the same determination of a man who died here who traveled the world, mindful of the risks as a gay man, but who spoke for all of us when he said, we are not we are not going to be afraid. may we all find that same strength in our own lives. find that same wisdom in how we treat one another. may god bless all who we lost in orlando. give comfort to their families. may heal the wounded. he bring some solace to those whose hearts have been broken. us resolve to do

what is necessary to reduce the hatred in this world. to curb the violence. may he watch over this country that we call home. thank you very much, everybody. >> c-span's "washington journal." live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. the executive director of gun co-owners of america. plus, the executive director of the human rights campaign. he talks about the orlando nightclub shooting and what concerns his organization has.

afghan ambassador to the u.s. will share his perspective on the shooting in orlando, the future of afghanistan, and the war against the taliban. the sure to watch "washington journal." 20 discussion. -- join the discussion. >> the u.s. faced more than a decade of challenges during reconstruction. institute is at that time had a lasting effect on u.s. history. american history tv on c-span3 is live from gettysburg college for the annual civil war institute summer examine topics freedffected our newly country. reconstruction in the north with

a professor of history. and the post-civil war career of ulysses grant. also, hear conversations on the return of the confederate of the and the origins lost cause. the conference, live saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. on american history tv. for the complete weekend schedule, go to c-span.org. cia director john brennan testified at a committee today about operations around the world. he discussed the fight against isis in libya. he also outlined issues the next president will need to discuss including cyber security. this is one hour and 45 minutes.

>> call this hearing to order. i would like to welcome our witness today. john brennan. john, you appropriately note in your opening statement that this hearing takes place against the backdrop of a heinous act of violence, perpetrated by a troubled and evil person sm the committee had been inconsistent contact with the f.b.i. from early morning hours on sunday and provided a great deal of information.

i know that your team along with your intelligence committee -- community partners are working to determine if the killer had any kecks to a foreign terrorist group like isil. let me thank your officers for what they do and for the long hours that they are likely putting in to understand this tragedy and focusing on a wide range of threats. i know your organization understands the threats posed by isil and there has been much public discussion about progress, the u.s. led coalition to contain isil. to degrade its finance and media operations and remove its fighters from the battlefield. however, while progress may have been made against those goals, you note in your statement that we have not reduced the capability and global reach. that assessment is significant.

i want to take this moment to speak not only to you but also to the american people. we live in an open society, one that values freedom and diversity. the islamic state is recruiting individuals by leveraging that freedom and taking advantage of misguided hate to attack us and in doing so to divide us. isil's battlefield includes the united states and we can't stand by. we must take the fight to them. we must attack them where they raise money, where they plan, where they recruit and we must deny them a safe haven. we cannot negotiate with extremists who seek only to kill and i don't think we will. i'm not willing to accept the events of san bernandino and orlando as the new normal nor should anyone.

we should be able to live securely in a free society and i think we will. we are not alone. our friends in europe and asia and across the world should go to sporting events, concerts and dance clubs and experience life in safety. we will unite as a coalition. but we can only do so with a realistic proactive, aggressive and well-defined strategy and frankly we have to own it and embrace it. now is not the time to pay lip service. the sooner we as a nation realize that there is only one path force to take at this juncture, the sooner we will destroy isil's capabilities and ensure the safety of our nation. i'm confident we will highlight during your testimony these and

other threats to our nation. but before i turn to the vice chairman, i would ask you to relay something to your entire organization. our thanks and our appreciation for their work. your officers work in the shadows, often in dangerous environments, day in and day out to keep us safe. their dedication to their fellow citizens should be commended and we are in debt for that service. mr. director, i thank you for being here today and i turn to the vice chairman. senator: thanks very much, mr. chairman. and i don't want to repeat what you said and you said it very well and i'm strongly in agreement with it. fine fine i would like -- senator: i think it's becoming apparent that the tragedy of the last weekend in orlando

highlights one of the great difficulties this nation faces with the rise of the islamic state. this enemy is very different from past adversesaries like al qaeda, because isil not only seeks to control territory but is taking advantage of technology and social media to recruit fighters and inspire terrorist attacks far from the battlefield. this trend concerns me greatly. according to the president and the f.b.i. director, the killer in orlando was inspired at a minimum, influenced by online terrorist material. similar online propaganda played important roles in the shootings in san bernandino, chattanooga, garland, texas as well as fort hood, texas and other attacks.

director brennan, i hope you can assure the american people because this is an opportunity to do so that the c.i.a. is trying to understand how these organizations work and operate. these foreign organizations work and operate. i think such knowledge is essential to help holocene makers shape laws and -- help policymakers shape laws and stop them from incessantly preying on at risk individuals and radicalizing them to conduct such heinous crimes. that data onto ask the understanding on the extent and reach of isil and the applications for those of us here at home and for our friends and allies overseas. i think there has been some important progress lately, and it is important to show that progress with the people.

on tuesday, the president publicly listed some of the senior leaders of eiffel who who have -- of isil been killed, and i think that is welcome news. would like the cia assessment on whether the 13,000 coalition airstrikes against isil have been effective, and what sorts of targets and setbacks have been to isil's efforts. we know iraqi forces have surrounded fallujah. iraqi forces recently liberated the strategic town and broke the isil siege of hadesa. has lost half the territory it once controlled in iraq. it continues to lose ground in syria as well. a coalition of global forces is pressuring the key town of mons eeg, which will hopefully cut

smuggling routes into turkey and put pressure on the capital of raqqa. i think it would be helpful for america to understand whether the anti-isil coalitions the united states has put together is making progress. if so, how and where. i would be to isil, interested in hearing on other global threats to the united states and the challenges you believe we face, in particular, i think all of us are concerned about the recent behavior of north korea, the aggressiveness in russia, china's actions in the south china sea, and the instability in north africa in particular. i thank you, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing, and i really look forward to the discussion. ,r. burr: thank you vice-chairman. mr. director, we are joined by a lot of directors -- a lot of

members. they don't care what diane and i say. ms. feinstein: speak for yourself. [laughter] mr. burr: they will be here quickly. we again thank you for being here. we thank you for what the agency does day in and day out, and the floor is now yours. mr. brennan: thank you very much chairman burr and vice president feinstein. inviting me to speak about the central intelligence agency, an agency bet i am enormously proud to apart of. i am privileged every day to lead the when -- men and women of cia. we work around the world, often in difficult and dangerous situations to keep the country strong and free and fellow citizens safe and secure. our hearing today takes place against the backdrop of a pain -- heinous act of wanton violence in orlando, florida last week.

we join people mourning the loss of their loved ones killed in the attack. we extend our best which is -- our best wishes for their recovery. this defines us as a nation. in light of events in orlando, i would like to take this opportunity to offer the assessment of the terrorist attack, especially from the so-called islamic state of live thought, or -- islam and isil. , or the group appears to be a vision.from its several people are trending in the right direction. isil has lost large stretches of territory in syria and iraq. financial operations have been squeezed, and has struggled to replenish ranks of fighters, in part because fewer foreign

fighters are now able to travel to.. moreover, the report suggests growing numbers are becoming disillusioned with the group and are eager to follow in the footsteps of members who have already defected. the anti-isil coalition is taking steps to exploit these vulnerabilities. there are efforts underway to represent -- rescue cities like fallujah. we are also assisting in the battlefield. last month for example, a u.s. airstrike killed influential isil leaders. however, is a largely cohesive enemy, and the group will adjust its strategy and tactics in an effort to regain momentum. in the coming months, we can expect it to probe the front lines of adversaries on the auto on theeaknesses, -- battlefield weaknesses, to find enemies inside iraq and syria.

the complication of territorial kerala isil will rely on tactics -- on guerrilla tactics. a city stream of attacks from baghdad to damascus represents the group's ability to penetrate deep inside enemy strongholds. based on to the battlefield, isil's finances are taking a hit. they have cut costs and reallocated funds. adapting to the coalitions effort. it continues to generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue or month, primarily from taxation in areas and controls and crude oil sales on the black market inside syria and iraq. unfortunately, despite progress against isil on the battlefield, efforts have not reduced the capability and global reach.

the resources needed for terrorism are very modest, and the group would have to sever heavier losses on territory, manpower, and money for the current capacity to decline significantly. moreover, the foreign branches and global networks could help preserve the capacity for terrorism regardless of events in iraq and syria. in fact, as the pressure mounts on isil, we think it will intensify the global campaign to maintain its dominance on the global terrorism agenda. since at least 2014, isil has been working to build an apparatus to direct and inspire attacks against foreign enemies, resulting in hundreds of casualties. the most prominent example are the attacks in paris and brussels, which we assessed were directed by issa leadership. we judged that ice all is trying deploysil is trying to more attacks. they have large groups of fighters that could service operatives in the west.

-- serve as operatives in the west. includes legitimate wreckage -- as we have seen in orlando, san bernardino, and elsewhere, iso-is attending to -- isil is attending to gain people that have no connection to the group. they urge followers to conduct attacks in their home countries they were unable to travel to syria and iraq. isthe same time, isil pulsating its global growth into a more active global organization. a branch in libya is probably the most developed and the most dangerous. we assess and airstrike would influence its attack into africa and europe. meanwhile, isil's sinai branch in egypt is the most capable group in all of egypt.

it focuses attacks on the egyptian military and government targets, but has also targeted tourists, as we so with the downing of a russian passenger jet. other branches worldwide have struggled to gain traction. the yemen ranch for instance has been riddled with factionalism. the afghanistan branch has struggled to maintain cohesion, in part because of competition with the taliban. on the propaganda front, the coalition is working to counter isil's propaganda machine. isil lauds its own military efforts and portrays the caliphate as is driving a -- as a thriving state, despite setbacks globally. it releases a multitude of products on various prop forms including social media, mobile applications, and hardcopy media. usesroup primarily

twitter, telegram, and tumblr. --relies on a global work of network of sympathizers to spread these messages. in sum, isil remains a formidable adversary, but the united states and our global partners have succeeded in putting the group on the defensive, forcing it to devote more time and energy to try to hold territory and vital infrastructure inside syria and iraq. though this will be a long and difficult fight, there's broad agreement in the international community on the seriousness of the threat and on the need to meet it collectively and decisively. it also dominates my conversations with my intelligence and security counterparts globally worldwide. i frequently engage with them about what we need to do together in terms of information sharing, joint operational activity, and being able to complement our respective strengths and capabilities to destroy isil thoroughly. as you will know, cia is not just a counterterrorism agency. we are a comprehensive service with a global charter.

and we are called upon to address the full range of 21st century threats. and as i often tell young officers at cia i have never , seen a time when our country faced such a wide variety of threats to our national security. if you run your fingers along almost any portion of the map from asia-pacific to europe to north africa, you'll quickly find a flashpoint with global implications. china is extending its military and taking over the south china sea. russia is expanding its nuclear weapons program. russia is threatening its neighbors and reasserting itself on the global stage. then there's the cyber domain where states and other actors are threatening financial systems, interpretation networks and other things inside government and out. i particularly appreciate the work of this committee to try to come to grips and address the cyber threats we face as a nation. in the face of these many daunting challenges, our nation depends upon cia and intelligence community partners to help keep our country strong and secure.

indeed in today's volatile and complex world, policymakers depend on cia more than ever for intelligence, insight, and options. if we are to me the cuts -- national security challenges that confront us we must , constantly adapt and innovate. that's why we announced a comprehensive effort last year to modernize our agency for the future. since launching our modernization effort a few months ago, we have taken important steps to make sure we modernize to the time. we still have work to do, and in some respects we always will. that's because modernization is about more than lines and boxes on an organizational chart, it is also about a mindset. to innovate constantly to keep up with an ever changing world. a key part of this is a commitment to making our work force as diverse as the world we cover. just last week, the office of the director of national intelligence issued a report showing that the intelligence community is significantly less diverse than the rest of the federal work force. there is report that forces us

in the intelligence community to confront some hard truths about who we are and how we are performing our mission. cia recently unveiled a landmark effort to make sure that our backgrounds, perspectives, the nation we work so hard to defend. this is both a moral and a mission imperative. i truly believe that the business case for diversity is is stronger for cia than it is for any other organization in the u.s. government. diversity gives us the cultural understanding we need to operate in any country in the world, it the intelligence we need to work. i want to thank the cia and trinity partners we have worked with through the course of the year, and i look forward to addressing your questions. thank you. mr. burr: mr. director, thank you for that testimony. we will do five-minute rounds

based on seniority. mr. director you lead an organization with a unique insight in the global events with unprecedented access to the entire world and highly trained officers that preside -- possess a wide range of talents and skills. to the extent that you can discuss in this setting, do you believe that you have all the authorities you need to accomplish your mission? senator, i believe we have a great deal of authorities, and very important and solemn authorities, and we try to do it to the best of our ability. the one area when i look to the future that concerns me is in that digital domain which is why we set up a fifth directorate, the first time in 50 years. so we're able to understand the implications, the vulnerabilities, and the opportunities that that digital domain represents. as i know this committee and others here in the congress are grappling with the issue about

the role of government in that digital domain, law enforcement, intelligence, and security organizations, i do wonder whether or not we as a government have the ability to be able to monitor that domain from the standpoint of identifying those threats to our national security that we need just the way we have within the physical domain, the maritime domain, the aviation domain, the consensus about how the government has an obligation to protect its citizens in those various domains. the digital domain is a new domain. it is the new frontier. and i do not believe our legal frameworks, as well as our organizational structures, and our capabilities are yet at the point of being able to deal with the challenges in the digital domain that we need to have in the future. so this is the one area that i encourage the committee, the congress, this administration, next administration, to continue to work on, particularly as this country is going to be part of

the internet of things where virtually every type of electronic and mobile device is going to be connected to this internet. that interconnectedness gives us tremendous convenience in our lives, but it also creates inherent vulnerabilities that our adversaries, whether nation states or individual actors or groups will take advantage of. , that's the area i'm concerned about, the authority of the fbi need to be looked at. mr. burr: we are extremely engaged in that fight, and we hope we can continue to make progress in understanding what the structure should be in the future. you note in your opening statement that the cia is not just a counterterrorism agency but an intelligence service with a global charter. do you believe your organization focuses too much of its time and resources on the terrorist threat? mr. brennan: i think as this committee knows very well, the terrorist threat has been large

since dawn 11. it has presented a threat not just your interest worldwide but to our beloved homeland, which is why the cia has been called upon to lead this fight and too defeat the terrorist organizations abroad so they cannot carry out their wanton, depraved acts here in our homeland. the cia has multiple missions. we have the human and technical, the all force analytic mission to provide policymakers in congress with the insights they need. we have the counterintelligence mission to make sure we can protect ourselves from adversaries trying to steal our secrets. we also have a covert action mission which involves the paramilitary dimension, and given our roots in the services in world war ii since our birth , in 1947, every administration has taken advantage of cia's tremendous abilities in that paramilitary covert action realm.

as we fight in yemen and iraq and other places, the cia's give abilities in this area will be increasingly called upon in the future. i also would add one other component to those missions and that's on the liaison front. our partners. we need to make sure we develop the partnership we need to leverage their capabilities, because as good as cia is we're , not able to confront all these angles globally. we need to develop the professionalism of other services and make sure they're able to fulfill their obligations of intelligence obligate -- organizations, and they are not subject to the whims of corrupt political masters who are going to try to use them for their own political agendas. so as we develop these partnerships, we're trying to develop their professionalism as well. mr. burr: last question you've , been at the helm of the c.i.a. for roughly three years now. the world has changed or medically during those three short years. while this is not the appropriate venue to go into

great detail on sources and methods, it's a good opportunity for you to speak to the american people and educate them about the caa and humanize what is a very opaque organization, to most. how has your view of the cia as an organization changed in the last three years? mr. burr: well, mr. chairman. thank you. in your opening remarks, you talked about how the cia officers work in the shadows and without the accolades they deserve. i first raised my hand and swore allegiance to this country in august in 1980 as a young cia officer. i worked for 25 years. during those 25 years and subsequent years, to include the have had thehat i pleasure and honor to lead the cia i am always impressed with , the expertise, the capabilities, the dedication of americans from every state in this union who come to cia recognizing that they're going , to be maligned unfairly

because of the misrepresentations of their work but they recognize that the work , they do is absolutely essential to keep their families, their neighbors, they friends, their fellow citizens safe. so i truly believe that the agency is core and essential to keeping this country safe and secure from the growing threats we face around the globe, and coming back to cia and being able to spend every day with cia officers i am just amazed at , what it is that they're willing to do on behalf of their country. i presided over annual memorial ceremony last month in cia's lobby from front of our wall of honor where 117 stars grace that wall, representing cia men and women who have given their lives to this country. they do it, again, without seeking praise, public acclamation, but they do it silently, at great sacrifice to themselves and their families. so i am honored to be part of

this organization. mr. burr: thank you, director. vice-chairman. ms. feinstein: thanks, mr. chairman. i hope to get in three questions director. ,the first is, and listening to remarks -- your remarks, which i think were a lot of broad strokes and very interesting, i wanted to ask you about a couple of things that you said. you said that libya is the most dangerous country and the sinai the most active. you mentioned military and governmental targets. could you explain a little bit more about that, please? mr. brennan: i talked about libya as being the country where there's the most dangerous branch of isil outside of syria and iraq. they have several thousands of individuals who have pledged allegiance to isil. they now control a portion of the libyan coast around the city of sert. where they're able to train,

develop, and to consolidate their position inside of libya as well as to use libya as the potential springboard for carrying out operations abroad. they've attracted a number of individuals from african countries, inside of libya, and therefore i am concerned about the growth of libya as another area that could serve as a basis for isil to carry out attacks inside of europe and in other locations. that is very concerning. particularly since libya is right across from europe and the mediterranean, the refugee flows going there. there's a group within the sinai, isil, it used to be an egyptian terrorist group, which was basically consumed by isil and that group pledged , allegiance to isolate. they already had capability. they had individuals trained and ready to carry out attacks. and we do attribute the downing of that russian airliner to this

group that was able to get on board that aircraft and ied -- an ied and to bring it down. so the great concern about how isil has been able to rapidly develop capabilities in other countries -- in some areas, they were able to co-opt and acquire groups that were already in existence. nigeria is another country where boko haram is now the islamic state of west africa, where you have several thousands of individuals who are also on the march, waving the isil banner. i was just out in singapore last week, where i talked to my asian counterparts, concerned about what we might see in soviet asia -- in southeast asia as various terrorist organizations there are increasing their interaction and connections with isil. so this is a global challenge. the numbers of isil fighters now far exceeds what al qaeda had at its height. they are talking about tens of thousands of individuals. ms. feinstein: can you estimate

the number? mr. burr: -- mr. brennan: in syria and iraq, we estimate it is between 18,000 and 22,000 fighters down , significantly from our estimates last year, where we estimated they might have had as many as 33,000 or so fighters. in libya, the numbers range from 5000 to 8000. in egypt there are several , hundred, if not over 1,000, hard-core fighters. inside of the sinai that are a combination of individuals who were formerly of that group and others who have joined. in yemen, you have several hundreds. in afghanistan and pakistan, it's in the hundreds. so the numbers are significant. in iraq, syria, in libya, in nigeria, you probably have maybe 7000 or so. again, there are hard core fighters. there are adherents, there are logistics specialists, facilitators and others. but the numbers are significant. ms. feinstein: i want to get in one other thing.

you said they proselytize by using twitter, telegram, and tumblr, that those are the most used. explain a little bit, you see i fight this huge personal privacy that any, you have to keep everything private. and yet, when you have the electronic world being used as the propaganda mechanism to fuel the lone wolf, to goad on the lone wolf, to -- i use the word inspire the lone wolf, for the united states, that's a big security problem. how, what do you recommend from an intelligence point of view -- i know it's on the spot. but we're trying to discuss a bill on encryption, using court orders to ask companies to cooperate in cases of national

security as well as major, major crime. and it's just very difficult. and yet, we see this propaganda. i read those magazines. i see what's happening. and the enormous frustration, it's not like you go to a library and find something in the stacks. this is a few clips. and -- clicks, and you pull up all this material. what do you think the responsibility of the technical sector should be? mr. brennan: will senator, i think you have put your finger on two major issues here. one is that you're absolutely right, isil has made extensive and sophisticated use of the various technological innovations that we have witnessed over the past decade, taking full advantage of social media. a large part of the isil cadre are young individuals who have

grown up, whether it be in the middle east, europe or other , places in an era of great technological development. and so using these mediums come , naturally to them, and they gravitate toward them. but they also are very aware of what mediums provide them the greatest security and the greatest protection from government insight and oversight of that. and they recognize that a lot of these apps provide them the ability to communicate with encryption and also provide impediments to governments to be able to gain access to content of their information. so i will harken back to what i said earlier. i do believe that this committee and others really need to continue to have the discussion that is going to be a national discussion about the appropriate role for the government in an area where the private sector owns and operates the worldwide internet.

and we know that the internet does not respect sovereign borders. so it's not just a question of what the united states is able to do. its what the norm and standards are going to be across the globe. i do not believe that there is a national consensus right now, even within the congress or the executive branch, about what that appropriate role is for law enforcement, for intelligence agencies, in terms of being able to have the basis and the foundation to be able to protect their fellow citizens from what can happen in that digital domain, whether it's with the propagation of propaganda that these organizations are involved in, or whether or not they're actually directing and training and inciting individuals, but also the vulnerability of our critical infrastructure as well as our way of life here to disabling and destructive mall where -- malware that can be deployed by nation states that have the capability and intent is something we need to come to grips with.

we don't want to face the equivalent of 9/11 in the cyber domain. it's an important and worthwhile debate, and there are arguments on all sides about what the government's role should be, but when i think about the government's inability to be able to follow up on a court order and warrant that grants the government access to some device that holds a lot of documents or information that could be inculpatory or excellent tory about -- excul patory to provide information about an attack there's , something the government has to come to grips with in terms of what is the authority, responsibility, and role of the government in making sure that this country is kept safe from those who want to do us harm using that digital domain. mr. burr: senator coats. >>

director, you talked about the territorial gains that we had in both iraq and in syria. intelligenceto get assessment agencies assessment in hat it would look like syria, what the challenges are shows.t the intelligence it's a mixed cocktail of opposition groups and so forth. is defeated, what are we facing? face re we continuing to in syria whether assad stays or whether he goes. is going to be significant questions raised as what we're going to be facing. there's maybe some people coming to the conclusion isise have to do is defeat in syria and in iraq and then will be fine.

we know that they pha it is an to a number of other nations. what is syria going to look like and when that happens and what kind of challenges are we have. to >> you're absolutely right. syria is a cocktail of actors which are in violent conflict with one another. two principal tourist organizations that operate inside of syria. talked about d we and the other is al-qaida in syria. that has formidable capabilities and presence throughout the ountry of several thousands of fighters. some of them just engaged in the battlefield against president who are plotting o carry out terrorist attacks outside syria. the u.s. government supports the moderates.

if we're able to eliminate the terrorist groups this is still a order to to grow in address some of the outstanding issues. opposition was generated because of concerns had the sunni majority hassad regime that was abusing its ability and powers. needs to be resolution between shia and sunni. you have others inside of syria this is where we believe hassad needs to depart the scene so this can be a more epresentative and legitimate government that's able to reside over this syrian country. in addition to have tension with northern syria and the arabs so of tension.ot it's very similar in some to the cocktail that

lebanon.n it's serious for lebanon to have a functional political system. go, but a long way to the important thing is to destroy the terrorist stop theions there and and bring in the humanitarian assistance and then be able to make sure we're able to develop a structure that is representative of the syrian address the le to represent he reconstruction of the country. given the russian government they atever decisions make, how does that complicate resolution for some kind of a settlement, cease fire or whatever? >> well, as you know russia to ght its military force bear last september in syria ith aircraft, artillery and

prevent as a way to what they saw as an imminent collapse of the regime. regime forces and they are involved right now in carrying out strikes against the opposition. we work very closely and talk with the russians about how to conflict down of the see what to them to terrorism ounter front. i'm disappointed with russia constructive role to bring the military force down their engagement and to be more helpful as far as the track.ating this problem of syria won't be resolved in the battlefield. t has to be resolved on the political front and secretary kerry has been working hard and try to stimulate some traction there. and the russians i believe can both in terms of

restraint they can put on the syrian forces but also more on the tive engagement political front. stronger today or weaker than a year ago? his back ago he was on foot as the opposition forces operations g out that really were degrading the million tear reufplt as a result military sian intervention he is in a stronger position than he was in june of year. >> is that enhancing the ability diplomatic solution en it?s >> right now the strengthen military and russian unwillingness to use the iterage that it has has made i think more difficult. >> sounds like the russians have a position es in which we hoped they'd never be. thank you very much.

on a quick director encryption since it has come up. it's important to remember that is restricted in the united states, it will still easy to download strong from hundreds of sources overseas. n my judgment requiring companies to build back doors in heir products to weaken strong encryption will put the personal at risk at aricans dangerous time and i want to make it clear i will fight such with everything i have. now with respect to my first i want , mr. director, at alk about accountability the cia. response to torture stayed that the agency agreed i quote herere and

"significant short comings in of accountability or problems in conduct and management for cia activities." they must ensure to accountability extends those responsible for any broader and systemic failures. three years en since the cia said that. the case that no one has been held accountable for systemic failures that the agency has acknowledged? wantrst of all, senator, i to say that i respectfully disagree with your opening comments. irst of all, u.s. companies dominate the international market as far as encryption are available at through these various apps and i think we'll continue to dominate them. right there is the ability of foreign companies o be able to have those

encryption capabilities and available to others, i do believe that this country and private sector is integral to addressing these issues and i this committee on to continue to work on it. course of over the the last several years took ctions to address the short comings that we have fully the detention and interrogation program. there was individual account accountabilitynd for some of the management and systemic failures. would be happy to had in a different setting the details of i think the hat committee is aware of. >> i want to make sure i heard that right. believe you said that individuals have been held the believe -- ccountable for systemic

structures. heard you say there have been individual account ability and i'd like to see the details on that. failure me of systemic is going to be related to the individual individu individual's failure of performance. >> were individuals held accountable? yes or no answer. >> yes. >> i'll look forward to getting hat response and i appreciate that because i think that's very important. up with a question about an upcoming policy that we're all going to be tackling committee. ection 702 of the foreign surveillance act is up for renewal and the office of the of national intelligence is disclosed and conducts utinely warrantless searches for e-mails and other communications of americans in a year

efore the cia conducted nearly 2000 of these warrantless searches. if there is evidence that an merican is involved with terrorism or espionage the ought to pursue it aggressively. i strongly pack they can even right the communications away and get judicial review after it. if there was a rule that said cia could only search for under ns' communications section 702 with the justice epartment has obtained a warrant with the exception of the emergency situation or when a person is in danger would the cia be able to comply with rule? > that's a complicated issue and i don't want to give you an off the cuff response. you get the e sure answer that that question reserves. could we have that within two

weeks. >> we'll do our best to do that. >> i think two weeks ought to be mr. director and i appreciate the fact that in both areas you're going to get back to me and we'll look at what part of the responses have to be classified and what part can be discussed in public. with respect to individual accountability to 702.ure and >> i think something that you of, a fullpreciative of the senior staff will be involved in all the activities that the cia is make sure we're protecting the civil liberties. has the person been appointed >> the person has been appointed and operating within the cia. this is his second or third week. >> please ask that person to appointment with me. >> surely. >> thank you.

senator. you for beinghank here with us. see you in get to huh-uh public session like this. the tkre y leaders, of national int ntelligence say they're facing more threats from more directions than ever before. that assessment? >> yes, i do. the at kinds of things has cia done to become more agile to dealing with more threats from more directions than ever before? this embarked on modernization effort to try to make sure we're taking full of the great expertise and capabilities that we have organization. i'm a strong proponent to capabilities and that

a why we set up our mission enters where we have our regional and functional mission bring to bear e capabilities and insights and technical to bring and ability these different still sets and expertise together because as of noted i think the array challenges we face proliferation and the cyber a that is d terrorism plaguing so many countries and threatens us, i have never in my service of security seen a time when there is such a of ying array of issues national security consequence. i'm constantly going down to the and participating in meetings so we're able to address these issues. make sure i want to take full advantage of the esources that you provided to

our agency so we optimize the officersions of agency around the globe. >> how much has all of those those from all directions how much is that appear to bey what the new edition of self the alization within country. >> these so-called rules, the as a result ofte he encouragement of the terrierist organization it's exceptionally challenging for us with.l we tragic attack in orlando, have not been able to uncover any direct link between that and the foreign terrorist organization. can lead someone to destruction and maybe do the surveil sense and carry out an attack without riggering any of those

traditional signatures we might toerroristreign organization tries to employ someone here. those individual actors presents a serious challenge. closely with fbi and department of homeland security and others to give them have er intelligence we that might help them identify some of these individuals. asked ink you've been this particular question already today. today we're ain eager to hear from you the kinds with ngs to better deal his really unique and hard to penetrate self-radicalization because you don't have the other contacts that all your other sources may come across. additional ne question about china and cyber attacks. president he announced a common understanding with china's leadership that conduct orntry would

knowingly support cyber enabled intellectual property for commercial advantage. does that mean that theft of led intellectual property from ended? of china has >> no. >> do you see any good faith ffort on the part of the chinese government to crackdown on this? effort to follow through on some of the commitments they provided. entities and t of organizations and people outside of china. some are operating as part of the government of china and some working on contract. we are exceptionally vigilant bout all the attacks that individuals or countries could attempt to use in order to and rate our systems networks and databases whether they be government systems or sector to steal

property. i continue to be concerned about the cyber capabilities that china as well as the actions that some continue to undertake. director and thank you chairman. >> senator warner. > >> thank you, chairman. to reiterate once again personal thanks for you and all intelligence professionals who serve in day the ay out without recognition they deserve. are leading efforts to recognize the efforts. do small things like the intelligence professional days, a lot oflessed have to the intelligence community in virginia and i hope you will to folks at the agency how

grateful we are for what you do day in and day out, number one. number two, i do want to raise terms of your response to senator widen. the issue around tkeupbl ittal security is one of the complex i've ever been engaged with. encryption just a small component of that. i think public press has the terrorists in used telegram, a belgium encrypted company and technology. apps a day are added to the store. over half of those are foreign entities. it's here te whether or not, we have legitimate challenges and issues on how we there a way within our

legal structure to get information. i personally believe it would it would make america less safe and do great economic as security harm l mandate initigate or any way a solution set that would push the bad guys on to hardware and software. it'somplex as this issue is only going to get more complex of e move into the internet about it.we think we think about our kids' toys interactive. only going to grow larger. my's approach is to put experts

room beyond frank lit our ility of some of individual members to try to help guide us to a solution set. it's the best one. the point being that this is an a ernational problem and not problem that can be solved by only and will require an enormous collaboration and what about is that ed we are of this issue has newspapers from the from a daily basis. event thatsome other would lead us encrypted us nology that would lead into a critical solution set and wrong would do enormous harm to our security preeminence. one issue. raise

trip members had a recently. i don't want to speak for all some concerns t about the ability of our european allies in terms of information sharing. we obviously saw the horrific brussels, but as our nation grieves over the killings there were what's also you're well aware that on a french police officer and wife in front of a and then exploited outrageously. can you comment on post-belgium this incident in france cooperation and information europeans ngst the and particularly some concerns i allies?th our german >> well, first of all, thank you for your comments, senator about workforce and i

want to thank all the senators visit agency officers overseas when you travel. it sends a powerful message that have the support of the authorizing committee here in senate. we have engaged with the european partners since the belgium attacks but we've had long standings over many years. over the past two months myself and other senator leaders of the community have traveled out to europe and we the heads of ervices to talk about our experience here in the united states since 9/11 in erms of how we are able to bring together different capabilities and i.t. architecture in order to take of data that is available. as challenging as it was we are so we were vernment able to operate within one legal system. you hallenge for europe as

know, there are 28 countries in the e.u. with 28 legal of ctures and within each those countries they have some imes several intelligence security services. they do not have either from a ty mission or i.t. perspective. so we have talked to them about mechanisms that we can use to better facilitate information sharing among them. because that's the key to take a bit of data and be able to as border, ze it security point or cop on the take action.y can so, for example, cia, we share terrorism information ith the counter terrorism group, ctg. o that we're able to push out to those 30 countries simultaneously information relate to terrorism. so that they have the same information but they know they can talk to one another about it.

we have talked to them about ifferent mechanisms that we it use to set up different types of systems. ut they have still i think a ways to go. they've made some important progress. there are some of the countries europe that are much better able to share information within governments and systems as well as across the sovereign borders. this is something that the europeans will have to work on ecause it's not just a technical or i.t solution, it is also an issue how are they going protect the privacy of individual citizens and what is for putting in an individual's name and putting them on a watch list. way re working their through that and we are trying to provide as much assistance support as we can. cane.nator >> thank you. i appreciate the question and i think this ause

is very important it strbg me hen we were there, the political rivalries and ancient elationships between the countries will make it difficult or ifore some neutral poll think ctg it seems to me that's got to be the answer. to you continue to encourage them. unless they get a handle on this, they're going only to be weakest link r particularly where you have open sharing.and not that's a disaster waiting to has happened several times. i support the concept but as you know i have concerned about analytic oss of integrity when you combine operations andut analysis in the same box.

could you update us on efforts the analytic integrity organization.e >> it's legitimate. the center has its roots in the counter counter terrorism center where were comingled in the same area. effort up the analytic inside of ctc back in the early was aware that we needed to make sure we objectivity and integrity. those safeguards and some of the that we used to make maintains that objectivity and integrity is part of the instruction and the program that all analysts go through. we also want to make sure we managers mindful

about the respective analysts.ilities of and the rubric analysis goes a number of areas. >> i just don't want the covert action to drive the analysis. that's right. there needs to be that separation in terms of the independence. analysts that i -- they very, very analytic uard that integrity. we want to make sure it's built into the system. issue but i am -- i've been satisfied we've been maintain that while also getting the benefits of the co-location. intelligence e community and the cia in the iranians ess compliance thus far? so good. so far so good. >> another question about of the cia.

seems to me we have distinguish and en effort effectiveness. do you have a standard po cedar measures effectiveness of programs after action reskpraouz assessment. we've got to understand what's working and my question is, is systemic way within the agency of assessing what is working and how it's working? a number of ways senator. inspector general has a regular of a number of those programs and make sure they're consistent in the law and also are looking at how effective they've been. ut in the area that usually generates the most concern and controversy which is in covert last year ave set up a new office called the covert of effectiveness office. when he we have senior officers working and reviewing all of action programs to make sure that we understand what's the ethicacy of the program, not just whether or not have reached the milestones

that have been established for but how grams, effective has it been in terms of realizing objectives that out.been sent a number of ways that we have established these reviews we'll to additional information on it. life is my mottos in know? ork and how do you i.g. of why been an the delay. is there a nomination forthcoming. i think this is a very -- one of the most important positions in government particularly in the intelligence agencies which oversight that other more public agencies do. going to get an i.g.

nomination. i hope you'll convey back to the administrations the importance that he committee puts on position and we believe an appointment in the immediate futuring appropriate. best to do that. >> thank you. chairman., mr. apologize i've not been present in person. listening intently. hear his opening statements and many of the other statements f the members of the committee thanking you on behalf of all at men and woman who served the cia and i want to associate comments.

cas y our officers deserve all the recognition that our troops get as well. cooperation cuss with our intelligence community from silicon valley, twitter and a minor.y called data according to the "wall street ournal" as well as other media reports, data minor which is the authorized to streamthe full real time of public tweets that twitter as has cooperated with the cia but a few weeks ago ended that cooperation. noour intelligence community longer has access to data minor's information. could you comment on these reports? data appears as though

inor was directed to not provide its service to cia intelligence community. need to be fore we able to leverage other in order to make sure that we have the insight we country.protect this >> so those reports are correct. dispute t going to them. >> "wall street journal" also ceo of twitterhe jack dorsey directed data minor the contract because he was worried about the optics of helping intelligence agencies. that to be ve accurate? his motivation for any corporate decision that no basesy to have dispute that. data minorstomers of remains russia today a of the da outlet

government which putin has said trying to break the english monopoly. to your knowledge are they a of data minor? >> i don't have any information that they've been excluded from their services. i believe so. >> is it disappointing to you that an american company would to russia today a propaganda arm of the overnment of russia yet not cooperate with the united states intelligence community? that there pointed cooperation ctive consistent with our legal authorities that might be from the u.s. private sector. >> thank you. want to turn now to the open skies treaty. the commander has testified that the open skies treaty has become of the al component

of russiace community of america. would >> i would be happy to look into to you.et back >> general stewart has testified the open skies construct was era and for a different i'm concerned how it's applied today. he further said the things that you can see the amount of date you can collect and the things you can do with post to get ng allows russia incredible intelligence and ases ports and all our facilities. it gives a significant advantage. processing se post analysis to enhance their open collection? tremendous e been technological advancements and therefore i'm sure that russia take advantage of those technological developments to advance your

collection capabilities. >> do you believe that these procedures and the advance tphp advancement technology might advanced knowledge. >> i might have to look at the on how it could exceed those. thank you. >> welcome director. you talked a little bit in your statement, you outlined the sort of disconnect between that has been ss made with isil in terms of progress and limiting their financial resources and he reality of inspired terrorist attacks that have global reach including here in seen this d as we've week. hat progress is being made in degrading isil's ability to inspire terrorist acts through

digital or traditional media and how have we learned how to that progress? we're trying to do is go up stream and find out who is responsible for spewing this into the internet that inspires individuals to attacks. these so working with our military artners, we are trying to mike sure that the appropriate action would be taken in syria and iraq emanates t of this from. share rying to information with as many global partners as possible so they can individuals who may be involved in these not justs because it's the up stream activity but the downstream propagation of this. issues that we were talking earlier about which the government's role s far as trying to limit this

material. director, you and the advice chair noted the inherent security challenge in the age of encryption. one of the challenges the encryption horse has left the barn. do at this point can take access to that away from our enemies or isil or anyone else in the go d when you can simply online and download telegraph on your phone or device anywhere in the world. we're not careful about

how we address these challenges date weakness into the personal ing and financial records of americans at risk from hostile from state level actors and from criminal actors. we main date sort of solution to a 21st problem we could see jobs to avoid thoseas on break. we need to have continued conversations around this. they need to be technologically grounded. i know senator warner wrote and co-sponsored a bill that seeks p to set up a commission that include perspectives from law enforcement and the business and technology communities.

a perspective on that legislation? of all, i rst strongly support encryption as a our wayty that protects our fe, our prosperity and national security. ut at the same time i fully agree with you, senator warner and others, we need have to the to deal with this new environment of the digital the government can appropriately safeguard its interests and its citizens and future. and that requires the experts to be able to get together, the the technical and the practitioners to find some way won't be perceived as a back door but allow the government to legitimately carry out its responsibilities while not compromising the great enefits that accrue to encryption. i don't know whether or not as an executive branch officer i'm llowed to endorse a piece of

sort of legislative initiative, ut i have talked to other members of the congress. i think a congressional commission on this issue is do ahing that really could great service because this is not just a government only issue. it is largely a private sector issue and there needs to be an understanding between the and the ector government about what our respective roles and be, to be lities will able to find some sort of solution that is able to we're trying it is to achieve, which is security, prosperity and liberty is evolving.at i encourage you to educate the american people about what it is don't fear the government's role which is what happens right now because they don't understand it. we need to make sure they understand that that frontier is just like the maritimedomain and the omain of the we have an

obligation to protect our people. >> thank you, chair. senator langford. > you helped lead or did lead when president obama was resident-elect obama the intelligence transition team. as part of your responsibility future president of some of the issues that were blinking red on the intelligence committee. you were helping to organization for that next transition because we'll have a what aredent next year the key things that are blinking red for the new president? cyber certainly. hat individual whoever is elected we need use all 4 or 8 years to tackle this issue take time s going to in order to come up with the types of understandings that are necessary. terrorism will continue to plague us and that's related to how we're ssue and going to be able to make sure that others will be able to do this job to protect

country. proliferation we can't forget bout and it's brought into relief by the activities of korea and kim jong-un. it's a threat to the region and also to us. number of in a countries in the middle east and lack of d the governance capabilities within these countries so that they are the political, and conomic and societial ultural challenges and i'm worried about instability is and more and e more individuals because of being eelings of with other sed groups. they're identifying themselves confessional group

or terrorist organization. that is a very, very disturbing believe that this country can play a role in trying to help address. it on our own. >> do you think that we would proliferation of isil want to whatever you all them today and have less a terrorism if there was not a in syria and iraq. because it gives them opportunity to use these and fight.ain and their control of large ities as well as oil fields it generates revenue not just to keep their spiders on the some of ld but support terrorist organizations. >> is there something we're not

happening atuld be a higher tempo? > i think the u.s. led coalition is doing a good job after going after them. with a lot of ed the locals and civilians who are existence.ave an i think the military has done a very good job. more work to be done. that's where intelligence is so important. understand the tempo of the post syrian forces including the russians and and their air strike tempo compared to ours? unfortunately they're directing a lot of air strikes gainst the free syrian army that is trying to unseat assad. the past two er weeks the amount of air strikes syrian ny of the moderate opposition operate has cessation of re hostility totals. syrians russians and

have gone after isil but a large portion of their strikes are what we against consider to be the legitimate trying to that is assad.heir country from >> it seems to be a piece of paper at this point. doesn't seem to be an actual ses session. holding by a thread. >> let me ask on intelligence agreement that's we have. skies and other things that we hold to so strongly to the letter and spirit of it. do the russians also hold to the letter in the spirit of those agreements? to get back to you in another setting on that. >> okay. all right. you.k >> thank you for being here. mentioned in your remarks about cia modernization and the

identify the rse of the e reflective diversity not only in our own country and all the entities deal with in the world. can you briefly go over what you're doing to increase cia?rsity in the >> over the past three years by general itiative etraeus on trying to advance women in leadership within the agency. and so we have had implementation teams that have working over the last three years to make sure that this, the objectives and goals of this study, are being operationalized promotional and assignment panels and other types of programs that we have inside the agency. asked vernon jordon who is a member of the advisor board to an effort on leadership in the cia and took a look at all the different fast in terms of representation and leadership and training and development of why we have fallen

short of even federal standards what our diversity composition should look like. hey came up with a number of recommendations and put together action teams on that as well. i have a lead officer who is in it.d i have made mandatory training for my senior leadership team. three weeks ago we had several ours of diversity and leadership training. involved to be heavily involved in t we have been so driven by crises we not paid attention to the imperative that's we needed to. we need to have our leaders actively involved from development to recruitment efforts. i talk to schools and to various groups. >> that's great. you have a time frame for when some of the ee results of these kinds of efforts? what would that time frame be? is the first one. i want to make sure we're able milestones that

we need. it's not just the numbers. i want to make sure that we have some of the programs that are going to sustain these efforts. it's putting in place the elements of this. i think then the numbers that in e going to be looking at terms of representation are going to increase over time. but i'm most interested in of theseonalizing some changes so it's not just a study that is forgotten about. you also said in a number of ways during your responses that what is a role entitiesment as we see isil every means to spread propaganda and spreading lone wolf acts across the world. you seem to indicate in order or us to determine what the appropriate governmental role a uld be one would be commission. i think that's what senator

warner's bill is. out what the government's role should be with folks like you. you have said that the role of government is one that we out.n't quite figured >> i don't know what the best way is but i just know that it has to be an effort undertaken the government and the huh- a very r in manner and going to come forward with a number of options and recommendations to optimize what we're trying to do on a national securitisy civil liberties front protects this country and this environment to the harm.ist to do us with the advances with encryption they are taking liberties that we have fought so hard to

defend. > and i think right now although other people have talked about the need to figure to be doingre going i don't yber space, think we've put in place any kind of a cohesive process. china.turn to the hague is expected to rule china's claims and anticipated the ruling will philippines case. you can tell us your assessment hat the ruling and the ruling be a trigger for further escalation by china? recent in the conference in singapore, the chinese representative made very clear they don't understand the tribunal nor ihe think will accede to its findings. so, secretary carter made it very clear we certainly do needs to beat there

this type of arbitration given that there are a number of to some of these it's notin the sea and just the philippines but other countries as well. an agreed uponbe mechanism that will be able to outstanding disputes. i think the united states has made it clear the importance of freedom of navigation world and t of the will continue to take steps to make sure that people understand the united states is committed freedom of navigation worldwide. >> thank you. you, senator. additional ors seek questions. one.tor widen has asked for the advise chairman asked me to ask you a couple of questions. had to leave for an appropriations meeting at 10:30. north your assessment of

korea's cyber capabilities and ntentions? >> i think that the north cyber have developed a capability as we've seen. some recent incidence offer the year where it has been employed. to s something that we need be concerned about given kim jong-un's pension to use whatever capabilities to cause get back to we can the advice chairman with a more capabilities the and intentions. >> one last question from the vice chairman. getting all the attention today. they're not the only terrorist there.ation out what are we doing and how can a q. a. p. e you on nd other potential organizations? >> advice chairman is absolutely right. number of terrorist

organizations. thousand several fighters and recent efforts, efforts, between the united states along with ua and saudi arabia and yemen to dislodge them. but there is active effort to the nue to dismantle organization. ut also there is the organizations in the area led by -- this is something that we continue to have to dedicate a lot of resources to. know, the head of al-qaida still is out there and audio es to put out statements and other things exhorting thinks followers. this is a continued challenge

us. >> senator widen. a just a quick comment and fast question. n this encryption issue you feel that there is a government ole here. you got me on hello on that. there are ways that the give us safety in a dangerous time and i think it to hire people with technology and experience. to go backwards on igital security which is what is what is going to happen if the government requires back built.o be we'll continue that debate as we wrap up. langford asked an appropriate question with respect to brief is a new president or what would you say new president. i think i heard you touch on this but i'd like to get it formally for the record.

director, if the next president of the united states directs the cia to directs the esume the use of coercive interrogation techniques how would you respond? do notve to say public i believe such aggressive coercive necessary. are as you know, the cia's nterrogation program was disbanded. while i'm director of cia have no intention of bringing such a and would not ngage in waterboarding and other things ever. >> thank you, mr. chairman. about icele tion and libya. any chance they're going to get hraelibya's oil where a lot of revenues have come from? how do you assess the security libya?oil assets in

>> i don't think anything in libya is overly secure. attempts made and assaults made on the oil facilities but get te they're not able to control of them. i'll have to get back and see whether or not there are pockets has been here isil able to encroach, but there are some challenges there and there number of security militias and firms that are in from ea that prevent isil taking over. ut we'll get you a more thorough response. >> my wife says i say finally too much and gets people's hopes up. she's a smart woman. [laughter] haven't hanistan we all.ed about it at what is your assessment of the security situation in afghanistan. there is a proposed draw down of our troops which has start in the early fall if it's going to chieve the 5,000 troop number in january. give us an assessment of the

situation. is there -- i guess the short government es the have a chance or is taliban just waiting and they're going to take back over? > we're in the height of the season. the number of casualties on both terms of the nsf and the taliban i think are greater than we have seen in a long, long time because of the number of engagements which that i think the afghan forces are stepping up and as ging in the fight more u.s. forces have drawn down but reflects the intensity of the taliban efforts. to erode the government. we have worked closely with the better consolidate the forces. taliban is determined working with the sub group of this is an, so

continued concern about the aliban's ability to carry out these attacks. both in some of the outlying but also as they go after the provincial capitals. uncertain in my mind whether or not the taliban is oing to continue to make incremental progress. we are providing support to our intelligence partners so they have the capabilities that they need. is still a long hard fight ahead in afghanistan for the afghan the afghan government. >> thank you. >> director, thank you. >> two takeaways from your testimony that i certainly heard that are relevant for today. there will be an increase in global terrorism as more pressure is applied in the battle space and i think that's something that we certainly have seen up to this point there. it's no reason to demand that doesn't increase. and that isil has become a

global organization. and i think sometimes we treat them in a footprint but they have quickly grown to that organization. i'd like to give a closing statement. i am not sure i have done that before, but i feel compelled. i'm not going to speak for vice chairman. but i this she'll associate with what i have to say. this feud between the tech companies and law enforcement has to stop. encryption is the issue that we -- that we describe it as. but this is much more. technology is going to drive the united states economy for the next 50 years and the global economy, as well. it is the secret sauce for our children and our grandchildren to have unlimited opportunities. not success, but opportunities. when the vice chairman laid on

table encryption it wasn't , with the belief that we were smarter than anybody else. it was we understood what was at stake and we were willing to take the heat and as you know, , director, we've taken a lot of it. and i don't regret it because we need to start a conversation about what the appropriate is. for the american people to understand for our agencies to prevent and protect them that it comes with a price. and this debate is about what that cost might be and what we're willing to accept. we cannot separate the world based upon whose domain domestically and who is domained in foreign countries. yet, that's the beauty of the internet. it really doesn't matter. but if it wasn't important to locate the united states, we would have little manufacturing because most customers are overseas, but they are here. they're here because we have in

our foundational structure things that they find important. and at the top of the list is rule of law. and that point to what one tech chair,said, as the vice and i launched the encryption debate to the level it is today. we can't trust a judge on the bench to hear from the intelligence community or law enforcement and understand whether somebody's met the threshold that they need to reach to access communications or data. well, let me say today, if we've gotten to a point where we don't trust a judge on the bench, we have just gutted the rule of law in the united states. this to me is about so much more than encryption. this is about whether the united states is going to be the innovator of the world for the next 50 years. it is about what the next

generation has in opportunities. and oh yes freedoms, protection , and prevention of terrorist acts. if we can't prosecute criminals by a district attorney or by a u.s. attorney because they can't gather the information they need thenke the case in court, talking about orlando. we'll talk about the crime in every community across the country, because we will have individuals that walk and live next to us every day. so i used the platform to do that. i don't think i find disagreement from you or others in law enforcement. but i really believe that we need to take it to heart. that what we do affects the intersection of the rule of law in technology in the future and we're so much bet tore that have

that -- we are much better off to have that debate today. and the pendulum swings too far. post 911. -- post we did some things that 9-11. we thought what was right. we wouldn't do them again. we all agree. this is an opportunity to get this one right. not to go too far but to go to the right place, the right point. director, i want to thank you for your testimony. i want to thank you for the resolve of your workforce. i also want to highlight the professional staff of this committee. i think they're incredibly talented, dedicated. they travel to very unpopular spots where your officers are on a regular basis. they did it not to gain knowledge points, but they do it to live up to the mission of is themmittee, which oversight of your agency and the

, rest of the intense general community. on behalf of the united states senate and for the american people, we are the that testify ones and certify that you do things within the letter of the is thiswhen you do, it committee's responsibility to report it. so they deserve credit because they don't get that credit very often. please pass on to your employees are sincerest gratitude for the work that they do. to seeing youd again. it may be disappointing to the audience. but we will do it in a much productive way. thank you mr. director. hearing's adjourned.

c-span, the former prosecutor at guantanamo bay will speak at the national press club, talking about his lawsuit against the library of congress, which fired him after writing newspaper opinion pieces critical of the obama administration's treatment of guantanamo detainees. we will have live coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. and at 11:00 a.m. eastern, a

discussion about the legacy of margaret thatcher and next week's referendum on britain's membership in the european union. watch our live coverage of the heritage foundation and washington, d.c. here on c-span. >> on american history tv on c-span3, this saturday starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern, we are alive from gettysburg college in gettysburg, pennsylvania for the annual summer conference as they examine topics like refugee camps, reconstruction in the north, and the post-civil war career if ulysses s. grant. also hear conversations on the return of the confederate veteran and the origins of the lost cause. at 10:00 with the approaching of the anniversary of the air and space museum, they will showcase a series of nasa films. with a look at the 1966 film "science reporter." >> some of our earlier miles.

here we have our shepherd. this is the mercury suit. after that is the gemini. this is a suit very similar to this, identical to this was worn by wright it has extra regular excursions. >> it does look quite a bit different from the gemini suit. >> it is. this is one of our earlier models of the a policy. >> tracking the development of spacesuits from the mercury program to the apollo moon mission, sunday evening at 6:00 on american artifacts. curator jeremy kenny takes us on a tour of the smithsonian national air and space museum, to show less than one-of-a-kind artifacts during the first half century of mediation. >> this airplane was made in 1927, a 3600 mile trip from new york to paris. it was flown by charles

lindbergh, an unknown male pilot. 's goal was to win the ortega prize of $24,000 for the first nonstop flight from new york to paris. that was the impetus for the flight, but what it represents in the history of aviation is the transformation of airplanes from what the wright brothers created and how it transitions over the 20's and 30's to what we would call the modern airplane. >> for the complete american history tv we get schedule, go to c-span.org. >> and his confirmation hearing to the air force chief of staff, general david goldstein answer questions about the current state of the air force, including its personnel strength and palate retention efforts. senator john mccain shares the armed services committee. this is an hour and 40 minutes.

>> hey. how are you doing, general? good to see you. i'd like to apologize for my colleagues for beginning this hearing a little late. there was a meeting called by our republican leader, the republican senators were still ure ourn, which i'm s other colleagues will be joining us in at the conclusion of those monumental discussions.

the senate armed services committee meets today to consider the nomination of general david goldstein to be the 21st chief of staff of the united states air force. general gold fiend, we thank you for joining us this morning. we are grateful for your many years of distinguished service to our nation, and for your continued willingness to serve. i also recognize that you are a member of the elite group of pilots whose number of landings do not equal the number of takeoffs. congratulations on that. it's not a club that many choose to be members of. we also welcome members of your family joining us this morning, and thank them for supporting you and the nation, as is our tradition at the beginning of your testimony we will invite you to introduce any family members are joining us today. ever, a strong air force is central to our nation's ability to deter adversaries, assure allies, and defend national interests.

global challenges continue to grow, the threat of terrorism from north africa to the middle east to south asia, advanced potential adversaries like russia and china and world stages like north korea and iran. despite these growing threats, today's air force is the oldest, smallest, and least ready in its history, no doubt in part because of the arbitrary budget cuts that congress and the president agreed to five years ago and have since failed to reverse. even under the best of budget conditions, modern airspace and cyber capabilities are much more expensive than absolute terms of our predecessors; that is, if they even have predecessors. that's what are the primary reasons the air force's inventory and wealth of fighting weapons has steadily decreased over the past decades. in 1960, the united states air force had 2000 bombers and 4300 fighters. declined to 223

bombers. today, the air force has 159 bombers and less than 2000 fighter aircraft. today, the air force is retiring aircraft's faster than it procures them, and will continue to do so for years to come. s we hade aircraft today are highly capable, our adversaries are shrinking that gap or finding asymmetric ways to negate our advantage. the air force's global reach and global power are being tested as our adversaries invest heavily in fifth-generation fighter aircraft, advanced missiles, and integrated air defense systems. they expand contested airspace and exacerbate the tyranny of distance. meanwhile, as our air force shrinks, a combination of relentless operational tempo and misguided reductions in defense spending continues to deplete readiness.

the air force does not expect a return to full spectrum readiness for more than a decade. general goldfeind, addressing these three challenges -- capacity, humility, and readiness -- will require the next chief of staff's strong leadership and personal engagement. one of the principal obstacles he will confront is a huge wave of modernization and investment programs, that are all coming during the next decade. just consider the list of air force modernization priorities. d21, j-stars, awags, and a new trainer aircraft, not to mention a modernized nuclear force, including the ground based strategic deterrent gravity bomb in the long rage standoff weapon. there is simply no way all of these important yet expensive modernization programs will fit

into the projected air force budget. at this point, it is by no means clear to me that the air force has conceived a plausible path through this tremendous budget crunch. with the future of our air force on the line, it will be your task, is confirmed, to chart this course in the coming years . in any event, no matter how many dollars we spend, we won't be able to provide our military the equipment they need and the defense acquisition system. it takes too long, costs too much, and innovates too little. in the last two defense authorization bills, this committee has embarked on a major effort to reform the system, including ways to empower our service chiefs to manage their own programs and take on greater accountability. i will be keenly interested in employ how you would these new authorities to accelerate and streamline air force acquisition programs,

insure oru war fighters get the equipment they need when they need it, and act as a responsible steward of american taxpayer dollars. thelly, we must acknowledge service and sacrifice of the outstanding men and women in the united states air force. as you mentioned in your opening airement, general, the force has been at war for 25 years straight, and we cannot take our air men for granted. we must recognize that high operational tempo, reduced readiness, and lucrative opportunities outside the air force continue to drive some of our best talent to leave the service. i'm interested in your plans to recruit and retain the best talent for our air force, including how best to provide a competitive and tailored compensation package that incentivizes retention, especially for united states air force pilots. general, we look forward to your testimony. senator reid?

>> thank you very much. let me join you and welcome the general to this confirmation hearing regarding his nomination. general, welcome to the armed services committee, and thank you for your many years of service for our nation and your willingness to continue to serve. and wemindful of that, want to extend our thanks to the family as well, and you will have an opportunity to introduce your family. you are highly qualified to the position you have been nominated. his most recent position is price chief of staff of the air force, which means he is extraordinarily familiar with the challenges facing the air force today and in the future. he has also had numerous senior positions of responsibility, including director of the joint staff. responsibility and all of these questions i think he is a perfectly prepared for the service.

he will be tasked with significant responsibilities, recruiting and retaining a quality force, ensuring the force contains the necessary structure readiness levels to meet the nation's a current challenges and future challenges, and responding to crisis evolving today and that could evolve in the future. that is all within your responsibility. the air force is facing challenges in the weapon systems. a land-basedcing missile fleet, and on top of those challenges, they are facing the sequestration cuts next year, which i think will be devastating. general, i look forward to your thoughts on how you intend to take on these challenges, should you be confirmed. i intend to support your confirmation, and i hope the senate will confirm you. thank you for your service. >> general, as is the custom of

this committee, we have standard questions to ask the nominees. if you would just respond appropriately to these questions. in order to exercise its oversight responsibilities, it's important that this committee and other appropriate committees are able to receive testimony briefings and other communications of information. is important you adhere to applicable regulations. you agree when asked to give your personal views, even if those views differ from the ministration and power. have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process? >> i have not, sir. >> will you assure your staff complies with the deadlines for frequent communications, including questions to the record and hearings? >> yes, sir. >> will you cooperate in providing with professional requests?

will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings? you agreed to have appeared and testified upon request, before this committee. documents,o provide including copies of electronic forms of communication in a timely manner, when requested by a duly constituted committee or to consult with a committee regarding the basis for any good-faith delay or denial in providing such documents? thank you. please proceed. >> let me begin by thank youg for your tireless support and advo cassy. for our young men and women who continue to join and serve their country. if confirmed it will be my honor to lead the over 660,000 active guard. >> would you care to introduce your family to t