well and we need the principles to articulate that. a problem that we have is the people who lead in washington and politics don't really believe the things that made our country worth fighting for. or thinkpromise because things are not in fashion today, we shouldn't carry on the fight. because it is not popular. a lot of the things that are popular today want popular 30-40 years ago. had to fight for those things. they had a vision, they believed in it and they fought for it.

lost before they won and they never give up. , it you tell a public really wasn't working, because if it did, you wouldn't give up. you wouldn't walk away. you would be telling your daughter, don't do drugs. and then for some reason, he you say -- you say it is ok. you wouldn't do that. if you do, that is not the right thing. now we need to get you to do the right thing. ofhave to have the certainty what we know to be successful in america to continue to fight for those things. that is why the republican party and establishment has gotten away from what we know works. we need to get back to that. rick -- host: >> tomorrow center bernie

sanders speaks at liberty university, the same place where senator ted cruz announced his candidacy. he will be the convocation speaker at the traditionally conservative university in virginia. that is life to :00 a.m. eastern -- at 10:30 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> a signature feature of tv is our all-day coverage of sayers -- book fairs and festivals. we're in new york for the festival. in october, the southern festival of books in nashville in after that we are live in austin for the texas festival. at the end of the month will be covering to book festivals -- two festivals in the same again.

on the east coast, the boston book festival. at the start of november we be back wordstock. at the end of november, we are life with the 18th year in a row from florida for the miami book fair international. and is a few of the fairs festivals this fall on tv. next dr. ben carson at a rally in anaheim, california. then the house hearing on border security. >> on wednesday in carson held a campaign rally at the end and convention center and anaheim, california. he spoke about the government's role, religious freedoms, and what he would do if elected president. this is just under an hour.

>> having his campaign here. this is the epicenter of the conservative movement and count on you. california. because we believe and we governed by economic region we are the first county to come out of recession. we were the county that stop majority increase the legislature and the county that will start the renaissance in california. that is why every republican candidate for president comes to this county. many of them come to fundraising we appreciate that. we most appreciate those who come to the vp.

samuel adams said that if the when aspiring men hold the highest the the nation will depend on it patriots to prevent its ruin. thehere to tell you that current occupant of the white house is one of those men. our guest today is one of those patriots. rs and applause] from his two years got the national day of prayer to his call at the end of the last debate were those of us to pick up the call of freedom. he is inspiring t housan get a bigds. run of applause for the ,andidate and the united states

dr. ben carson. ♪ ♪ watch your step stepetter watch your ♪ can feel my love and go away don't tell me you'll see me on another day ♪ dr. ben carson: all right. thank you. thank you. . thank you so much. that is what i call it wonderful california welcome.

thank you so much. love thank you so much for coming out on the sacred and day. just a couple of hours ago it was 94 degrees in here. i want to think the technical people who got it fixed. i will tell you one of the wonderful things that i have discovered about our tremendous country is that we have a lot of talented people will hear you are capable of all kinds of things. the first set of conjoined twins that i operated on, you know, in order to get

that done appropriately it required wait more than just need. outstanding and and care people, nurses. nurses are my favorite. the nurses invented a new kind of drink that has leaves that look like in accordion so theyyou pull it up our would fall and plays preserve the sterility of the seal. then we had technical people who rewired the operating room in case there was a problem and all the equipment caused a blowout. together asing that a team it was possible to accomplish something that had not been accomplished before.

people are saying to me u kn no one like yourselfow has been successful in running for president of the .nited, states, a novice if i listen to do all the people throughout my life to set this has never been done be more, this cannot be done, i would not be talking to you today. [cheers and applause] then there are those who say "but you do not have elected political experience." know. collective at the

political experience of everybody in congress, it comes out to about 8700 years. where has it gotten us? is ourt of the matter system was really designed for the citizen statesman. it is not designed for the professional politician. a lot of times people say to me "why in the world, after a wonderful career in medicine, would you date to soil your reputation by getting into the political arena?" too.ed myself that i will tell you why. on a very serious note. careerre professional

was spent trying to bring healing to children, to give them longevity and quality of life. i have added lots of experience doing other things. i spent 18 years on the board of directors of catalog, 16 years as a board of director of cosco. ands on a biotech biomedical company. otherry boards and many organizations. my wife and i started a national scholar recognition program in all 50 states. two major national awards that is only given to one organization in the country per

year. twice. for those people who say "he is a doctor. he can't possibly know anything else. avant."n idiot serv can you imagine how stupid you have to be to think that, to think that somebody could become a neurosurgeon and come up with new methods of doing things and be in idiot savant? you would have to be completely in non-possession of your faculties to believe that. that, ofte, the thing all the things i have done, the thing that resonates most closely to my heart is when that and they arein

three-year-old is the most precious thing in their life has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. through the grace of god you have the ability to remove that amily and give that f faback hope. that think that a long pedigree of political for a long pedigree of business experience is the most wonderful thing in the world, but i personally think saving lives is the most wonderful thing in the world. [cheers and applause] know, i was not the person you would have picked when i was a youngster.

that is not the one you would have said is going to grow up and have this fantastic career. you would probably not have even thought that i would have survived. as a youngster, after my parents were divorced, we lived in the most dilapidated ghetto imaginable. gangsroaches, sirens, murders,. i saw people living on the street with bullet holes waiting to die. both of my older cousins who we adored were killed. i did not think that i was going to have one jeopardy in this reads andt my mother i really believe she is the hero in my life --

funny whenind of people like hillary's aim engaged in a war on women. my life would be nothing without woman. applause]d but even though she had an incredibly difficult life, getting married at age 13, moving with my father to detroit , later on discovering that he was a bigamist, having only a third grade education herself, trying to raise us by herself, but she never became a victim. she never felt sorry for herself. that was a good thing. is she never felt sorry for us either. [laughter]

she always came out with this poem called "yourself to blame." she was a "do you have a brain? if you do, you could of thought your way out of it>" that was perhaps the most important thing she did for us. i will tell you some ink. in an excuse,low you don't have to do anything. you can always point to somebody else or blame somebody else. you can blame bush. he can blame anybody. you you decide that it is and the buck stops there, then you are incentivized to do something in your life. that is what i found to be the case. applause]d i as a youngster was not a good student. my mother was out work three jobs at a time. i hated poverty.

hate snakes and rats and spiders. i hated poverty. that is until my mother made us start reading books. i cannot like the idea of reading books. as you pray to god and somehow came up with this idea that we ffre supposed to turn o the tv and read books. i was not happy about it. her friends would say "you cannot make boys as they in the house reading books. they will grow up and hate you." and isometimes hear that would say "you know, they are right." it did not matter. we have to do it anyway. as i started reading those books, as i started reading about people of tremendous accomplishment and all kinds of , that the person who has

the most to do with what happens with you in life is you. it is not somebody else. [applause] that, once itood , poverty did not bother me anymore. i knew it was only temporary. i know i the ability to change my -- i knew i had the ability to change my circumstances. it is something that i want people in this country who are downtrodden, who perhaps were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth, i wanted to it is still true in america. you, through your own efforts, can do a lot. it does not mean that we should not help them, because we americans are very compassionate

people. perhaps the most compassionate people the world has ever known. is it that we were so successful as a nation? we had communities that were separated from each other by hundreds of miles and yet they grewed in thand they until we are coast to coast. how did that happen? in the small communities, people cared about each other. the compassion was there. time and aarvest farmer fell out of a tree and broke his leg, everybody else in and harvested his craft or does somebody was killed, everybody to care of their families. care about each other. this is what we must begin to do once again in this country. it is our responsibility.

the government's responsibility to take care of everybody else. [cheers and applause] on the whole subject of compassion, let me talk a little bit about immigration in this country. it is a problem. we have a problem with illegal immigration in this country. a all kinds of theories that people want to puthve forth about how we should do this or that. let me tell you something. isn the keys to success being able to look at the big picture and figure out what the big problem is. the big problem is we have a

porous border and we need to seal the border. that is the problem. know, my wife and i a few weeks ago were down on the border in arizona. yes, there were fences. they were the kind of fences would slowa kid that us down. it was ridiculous. there was one area where the illegal second a big coal and the fence and the repaired it by putting some strips of barbed wire across it. there were a lovely cameramen with us. they wanted to shoot as from the mexican side. they went right through there. they were not athletic people. with all of their equipment. they were easily able to shoot us on the other side. isn't that ridiculous?

in terms of the border patrol, i did not see any border patrol. inland you70 miles will see the border patrol. they need to be on the order. that is why they are called control." that is only part of the problem. sheriff's, i have to say something. i was so impressed with the sheriff's down there. they put their lives on the line. yesterday i met one of them he was in a wheelchair. he had been shot and paralyzed doing his duty. these people are incredibly courageous.

they tell me they have to keep requesting the same people, .e. comes along and says release these people will. we do not have proper documentation in order to keep them in jail. if they have proper documents, they would be illegal aliens. it is craziness. it is frustrating to them. the worst thing is that it is an open highway project traffic. heroin is it just -- pouring into our country and is frying the brains of so many people. it is stimulating crime in our country. thingsre the kinds of that we need to be concerned about. to shutthe ability those borders. not just the southern border but all of our borders. ability to do it.

i'm just as concerned by the global jihadists that want to as i am about the junk dealers that are coming. at some point, we have to exercise some logic and common if we are going to save our nation. i can talk about this for a long time. i want to transition to another thinkhat is really i going to kill us if we do not deal with it. that is our fiscal irresponsibility. looking at aare national debt of over $18 trillion. we can say that number but can you even comprehend what 18 trillion is? if you try to pay that back at a rate of $10 million a day, 365

days a year, it would take you more than 5000 years. that is what we are putting on the acts of these young people. that is unfair. thomas jefferson said it is immoral to pass that on to the next generation. if we could transport thomas society, into today's he would immediately struck out. he would not even be able to believe what we are doing. we do have a responsibility to the next generation. it is much worse than this. p is the unfunded

liabilities we have as a nation, cabinetntal programs, programs, social security, medicare, medicaid, all the money we go forward for those programs versus the revenues we expect to collect in taxes and ifer revenue sources and you're fiscally responsible the number should be pretty close together. today'sfourth two dollars and the difference is the fiscal gap. over $200s at trillion. it is a staggering and unimaginable amount. politiciansice that do not talk about the alhe gap because they want to be reelected. but i am not a politician so i am going to talk about it. to assess what,

is being told. our freedom is based upon a well and warm and educated populace. that is the only way they can appropriate voting decisions. if they do not know, health care they? theeople cannot know desperate financial situation we're in an somebody comes along and is open boat i think we should have free college for " i think-- and says we should have a college for everybody." and you can say " what a wonderful lady>" without recognizing that is accelerating the financial collapse of our nation. [cheers and applause]

you know, the only reason we can sustain that kind of debt is because we can print money. we are the reserve currency of the world. that is a position that usually goes with the number one economy in the world which we were until last year when china became the number one economy. long we will be able to continue to print money? i think we have a grace period that god has given us to recognize that we need to adjust this now. the longer -- to address this now. the longer we wait to address this, the marja crony the measures will be. we're putting that on the backs of the next generation. we cannot do it. we can adjust it right now. there are a number of things we can do. for one thing, we have the

highest corporate tax rate in the world. that is absurd. it is driving is this out of this nation. what i would recommend as one of the first things in a carson administration -- [cheers] one of the very first t hin would be a tax holiday or for corporater prin taxes for the money overseas. we can repatriate it and it would not cost the taxpayers one single penny. i would require that 10% of the money thing brought back he used to create jobs are people who are unemployed and on welfare. an enormous stimulus

, but it would also begin to industry,h business academia, wall street, churches, community groups, to begin to reestablish the true relationships that help make america great, p/e will investing -- people investing in other people. that is what will save us as a nation. the government has other jobs. one of the things we should probably do is distribute copies of the constitution to them so they can see what they are supposed to be doing. things that came up

, ms. davisf course is down in kentucky who had to go to jail which i think was otheropriate, there were things that could have been done and that was probably not the right one. the supreme court had not overstepped its down trees and in what they did at the time that she took the job -- down the boundaries and did what they did at the time that she took the job. all she has is that her name not be put on the documents. she was not trying to obstruct anybody other than that. by the peopletry sllow others and to live. we do not impose our will upon other will. allow other people to impose our will on us. [cheers]

when we talk about liberty and justice for all, that is what we are talking about. we do not pick and choose certain group who get extra rights. includes redefining things for everybody else. we do not do that. now congress has a responsibility to stand up for the people will, because they represented the people. when the supreme court overstepped its boundaries, the reason we have separation of powers is so the other part of the government can correct the situation. they need to do it. if they do not step up to the

plate, it will create legislation to protect the religious right. it will just escalate. congress, if you are listening, please, if your leadership won't do it, you do it yourself. get up and protect the people's religious right. finally, we are going to have a little q&a session but before we do that, i just want to say if we are going to have a nation at least one of us has to get involved. days, prerevolutionary the people do not like the

tyranny of king george the third. they began to have town meetings. they even invited the loyalist and said what kind of country do you want to pass on to your children and grandchildren? what are you willing to fight for? what are you willing to die for? encouraged each other and that is how a ragtag militia defeated the most powerful military force on earth. if everybody in here will commit to using your sphere of influence, talk to the people that you know in your sphere of influence about what kind of country they want to have. the issues that that is, the fiscal issues, the issues with

global terrorism, the defensiveness that is going on in the society, these are not republican or democrat issues. these are american issues. we must've the americans first. in 2012, 93 million people who could have voted did not vote. millions of evangelicals do not vote. you need to tell those people that in the categories that when you do not develop you are vote, -- when you do not you are voting but you are voting for the other side. they need to understand that fea. ef everybody in here gets thre people involved, i didn't even

care they do not vote for me, i want them to be involved. i want them to start listening to what is being said. i do not want them listening to ndits and the people who control your mind. this is what will save our nation. this will do it. lastly, there are so many people who say "i do not like you because you talk about god. you believe in god." they say "we're not supposed to talk about god." let me tell you something. thefounding document,

document that's the declaration of independence spoke about the in a legal right to us by our reader does the inalienable rights given to us by our our inalienable rights given to us by our creator. the flights and we are one flagn under god -- the said we are one nation under god and in the walls a courtroom say "in god we trust." every bill and our wallet. course and honor money but we are not supposed to talk about, what in the world is that? in medicine with colic schizophrenia. in medicine we call it

schizophrenia. doesn't that explain a lot of what is going on in our country today? we need to be bold about the fact that there is nothing wrong with living by godly principles of loving your neighbor, of caring about the person next to you, a developing your god-given talent to become valuable to the people around you, of having values and principles that govern your life. if we do that, not only will remain a chemical nation, but he will truly have one nation under with libertyble and justice for all. thank you very much. thank you. thank you.

class i would like to introduce myself. i want to thank you for all of your work. i am candy carson and i approve this message. dr. ben carson: we hasn't the vote went microphones down here he will be able to take a few of your questions. >> speaks softly and carry a big stick. what are you going to do? a lot of people have been concerned by the fact that i saw spoken and appeared to be mild-mannered. [laughter]

i will tell you a secret. say, if you have to really do not have anything to say, very often you shout that. when you have plenty to say, you show that. you show that with what you do. i guarantee you somebody who is timid and afraid does not become the first person to separate conjoined twins in the back of the head. >like the ground for eight year?

-- will i stick around for eight years? >> my name is john stiers. in a couple of days we have 9/11 coming up. i would like to say god bless all those who are serving. i served myself. i still have a set amount that is serving. what is your plan to help this so something like 9/11 does not happen again in this country? dr. ben carson: is a very good question. i was at the 9/11 memorial about a month ago. it was very touching. one of the things that really impressed me was how many first responders were killed. firemen, you know, it really pains me right now when i manyhe hatred of so

policeman that put their lives on the line every day. are there policeman that make mistakes and do bad things? of course there are. there are also plumbers to make mistakes and do bad things and presidents and all kinds of people. mean that the whole group is to be condemned? and that we should go around trying to shoot them? think about how silly that is. the people you are getting caught up in those kinds of emotions, who in some cases may see justified and may have had some injustice, that is not going to solve the problem. we need to be thinking about the things that really work and that

work for all of us into the intelligent about it. people who are concerned, the global jihadists. a lot of people say we do not want to get involved. 2003 in iraqed in and lost a lot of people and we wasted a lot of money and we need to then run that and we should not go back there again. and you know what? i actually understand why they feel that way. but that is not smart. because this is a very different situation. saddam hussein was not next digital threat to us. are.lobal jihadists they want to just three of us. they want to destroy israel and our way of. if we allow them to continue to grow, expand, and realize and willuclear weapons, they

succeed. our job is to destroy them first. [cheers and applause] you do not expect that from a soft-spoken guy, do you? you know what? i am thinking about their children. there are some people who say "how can you say that? how can you advocate potential war violence?" i have talked to a number of our generals. do you know what they had told me? they said "we can easily take back all of that land in iraq and syria and we could easily wiped them out if you let us do it and don't tie our hands back."heour

i would use everything that we have available to us to make sure it would happened. i certainly would not be making ran.id deals with the i know, i hope at some point that our congressional leaders do not just go along with this president because he is the president. he says i'm going to make this ira andve deal with th if we willn involve other countries. they should insist that this is a treaty. if it is all the death and needs

treatynitions of the it should need two thirds of the senate to approve it. because it is not a treat, it is it has nove deal, standing ones in this president is gone. >> what do you want to be when you grow up? dr. ben carson: what do i want to do when i grow up? you know what i really want to do is make sure that you can do what you want to do when you grow up. [cheers]

carson, i want to thank you for coming up here and being an excellent role model to everybody. off, i want to say i will be shipping out for basic training in about four months. what are your plans for strengthening the military? dr. ben carson: for what? ? >> strengthening the military. dr. ben carson: strengthening the military. for that. thank you for what you are going to do. we appreciate that. you, i have great affinity for the military. i almost ended up going that route. i was offered the full scholarship to west point. i decided to go the medicine regions.

we've always had a lot of friends in the military. some incredibly smart people in the military. one of the things that disturbs me enormously is the way that we treat our veterans. now 22-23 of our veterans are committing suicides every day. that is the tip of the iceberg. it tells you that we are not treating them the right way. i think the day that someone enlists in the military we should enroll them in a support program. that should be with them throughout their entire military career. and a year before it their shouldge is planned, we have people working on their transitions of that they are not unemployed when they come out.

the should have health savings zedounts that are subsidi by the government and they should be able to go to any doctor or hospital they want to and we should be able to take care of them. some people have made a big deal of the fact that i said that we should consider another mechanism of taking care of them other than the v.a. which doesn't seem to do a very good job. my main point is we cannot continue to neglect them. we are smart enough to figure out a way that they do not fall between the cracks and that they get the adequate care they need. one of the things that is really killing us right now is the recruitment efforts for our volunteer military forces. it is down 14%.

it is continuing to drop. they are seeing in point the way we are treating our veterans but navyrecognizing that our is at its smallest size since 1917. our air force is at its smallest size since 1940. in recent corps testimony said that many of our nondeployed units are not combat ready. you look at how the sequester is affecting our military forces and our lieutenant colonels and captains getting letter saying you need not bother to reapply. it is cutting the heart of the personnel. the morale and our military is at the lowest than anyone can remember. think about this. i will have to conclude with this. remember. hypothetically that i

was in charge of this nation -- [cheers and applause] let's sa y i really not a patriot and wanted to destroy this nation. let me say what i would do. i would try to create friction between all of the will. war on women and race wars and income wars and age wars and religious wars. to suchdrive the debt unimaginable levels that it is stabilize things. i would bring in people from other countries and giving them benefits. i would giving people free telephones. i would guess we ever want to get on food stamps. i will be offering free college.

everything just to joint that level of debt to unsustainable levels and then i would do everything i could to weaken our military while our enemies were growing. that is what i would do. is goingblance to what on i am sure is purely coincidental. see why it is so important for we the people to be awake and not allow ourselves to be manipulated. do not let somebody tell you that the person next to you is you enemy just because believe something different. you know, it is ok to have different believes. ok? americans.l all we have much more in common than the things that separate us.

that is what we must keep in strength is inur our community. we cannot allow anybody to separate us from each other. we the people. it is all about us. thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] i feel good i knew that i would i feel good

i knew that iw ould so good so good i've got you i feel nice and spice i feel nice like sugar and spice so nice so nice i've got you ♪ when i hold you in my arms i know i can do no wrong in my armsyou i feel nice they will be google thing.

tuesday visited with president obama in the east room of the white house. this is about 18 minutes. coach.nied by the head president obama: everybody have a seat. welcome to the white house. i hope you had a good labor day. let's give it up with the national champions. [applause]

we thought about inviting the cameron crazies here. i did not want any blue paint smudging my walls. we were not sure if the risers could take them jumping up and down to you will have to scream from your seats. fans here today including members of congress, our transportation secretary, anthony foxx. i would like to recognize the chairman of dukes board of trustees, david rubin site is nside is here. kevin white is here. named up-and-coming coach

mike krzyzewski. we think he has a lot of potential. look the same.es have you noticed? there is the whole dorian gray mirror thing going on somewhere. route we alsomy have the secretary of the army john mchugh. and our new chief of staff in the army general mark milley is here as well.

so it is good to see the blue devils again. this is the second time that i have posted them here at the white house. [laughter] hosted them here at the white house. [applause] reggie love played for coach k, helped me when he loved the pickup games. then there is derek r hodes. he was an intern here last summer before being head manager for the championship run. a little white house magic rubbed off on this team. i am just saying. i can relate to this program. twice in the past four years. what it is like for people to oppose unilateral what you

you noo do -- oppose matter what you try to do. and i turn on a documentary and see how people donate or should laettner -- how people still hate christian laettner i think i still don't have it so bad. here is the thing. it's folks do not like this year's blue devils they were just being haters. because they ran off 14 straight wins to start the season. by tournament times they were down to just eight scholarship senior, four freshmen, 1 care they had a soft-spoken all-american in the middle. from the chicago area. footwork was the

done it with you not seen in a long time. he flew all over the place. he dominated some of the games in the tournament. cook had the senior leadership, s,d set the all-time assist to the turn of a record. [applause] then, there was the player that went crazy. [applause] not know anyid better. i am going to score. eight straight points at the end of a game.

in that championship game against wisconsin, the freshman scored every point in the second half. the blue devils shut down there the country,and when they needed to. they walked down defense that had not been evident in every game during the season. that was the key to duke's fifth title run. the coach described this as the best moment during his coaching career. if i career championships, second to only the legendary john wooden, that is saying something. one 1000on, coach k games. [applause] and somehow, he did it without ever saying a bad word to a referee. [laughter] only what they deserved.

--t is what i say [laughter] but, everybody knows this program is not just about winning on the hardwood. conferences made the academic squad. that is worth applause. [applause] marshall also spent much of the summer at fort knox as he works to become an officer in the u.s. army. [applause] his parents,r trying to pay those grocery bills. to seven feet, you know they are eating a lot. that is a big grocery bill.

team also participated in the read with the blue devils campaign. op-ed on then importance of early childhood education. players volunteered as mentors, which is named for the coach's mother, and aims to break the cycle of poverty. this is the kind of program that for any institution of higher learning. they represent the university well, on and off the court. fans are sotheir passionate. that is why sometimes, they are going to be some haters. they deserve every accolade. they have a great leader in coach k. it is an outstanding university, an outstanding program, and they deserve our hearty congratulations. i am very proud of you guys.

[applause] coach k: mr. president. thank you for opening up your home. we have been to your house twice, and you have never been to our house. obama: we will have to correct that. coach k: we will have to correct that in a little over than a year. why the way, the guys already ultimately respect you. here,eing you perform once the term is over, saturday night live should have a permanent host. it would be great. groupol thing about our is that, they were fun.

even the energy, one a walk into a room, is it a locker room that needs to be picked up, or already picked up. you guys are already "up." that is what these guys did for me and my staff the entire year. i just want to tell them publicly that we love them and, it was amazing. thank you for sharing that here with me. to the guys coming back, if you could do that again, that would be amazing. [applause] we have -- we love being here. last night, david rubenstein made it available for us to have a dinner at the national archives. it was an unbelievable night. in front of the constitution,

the bill of rights, and the declaration of independence, our guys were awarded their championship rings last night. that was a cool night. it are pretty big, by the way. [laughter] show it again? coach k: a little bit of bling is not bad. last 24 hours to be in that great building, in front of those documents, and we realized the great men that started this country. but also, then to come here and be in your house. of the duke community, we want to thank you for serving our country over these last two terms. you have been an amazing leader for our country. it is not just you, but your family. thank you very much for your service. [applause]

when we visit, and you will not have to do this when you come to our house, but usually, when you visit someone's house you bring a gift. we brought a few gifts. i want to explain them. i will have the cocaptains bring them up. we have a jersey, we have a you. and we have, i know obama: he said this to me last time. [laughter] you take aytime

test, and you have your answers there, you always want the approved solution. thing is not the material, i know you cannot do it while you are president, but after you are through, we would like to scholarship you to our fantasy camp. reggiea fantasy camp and said you could play. bit. the ball a little that is what he said. it is for guys 35 and older. obama: i will dominate. [laughter] [applause] coach k: he sounded like the other 80 guys to come, and then find out the truth. anyway, you have a scholarship. obama: thank you, i am honored.

forh k: again, thank you inviting us on the special day. quin will come down. and present that. obama: thank you so much. let's go to the podium and get a few pictures. come on, guys. [laughter] [applause]

>> next, the house hearing on born security. then, question with jennifer teague. and then, your calls and comments on "washington journal." tonight, on the communicators, gary epstein, chair of the fcc's incentive option task force will discuss the upcoming broadcast spectrum auction that will allow wireless countries -- welders companies to bid on airwaves space. >> one thing i do want to emphasize, without taking spectrums from broadcasters, it is a voluntary auction on behalf of the spectrum -- on behalf of the broadcasters will stop broadcasters

continue to be an extremely valuable service. a one-time only basis, will be able to relinquish their spectrum rights and return for a share of the proceeds. congress'at it is, is determination and the fcc's implementation to make available more low band spectrums for the broadband needs. the need for broadband spectrum is burgeoning by multiples, exponentially. there is not a lot of good low band spectrum left. this is a new and novel method that congress has put in place and the fcc will implement. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern, on the communicators. on c-span-2. the houseesday, government reform committee held a hearing on the safety of u.s. personnel and assets in northern

mexico, and along the border. from theuded officials state department and from the u.s. customs and border protection task force. this is two hours and 45 minutes. >> the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. the title of this hearing is violence is called on the border. mexico is the united states's largest trading partner. it is the third largest trading partner, after canada and china. second-largest

supplier of petroleum. we have a lot of times, people have loved ones there. it is a great place to travel and beautiful. interact reasons to with the good people of mexico and to enjoy one of the most amazing countries that is on the border of the united states of america. the busiest and most economically important borders in the world, with nearly one million legitimate travelers and nearly $1 billion worth of goods illegally crossing the border each day. mexico is also a dangerous place. i would argue it is one of the most dangerous places on the planet. to understand this, we do not have to look further than the state department's own warnings about travel to mexico. es between gun battl arrival criminal organizations occur on the streets. organizations have created roadblocks to prevent the military and police from

responding to criminal activity. carjacking and highway robbery are serious problems. u.s. citizens have been martyred in such incidents. in suchbeen murdered incidents. the peer of diplomatic security's municipal police was suspended in july of 2000 11 among allegations of large-scale corruption. gomez, who was the mayor in till 2013, -- who was the mayor until 2013 disappeared from without. along with businessman miguel parties. ortiz. l leon, their bodies were found in a trunk of a car. in june of 2012, a bomb exploded a parking spot at city hall, killing one bystander.

the month before, cartel members left the capitated bodies of 14 people in a van in front of city hall. that was accompanied by a banner that claim to be from joaquin guzman. disappeared inf 2014 and his brothers appeared dead in the trunk of a car. i've happened to be a member of the church of jesus christ and latter-day saints. someone from the united states, went down and served a religious mission. shot during a robbery in mexico. it is a violent place. a dangerous place. have involvedlls into massive criminal organizations. the cartels have expanded to

extortion, and murder. it is not new and has been going on for some time. the official death toll from cartel violence in mexico is 60,000. the unofficial death toll is over 120,000 killed and another 27,000 missing or presumed dead. 03th inranked 1 transparency criminal index. that ranks countries, based on how corrupt their public sector seems to be. according to the institute for economics and peace ranking, mexico was 144 out of 162 countries surveyed. they were similar to lebanon and columbia. in terms of violence in 2015. still the department

operates nine consulates in an embassy in mexico city. two of those consulates just south of the united states border took a particular interest in the hearing today. theve been able to visit nuevo laredo facility. operate off of the rio grande river. despite this, the state department warns that violent from l activity occurs more for the link across the northern border. to improve safety, the department is set to build new consulate compounds in both. despite these plans, current instruction has been long delayed. --h of these facilities the standard embassy design had been used successfully in previous years. independent studies have shown they build them faster and less expensively. the state department, under

president obama, changed the way we do this and they are now more expensive and slower. we keep more people in danger for hunger. -- for longer periods of time. building these facilities should be a priority. yet, it has been a fiasco over the past few gears. construction will not be and 2019.until 2017 visit a chance to the embassy in mexico city. the state department under into a contract in mexico city to purchase a $120 million piece of land to build a new embassy. we have paid roughly half of that. $60 million. the transfer does not complete cleans up the

site of all contaminants, as approved by the mexican environmental authority. the place they decided to buy, and we have documentation, was a brown field. it was dirty and toxic. it was not ready to be built on. they thought they could clean it up, but it continues to be so dirty today that the mexican government will not approve it because it is too toxic. we have an older facility that is not adequately fortified. we have massive growth in the number of personnel they want to go into the embassy. the construction costs have jumped 38% to 700 $63 million. in fact, if you look at the total cost, including the site acquisition, we are looking at $943 million to build the embassy that is now years behind. part of the reason for the increase is the number of deaths projected.

981, nowojected to be it is 1300. that increase the number of deaths because of the security problems in mexico. trade,reasing amount of but we need more security personnel to do the assessments from all the agencies. this puts the total at roughly $706,000 per desk. the original embassy in mexico city was scheduled to be completed in february of 2019. we are looking at the middle of 2020, if not further. day, notll, to this improved by the mexican government. the money has been paid, but we are not able to move into the new facility and it is unacceptable. alsotate department recently indicated the plans to take away danger pay. allocations for u.s. personnel who have been receiving it. it is additional money provided to state department employees

that are willing to work in a dangerous area. the statelogic for department to warn americans about the high risk of danger, but to end of danger pay for diplomats here. behind the scenes, the state department says, do not worry about it. they are taken care of. i have traveled to mexico a couple times and spoke with state department personnel. it is at the top of their plates, at the top of their issues. do not take away our danger pay. thepeople who work in consulate, directly across the border that have literally a couple square miles within they can move. go outl cannot really and shop, or go to a movie, or do anything, other than stay on the compound because of the extreme violence in danger. and yet, the state department wants to take away the danger pay. we have people who are shaking their heads and saying, that is silly. houseonic that the republicans are fighting to help keep the danger pay for the state department of police.

they want to change that in mexico. it does not make sense to us. we will explore that. crime in northern mexico is already impacting u.s. assets in the country. on june 7, a truck leaving the u.s. consulate was hijacked by the armed robbers. u.s.still more than 11,500 crossing cards. the are pieces used within the united states. nearly 2000 of these cards and one dozen passport cards are still missing. the hijacking should come as no surprise to the state department. the own travel warning makes it clear that no highway routes, which includes nuevo laredo, are considered safe. american assets are also at risk. cartel shot at a customs and border control helicopter, hitting it twice and forcing it to land. i have seen that helicopter and i spoke to the pilot.

i spoke to the other gentleman on the helicopter. they were on the united states side of the border, but taking fire from the mexican side in a brazen attack on a u.s. helicopter, doing patrol on the united states side of the border. were attacks, it on mexican helicopters from drug cartel members. they actually took down a helicopter in another part of mexico. nobody was injured, but the attack waited clear the cartels have no reservations about expanding the scope of their violence on the american side of the border. in mexico islence apparently, not much of a priority for the administration. secretary kerry, i understand he has a busy job. we have one of the most important partners, the relationships we have in the world, is with mexico. within the twentynine palms he is been the secretary of state, how many times -- within the 29 secretary kerry has been

the secretary of state, how many times has he visited mexico? never. i have a mission president shot yesterday. i have border patrol agents shot out of the sky. is violence,here based on the tens of thousands killed on that side of the border. we have to do better. next-doorur neighbors. there are over 100 million people there. that demands more attention from been one quick visit. that makes the wonder if they want americans to think things are fine and safe. it is hard to understand why so little diplomatic effort has been there. we've a lot to discuss today. the state department request made on july 15 was frustrating. we sent a letter and it barely goes on to the second page. day, before this hearing, going into labor day weekend, the state department dumped onto

our desk 110,000 documents. we cannot do a rolling production, or allow the staff to go through this. towill digest of that, but dump 110,000 documents on us friday, right before labor day, coming into this hearing, you on the we had this. come on? really? you expect that to go unnoticed. on acceptable. my question for the panel today is, do we have all of the documents? i want you to certify and tell me that we have all the documents i asked for. the yield now to the gentleman from maryland for his opening statement. mr.cummings: i want to thank you for holding the hearing today. i hope that the witnesses listened very carefully. i think he raised legitimate concerns and i am hoping they will address them. congressmanto thank

, the ranking member of the supplementing committee for being a leader on this issue and for promoting aggressive action to protect the united states and our diplomatic corps overseas. drug cartel violence in mexico threatens americans and mexican citizens, on both sides. on both sides of the border. it also negatively impacts our important electoral trade relationship with mexico. combatting the violence in stabilizing the region needs to be a top priority for both countries. that theion is consulates should remain open to support american citizens and economic interests on both sides of the border. i agree with him and i find his argument great persuasive.

closing u.s. consulates in mexico will destabilize the region, making the borders less safe. the consulates in mexico play a critical role in implementing the laredo initiative. that is the nation's $2.5 billion investment in disrupting organized groups, institutionalizing the will of law, and building stronger communities. many of our u.s. consulates house federal law enforcement efforts to combat the drug trade and strengthen order and security. in addition, many u.s. companies, including dupont, general electric, and tyco, have significant business interests in mexico. these other businesses provide 65,000 jobs.

they depend on the support provided by the u.s. consulates. the u.s. consulates also provide crucial services to u.s. citizens residing in, and visiting, mexico. our diplomatic relations with mexico is a critical tool to stabilize the region. we need to strengthen this diplomatic relationship. especially in regions that needed most. not damage it by closing the consulates. some have suggested that. i believe mexico should do more to enhance our security in the region. but the united states also has a role to play. such as stemming the flow of guns. cthe congressman has suggested establishing secure economic zones in northern mexico, similar to those that have already been implemented in southern mexico. nes will include joint

economic planning that will provide more opportunities for communities on both sides of the border. these ideas deserve serious consideration. we must ensure that mexico is doing everything it can to root out the corruption that plagues civil institutions and law enforcement to effectively combat the drug cartels. encourageability will economic investments. on our side of the border, the united states must do more to stem the flow of guns into mexico. ,n march, the bureau of alcohol tobacco, and firearms reported guns werehan 100,000 recovered in mexico and submitted for tracing from 2009-2014.

of those 100,000 guns, 70% of them originated in the united states. the guns that are in mexico are being trafficked in from the united states. this is one reason i am proud to cosponsor, with my good friend congresswoman maloney, the gun trafficking prevention act. it is being reintroduced today on a bipartisan basis by our colleague, miss pallone. illegal gunem trafficking in the united states, there is no doubt the positive affects will be seen by our neighbors to the south. finally, let me say this. allunited states must take of the appropriate steps to ensure that our diplomats are safe and fairly compensated. i agree with you, mr. chairman. that must happen. this includes building modern

diplomatic facilities that are secure. construction plans are underway in mexico, in nuevo laredo, to build new diplomatic facilities that will house marine barracks. they will ensure even greater protection of our personnel. i understand that the state department is changing how it pays employees serving in dangerous and difficult environments. i appreciate the department's efforts to use resources effectively and consistent with the law. i believe no employees who serve on the front lines should face reductions in pay. i look forward to hearing from our witnesses about how to further improve the safety of the u.s. personnel while promoting a long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship with mexico. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. chairman: thank you to the gentleman.

i would like to associate myself with your comments about some of our colleagues. he is here and joining us on the stand. my understanding is congressman velow. we have had a tradition of allowing, and asking unanimous consent for people to sit in on the hearings. colleagues that our are allowed to fully participate in the hearing today. without objection, so ordered. we appreciate the perspective from these two gentlemen. they have great proximity to the issues we will be discussing today. ,hey have been invaluable to me and provide a good balanced perspective. they care for the loved ones in that area. i appreciate their perspective. our first panel

of witnesses. i would like to hold the record open for five legislative days for any who would like to submit a written statement. we are joined by gregory stars. he is the secretary for the diplomatic security. he is the principal director of for the bureau. he has a long history with the state department. we appreciate your service and thank you for joining us here today. to pronounce her name properly? the deputy assistant secretary for hemisphere affairs at the department of state. robert harris, the director of the joint task force west of the customs and border protection. we thank you all for being here. two committee --

pursuant to committee rules, everyone will be sworn before testifying. please prize and raise your right hand. thank you. do solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? thank you, you may be seated. but the record reflect a witnesses have answered in the affirmative. allow time for discussion, please limit your time to five minutes. your entire written statement will be in the record. we'll at to the question portion of the hearing next. good morning. thank you for your invitation to appear today to discuss the security situation. we share your concerns regarding the safety of the u.s. personnel in mexico and i look forward to discussing the issue with you today.

our national interest often require us to serve and dangerous places around the world. however, it is clear that the u.s. embassy and consulates in mexico are exceptionally report platforms to enhance our national interests. i was in mexico and can bear witness to the hard work and dedication to the u.s. personnel serving on both sides of the border. i saw the challenging circumstances in which many of our people operate. the violence in mexico in false constantly shifting threats that involves deft diplomacy. host of all, they require us to be present, full engaged, and what hundred percent committed to the security of our people and facilities. governmentthe host recognizes the interests are linked and bilateral cooperation is required to counter the threats posed by transnational chemicals.

-- transnational criminals. the strong bilateral relations is of great importance. our embassy and consulates in mexico play a critical role in providing services to american citizens, issuing visas, and implementing key foreign-policy objectives. i worked closely with my colleagues in the overseas bureau operation. facilities are a vital platform for diplomacy. they will all meet the rigorous overseas security policy board standards for safety and security. during my recent visit, i walked to view the additional security members taken. these protective features allow us to operate necessary programs that strengthen the mexican police capacity.

they reinforce critical law enforcement cooperation. they improve security along the southern border. the consulates aid the expanse of the bilateral trade that supports both countries. simply, there is not enough to improve physical security. there also training the foreign service community on how to better respond to these environments. postsficers at our border are required to take the foreign affairs counter threat training course, also known as fact. it treat -- it teaches them security skills. personnel are better prepared. the are working toward making fact training can a versatile facthose working -- training necessary for those working at our consulates. having served over 30 years in

the foreign service, i understand wholeheartedly the sacrifice our people make. it is simply woven into the fabric of what uniquely defines the foreign service community. knowing the challenges ahead, they willingly and courageously stepped up to fill the important positions we have in mexico and throughout the world. i look forward to working with congress to ensure our personnel are serving abroad is safely and that they continue to have safe platforms for advancing our national interests. to what to think commerce for the resources and support you have provided over the years and we look forward to your continuing support in the years ahead. thank you and i will be glad to answer questions you have. chairman: thank you. investor, you are recognized for five minutes. thank you very much for the invitation to appear before the committee today and discussed the u.s. consulates in northern mexico. top priority.

since the enactment of the act,e counter terrorism we've completed hundred 22 more secure facilities. we have an additional 39 in design, are under construction. these facilities provide more than 35,000 people with the safer workplace. secure, nomadic facilities in mexico underscores our commitment to strengthening our bilateral relationship and -mexican increased u.s. commitments such as migration, counter narcotics trade, and border security. over the last seven years, we've constructed new consulate tijuana,s in mexico, and most recently, in monterey. together, these facilities provide safer workspace for over 770 staff.

our work continues in northern mexico with the new u.s. consulate general in with a laredo under construction. it will be completed in 2017. this new consulate will provide work space for approximately 150 staff. another u.s. consulate general is in design and will be done this fall. consulate general's plan to accommodate approximately 197 staff. we've an active and aggressive site search underway in mexico to meet our commitments. we are under contract for new --es what a horrid guadalajara. wedissipate close -- anticipate closing in on the sites in 2019.

u.s. embassy a new in mexico city is currently in design and includes all of the space for over 1300 staff guards, a u.s. security residents, and a consulate area with over 75 teller windows. with diplomatic security every step of the way. on all the projects. security areatic involved in project development selection,site planning, design, construction, and through occupancy. all u.s. diplomatic facilities meet at the department standards for security and safety. by 2020, we expect to have constructed, or broken ground, on over nine new diplomatic facilities in mexico that will serve as secure platforms from which to conduct diplomacy and

to fulfill a foreign-policy objective for many years to come. i am happy to answer your questions at any time. chairman: thank you. you are recognized for five minutes. membersnguished of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. you, as myssure colleagues have, that the safety and security of my colleagues in mexico is a top priority. i started my diplomatic career in mexico city and i have been proud to serve there again. i will share with you today the work the state department performs to assist american citizens in mexico's border region. i will highlight the measures we are taking to enhance security

through strong bilateral cooperation. u.s.sure the safety of personnel, particularly of those serving in the u.s. consulates along the u.s.-mexico border. the state department closely examines all threats to the diplomats, locally employed colleagues, and u.s. facilities. we assessed daily the riks that are faced daily as they do their jobs in a constantly shifting landscape. there is an inherent risk working in a challenging environment. at every step, we work to ensure the security and safety of all american citizens, but particularly our diplomatic colleagues in mexico. we analyze the potential threats critically. mexicanfrequently with federal, and state local counterparts. we make sure all appropriate

measures are being taken to protect personnel and u.s. citizens. we have structures in place that allow us to communicate rapidly and effectively with u.s. citizens when the security situation changes. security messages provide u.s. citizens with our best assessment of the risks they face when traveling to certain regions in mexico. united states and mexico share a mutual investment. department, the department of homeland security, and others, work with the mexican government to combat transnational criminal organizations and to protect our citizens from the crime and violence these organizations generate. because of our robust and ongoing dialogue with mexico on security issues, mexican federal employees have taken action to improve conditions and reduce violence.

particularly where the united states government is represented at the border consulates of waiver laredo. it bilateral economic relationship between the two countries is huge. trade between the two countries crossed the u.s.-mexico land border. the integrated economic relationship supports thousands of jobs in both countries and hundreds of thousands of people legally cross the border each day. mexico remains the top destination for travelers in the united states. we estimate that on any given day, there are 1.5 billion american citizens in mexico. ale u.s. consulate gener support this relationship through visa services for tourists, students, and workers. they provide critical services to the 330,000 u.s. citizens living in the consulate

districts. and for the commercial travelers. issuancesude passport and renewals. ony provide information voter registration. the consulate also provides emergency services to american citizens who are arrested, kidnapped, or face temporary destitution in mexico. we share the committee's concern about the level of violence in certain areas. we assess the overall environment on a daily basis. believe that the u.s. interests are best protected by maintaining a strong presence on the ground in mexico and continuing our close law enforcement and security relationship. we review and monitor the situation daily and have been taking all appropriate steps to ensure the safety of american citizens, including government personnel. i want to assure you that this is, and will continue to be, a top priority for me, my leadership, and the department.

they give for the opportunity to testify. chairman: thank you. mr. harris, you are recognized for five minutes. theistinguished members of committee, i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to speak about the department of homeland border taskouthern force. it represents the next evolution and border security of our nation's southern border. i assume the position of director of the newly created islet joint task force on december 15, 2014. prior to this position, i was the first head commander of customs and border protection where i served from february 2012 to december of 2014 in laredo, texas. i held numerous executive leadership positions in my more than 30 year border career. this includes serving as chief patrol regent of the laredo location.

i served as the chief of intelligence operations. the transitionge of the u.s. border patrol into the u.s. customs and border protection. i want to take a moment tuesday to you about the southern border of purchase campaign and the door -- and the joint task force west. the terrorist threat, the illegal immigration, drugs, human and arms trafficking, and the illicit financing of all of these operations. i working hand in hand with my counterparts from the u.s. coast guard, the director of the joint the specialast, agent in charge of the joint task force investigations. although we are in the early stages, we are working to coordinate forces and leverage

department of defense international, state, local, and tribal resources to combat the criminal organizations that exploit for abilities in our southern border approaches. of integration among the dhs component agencies is unprecedented since the creation of the department in 2003. the joint task force west will secure the southern border approaches through depart mental unity -- department of unity. davisve primary in jeff toour primary objectives are integrate and align our intelligence capabilities, institutionalize counter network operations to identify criminal organizations and their networks, your ties investigative efforts to disrupt, degrade, and dismantle transnational criminal organizations, strengthened international prosecutorial

efforts against transnational criminal enterprises and significant activity impacting the joint task force west during operating areas. and finally, advance the joint task force west mission through communication and messaging efforts. the structure of the joint task force west focuses across departmental and in a graded methods on stood -- methods on strategic methods. force west will focus on creating and implementing a new standardized methodology for identifying and prioritizing strategic targets, based on national security, public safety, and border security threats. threategun the prioritization process by developing a concept of operations plan and course of action for each car door. the goal will be to expedite any integrated counter network operations against a list of

prioritized transnational acrossl organizations the southwest border on october 1, 2015. this has never before been done in a coordinated and integrated means across the entire southwest border. expand ourtions will ability to impact illicit networks beyond the border from their point of origin, two destination points, through integrated dhs and interagency cooperation. these efforts will result in applications that will be able to identify targets through investigation, enforcement, and administrative actions. it also enables dhs to streamline our collaboration, innovation, and integration with other government entities. for example, and the south texas corridor we have taken steps to intopast collaboration and the integration of intelligence, investigation, and resources and have conducted counter work

forces against prioritized threats. this new partnership further reduces institutional barriers and duplication of efforts, provides for a unity of effort understanding the threat network, and enhances our ability to dismantle these networks. i am confident that ", the campaign will effectively disrupt, degrade, and dismantle threats in a coordinated manner unlike never before and improve ability to combat criminal organizations that present a threat to our efforts to secure the southern border. i look forward to answering questions. chairman: thank you. i recognize you for five minutes. >> thank you reeking member, cummings. in june, a helicopter was shot and forced down in laredo, texas. this was a wake-up call to the increasing violence on the mexican border. from an isolated

incident. for example, in 2014, less than 100 miles from the helicopter shooting, a border patrol agent was murdered while on a fishing trip. one of the murderers had been reported four times, the other twice for illegally crossing the border. 20 years ago, about the time i joined border patrol, the cartels did not exist, or were not widely known. narcotics and illegal immigrant smuggling was conducted by him organized crime, but it was not on the level we see today. there were smalltime slayers conducting smuggling operations within a given area. although violence could, and did , abrupt. the older generation of smugglers took the long view. losing ad rather risk load of narcotics, then opening fire on agents. violence brought unwanted attention on both sides of the border and that was bad for business. this all began to unravel in the early 2000's. the drugemergence of

cartels. they are well organized, heavily armed, and pathologically violent. to give you a sense, the official death toll, from the cartel violence in mexico is 60,000. that is more than the united states military lost in vietnam. the unofficial death toll in mexico is over 120,000 killed and another 27,000 missing, and presumed dead. in mexico, the cartels kill without hesitation or fear of prosecution. tells of this year, our down a mexican army helicopter. why would we expect them to behave any differently on the u.s.-mexican border? the second factor driving the increase in violence is the increase of illegal aliens. when i first started, if you are a citizen of mexico, we took a single fingerprint, take your information, and are free to the border. withs a revolving door,

cases where agents often arrested the same individual twice in the same shift. three positive developments have changed this. the first was the change in the way we collect information. instead of capturing one fingerprint, we began taking the prince of all 10 fingers and running the prince of those arrested against all criminal databases kept in the united states department of justice. we're able to identify, with certainty, terminal -- criminal aliens attempting to enter the united states. the second positive step was the implementation of the system used in certain places across the border. the third was immigration customs enforced criminal deportation programs. i want to be clear on this, especially given the recent comments about to his crossing the border and the assertions that the border is far safer than it has ever been. 177,000 i deported

convicted criminals. of this number, 91,004 we arrested trying to reenter the country. theut this in perspective, border patrol apprehended just under 500,000 illegal immigrants. one in every five arrests last year by the border patrol was a criminal alien. almost 50% of the criminal aliens reported in 2014 were guilty of aggravated felonies. these are not petty criminals and approximately 60% of those deported last year had already been deported at least once before. this is a challenge we face at the border today. there are those will point to lower apprehension rates and say the border is secure. border patrol agents throughout the nation will tell you the border is not secure and the southwest border certainly, is not safe. we know what the problems are. what can we do to improve?

thing, increased manpower. currently, there are 21,000 border control agents. that is what congress mandates we have. we have 2000 less, under that. we do not even have the number congress mandates they maintain. sizet have to double the of border control, but we are, in my opinion, approximately 5000 agents short of where we should be. isond, the board of control an extremely top-heavy organization with far too many management. the average police department has one supervisor for every 10 officers. the border patrol has one supervisor for every four. anotherld easily return 1500 agents to the field. theimes, i will point out other points. we to continue with interior enforcement. we need to improve training. we need to prosecute assaults against bordick control agents -- against border control

agents. through this, i believe will decrease the violence across the border. think you very much. i look forward to answering questions. chairman: i recognize myself for five minutes. to the three state department witnesses, four people on this .ommittee my question is, what percentage of the documents asked for in this letter has the congress, has this committee been given? ambassador, do you know? can you use your microphone, please. ambassador: i do not know the exact percentage. i do know we provided 150,000 pages. chairman: that is not matter unless we get the right percentage. what percentage? >> sir, i'm not aware of that. that would be the ambassador's -- chairman: it is directed to

secretary kerry. mr.starr what percentage of the documents to we have? mr.starr: i do not know, sir. chairman: should we issue a subpoena? where are these documents? >> weave a process for producing them. i want to assure you that members on our staff are happy to work with your staff. what do we need to do to get there. 22 issue a subpoena. when will you have all of those documents to us. >> sir, i cannot tell you how fast the process will work. that is for sure. chairman: i agree with you on that. i should not have to waste my time requesting documents i asked for back in july. mr. harris, of the border, the secure act of 2006 divide

operational control as the prevention of all unlawful entries in the united states, including entries by terrorists, unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, marcotte x and other contraband. achieve of this was to a hundred percent operational control. they start your experience, what percentage of the border today is secure? that is not what the focus is. metric yous there a look for in that. we work with the components across. chairman: you don't have an answer to the question. what percentage of the border is under operational control? >>