mayorkas every head of department of homeland security went on to say the chaos at department of homeland security may have led to being unable to prepare for terrorist attack on the capitol. that's the reality. after four years of disorder and disarray at d.h.s., the security of america, including this very capitol building, suffered because of the lack of leadership under the previous administration. mr. mayorkas is the son of a holocaust survivor and an immigrant from cuba. mr. mayorkas knows first hand that america can be a beacon of hope to the world and the promise to those who are facing persecution of a place of safe haven. mr. mayorkas is an experienced national security leader who can restore integrity and decency at the department of homeland security. i personally appreciated the skill and dedication mr. mayorkas showed as the director of the united states citizenship and immigration services. it was in that post in 2012 that he implement daca, the deferred action for childhood arrivals program which has aallowed more than 8 -- allowed more than 800,000 young people to contrib

the department of homeland security needs leadership, and it needs it now. by voting to confirm mr. mayorkas, this body can show every american that we are committed to ensuring that they are safe and secure. l -- thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: under the previous order, all postcloture time has expired. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: 0 the presiding officer: is there anyone in the chamber who would like to change his or her vote. if not, the yeas are 56 is the nays are 43, the nomination is confirmed. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? if no objection, so ordered. mr. schumer: madam president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the mo

and leadership failure on the part of our security officials from the fbi and department of homeland security to the security leadership on the ground and capitol and it must be addressed. domestic terrorism is not a new threat, but it is an urgent threat. it will require serious focus to ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect the safety and security of all americans. i'd like to take a moment to remind my colleagues that every senator here today took an oath to protect and defend the constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic. as the committee is charged with oversight, strengthening homeland security and maintaining capitol operations, we have a solemn duty to thoroughly examine the security breakdowns and make needed reforms. i'm hopeful we will be able to work together and carry out this responsibility in a serious and a nonpartisan way. and finally while today's hearing is our first on january 6th attack, it will not be our last. we will continue to seek testimony and information from a range of agencies and officials who are involved in preparing for and r

homeland security secretary, alejandro mayorkas is the first latino homeland security secretary.kas took some time today to speak with cnn's ana cabrera earlier this afternoon. tell us about your conversation. >> wolf, he has only been in the role for about 24 hours. we spoke for about 15 minutes and got some insights into how he's approaching his new job. i asked him about being an immigrant, now in charge of implementing and enforcing immigration policy. and he told me the cruelty of the prior administration has come to an end. we also talked about the solar wind cyber attack, and i asked about the growing domestic terror threat on the heels of the capitol insurrection. that's where we started our conversation. i want to start with the events of january 6th. the u.s. capitol was attacked for the first time in more than 200 years by our fellow americans. how will the events of that day inform your approach to your new role as homeland security secretary? >> ana, let me start on a personal note, if i may. my parents brought my sister and me to this country to enjoy the freedoms o

as the committees charged with oversight, strengthening homeland security and maintaining capital operations we have a solemn duty to thoroughly examine the security breakdowns and make needed reforms. i am hopeful we will be able to work together and carry out the responsibility in a serious and a nonpartisan way. finally, while today's hearing is our first on january 6 attack it will not be our last. we will continue to seek testimony and information from a range of agencies and officials who are involved in preparing for and responding to the events of the day for the u.s. capital and for the entire region. the attack on generous six was an extraordinary event that requires exhaustive consideration. the american people deserve answers on why their capital was breached and i look forward to having a productive discussion with our witnesses in order to provide the american people with those answers. thank you, madam chair specs senator blunt. >> thank you, chairwoman klobuchar and it is great to work with you and chairman peters and senator portman as we move forward on this hearing on what

as committees charged with oversight, strengthening homeland security and maintaining capitol operations, we have a solemn duty to thoroughly examine the security breakdowns and make needed reforms. and i'm hopeful we'll be able to work together and carry out this responsibility in a serious and a nonpartisan way. and finally while today's hearing is our first on january 6th attack, it will be not be our last. we will continue to seek testimony and information from a range of agencies and officials who were involved in preparing for and responding to the events of the day for the u.s. capitol and for the entire region. the attack on january 6 was an extraordinary event that requires exhaustive consideration. the american people deserve answers on why their capitol was breached and i look forward toing have a productive discussion with our witnesses to provide the american people with those answers. thank you, madam chair. >> senator blunt. >> thank you, chairwoman klobuchar, it is great to work with you and chairman peters and senator portman as we move forward on this hearing on what ha

homeland security. gee, gosh, i don't know, have you considered that maybe this whole thing was a clever costumed stunt by president trump's opponents? have you considered that? i read a blog about it once on the tweeter. the democrats now are on the running the senate. amy klobuchar runs the rules committee. she was one of those running the hearing today. she said this later after the close of the hearing. pointedly. she said, quote, as our hearing concludes, i want to make one thing clear. provocateurs did not storm the capitol. they were not fake trump protesters. the mood on january 6th was not festive. that is disinformation. disinformation that was spread by senator ron johnson of wisconsin at this hearing. and while he used his time on spread that disinformation, his democratic successor who is the new chair of homeland security, michigan senator gary peters will also join us tonight. he spent his day today trying to run, you can, an actual hearing with questions and useful information that advan

hsi, homeland security investigations, which is one of the two main divisions of i.c.e. before that he was special agent in charge for i.c.e. in the washington office, and he'll be talking about the agency's counterterrorism activities in latin america involving these smuggling networks bringing what are called special interest aliens, in other words, people from countries where terrorism is a real problem in the middle east and elsewhere through mexico and into the united states. our next speaker will be norman townsend, 30-year retired now 30 year veteran of the federal bureau of investigation and he was headed a unit during that time where the interrogated special interest aliens caught on the southern border to collect intelligence about the possible terrorism connections and various human smuggling networks that would bring people through this very long path to the mexican border. and finally, eddie dolan, retired from i.c.e.'s office of intelligence and analysis, and served for many years in pan mo m city -- panama city about as the regional attache in central amer

he does not deserve senate confirmation to lead homeland security. frankly, his record should foreclose confirmation, even to a lower post.

he was formerly the top law-enforcement senior advisor to secretary of homeland security janet napolitano. second i will turn to mike mcgarity who is vice president of global risk services at global guardian, security consulting firm and was the fbi's former assistant director for counterterrorism after a distinguished career in law-enforcement at the fbi. i will then turn to undersecretary frank taylor who is currently executive fellow at the global policy initiative of the university of notre dame and he was formerly undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at the department of homeland security and was also former coordinator for counterterrorism for the state department and the days and weeks and months during and after 911 and prior to that he had a distinguished career in law-enforcement in the u.s. air force. finally, mary mccord. mary is currently visiting law and advocacy and productions ate the prestigious georgetown law school. mary was formerly the acting assistant attorney general for national security at the department of justice. to frame our discussion today id want to

our primary responsibility as the department of homeland security is to protect the safety and securitynd that means taking preventive actions before they occur, of course. >> canada announced today that the proud boys would be designated a terrorist group there. will you do that here in the u.s.? >> i think our focus is on actions that violate our social norms that violate our laws, and to ensure that those violations don't occur, that is where our focus is going to be. >> i want to turn to the topic of immigration, because this is an issue that must be personal to you, as you mentioned at the top. your mom's family fled the nazis during the holocaust and settled in cuba before you were born. where your family emigrated to the u.s. how does it feel to be the first latino to hold the department of homeland security? >> ana, it is a privilege, it is an honor and it is an awesome responsibility. it is an awesome responsibility to demonstrate not i'm from coast to coast and border to border but around the world what this nation can be and what it is. it is a nation of laws and a nation of

in addition to being a member of this committee, i serve as a member on the homeland security committee as ranking member of the border security facilitation and operation sub committee. i've seen it personal challenges we face at our nation southern border and of to say we have serious challenges that are only part of the complicated by the biden administration recent actions and in a video i'm about to show you you'll see how more than ever we need strong, secure border. letting thousands of immigrants come here illegally that serves no good purpose especially our citizensns and those that have come here legally. we are nation of opportunity and i should be embracing continued we're first a nation of law. i ask committee staff please start the videos. >> i'm chuck covers war and crises across the globe for 18 years. and the very first story i ever covered, was illegal immigration on the u.s. southern border. i went to visit the region in the last week of january. here's what's happening there now. more than 5,000 construction jobs are gone with the stroke of joe biden's pen. fully fun

that is a department of homeland security, border patrol question. rep. norman: but if it does not fall with you, who does it fall under? i.g. horowitz: sir, they have their own inspector general's office. but also, the border control directly. rep. norman: so they will hire the doctors or will go to the hospitals? i.g. horowitz: to be honest, i do not know how they plan to handle that. rep. norman: you admit we have a pandemic, don't you? this probably won't help it, i don't think. but this goes to my next question. how can we improve the coordination between the doj, dhs, and hhs without adding more federal debt, and i guess being fair to the immigrants that are going to be admitted into this country carte blanche? i.g. horowitz: having been in the justice department on the prosecuting side and as inspector general, i do not think it requires spending money. it just requires ending the appropriate group at a high level of those agencies to sit down with aligned level people -- with on the line level people who know what is going on day today and say, ho

prior to january 6, does anyone from the department of homeland security contact you about a potential national special security event designation? let's start with you, mr. sound. >> no, i am not aware of anybody of anybody reaching out and requesting, and national special security event, we are going to request that to be or if they would identify and designate a special event rating to the event. i'm not aware. >> thank you, mr. stinker. mr. irvin. >> no one contacted me. >> no contact from my office. >> thank you for those answers, i look forward to following up with the department of homeland security about this in the next hearing on this topic. mr. sund, my last question. the officers of the capitol police work each and every day to keep the u.s. capitol safe and secure. we are all grateful for the brave work of the u.s. capitol police officers january 6. tragically, law enforcement community has now lost two officers to suicide since january 6 as a result of the insurrection and events. my thoughts and i'm sure the thoughts of all of us today are with the families of officer je

he's been deputy secretary of the department of homeland security and headed its citizenship agency. we'll show you some of the debate over his confirmation that happened yesterday in the senate for that vote as we go forward this morning in this first hour of the washington journal. but the question we're asking simply is america or should it be a haven for people in need from around the world? rob out of marion, louisiana, on that question. >> caller: how are you doing today? >> what do you think about this question. you say yes why? >> because in the beginning of this country it was a haven for the pilgrims. the pilgrims came here, made a good life for theyself. and then black people were slaves we were brought over here without our will. and now we live in a country now like inside the soviet union. >> have we been that beacon you're talking about over the past four years? >> it's bip the history of this country since its beginning. it's been a haven for people of all races since the beginning of the existence of the united states. robert to john in georgia. good morning. >> call

nominees, closing the book today on the nomination of alejandro mayorkas to be the secretary of homeland security. mr. mayorkas's qualifications are unassailable. he is a seven-year veteran of the d.h.s. and has already been confirmed by this chamber three -- three times. like most of president biden's cabinet nominees, his nomination is also history making. he will be the first latino and first immigrant to hold the top job at d.h.s. i look forward to confirming mr. and we have a second outstanding nominee to confirm today as well. pete buttigieg for secretary of judge for secretary of etary of transportation. mister buttigieg is known to many as mayor pete and demonstrated april impressive familiarity with our nations entire transportation challenges. challenges which are pronounced in states like my own. or projects like the gateway tunnel, our top national priority. i know mister buttigieg is committed to working with members from both sides to improve rail and transit, highways and more in urban centers and everywhere in between. i'm excited to call him secretary pete by the end of the day.

our primary responsibility as the department of homeland security is to protect the safety and securityns taking preventative actions before they occur, of course. >> canada just announced today that the proud boys would be designated as a terrorist group there. would you be considering ways to limit the proud boys here in the u.s.? >> i think our focus is on actions that violate our social norms, that violate our laws and to ensure that those violations don't occur. that is where our focus will be. >> i want to turn to the topic of immigration because it must be personal. your mom's family fled the nazis during the holocaust and settled in cuba where you were born before, of course, your family immigrated to the u.s. what does it mean to be the first latino, the first immigrant to hold the department of homeland security? >> ana, it is a privilege. it is an honor and it is an awesome responsibility. it is an awesome responsibility to demonstrate not only from coast to coast and border to border but around the world what this nation can be and what it is. it is a nation of laws and a na

it will be overseen by the secretary of homeland security as a part of that commitment, we committed to a report coming from the department of homeland security at the 120-day mark when they've had some time to get the work under way. certainly we hope to have secretary mayorkas come to the briefing room. it's a 100 day update and 60 days after that. >> reporter: thanks very much. on the schools front, you talked about a lack of data is the problem. it's my understanding that we don't even have definitive data nationally on the numbers of teachers who have gotten sick or passed away as a result of the coronavirus. have they managed to get definitive data on this front, if we don't know, how do we proceed with the reopening plan? >> i would defer you to the department of education. i'm happy to check and is if that's data that we have access to. but as i noted in response to the good question up here, it is a challenge because it is hard to determine how students are being impacted, what steps need to be taken, how it's impacted this next generation of kids learning without that data.

other agencies involved are i.c.e., homeland security investigations, i.c.e.ntelligence as well, military intelligence groups like southcom, northcom, , dia has vy often get involved in the near war in the far war but often the u.s. navy has had a hand in this and the u.s. coast guard is had a hand in some of these activities down in latin america and at the border. mark mentioned that these are referred to as special interest aliens. that's government jargon. my book is filled with references to special interest aliens and a going to just mention this now that as of last week the word alien is no longer in vogue, and they've officially changed from special interest alien to special interest undocumented noncitizen. so they've added a few extra letters, alphabet letters, but for purposes of this conversation in the book we're calling them special interest aliens just because of habit. the iranians that a talk to very likely what's been happening, i don't know this, i talked to anybody but -- from the reporting in the book which probably happening there is for

of homeland security, of course, he will be doing an official report at the 120-day mark, but i would send you to them for updates. >> reporter: the text ruling on the deportation, will the government appeal to a higher court and will the legal process continue? >> well, let me first say a couple of things about this because we haven't talked about this in the last couple of days. the pause on deportations was a time to reset our enforcement priorities so that we focus on threats to national security and public safety as opposed to mothers and fathers who are members of our community and performing essential work during the pandemic. the department of homeland security is put in place enforcement priorities and reviewing the prior administration's policies and practices. the court's rules still allows us to do this. in terms of next steps or how we will approach it from here, i would send you to our department of justice. >> reporter: will the president address immigration at all tomorrow down in texas? >> the president will be certainly speaking, you know, about covid and addressing

our cbs reporter natalie brand on what homeland security is doing to keep americans safe. >> reporter: as the fencing and national guard presence remain in place around u.s. capitol, homeland security officials say the increased safety measures need to continue for the time being. >> district of columbia at the mayor's direction requested 500dc national guard personnel remain on stand by as quick reaction through march 12. >> house homeland security committee held a hearing to discuss what led to the january 6th capitol assault and what can be done to counter ongoing threat of domestic terrorism. >> i urge that at a minimum we change laws to originated overseas and within the united states the same. >> a former dhs counterterrorism official is calling for bipartisan commission to explore how to update laws and policies to address the threat. head of the antidefamation league called the insurrection the most predictable attack in american history. >> the act of domestic terrorism was a watershed moment for the white supremacist movement in this country. for them the sight of congressme

department of homeland security. over two decades of experience, developing and submitting ongoing security and national security policies and strategies multiple agencies. our thirdd witness the ceo national director of adl. extensive experience in government . [inaudible]. they have worked with innovative ways to counter combat extremism . and a fourth and final witness brian michael. [inaudible]. a senior advisor to. [inaudible]. a former military officer numerous books. [inaudible]. on international terrorism. will be inserted in . [inaudible]. . thank you mr. chairman. thank you ranking members for unit. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. prior. [inaudible]. over ten years, and the mayor browser, honored it to lead an agency that is responsible for washington dc's preparedness coordination management and recovery from all assets from hurricanes and to a global fan pandemics . and terrorist attacks such as the one was on january 6 . here today to discuss the fact that led to the insurrectionist of the u.s. capitol. which

that's not my term, that's the definition of the department of homeland security under president donald trump. among these essential workers are 41,700 daca recipients in

soledad: daryl johnson is a former homeland security analyst.our information. appreciate it. daryl: you are welcome. >> still ahead, author and cultural critic roxane gay says the world as we know it is broken -- but it's not as scary as it sounds.an opportunity for real change. solr of fact." we're in a pandemic. we witnessed political violence at the capitol. and the country's confronting a problem that's plagued us since forever -- racism. so if you described the last year as traumatic, you wouldn't be alone. listen to this quote. "the world as we knew it has broken wide open. there is a before and an after, that sounds terrifying, but it is an opportunity." that's from "new york times" best-selling author roxane gay. it's from her new story, called "writing into the wound," published by scribd originals. roxane, it's such a pleasure to talk to you. your essay in scribd was amazing. it's called "writing into the wound," and it's sad, and it's beautiful, and it's incredible, and a great read. but it also is all about processing trauma, and how

in october of last year the department of homeland security produced a report on the threat to the homeland, which talked about various types of threats including the threat from international terrorism and domestic extremism, and they noted that, if i am getting this right, and 2019 was one of the deadliest years for domestic violent extremist attacks since 1995 was the year of the oklahoma city bombing. they noted that the vast majority of those attacks were perpetrated by people who were related to the white nationalists, neo-nazi, or kind of antigovernment, militia type groups, or leaning within domestic discrete unit -- extremism, so those are consistent with what we are seeing. host: this is chuck, a republican. good morning. caller: hello, how are you doing? i do not understand these numbers. when all of this rioting, burning and killing in the summer, it was called a peaceful protest. is that not terrorism, when you burn down cities and destroy people's lives and destroy their livelihoods? if you want to stop a lot of this stuff, we need to have a group of people that are journalist

i'd happy connect you someone to the department of homeland security. they oversee those facilities. they're best prepared to answer any questions. that's ok. reporter: there are reports that president biden is considering former florida senator bill nelson to be his nasa administrator. are those reports accurate? is he under consideration? when we will expect an announcement? jen: i don't have any personnel announcements or an expectation on a nasa administrator or list of potential people. but that's an interesting one. go ahead. reporter: thanks, jen. couple questions. one for another colleague who couldn't be here today. wanted to start with one more on neera tanden nomination. republicans and perhaps democrats, the second tweet is the reason to oppose her nomination and they have not held certain men to the same standard? jen: well, the president was proud to nominate a historic set of nominees who not only were many of them were barrier breaking, including neera tanden but definitely qualified and experienced. he certainly believed that members of

supremacist ideology is certainly the bigges biggest chunk of that. >> reporter: a department of homeland securityaccused dhs officials of blocking a report. when it finally came out it called white supremacy the most looet and persistent threat in the homeland. >> we talk about white white stre supremacists but also -- >> reporter: "the new york times" reports that trump aides suppressed the term domestic terror. according to law enforcement officials barr would encourage prosecutors to be more aggressive in bringing cases against rioters and was frustrated when they didn't. the administration looks for links to international terrorist groups. barr told cnn in a statement there was no prioritization. they already had a program, he said. i wanted a comparable one for antifa and antifa like groups. deergd study, in the first eight months of 2020, white supremacists and like groups accounted for two-thirds of terrorist attacks. fbi director wray agreed that antifa was, in his words, a real thing. saying there were investigations. >> we look at antifa as more of an ideology or a movement than an orga

then in october, four months before the attack on the capital, the department of homeland security identified racially motivated extremists, white supremacist extremists as the most persistent, lethal threat in the homeland. today it would begin to shed light on why these warnings were not heeded. the threat of right-wing, more specifically white nationalist terrorism has been growing for years. the previous administration failed to deal with it appropriately. and on january 6 without the dust we saw the results -- we saw the results. i witnessed the events firsthand from the house gallery, while the senate was counting electoral votes as required. i'm hoping the biden administration will work to do a better job of confronting this threat. which has been allowed to fester. already dhs has taken access -- action about the heightened threat from domestic terrorism. i look forward to engaging the newly confirmed secretary of homeland security on this article issue. president biden also has the office of national domestic terrorism, fbi wintertime thus conducting a comprehensive assessment of the

speaker psaki: that would be a question for the department of homeland security. let us see if we can get you an answer on that money. >> more vaccines from european suppliers, what are the global rates for supply? we have no domestic capacity. i wonder if president biden has faced pushback from world leaders about hogging the global supply? speaker psaki: i think the president has been clear publicly and privately that his focus is on ensuring the american people are vaccinated. we have rejoined the w.h.o. we recognize and the president feels it is vital and essential to ensures many people around the world are vaccinated. that will keep everybody safer. his first priority is ensuring vaccines are in the arms of americans, including 100 million shots in the first 100 days. >> sticking with vaccines, some states have reported covid doses are going to waste. is the white house discussing a plan or proposal to mitigate this and reduce the amount of discarded doses? speaker psaki: certainly those reports are concerning to us. there was a report about masks -- i am sp

i would send you to the department of homeland security for more specifics. >> would you agree it is humane to institute mandatory testing for these migrants that are being released? sec. psaki: i would send you to them to give you outlines of the numbers and the specifics of what actions are taken at the border. >> the president spoke with the president of china and said he had dressed the human rights abuses. -- he had addressed the human rights abuses. sec. psaki: can you tell me more about your question? >> the president was happy to bring up the problems with china and human rights. does the president support american companies doing business with china? does he support them doing the same thing? sec. psaki: does he support them speaking out about human rights abuses? >> human rights abuses in china. they are doing business in china. sec. psaki: the president has been outspoken as he was in his conversation with the president of china about american values. he also made a point about conveying to president xi that overturning the muslim ban was one of the first steps he took as

talk about a large insurrection like we saw in the january 6 know anyone from the department of homeland security contact you about a potential national special security event designation no i'm not aware of anybody from a d h s reaching out no. thank you and stay with me senator no contact with me or my office are all capitol police officers outfitted with riot gear no they're not sir. now the after taste of the january 6th events doesn't seem to be going away any time soon at that event we remember that 6 people lost their lives including one capitol police officer now at this point the speech expected by joe biden to a joint session of congress the date for it remains unknown it's not clear when joe biden will take on the responsibility of the of the president and give a speech to a joint session of congress as a president normally does at this point the security on capitol hill and in washington d.c. remains rather high people have seen the fence and such and while joe biden has promised to reunify the nation it seems that security concerns and very strong divisions among the u.s. public are

jillian: here to react to the tragedy is member of the house homeland security committee carlos jimenezcally at 6 law enforcement officers killed a month into the year, one capital police officer killed, 3 other law enforcement officers, two fbi agents. what is your reaction to this? >> as a former firefighter i saw every day the risks law enforcement personnel take each day and with each call. we have to be grateful as americans that we have such fine men and women involved in law enforcement willing to put their lives on the line to protect us and it is unfortunate these two fine fbi agents lost their lives, my heart goes out to their families and all the condolences we as americans need to be grateful for that thin blue line. todd: they were protecting the most vulnerable, the kids in our country, such a tragedy and prayers to that family. house homeland security republicans calling for clarity from the white house on the strategy to counter the china threat. here is part of the letter you wrote, we remain extraordinarily concerned about the ccp's efforts to webinars their private-se

that we heard today only further highlight a grave national security threat that our current homeland security apparatus is clearly not fully equipped to address. our national security agencies were overhauled, and they were forged in the aftermath of the september 11th attacks. and they're basically built around responding to foreign terrorist attacks. and they have been slow to adapt to this evolving threat of domestic terrorism that we have seen in the last few years. the homeland security, oversees to fix the failures that led to the january 6th attack. there's no question our federal counterterrorism resources are not focused on effectively addressing the growing and deadly domestic terror threat. the january 6th attack marked a once-in-a-lifetime failure. now we have the duty to ensure that the federal government is doing everything in its power to make sure another attack like this never happens again. we must align our counterterrorism resources and our intelligence gathering efforts to ensure we're focused on this dire threat, the fbi, the department of homeland security, and the nati

that we heard today only further highlight the grave national security threat that our current homeland security apparatus is clearly not fully equipped to address. our national security agencies were overhauled and they were forged in the aftermath of the september is he of the september 11th attacks. they've been slow to adapt to this evolving threat of domestic threat of terrorism we've seen the last few years. the homeland security committee was created to oversee reforms and fix the intelligence failures that led to 9/11. now i tend to ensure this committee oversees the failure that's led to the january 6th attack. there's no question our federal counterterrorism resources are not focused on effectively addressing the growing and deadly domestic terror threat. the january 6th attack marked a once-in-a-lifetime failure, and now we have the dut whyy to ens the federal government is doing everything in its power to make sure another attack like this never happens again. we must align our counterintelligence resources and our intelligence gathering efforts to make sure week focused on this dire

this is a systemic and leadership failure on the part of our security officials and homeland security to the security leadership on the ground and capital and it must be addressed. domestic terrorism is not a new threat but it is an urgent threat it will require serious focus to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect the safety and security of all americans. i would like to take a moment to remind my colleagues every senator here today took an oath to protect and defend the constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic. as the committees charged with oversight strengthening homeland security and maintaining capital operations we have a solemn duty to thoroughly examine the security breakdowns and make needed reforms. i am hopeful we can work together and carry out this responsibility in a serious and nonpartisan way. finally while today's hearing is our first on january 6 attack it will not be our last. we will continue to seek testimony and information in a range of agencies and officials who were involved in preparing for and responding to the events of the da

a new secretary of the department of homeland security. hopefully he'll come to this briefing room and talk more about these very important issues, but we're not going to get ahead of his decisionmaking process. the president has spoken about this issue. but we'll have more -- we'll defer to the secretary of homeland security for more specifics about the path forward. go ahead, kristen. >>> thank you for getting back to me about artemis. folks at nasa appreciate it. >> absolutely. >> yesterday the head of the cdc as you know said it was safe to reopen schools without vaccinating teachers. you said that the white house was still waiting for the official guidance before making a final determination. why is it what the director of the cdc says, why isn't that enough? >> well, first, the director of the cdc also has said they haven't issued their final guidance, and we of course wait for that process to complete and see its way through. as she would say, as well, i believe she did an interview last night where she spoke to this issue again. th

talk about a large insurrection like we saw in the january 6 know anyone from the department of homeland security contact you about a potential national special security event designation no i am not aware of anybody from a d h s reaching out no one contacted me thank you and to stay with me senator no contact with me or my office are all capitol police officers outfitted with riot gear no they're not. the aftertaste of the january 6 capital riots that left 6 people dead including a u.s. capitol police officer it does not seem to be going away as the date of joe biden's address to a joint session of congress is left yet to be announced at this point the u.s. capitol is looking like a state of war bastion and with the narrative of domestic terrorism gaining momentum biden's mission of healing the wounds of deepening divisions seems to fail . without cross live now today political analyst and radio host a voice good to have you on the fast i want to. know we saw. people saying that insurrectionists wanted to blow up capital they were going to talk a little make by 10 did not come as a shock to you

[indiscernible] he has almost two decades of experience developing and implement the homeland security and national security policies. our third witness. the ceo and national director of adl. they bring extensive experience from the private sector. adl has worked in new and innovative ways to counter and combat extremism and -- in all forms. our fourth and final witness. the senior advisor, a former military officer. author of numerous books and articles on domestic and international affairs. without objection, the witnesses both statement will be inserted into the record. i now ask dr. rodriguez to summarize his statements for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. [indiscernible] [inaudible] prior to this role -- for over 10 years. as an appointee of mayor muriel bowser, i am honored to lead an agency. from snowstorms, to hurricanes, to a global pandemic, and the terrorist attack like the one we saw on january 6. i'm here today to discuss the attack that led to the insurrection at the u.s. capitol, which based upon my experience, was clearly an act of domestic terrorism. this atta

their home countries at taxpayer expense and now we are going to have the secretary of state and homeland securityns for readmission and amnesty to previously deported illegal immigrants. this is madness, this is on top of the fact that the current administration has already dismantled border security, canceling president trump's historic agreements with mexico and with the northern triangle countries, restoring catch and release and additionally gutting interior enforcement issuing a memo, preventing ice from removingas majority of criminal illegal immigrants that it encounters and the last thing i will say about the memo is that they hav engaged in a fraudulent representation to the court in the texas litigation because they are claiming this is a resources issue. i know for a fact that ice has the resources to remove these public safety threats. this is a policy choice deguyses -- disguised and that's a lie and a lie that threatens public safety. maria: i know that the ice border patrolmen and women are now being told that they have to get authority to make any moves. they need authority from a

homeland security advisor called governor abbott on sunday to let them know the present had granted his request to help meet the states as care and children is. yesterday liz additionally call the other governors in the storms path on behalf of the present including government id of alabama, governor john bel edwards of louisiana, governor kelly of kansas, governor reid of mississippi governor kevin of oklahoma. she expressed the president strong commitment to ensuring the federal government proactively does everything it can to support state and local officials in preparing for and responding to the events that impact our citizens. we will continue to monitor the storms update in the days ahead. with that, go ahead. >> first, the present schedule does not -- can you give a sense of what he's been doing today? does he plan to reach out to those governors and those affected states? >> i expect the president has been kept abreast as a number of events and have been provided updates regular updates on the storm and the progress and, of course, the emergency declaration. i don't have any ca

i intend to bring this up with the department of homeland security on this topic. mr. sund, my last question. the officers of the capitol police work each and every day to keep the u.s. capitol safe and secure. we are all grateful for the brave work of the u.s. capitol police officers on january 6th. tragically, the law enforcement community has now lost two officers to suicide since january 6 as a result of the insurrection and the events then. my thoughts, and i'm sure the thoughts of all of us here today, are with the families of npd officer jeffrey smith and u.s. capitol police officer howard levingood. what are currently available to capitol police officers and are these resources sufficient? >> the department has brought in significant mental health resources, and i certainly do appreciate your recognition of that. i've talked to a number of officers who have definitely gone through the battle and feel -- they're feeling a lot of trauma from it, but i know the chief of police, the acting chief, has brought in significant resources. we had the employee assistance p