we're joined today by ambassador daniel benjamin, ambassador benjamin has been the senior counsel ser terrorism adviser to the state since 2009. in the late '90s, he served on the national security council as director for counterterrorism in the office of trans national threats. before entering government, mr. benjamin was a correspondent for time magazine and for "the wall street journal." he was the co-author of the age of sacred terror, a book that won several awards. so we want to welcome you back to the committee. your complete written testimony, of course, is going to be entered into the record. we'd ask that you give a five-minute summary here if you could and then we'll go to the questions. please begin. >> chairman royce, chairman ranking members that are appearing here today. i have submitted testimony that provides additional information about the policies budget. since i appeared before this committee the last time, my office was upgraded to full bureau status this change will strengthen the state's department to carry out the civilian counterterrorism mission around the w

finally we come to the fantastic and lurid story of daniel webster's alleged illegitimate son benjamin webster. according to an 1878 atlanta paper called the commercial daily, benjamin claimed daniel was his father and mother charlotte gooding, one of john gadsby's servants. he was sold to help settle a card game in which gadsby lost gold. this shows his willingness to sell people to pay debts. helped explain the involvement in the slave trade prior to the arrival at decatur house. of poor souls destined to be sold down south echo from decatur house. evidence lends itself to john and william quietly selling slaves out of their house. using them as a facade for an ugly enterprise. evidence has not been found to suggest he was selling out of decatur house. whether his own enslaved people or not, they would have been publicly aghast at the horrors of the slave trade. given the trade's high visibility, a public sale would have had john gadsby held accountable by a strong and vocal anti-slavery and abolitionist contingent. gadsby would not risk his public reputation by selling up shop in th

finally we come to the fantastic and lurid story of daniel webster's alleged illegitimate son benjamin webster. according to an 1878 rean atlanta paper called the commercial daily, benjamin claimed daniel was his father and mother charlotte gooding, one of john gads by's servants william's actions as a result. the 34i8 eun dollar question remains did the wails and cries of poor souls destined to be sold down south echo from decatur house. evidence lends itself to john and william quietly selling slaves out of their house. his neighbors owned enslaved people are not and many did. they would be publicly aghast as the horrors of the slave trade. given the trade's high visibility, a public sale would have had john gads by held accountable by a strong and vocal anti-slavery and abolitionist contingent. gads by would not risk his public reputation by selling up shop in the celebrated decatur house. he prided himself on the image of a self made man who enjoyed the fruits of his labor in his luxurious new home. there's more about the enslaved people. another question is why the reputations of

finally we come to the fantastic and lurid story of daniel webster's alleged illegitimate son benjamin webster. according to an 1878 atlanta paper called the commercial daily, language webster claimed that daniel webster was his father, and his mother was charlotte gooding, one of john gadsby's servants. he was raised to work in the hotel and later given to john gadsby to be a body slave. he was sold to help settle a card game in which john gadsby lost $1,000 worth of gold. this demonstrates william gadsby's unscrupulousness and his willingness to sell people to pay debts, similar to what his father did. william's actions as a result help explain john gadsby's involvement in the slave trade prior to his arrival at decatur house. the million dollar question remains did the wails and cries of poor souls destined to be sold down south echo from the courtyard of decatur house. evidence lends itself to john gadsby and william gadsby selling slaves quietly out of their hotels, using them as a genteel facade as an ugly enterprise. evidence has not been found to suggest he was selling out of d

i think we would be foolish to know be on our toes and i thought that daniel benjamin announced thatwas -- finished. it was over. >> heather: what would be the reasoning behind that. >> gregg. >> the white house corrected that statement-- the distinction they draw, they say that george bush was waging a war against terrorism throughout world. the obama administration decided that it had to focus and focus like a laser on al qaeda, all of the affiliate and it is al qaeda-like groups and wanna bes. i have to say as someone who has covered terrorism for 30 years now, they have been remarkably successful. they have taken out osama bin laden and anwar al-awlaki, the head of the major organization that was going to be the successor to al qaeda in yemen. they have increased the drone attacks in pakistan and yemen. they are fighting al qaeda affiliates all over the world. they have taken out two-thirds -- you are giving that credit to the obama administration? >> this has been a 10-year campaign that has spread the gamut. it's george bush, but obama has taken the ball and rup with t. i think

we are joined today by ambassador daniel benjamin, state department coordinator counterterrorism and e head of the bureau of counterterrorism. ambassador benjamin has been a senior counterterrorism advisor to the secretary of state since 2009. in the late nineties, mr. benjamin served on the national security council as director for counterterrorism in the office of transnational threats. before entering the government mr. benjamin was a foreign correspondent for "time" magazine and the "wall street journal." ambassador benjamin was the co-author of the age of secret terror, a book that won several awards. so we want to welcome you back to the committee. you're complete written testimony of course is going to be entered into the record. so, we would ask if you would give us a five minute summary if you could and then we will go to the questions. please, began. >> chairman, ranking member sherman, distinguished members of the committee, thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. and as you mentioned, i have submitted testimony for the record that provides additiona

the department's counterterrorism coordinator, and daniel benjamin, will discuss his office's budget,t the administration proceeds of the -- as the biggest terrorist threats facing the u.s.. this is an hour. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> this hearing will come to order. today, we welcome ambassador benjamin carroll while al qaeda has taken major blows over the past year, the terrorism threat remains real. late last year, the committee was notified that the office of the coordinator for counter- terrorism, which is been in existence since 1972, would transform into the bureau of counter-terrorism. according to the state department, the celebration was natural as the office's responsibilities had outgrown the accord naders title. when reported to congress, the state department noted that only existing funds would be required to create the new bureau, and any changes in personnel would be, in their words, marginal. for this fiscal year, the bureau is seeking to increase staffing by 17%, which is a rathe