know, the interesting thing to me is through a whole lot of pains taking effort and all of the frustration that you felt, the thing that is missing aret now in washington, you able to generate consensus and bring people together. thetched, when we wrote biden crime bill that contained the brady bill, the assault weapons ban, the other things, and i would watch how you would both import to my colleagues in the hallway. they were scared to death to walk you. -- by you. you, it was like, oh god, what am i going to do? [laughter] it was a pleasure watching jim ,ork them, and i mean work them

and you standing there just so nice and forceful. bill, despiteady all the help that you got from public office, all of it would not have mattered -- it was the one-on-one, bipartisan consensus that you pulled off. it was pretty incredible. i think the most remarkable thing about jim was that -- i cannot say the day that he died because i had not seen him for two months before that. the same remarkable man the day that he died that he was when i met him over almost 37, 38 years ago. as the old saying goes, there are two things you have to know

about jim brady. one was that he was tougher than you, and two, that he was smarter than you. those were helpful going in. he had an incredible mind, but the thing that i loved about him most is he seemed more driven by his heart, as much by his heart as his mind. as i said, he never let up. he understood that it was really necessary to get important rings done, to question the judgment of other people. but the thing that he never did which is done today, is he never questioned motive. the question judgment. when you question someone's motive, it is often hard to make that switch and then come with you. he never did that. he always left room for people to come around. as i said, he never let up.

jim truly lived every moment that he was alive, even at the end. . remember talking to him once a guy that he knew well too was ted kaufman, my administrative assistant, became u.s. senator. i was telling him once, ted, i saw a picture of jim with the pope. that there was a quote from pope john paul about going quietly into the night, adjusting to age, excepting god's will, etc. this told jim, ted sent me quote. i told him what i sent back to ted. i send back when dylan thomas wrote. do not go gently into that good night. should burn and

rage of the closing day. rage, rage against the dying light. that is the thing i loved about the son of a gun. he arranged against the dying light -- raged against the dying light. never out of anger, but such incredible passion, born out of love. he cared too much to leave the fight to others, not even when he knew there was so much to do. the bullet of that would be assassin robbed him of so many of his faculties, as so many other victims of gun violence no, but it did not rob him of his voice. more than 11,000 men and women in this country still need his year, theyse, every fall victim of homicide, and

they cannot speak for themselves. but to end his life with every breath that he took, he spoke for them and hundreds of thousands of others. because he knows we had no choice -- he knew we had no choice but to speak for those who were lost. the voice that spoke or a president, senator, the disabled, victims of gun violence everywhere, now speaks , but i think jim finally has some peace. i think he is waiting for you guys. --re is a: my love called poem i love called the lake of

the industry. i will arise and go down to industry and i shall have some peace there. slow,iece comes dripping dripping from the veils of the morning to where the crickets sing. there, and midnight is all the glimmer in new is a purple glow and the evening is full of linton weeks. i will arise and go now for always, night and day, i hear lake water lapping down by the shore. while i stand on the roadway pavement gray, i hear it, that the deep heart score. he is waiting for you, i think he is waiting for those in this fight or so long with him, but most of all, his family. if my dad were here, scott and missy, he would probably look at you guys and say, you have good blood. you have good blood. that we may all

eventually, not in the too distant future, live up to the legacy and standard of jim, and finally get done what he worked so very hard to do. we have convinced the american time out with a proposal i put forward through the president. the fight used to be, can you fit -- convince the american people? 75% of the american people agree with us. what we need is another jim brady who has the skill and the ability to convince those who are afraid to walk the halls of congress to step up and do what they know is right. one will come along. it will happen. i pray that it is sooner rather

than later. dear. god bless you, care of one take another, as i know you will. one thing is for sure, you know your father is looking down and wondering why the hell i talked so long. [laughter] thank you all very much, god bless. [applause] ♪

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♪ [applause] >> [inaudible] [laughter]

>> james and pretty passed away on august 4 at the age of 73. this memorial service as well as the remarks from president -- vice president joe biden will air tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span.

live picture from the united nations, the general assembly currently receiving an update on the ebola outbreak. you are hearing from the head of the u.n. emergency response effort. live coverage right now on c-span2. thisll have more on ebola afternoon, the public health concerns in response to the outbreak will be live at 1:00 eastern as the house homeland security committee hold a hearing in dallas where we will hear from a number of national and texas health officials about coordination efforts to deal with ebola. that dallas hospital treated the with ebola.an thomas duncan has since died. we expect to hear more at 1:00 eastern. we will also take your phone calls. more campaign 2014 coverage coming up tonight as we bring you a debate in wisconsin in the governor's race. incumbent scott walker will face mary burke.

coverage begins at 8:00 eastern. we spoke to a reporter about the race and then you will see some campaign ads running in that state afterwards. first ofeek marks the two debates in the governor's race where got walker is replacing a -- seeking a second term. he is being challenged by mary burke. joining us from the lucky is bill klauber, thank you for being with us. two debates, both on a friday night. why? >> i guess they want to compete against high school foot wall. actually, i think the reason is get theen they could airtime and that is what wisconsin broadcasters have done for years. always a friday night debate. >> this is taking place at the mayo clinic. clean the format and what you're looking for. stilted,rmat was very a 1990's format, some might say 1970's, a moderator, panelist,

questions to each of the participants. rebuttals,, 32nd long opening statements, closing statements of three minutes. it will be a stilted venue, i think, and it will be a lot of soundbites and canned zingers. >> governor walker survived a recall and now his own battle in wisconsin. what do the polls tell you in this race? >> the polls right now are showing that walker leads by five percentage points among likely voters. that is outside the margin of error. i would say the race is very close. trekburke, a former bicycle executive, has come on as a good campaigner, has kept it close, and walker is trying to move the needle and the electorate over 50%. he is a well-known commodity. people either love in or do not

like him. the opinion about him is deeply entrenched. that is why this race really has not moved much, although walker has finally gotten a lead late in the going but it is volatile and could switch. anything could happen. >> the fact that this race is so close, does that surprise you? isno it doesn't, this wisconsin and wisconsin is the definition of a purple state, although it is purple in a different hue, in that you have deeply blue milwaukie and madison and then you have read surrounding those areas. it is a polarized state. you are always going to have a close race here, whether it is in the statewide races over, excepting for the last two presidential elections, usually a close presidential state. >> what does merriam burke bring to the -- mary burke bring to the race, how does the walker campaign view her?

>> she has been tough to pin down because she is not really a politician in that it has not been her career. as i said, a business executive, philanthropist, she is on the madison school board. this is her first statewide race. it has taken the walker team a lot of time to try to attack her and to drive up her negatives. it finally happened a little when there was a jobs plan that she released that turned out to be that sections were used in other plans by other democratic candidates. it was the consultant's fault but the mass landed in burke's lap. the tax cut that wisconsin voters were able to get. the walker campaign has been pointing to that as something positive, and the burke campaign says it is too little too late. the main issue in this race

governor walker promised 250,000 jobs would be created during the first years in office. the first four years. not happened. they will be dueling with numbers and labor statistics. it is a view of the economy. is it working or not. >> governor walker has been talked about as a potential 2016 presidential candidate. he has to get through this campaign first. what are you hearing in wisconsin? >> he has been working for that race for a long time. obvious.tty he has been running around the country giving speeches after the recall election in 2012. he has written a book. he is a guy that some people see as a person who could unite the republican party. he has to get through this. and the other question mark is

if paul ryan decides to run for president, what would scott walker do? they are now really focused on winning the governor's race. >> those two are good friends? and ryan have known each other for many years. they are friends. the head of the republicans also come from wisconsin. you have a wisconsin connection in the highest reaches of the republican party. >> thank you very much bill glauber for being with us. i amam scott walker, pro-life. there is no doubt in my mind, the decision to end a pregnancy is an agonizing one. that is why i promote legislation to increase safety and provide more information for a woman considering her options. the bill leaves the final

decision to a woman and her doctor. reasonable people can disagree on this issue. our priority is to protect the health and safety of all wisconsin citizens. the midwest is coming back. minnesota's unemployment is down and job numbers are at. but in wisconsin, scott walker cut taxes for the top, education, and we felt it dead last in job growth. tax cuts for the top and dead last in jobs. scott walker is not working for you. walker.scott thanks to our reforms the average family has annexed or $322 to spend. what are you going to do with your savings? >> we are taking a trip to see the grandkids. >> new tires for my cuts.

-- new tires for my truck. to keep your money in madison. i want you to keep it. is $11 by you in wisconsin? how about a pizza. scott walker things that $11 buys your vote. under his plan the average taxpayer got $11 a month, that wisconsin's got 610 million dollars in tax cuts and millionaires got $1400 a year. you? enjoy your mail. millions for them, pizza for you. >> live coverage of that debate from eau claire hosted by the wisconsin broadcasters association gets underway at 8:00 eastern on c-span. yesterday homeland security secretary jeh johnson talked about why only five airports are advanced ebola

screenings. on average, 150 people from the outbreak countries travel to the u.s.. 94% come in through newark, washingtonw york, dc, and o'hare airports. ofwelcome to the center strategic studies. >> strategic advisor. i welcome to all of you. for those of you who have not been to our new building, we hope you like it and feel welcome. today, we are privileged and honored to have the secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson, with us to deliver remarks on border security in the 21st century. it is an honor and a privilege

to have secretary johnson here speaking on a critical issue at a critical time for the nation's security and the department. i have gotten to know the secretary over the last year, and i will tell you he was one of -- he is one of the most serious, substantive public servants that i have met. you know the secretary's background. i will not recite his bio. certainly you know he has a distinguished legal and public career. he has served the public sector numerous time before his stint as the secretary of homeland security, he served as general counsel counsel at the department of defense. he may have been running the largest law firm in the world, probably 10,000 lawyers or so, but dealing with the thorniest issues -- from guantanamo and terrorism to don't have hotel policies -- don't ask, don't tell policies. he was asked to run the department at a time of enormous

challenge. it is a department with authorities, capabilities, and responsibilities for everything from connor -- counterterrorism and cyber security, to border response, national disasters, and pandemics. today, we are pushing of the secretary of state to us about border security, one of the pillar responsibilities of the department and the secretary. you talk about protecting our borders, and what that means in a variety of threats and actors that may threaten the united states. this is a time, obviously, where these issues not only have national and homeland security important, but play into the political dynamics with respect to immigration reform. it is with great honor and we have the secretary here today. we will conduct this, as we have other statesman and speaker

series. we will hear from the secretary and then have a question and answer period, which will moderate with discretion and some discipline. with that, i want to introduce secretary johnson and thank him for the privilege of having him here with us to talk about border security in the 21st century. thank you very much. [applause] >> to i very much, -- thank you very much, juan, and i want to thank this organization for the opportunity to be here this afternoon. today i want to talk to you about the important subject of border security, particularly the security of our southern land order with mexico. i see many of our good friend here, including my good friend, the ambassador from guatemala, who i had the opportunity and

honor to spend time with this summer, several times. in fact, over the last 15 years, across the clinton, bush, and obama administrations, our government has invested more in border security than at any point in the history of our nation, and over the last 15 years the number of apprehensions on our southwest border, a major indicator of total attempts to cross the border illegally has declined significantly. it is now less than one/third of what was in the year 2000, and it is at its lowest level since the 1970's. in fact, over the last 15 years, the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in this country grew to a high of 12.2 million in 2006, dropped to around 11.3 million, and has stopped growing for the first time since the 1980's.

without a doubt, we had a setback this summer with the unprecedented number of unaccompanied children and others who crossed a narrow area of our southern border in the rio grande valley in search of a family member and a better life in this country. we responded aggressively to this spike, and in fact, not the numbers of unaccompanied children crossing into the rio grande valley are at the lowest they have been in almost two years. can i have my next slide? where did we go? there we go. ok, thank you. whoops. ok. but, this is not a mission accomplished speech. we can and should do more to best enforce the security of our borders. in this speech i will discuss the past, present, and future of our border security efforts.

not enough has been said publicly by our government in a clear, concise way, about our or security efforts on behalf of the american people, and in the absence of facts, the american public is susceptible to claims that we have an open, or is border, through which -- porous border through which unaccompanied minors and member of terrorist organizations such as isil will pass. many saw the images of the processing centers filled with kids. far fewer americans know that by early june this spike in illegal migration by unaccompanied cans -- kids had turned a corner, and now it is at its lowest number since january, 2013. in september, the public heard a claim that four individuals with suspected ties to terrorism in the middle east had attempted to

cross our southern border. far fewer know that, in fact, these are true individuals were arrested, the supposedly to terrorism was thoroughly investigated and checked, and in mounted to a claim by the individuals themselves that they were members of the kurdish workers party, an organization actually fighting against isil and defended kurdish territory in iraq. nevertheless, these individuals have been arrested for unlawful entry, they are detained, and they will be deported. in the recent outbreak, there has been only one case so far of ebola diagnosed in this country. nevertheless, this department, my department, the department of homeland security, the department of defense, and cdc are heavily engaged. we are advancing our ebola screening of air passengers from the three affected african countries and we are continually evaluating whether moore is

appropriate. as secretary of homeland security, i am committed to more transparency about our border security. this speech today is part of that effort. given all we do today, it is hard to believe that as recently as 1904, we had virtually no order patrol at all. our land borders were completely open to all forms of migration. in 1904, teddy roosevelt created the united states immigration service. this force consisted of just 75 men on horseback based in el paso, texas, responsible for the patrol of the entire 2300-mile southwest border. it was not until 1921 that we began to restrict the numbers of immigrants who entered the

country legally with the passage of something called the emergency quota act of 1921. that law restricted yearly immigration to 3% of each nationality currently in the country according to the 1910 census. prior to that, the only limits on immigration or rejections on so-called "undesirables." with the numeric limits created in 1921 came a dramatic increase in illegal immigration which led to an increase of border patrol enacting 24. originally, the border patrol was part of the department of labor and was created to prevent illegal migration across our southern border with mexico and our northern border with canada. in those days, there were actually more days devoted to the northern border than the southern border to prevent the smuggling of liquor into the u.s. from canada during prohibition.

while other government agencies have faced cutbacks and limits in these times of fiscal constraint, our national leaders in congress and the executive branch have chosen to build a border patrol to an unprecedented level and resources. today's border patrol is itself one of the largest agencies of our government, with a budget of $3.5 billion, a total of 23,000 personnel, 20,833 border patrol agent, and the largest ever level of technology and equipment. let's look at that in more detail. in fiscal year 2000, we had 8619 border patrol agent -- next slide please -- dedicated to the southwest border. in 2013, the number is 18,127 and growing.

in fiscal year 2000, with just had 57.9 miles of primary fence along the southwest border. today we have 352.7 miles of primary fence. in fiscal year 2000 we had 10 miles of secondary fence along the southwest border. today we have 36.3 miles of secondary fence. in fiscal year 2000 we had 33 miles of physical -- vehicle fence. today we have 299 miles of vehicle fence. if you include primary, secondary, tertiary, and vehicle fence, today there's about 700 miles of total fence across the southwest border compared to just 77 miles of fence in the year 2000. in 14 years we have built almost 10 times more fence across the southwest border.

in fiscal year 2000, the border patrol had just 17 miles of all weather roads to get to and from the southwest border. today, we have 145.7 miles of these roads, strategically placed where we have determined that they are needed. in fiscal year 2000, we had just 29 miles of lighting along the southwest border. today we have 70 miles of lighting strategically placed in places where we have determined it is needed. 14 years ago we had few, if any underground sensors to detect illegal migration at the southwest border. today, we have 11,863 of these devices. in fiscal year 2000, the border patrol had 56 aircraft. today, the number is 107. in the year 2000, that border control had no unmanned vehicles. today we have eight of these for surveillance of illegal activity over the southwest border. in the year 2000, the border

patrol had just two boats to patrol the border over waterways like the rio grande. today we have 84. in the year 2000, willis one mobile surveillance system. today we have 40. today we have 178 of these. in 2000 we had 140 remote video surveillance systems. today we have 273 of these. in fiscal year 2014, the border patrol had 9255 pairs of night vision goggles. in the year 2000, the border patrol had little or no formal imaging capability. today we have 600 and these devices. today, the border patrol has a lot of disappointment of people, vehicles, boats along the border than in its 90 year history. i have high regard with -- for

today's border patrol. in nine and a half months in office i've been to the southwest border seven times. over the hot summer i observed the border patrol and leadership take on the unprecedented number of kids and families crossing the border into south texas. they did this in a calm and professional manner without complaint, worked overtime, and took on duties far beyond the job description. i salute the border patrol chief fisher for making the border patrol's use of force policy public earlier this year and rewriting it to more specifically addressed instances of rock-throwing at the border and the threat presented by vehicles. i salute the commissioner for making public the report of the independent police executive research forum on the use of

force by the border patrol. i also salute the commissioner for limiting a unified formal review process that will more effectively respond to, investigate, review, and resolve any use of force incidents involving the border patrol in a timely manner. this nation's long investment -- long-term investment in border security has produced significant, positive results over the years. he illegal migration into this country pay in the year 2000, reflected by over 1.6 million apprehensions that year. as you can see from this slide, illegal migration into this country has dropped considerably since then, reflected by the decline in total apprehensions from 1.6 million in 2000 to around 400,000 a year in recent years. the overall downward trend is no

doubt due in large part to economic conditions in both the u.s. and mexico, but it is also due in very large measure to the deterrent factor of our border security efforts. apprehensions are at the lowest rate since they have been in the 1970's. slide 24 makes this point. it reflects the increased in border patrol agents and the simultaneous decrease in total apprehensions in the same period. the bottom line of all of this is in recent years the total number of those who attempt to cross our southwest border has declined dramatically, while the percentage of those who are apprehended has gone up. put simply, it is much harder to cross our border and evade capture than it used to be, and people know that. the final indicator is the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in this country. according to pew research, the number grew to a high of 12.2

million in 2006, dropped, and has remained at about 11.3 million ever since. so, the population of undocumented immigrants in this country has stopped growing for the first time since the 1980's, and over half of these individuals have been in this country nearly 13 years. meanwhile, mexico has become our third largest trading partner with $507 billion in total two-way trade in 2013. it is the countries's second-largest -- the country's second-largest goods export market and more than one million u.s. jobs are supported by exports from mexico. our estimate for fiscal year 2014, and it is still an estimate as the fiscal year just ended, shows a modest increase in apprehensions to about 480,000.

increases almost entirely due to what happened this summer in the rio grande valley. in fact, in fiscal year 2014, about 53% of all apprehensions across the southwest border were in what we referred to as the rio grande valley sector of the southwest border, indicated by the red arrow there on the slide. this summer we saw an unprecedented spike in illegal migration into south texas. almost all of this migration can from guatemala, honduras, endocyte the door, and is everyone -- el salvador, and as everyone knows it consisted of high numbers of unaccompanied children, which added a dimension to the problem. he saw the photos of over-crowded processing centers in south texas. unlike other spikes in migration in the past, many of these families and kids expected to be

apprehended once they crossed the rio grande. they were not seeking to evade border patrol agent and all of our surveillance, and they probably knew that they could not. in response, we didn't number of things. our message was simple -- our border is not open to illegal immigration, and that if you come here illegally you will be sent back consistent with our laws and our values. so, we put additional border security and law enforcement resources into south texas. we open new processing centers across the southwest to handle the additional legal migration. in texas, arizona, and elsewhere. we reassign hundreds of border patrol agent to the rio grande valley sector to manage increased apprehensions and that sector. we dramatically reduced the time it takes to repatriate adults from never just 33 days down to

four days. we added additional flights to repatriate people back faster to their home countries. we built more detention space in new mexico and texas. we dedicated resources to the prosecution of the criminal smuggling organizations, the coyotes that were inducing people to take the long, dangerous journey to central america. we launched a renewed public messaging campaign in central america highlighting the dangers of the journey, and correcting the misinformation that coyotes are putting out about free passage if you come to the united states. vice president biden visited central american military leaders to coordinate our response. president obama himself met with the president of guatemala, honduras, el salvador, in washington to collaborate our sponsor.

the government of mexico did a significant amount to interdict migration from central america. the good news is since mid-june the number of illegal migrants crossing into texas has gone down considerably. slide 30, please. can we go to slide 30? well, if you saw slide 30, you would see a sharp ski slope. we will get there. frank -- there we go. all right. the high water mark was june 10, 2014. since, the number of unaccompanied children has declined steadily. the same thing is reflected on a monthly basis. next slide, please. in may, 2014, 10,580

unaccompanied children cross the southwest border. in june, 10,622 crossed the sophomore had in july, 5501, september was 2424. the monthly numbers are now the lowest they have been almost two years. in terms of the year-and number, the original projection in january with 60,000 unaccompanied children would cross the southwest border illegally in fiscal year 2014. during the summary -- summer we revised that up to 98 -- 90,000. a year-end number is 68,000. not far off the original production -- projection. the decline in illegal migration by parents who brought their children followed a similar path. next slide, please. though the worst is over for

now, from the spike this summer, and the high union legal migration 15 years ago, the president and i are committed -- illegal migration 15 years ago the president and i are committed to building a secure border. much of illegal migration is seasonal. despite in migration we saw this summer could return. the poverty and violence that are the push factors in central america still exists. the economy in this country, a pull factor, is getting better. thus, there is still more we can and should do. first, as we are doing across the department of homeland security in a variety of contexts, we will continue to build a risk-based strategy for border security. our southern border is a mixture of winding river, desert, and mountains. simply building more fences is not the answer. my predecessors used to say

build a 50-foot fence, and i am sure someone else will build a 51-4 latter. today, -- 51-foot ladder. today we have the ability to do more. much of that is already deployed on the border today. we need to go further in that direction so that we can focus our resources where our intelligence and surveillance tell us the threats exist. this is a smart, effective, and efficient use of taxpayer resources here at here is a vivid example of what i mean. we know where the risks are. we need to focus on these areas. the risk areas start to move someplace else, we get there first. second, to best accomplish our border security goals along the southern border, and consistent with the overall unity of effort and initiative that i announce team -- initiative that i announced in april, i directed

the department of homeland security embark on a southern border campaign plan that will put to use, in a strategic and coordinated way, the assets and personnel of customs and border protection, immigration and customs enforcement, citizenship and immigration services, the coast guard, and other resources of the department when and if they are necessary. we are discarding the stovepipes that you see on this slide. to pursue the southern border campaign plan, we are first developing a department-wide strategy for the security of the southern border and approaches. we will then direct their resources and activities of the department's components accordingly. our overarching goals will be effective enforcement and interdiction across land, sea, and air, degrade transnational criminal organizations, and do these things without impeding the flow of lawful trade,

travel, and commerce across our borders. we are now in the midst of developing the more specific plan to pursue these goals and associated metrics. a planning team from across the department led by the coast guard vice admiral charles michelle is developing lines of effort, actions, and milestones to accomplish these goals in an effective, cost-efficient manner. we will then take the next logical step which we see reflected on this slide in this plan and establish three new department taskforces, each headed by a senior official of this department to direct the resources of cbp, ice, and the coast guard in discrete areas. first, the blue box will be responsible for maritime forces. the second second task joint

force west will be responsible for the land border and the west coast of california. the third will be a standing joint task force for investigation to join the work of the other two task forces. these efforts, departmentwide campaign planning and joint task forces will ensure more border security efforts across our southern border and approaches. finally, there is much more we can do to inform the public about our border security efforts on their behalf. within the department we are developing metrics for measuring and evaluating our border security efforts, and we intend to make those metrics public. i am bolstering our office of immigration statistics by adding new statisticians. i am instructing that this

office establish a linkage with all of the components of the department with a border security mission so that the data on the size by this office -- publicized by this office reflects what is happening department-wide. with transparency comes responsibility. those of us in public office and in the media, whether in describing the border, isil, or ebola owe the public informed, careful, and responsible dialogue, not overheated rhetoric that is certain to feed the flames of fear, anxiety, and suspicion. as i have said many times, homeland security means striking a balance. in the name of homeland security, i can build you a perfectly safe city, but it will be a prison. i can build more fences, install more invasive screening devices,

ask more intrusive questions, demand more answers, and alarm the public enough to make everyone suspicious of each other, and simply stay at home. this will cost us who we are as a nation. a people who respect the law, cherish privacy, enjoy the freedom to travel and associate, celebrate our diversity and who are not afraid. thank you for listening. [applause] >> thank you, mr. secretary. i think you proved what i said. the new office of statisticians you have set up will be busy under your watch. what you just presented you

presented much like a prosecutor. >> i do have a large degree. >> i know you do. talk to us a little bit about where you see the vulnerabilities. more needs to be done, both within the department and the border. you have laid out where things are improved. >> i would not describe it as vulnerabilities although i will get to where i think we need to do more work you the department of homeland security is 11 years old. in 2002, congress rot together pre-existing components, coast guard, immigration components, border control that, as you saw in the presentation, were around long before dhs. they have their own way of doing business, their own culture, their own headquarters, their

own soft -- their own office of statisticians. the way we have done business up to now is each component would make its own budget request up through the stovepipe. it would go through headquarters and then omb and go to congress. so we want to do a couple of things. at an earlier stage in that process, we want to have a more strategic department-wide view toward what we need to deliver more efficient services for the taxpayer. and we may not have a strategic department-wide look -- what do we need on the southwest order? relying upon all the resources of the department, coast guard, cbp, ice, rather than just receiving it all stovepipe.

just this past summer, i saw the virtue of bringing to bear all these components toward one mission, which we need to do more of. when i go to mcallen station, texas, i would meet with border patrol personnel, cbp personnel in blue uniforms, meet with immigration enforcement personnel, cif personnel, fema" card -- fema and coast guard. the only person they had in common was mean. we want to create a structure through task force model that puts in place somebody geographically who is focused on the southwest border, southeast order -- southeast order investigation so we can have a more strategic approach and somebody at a slightly lower level than me focus on various

parts of the country and what is needed there. and we will approve the allocation of resources and the mission each year. to me, that is a better and more strategic way for developing border security. the graphic i showed of hotspots is my way of saying, hey, the proper approach, whether it is border security or aviation security, you have risk-based security where you focus on the hotspots. and we have the ability to do that, to focus on where we see the illegal migration trending and we focus the resources there. so that is what i believe should be the approach of the future. we have already begun to move in that direction and i want to continue to make strides away.

>> one critique of the homeland security is closing too many departments and agencies together and different systems, etc. is the department to big to manage and more broadly, is the homeland security enterprise that involves not just the department of defense, but is it too much unreal at this point? >> people ask me that question. the first thing you have to ask is where were all these components before. all of these components under the broad umbrella of homeland security used to be in something like 20 different agencies of government, ranging from treasury, agriculture, justice, a lot of component heads who did not have an homeland security law enforcement conformation.

-- core mission so we brought them together and a lot of my european counterparts, a lot of my middle eastern counterparts have ministries of the interior with almost identical jurisdiction sets. from my point of view, just in nine and a half months in office, i have seen the efficiencies that can be brought about by having all these components at one table for the purpose of a common mission. so i think it makes a tremendous amount of sense. is it big? yes. should we consider a more efficient command and control structure? a more efficient supervisory chain? yes. in the last slide is a step in that direction. >> one last question before opening up. you focus very much on the

southwest border. talk to us about your thinking in defense in depth with partners, not just along the border but around the world. in the context of the summer crisis, obviously working with mexican partners, central american partners have become key obviously. then you look at the ebola crisis and dealing with the issues, the transportation channels and what our partners around the world are doing, in particular with what is happening in west africa. how does the defense and depth of the homeland security enterprise fit into your model and how you think about dealing with these issues? >> i spend a lot of time with my counterparts to the south and my counterparts to the north. i was in ottawa last week meeting with mr. stephen laney, my canadian counterpart, and other members of the cabinet. i have been to conferences with my european counterparts. i visited with my middle eastern

counterparts. we are building what i believe to be a better system of immigration, of information sharing, of working together on border security issues, homeland security issues. given the current world situation, we all appreciate the need to do that. i think we are creating a pretty good environment in doing that. when i was in office just a couple of weeks, i went down to mexico for the meeting of our president and president pena nieto and the leaders senate -- leader's summit. their focus was on lawful trade and travel and had to come up that between the three

countries. it were a number of initiatives signed. in 2011, the leaders entered into are beyond the border initiative which were costly pushing with different lines of reference. so there is an increased effort in working with other governments as i see it. >> let's open this up. a little bit of the rules of the game. identify yourself and please keep it short. we want to have as many questions as possible and make it a question, not a commentary period. >> how has the threat of isis impacted the border control? >> isil is of course the most prominent terrorist organization on the world stage right now and we are taking the fight to them in iraq and syria with airstrikes and there is an

international coalition that is being assembled that will participate in this overall effort. isil is obviously a dangerous terrorist organization. they have demonstrated their willingness to kill americans in a brutal and public way sibley because we are americans. they called for attacks on the west. and they have very slick social media and very slick propaganda. so you put all those things together and, in my view, they represent a very significant potential threat to our homeland for which we have to be vigilant. we are vigilant around a couple of different things. one is the issue of foreign fighters, people who leave their home country go there, spend some time there, link up with

some extremist elements and then return to their home countries. either this country or a country that is in our visa waiver program. so we are focused on tracking those individuals. i think the fbi does a pretty good job of that. and also, we are concerned about -- and this does not really go to the border but it is in my view a very significant issue to focus on, we are concerned about domestic-based lone wolf acts of terror inspired by the social media group sure the literature of these groups. we have seen cases where somebody arrested, prosecuted was motivated by some literature put out by a terrorist organization. i am not in the business of singling them out because i do not want to give them promotion. but in many respects, that is the terrorist threat i worry most about because it is the

hardest to detect and he can happen with very little notice. one of the things we are doing in the department of homeland security, in addition to partnering with law enforcement is countering violent extremism initiative, outreach to communities in this country that have large muslim populations. so two weeks ago, i was in columbus, ohio. i was at an islamic cultural center just outside of columbus, ohio. i was in a chicago suburb where i did the same thing. there is a somali american organization. i will be going to other cities, minneapolis and a couple of weeks, boston, dearborn, los angeles. when i am done, i want to be

able to reach personally a large percentage of the community organizations that themselves have the ability to reach people in this country in communities where that potential might exist. while we monitor threats from overseas, potential overseas threats, our intelligence committee does a pretty good job of that. while we are very focused on aviation security, we continue to focus on aviation security. the new phenomenon that i worry about is the foreign fighters and the threat of violent extremism here at home. i think those two phenomena in particular are new post-9/11 phenomena that our government needs to prepare for hearing >> yes, sir, right here. >> i am a reporter with fusion.

my question is is the president still committed to taking executive action on immigration and what sort of action is he considering at this time? >> yes, the president is committed to taking executive action to fix our broken immigration system. and so i my. -- and so am i. we are developing a set of reforms that i would characterize as competence of the nature but within our existing legal authorities. there are a number of things we can do and we should do to fix our immigration system which i anticipate will be between the midterm elections and the end of the year. i think that is what the president said. ok, yes, sir, right here. >> thank you, sir.

>> a little bit louder. >> on the question of foreign fighters, a recent bulletin from dhs went to local law enforcement warning that people who have gone to syria and have returned to the united states might be posing a threat. how worried are you precisely on the threat of foreign fighters that have already returned to the homeland? >> i think our law-enforcement does a pretty good job of tracking individuals who may be tempted toward violence or may be meeting criminal acts or are about to commit criminal acts. together, between tracking individuals of suspicion in their travel, in their activities here at home, and their activities abroad, i think we do a pretty good job of tracking these people. you can never know what you

don't know. but when i look at the level of detail that goes into this effort and the systems we have in place, i have a reasonable degree of comfort that we are doing a pretty good job in that regard. i would not say that i have a complete degree of comfort but i have a reasonable degree of comfort that we are doing a pretty good job in that regard >> right here, sir, with the gray suit on and the type. >> thank you, mr. secretary. crossmatch technology. we are a biometrics company. where does an exit program fit in your program for the southwest border. >> a what? >> biometric entry and exit is

the gold standard. but it costs money. so we are working toward a biometric exit system but it costs money. it is the gold standard. there are several important agenda items that i would like to see completed but i have to rely on my partners in congress to do that and we need the right technology in place to do it efficiently. the biometric exit and entry is the gold standard. ok, yes ma'am, right here. >> thanks. you just laid out numbers to show how families and unaccompanied children in central america, those numbers are dwindling. why are we continuing to build the facilities and how long will we keep that policy of detaining families without bond? >> as i said in my prepared

remarks, a lot of migration is seasonal. so we look at the pattern this last summer of adults, adults without children. it followed almost identically the migration patterns in prior years in terms of the numbers and the trends. a lot of the migration you saw is definitely seasonal. but then there was a pretty sharp drop-off which may have in attributed to a lot of the aggressive efforts we put in place, a lot of the public messaging. so we've got to, in my view, guard against the same thing happening again. we want to build additional capability that can be converted from one type of use to another on pretty short notice.

i think there are some lessons learned from that experience. we also don't want to totally dismantle all the things we put in place the summer to deal with that because it could come back again. we watched the numbers several times a week. i used to watch the numbers daily. i watch the numbers several times a week to detect the upward trend but it could come back again. the traditional migration pattern for adults is, right after the new year, it starts to inch up again and again and then piece early summer and drops off when it gets hot in the southwest in the late summer. so we can see the same thing come back again and i want to know the against that. >> i've got time for one or two more questions. the gentleman way in the back. that you. yes, with the gray suit.

>> mr. secretary, my question -- question what is your organization? >> the polish embassy. there are still some eu states that are interested in the program. your predecessor assured the senate judiciary committee that that would happen over a year and a half ago. are you and it closer to those numbers being published? and do you wish to speak to the ongoing isil threat? any expansion in the foreseeable future for allied nations in support of the united states in iraq and afghanistan and the continued threat from iso-?

-- isil>> that is a three-part question. as you probably know, the criteria for getting into the visa waiver program in statutory. we assess whether a nation has met it and is qualified. so it is set up by congress. subpart ab was -- yes, overstay numbers -- there is a report in the works that i reviewed a while ago and i thought it needed some red teaming. i wanted it to have some good scrutiny applied to it before we made it public because it is an important number and i want to be sure we get it right. you know what red teaming means, right? so i wanted to have some scrutiny. to it to ensure that we got it right, that we got the methodology right. in terms of dealing with the foreign fighters issue, we are

evaluating whether there is more information we could get from participants in the visa waiver program with respect to people who travel from their country two hours. --to ours. so when a country becomes a member in the visa waiver program, they sign up to something called homeland security presidential directive 6, which is a series of security assurances. and we want to see if we are obtaining all the information we could and should pursuant to those agreements. so my folks and others are evaluating that right now. i think it is very important that we do that. ok. we will go over here. let's see. yes, sir, right there on the end.

>> thank you, mr. secretary. you responded to the question that the reporter from reuters asked before about unaccompanied children and the families that are coming here by responding about the seasonal changes in numbers that are coming here. but attorneys are going on a volunteer basis to a key location in mexico to detain families. these are women and children who have come from central america who are being held in these jail facilities. what they are perceiving is that these mothers and children are coming from her figure violence, domestic violence, gang-based violence, much of which would qualify them for refugee status here in the united states at very high numbers. a great majority of these women have strong claims for asylum. as the reuters reporter had asked before, why is the department administration

continuing to build more facilities, not just the one in artesia, but another one in cannes, texas and another one planned in texas that will bring the number of detention facilities for these families, mothers and children, to about 4000? why this mass extension massive expansive of detention? these are asylum seekers that deserve real protection and cannot be treated this way, especially mothers and children. >> a lot of the spike that we saw the summer were not just unaccompanied kids. unaccompanied kids got the most attention. but a lot of it, perhaps on the same numbers if not larger, were what we called family units, parents with kids, which is what you are asking me about. we have -- we had detention space for about 34,000 individuals.

only 95 beds total for family units. only 95, unit capability out of 34,000 --we believe it is necessary to build more that capability in the case that we have another spike like we did last summer. 95 out of 34,000 is not acceptable. i want to build additional capabilities that can be converted from one use to the other. i personally have been to artesia. i was there when it first opened. every time i visit artesia or nogales or mcallen, i spend time talking to the migrants myself. the kids, the moms and dads, to understand why they made this journey.

and i am certainly aware of the issues that council have hadissd with communications with their clients. folks to puted my in place a number of things to make the attorney-client relationship easier there. i certainly appreciate the attorney-client relationship. one more question. >> i have a two-part question. one related to the last question. you indicated in your prepared remarks that you and the vice president visited south america. did you come away satisfied they have the resources and the will to help address some of the questions that precipitated that spike?

the second question -- you talked about aviation security, particularly order security. can you talk about maritime security, given that 95% of the goods in this country come from cargo containers? >> question one, central america. in the course of my visit to , i got to know the ambassador here. i had a good session with his president, both here and in guatemala. and the numbers of his cabinet and the first lady. americaway from central , and guatemala and particular, knowing that there was a very personal, heartfelt commitment to encouraging their use to stay

at home. the first lady of guatemala was very committed to that. she put her heart and soul into it with a public campaign this summer. which i believe contributed to the downturn. undoubtably, there are issues of poverty and violence in central america. particularly in honduras. and el salvador, and guatemala. our discussions, which included the president, president obama, and the vice president, and myself, and secretary kerry -- we talked about longer-term ways in which we can address those issues. help in central america, with their border security efforts. we want to help the government of guatemala. some resourcese

to do that now. but we talked about more of that. course of thethe dialogue, we came away with a renewed commitment to do better, and do more in that regard. among all of us. ,e will continue that dialogue and continue those discussions. question 2 -- maritime security. that was question three, question two was -- >> aviation. >> when i visit a port, like the port of los angeles, i am pretty ability justour green. we have -- to screen. we are pretty sophisticated by identifying the manifest, the source, the country source.

and then suggesting to secondary screening, stuff that fits the profile. potentially problematic. i have seen it, i am pretty impressed by it. there is always room for improvement. i know folks are always looking for ways to improve. books thatlaw on the requires 100% scanning of every piece of cargo that leaves a foreign port by the u.s. government. is a very large unfunded mandate, it has been on the books since 2007. the statute creates the option for the secretary of home security -- homeland security to waive it every two years. haveso because we don't the resources to do such a thing ever single foreign port, which

we don't control. logistically, it is not there. -- and iveloping promised this rentable sponsors -- the principal sponsors of this law, that we will develop the capability for 100 percent scanning. but congress has not given us the resources to do that. , i plan for developing it would like to see us get to a higher percentage of what is being scanned. by look at what comes into the country, and the method we have for screening at all. and it is pretty sophisticated. i take away from that a pretty good news story. >> last question. on ebola. we are now screening at five airports. do we have the capability to deal with this, and we have

contingencies if things get worse? thee definitely have capability to deal with the ebola virus. been anme there has outbreak of ebola in the world, it has been defeated. in the united states, we have the best health care, the best doctors, the best hospitals, the best infrastructure. it is a treatable disease. , if you caught in time receive the right medical care and the right medical treatment in time. we have had one diagnosed case of ebola in the united states. from the are that three affected countries, there is no direct flight to the united states. you have to transit through various different points, mostly in europe. on average, it is about 150 people a day that, from one of

the three countries to any place in the united states. eitherthem come in to newark, jfk, dallas, chicago, or atlanta. dulles, chicago, or atlanta. given the nature of the deese, and given public concern about we disease and travel, determined to enhance the screening we already have in place. in place is the screening by local authorities in three countries. outbound, when you get on the plane to leave from africa, there is a temperature check and other things. the airlines have been given a lot of information about it. we give passengers information about it. screeninge been doing where you observe for these symptoms. couple of minutes left

in this event. you can see it in its entirety at our website, www.c-span.org. we go now live to the house homeland security committee holding a field theory -- meeting. they are hearing from officials about the response. thomas duncan, a liberian national first diagnosed with a bullet in the united states died early this week in a dallas hospital. the chairman of the committee is michael mccaul. we expect this to begin in just a moment on c-span.

>> the committee on homeland security will come to order. the committee meets today to examine the coordinated that are tostate and local response the ebola case in dallas texas. i would like to thank everyone for attending this hearing today. i appreciate the efforts taken on behalf of all those involved to have this field hearing.

this is a official congressional hearing. as such, we must abide by certain rules of the committee. and house of representatives. to remind our guests the demonstrations from the audience come including applause, as well as the use of signs and placards are a violation of the rules of the house of representatives. it is important that we respect the decorum and rules. restrict photography to press only. i ask unanimous consent that mr. joe barton, mr. michael urges, and eddie bernice johnson be permitted to sit on the dais and dissipate in today's -- participate in today's hearing. i recognize myself for an

opening statement. discuss ae today to threat to the united states homeland from the ebola virus. and what is being done to stop the spread of this terrible disease. this crisis is unfolding at an alarming pace. africa,s have died in and thousands more have been infected. including for self was americans working in liberia, who have been flown home for treatment. now, the buyers has begun to spread to other parts of the world. the american people are like -- rightly concerned. they are concerned because ebola is an unseen threat. it is only a plane flight away shores. stores -- we witness that with the case in dallas. the first fatality from ebola in the united states. we must be sure to confront this crisis with the facts. blind panic won't help us stop the disease from spreading.

fear mongering will only make it harder to do so. that is why we are here today. answer the american people's questions, and get answers from the experts. americans are seeking assurance state, andderal, local officials are doing everything in their power to keep this virus outside of the united states. already, there has been a vigorous response. we hope to hear more today about exactly what has been done, and what needs to be done going forward. two weeks ago, thomas r duncan traveled here from liberia. dullesof brussels and airport. presentedl, and himself for treatment at texas health presbyterian hospital in dallas. mr. duncan's diagnosis set in motion an extensive public health operation involving federal, state, and local officials to identify and assess any individuals with whom he may

have had contact. a process called contact tracing. that contact tracing effort continues today. our prayers are with everyone who is currently being monitored as part of this incident. we are thankful that to date, there been no additional cases thisola standing from case. it is difficult, but it is one of the few ways to contain the disease. containment also requires swift coordinated action. in this hearing, and investigations into the boston marathon bombings, we heard about the importance of the incident command system. the system is a vital tool for making sure first responders at all levels engage quickly and decisively, rather than argue about who is in charge. the importance of such a response mechanism was highlighted in the 9/11 commission report. it has since saved countless lives.

i was encouraged to learn that officials here in texas instituted the structure, and today, state and federal officials were: located in the dallas county emergency operations center, enabling vital information sharing and coordination. to be clear, the situation here is far different than what is happening in west africa. we have a strong public health infrastructure in place, particularly here in texas. it enables us to work to contain this virus more effectively. dallas is not the only area that we must be vigilant. we need to ensure that state and local responders nationwide are prepared to move quickly if the virus is detected anywhere else within our borders. are recognizing this, and have made nearly 190 inquiries with the cdc about cases they believe could be ebola. thankfully, testing was only

wanted in 24 of these cases. only one case was confirmed as ebola. public health and medical personnel must remain vigilant, ensure all hospital personnel are informed, followed protocols to identify the virus, and take appropriate quarantine measures. the importancece of taking travel histories and sharing that information with all relevant personnel. protecting the homeland from the ebola virus also requires us to put measures in place at our airports. i am pleased the president announced earlier this week additional entry screening efforts that are being launched. beginning tomorrow, enhanced screening measures will be activated at jfk airport, and soon after at dulles, o'hare, newark, and atlanta. his airports received more than 90% of all travelers from liberia, sierra leone, and danny. -- ginny.

the department of homeland security has been involved, and i commend secretary johnson for his leadership. also closely monitor the situation overseas, and continue our global response efforts. spoken with the homeland security adviser numerous times to ensure we are doing all that is necessary. discussed exit screening procedures that have been put in place by cdc trained personnel. dropped --ng has , out of a total of 36,000 individual screened. for truly, none of those 77 have been diagnosed with ebola. there have been many positive aspects of this response, there

have also been missteps. dallas,ance, here in mr. duncan's travel history was not communicated to all relevant medical personnel when he first sought treatment, which led to his release from the hospital, and the potential that additional people were exposed to the virus. there were also problems removing hazardous biomedical waste from the apartment where mr. duncan's family was quarantined. cereals --om homeials remained in the for days after the ebola diagnosis was concerned. -- confirmed. we must learn from the steps, and ensure the proper procedures are followed. going forward, we must consider all policy options for stopping the spread of this disease. i have heard many ideas. everything from stopping inbound flights from specific countries to additional screenings at home and abroad.

we hope our witnesses will discuss options that are being considered in the trade-offs that we have to confront. we also have to ensure unnecessary government red tape does not slow down the response. fact, we passed -- an appropriation was made in the house seeking $750 million towards response efforts. i would urge the senate to follow the lead of the house and approve the pentagon's request to transfer additional resources to this fight. now is not the time for politics. congress has been loath to get anything done the session. if there has never been a time to come together and put pettiness aside, it is now. we must get this right, and make sure that federal protocols are put in place, and communicated to our state and local partners when a situation is critical occurs. don'te today is that we

focus on politics, but instead, here from our panel, and focus on solutions. we are all in the same boat. we need to work hard to make sure our nation is protected from this threat. i want to thank the ranking member for being here today in my home state of texas, and the showing of support for the shared goal. before i turn it over to him, i would also like to commend our first responders, our medical personnel and public health officials who have responded courageously to the case here in dallas. most importantly, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the families affected at this crisis. i look forward to hearing from the witnesses, and hear from them what more can be done to keep americans safe. with that, the chair recognizes the raking member, mr. thompson. >> good afternoon. want to thank the chairman for holding this timely hearing on

our efforts, both domestic and international, to contain and prevent the spread of the ebola virus. also, i think the witnesses for appearing here today. i look forward to the testimony. additionally, i want to thank the chair and the board of directors of the dallas-fort worth airport, and their executive staff, for hosting the committee today. i want to extend my condolences to the family of thomas eric duncan, the first person diagnosed with ebola on american soil. we are not here to dehumanize mr. duncan. ,nfortunately, his diagnosis and the procedures that followed, raised critical questions about our preparedness for highly infectious diseases such as ebola, and how federal, state, and local authorities coordinate in their aftermath. as ranking member of this committee, i often urge my colleagues not to use opposition of influence to promote fear in

the public. hence, i want to clarify that while it is proper to have serious concerns about the ebola virus, it would be irresponsible for us to foster the narrative that an ebola epidemic in the united states is eminent. rather, this searing provides us an opportunity to review state, local, federal, and global public health infrastructure, learn where there are inconsistencies and gaps, and lay the foundation for eliminating these disparities. ebola virus has caused the united states to institute new screening procedures at airports, it is incumbent upon us to work with our international partners to eradicate the virus at its origin, in west africa. the current ebola outbreak is the deadliest outbreak on record. the assistant secretary general of united nations, it is also impairing

national economies, wiping out livelihoods and basic services, and could undo years of effort to stabilize west africa. eliminating this virus at its source is a surefire way to prevent more ebola cases in the united states. citizens of the global community -- as citizens of the global commodity, it is not only our response ability to -- response ability to limit this fires, but help them recover. responds --tates 'response seems as though the international community did not act aggressively soon enough. in march, the world health organization issued a notice of in a bowl outbreak in ginny --

innea, after the outbreak liberia. borders doctors without , a nongovernmental organization declared the outbreak out of control. -- theld where gulf world health organization and the international community did not improve on its efforts until august. according to a chart that i have here. until the spike started in august of this year. mr. chairman, i submit for the record this charge. earlier, i stated in a bowl outbreak is not imminent. is theould be discussed value of public health infrastructure, and the cost of maintaining it.

many times, it is used for upon horror -- a pawn. viruses do not know political parties. grants from the cdc, and office of the surgeon struggling already state and health departments hard. we can use our platforms to respond funding, and support the federal cost of maintaining a public health and for structure. today that our discussion can yield a step in this direction. i also support the chairman's, that this disease does not see .arty it is an american problem, the

world needs our best minds to address. testimonyward to the of witnesses. i yield back the balance of my time. >> i think the ranking member -- ank the ranking member. dr. tobin berlin is the director of the department of preparedness and emerging method -- diseases. in this role, he is responsible for the cdc's laboratory response network, infectious disease and emergency response for nation, and emerging infection epidemiology and laboratory capacity programs. next, she serves as the acting assistant secretary of health affairs and chief medical officer for the department of homeland security's office of

health affairs. she began her service in july 2008, previously served as the associate chief medical officer and director of the division of workforce health and medical support. on a detail toed the national security staff as a director of medical preparedness policy. thank you. mr. john white more, i want to thank you for the two are you gave me. you gave me come and how you would deal with potential ebola victims. ner became his current position in two dozen eight. he overseas employees and specialists that protect our borders. his annual budget provides

operations that support national security and customs and commercial trade. the full written statement will appear in the record. >> good afternoon. i appreciate the opportunity to be here today to discuss the current epidemic of ebola in west africa, as well is the work the cdc is doing to manage the global consequences of this epidemic. i have been particularly involved with colleagues here in dallas, addressing the first u.s. diagnosed ebola case. like you, our hearts go out to the family and friends of mr. duncan. noted, mr.director duncan puts a real face on the epidemic for all americans. ,he ebola epidemic in guinea liberia, and sierra leone is ferocious.

it continues to spread exponentially. the current outbreak is the first that has been recognized in west africa, and the biggest and most complex ebola outbreak ever documented. past last week, the surge 7900 gmail of reporting cases, -- cumulative reporting cases. we believe the numbers could be two to three times higher. fortunately, the u.s. and others in the global community are intensifying the response in order to bring this critical situation under control. from the time the situation in west africa escalated from an outbreak to an epidemic, we have anticipated that a traveler might arrive in the united states with the disease. ebola inted case of dallas required the cdc and the nation's public health system to implement rapid response protocols that have been developed in anticipation of such an event.

within hours of confirming that the patient had ebola, cdc had a team of 10 people on the ground in dallas to assist the capable teams from the texas state health department and local authorities. we have worked side-by-side with state and local health officials to prevent infections of others. together, we assessed all 114 individuals who might have possibly had contact with the patient. we narrowed down the contacts to 10 who may have been around the patient when he was infectious. 30 others with whom infection could not possibly be ruled out. these individuals are being tracked, and will be tracked for 21 days for any signs of symptoms. they will quickly be isolated if symptoms develop area. we are also working to identify and learn lessons from the initial patient encounter. and other events that cop located our response, and to

apply them in other responses. we are cop it we can prevent in a bowl outbreak here, and that congress has put us in a strong position to protect americans. to make sure we are prepared as the epidemic has example five, the cdc has done the following -- instituted layers of protection starting in affected countries where our staff work intentionally -- intensely on airports running. on how toded guidance manage sick passengers. along with partners and dhs and state and local health agencies, we continually assessed and improved inbound passenger screening and management. as the president announced, the cdc is working with dhs