of civil war firmly in the rearview mirror. it's only through strength of civil society institutions, nepal will be able to develop fully its own disaster response capabilities resilient enough for this disaster prone region in the world. with that, i yield back. mr. chabot: thank you for calling this earthquake -- hearing. the earthquake was tragic. places an enormous gap and historical record of nepal's people. nepal will never be able to get back all that it has lost. the international response has been considerable and in particular, the u.s. government's response efforts from state department, usaid and department of defense and rapid fire response made a difference

and saved many lives and thanks for your considerable effort there. the dedicated u.s. team that joined the response effort deserves our gratitude and as you already mentioned mr. chairman and ranking member mentioned, six of our marines paid the ultimate price to help the nepal ease people and they will be forever missed. and as soon as i heard, i remember this, the ambassador voicing his concern to us as we drove through there about the stone buildings and brick buildings and vull -- vull -- vulnerability. you but long-term maybe

preventing more people from losing their lives down the road and how we can assist. thank you for what you have done and i yield back. the chair: ms. meng would you like to make an opening statement. ms. meng: new york city is home to thousands of citizens from nepal and we have districts throughout the burrough of queens. i want to thank all of your departments for the immediate response to the crisis and your ongoing efforts. a tragedy like this one every minute and hour is important and can mean the difference between a life saved and life lost. this has been a humanitarian crisis of immense proportion sm the government of nepal that

8,200 people have been killed and 17,000 900 injured. an earthquake in nepal was considered one of the worst case scenarios as far as environmental disasters in asia. how your preparations helped facilitate appropriate aid and what needs to be done to prepare for future disasters and i yield back. mr. brooks: thank you. we are proud and very appreciative to speak with a panel of some of the administration's most knowledgeable and senior figures handling this crisis. grad to have you, assist ant secretary of state for south and central asian affairs. and we are looking forward to hearing about your findings there. and we are grateful to hear from

thomas staal usaid's assist ant administrator. also joining us again from usaid, administrator for the bureau for asia. this is mr. stivers third time before the subcommittee. and we are very glad that you keep coming back. and finally we have ann -- i hate it when people mispronounce my name. the subcommittee gives sincere thanks to the panel for their insights and i start with ms. business wall. ms. biswal: thank you for this important and timely hearing on nepal. ranking member connellly and

members of the committee, it is tragic that what brings us together here, but i want to thank you for your very comprehensive and heartfelt statements and the very strong support of the united states congress in the relief efforts from the united states and really from around the world for the people of nepal at this time. i'm particularly proud to be appearing at this hearing with my colleagues from usaid and department of defense, which is a true indication of the spirit of military cooperation in the united states and one of the issues of humanitarian response. in the interest of time and because we have such detailed expertise at the dais, i ask that my full statement be entered into the record and i will summarize a few key points here.

the outpouring of concern from the u.s. congress following the days of the earthquake and the surge of contributions to relief organizations is a real testament of the generosity of the american people and the values that unite us during difficult times. the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in nepal took over 8,600 lives and injured over 17,000 people. last week i traveled to nepal and witnessed firsthand the devastating losses suffered by the people. but also the triumph of the human spirit. he sill -- resiliency and the commitment of the relief workers as they came together to have nepal recover from the earthquake. i saw determination in the faces of those who lost their homes and family members but had not

lost their hope. it was heartbreaking news, as i arrived in nepal that the american helicopter had crashed with no survivors and that news reached our team as we had kept our search efforts and our hopes alive for four days in search of that helicopter. we salute those brave military officials. americans and the people of nepal who perished in their nation's service while helping those in need. i want to take a moment to express our extreme gratitude to the strong supporters of the indian and forces that joined us in that extensive search for our missing helicopter. as general whistler, task force commander noted to me, the

people joined in that search as if it was one of their own that had gone missing. the u.s. civilian responders led by the aid dart team and the embassy team and our search and rescue teams from fairfax and los angeles worked tirelessly to save lives and bring assistance. they are heroes that embody the best of american heroes. nepal is a nation of tremendous strength and bravery and just on the verge of emerging from a 10-year civil war and moving towards strengthening its democracy and moving down a path of development. it is now a country that is recovering from a major tragedy and focusing on the most immediate needs of shelter, food and of health. if we are to help nepal not only

recover from this earthquake, but also continue down that path of political transition and progress, it is going to require the considered effort of the united states and the international community and most importantly of nepal itself. our immediate focus, mr. chairman, is on beating the clock as the monsoon rains that are expected in about a month's time, threaten to bring a new onset of disaster. we are racing against time to provide shelter to help people get crops in the field and to move towards post-monsoon recovery phase. when i was in nepal, i visited a town about an hour outside of kathmandu, where i saw devastation which was

heart-wrenching and 50% of the buildings destroyed or destroyed beyond has beentation. yet, at the same time, we saw perseverance of the people who were undertaking the task of trying to put their lives and their homes back together. the u.s. government has already committed nearly $47 million in assistance, but, mr. chairman, i want to note that some of the most important life-saving assistance that the united states provided happened before the earthquake struck as you noted. and because of the strong support of the united states and american people and the investments we have made over the years, the government and the military, which had been training with our military was in a much better area to respond

to this earthquake. our embassy staff under the ambassador and john carwell who is with us the embassy's staff performed above and beyond the call of duty in the recent weeks after undergoing that tragic earthquake. they were up and ready to assist within hours and that team because of the investments that the american congress has supported over the last five years, did not lose a single life on the embassy staff. we had put everybody into earthquake resiliency housing and done drills and preparations that proved to be extremely lifesaving in this important moment and they were able to go about the business of rendering assistance to others in need because their own needs and own families had been taken care of. we learned important lessons in

that process and we will be looking at the best practices of what we did in nepal in terms of our embassy's and people in other areas. the embassy has been open since the time of the earthquake, providing services to american citizens and others in need. over 800 u.s. citizens and third-country nationals were sheltering at the embassy in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. over 50 u.s. and third-country nationals were rescued by the efforts of the embassy teams by chartering private aircraft before the u.s. military assets arrived on the ground and they continue to work to provide assistance to american citizens across nepal and third country nationals as necessary.

mr. chairman, i want to talk about the regional responses to this earthquake. we have seen a remarkable response by the neighboring countries, the indian government and the indian military and assistance was mobilized by bangladesh, by china, japan and thailand and a tremendous outpouring of efforts from win the region and across asia asian the increasing capabilities throughout asia to respond to how man tarian disasters and that is work done by the united states working with our partners to build capacity. both our office and our military have demonstrated tremendous amounts of efforts. and that was on full display

during this recent tragedy. finally, mr. chairman, as i noted, as we are still in the midst of relief, we are talking about and focusing on the longer term recovery and we are working together with the international community with the world bank, the united nations, the asian development bank, the european union and bilateral donors to come together around a common framework of needs that will be a post-disaster needs assessment that will be led by the world bank and u.n. under which the governments are working together to have a common assessment of need and based on that we will work on that to ascertain the assistance pledges within asian the international community. we do expect that a lot of the recovery will be asian-led and the united states will have a

very important role to play if we are to help nepal to recover from that earthquake and build back better. we will have more, but mr. chairman i pledge to you and the ranking member that we will work very closely with congress as we determine those needs and as we move forward. it is also a time of political delicacy as we continue to strengthen nepal's efforts for constitutional drafting and for strengthening its democracy. and we will work through the recovery phase and help strengthen the democratic process in nepal. finally, there are particular vulnerable groups within nepal that are more affected by this earthquake and we are mindful of the needs of women and children particularly the vulnerability to trafficking when so much of

the law enforcement capabilities are focused on earthquake relief. this is an area we are surging technical expertise to address and working not only with the law enforcement authorities with nepal and neighboring countries to ensure that we are addressing the needs of these most vulnerable victims of the earthquake so they do not become victims of trafficking and working to ensure that minority populations and refugee communities within nepal who have long found refuge by the government of nepal are addressed in terms of the impact of the earthquake. finally, as we are looking at the long-term impacts, let us not forget the impact on nepal's cultural heritage. the beautiful and old arc --

architecture has taken an impact. and it was a moving sight to see some of these beautiful buildings reduced to rubble and it will take an effort from the world to preserve this heritage, which isn't the nepal's heritage but the world's heritage. thank you for the leadership of this committee and of this congress and the support you have provided to the people of nepal and u.s. government's response to this tragic earthquake. i look forward to your questions. the chair: thank you, mr. staal. mr. staal: thank you very much for inviting us to testify regarding the humanitarian response to the nepal earthquake and thank you for your

continuing support to our efforts. and of course, we would like to express our deepest condolences to all of those who lost their lives and the loved ones in this tragedy, including the families of the six u.s. marines and the two soldiers who died. we are grateful to our research teams who are taking risks to save lines in nepal. the earthquake on april 25 and the aftershocks that followed caused huge widespread damage across nepal and especially in the rural areas. but preparedness measures that usaid has supported has helped save lives. i want to provide an overview of our humanitarian response and how we have leveraged to ensure the most effective and efficient

response. and then i'll turn it over to my colleague, who just returned from nepal to provide steps. as you mentioned the u.s. government provided nearly $47 million in humanitarian assistance. it is addressing priorities including emergency shelter. we got some plastic sheeting right here. safe drinking water, improved hygiene, protection of women and children and quite a broad spectrum of assistance. within hours after the earthquake hit, we deployed a response team. this included 20 u.s.said disaster experts and the search and rescue teams from fairfax and los angeles and famous now nine canines.

and two members and i think we got it there somewhere. we have learned from previous disaster responses based on initial disaster assistance we promptly requested assistance from our colleagues in the department of defense to provide logistical support so since may 4, we have worked with the military to transport more than 900 tons of relief supplies to remote areas. the coordination has been exceptional. and our search and response, search and rescue played a critical role in this response. i got another photo here that many of you seen where they helped to identify and pull a 15-year-old boy out of the

rubble, five days after the earthquake hit. the yellow hats are the search and rescue folks and you have the folks of nepal as well. and they rescued a 41-year-old woman after the may 12 aftershock. and sent up septemberers at the airports and treated people using medical supplies. the us air teams are home now but our disaster experts remain to direct the u.s. response in coordination with the government of nepal. with the monsoon season fast a approaching, we are focusing on providing emergency shelter improving water, sanitation and hygiene to hard-hit communities. we have airlifted so far 6,200 rolls of the heavy duty plastic sheeting. we have a picture of that being

distributed. and this can help 310,000 people build temporary shelters, and protect their homes from damage and rain. and the last cargo flight landed this morning. not only for homes, you can use it for other purposes. the next photo we've got showing that the nepal red cross is using it as temporary classrooms and safe spaces for children to play. and that is another way of protecting women and children. before i turn it over toll john i want to identify some insights on response from previous investments. over two decades, we partnered with the government of nepal to bolster its emergency management response capability. we prepositioned water treatment plants and stock warehouses with emergency supplies out in the rural areas and these were distributed to 3,000 families within hours of the earthquake

happening. we worked with the international organization of migration to preserve more than 80 open spaces throughout kathmandu valley. we retrofitted 50 schools to make them more earthquake resistance and through our teams, we checked these schools. only six had damage and very minor damage. and thanks to support for hospital preparedness. the hospitals were able to stay open and quickly provide support to earthquake survivors. one hospital treated 700 survivors and performed 300 surgeries. the impact of the quake could have been a lot worst without these preparedness efforts and none of these investments wouldn't have been possible

without your continued support.

prior to the earthquake, nepal made significant development gains including president obama's initiative and global health and global climate change initiatives. three accomplishments we can be proud of we helped nepal cut the poverty rate to 25%. second we helped decrease maternal and infant mortality putting nepal to meet its goals and giving mothers and children a beater future. since the conflict ended in 2006, we supported nepal in carrying two free and fair elections due to our efforts and

support for their election commission. despite these achievements, there are significant challenges ahead. the natural disaster threatens stability of the natural disaster and the gains that have been made. in regards to gender-based violence, human trafficking was a current problem and puts women and girls at great risk. we are leveraging the program to heighten the protection needs. our partner is identifying those needs and providing support to help vulnerable people cope with the trauma of loss and make decisions that do not put them at risk. usaid is expanding those efforts, building on our counseling to survivors of human trafficking and investigate and prosecute human trafficking

cases. thank you to the members of this committee for keeping this issue front and center for these around the world. time and again, we have seen the value of initiating recovery efforts even as a disaster response is under way. we will work with the government of nepal and international community to advance the long-term recovery effort. we are working closely on a post-disaster needs assistance that should a framework to consider the lorning term construction needs. while it will not be completed until mid-june, shelter and infrastructure will be the greatest need. recovery in other areas is dependent on people having a safe place to live. one of the worst hit districts

in the mountains north of kathmandu. in this district, it estimated that 70% of the structures were destroyed and 40% of the deaths occurred here. the remoteness of the hardist hit towns makes relief extremely difficult. it is a march joy challenge but we know the recovery will focus on livelihoods, health and hygiene, water and sanitation, education, protection of vulnerable people and protection risk management. we need to ensure that they are transparent and accountable and responsive to local needs. we will work with the u.s. congress to determine nepal's role. nepal will not walk this road alone. the government opened its borders to the outside world.

we are nepal's long standing development partner and will we work with the people. thank you for the congressional support of our disaster support and i look forward to answering any questions. the chair: thank you. >> thank you. mr. chairman, ranking member sherman and distinguished members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to testify today -- ranking member connolly. ranking member connolly and distinguished members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify regarding the department of defense' role in response to the earthquake and the aftershocks. first, i would like to express my deep sadness and offer my

condolences to the six marines lost in a helicopter accident supporting the relief accident. this is a vital role that u.s. service members play in delivering assistance and disaster relief but one that is not without risk. the department has a long history of military to military engagement toll nepal and the pacific region. this engagement has focused on several areas increasing disaster and response capabilities. in recent years through u.s. pacific command, d.o.d. has worked with the government on initiatives designed specifically to mitigate the impact of a disaster such as this one. these efforts include construction of wells to provide water, establishment of an earthquake-resistant blood bank,

construction of emergency facilities at nepal's main airport, training and rapid repair of runways and emergency centers and construction of multiple disaster warehouses. we have engaged in exercises and exchangeses, including an earthquake scenario and regional summit hosted in 2014. another round of training is scheduled for later this year. such efforts along with other states help to deepen our corporation with our partners and appear to have mitigated some of the impacts of the earthquake and facilitate its response efforts. for example, the d.o.d.-funded deep well project is providing water and power to more than 5 ,500 and local villagers in the

kathmandu valley. on april 25, hours after the quake, secretary carter drafted that the department provide support to the region. the commander of u.s. pacific command ordered two special forces teams already in nepal to assist the embassy team with medical support. additionally, u.s. trappings command provided two c-17 aircraft to airlift the usaid disaster response team as wells the two urban research teams. these teams launched in the hours after the initial earthquake and arrived on april 28. u.s. pacific command also deployed a 20-person support team commanded by marine brigadier general paul kennedy

to provide expertise to the dart leader and frame better requirements. as the assistance team came to understand the scale of the disaster, it became clear that more military support would be required. air field management specialists were needed to help the backlog at the international airport. the u.s. military response named operation -- helping hand commanded by marine lieutenant unwhistleler. they had more than 900 personnel . up to 300 of those personnel are in forward stage nepal. to date, joint task force 505 has provided search and rescue support to the u.s.aid response.

the joint force airlifted 448 passengers and airlifted more than 728 tons of material. in conclusion, the department of defense in support of our usaid has responded swiftly. the relief efforts and in the u.s. government response to national -- natural disasters. thank you again for this opportunity toll highlight this great work that the women and men are doing in the department of defense and the state department. and i look forward to your questions. the chair: i understand mr. connolly has another scheduling issue. mr. connolly: i appreciate it. welcome to our panel. i'm particularly interested as a

long time supporter of and participant in usaid programs, lessons learned, what worked, what didn't? we have been in nepal since 1951 and spent a lot of money on emergency preparedness, knowing that this is a high-risk area to begin with. you are between two plates that has created the himalayas and this is real stuff. what work well, mr. staal, in your opinion and what disappointed us that we have to beef up and improve? mr. staal: very important question and something that we take very seriously and every do we have a humanitarian response

we do an action and that will be coming out as well. we can already see a number of things worked well. our coordination with the military and not just that it worked well now, but the fact that we already developed good relationships or good working relationships. paul kennedy mentioned also helped us -- mr. connolly: talking about our military? mr. staal: yeah. we latched up really well and that's an important thing that we continue to build that. and also our relationship on the ground, you know training of search and rescue teams within nepal, first responders both in the government and even volunteers. that made a huge difference, prehi positioning supplies around the country both from us and the military side made a

huge difference. hard to measure the negative, but that made a huge difference. coordination is still an ongoing challenge certainly in any disaster this big, especially in a country that has governance challenges. so certainly the government is leading the effort. but we have had to provide kite a bit of support to that in a number of ways. the u.n. system quickly set up the cluster system where you have groups a logistics cluster, so that all different agencies were providing humanitarian assistance can work together and that helped the government in terms of their leadership. but still -- and even one of the issues we noticed at the airport, the ability of the nepal government to manage all

the supplies that were coming in was inadequate. so again, we called on our friends and d.o.d. to come in and they helped a very important part of that commodity management at the airport. there is still weakness in a rural area where you've got the majority of the problem way out in the countryside in a very difficult terrain and they have building codes that they've developed, again with our support and we have done a lot of training for the government on implementing those building codes, but still needs a lot of work especially out of kathmandu. in kathmandu, 90% of the buildings were undamaged and any kind of new buildings were untouched. some of the older buildings those with the heritage -- and

when you get out into the small villages on the hillside, frankly, they don't know about building codes and that's a bigger challenge that we have to figure out how we are going to address that in a very rural setting. mr. connolly: lessons learned things we thought worked well and things we have work to do still? ms. biswal: after the devastating good drop earthquake of 2001 congress appropriated and usaid implemented over a number of years the partnership between the government of india and the united states on creating a national disaster management agency. we provided some of the

technical expertise. that capability in india today is quite sophisticated and quite advanced. the research of super cyclone that hit, was a tremendous reflection of india's capabilities because the loss of life was minimal in a category five supercyclone. that capability was on display in nepal. and the united states can feel proud for the role it has played around the region in responding to disaster response capabilities. there is more to be done in fostering regional coordination and advanced planning of regional responses. but the fact that there are -- there is so much capability in the region today and the

experiences of many of these countries in their own earthquakes is something that we have a direct hand. mr. connolly: very heartening to hear. thank you all so much. thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate it. the chair: i just want to start out with -- it's a little bit of a statement and i want to direct it to you regarding the conversation i had with the hud family whose son died in that tragic crash. they were obviously upset by his passing but further upset because there was dialogue that they had with their -- the folks they are working with at the department of navy, told them, that while if their son had been

killed in combat, that they would be afforded the opportunity and full support of our country to go to the dover ceremony and the funding that goes along with that so his parents could go to that extremely important vigil do them. but they were told there is a double standard. if you are killed in a search and rescue mission, it isn't considered combat and wouldn't be covered to go. i first reached out to representative thornberry who is upset by that. i don't think the american people would understand that at all, much less the family of the hero. but i know that we have reached out to the secretary of navy, and i believe in my heart he will do the right thing and pass that on that we are expecting good things.

>> i will do that, mr. chairman. the chair: question i have regarding getting the actual food and different emergency provisions to the people of nepal, i understand that there are some complications and i'm told that it's regarding the rules of cardinal preferences in that 50% of the u.s. cargo has to be transported on u.s.-flagged vessels and is that the reasons that in taking this pre-positioned food goes over to nepal. that it could take 45-60 days. is that why this is happening? and if so, are there concessions we could do to speed that up? mr. staal: that is an important question. first of all, what we are able

to do, there was food prepositioned in nepal. and nen also we were able to use i.d.a. funds with the flexibility provided us by congress to allow w.s.p. to buy food locally like win northern india to get food going quickly. so the food coming in from scrilanchinga. it's ok that the timing will refill the pipeline and provide for needs over the next few months. it didn't delay any of our food aid. i want to clarify that. secondly regarding the cargo preference that is a more complicated question but in the case of a dire emergency, the rule is a little more generic. we have 50% but not just on

every individual shipment. it can be generalized. so that doesn't hold us up on that particular issue. the chair: we can look for every effort to expedite? mr. staal: yes. the chair: nepal's government and their reaction, they have to take a leading role in the response efforts. could you please discuss the role of the government of nepal in leading the response to this disaster and describe the structure of its disaster response mechanism and describe their strengths and weaknesses to the response and government corruption, what if any measures are in place to address government corruption with the relief efforts under way? ms. biswal: let me invite my colleague if he wants to

weighing in. there is an in on the capacity of government of nepal on long-term relief and recovery. the military has played a critical role in deploying their forces across all of the affected districts and in coordinating and assisting in the delivery of relief and have interfaced extremely well with our military and civilian forces and we have had little complaint in terms of this effort in light of the magnitude of the disaster that we were facing. there is an issue in terms of how the longer term effort will be coordinated. nepal has a national planning commission and we are working with the planning commission and we are working with the home ministry and with the finance

ministry. it's a time when the picture is still evolveic in terms of what is going to be the most effective way for nepal to coordinate the longer term efforts and they are thinking through that. there is a team from kathmandu from india's national emergency disaster agency to provide technical assistance and we worked with pakistani colleagues. because the general who oversaw the pakistani earthquake construction and has been lauded for the transparency and efficacy of the response, has been brought in under usaid's leadership to come in and help provide some assessment and some assistance in terms of how nepal can think about notwithstandinging its releff going forward.

this is a country that is still cowa lessing in terms of its institutions of government. it is going to require the assistance and partnership of the international community in supporting them in their efforts to manageal recovery effort. we want them to succeed. we don't want to take it over from them and we want them to succeed and there will be an element of partnership in getting this right. the chair: there is no question that governance is a major challenge in nepal. mr. stivers: the parties haven't come together in terms of a constitution and haven't had local elections which is a major challenge when it comes to the relief and long-term recovery effort. we continue to help them to work together on these issues and

make sure -- and we need to make sure the international community needs to make sure that the long-term recovery takes into account to build nepal's capacity to better withstand natural disasters and move forward and come out of their stages to a democracy. mining mange i wanted to follow -- ms. meng: i want todd follow up on the comments about helping vulnerable populations in light of human trafficking increases, specifically with women and girls that often have unique needs that may be overlooked. after food water and shelter are in place there is hardly anything left for safe childbirth delivery services and

sanitary provisions. how is the u.s. providing support for these specific needs, oftentimes women don't ask for help. ms. biswal: let me give you initial comments and i will turn to mr. stivers on the strong work that usaid is doing in nepal and focusing on health and hygiene. you are correct to say that this is a time of extreme vulnerability. and over the years it is in times of crisis and disaster response that particular attention has to be paid to issues of protection and issues of addressing the particular needs of vulnerable groups and vulnerable populations. i think not only in terms of the u.s. government's response, but really what i'm hearing in terms of the awareness of the civil

society in nepal when i was in india two days after the earthquake, the civil society organizations in india were coming up to me and raisings with me the need to focus on these groups. so there is extreme attention to the issue. i was in new york just a couple of days heading to nepal meeting with the united nations with the osha and n.d.p. teams looking at the earthquake response and the issue of particularly addressing the needs of women and girls, addressing the needs of children and addressing particularly the held needs was something that the u.n. system was putting a team that the world health organization were all coordinated on making sure there was an integrated and comprehensive response.

mr. staal: we are very proud haveing a role in. it not only transforms the health of the women and strength of a country. we scaled up the use of a gel that aids in reducing newborn mortality. and in terms of the earthquake, the numbers are staggering, 2.8 million children have been affected and 40,000 women are at risk of gender-based violence. the problem is so significant and thanks to this committee for putting that forward in terms of the resolution i saw from the committee. usaid we are expanding our project that works with n.g.o.'s and protect victims and protect

those. and leading to a number of 63 convictions recently. and in the long-term, protection of vulnerable populations has got to be a key point in the priority. it is a key priority in the longer term priority. we have to keep an eye on the ball. ms. meng: i want to thank the administration for contributing to these urgent relief efforts. another significant way i believe we can help limit the strain on that country's resources is by designating nepal for temporary protective status. after haiti's massive earthquake the secretary of homeland security acted very quickly to designate haiti for t.p.s. i knew the new ambassador met with secretary kerry last week

and my understanding is that the government of nepal has requested t.p.s. while it is the determination i know that they relies on the state department's recommendation. i want toll ask what the status of the state department's recommendation and this request is. >> i know that is an issue of great importance and priorityization not only in the u.s. congress with the government but also within the state department. ms. biswal: we think the provision of temporary protected status is an important way to provide some relief to the citizens who are in the united states and who need to stay here for some time until the situation in nepal becomes more stabilized. the secretary of state has submitted his recommendations and a decision is now with the

deept of homeland security. so we will be awaiting their determination. ms. meng: i yield back. the chair: thank you. this concludes the questions. i would like to make another brief comment that we are second to none, i think in the world, when it comes to world disaster relief. one of the things that the united states does exceptionally well. and i commend all of you for the amazing job that you do in balancing our priorities overseas. i have been all over the world in my capacity both in the private sector both in my capacity as my ninth year on foreign affairs and i'm proud when i go to the embassy and meet with the usaid people and i meet with the defense folks. they are the brightest and best of the world and i'm proud of the job that you do, so very

proud and done your country proud today in your testimony and we appreciate you coming here and doing that. without objection, members' statements will be allowed to be inserted for the record. and there is no further business this committee is now adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> here are some of our featured programs on this hole detail weekends. on c-span saturday and sunday starting at noon, commencement speeches by politicians white house officials as they offer advice to the class of 2015.

>> a look ahead to some of our live coverage here on c-span tomorrow. vice president joe biden will speak at the u.s. naval academy's commencement ceremony, live at 10:00 a.m. eastern. later, after the death of freddy gray the cato institute is holding a discussion on policing

and poverty asking does congress need to spend more money on jobs programs and police body cameras? should the justice department to baltimore for civil rights violations? that is live at noon eastern. tonight on c-span, michael mccaul on nsa surveillance and the patriot act. the senate armed services committee holds a hearing on the fight against isis in iraq and syria, and federal judges hear oral arguments in the appeal of bob mcdonnell's conviction on bribery charges. with the patriot act set to expire at the end of the month senators are working on a deal to extend it, politico reporting that the senate will meet on saturday to consider several competing proposals. one if the house version of a patriot act extension, itsw hich puts limits on it, and in

one that would put extend it. this morning, michael mccaul argued against letting the patriot act expire, saying it would leave the u.s. -- leave the u.s. vulnerable to terrorist attacks. he made those comments at the christian science monitor's weekly breakfast. this is an hour. rep. mccaul: we are goingmr. cook: i'm dave cook, our guest today is michael mccaul. this is his first visit with one

of our meetings. we appreciate his coming. our guest is a dallas native who earned his degree from san antonio at trinity university, and his law degree at st. mary's university. he worked as a federal prosecutor and then moved to austin to become a deputy defense secretary john cornyn. he later joined the u.s. attorney's office and was chief of the national security division for west texas. in 2004, he was elected to the house and became chairman of the house homeland security committee in 2013. he and his wife for the parents of five children. thus endeth the biographical portion. thanks to our underwriter, northrop grumman. no live blogging or tweeting, no filing of any kind while the breakfast is underway, to give us time to listen to what our guest says. there is no embargo when the session ends.

to help you curb the selfie urge, we will give pictures of the sessions to all the reporters here as soon as it ends. if you would like to ask a question, do the traditional thing and send me a subtle, nonthreatening signal. i will call on as many as i can. i offered our guest the opportunity to make some opening comments before we open to questions. thank you for braving the rain we appreciate it. rep. mccaul: thanks to you and the monitor. i just got back from the middle east and we all came back with a mysterious cough. i hope it is not mers. i think we will be ok. one thing dave mentioned -- i

met with giuliani, let him know that i was in texas. he asked about my kids. teenagers. a teenager and a terrorist? the differences you can negotiate with a terrorist. [laughter] it is a good training experience. i'm not going to talk long. i think the threat environment has never been more intense since 9/11, both from foreign fighters that we investigate and into europe where these

fighters go, and also over the internet, where there is a threat to military installations. much of that is internet driven. individuals in this area and elsewhere, through twitter accounts getting followers in the united states. that dual threat along with refugees are a serious concern of ours, protecting the homeland. in the complete disaster in iraq the prime minister in iraq last week, the idea that we are bringing shia militias in to fight this war against isis is against everything we have tried to do. they have inflamed sectarianism. you can't politically unify the

country with that kind of military strategy. we are failing there end this is a -- and this is a good example of that. i tell people back home -- why is this so important? because they need a safe haven from which they can breed terrorism against the united states. that is why it is so important -- not to mention the fact that so many of my constituents have lost their sons and daughters and the gold star mothers wanted to count for something. the precipitous withdrawal, along with the political malfeasance created isis pleading to the resurgence of modern-day isis. i want to keep it safe -- i

throw that out as an opening. mr. cook: i will do one or two, then we will go to martin, damien paul, aaron. how consequential do you think it will be to homeland security if the nsa's bulk data collection expires for a brief time during the congressional reset? you said yesterday that it is a dangerous thing to do. why is a dangerous, and aren't there workarounds in the short term? rep. mccaul: that is our hope, that we will have congressional action. if it expires, we go dark, and that creates a danger to the american people. the leadership couldn't work this out and i think we passed a bill pretty well that threads

the needle between security and privacy. we had a counterterrorism prosecutor within the fbi -- it can't be done. i think it can be done the way we used to do it and still be effective, and i think the political reality is that we couldn't pass bulk collection data. what you are seeing in the senate now is a filibuster, which is very predictable which is going to pile up the legislation. a better approach would have been to have it passed out of the house. mr. cook: obviously, you talked earlier about the disaster, the complete disaster in iraq. from homeland security purposes, why does it matter if romani

falls -- if romani falls? mr. cook: theymr. cook: therep. mccaul: the way they communicate is very sophisticated. we went to iraq, i think and we won. we didn't want to negotiate. coupled with maliki's disenfranchisement, that created isis. that was a threat to the homeland because they didn't know bin laden was a threat

prior to 9/11. it is not just syria and iraq it is also northern africa -- it is libya, it is all throughout northern africa, going into asia as well. everywhere, we see power vacuums. this is why most counterterrorism officials will tell you that the threat is increasing because of the fact that they have more safe havens. the more they have fat, they also have -- they have that, they also have the ability to conduct operations, not unlike the cores in group. don't think for a minute they are not still trying to do that. we need more of that. we need better special forces with the iraqi national army,

and the problem is that the iraqi national army -- they are not the ones we trained, they are demonstrably completely incapable of defending iraq. they dropped weapons and most will, and now -- in mosul and now they have taken over another city with the greatest antiquities in iraq, that they will destroy and sell on the open market. the s-- the data we got from him, i hope, will be helpful to expose networks from a terrorism financing standpoint, inside syria and outside. mr. cook: did you feel better about -- we had adam schiff here

earlier in the week, and he was saying kudos to our special forces but with concerns about whether it was worth the risk. that is not a view you share, i take it? rep. mccaul: out of respect -- i have respect for adam, but i think if we can take down an isis leader, critically important. if we can take out their leadership -- they will replace him with someone but he has a lot of expertise. his wife was involved with the enslavement of women the hostages. the hostage situation -- i argue that we need to take out evil, particularly at the top of the

chain, and that is worthwhile. we need to do more of that, because otherwise we may isas well walk away from the situation and we do so at the peril of the united states. mr. cook: margin from "the hill." >> earlier this year at a hearing, you expressed concern about dhs efforts, saying it was a federally funded jihadi pipeline. i wonder if you could give an update -- have your concerns about the effort and satisfied or delayed? rep. mccaul: i came back from a trip -- our european counterparts are absorbing thousands of syrian refugees on a monthly basis whether it is italy, germany, amsterdam.

europe is absorbing these refugees on a daily basis. i don't know how you can assimilate that number. they usually go to the diaspora communities, the muslim communities are very isolated in europe. because it is a threat to europe and they know that. they pour into europe, and they have a huge full durability. airports don't screamen inbound, because they wanted to fight a solder through turkey -- assad through turkey. the question is bringing syrian

refugees into the united states -- how safe is that? mothers and children -- i don't know if this counts, but there are a lot of males that could conduct terrorist operations and that concerns me. michael steinbach is the assistant director of the fbi, testifying for my committee and we don't have data on these individuals, so we can't properly that'svet them to know who they are, where they came from, what threat they pose. we don't have the data. the fbi -- and homeland security -- what you are saying is that the administration is split

with john kerry on one side and homeland security and the fbi on the other side. with all the intelligence we had, we had two guys that came in that were making bombs threat to the united states. since we don't have any intelligence or capabilities, we have no way to know who these people are. bringing them in is a serious mistake. we are slated to bring in thousands more by the end of the year and the numbers take up over the next few years. i'm not sure many communities would want to welcome this. i'm not trying to be an alarmist about it, but i don't want potential terrorists here. mr. cook: a quick follow up?

>> unless i have assurance -rep. mccaul: when i questioned kerry on foreign affairs, he said there was none. we don't have the databases on them. we have the biometrics and databases so we can safely bring them in, and i don't think that's what the the american people want. mr. cook: brian. >> i want to go back to the patriot act. two of the provisions are going to expire on june 1 unlike the bulk data collection provision. but the lone wolf provision -- in addition to the other business records -- the fbi --

those are also set to expire. can you impact about those expiring? rep. mccaul: those are significant provisions that were passed after 9/11. i may be one of the only members who prosecuted and practiced the patriot act. they gave us great flexibility and it was essential because -- these twitter accounts, same thing with the phones. they would drop a disposable and get a new one. so they target the individual. i asked the question for the more in-depth threat we are seeing over twitter accounts.

can we still keep our coverage on the individual? part of the problem is identifying a new twitter account, if it is the same individual. i would argue that a wiretap would apply to that scenario. i think one of the greatest concerns is what is called going dark. this is a phenomenon -- what they do is the followers are in constant communication with, trying to radicalize, trying to convert, etc. they will say, let's go to dm the message box. when they get to the message box, unless we have coverage, we lose that communication. even if we do have coverage,

then they can go into other platforms that are very temporary platforms what we call going dark. outside that box and other platforms, even if they are on our coverage, we cannot get the content of that communication anymore. it is one of the most serious concerns within the ct community. they have the ability to communicate securecom dark space, without our ability to cover and monitor. that may take legislation to fix. there is some controversy to it all, but a lot would argue -- it is one of the biggest concerns. when we can't track the communication of individuals who are radicalizing.

foreign fighters are one thing, traveling across the ocean -- but if you have somebody that you can activate in the united states over the internet? that is what we call terrorism gone viral, and it is way hard to stop it. >> you mentioned republican leaders in the senate and the house, coming up with a deal. is there any scenario in which short-term extension could be approved by leadership, and what is the consequence? rep. mccaul: i can't speak for the senate leadership. we did our business and i thought we did it right. we warned that this could happen and it happened, there is a

filibuster now on this. but the worst thing congress could do is play politics and let it expire. to go dark on international security is a dangerous thing and it would be highly irresponsible. what are the alternatives? you have that window between june 1 -- they may do that. they may at least extended but i don't know what impact it would have. usually we just pass what we pass. i don't know if what mcconnell is doing -- the white house could very well veto that. to me, the best thing to do is

pass in the house and the senate send it to the white house -- and yes, it is not perfect, but it will continue to protect americans. i hate it when we say we will be vulnerable. mr. cook: todd. >> pleasure to see you. couple questions about the attack, a few crises ago. we have had conflicting reports about whether there was a breakdown of communications between fbi and the local authorities. can you clarify whether there was a breakdown and i am also wondering -- these were isis inspired. how big a threat do you consider they were? for they trained -- were they trained? rep. mccaul: we are talking

about a network of terrorism over the internet. they were isis inspired. the guy had malaki on his facebook page. he was, for a variety of reasons, back on the radar. it was noticed that he had left his residence and this is how it works. they send out an intelligence bolt about the cartoon contest a week in advance to all law enforcement, saying stay on the lookout. because clearly this kind of activity will get a response. when it was noticed that these individuals were missing that

information was sent to the task force in dallas about him specifically. that information -- i have been critical of the fbi in the boston bombing and not sharing that information. the fbi did its job and a properly share that information with the police. i understand what you are referencing, that there was breakdown in further communication beyond the part of the local. >> we were never informed -- rep. mccaul: police officers were advised of mr. simpson. mr. cook: are there any lessons to be learned from that event or is that just the way that system works? are there lessons to be drawn? rep. mccaul: they were all on

such high alert they came out with their van and they were automatically taken down. they were kind of waiting for them. if there was any breakdown i could analyze, it is that, typically, the argument is that they would share information. in this case, the fbi did. it would be an issue of locals sharing it with their counterparts. the model, when it works well, works well. sometimes you have breakdowns. i went say it broke down in that case but if there was, it was on the part of the locals. >> is there any reason to think that these guys were activated ordered it to do this? or was itself inspired? rep. mccaul: it is a matter of

semantics. what they were trying to do was activate through calls to arms over the internet. they identified the contest and they went to their followers on twitter, and this is the do age of terrorism where they send out a directive, and hope that a lot out of those thousand people they will get one person to sign up. mr. cook: we are about halfway through. paul aaron, anna shawn daniel. >> can you talk a little bit about your business in iraq? was he -- the prime minister -- acknowledging how bad the situation there was? giving assistance to the kurds?

was he asking for more time? rep. mccaul: he is a shia. he asked the administration for more military assistance, and my judgment was not given that so he had an issue. in our state department, we were over there. we were very much against the idea of bypassing baghdad and funding, arming the peshmerga and city tribes, because they thought that goes around baghdad and undermines the central government therefore undermines the unity of government, therefore splits up the three different kurds, shia, sunni, state. that was a state department line. the speaker, a sunni the

speaker of the parliament, had a different version. they would like to see more direct funding. with the kurds and peshmerga mosul -- they want -- what they see is these weapons we are sending go through baghdad, not given to the peshmerga, the kurds, or to the sunni tribes, but rather the shia militias. from their perspective they see the prime minister as a proxy of the militia. the militias are a proxy of iran. they completely inflame and disenfranchise which is very contrary to what we did where

we would bring these tribes over to fight al qaeda and iraq. right now, the strategy is now working that way. it is pushing them away. just two days ago they were saying -- with the shia militias here, we have leaders staying out of the fight. i see that as a real political disaster. there is a diplomatic peace to this -- piece to this, that is a failure of the administration. they don't have a choice. >> is the prime minister in denial about that? rep. mccaul: they are incapable now of defeating isis.

he feels like he has to bring in the shia militia but they are not getting that -- the kurds and peshmerga are not helping as much as they sureouldhould. there is a greater issue here -- the arab nations have a responsibility. they are never going to go into syria and iraq to fight isis, as long as they know they are helping assad. as long as assad -- look at yemen. operating freely in yemen, that is all right. they are al qaeda, but they are sunni. been saudi arabia wakes up -- we have a problem.

until we find a safe exile for mr. assad that can bring in a more stable form of government, i don't know if we will ever get the arab league nations in. they could put a fighting force in there, a ground force, but they will never commit to that if they think they are helping assad. rep. mccaul:>> there is growing concern about terrorist threats to the -- talking about backing up the system with transformers and an expensive process. do you think it is threatened in any way and what should be done? rep. mccaul: it is always vulnerable. this -- on the internet, you can

be completely safe if you disconnect yourself from the internet. cyber isn't ever involving evolving threat. i think the legislation -- it passed in my community -- gives us another issue. that has bipartisan support. the president would sign it. what it does is we make homeland the lead civilian portal to the private sector. 80% of it is the private sector, making sure -- across private sector lines. only then can you patch or networks and have the keys to lock the door. that is not happening right now.

in particular, the private sector is not happy. the only thing that can make it happen is to provide protection. they are not incentivized to share with dhs. if they don't know they would be protected. we provide that. it had broad-based support from private sector and the chamber of commerce, and also privacy groups. we think it is the right place for this information sharing. dhs can't prosecute you and it can spy on you. it is the outreach to state local, and private sector infrastructure.

we feel that will go a long way to help protect our power grids our financial institutions. every day, russia and china -- with the sony attack, it happens on a monthly basis. sudden warfare is a serious concern. they could shut down the power grid. now even the cyber jihaditssts are getting in. mr. cook: aaron kelly. >> what is happening with your lawyer security -- is that something you want to come to the floor soon? rep. mccaul: i still wanted to go to the floor. the criticisms were that it didn't have interior forcing.

my committee was comprised of a political compromise isis within dhs has jurisdiction over that. there were criticisms -- judiciary has no marked out and passed their bill, so mr. gimlet and i had a discussion. they want the homeland approach bill out of the way because that is creating problems. the bogeyman, so to speak, is not in the room anymore. i think -- the number one issue is when are you going to get border security? i think we are to the american people being done.

i see an opportunity -- i talked to the speaker about it. they are trying to galvanize members, a countermovement to at least start the process where -- let's put the border security bill on the floor and get that passed out of the house. mr. cook: maria. >> i was going to ask about security -- i have texas questions. i wanted to follow up on what senator sessions, one of your problems last time, i know he is in the other chamber. since this is my one shot, i want to ask you about the five texans running for president and if you are supporting them.

[laughter] rep. mccaul: there are five of them now? [laughter] >> jeb bush, native texan, carly the fiorina. rep. mccaul: i will take the first question. >> he runs the christian movie studio or something. >> [indiscernible] rep. mccaul: first of all -- y eah.

i set down with him in good faith and explained -- it wasn't what was in my bill, it was what wasn't in my bill. i explained to him what wasn't in my bill was in judiciary's jurisdiction and i explained jurisdiction to him. i hope he understands that now. now with goodlatte's bill out there, it would resolve the issues that he had with the bill. but i know that there -- people want this done. every day i have members on the floor coming up to me, saying we need to get that bill on the floor. it is not easy. to think it would be an easy thing to do, but people raise all sorts of issues. you can never pass a board of

security bill. my concern is not immigration, it is a security bill, first and foremost, to protect americans from the threat. back when i was at counterterrorism prosecutor, even back then. i saw the potential threats. terrorists today are always on the road. you have a lot of bad elements coming in -- drug cartels, a lot of bad actors. the people down there coming to work they will be on the violent side. the president is right -- it is way too early. i will tell you what i would like to see -- someone who can

unite and not divide. there is a lot of division going on. i like more of a reagan type person not being a polarizing, divisive figure. i would also love to see someone with experience. i am not going to go through the litany of names, but someone with experience. the number one issue today is national security and foreign policy and that will be the issue front and center in front of clinton who will tout turk credentials as a foreign-policy expert but if we don't have a guy who was nominated who has little to no experience in foreign-policy, how can we possibly take her on? >> you spoke about the iraq -- about iraq and the forward

operating bases to the syrian border. you have become a student of this war, given your expertise on the committee and i would love for you to paint a picture of that. we have been at this war for 10 years -- should it be another 10 years? just as long as it takes to get this done, because it is such a priority? how much blood and treasure is worth that? i would also like to ask you about the jade helm exercise. it was last month -- rep. mccaul: taking over texas right? [laughter] >> the government was worried about those troops. rep. mccaul: it is a great question. there was an isolationist movement from even in my party prior to isis.

if they hadn't be headed the american journalists i'm not sure the american people would even be paying attention. but that is the demise. it is hard to sit back and watch a force like that grow. intent on killing jews christians, latin americans jordanian pilots -- that type of barbarism, and the potential for -- it can't be left to fester. i am not an isolationist. as a nation, we have gotten into trouble and i think churchill was right. you have a policy of appeasement, weakness invites aggression.

i think it is a mess. we want the problem to go away -- and the question would you do anything differently had you known today? the right question is -- would you have pulled out precipitously, not negotiating status of forces, if you knew what you know today? by doing that -- germany, japan korea, we didn't have that in iraq, which i think was responsible. -- was the responsible. yeah, we should not have done that. if we had a residual force in iraq i don't think we would be talking about this. we beat al qaeda in iraq,

and all the constituents died over there, we beat them, and we left the stable country. it became destabilized because of a lack of engagement, by withdrawing completely, by not engaging maliki. clinton went to baghdad one time in her tenure as secretary of state, for three hours. that shows you the level of disengagement in iraq. and that, i think, created isis. >> do you think -- would you say another 10tenure, that we should just stay there as long as it takes? rep. mccaul: we are not some monolithic giant. ramani was pretty scary. if we came up with a military

strategy a political one that was aggressive and serious about destroying and defeating them not containing them, that we could do this in short order. we did it with al qaeda in iraq. isis is very similar to what we saw with al qaeda. the problem is -- destabilization of that region not only matters in the middle east, but also in northern africa. in places like saudi, they don't understand the foreign-policy, why are you letting the muslim brotherhood -- they think it is my decision and it is not. there is no certainty and foreign-policy. with that, there is a lot of confusion, a lot of destabilization going on. you have failed states,

destabilized, becoming power vacuums. i agree -- that will be a great national debate, probably in the 2016 election. i do think most americans see isis for what it is -- one of the most evil forms of barbarism we have seen in our lifetime. mr. cook: i'm sorry -- >> did you talk to the pentagon? rep. mccaul: i am a big supporter of the u.s. military. [laughter] >> what does that mean? rep. mccaul: our united states military is not our threat, isis is our threat. >> senator cornyn, your former

colleague, proposed a deal where it would transition more slowly. the data would go back to the foreign countries more slowly over two years, and there would be safeguards built in to ensure that that is working, that law enforcement can still get that data quickly. perhaps a requirement that phone companies hold onto data. it sounded like a pretty reasonable offer given senators prior positions. do you think a deal can be reached around that fairly quickly, so if there is any expiration -- rep. mccaul: i think that worked for john for four years. he was always very thoughtful, rational. i think that puzzle is sound --

that proposal is sound. you were not giving them enough time to make the transition, and i think that is a creative proposal that could bring the house and senate together. i just don't know what will happen. and that is an idea that i would support in the house. mr. cook: mr. strauss? >> i wanted to ask you -- jeb bush and all the attention last week to whether we should have gone into iraq or not. you talked about being interested in someone supporting a candidate with foreign policy leadership. was the former governor's response a sign of political

acumen on foreign-policy? what would your answer have been to the question -- if we know now what we didn't know, would you have authorized -- rep. mccaul: you think you would be prepared for that question, but i would have answered it differently. we are already in. my goal was to make sure that we stabilize, then responsibly get out. mistakes have been made all throughout the conflict, in the post invasion of iraq was not handled well. they made a lot of mistakes. all these people wouldn't have joined because they were thrown out on the street. some of them are still in isis.

>> how would you have answered that question? rep. mccaul: the question is, you can't change the past. you can learn from it but you can't change it. the question is how do you deal with iraq in the present. i would have had the status forces agreement. that was a mistake too. dealing with it today, how are you going to stabilize that region again? can we afford to leave a destabilized? can we allow isis to flourish? it is going to take one big attack and people say -- why weren't you there to stop it? i would not allow the safe haven to flourish, so how do you deal

with it in the present? there are things we could be doing tactically, but we are not being aggressive. whether it is airstrikes, in betting special operations with the iraqi armed training, arming the peshmerga trying to get assad so we can galvanize the forces that we know are in our backyard. societies don't like isis. we know that qatar and kuwait are funding a lot of the operations and that is a weird phenomenon. that is a whole other issue. >> i just wanted to ask you about major companies, including apple, google, cisco protesting in cricketing -- backdoors to

getting secrets to data. where do you stand on this issue, and where do you think that congress will ultimately go? rep. mccaul: it is called dark space. it's what i referenced earlier. it is a tricky issue and it is controversial on some levels. it is controversial when you talk about encryption and the ability to backdoor into that. where i don't think it is controversial are the platforms the terrorists used to communicate and dark space, and that is primarily these platform servers. i have seen the communications between the terrorists and who they are trying to radicalize.

what they say is -- let's go into dm, and that is the message box. then they go into that box. if we don't have coverage, we can't view that content. but if we do, and in many cases we do, -- but they are smart. they start communicating there but then they jump into another platform platforms that we can't get access to, and that is dark space. they can communicate freely insecurecom -- freely in securecom to launch an attack against the united states. there is no way our law enforcement and intelligence communities are completely incapable of picking up those communications -- that is a threat.

foreign fighters are a threat, but i would argue that is one of the biggest threats to the homeland. it is what needs to be fixed. the only way it can be fixed is legislatively. mr. cook: i want to thank you for being here. we appreciate it. >> on the next "washington journal," we talk to the gyro captorocopter pilot. then, the show milk and.

"washington journal" begins live eastern on c-span. >> here are some of our featured programs for this holiday weekend on the c-span networks. commencement speeches by politicians, white house officials, and business leaders as they offer encouragement to the class of 2015. speakers include tim scott joseph westphal, and who founding ceo jason tyler at the university of chapel hill. monday morning at 11:00, live coverage of the memorial day ceremony. at nineith four freshmen members of congress. lee zeldin, mark takai mike boss, and bonnie watson:.

-- bonnie watson coleman. then, america's transportation infrastructure and her ideas for transport. cokie roberts recounts washington d.c. during the civil war through the lives of women who worked there. and monday, books on first ladies, including michelle obama and eleanor roosevelt. on american history tv, saturday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern, the university of minnesota professor erika lee on immigration to angel island, and how their arrival compared to that of the europeans and ellis island. sunday afternoon at 4:00 on real america, in 1940 production of "true glory." monday evening at 6:30, three

creation of the grand review parade of 1865, including reenactors per train u.s. colored troops who weren't allowed to participate in the original precession. find our complete schedule at c-span.org. >> at a senate hearing, two retired generals said the white house's current strategy against isis is failing. john keane and derrick harvey were part of a panel of military analyst testifying before the senate armed services committee. they recently captured ramadi. senator john mccain shares this two and a half hour hearing. >> now that senator ernst is

here, we can began. [laughter] the committee meets to receive testimony and i want to thank each of our expert witnesses today. the secretary of defense and the joint chiefs were invited to of peer, admittedly on short notice , and we will be asking them to appear after the recess is over, depending on whether the villas on the floor or not, but we certainly would like to hear from the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs. today, we have general jack keane. we are pleased you could time from your duties on fox news to being with us today.

dr. fred kagen, who is -- that's a joke. dr. fred kagan, director of the critical threats project at the american enterprise institute. colonel derek harvey, u.s. army retired, director of the global initiative for civil society and conflict at the university of south florida. and bryant, who is the senior fellow at the center for american progress. i point out for the benefits of my colleagues that general keane and dr. kagan were key elements and the individuals who went over to the white house in 2006 to talk to then president george w. bush concerning the need for a surge. that the strategy