay around a little bit so i can use some bankruptcy speak and feel like i am back home again. thank you so much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> a field hearing on last year's shooting at lax airport. then a panel on president obama's trade agenda with penny pritzker, tom bill sock. on the next "washington escalating tensions between russia and ukraine. oflowed by the recent delay the keystone xl pipeline. friends of the earth and the american petroleum institute join us. today's news and your calls,

tweets, facebook comments live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the death of trade on martin is, indeed, an american tragedy -- yvondeath of travyvon martin. this act is repeated in the streets of our nation. i applaud the young people, all across the land who are making a statement about hoodies, the .eal hoodlums in this nation

specifically those who tread on or laws wearing official quasi-official clothes. has to stop,ing mr. speaker. just because someone wears a hoodie, it does not make them a hoodlum. the bible teaches us, mr. speaker -- -- member will sustain >> these words. -- >> the member will sustain. >> to love mercy and walk humbly with your god. and the new testament, luke four, 18-20.

the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news. he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recover sight to the blind. you are free. i urge all who hear these words to heed the lessons. soul.d less his >> the speaker is no longer recognized. the chair will last be sergeant-at-arms to enforce the prohibition on the core. -- on decorum. prohibitse of rule 17 the wearing of hats in the chamber when the house is in session. the chair finds the dawning of a hood is not consistent with this rule. members need to remove hodes or leave the floor. >> find more highlights from 35 years of floor coverage on her face but age.

c-span, created by america's cable company 35 years ago and brought to you today as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. >> the issue of airport security continues to trouble the transportation security administration. we are joined by keith lang, who covers transportation issues for the hill. first of all, on this san jose stowaway story, what was the breakdown there? >> the issue there was a 16-year-old boy was able to get past, not only get through tsa security, where passengers are supposed to have their boarding documents checked, he was able to get access to the runway where it is supposed to be limited to employees of the airlines and airport. he hid in a landing gear of a hawaiian airlines flight, a boeing 767 flying to hawaii. some say it is miraculous that the teenager was able to survive.

he was unconscious when the plane landed but later regained consciousness at the hospital. it is really tough at the altitudes that commercial flights reach, there is usually loss of oxygen at that level. it is very cold, so people say it is very surprising that he was able to survive. >> does tsa keep track of attempts like that? that has got to be an infrequent occurrence. >> there are some lawmakers that say it is happening more frequently in recent years. that is a bit of a gray area, which is what lawmakers wanted to get into. airport perimeter security is usually handled by airport police department, but tsa is also supposed to make sure that every passenger that comes through has accurate boarding documents. there is some overlap in jurisdiction there. >> you wrote in one of your articles that a representative of california, homeland security

committee, wrote a letter to the comptroller general of that perimeter security. what did he want to know? >> he is calling for a nationwide reassessment of airport perimeter security. he says this incident shows that there are large gaps in security in some of the jurisdictional gray areas i was talking about. he is calling for an examination for all airports in the country. he said that has not been done in several years. >> we are showing the viewer is a field hearing of the house homeland security looking at the 2013 shooting at lax airport. they talked about a number of issues including security. what sort of efforts did tsa make, in particular, after that shooting at lax? >> there has been a bunch of changes that have been recommended. the los angeles airport and the

authority that oversees it conducted a review of the security situation of the emergency response situation during the november shooting and they found that it took too long for airport police to get over because tsa agents are not armed. in that situation, there are some groups that are calling for the creation of armed tsa officers. in that situation, the union for tsa workers said that the agents were sitting ducks because they had an active shooter, there were no airport police who were armed, tsa was not. >> once again the issue of security, and back to the stowaway issue, you write the tsa administrator headline in the hill says that they question the tsa chief after the stowaway. what will they want to know? >> that hearing was already on the books, probably will take on a different flavor now that this incident has happened.

it was supposed to be a broader look at tsa's efforts to develop new procedures to keep up with the new threats that are emerging. i am pretty sure that there will be questions from lawmakers from both parties on how a teenager was able to access a flight in an area where only authorized personnel should of been, and what tsa would be doing to deal with those challenges. >> you can follow keith on twitter. you tweet about a poll dealing with the tsa and how people feel. only 50% believe tsa makes flying safer. did any of those poll numbers translate into fewer flights by passengers? >> it did not appear. that poll was conducted by harris interactive. it was more an assessment of passenger attitudes, about flying, they separated the data into people that live very frequently, business travelers, infrequent flyers. it did not seem like there was anything to suggest that people

were less likely to fly because of the tsa. >> you can follow keith on twitter and follow his reporting at thehill.com. thanks for the update. >> now to that house homeland subcommittee hearing held at los angeles airport on march 28. the tsa administrator is among the witnesses. this is one hour and 20 minutes. >> the committee on homeland security subcommittee on transportation security will come to order. the subcommittee is reading to them in the transportation security administration preparation for and response to emergencies at airports. before we begin, i want to welcome the witnesses and extend

my thanks to those participating in the hearing. i appreciate the efforts of all those involved to have this important hearing. this is an official congressional hearing as opposed to a town hall meeting, and as such, must abide by certain rules of the committee of homeland security and of the house of representatives. i wish to remind the guest today the demonstrations from the audience coming including applause and verbal outburst, as well as the use of signs or packard's are in violation of the rules of the house of representatives. the rvs and campers are limited to accredited press only. i now recognize myself for an opening statement. i want to thank the witnesses for their participation in this hearing and their commitment to

aviation security. also want to acknowledge the sacrifice of tsa officer hernandez who lost his life on november 1 2013. it is my sincere hope that this hearing reminds us not only of the horrible events of that day but also motivates us to make changes that will improve our ability to detect and deter potential threats and respond to future emergencies. that alone is the purpose of today's hearing. the shooting that occurred here at lax exposes significant weaknesses in the federal or the ability of federal personnel to communicate and coordinate during an emergency. i suspect this exist in other airports across the country. perhaps these witnesses stem from constraints or clashes between agencies, or a believe that an incident like this is unlikely. it is certainly easier to push emergency planning and size on some time to the distant future rather than making a top priority than today when you have so many other competing demands for time and resources. having said that, most of my colleagues will agree, in a 13

years after 9/11, these types of flaws cannot be tolerated, regardless of the reasons. based on reports and pleaded by tsa, it appears there is widespread agreement on this. according to los angeles airports, the response and recovery efforts following the november shooting lasted roughly 30 hours. shooting affected over 1500 flights and 171,000 passengers. among the findings of the report, they highlight significant coordination and challenges among local first responders. i'd agree with the assertion that airport security needs to become more risk-based, emergency communications need to be more streamlined, and it must be a unified incidents command center after an incident like this. the report provided details on certain aspects of the response, but they did not mention where the officers assigned to terminal three were at the time the first shots rang out and what impact if any this may or might have. i believe the location of these officers is crucial to understand the viability of a

flexible response. especially when you combine it with a lack of interoperable radio communications that we know exist. if we do not have law-enforcement officers station at heavily traffic screening point or ticket counters, we should at least have confidence that we know when the first officers will be there to respond to an active shooter or to an emergency. i look forward to discussing this issue in greater detail. we have had the benefit of reviewing tsa's recent report which highlights several recommendations, actions, including mandatory active shooter training for screeners and improved mitigation systems and enhance law enforcement officer presence at checkpoints and ticket counters during peak travel times. bottom line is tsa cannot do it alone. it must rely on local law enforcement partners in an event like this.

for i conclude, i want to remind you that we are on a tight schedule today with folks flying out at various times this afternoon, so i will be enforcing the five-minute rule for all members to hopefully we can get through to give you of questions. we will follow-up on the hearing to look more broadly at what lessons were learned once we put the fax on the record here today and how they can be applied to airport nationwide. i now recognize the ranking member of the full committee for any statement he may have. >> thank you for holding this important field hearing today. at the outset, i'd like to acknowledge executive director lancing and chief galen of the los angeles airport for their hospitality. your willingness to aid the committee and oversight for hosting a hearing and accommodating our members request to choose a side of this tragic shooting of november 1, 2013, is appreciated.

two administrative pistol, thank you for appearing before the subcommittee to discuss tsa findings in the wake of the shooting and planned reforms to mitigate a similar incident in the future. we placed the security of our aviation sector in the hands of men and women of the transportation security administration every day. those on the front lines, the tsa officers, deserve to know that we are doing everything within our power to see that they themselves are secure when performing the critical jobs of screening passengers. i'm pleased that the national president of the american federation of government employees is appearing before the subcommittee today to give voice to the transportation security officer worked corner. as has been well documented, on november 1, an armed guard -- you been man entered a term of

three of los angeles international airport and opened fire on transportation security officer hernandez. the gun then proceeded through the terminal, targeting other tsa employees, shooting and injuring transportation and security officers grigsby and spear. while some may wish to point fingers and assign blame for this horrific incident, i believe doing so would be counterproductive. all of our energy should be directed toward not only learning from the incident but also implementing needed reform. frequently, we speak of lessons learned from a tragedy but failed to implement the reforms necessary to present those lessons from having to be learned again. for instance, after 9/11, we identified an indication between and amongst first responders was an area that needed major reforms. despite knowing this and having spent $13 billion to correct the problem, a review of the report

the airport released last week revealed more than a decade after 9/11, the police and fire department at this critical airport could not communicate effectively during an emergency. the two transportation security officers have been trained to use in the event of an emergency did not work. the state of affairs is unacceptable. our police, firefighters, transportation security officers, and emergency medical personnel, along with the american public, deserve better. after the shooting at lax on the -- had the intent of targeting passengers incident tsa personnel, untold lives could've been lost. in addition to the communication issue, i have concerns regarding the training of transportation security officers are receiving for active shooter scenarios. i look forward to hearing from the administrator for how he intends to ensure all tso's are trained to respond to an active

shooter scenario in a matter relevant to their work environment. before yielding back, i would like to acknowledge represent a divorce who represents the district the airport is in, and representative brown, for their participation in the hearing today. i must also ask for unanimous consent that representative waters and brown be allowed to sit in and question the witnesses at the hearing today. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. >> without objection, we welcome ms. waters and mr. brown. the chair now recognizes the chairman of the full committee, mr. mccall, for any statement he may have. >> thank you. i'd like to first offer my sincere condolences to officer

hernandez's wife, who we met with briefly before the hearing. i also want to recognize the tsa officers grigsby and spear. from what i've seen, you are true heroes. what you did the day. we appreciate your service. i want to thank the chairman for his leadership on this issue. i also want to thank the los angeles world airport for hosting us. chief galen, who gave us a tour of the terminal this morning. john pistole, tsa, ms. lindsey, thank you for hosting us and giving us a briefing this morning. they were very informative and insightful. it is critical that agencies responsible for protecting our airports are doing all they can to keep passengers and employees safe. i believe this hearing is an important opportunity to examine

lessons learned from the shooting, what went well, and what didn't. how we should apply those lessons learned to others as we move forward. unfortunately, we live in a very dangerous world. that's like the one that happened here are difficult if not impossible to prevent. but what we can do is improve our ability to protect the threats before someone starts shooting or detonates a bomb or hopped a fence or takes advantage of any security loophole or vulnerability that we have failed to close for one reason or another. as chairman of the committee on homeland security, i know how committed our law enforcement officers are and our transportation security officers are, day in and day out to stay ahead of any potential threat. yet, the tragedy that the world watched unfold at this airport could very likely happen again at another airport in the future. first, we need to dissect exactly what happened.

among the shortcomings in the response to the shooting, we know that all relevant agencies did not join together in a unified command structure until 45 minutes after the shooting occurred. even then the los angeles fire department did not join the unified command. this, along with the lack of in some cases interoperability communications made the job executing an efficient response more difficult. what is perhaps most concerning about the problem identified after the incident is that it was as if the government had been shooting randomly -- gunmen had been shooting randomly rather than targeting tsa, we could've had dozens killed within the 4.5 minutes it took for officers to obtain the gunman. airport police were operating vehicle checkpoints and stopping certain vehicles to check for anything suspicious.

yet, as the airport report points out, it was possible the shooter went through one of these checkpoints and the officers were not able to detect or deter him. there is no such thing as 100% security, but the situation reminds us that we cannot become complacent. we need to constantly stay ahead of potential threats with proven tactics and techniques, and there are some parallels to what happened at the washington navy yard just a month and a half before this incident occurred. i do want to close on a positive note. what we saw today with ms. lindsay and chief janet, john pistole, not only prior to the shooting, what was done at the shooting to stop the shooter, to stop more bloodshed, the heroes that day, as i pointed out, are tso officers.

chief, the great work that you did. i must say, i walked away very impressed with how this incident was handled by all the relevant agencies, but also the way they have looked in a self-critical way to examine what can be done better. that is what it is all about, how can we do a better job so we can prevent this from happening again? i must say i'm very proud of the los angeles airport police, ms. lindsay, your efforts with the airport, mr. pistole, what you have done with tsa, to make this place a seizure airport. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. >> the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for any statements she may have. >> might i add my appreciation to you, mr. richmond, and also to the chairman and ranking member of the full committee of homeland security. i also wanted a knowledge my

colleagues commerce and waters, who has come up with great honor, served his community and showed great compassion for these issues, and to congratulate congresswoman for her important legislation that i hope will be passed and the president will sign. i thank all of you for coming to this hearing, particularly, the witnesses, mr. pistole, who is in service to the nation, ms. lindsay, your guidance of this airport, along with your colleague, chief gannon, who eloquently presented the case today of november 2013. mr. cox, thank you so much for standing very strong and tall for first responders in the name of tso officers. today we will learn what we can do to prevent or mitigate a similar incident in the future. at the outset, i want to knowledge the ranking member of

the subcommittee, sir richmond of louisiana, could not attend the hearing today, although he wanted to very much. he has asked that i express his regret, which i will do all that and ask that i sit in his place during the hearing today. at this time, i ask unanimous consent that ranking member richmond's didn't be inserted into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> again i think that witnesses for a. before the subcommittee today. a special thanks to the executive director lindsay and chief gannon, the administrator pistol, national president cox, a friend to working men and women, for traveling to appear before the subcommittee. today we have the honor and privilege of having officer hernandez's wife present with us

today and as we chatted about her wonderful children, i thought it was important to acknowledge to all of the officers, let it be very clear, you serve in the stations defense, and that tso officers across america are first responders and they are serving to protect our national security. today's hearing focuses on an issue that i closely observed in my time in congress and as a member of the homeland security committee. indeed, i was the principal author of the last repetition security administration authorization act to pass the house of representatives and i would hope that we soon have the opportunity to look at that again with the many changes we may need to include. understanding the importance of training for transportation security officers, not legislation contains a section focused on the talisman of a centralized training facility for the workforce. i look forward to hearing from administrator pistol today on how he intends to train the entire transportation security officer workforce on active shooter scenarios in a setting

resembling their workplace environment, a crucial element to the many tso officers across america. today's hearing also focuses on a topic of great interest to me in light of a similar incident having occurred, as i mentioned earlier, in houston, texas. last may, a man entered the houston internet -- intercontinental airport and was in the parking lot for over an hour and subsequently fired shots into the ceiling near a ticketed area. thankfully, no passengers or airport personnel were injured in the incident. the shooter ultimately took his own life. as an additional point, it was a tso officer that first acknowledged or thought there was something suspicious about this individual. ultimately, as this tso officer confronted the individual and the department of homeland security law enforcement agent came out from under the

direction and was part of the overcoming of the individual even though he had begun to look as if he was going to take his own life, taken together, the shootings at lax and houston bush internet -- intercontinental airport shows that airports are target rich environment, as unfortunate as it seems. whether it is the airplane, the area where passengers are, or whether it is in the open space and secure areas where tso officers are manning. knowing that it is incumbent upon us to implement recommendations and modify policies where appropriate that will make the airport environment more secure, airport personnel and transportation security officers. undoubtedly, russo will require resources and support from federal, state, and local authorities when an incident occurs that prompts support from multiple law enforcement agencies, communication systems are only as good as their weakest link. our challenge is to make that link a strong as possible.

it does no good to the washington -- los angeles airport to invest in a communication system and the surrounding jurisdictions fail to do so. i look forward to listening to the testimony and will submit the rest of my statement into the record. >> i think the gentlelady. other members are reminded that you may submit written statement for the record. we are pleased now to introduce our distinguish panel of witnesses here with us today. first we have the honorable john pistole, the administrator of the transportation security administration and the department of homeland security since 2010. gina lindsey was appointed general director of los angeles world airport in june 2007. she has over 20 years experience in airport management. she has briefly served as managing director for seattle-tacoma international airport and her attorney aviation for anchorage international airport. aggie for hosting us.

mr. patrick gannon, appointed to the position of chief of airport police for los angeles world airports in november 2012 hearing chief of airport police, mr. gannon leads over 100 -- 1100 police officers, security officers, and civilian staff and ensures compliance with tsa mandates, airport rules and regulations, and international federal, state, and local laws. he retired from the l.a. police department in 2012 after 34 years of service. finally, mr. j david cox is the national president or the association -- american federation of governing employees. the largest federal employee union representing six hundred 50,000 federal and easy government workers nationwide in overseas -- and overseas. i will also point out, mr. cox is from the eighth district of north carolina, so he is my constituent. always want to make note of

that. i thank all of witnesses for being here today. full written statements will appear in the record. the chair recognizes administrator to stall to testify first. >> thank you, ranking member, congress numbers, for hosting this field hearing on this important topic. appreciate the opportunity to appear before you with these other distinguished witnesses. the events of november 1 demonstrated the bravery of our front-line workforce as well as their commitment to tsa's mission for protecting the nation's transportation system. in the immediate aftermath of the incident, tsa took a number of actions which i'd like to outline some including assembling a crisis action team to advise me and ensure communication and engagement with the workforce and stakeholders regarding the event. a call for a conference review

of tsa policies, procedures, and training to identify improvements to the safety and security for tsa employees and by extension the traveling public. after meeting with the family of officer hernandez, and thank you for recognizing anna and the officers, the day after the shooting, i met with them, and then had the senior leadership team take the following steps. first, we communicated with our workforce what we knew and then with cricket updates. second, i convened a meeting of external stakeholders where we requested inputs for active engagements to consider and improve officer safety. third, i directed internal teams to assess options and make recommendations. fourth, i redirected a number of our intermodal viper teams from their surface trepidation missions to lax and other high-profile airports to serve as a deterrent to a shooter. from these reviews and assessment, we received hundreds of ideas and have limited over a dozen of them. employees from all levels of tsa

contributed to ideas through what we call our idea factory and then over 100 town halls, i and other senior leadership team convened. we continue to welcome stakeholder work force feedback as we remain engaged in advancing modernization. in that regard, i want to recognize the immediate and ongoing engagement our senior leadership team here at lax has had with our over 2100 employees here at lax, the largest contingent of tsa employees of any airport in the country. and to thank each and every tsa employee, particularly here at lax, and terminal three, for their resiliency and dedication to the mission. i also want to thank director lindsay and to our police for their strong partnership prior to november 1, and since that day. the lax shooting raises a number of issues about the training we provide to our tsa employees, and while they have received a number of different types of training, active shooter training was not a primary focus. since november 1, lies mandated all tsa employees receive this

training and am pleased to report over 90% of our six 2000 employees have completed this training. in support of further efforts to reinforce emergency procedures, we've incorporated a reminder in our shift greece regarding evacuation routes and rendezvous points identified in the local navigation plan. as part of our review, we study how officers notified law enforcement of an emergency most effectively and determined that we need to do two things. regular test existing alarms, and acquire and install many more alarms in airports around the country. interoperability of communications between tsa and most federal agencies and state local authorities, it continues to be a challenge worldwide. we also instruct our federal security directors to own a wireless devices preprogrammed with their own emergency numbers to allow them to voluntarily program them into their personal devices.

in addition to best practice we are linking -- when a distress alarm is received it would be appropriate to automatically focus on the location of the alarm. after carefully studying the presence of law enforcement officers at checkpoints, tsa is also taking the following actions, including incorporating maximum response times in their airport security programs and recommending standards for increased presence at high airport locations, such as checkpoints, ticket counters, to provide a deterrence and quicker it's -- quicker response time. in conclusion the shooting of officer hernandez and three others reminds us of the dangerous world we live in. the shooting serves as a catalyst for tsa to assess its existing safety kerry -- existing safety security policy. there is no guarantee of preventing terrorists and others from doing bad things.

the actions i have outlined divide a measured approach to mitigate risk without trying to eliminate it. clark's thank you. the chair recognizes the chief. clark's member -- >> members of the committee, welcome to los angeles international airport. i am the director of los angeles airport security and chief of los angeles police. airport police is the primary law enforcement agency for los angeles world airport with a staff of 1100, of which approximately 2500 are sworn, the rest are support staff. los angeles airport police is committed to ongoing training. an active shooting exercise was held three weeks prior to the november 1 shooting. during this two-day training exercise we trained over 350 airport police officers in los angeles police officers and los angeles city firefighters to respond to an active shooter in

an airport environment. we conducted this training in one of our airports. this training proved to be very helpful as we faced a gunwielding man at terminal three. on november 1, 2013, the alleged shooter entered terminal three at the departure level near a ticket counter. he walked to a nearby line at the foot of an escalator. at the bottom of the escalator was a podium staffed by geraldo hernandez. he removed an assault rifle from his luggage and shot the officer mobile times. he went up the escalator just a few steps but then turned and came back down and shot officer hernandez again. as the initial shots were fired passengers ducked for cover. within seconds tsa officers urged passengers to move away

from where the shots were being fired a number of tsa officers acted heroically and put themselves in jeopardy to make sure passengers got out of the line of fire. i would like to specifically recognize tsa officers for their heroic and selfless actions to protect passengers who were slow to exit the area. 10 seconds after the first shots were fired a call came in to airport police dispatch. the call was made by a supervisor who was forced to run from the area and was unable to provide information about the shooting. shortly thereafter an airline contract service employee who was near officer hernandez used his cellular telephone to call airport police within a minute airport police had a full discussion of the shooter and responded as quickly as possible. following the initial shooting

he went up the escalator through the evacuated tsa screening area and then into a terminal concourse apparently looking for other tsa officers. he fired an assault type weapons as people scurried for cover. this is where he shot and wounded other tsa officers and one additional passenger. airport police officers quickly converged on terminal three for many different directions as the officers arrived they were directed towards the suspect by a number of people in the terminal. one minute 22 seconds later our airport police dispatch center broadcast the shots fired call in terminal three. at 9:25 a.m. airport police officers reported the suspect was down near gate

35. four minutes and eight seconds elapsed from the time the news the shooting was broadcast to our dispatch center to the time our officers reported the shooter was down in the terminal and in custody. there has been speculation this event may have been prevented if an airport police officer was posted at the tsa screening checkpoint in terminal three. the facts are that a podium-based officer at the checkpoint not have prevented this murder and the officer would not have been in a position to keep them from attacking officer hernandez. i believe it podium-based officer would be more vulnerable in a carefully planned attack.

at columbine high school it was 46 minutes before law enforcement was able to make entry into that school. to respond and neutralize the suspect within four minutes to when we had the shooter in custody is remarkable. thank you very much. >> the chair recognizes mr. lindsey to testify. >> members of the committee, thank you very much for coming to lax. and being willing to discuss the events of november 1. lax is one of the largest destination airports in the united states serving 66.7 million passengers through nine different terminals. we host 95 passenger and cargo airlines that end of the 615,000 operations in 2013. november 1 was like any other busy friday morning at terminal three. an act of violence by a loan gunman set off a sequence of events of which you have heard a great deal.

the suspect came to lax and a vehicle driven by a friend and was dropped off by a departure level am a dislike many departing passengers. he was dressed as a typical passenger with luggage typically brought to the airport by passengers. even after he was in custody, communications, traffic control and tactical operations remained quite obligated. airport police and their partner agencies did not know if there were other shooters. they did not know if there was a vehicle with a bomb or a secondary device placed in the airport area. lax handles about 200,000 passengers per day in its central terminal area and it is a massive undertaking to make sure we keep everyone safe. as soon as dispatch was notified

of the shooting all landside airport access was shut down. we could only reopen once we were certainly were not putting anyone in harm's way. however simultaneously we were still accepting arriving flights. the number of passengers ultimately held on board aircraft continue to grow. while airport police quickly apprehended the suspect, significant travel disruption resulted in tens of thousands of passengers. our best estimates were there are 23,000 passengers in the terminals at lax. of approximately 3005 hundred people in terminals 1, 2, and three escaped onto the airfield and were then bused to appropriate holding facilities. that is the plan we have in

place and on that day it worked. other passengers and workers in terminals one, two, and the three ran out to the central roadway. those and other terminals were sheltered in place. others who were still expecting to depart on flights continued to arrive at the airport, adding to the congestion and traffic gridlock outside the central terminal area. 16 arriving flights were held on board for longer than 30 minutes. since these were not available what ran workers evacuated. of with lax effectively shut down or ripple effects throughout the national air transportation system that impacted an estimated additional 1500 flights remarkably the airport returned to full normal operations 30 hours after the shooting on november 2. of lax established 12 evacuation and shelter sites and distribute it 16,000 bottles of water. there were partner agencies with passenger accommodation that also made extensive use of the news media websites and social

media to communicate what information we had. in the past several months it was reviewed in detail, every aspect of this incident and presented a comprehensive report to mayor garcetti and the board of airport commissioners with several key findings. the report assesses what happened, what could have been prevented, what response efforts worked well, and what areas of emergency management need to be improved. this report is available online. the most significant challenges centered on nasa vacation and public notification. in terms sheltering and customer cares, given the duration of the events, the ability to mobilize an entire airport community in response. lax has implemented a number of specific recommendations and will be implementing others in the coming months. the report also concludes that the immediate tactical response

by airport police was swift, heroic, and well executed. collaboration with and in support with response partners was effective. terminal three was rapidly repaired and returned to service. we thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward to answering any questions. >> thank you. of the chair now recognizes mr. cox to testify. of flux thank you mr. chairman and ms. -- mr. chairman and members of the committee. what an honor it is to testify before a majority of the committee that has a southern drawl like me. first i would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of officer hernandez and our best which is -- best wishes for the full recovery of the officers. since the attack, -- unarmed, unprotected, and exposed, tsa officers at terminal three checkpoint were

easy targets for a man with an irrational hatred of tsa and our officers. results of our analysis are made fully in abridgments -- in a written statement. i will focus on recommendations for improved security going forward. if she strongly believes tsa should create an arms transportation security law enforcement officer position assigned to protect tso's and passengers at airport checkpoints and other key locations. appointment of trained ts leo's -- rather our proposal would establish a new lawn enforcement unit within tsa. as we have heard, current airport law enforcement operations have gaps and

inconsistencies that leave passengers vulnerable. many airports have no law-enforcement officers stationed at or in the airport. even where they do decisions about taxing, staffing, and the plummet have left many checkpoints without an officer stationed there to provide security for our unarmed tso's and passengers. placing one armed passenger at every key airport location will provide several security improvements, including integration of law enforcement functions, tsa operations, creation of a visible deterrent to those with criminal intent as well of those who subject tso's to verbal and physical assault and provisions for the quickest possible response when an attack occurs. in the interest of time i was simply list our additional recommendations. tsa should establish protected

installations at each checkpoint with bulletproof glass to allow armed officers to better observe the area, detect a problem before it escalates, and create it is able to turn for those who might be planning an attack. tsa should continue to deploy tso's and the new lto's to monitor exit lanes. the lack of coordination across such agencies made a horrific situation even worse as emergency medical attention for our wounded officers was delayed. we recommend implementations -- gao reports on scientific research and enhance training to better identify threats to aviation security.

we believe that will increase the likelihood that a bdl will be at the right place at the right time to detect a potential attacker like the lax shooter. he is a must provide active shooter training to tso's relevant to each airport, which includes inter-agency grills -- interagency drills with other first responders. her fallen officers act would grant public safety officer status, honor public service killed in the line of duty. we recognize that a very small portion of the population volunteers to be put in harms way to protect their country. hr 4022 should receive enthusiastic bipartisan support. we look forward to the same support for proposals we have made today. his concludes my statement, i would be happy to answer any questions.

>> i recognize myself for five minutes to ask questions. i would like to start with you. four minutes eight seconds is quite remarkable from the time he received the call to the time your officers took down the shooter. i just want to acknowledge the heroes of the officers that served under you and the work they did i think everyone recognizes their action and they were extraordinary. one of the issues we have heard different information about was the location of the two officers in terminal three that day. i would ask we get it on the record and be clear where were the two officers. >> the other officer was out on

the airfield, which was quite a responsibility. >> my interest is not to get you with any officer. was there a policy that an officer operates under when you're taking a break to you should notify someone, or was it standard operation to quickly take that break and quickly get back on? >> i guess that policy is to ensure that we have coverage in that terminal. i don't hold somebody to making that kind of determination. i don't have a particular problem with that. i have a problem throughout an entire airport through each of the terminals. we have a tremendous responsibility throughout those, whether it is in the departure level or arrival level in the

baggage claims. there is a lot of difference responsibilities that are officers have. they were not the only officers working that day. they were the only officers that had responsibilities to that terminal. >> explain what are some of the layers that would have overlapped with terminal three. >> in addition to the officers we had assigned to terminals each day's we have bike officers that have been working that particular day. i have supervisors that are actively working read we have roving patrol units working in the central units that they. >> thank you, chief. you stated the tsa is recommending airport operators conduct active shooter training. i think assays that the exercise weeks prior contributed to the

performance of tsa officers that day. are you working in coordination -- do you do these training the local law enforcement at the airports? could you explain how that -- >> there are two aspects to the active shooter training. one is for all tsa employees around the world to make sure they know to do in the event an active shooter takes lace. there are three different types of training. then there is the tactical training. that is the training -- it combines all three.

it probably did save lives we call the in actuation --- the evacuation, it was as much a of an escape as an evacuation. it is in concert with the airport authorities and please. of we are requiring that to be done semiannually for all 477 airports around the country. >> since i will hold everyone else to their five minutes, with 13 seconds left i will yield to the ranking member of the committee for questions you may have. >> thank you, very much. simply put, how would the response to an active shooter situation differ today in lax compared to what happened november 1? >> i think the response to the

actual incident itself and to the shooting this tough. of part of the difficulties we had on that day was coordinating all the resources that responded to the airport. that was one challenge that we had in making sure that we understood exactly where they were being put to work in building out an effective command to be able to deal with those. the other issue is prevention. he spent a lot of time wondering if we could have prevented this incident. it given the case of the suspect, he was not on anybody's radar screen. i don't think we could have

prevented this in that regard. there are ways in which we can educate our employees and educate people within the airport to be better partners with us and be more observant as to what is going on in maybe behavior exhibited by the suspect could have been identified and acted upon before he had an opportunity to shoot. i don't think this particular case it was. we put together a community approach to finding officers to specific terminals to build relationships with people so we get better information. >> i guess my point i'm trying to get at is you have identified

coordination as something that will be different now than before. based on what we have been told during our visit here it is still very difficult for the police to talk to the sheriff department, to talk to the lapd what are you doing -- lapd. what are you doing to affect that inoperability issue that still exists? >> it still exists throughout southern california and throughout the los angeles area. the county is responsible for putting together an nmr -- and inoperability plan. they have a program in development. we have developed our communication systems to be compatible but that is still some time off.

in the meantime what we have done on the short term -- the associated with this airport or lapd officers that are on campus or close is we provide them with a radio in which they can monitor -- for us in which we can monitor their frequencies. we do have frequencies in which we can talk to lapd on our frequencies. we do have inoperability within to some degree but not to the extent that we need in a major instance. >> i think the only thing i would add is we are encouraging l.a. to take the steps they need to take because we have already implemented the technology that

they are ultimately going to implement it is more a whole lot of encouraging them the steps they need to take that we can do from airport perspective. >> an active shooter situation is difficult scenario. what are you recommending for situation like this? that the memo kinds of training tso should have in that situation. >> there has to be an opportunity for the tso's to take the training and were member their jobs are very demanding. and people line up to get into the airports it is time that it is hard to take time to get the drain. they understand how to get to the alarms that are handy, having more radios that would be permissible to use their own cell phone for help. passengers, where to go for a safe harbor type thing. there although differently.

that happens in every organization. >> the chair now recognizes the chair of the full committee, the gentleman from texas, mr. mackall, for any questions you may have. >> thank you. day in and day out, under very difficult circumstances, tsa officers protect the public from threats that may be terraced street we certainly appreciate the work you do. you don't always hear that. i want you to hear that from the chairman. i look at threats, risks, and

vulnerability. this airport has been threats under nine -- under threats since 9/11. it was a target. when i look at this pattern, it seems to me that once some one goes through proper screening, having a police officer beyond that screening is helpful. it seems to me the real vulnerability is before that process before they go through other screening. the shooter actually went through the exit. what were your lessons learned in that regard when you look at what happened that day? >> i agree with you. i think the threat for this airport starts on century boulevard and extends into the

terminals itself. our greatest threat occurs -- our emphasis should be in those particular areas. that is consistent with the strategy we have put together. that is consistent in the way in which we have moved from that podium assignment where we have officers sitting or standing at a podium behind the screening and to move them up front with that in mind. to reduce the threat there. there are a number of challenges that any of our airports and a number of issues that involve crime and other things that we

have to address each and every day. i also feel it is important that we protect everybody in this airport environment to the best of our ability. >> there was talks of putting a police officer in front of each checkpoint and resources obviously are an issue. however are there ways to be agile, flexible, and to keep the threats guessing? i think if you have one person always in one place they are able to predict better in terms of the threat that particular juncture. in other words, the flexibility and agility -- do you think this is important to move those assets around? >> i do not want for it to be an issue here. it is probably going to watch

and look and pay attention how we do our jobs each and every day. >> that they say five minutes is extraordinary. i think we can always do better. we could have seen a lot more budget that they. when you look at resources, and we have to look at that, in the bush continental airport there was an officer that responded. you have a lot of different -- you have the viper teams that are there today. you have the teams, cvp officers. they are being trained, unlike

the tso's. can you speak to that instead of bringing those to prevent that from happening? >> there are a number of multiple layers of security that could be brought to bear. as the chief mentioned, it is one thing to have the police doing random controls and having that unpredictable aspect along coordinated with the viper teams which is another layer of security there. when we start introducing other components, who have primary responsibilities elsewhere in addressing what risk and what threat. we do balance this threatened vulnerability for assessing this to make informed judgments. you mentioned if we did have a special cadre of armed tso's, i have concerns about that, but i do not think is a solution. i would agree with that.

my time has expired. >> tsa officers are in the service of protecting this nation. as we proceed at this hearing, it is a key element, collaborating with local law enforcement. we thank you again very much. in that direct thought of national security, in 2013 you did a vulnerability assessment at lax with transportation security. in my opening regards, i alluded to the fact that tso officers should have the ability to pick the emergency line and it should work. they should know that the panic button will work or offer a proper response. in an active shooting situation, that is crucial. like question is whether the

assessment that was done in 2013 take into account the communication between first responders. they should know that the panic button will work or offer a proper response. in an active shooting situation, that is crucial. like question is whether the assessment that was done in 2013 take into account the communication between first responders. we raise that question. >> the joint assessment was in february of 2014. it was part of the previously

scheduled one. one of the things we looked at with the fbi is a communication not necessarily in terms of interoperability, because there is a number of challenges to that, from a number of different aspects. do the police want to have police officers on their regular channels and communications -- >> i want to ask other questions. please summarize. >> we looked at a number of things. we did not look at communications between first responders, fire, police, sheriff. that is not part of the joint vulnerability assessment. >> can we add the ability of a tso officer to have immediate

response based on whatever -- >> the question we look at is due officers have the ability to communicate directly with their police, and the answer is yes. as the supervisory tso did on november 1, 10 seconds after the first shot was fired. >> my point is we want to make sure all that is operable from our perspective. >> they have taken action to direct that. is it your important for the federal tso professional realization as opposed to privatization -- does this point out how important that is? >> i believe tsa is a federal workforce. we recognize the congress mandate to have screening. >> i would disagree with that. but me ask about the importance of training professional, tso, organization as opposed to privatization. let me comment briefly on what you think is important about a law enforcement entity. >> the american people had the

outcry that they wanted the federal government to operate the screening at airports after 9/11. since that time tsa has done a fantastic job in protecting the flying public. i believe that needs to be a function of government, and they are doing an excellent job. part of it was having a law enforcement project inside. i commend of the work of the police department. he did a fantastic job. very brave police officers that ran into the situation. at the same token, tsa needs a law enforcement affair. my good friend sent the economy

would not be looking to the phoenix police department to provide the security of officers he wants to do that. there needs to be some type of law enforcement inside tsa to provide security at that checkpoint. there are still a very large airport parking lots, all these types of things that have to be managed in an airport operation, at which we need to local law-enforcement and the airport law enforcement to do. those checkpoints and tsa, it was one of ours that did not get to go home to his family. >> thank you. i yield back. >> the chair now recognizes -- >> we are in your congressional district. we recognize you for any

questions you may have. >> thank you, and i appreciate you being here. i would like to thank the committee chairman, the ranking member, richard hudson and congresswoman sheila jackson-lee who is sitting in for organizing -- ranking member and for organizing this here. i want to begin by joining with my colleagues to honor the life and service of gerardo

i'd like to spend a moment if i need for a about the consistent law enforcement at t.s.a. passenger screening checkpoints such as the one where officer hernz was killed. i know that there are diffce