questioned by our constituents, the homeland security committee is a pivotal committee that stands in the gap of making sure that the needs of our nation, domestic needs in protecting the homeland are the priority and recognized by the american people as having a department and a committee that is clearly assigned to protect the homeland. 9/11 continues to be a symbol for all of the untoward terrorists across and around the world. they view that as a challenge to them every year as to whether or not they can continue to intimidate the western world and, of course, the united states of america. our values are contrary to their beliefs, and therefore 9/11 poses for all of us a time of

recognition that we still remain in the eye of the storm and we must be diligent. i would offer to say that we will not fall victim to the terrorists' intent, and that is that we will not terrorist ourselves. we will be vigilant which i believe is extremely important, but we will be fair and adjust and we will recognize the civil liberties of all. but we are in some very challenging and difficult times, and so i want to thank the chair woman for allowing us and this committee in working with me and the full committee to be the very first committee that is addressing the question of isis here in the united states congress upon our return. that is an important statement for homeland security armed services, the intelligence committee are the corner stone of defending this nation, and our collaboration and working together is key. and that, we are doing. this fact-finding hearing will lay the ground work for many

other hearings that will be necessary to expeditionly address this question. this evening the president will address the nation and discuss new protocols as to how we confront isis, and as he has indicated, degrade and end isis. and so i am not willing to seed the point that isis does not represent a threat to the united states. i did not say imminent. i did not say today. but i believe this hearing recognizes that isis is a threat to the united states and to the people of the united states. again, not in the instance of being intimidated but being prepared to protect the people of the united states of america. like all americans, i was horrified, outraged and saddened by the bye headings of two american journalist, james foley

and stephen sotloff by isis terrorists. they have used brutal remedies and tactics to expand control over iraq and syria, threatening the security of both countries. they have attacked, killed, kidnapped and displaced thousands of religious and ethnic minorities in the region, including christians and including small ethnic minority groups. u.s. officials have warned that syria-based terrorist extremists may also pose a direct threat to our homeland. one concern is that foreign fighters holding western passports might travel to this country to carry out a terrorist attack. additionally, our own u.s. citizens are known to have likewise left the united states and gone to the battlefield to perpetrate jihad. the total number of armed opposition fighters engaged with

various groups in syria including isle is estimated to 100,000 persons. 12,000 of foreign fighters. among those foreign fighters are estimated to be more than 1,000 individuals from europe and over 100 from the u.s. with did a dozen american fighters with icele specifically. we may be reminded on 9/11 the count was approximately 19 who created the most heinous terrorist act, killing over 3,000 here in the united states of america. we mourn for them and their families. many have skplesed particular concern over western foreign fighters because they hold passports from the visa waiver program which generally allows them to travel to the united states without obtaining a visa. i want assurances today that these individuals have been appropriately watch listed, and i want to discuss and look at

whether or not we need to make the no-fly list more robust. i would look to the idea of legislation quickly passed that makes sure that we shore up the no-fly list, not to undermine civil liberties, but to protects the nation. i am interested in a discussion of that going forward and classified or what is available today. i would note, however, that while these waiver travelers usually do not need a visa to visit this country, they are currently vetted upon departure and arrival to the u.s. i expect that we will discuss that process in more detail at this hearing. some are concerned about u.s. citizens who go to the fight and return to the country by air. we're aware of two who recently died in battle. i expect discussion today about what dhs and federal partners can do to address such

situations beyond adding individuals to the no-fly list if and when the need arises. indeed the department of homeland security and state play a vital role in disrupting terrorists' rival to the u.s. programs are essential to addressing the foreign fighter threat to the homeland. i hope our state department witnesses can speak to us about how these programs operate and how they can be used to address concerns regarding the vwp travel specifically. i also hope to hear from our state department witnesses about how we engage -- how we are engaging with foreign partners to help address information gaps regarding individuals of concern in their travel patterns. like chairman miller, i am glad that europe is standing up. i believe that they should stand up and collaborate while we maintain our values. we can security this nation. while the u.s. cannot resolve the larger situation in syria

and iraq in its totality, we can do it collaboratively with our middle east allies and western allies. we do have the responsibility to protect the homeland from threats from isis and similar terrorist organizations. and be mindful, as we mourn and commemorate 9/11, be mindful 69 fact that we have work to do. i therefore strongly encourage the administration congressional leadership to ensure that all relevant committees including intelligence, armed services and homeland security are included in briefings so there can be a collaborative strategy in conjunction with the administration. so we can work collaboratively together and address these issues, i know that our chair persons and ranking member are prepared to do so. finally, ij president's address to the nation tonight as he outlines his plan for combatting isil. i remain committed to working with any of my colleagues on this committee and will look forward to the property legislation that we would hope

will be expedited and passed to ensure the safety and security of the homeland. it is our duty and it is our challenge. with that i yield back the balance of my time. >> the chair now recognizes the ranking member of the full committee, the gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson for his opening statement. >> thank you very much chairman miller, ranking member jackson lee. thank you for holding today's hearing. i'd also like to thank the witnesses for appearing to testify about the government's efforts to identify foreign fighters in syria and iraq who may seek to travel to the u.s. to do our nation harm. since its establishment in the wake of terrorist attack of 9/11, this committee has been engaged in helping to address the threats posed by terrorists' travel. for example, members of the committee advocated for a key provision in the 9/11 act requiring the implementation of an electronic system for travel authorization to enhance the

security of the visa waiver program. this committee also examined the lessons learned from the attempted bombing of flight 253 on christmas day 2009 and urged dhs and the rest of the intelligence community to strengthen programs aimed at identifying travel to this country who might do us harm. today we turn our attention to the threat posed by foreign fighters with islamic state of iraq and lebanon, isl, particularly those holding western passports who could attempt to travel to this country without obtaining a visa. top u.s. officials have made public statements warning that syrian-trained extremists, including foreign fighters linked with isil may pose a threat to this country. intelligence officials know that

individuals from north america and europe that travel to syria could be exposed to radical and extremist influences before returning to their home country. as ranking member lee has already said, the u.s. government estimates that there are 12,000 foreign fighters who have traveled to syria to engage in the ongoing civil war, including more than 1,000 europeans and over 100 u.s. citizens. of those 100 u.s. citizens fighting in the region, about a dozen are believed to be fighting along isil. i hope our conversation today provides insight into the full scope of foreign fighter issues facing the u.s. government, as well as how we, along with our foreign partners, can maximize our intelligence and information-sharing regarding these individuals. with that in mind, i want to hear from the department of

homeland security and department of state witnesses about their ongoing work to identify foreign fighters coming to the u.s., and whether or not they need to increase their efforts in response to isil. we know that the threat posed by isil foreign fighters is very real and serious. the american people want assurances that our government response is and will continue to be equal to the task at hand. again, i thank the witnesses for joining us today and the members for holding this hearing. madam chair, with that, i also yield back the balance of my time. >> i thank the gentleman very much for his opening statement. i would before we begin, would ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from nevada be included in the statement. other members are reminded that opening statements might be

submitted for the record. we're pleased to have distinguished witnesses with us today to discuss this very important topic. let me formally introduce them. troy miller service as the acting skmigser for intelligence and lee a san. they are responsible for implementation of targets and supporting the primary mission of securing america's border. mr. miller began his career in 1993 as a customs inspector in north dakota and has since held various positions throughout cvp. mr. john wa wagner is the assistant commissioner for the office of field operations and border protection. he formerly served as executive director of admissibility and passenger programs with responsibility for all traveler admissibility-related policies and programs. miss jennifer lasly is the deputy undersecretary for analysis at dhss office of intelligence and analysis, a

position that she's held since april of 2013. in this role, she leads the dhs office charged with providing all intelligence analysis of threats to the homeland. prior to this assignment she served as vice deputy director for analysis at the defense intelligence agency. miss hillary johnson is the acting deputy coordinator for homeland security and multi-lateral affairs in the state's department of bureau of counter-terrorism. she oversees approaches to protecting the homeland on issues such as cargo security, terrorism screen to include terrorism agreements with foreign partners to combat terrorist travel. with that, the chair would recognize mr. miller for his testimony. >> chair woman miller, ranking member thompson, ranking member jackson lee, distinguished members of the committee, thank

you for the opportunity to discuss the role of u.s. customs and border protection and securing the homeland against terrorist threats. more than a decade after the terrorist attacks on september 11, 2001, terrorists continue to focus on commercial aviation as their primary target of interest. as this committee knows, the department of homeland security has been aware of and continues to adjust and align our resources to address the evolving nature of the terrorist threat to the homeland. the capability has allowed us to get information and respond to emerging threats as a part of our intelligence-driven counter-terrorism strategy. of particular concern of those threats that continue to im you late from al qaeda, their affiliates, isil and other like minded terrorist organizations from across the globe. the office of intelligence has focused on the growing threat of u.s. citizens and europeans travel to support terrorist

activities and those who then returned to the u.s. or allied countries. this past may a 22-year-old american citizen blew himself up while detonating a massive truck bomb at a restaurant in northern syria. in addition, in august, two u.s. citizens were killed while fighting for extremist groups. in order to address this and other emerging threats, the office of intelligence provides operational and analytical support to our front line officers on a daily basis through situational awareness briefings and tactical intelligence such as link analysis on known subjects of interest. cvp in conjunction with our partners has long-standing protocols for identifying, examining and reporting on encounters with persons on the terrorist watch list. as a compliment to its ability to identify watch listed individuals attempting to travel, cvp also takes steps to identify those unknown to law enforcement and intelligence

community for further scrutiny. these efforts occur before departure from the u.s., before departure from foreign locations destined to the u.s. or upon rival at u.s. ports of entry. through robust information sharing and collaboration, vcp continues to work with our law enforcement intelligence community partners to enhance its comprehensive intelligence driven targeting program to detect previously unknown terrorists and their facilitators. cvp's research and analysis on a recent traveler suspected of being a syrian foreign fighter revealed the identity of a new suspect, a co-traveler, which provided previously unknown information to the investigation and expanded our intelligence framework. as a foreign fighter threat grows, cvp works in close partnership with federal law enforcement counter terrorist communities as well as the

private sector to counter the threat. in addition, the threat posed by syrian foreign fighters and isil is now limited to the united states. there's a growing international commitment to combatting the shared threat to our security. staff from the national targeting center and intelligence office interact with foreign counterparts including those two the five european countries on almost a daily basis. most importantly, intelligence works aggressively to continue leverage assets and resources across the intelligence community and other federal partners to communicate, coordinate and collaborate with our international partners which enables officers and agents to take the appropriate operational response. in conclusion, cvp will continue to work closely with the dhs, the department of the state, the department of defense, the intelligence community and our foreign counterparts to detect

emerging terrorist threats such as those presented by isil and identify and address all potential security vulnerabilities. i appreciate the committee leadership and providing this opportunity to speak on this very serious issue. i look forward to working with the committee on this issue and other matters of urgency and priority. i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you very much. the chair recognizes mr. wagner for his testimony. >> thank you, chair woman miller, ranking member thompson, ranking member jackson lee, distinguished members of the committee. it's a privilege to appear today to discuss the efforts in securing the border. in response to the potential threat posed by the islamic state of iraq and other terrorist groups and supporters including those who are u.s. citizens we continually remine

our border operations focusing our resources on the greatest risks before they reach the united states. because terrorist organizations continue to primarily target commercial air transportation as a means to move operatives into the united states, we detect and respond to the threats in the air. we processed over 100 million in our airports. we have developed our resources to mitigate the risk posed by travelers at every stage along the international travel continuum, including when an individual applies for travel documents, checks in at the airport while on route and upon rival. before a foreign national travels to the united states they're first required to apply for a nonimmigrant visa with the department of state or for visa waiver programs, a travel authorization from cvp through the electronic system for travel authorization also known as esta. before issuing the visa the

department screens the applicant. three es ta, we screen applicants in advance of travel in order to assess eligibility and potential of risk to the u.s. in this year we have denied applications for yearly 300 travelers for security-related reasons. before the flight departs, we obtain and analyze all data including passenger name records and manifest information which contains the passport biographical data and the flight information to assess the risk of all passengers regardless of citizenship or visa status. the national targeting center analyzes traveler data and applies intelligence driven targeting rules to conduct a risk assessment. if derogatory information or other risks are discovered, we're able to take action prior to actual travel so we can

address these concerns. in order of descending authorities and capabilities we have preclearance, the immigration advisory program and then we have our regional carrier liaison groups. our highest capability is preclearance where officers operate on foreign soil in uniform with capabilities similar to what we have in the united states. travelers are questioned, gone through the database and inspected before they bored the aircraft. it requires clearance from the host country, but after the flight is precleared at a foreign airport, the flight is generally treated as a domestic flight once it arrives in the u.s. there are currently officers an agriculture specialists stationed in 16 locations in six countries. they have refused entry to 24 travelers for security-related reasons. our security in abu dabby which just opened this year gives cvp

a location in a strategy cal location. next is the advisory program where we have officers in 11 airports in nine countries to work with carriers to work and identify potential threats. they have no search authority per se but can question travelers in an advisory capacity and recommend additional security screening or recommend an airline not board a traveler. so far in this fiscal year, they have recommended that foreign airlines deny boarding to over 60 passengers for security-related reasons. in locations without preclearance operations, we utilize22ux our carry-on groups prevent passengers who may pose a security threat or are otherwise inadmissible from boarding flights to the united states. these are basically in constant contact with the airlines to exchange this information. it all points in the travel

continuum, we continue vetting passengers and travel information including visas and es ta authorizations to ensure that any changes in a traveler's eligibility are identified in real time. this allows us to coordinate appropriate actions such as referring individuals for further inspection upon rival. so far this year it has caused almost 400 previously approved es tas to be revoked. upon rival in the united states all travelers are subject to inspection. our officers review entry documents, conduct interviews, run biometric queries against databases. we have response protocols in place at ports of entry for passengers linked to possible terrorism. we also conduct outbound operations, leveraging all available advanced travel information and utilizing

intelligence-driven targeting rules specific to the outbound environment to identify, when appropriate, interview, or app helped travelers for law enforcement or security related reasons. thank you for the opportunity to testify today and thank you for the attention you're giving to this very important issue and i stand ready to answer any of your questions. >> thank you very much, mr. wagner. the chair recognizes miss lasly. >> thank you chair woman miller, ranking member thompson, ranking member jackson lee and distinguished members of the committee. i am pleased to be here today with my colleagues from cvp to discuss the threats to the homeland from foreign fighters traveling to syria to participate in the conflict there and what we are doing to mitigate the threats. as you have collectly stated, the on going conflict in syria has more than 1,000 europeans and over 100 u.s. persons who have joined or seek to join the fight there. our concern remains that these individuals if radicalized could

return to their home countries or the u.s. and knew their skills to carry out attacks. we have seen an example of this in europe where in may a french national who fought alongside the islamic state in syria is charged with conducting a successful attack against a jewish museum in brussels, killing four people. although we currently have no credible information to indicate that the islamic state of iraq or isil is planning to attack the homeland, we remain concerned in the long term that their access to westerners and to safe havens in the middle east will allow them to plan and coordinate attacks in the u.s. veteran al qaeda fighters have traveled to syria from pakistan to take advantage of the permissive operating environment as well as easier access to foreign fighters, particularly europeans and u.s. persons. we're concerned that syria could emerge as a base of operations for al qaeda's international

agenda which would include attacks against the homeland. u.s. persons who link up with violent extremist groups in syria, regardless of their original reasons for traveling to the country could gain combat skills, extremist connections and possibly become radicalized or be further persuaded to conduct organized, coordinated or lone wolf attacks, potentially targeting u.s. and western interests. because border transportation security and immigration personnel are at the front lines of many encounters with potential syrian foreign fighters, the department is working to ensure that they have the most up to date information and can act on it in coordination with law enforcement and partners as port. ina is working to inform dhs and state and local law enforcement partners about observable indicators of u.s. persons planning or attempting to travel to syria. we've produced tailored assessments on the motivations of u.s. travelers, their travel

patterns, the role social media is playing and the way in which u.s. persons are providing support to syrian groups. ina is also partnering with dhs operational components to help identify foreign terrorists who may be seeking to travel to the united states and are working with interagency partners to disrupt their travel or take appropriate law enforcement steps. we work every day to leverage our unique dhs data to ensure that individuals who are not fully identified in intelligence channels can be appropriately watch listed and denied entry into the united states. finally, we work hand in glove with the department to provide

intelligence assessments that support the visa waiver program, a program that dhs has managed since 2003 in consultation with the state department that facilitates low risk travelers into the u.s. for tourism and business. countries participating in this program must undergo a rigorous review process and agree to share information with the u.s. our intelligence assessments which are one factor in the country reviews look at a number of criteria for determining a country's el jilt to participate in the visa waiver program, including the terrorist threat to the u.s. posed by nationals of that country, the counter-terrorism capabilities of that country, the state of information sharing between the u.s. government and that country, and the security of passports and other identity documents. in using similar criteria, we participate in dhs-led reviews of all visa waiver program countries which must occur at a minimum every two years to evaluate whether a country

should remain in the program. these are just a few of the ways in which we are working to keep the homeland safe from threats and those posed by returning foreign fighters. thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you today about these important issues, and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you very much and the chair now recognizes miss johnson for her testimony. >> thank you. chair woman miller, ranking member thompson, ranking member jackson lee and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today on behalf of the state department and with my colleagues from the department of homeland security or dhs. we are very deeply supportive of dhss efforts to protect the u.s. homeland and we make every effort to amplify its work through engagement with our allies and partners. we remain concerned about the terrorist activities in syria and iraq and isil. we have seen in syria a trend of foreign fighter travel for the

purposes of participating in the conflict, largely driven by global connectedness through the internet and social media. the state department is working closely with countries effected by the problem to counter the threat these fighters pose. the department of state works closely with dhs to support its mission in protecting the united states by promoting effective border security screening with foreign partners through enhanced information sharing. for example, we believe it is in our best interest to share terrorism screening information with select foreign governments as all of us face a global terrorist threat that does not recognize national boundaries. to this end, we work closely with the terrorist screening center which implements sharing agreements with foreign partners, including visa waiver programs. this helps us to deter terrorist travel and creates an extra layer of security for the united states.

we also work closely with our partners at dhs to strengthen global aviation security by engaging foreign partners to bolster aviation screening at last points of departure airports with flights to the united states. we do this to identify and prevent known terrorist and attacks from global aviation. the department of state is leading interagency efforts to engage with partner partners to prevent foreign extremist travel to syria and we work closely with the interagency including dhs to expedite approaches. this includes facilitating foreign exchange with partners, building partner capacity and developing shared objectives. the ambassador robert bradkey, senior advisor on foreign fighters leads this work for the state department and has met with officials from the member countries, north africa, the gulf, the ball cans and the

asian pacific to discuss this threat. important progress has been made but more work remains. countries in the ball cans have recently adopted or are considering more counter-terrorism laws. other countries have increased penalties related to terrorist financing. the european council recently called for the acceleration in support of member states to combat foreign fighters. this includes finalizing a pnr proposal by the end of this year and increasing cooperation with partner nations such as the united states to strengthen border and aviation security in the region. we will continue to work closely with partners in the coming months to enhance this cooperation and build on our efforts today. in the week of september 24th, president obama will chair a

security summit on the rising tlelt posed by fighters. this presence a unique opportunity to demonstrate the breath and build momentum on policy issues at home and abroad. that same week secretary kerry and the turkish morning minister with co-chair a gctf minute tier yal meeting. at this meeting members will adopt the first ever set of global good practices to address the foreign terrorist fighter threat. gctf members will also launch a group dedicated to working globally to advance implementation of these practices. the department of state remains deeply supportive of dhss efforts to protect the homeland. this is a critical component to combatting terrorist travel. i look forward to answering your questions and working closely with you and our friends and

allies across the globe to make the united states safer. thank you. >> thank you all very much. this subcommittee and our full committee has had a number of hearings about visa, about our visas, about the status of our visa programs. we certainly have had a lot of discuss about the visa waiver program and i'm hearing that we had a year ago this month in a hearing in march of this year, this subcommittee has asked a lot of questions about the visa waiver program, so we certainly understand that the program started back in the mid '80s really to expedite tourism and travel which was a very good idea at that time. but the world is changing. as we think about things that we need to do to grow our economy, we also have to consider some of these various processes and systems that we have in place with other countries, our allies, our friends, and what kinds of programs we've actually

put in place that put america at risk. and so to that i guess my first question would be -- we haoh --d estimates of as many as 12,000 that are from countries that are in the visa waiver program, et cetera, and one of the things obviously in the visa waiver program requires information sharing. as we sit here on the day before -- we're talking about 9/11 really, one of the things that the 9/11 commission recommendation that they made, an observation that they made that always sticks in my mind is how we had to move from the need to to know to the need to share information. information sharing is such a critical component to be a country that's participating in

the visa waiver program here with the united states. and we certainly see, for instance, the passenger name record, the pnr data which we can utilize to identify fighters or suspicious travelers or what have you, we see our ally as i mentioned in my opening statement, the u.k. being so great on sharing information. everybody gives them act laids their their sharing of information with us, but some of the other european countries may be not so good. it appears that mexico is pretty good, at least i have heard that. canada, there has been some concerns raised about information sharing there. i guess i would say, first of all, how many countries do we currently have? i think it's close to 30. are there any -- are there any that have ever been eliminated from this program? are there any that we are

thinking about? are there things that the agencies are able to do to really be much more aggressive about making sure that we are getting the information that we think we need shared with us in order for these countries to participate in the visa waiver? are there things that we need to be doing legislatively to assist the agencies? i'm not quite sure who i'm directing this question to. who would like to start with that? mr. wagner, mislasly? >> i can how many members we have today in the visa waiver program. so currently we have 38 members. 30 from europe. seven from the asia-pacific region, and one in latin it's my understanding that we have, since the inception of the program, as you have stated, two countries have been taken from the visa waiver program list.

that was argentina and uruguay. and it was many years ago and not because of terrorism issues but more economic issues. >> is there any thought -- is there anything that you need from us legislatively to assist you in being more aggressive? if there are these kinds of concerns about information sharing for many of these countries, should we be much more aggressive about the information that we think we need in order to feel comfortable to continue to have visa waiver eligibility from the various countries. >> so, we do get a lot of information from the countries. every two-year we do a review of the countries and their proceed yours. they do report their lost and stolen passports. and then all the travelers do fill out the application where we get about 17 data elements.

which we run through a series of background checks and recurring checks, some of the members i mentioned earlier. you know we denied this fiscal year which is coming to close in a couple of weeks. and this was after it was issued. new information came to light that caused us to issue that revocation. our total applications we've denied is over 35,000. so it's a small number of overall denials, but consequential and important numbers. so some of the things we are looking at is reviewing all of our procedures, our data collection efforts. are there other elements we need? are there other elements we can use? >> how does it impact the privacy of individuals? how does it impact our travel and tourism facilitation efforts

as well? but these are the things we are revealing. > >>, along with many other procedures and things we do in all of our programs. >> the electronic system for travel authorization, as you know, was added as a security requirement. by congress, actually. after 9/11. previous to that, we didn't have it. as you mentioned, 17 different elements that you're asking on the form, mr. wagner. the name, obviously the name, passport number, et cetera, et cetera. information elements that you're obtaining that you can then check again on the data bases. et cetera. but the full visa application, you have to have about 110 pieces of information apparently required. and in regards to what's been

revoked and denied, et cetera. i'm drafting legislation right now. and this is one of the things i was going to ask you. currently hope to be introduced today to clarify what the purpose is. that we need to ensure that terrorists don't get on airplanes. and then asking the department to tell us what other changes to esta may be necessary to increase security. i'm asking you, what your thought is on legislation like that. do you think the agencies, again, have the authority short of any congressional legislation to ask for additional -- it would seem to me, i'm not in your business, but it would seem to me asking for legislation particularly from a number of the countries in the visa waiver program, more than just 15 or 17 pieces of information would be something under consideration, and again, you think you have

the authority to do that, understanding that esta was initiated again by the congress after 9/11. after the commission from the recommendations, and should we be giving you legislation to assist you there? >> thank you. we are reviewing this as well as a number of other programs that we have part of that review is do we need additional authorities to collect additional information? i believe we have the authorities, but that's one of the things we are reviewing. what other types of information could we need, could we use it? how would we collect it? is it verifiable information? is it useful information? and do we have systems to make the data that we could collect and would it be helpful? so we are looking at those things as an operational operation, we're always looking for additional data and additional data sources. but again with respect to people's privacy, and is there a useful need for us to collect

that information, and can we actually put it to use. but in general, it's coupled with the pnr and airline data. it really helps us paint a better picture of travelers and where they're going, for how long, and what other information we can relate that to. so having in general terms a broader set of data to allow us to identify individuals or identify individuals not the person we're looking for because we have the additional data and we can dismiss any connections we think are there with the person. but that's one of the things is balancing the privacy and the costs and where we would keep the information. >> just being cognizant of my time here, but i am going to ask one other legislation. in addition to that piece of legislation, i'm also preparing another piece of legislation that would seek to clarify the

authorization that i think the department or state already has, in order to revoke passports. we're looking at what cameron is doing in the uk and with dual citizenship, et cetera. we are a very free and open society. but we are looking at a changing world here. and whether or not you have the authorization to revoke the passports, how can we help you clarify that? because i was looking for the -- trying to become familiar with exactly what has to happen to lose your citizenship. for instance, it talks about if you're entering or serving in the armed forces of a foreign state. perhaps that's ambiguous a bit when we're talking about terrorist operations because they're not really a foreign state. these are the kinds of things that this committee is looking for today from you. we want to give you the tools you need to help you to protect the homeland.

and if there's a flaw in what we have, it's not strong enough, we need the feedback from all of you. i don't know if anyone has any comment on that. >> briefly the state department does have the authority to evoke passports on national security grounds. we are very concerned about the over 100 americans in the foreign fighter ranks. we do work very closely with law enforcement intelligence partners on information because we don't just unilaterally revoke passports, of course. so we are reviewing right now in consultation with the law enforcement intelligence partners our current tools at our disposal and authorities because this is a big concern. that we want to look to be able to use the authority if we need it, but not interrupt legitimate travel of other u.s. citizens engaged in the region. >> now i appreciate that. i would just mention time is of the essence here, i think.

i i think you're going to be looking at, as i say, one member that is going to be introducing legislation today about these issues. i'm trueing to assist you and you know, we'll see quickly the congress can act. but we are looking for feedback from all of you. with that, the chair recognizes miss jackson lee from texas. >> again, let me thank the chairman and thank my ranking member and as well as the chairman of the full committee. again, this hearing is not to draw you over here to the united states house as much as it is to make an important statement of oversight to act. and i started my remarks by saying that in the -- on the eve of 9/11, and although there had

been much commentary of the potential threat that isil poses, i'm not willing to agree to those who have a perspective that the united states may not be in the eye of the storm. i think the way we respond to it is experienced, and balanced and sure as it relates to providing security for our citizens. and i thank you all for being on the the front lines of doing that. that is what the department was created for. and that is what the committee is created for as well. so i want to go to a pointed question in the collaboration between state and the department of homeland security in particular, intelligence. and dealing with cbp. is it your thought that the isil actions in syria and iraq and

the isil profile could be a threat to the united states? mr. miller? >> yes, ma'am, as you stated over 100 americans to fight with isil and the western europeans, do believe it could be a short-term and long-term threat to the united states. >> mr. wagner? >> yes, i also agree. and looking at the systems we have and how we look at the information we get with a person's reservation information and looking at itineraries and other characteristics of their travel, do they fit what we know about, you know, what the intelligence reporting are known factors?

try to talk to them and determine what their purpose and travel is. we have good systems to help us do that. we have good intelligence reporting to help us build those. we get good information from the department of state and other entities when we do want to take action against known individuals. then we have the systems in place to identify them and figure out what point in the process we need to intercept them and have that discussion. >> ma'am, we certainly assess that isil presents a long term threat to the country. we know the leader back in january spoke of but they do have a very sophisticated and savvy media campaign. especially a social media campaign. and i think our near-term concern is that that campaign

will be appealing to individual who is seek to radicalize. whether other in europe or here in the homeland. they could contact an attack on their own at any time based on that media campaign. so that is a very clear near-term concern that we have. >> miss johnson. >> -- isil stated threats against the united states. so we look at the protection of the u.s. overseas and the missions and always adjusting our posture accordingly. >> let me ask you a question. as we both know, the two acts of beheading were clearly directed towards the sentiments of the infrastructure values of the united states. and certainly attack on the citizens overseas. to mr. miller and mr. wagner.

following on the questioning of chairwoman miller. i'm concerned as to whether or not we do have the kind of coordination that is actually needed. i guess i don't want to use the term intimate. creating hysteria is not the idea of this committee. i also hesitate to solidly predict isil's threat level in as much as we're reminded of our posture on the day before 9/11, 2001. so let me just -- in the manner in which you can answer the question, feel comfortable about the level of coordination in this climate. and mr. miller, i would like to hear what level, how intense your coordination is, how comfortable you are with the coordination, and what do you need to make it better? and i ask mr. wagner that

question. >> our coordination with the intelligence community and the law enforcement community in the u.s. is stronger than ever. we're working this threat daily. whether with the fbi or intelligence community. our foreign counterparts, we're working with them. with the australians and the uk yesterday, there's stronger and stronger sentiment for information sharing from our european partners as well. and we can explain our classification more fully. >> and we take that information based upon it. and gettinging that information is critical to us making the right decisions on how we operationalize the information. in one of the things we would like to see is a stronger response from our partners

overseas and emulating some of the ways we do our border security management, as was referenced earlier. in trying to take advance and not waiting until they show up on your doorstep to try to figure out what to do with them. i think we would encourage our allies to consider those practices. we work closely to help them build up the capacity. >> we have two questions if we might finish quickly. miss johnson, i understand it's somewhat difficult to track the travel of foreign terrorists. i would like to know what the state department is doing and how you're improving tracking the travels of foreign terrorists. and coordinating with your fellow collaborating nation states about whether you're doing that and lastly, if i can ask you the question of our

level of intelligence in this climate of what we're in now, and backtrack it to 9/11. where we were saying quite the contrary. we didn't have an inkling of what would happen in the next day. are we in a better place? miss johnson? >> obviously it's an ongoing effort. everyone has different legal ideas. we are working with them very closely, as i mentioned. the european is now looking at the passenger name record situation hoping to adopt something by the end of this year. that will help us as the us for the officers to be able to understand who is coming and who is traveling. >> you think the no-fly list can be made more robust? >> the no-fly list? >> yeah, make it more robust. >> i think for the no-fly list

we're talking all the time about how to work the no-fly list to make sure it has accurate information, and we do share it with foreign partners so they know who is on the list. they are enhancing their own screening efforts and that helps us prevent people from getting on planes, is including from other parts of the world. and as i mentioned, our information sharing agreements particularly with visa waiver countries but also additional countries under homeland security directive six. we share biographic information with foreign partners. a lot of that is individuals on the no-fly list and individuals who need to be more screened. we also have the preventing serious crime agreements, which also collects biometric information. mostly fingerprints to exchange that information. so there's a lot of information to enhance the border security

screening and track terrorist travel. >> >> she answered her question in writing and the share now recognizes, the ranking member, mr. thompson. >> thank you very much, madame chairman. mr. wagner, from time to time congress has in in ininfts infi wisdom cut the budget for the agencies tasked to keep us safe. in the present budget, are you comfortable to provide the security and assurance necessary that cbp is doing all it can to keep bad people from getting into the country. >> yes, i believe we can. i think cvp was fortunate enough to be one of the few

organizations that did see a very generous budget, including the addition of 2,000 officers this fiscal year, and in the administration's request for 2015, there's also a request for another 2,000 plus officers. which we know are critically important to securing the economy and encountering this threat. >> i understand the manpower. i'm concerned about technology and other things necessary to support the increase in people along the border. i'm looking at the international side of it. >> well, we use those officers to deploy them in places like preclearance overseas. deploy them in the immigration advisory program. deploy them to the national targeting center. when we collect the information, we collect the intelligence reports and others too. for instance, the officers based

on their experience and their knowledge in turns that into actionable operational entities and being able to question them and continue to address that. >> so it's not a matter of resource. are you satisfied with the coordination between the agencies in terms of identifying these individuals coming to this country? >> yes, i think we've seen that it's been better than ever at this point. as these threats continue to appear, you know, the information sharing and the coordination get stronger and surer. and our systems integration to make sure the data bases are talking to each other. so when state department takes an action against a visa or passport, it appears in our data base so we can take action.

>> is that realtime, or is that a lag time? >> it would be a realtime identification that that information appears in the different systems and we try to access it in foreign advance of a person's travel if we can. in order to take the appropriate action or address whatever kind of questions we have. so, yes. >> miss johnson, there's been some discussion about revoking of passports. for the committee's edification, are the present rules as robust as they need to be give tennessee present isis threat that potentially is expanding? >> thank you, i know our bureau is working with our law enforcement intelligence community partners to review all of our options, and i believe they are looking at that as well. i can take that back to have our

lawyers and tto provide more an. >> well, i would, but if if you would, are you comfortable with the present protocols in place that if those individuals are identified, that the passport cancellation process would fully comply with that cancellation? >> i think that's a question ha the the affairs bureau could answer better. i don't know how many we've done, i believe it's pretty quick. we do it in consultation with the law enforcement and community so they should be working side by side on that, i imagine. >> can anybody else address that

question? can you get counselor affairs to address that? i think one of the questions we are contemplating is whether or not when these individuals are identified that we're doing everything we can to keep them getting back here to american soil. if there's some question as to whether or not that is, in fact, taking place, we need to plug in a potential gap that exists. i yield back. madame chair. >> i thank the gentleman very much. we now recognize the gentleman from texas, chairman mccall. >> thank you for holding this important hearing. very timely. i thank you for your leadership as well. tomorrow we will observe the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. and while we've made a tremendous amount of progress since the tragic day in 2001, we have to continue to be vigilant,

be one step ahead of the adversaries. today isis is the biggest threat to the homeland. these terrorists are brutal, driven and intent on attacking the united states. the job of this committee is to help ensure that that does not happen. the largest concern is isis's recruitment of foreign fighters. many of whom have western passports. they could ease their travel into europe and into the united states to carry out attacks. the fact is you don't know what you don't know. and we only have estimates of how many westerners these foreign fighters are in isis ranks. and potentially thousands that we do not know who they are. one of the biggest worries for a counterterrorism perspective is the unknown terrorists. those with no where will record or intelligence traces, who could use a valid u.s. passport

or the visa waiver program to enter and commit the homeland. for example, in may a 22-year-old florida man who joined in syria, an al qaeda affiliate, killed 16 people and himself in a suicide bombing attack against syrian government forces. u.s. officials say he was on their radar screen, but acknowledged that he travelled back to the united states before turning to syria without detection. also key for the administration to take the real steps to stop the radicalization of our youth so they do not leave for jihad. this week i visited the vcp's national targeting center to observe the hard working mane women who were responsible for preventing travel by terrorism and others we have on various watch lists. the work they do targeting

obscure information, connecting the dots to keep dangerous people out of the united states is vital to stopping isis. and when we say i'm very hopeful that tonight, and i talked to the secretary, jay johnson, very hopeful that tonight we'll hear from the president to take the advice of the chairman of joint chiefs, general dempsey, that the only way you can defeat isis is to attack them wherever they exist. and i'm hopeful the the president will come out strongly on the issue. it's a matter of national security. and it's a matter of homeland security that we do so. that we stop it over there before we can come here. and that's really the whole purpose of the hearing, one flight away. because these individuals are just one flight away. and so i would like to ask the panel, you know, we have seen this gentleman from florida get in and out undetected.

we saw tamerlan tsarnaev leave and pull off a terrorist attack in boston. what assurances can you give me that that will not happen in the future? mr. wagner? >> thank you. and so looking at the lessons we learned with tsarnaev and looking at, you know, we had access to certain pieces of information. and certain pieces of information weren't being followed up in closing those gaps. we learned a real hard lesson with the christmas day bomber. and here was a guy we had in our sights, but not really realizing his intentions at the time. we were waiting for him on the the ground. and taking a look at the procedures and connecting the pieces of information we have and taking action against a person as far as in advance of boarding the plane as possible. whether that's revoking the visa

so they check in the with the airline, they're not able to print a boarding pass because it's been revoked or having the preclearance officers question and talk and search a person before they get on the aircraft. and working to question people and talk to them and try to determine a person's intent. with all the systems that we have and all the data we collect, we can look for patterns and pieces of information. we can connect known pieces of information. determining the person's intent is a really difficult, difficult challenge. one best brought by questioning a person and using our skills to be able to do that. l. >> when i talked to the secretary, we talked about the visa waiver program countries. the ability to get more information and more data from the countries so we do know more about the travelers, would you agree with that?

legislatively would that help you? >> yes, as an operational organization we're always looking for organizations to help us or if we can figure out what their intentions are by having access toed a diggal information. but yes, i would agree with that. >> and lastly, on the intelligence side of the house, my biggest concern is we don't have sufficient intelligence, human intelligence particularly in syria to identify the 100 to 200 americans over there. intelligence on the tens of thousands of foreign fight fighters who could board an airplane and come into the united states. i know we're not in a classified setting, but does that disturb

you? and is it possible some of the foreign fighters have actually returned to the united states, like the man from florida and are currently here? mr. miller? >> chairman, yes, sir. it does concern us. and we continue to look at the known terrorists, to look at travel patterns, to look at who they're connecteded to. to look at the the data elements we may be able to utilize to identify future people. we identify -- we continue to work with the law enforcement and intelligence community to see if there's additional data elements that we can yut lisz to help us identify those folks. and we continue to work with our foreign partners as well. but as you state, we can get more of what we're doing to put the full picture together. >> sir, i would agree with my colleague's comments.

we don't have a full picture in all cases. i think thars why our interaction with our foreign counterparts in particular is quite important, so that they have citizens fighting there. we share those identities and that information with each other. and i know in our department and work with state department, both dhs and state are working very closely to make all that information known and shared. >> and all that sounds great. when i ask the question do we have a high degree of confidence with who the people are, i'm not satisfied with the answer. i think the honest answer is we don't. and the vacuum here now that's developed into what is one of the biggest threats in the homeland and iraq and syria that

we regain that intelligence on the ground to determine who is over there so we can stop them from coming back to the united states and killing americans. and with that i yield back. >> thank you chairman for his very insightful questions and comments. chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> thank you, madame chair. we spent a lot of time today discussing the threat ofs laumic state terrorists gaining entry into the united states. but i'm also very concerned as the rest of the committee, about those who may already be here. last year the government's nonpartisan fact checker, government account about office reported the homeland department of security has lost track of nearly 1 million foreign visitors. mr. miller, what steps is dhs

taking to identify these individuals and ensure the american people that they're not affiliated with the islamic state, and wouldn't the completion of the system help against this threat? >> we have over the last several years taken several steps. >> along with hsi or immigration and custom enforcement to prioritize them through the targeting system. with respect to the biometric i would yield to mr. wag inner. >> and thank you. we're using biographical data. >> but we're not doing land

exits. >> we're doing some of it. >> well my problem with that is if we're not doing everywhere, we really don't know if somebody has left the country. >> absolutely. and those tr the gas we're trying to close. we set up a demo lab with the science and technology branch we opened a few months ago. invite everybody to come up and visit it in dover, maryland. we have scientists there helping test out what are the right biometrics to collect and record that entry and then exit in the united states and then in realtime sochlt the course of this year and next year we'll be piloting different types of biometrics in this demonstration lab. we're looking to do a few over the course of next year and then have a good pilot in place at the beginning of 2016 at a single airport with what we think will be the right technology that we would expand

to additional locations. zble we know they are using the southern border and a broken immigration system to enter the the united states. hezbollah has been setting up terrorist networks for decades now and are working with the the mexican drug cartels to move contraband into the united states. al shabaab has been senting individuals through central america take advantage of our broken immigration system and claiming asylum upon injury but never showing up for the hearings. what measures are the department of homeland security taking to ensure they do not take similar advantage of our porous borders. and is the problem a concern that now hhs are taking minors and just dispersing them across the united states without governors or states or

communities knowing who the individuals are. if you can touch on that. >> sir, certainly we've had a long standing concern in the department about known or suspected terrorists and groups moving in and out of all of our border areas. and so we are continually looking at the information and the intelligence that we receive. determine credibility of that information. to date we have not had credible reporting that either hezbollah or any other terrorist group has been taking advantage of our borders to move individuals in and out. it's something we are always looking for, but to date we have not seen credible evidence of that. >> just this week identi've introduced a bill to stop the federal government from sending unaccompanied minors around the company into our schools and neighborhoods without any knowledge at all of what's happening. you know, i think we really need

to look at what they're looking at as how to get into the united states and kill americans. and so, thank you. >> madame chair, just an inquiry. could you give the gentleman an additional 30 seconds so i can pose a question to the gentleman? >> yes. >> and i thank the gentleman. we've worked together on a number of issues. do you have documentation that unaccompanied children age 2 years old and 4 years old and 6 years old and 10 years old are known terrorists spread throughout the the nation? you have present documentation. but do you have known documentation? >> i'm not saying that we have known documentation. unaccompanied minors are known

terrorists. but shouldn't we consider that a threat that we don't know anything about the individuals and they're being sent around the united states, especially with the threat going on in in iraq with isis, with our known intelligence that they want to come to the united states. don't you think that we are vulnerable without knowing that? >> all right, time has expired. and the chair will now recognize the senator from texas for his comments. >> thank you, madame chair. appreciate you bringing us together for the hearing today and assembling the panel that we have. i want to clarify the response miss lasley made to mr. barletta's question or comment and seek further clarity from any member of the panel who would wish to offer it. when a member of the congress says we all know they are using the southern border to enter the u.s., i think it's very

important for all of us to know whether or not that's a true statement. i have been told by dhs as recently as last month that there's no evidence, nor has there ever been, through the southern border, the border of mexico or terrorist plots were foiled or intercepted at the border or terrorist plots carried out within the u.s. that have a connection to the southern border. that is what i heard directly from dhs. >> will the gentleman yield? >> i will. >> they tried to cross the southern border, contacted what he believed was a mexican drug cartel. turned out to be a dea undercover operative in mexico. his intent was to cross the southern border and bring nefarious objects with him to assassinate the ambassador of

saudi arabia here at a restaurant we may have been attending that night. >> and i'll ask the the experts a the panel to answer the question. sir, i would reiterate what i stated earlier, that we to date don't have credible information that we are aware of of known or suspected terrorists coming across the border, particularly related to this threat stream. >> mr. miller and mr. wagner, would you like to clarify what we have heard so far. either from members of congress or your copanelists? >> yes, thank you. and building upon that the numbers of known watch listed individuals that we have encountered at the ports is minimal compared to what we see in commercial aviation. you're talking tens versus

thousands. it's minimal from what we have seen from watch listed encounters. >> mr. miller? >> i would reiterate what mr. wagner said. in addition, we do have very robust information sharing with the counterparts in central america, in mexico, with the state and local partners. we're imbedded in the texas fusion center. so we continue to look at this, and when and if that surfaced we would take appropriate action. >> i may submit a question for the record. i would like to know once and for all what the facts support in terms of these repeated accusations that the southern border is unsafe. that terrorists are exploiting it into the united states, i want to make sure that we

address the i want to make sure i know the truth on that. thgs not new, by the way. i'm going to ask for consent to submit to the record the herald of 1981. border checked for libyan hit squad. we have been projecting our anxiety -- >> without objection. >> thank you, madame chair. -- about threats to the united states on the u.s./mexican border for as long as i have been alive. it does not mean we should not be vigilant. does not mean we should not take the threats seriously. we should only traffic in the facts and the data and we should only raise these kinds of fears and anxieties when there are facts to support them. so i would ask for my colleagues to do that. there are a number of questions i have. most of them would be more appropriate in a classified

hearing. here's a general one and with time permitting, we would love to get everyone's answer. we're at war in iraq. we have service members flying missions over there. we have boots on the ground and advisers. we're about to formalize that war perhaps to some greater degree after the president's speech and with congressional action. what does a greater state of war in iraq and syria mean to you in the jobs that you do? what additional resources, as the ranking member asked earlier, authorities, and procedures would you need to meet additional threats following a greatest u.s. involvement in those two countries? i don't know if we can just have one of you answer briefly. i'm out of time. so with the chair's permission, would love another 30 seconds to hear from miss lasley. >> sir, i would say that we have

an imperative, and that imperative increases as the threat increases to share information. so that we can identify and stop individuals who want to come to the country. whether that's with the foreign partners, cl that's with the intelligence community or whether that's with the state and local law enforcement. so i think we will continue to be very vigilant in making sure that information is broadly shared. >> thank you very much. and the chair now recognizes the gentleman from florida. >> thank you for the work you do. thanks for coming and being willing to sit in the crossfire a little bit. and for your efforts to keep us as i went through, it felt like the vwp is yesterday's tool for

today's world. and so at a 20,000 foot level, the question that kept coming to my mind as i worked it with my team, do we optimize yesterday's tool for today's world? or do we need to go to a new program all together? maybe that means at one end of the continuum would be visas for everyone. could be less restrictive than that. would be more costly than we currently do. and we would probably hear pushback from the tourism industry and others. i'm not taking a position on that. what i would like is for you to take a position on whether you feel we should optimize yesterday's tool for the world or do we need to break the mold and look for something more current.

implied in my question, of course, is bang for buck. how much are we spending? how do we measure what we get for those expenses? >> i understand 300, but i know you have more sophisticated ways of measuring what we are getting for our resources in this effort. so i would leak to hear all four of you answer how you feel whether we ought to continue this current road. if we can see around corners good enough with in information, or do we need to go to a new level to protect the future? start with mr. miller. thank you. we need to look at the information we're currently connecting. and then take the appropriate action and decide if we need more information to collect.

as mr. wagner pointed out earlier, as operators are using the targeting system, generally more information is better as long as we can collect it in the right way given the civil rights, civil liberties, privacy and we're able to operationalize it. >> i would just say it's an important program. it does get us information sharing agreements and allows our close ally to share very important information with us that we're not getting from countries we don't have a vwp agreement with. it requires them to issue electronic passports, which helps them to report lost and stolen passports to us. like mr. miller mentioned, we're taking a hard look at are we collecting other data elements and what other information could

we make use of and how would we collect it? as we are with many of the programs. i think it dusz have value. and a side by side of vwp versus the visa program would offer and what types of benefits. and what is a good study time to take. >> is anybody doing that? >> sir, we are reviewing the program. we are reviewing a lot of different programs. as we constantly do in life, the different threats that arise. and are there gaps in there. are there gaps in how we connect the system. >> and i would say that's across the department. the department leadership is really looking at all the tools we have in our tool kit and how we can optimize them to make sure we have the data that we need and we're stopping people from coming into the country who shouldn't be here. one of the tools that we have if

i could just highlight one is our watch listing effort. so we are making a concerted effort with the department to share as much of the data with the intelligence community to make sure individuals are in fact put on the watch list. we do that for the entire department, working with the colleagues. and over the last three years, we have significantly increased the number of that we in the department have given to the intelligence community from about 4,000 two years ago to well over 9,000 this year. that's one way we're trying to stop travelers from coming. >> and as i mentioned we have our information sharing agreement with visa waiver program partners. we are increasing those sharing agreements and arrangements, in addition to beyond visa waiver program, we're expanding the number of agreements, and we

work closely with the inner agency partners on the watch list to make sure the foreign partners have those as well. i think those are strong tools. >> i urge you and i urge us to look at secondary and incremental and more than incremental efforts in this, in what we're doing here. i'm a user of global entry for my business before i came here. it makes me nervous that you all interview me but you don't interview people that could be face-to-f face, that could be somewhere in europe that could be wanting to come to our country. to my knowledge, i don't think we do that. am i right about that? >> we get interviewed upon arrival by the cdc. but there is no interview to issue that. unless we have it come through a preclearance location where we would interview them before they got on a plane. or unless our targeting systems and analysis gave us cause for

some time of reason to have immigration advisory program officers coming through one of the 11 locations talk to them before boarding and address any types of questions that we have. so the possibility is there. and we are in a lot of the countries. we are in london heathrow. we're inm manchester. we're in frankfurt. we're in amsterdam. major places of travel. so we have the opportunity if our other systems flag them for scrutiny. >> if you do a face-to-face with me, i would love you to do it with potential bad guys coming from outside our country as well. thank you for your answers. >> thank the gentleman. the chair recognizes south carolina. >> thank you madame chairwoman. thank you to the panel for being here. thank you for your service to

the country. in february of 2014 this year the director started out testifying before the senate armed services committee by saying looking back over my now more than half a century in intelligence, aye not experienced a time when we've been beset by more crisis and threats around the globe? two days ago we have a staff meeting on fly-in day. i shared a video with my staff of an isis produced video. but it showed young iraqi men loaded in the back of pickup trucks and dump trucks taking out into the desert. and murdered. hundreds of iraqis. harken times of the holocaust to watch the images that were disturbing of men shot multiple times to make sure they were dead as they laid in the trench. this is a real threat. and we may not think as

americans we may not be interested in islamic extremism and isis and the establishment of calaphate. but i tell you what, isis is interested in america and they're interested in you. in june i traveled to europe. i couldn't get many members of congress interested in going. we were looking at border security and foreign fighter flow. in june. i was to have that same congressional delegation trip today i would have to turn members away because the plane wouldn't be big enough to travel to europe to meet with our allies about foreign fighter flow. i grew up during the cold war. nation state versus nation state tracking the movement of tanks and large number of troops among borders in mainly eastern europe. we're not tracking troop movement or tank movement today. we're tracking individuals.

foreign fighters who lead not only european countries but this country to travel to fight ji d jihad. often times being radicalized and coming back possibly to the united states of america to create and commit heinous crimes. is that a farfetched idea? well, before i left to travel to br brussels, a young man who travelled to syria through turkey came back through germany. germany tracked its movements but failed to let the allies within europe know about the individual. he entered brussel, is and shot up a jewish museum. at least three or four individuals were killed. have you heard about that? probably not. i know it because i was headed to brussels and it was on our radar screen.

this was a jihadist, shot up a jewish museum, killed people. free travel. free travel among those countries. no border crossings. they're visa waiver countries as well. he would have been part of the visa waiver program, traveled back to his country unbeknownst to the united states personnel, had a valid travel document could have boarded an aircraft and flown to this country. we need to be concerned about that. we also need to be concerned about americans. we have now identified a number that have traveled over to fight with isis. whether it's in syria or iraq or the islamic state and whatever it looks like going. we should be able to revoke the passports of united states citizens if they do travel to

fight for another organization. in fact, u.s. law says that a u.s. citizen shall lose its nationality by volunteering and performing illegal acts. now there is a part of law that says with the intention of relen kwishing united states nationality. maybe we w need to strike that in future law. but if you go on, committing act of treason or bearing arms against the united states. that's exactly what isis and isil have said. if you go onto other laws, we can revoke a united states passport if the secretary receives certification from a state agency that the individual owes child support in excess of $25. we can revoke their passport because they don't pay child support. you can't tell me we're going to revoke the passports of people going to fight with isis that said we're coming to the wlous. we're going to fly that al qaeda

flag over the white house. who have made threats to the united states. who have beheaded two american journalists. but we can revoke the passport if they fail to pay child support? secretary should issue the past port of 19:26 that gives broad power to revoke the passport when necessary for security purposes. we need to keep them from reentering the united states when we know who they are, and we need to understand, america, the challenges of tracking individual foreign fighters and as they fly around the world through ally countries, where they end up. madame chairman, i hope this isn't the last committee hearing. we have a lot of threating facing our country. and i hope that the president comes out strongly tomorrow night against this threat to the united states of america and the very freedoms that we enjoy.

and with that i yield back. >> thank you, gentleman, very much. and i think we are all very interested to hear what the president has to say about this sure. i think it's -- i would guess certainly in my direct and most members when they were home in their districts over the last month we heard about this isis threat over and over and over. and it has certainly -- i think the nation understands and is looking for the president, he is the commander km chief, to outline to the country how serious of a threat it is, and what we need to be doing as a country to address it. and really the purpose of this hearing -- in a moment. really the purpose of this hearing was to talk about what we can do legislatively to assist all of you, and as i mentioned, i have currently two different bills that we're looking at, and introducing and

i would also encourage all of you, for instance, mr. wagner, you mentioned you're looking, you're reviewing, as you always are about what kinds of things would be helpful. please keep us in the information loop. you don't have to wait until we have a hearing to let us know what you're doing. and i know that maybe what you're looking at doing is better talked about in the skiff, but in a classified in situation, but still, keep us in the information loop. does the ranking >> i do, thank you very much. let me just hope to make sure that ms. lasley responds to my question and to just put on the a looming question of watch list, no-fly list. i think this hearing should leave the american public that we are being vigilant and we're knowledgeable that isil wants to form as an islamic state, but we

balance that with our civil liberties and facts. so, i would ask for anyone who may have documentation, i guess it's in different jurisdictions, but i want to put on the record, documentation on the status or the type of unaccompanied children. i would like to get that report from anybody who has access to that. i would like to yield 15 seconds to -- and thank the witnesses very much, too -- mr. o'rourke, very briefly. >> you don't have to yield to him. i'll recognize him. >> when i asked about a connection to known terrorist plots and the u.s./mexico border, mentioned the iran terror plot to assassinate somebody here in washington, d.c., there is, in fact, from everything that i know about this, absolutely no connection to the border. in fact, the plotter was interdicted at jfk airport where he was arrested due to our

coordination with government of mexico. the person he thought he was dealing was actually a dea agent posing as a cartel member. the border was never exploited. while i think this is a serious issue, one which we must remain vigilant, there is no connection to the border. i invite anyone, especially those who have the subject matter expertise to tell me if i am wrong. my understanding is the border is as secure as it has ever been and we do not have any terror plots tied to the border. doesn't mean there might not be some, shouldn't guard against it, but let's deal with the facts. >> i thank the gentleman for his comments. i recognize the gentleman from south carolina, if you would like to respond. >> i thank the gentleman. i think the iranian threat was to come across the southern border. it was thwarted, so you're right and wrong. we have no idea who's in our country. for us not to recognize that we

have open borders and that we have no idea who has entered our country illegally, and what their intentions were -- whether it was the intention to get a job and provide for their family or intention to maybe create a terrorist cell and do something nefarious in the future, we don't know. i met with the security force of the king ranch in your state. 30, 40 miles north of brownsville. 837,000 acres, as large as the state of rhode island. so they have their own security force. this was two years ago. he said, mr. duncan, we're watching on our property some otms. the term otm is only be applied to unaccompanied children from nick rag ra, el salvador. he said, we're catching folks on our property that are african, that are asian and that are middle eastern.

this is 50 miles north of the border. they came across the border illegally. just met with a secret service agent on the sidewalk in washington that was riding a bike. former military guy. served nine tours in afghanistan. that ought to tell you what he did in the military. he said part of his training was on the southern border watching and they saw thousands of people come across the border and they called cbp and nobody showed up. he said, part of our work was radio and communications intercept, because they were getting ready to go do the same thing in afghanistan. he said, everything we heard was not spanish. wake up, america. with a porous southern border, we have no idea who's in our country. i yield back. >> i thank, the gentleman. i thank everyone for their passion on this issue. obviously, there's a lot of interest in this. and i certainly want to thank all of the witnesses for their testimony today. and i know some of the questions

that were asked will be -- answers will be submitted in writing to the committee. we appreciate that. and with that -- >> thank you, madame chair. i want to say thank you. i know you're ending. just want to say that this is a committee of facts. no one knows and has documented that those otms were terrorist. i yield back. >> i appreciate that. >> thank you. >> we would also mention that pursuant to the committee rule 7-c the hearing record will be held open for ten days. so, without objection, the committee stands adjourned.

this area's theme is the broadest ever, the three bratches and you. we'd like you to tell a story that demonstrates how a policy law or action by it'ser the executive legislative or judicial branches of the federal government has affected you or your life or community. the competition is open to students in grades 6-12. students may work alone or in groups up to three. can contestants can are asked to provide a documentary and to include some c-span programming. the cash prizes will go to 150 students and teachers. and the grand prize winner will win $5,000.

the deadline is january 20, 2015 and winners will be nnounced in march. >> president obama is authorizing u.s. air strikes in syria and will expand the bombing in iraq against islamist militants. the president spoke from the white house for 15 minutes.

my fellow americans, tonight, i want to speak to you about what the united states will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as isil. as commander-in-chief, my highest priority is the security of the american people. over the last several years, we have consistently taken the fight to terrorists who threaten our country. we took out osama bin laden and much of al qaeda's leadership in afghanistan and pakistan. we've targeted al qaeda's affiliate in yemen, and recently eliminated the top commander of its affiliate in somalia. we've done so while bringing more than 140,000 american troops home from iraq, and drawing down our forces in afghanistan, where our combat mission will end later this year. thanks to our military and counterterrorism professionals, america is safer. still, we continue to face a terrorist threat. we cannot erase every trace of evil from the world, and small

groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. that was the case before 9/11, and that remains true today. that's why we must remain vigilant as threats emerge. at this moment, the greatest threats come from the middle east and north africa, where radical groups exploit grievances for their own gain. and one of those groups is isil, which calls itself the "islamic state." now let's make two things clear. isil is not "islamic." no religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of isil's victims have been muslim. and isil is certainly not a state. it was formerly al qaeda's affiliate in iraq and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and syria's civil war to gain territory on both sides of the iraq-syrian border. it is recognized by no government, nor the people it subjugates. isil is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. and it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand n its way. in a region that has known so much bloodshed, these

terrorists are unique in their brutality. they execute captured prisoners. they kill children. they enslave, rape, and force women into marriage. they threatened a religious minority with genocide. in acts of barbarism, they took the lives of two american journalists, jim foley and steven sotloff. so isil poses a threat to the people of iraq and syria and the broader middle east, including american citizens, personnel, and facilities. if left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region, including to the united states. while we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, isil leaders have threatened america and our allies. our intelligence community believes that thousands of foreigners, including europeans and some americans, have joined hem in syria and iraq. trained and battle-hardened, these fighters could try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks.

i know many americans are concerned about these threats. tonight, i want you to know that the united states of america is meeting them with strength and resolve. last month, i ordered our military to take targeted action against isil to stop its advances. since then, we have conducted more than 150 successful airstrikes in iraq. these strikes have protected american personnel and facilities, killed isil fighters, destroyed weapons, and given space for iraqi and kurdish forces to reclaim key territory. these strikes have helped save the lives of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. but this is not our fight alone. american power can make a decisive difference, but we cannot do for iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of arab partners in securing their egion.

that's why i've insisted that additional u.s. action depended upon iraqis forming an inclusive government, which they have now done in recent days. so tonight, with a new iraqi government in place, and following consultations with allies abroad and congress at home, i can announce that america will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat. our objective is clear. we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, isil through a comprehensive and sustained ounter-terrorism strategy. first, we will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists. working with the iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions, so that we're hitting isil targets as iraqi forces go on offense. moreover, i have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. that means i will not hesitate to take action against isil in

syria, as well as iraq. this is a core principle of my presidency. if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. second, we will increase our support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground. in june, i deployed several hundred american service members to iraq to assess how we can best support iraqi security forces. now that those teams have completed their work and iraq has formed a government, we will send an additional 475 service members to iraq. as i have said before, these american forces will not have a ombat mission. we will not get dragged into another ground war in iraq, but they are needed to support iraqi and kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment. we will also support iraq's efforts to stand up national guard units to help sunni communities secure their own freedom from isil control.

across the border, in syria, we have ramped up our military assistance to the syrian opposition. tonight, i again call on congress to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equip these fighters. in the fight against isil, we cannot rely on an assad regime that terrorizes its people, a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost. instead, we must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like isil, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve syria's crisis once and for all. third, we will continue to draw on our substantial counterterrorism capabilities to prevent isil attacks. working with our partners, we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding, improve our intelligence, strengthen our defenses, counter its warped ideology, and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the middle east.

and in two weeks, i will chair a meeting of the u.n. security council to further mobilize the international community around this effort. fourth, we will continue providing humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this terrorist organization. this includes sunni and shia muslims who are at grave risk, as well as tens of thousands of christians and other religious minorities. we cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient homelands. this is our strategy. and in each of these four parts of our strategy, america will be joined by a broad coalition of partners. already, allies are flying planes with us over iraq, sending arms and assistance to iraqi security forces and the syrian opposition, sharing intelligence, and providing billions of dollars in humanitarian aid. secretary kerry was in iraq today meeting with the new government and supporting their efforts to promote unity, and

in the coming days he will travel across the middle east and europe to enlist more partners in this fight, especially arab nations who can help mobilize sunni communities in iraq and syria to drive these terrorists from their lands. this is american leadership at its best. we stand with people who fight for their own freedom, and we rally other nations on behalf of our common security and common humanity. my administration has also secured bipartisan support for this approach here at home. i have the authority to address the threat from isil. but i believe we are strongest as a nation when the president and congress work together. so i welcome congressional support for this effort in order to show the world that americans are united in confronting this danger. now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like isil. and any time we take military action, there are risks involved, especially to the

servicemen and women who carry out these missions. but i want the american people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. this counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out isil wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. this strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in yemen and somalia for years. and it is consistent with the approach i outlined earlier this year to use force against anyone who threatens america's core interests but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order. my fellow americans, we live in a time of great change. tomorrow marks 13 years since ur country was attacked.

next week marks 6 years since our economy suffered its worst setback since the great depression. yet despite these shocks, through the pain we have felt and the grueling work required to bounce back, america is better positioned today to seize the future than any other nation on earth. our technology companies and universities are unmatched. our manufacturing and auto industries are thriving. energy independence is closer than it's been in decades. for all the work that remains, our businesses are in the longest uninterrupted stretch of job creation in our history. despite all the divisions and discord within our democracy, i see the grit and determination and common goodness of the american people every single day, and that makes me more confident than ever about our country's future. abroad, american leadership is the one constant in an

uncertain world. it is america that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the world against terrorists. it is america that has rallied the world against russian aggression, and in support of the ukrainian peoples' right to determine their own destiny. it is america , our scientists, our doctors, our know-how, that can help contain and cure the outbreak of ebola. it is america that helped remove and destroy syria's declared chemical weapons so they cannot pose a threat to the syrian people, or the world, again. and it is america that is helping muslim communities around the world not just in the fight against terrorism, but in the fight for opportunity, tolerance, and a more hopeful future. america, our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden. but as americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead.

from europe to asia, from the far reaches of africa to war-torn capitals of the middle east, we stand for freedom, for justice, for dignity. these are values that have guided our nation since its founding. tonight, i ask for your support in carrying that leadership forward. i do so as a commander-in-chief who could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform, pilots who bravely fly in the face of danger above the middle east and service-members who support our partners on the ground. when we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped on a distant mountain, here's what one of them said. "we owe our american friends our lives. our children will always remember that there was someone who felt our struggle and made a long journey to protect innocent people." that is the difference we make

in the world. and our own safety, our own security, depends upon our willingness to do what it takes to defend this nation, and uphold the values that we stand for - timeless ideals that will endure long after those who offer only hate and destruction have been vanquished from the earth. may god bless our troops, and may god bless the united states of america. >> on our next washington journal, we will get your reaction to president obama's speech. we will take your phone calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. we will talk to new york times

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