ms. ciraolo: thank you for that question. i joined the department two months ago so i was not involved in those types of discussions. i don't have that information with me today, but i can certainly report back on what efforts were made by the department of defense. we certainly take seriously any allegations and efforts by offenders to commit these offenses. we are particularly focused on the victims of our society including our military members. mr. irix -- senator isakson: each of the state directors made a comment about information sharing. that would be a key to stopping this. one of the problems that existed , the senate and house has not done a cyber security bill. the pending bill we hope will be before us soon, there are provisions for idea sharing and to the antitrust law. i would hope we will get -- we are part of the problem. our cyber laws are way out of date with our cyber criminals. the quicker we encompass act on that legislation, the more taxpayers will be safe from fraud. that is my editorial comment. chairm

ms. ciraolo: thank you. chairman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear but are you to discuss the department of justice efforts to combat identity that and tax refund fraud. the department greatly appreciates the commitment that the committee has brought to this very important issue. combating the theft of personal information to file fraudulent tax refund claims is a problem >> is a top priority of offices across the country. your efforts to bring attention to this growing crime will help educate taxpayers about the importance of detecting and reporting identity theft and fraud. today's hearing also sends a strong message that the government is determined to identify and prosecute the individuals behind these schemes and in doing so, will bring all its resources to bear. the department tax division, which i have the privilege of leading as acting assistant attorney general, has one purpose, to enforce the nation's tax laws fully, fairly, and consistently through civil litigation

ms. ciraolo: holding hearings like today are critical to getting word out to the american public. our elected representatives taking the message back to their home state and making sure the information is out there as often and as loud as possible. many of these scams can be stopped if the american public is educated, and having a centralized locations for that information is a wonderful idea. it gives me hope that we will see further information in the future. >> thank you. what should congress do? >> i echoed what she said. the scam is so simple couple we would never be able to prevent people from posing as another person. when money dries up, criminals will go away. bringing them to justice and an historic way is something we want to do, but it is not a solution to the crime. is more about people not being victimized. >> criminals will continue to be agile. the greatest thing we can do is ensure collaboration among groups in providing funding to make sure collaboration can take place. >> you still have to be able to cut off the vector that is used to receive money. identificati