signed james clapper jr. director, national intelligence.entlemen, the ceremony will now continue with the retirement of lieutenant general ronald burgess. beginning with remarks by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey. [applause] >> thanks very much. there is no truth to rumors that if we can stretch the ceremony beyond noon that your retirement percentage goes up so that -- this is the defense intelligence agency so i will pose a profound question. what do a yellow school bus and dinosaur and helicopter and motorcycle have in common? you can't answer that question but thomas can because that is the array of toys that confronts me as i've looked over the podium. i will be fascinated to find out exactly how that combination fits together. i am honored to be here today. much has been said to command ron for his accomplishments but i will let go a few of those comments. in the defense and national intelligence community you have clearly been something i referred to as a leader of consequence and a champion to those

the ni james clapper and attorney general eric holder identified reauthorization of the act as the top legislative priority of the intelligence community and are urging congress to reauthorize the act without amendment. without objection, a february 8 letter from director clapper and general holder and march 26th letter from director clapper will be made part of the record. hearing no objections so ordered. foreign terrorists remain committed to the destruction of our country and the methods of communication are constantly evolving. it is essential that our intelligence community has the necessary tools to detect and disrupt such attacks. we have a duty to ensure that the intelligence community can gather the information they need to protect our country and its citizens. i look forward to hearing more about this issue and thank all of our witnesses for participating in today's hearing. it is my pleasure to recognize for his opening statement, the ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentlemen, from virginia, mr. scott. >> thank you mr. chairman. i want to thank you for holding this

ago the director of national intelligence, barack obama's own director of national intelligence, james clapperestified to the senate that all of the existing sanctions and diplomacy had not had any effect on iran's behavior or policies in the nuclear field and when it comes to the sanctions the administration imposed but which are now in place, the administration gave 20 countries waivers. and iran has been busy ever since finding ways to evade the sanctions and the financial institutions sanctions, the european union put in place and, generally, getting around the impact of these sanctions. the effect has not been to slow down the nuclear program. the effect has been entirely economic and make no mistake iran has known of the possibility for years, and they've taken steps to mitigate the effect of the sanctions and evade them and those steps are well underway. >> eric: mitt romney will speak two hours from now. what is your public and what does he have to say and what do you expect him to actually explain? >> well, i think he's going to continue to emphasize in the context of israel and the m

director of national intelligence, james clapper, has issued new rules to deter further -- future incidents, among them rules authorizing the inspector general of the defense community to conduct an independent administrative investigation, even if the justice department declines to bring criminal charges in a specific case. second, the problem of leaks in the federal government is not new. there were spies at the founding of the republic. we have grappled with this problem with federal law since the first world war. in the modern sense of leaking information to the press, we've had to work to balance our security interests of a free and robust press with the interests of a free and robust press for the better part of 50 years. these problems are not amenable to easy solutions. particularly in light of the fact that we do not always agree on the scope of the problem. we all want to protect national security so that we can keep our citizens safe. but we cannot disregard the right of american citizens in a system of self-governance, a system that requires the public to be well informed. when

. >> a lot of people including james clapper, pointing out the suicide bombings are the hallmark of these jihadists in is so key in the middle east. you have syria and then you have israel just a stone throw way from the capital city of damascus. you have lebanon. you have jordan to the south and turkey to the north. syria would be a heck of a foothold for al qaeda, would it not? >> it's the corner stone of the middle east, always has been. you add to that, it's alarming, but it's the truth, is chemical weapons. the problem is with the invasion of iraq we expected to find them. that threat was always overblown. the syrians really do have gas. you can put this on the end of an artillery shell and fire it. if you have the lunatics getting their hands on one of these things and fire one into israel, anything can happen. is that threat real or not? we don't know. that's the whole problem with the chaos. >> thank you so much. inside syria we have a crew. we have ivan watson on the ground. ivan, i know you have access to people who are coming and going inside of the city of aleppo. what are you

find james r. clapper junior, direct your national intelligence.inue with the retirement of lieutenant general burgess beginning with remarks by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey. [applause] >> thanks very much. enron, there is no truth to the rumor is that it stretches beyond noon that your entire net percentage goes up. this is the defense intelligence agency so opposed to all all a very profound question. what do a best of yellow school bus dinosaur helicopter and motorcycle heaven, and? you can't answer that question but thomas can because that is the array of choice that confronts me as i look over the podium. last night i'll be fascinated later to find out how the combination fits together. i'm honored to be here today. much has already been said to command run for his account ocean and, but i will echo a few of those comments. braun, and the defense and national intelligence community, you've clearly been something i referred to as the leader of consequent and a champion to those who were placed in harms way a

director of national intelligence james clapper. william daley, former white house chief of staff. smith sent the letter after they were urged on in a hearing wednesday. >> we have our own investigative capacity. so why don't, why don't we inquire ourselves? we also have the regular power of subpoena. >> conyer suggested he would provide his own list of names but today he went the opposite direction. expressing concern in a letter to mr. smith that republicans were making unfounded assertions about who might have leaked. conyers' turn-around came after nancy pelosi argued that congress should defer to investigation ordered by eric holder one run by the f.b.i. and directed by two u.s. attorneys. >> i believe right now the administration has put in place a look at how these things occurred. >> she acknowledged that congress has right to investigation since she launched in while in the majority but said the administration own investigation should come first. >> bret: jim, isn't it odd that the former speaker, now minority leader is asking congress to hold off? >> for a congresserrial

thomas donlin the counter terrorism advisor john brennan plus the director of national intelligence james clapper. the congressman says they should be ready to discuss these "new york times" reports about cyber attacks on iran and the president's so-called kill list of terror suspects. also al qaeda's latest botched underwear bomb plot and other media leaks. so far no response from the white house. but the president has said it's offensive and wrong to suggest advisors would purposefully reveal classified national security information. a government attack in syria killed as many as 200 people today and most of them said to be civilians. that's according to opposition activists. we can't confirm it. those activists say it happened in the province of hama north of the capital in damascus. forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad used helicopters, tanks, and militia men to carry out this massacre. not far south in homs the violence continued. [explosion] this latest blood shed comes after syria's ambassador to iraq defected. saying he would join the revolution. there is word of at least 10

james clapper, john brenner. former white house chief of staff bill daley and others. in a letter to the president congressman smith rights these individuals should be prepared to discuss to the full extent of their knowledge how, why and by whom each of the following classified matters was leaked or otherwise become public information accessible to america's even knee. the house minority weighed in saying she would defer to the administration's own investigation by the justice department buy is being led by two u.s. attorneys. >> congressional oversight is a major part of it, and the committees can always bring in any agency of government in its jurisdiction to ask those questions. but you have to ask very specific one do i think there needs to be a judiciary committee investigation, i said let's see how the other investigation goes first. >> reporter: a number of republicans in the house and senate argued that the u.s. attorneys cannot be truly independent because they are too close to their boss attorney general holder. megyn: chief intelligence correspondent cather

them national security advisor, tom done lynn, and deputy director of national intelligence, james clappers, john brennan, former white house chief of staff bill daly and others. in a letter to the president, smith writes, quote, these individual should be prepared to discuss to the full extent much their knowledge, how, why and by whom each. following classified matters was leaked or otherwise payment public information accessible to america's ennis and right now we're working on a response from the white house to that letter, jenna. jenna: a response from the white house. what about the democrats as well? we know lamar smith is republican. as we mentioned the head of this committee. what about the democrats. what are they saying? >> reporter: yesterday the house minority leader weighed in she would defer to the administration's investigation by the justice department which is being led by two u.s. attorneys. >> i believe right now the administration has put in place a look at how these leaks occurred. it is not in anybody's interest, as i said to you before, intel room, loose lips sink sh

james clapper. former white house chief of staff, bill daley. some in congress are calling for a full investigation. alisyn: there is eye-opening report on growing burden entitlements weighing on fewer and fewer americans. right now there are less than two private sector employees for every one person on welfare assistance. now just to give you context, in the 1960s there were 18 workers for everyone medicaid recipient. today that is down to 2.5 workers. and the number of americans on disability has risen 19% faster than jobs created during this recovery period. fox business network's charles payne is here to give us context and talk about more on this subject. you've been talking about this top i can -- topic for a long time. what do you think of the numbers released in this american earn enterprize institute report? >> the numbers are shocking but it is pretty simple. it can't continue to go on this much further this much longer. in other words you can't have so many people receiving so many different benefits, welfare benefits, food stamp ben

the director of national intelligence, james clapper, has also sounded the alarm. he has described the cyber threat as a profound threat to this country, its future, its economy, its very being. the warnings, mr. president, have not been confined to officials in the obama administration. former national security officials, including michael chertoff, michael mcconnell, paul wolfowitz, michael hayden, have written that the cyber threat is imminent and represents one of the most serious challenges to our national security since the onset of the nuclear age 60 years ago. they have urged us to protect the infrastructure that controls our electricity, water and sewer, nuclear plants, communications backbone, energy pipelines and financial networks with appropriate cybersecurity standards. similarly, in a letter to our colleague, senator john mccain, general keith alexander, the commander of u.s. cyber command and the director of the national security agency wrote -- "given d.o.d. re reliance on certain core critical infrastructure to execute its mission as well as the i

director of national intelligence who was mentioned earlier in this program and that is general james clapper, and he has the overall authority of these 16 agencies. as you might guess because of decades of separateness, there are some amount of territorially imperative i which i think over the years has begun to dim that nonetheless has, have a, has a way to go. the thrust of this is to be able to have, if you will, a kind of central command, from which orders can flow, and priorities be adjusted quickly, and you think we're on our way to that. we are in the process right now of doing an intelligence authorization bill. that will be marked up in the intelligence committee tomorrow afternoon. part of this bill will address what has become a particularly egg agreeing just -- egregious situation, and that is leaks and it's, it's a very difficult area because people ask you a question. there can be a statement made totally inadvertently. reporters like the gentleman who is going to question me in a few minutes, have developed a unique skill of piecing things together so they get one little bit i

director of national intelligence james clapper has stated that, "it's clear from all that we've said that we all recognize we need to do something. we all recognize this as a profound threat to this country, to its future, to its economy, to its very being." end quote. secretary of defense leon panetta has warned that the next pearl harbor we confront could very well be a cyber attack. secretary of homeland security, janet napolitano has compared this threat to the september 11 attacks. prior to 9/11, she said, "there were all kinds of information all there that a catastrophic attack was loomin looming. the information on a cyber attack is on that same frequency and intensity and is bubbling at the same level, and we should not wait for an attack in order to do something." end quote. attorney general holder stressed the urgency of responding to this threat in a recent senate judiciary committee hearing. he said, "this is a problem that we must address. our nation is otherwise at risk, and to ignore this problem, to think it is going to go away, runs headlong into all the intelligence

general james clapper, director of national intelligence, said chinese cyber threat of american intellectualproperty is "the greatest pillaging of wealth in our entire history." close quote. that's our future disappearing in front of us, admiral keith alexander said. in a report released last year, the american chamber of commerce said government and the private sector should work together to develop incentives for businesses to voluntarily act to protect our nation's critical infrastructure. the legislation that's before this body today does exactly that, establish a public-private partnership to make our nation safer and protect american jobs. i hope the chamber will join in our efforts to pass this important legislation. i personally believe this bill could go further to address threats to critical infrastructure, the networks operating our electric grid, our water supplies and other life-sustaining systems, but it is a tremendously important good first step. i applaud senators for their work on this legislation. the bill managers are compiling a list of relevant amendments for considerat

sends intelligence czar james clapper to capitol hill to whitewash the brother's -- brotherhood's extremism, he testifies that the group is, quote, moderate, largely secular. calidari, exiled from egypt for 30 years, is given a hero's welcome to tarir square where he raises a banner to jihad. 2011, clinton east special coordinator for mideast transitions and longtime associate of brotherhood apologists gives brotherhood and other egyptian islamists special training to prepare for the post-mubarak elections. 2011, the brotherhood wins control of egyptian parliament, vows to tear up eyipt's 30-year peace treaty with israel and re-establish his ties with hamas and hezbollah. 2011, obama gives mideast speech demanding that egypt give up land to palestinian and refuses to visit israel. the administration has now said if we give him another term, the next four year he is will go see israel. back to the article. 2011, justice department pulls plug on further prosecution of u.s.-based brotherhood front groups, identified as collaborators in conspiracy to funnel million os hamas. 2011, in a shocking

director of national intelligence who was mentioned earlier in this program and that is a general james clapper. and he has the authority of these agencies. because of decades of separate ness, this is some amount of territorial imperative, which has began to dim but nonetheless has a way to go. the thrust of this is to be able to have a kind of central command from which orders can flow and priorities be adjusted quickly. i think we are on our way to that. we are in the process right now of doing an intelligence authorization bill. that will be marked up in the intelligence committee tomorrow afternoon. part of this will address what has become a particularly egregious situation, that is weeks. -- leaksa. . it is difficult because people ask you a question, there can be a statement made, reporters, like the gentleman who is going to question me in a few minutes, have developed a unique skill of piecing things together so they get one debate in one place and then they go to three or four or five other places and they manage to put together a whole story. the problem is it jeopardizes actionable

according to our director of national intelligence, james clapper, russia and china are exploiting our vulnerability. his unclassified assessment is entities within these countries are already -- quote -- "responsible for extensive illicit intrusions into u.s. computer networks and theft of intellectual property" -- end of quote. we've got to respond to this, mr. president. and we have to do it quickly. i want thank senators lieberman, collins, feinstein and rockefeller for putting together this bill. the cybersecurity act of 2012. they've introduced an approach that is balanced, bipartisan, and responsive to legitimate concerns raised by the intelligence community, private city, -- industry, and privacy advocates. the siebd will make us safer. -- the cybersecurity act of 2012 will make us safer. pipelines, electrical grids, water treatment facilities, transportation systems, even financial networks are increasingly vulnerable to attack. bad actors in other countries have already demonstrated their ability to use the internote take control of computer systems -- internet to take contro

speakers include leon panetta, martin dempsey, james clapper. this is an hour and 30 minutes. ♪ >> left, left. ["national anthem"] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the chaplain will now give the indication. >> would you pray with me? our heavenly father, we thank you for the privilege of pausing in the shadows of our great heritage and in the midst of the leaders of our great nation and to pray to you. it is fitting that we began this ceremony in prayer because you have been our constant help in years past and you are our hope for the future. we ask for your presence here today and for your continued guidance and protection upon our nation and upon our military men and women who were stationed around the world. we are grateful for the opportunity to recognize and honor one of your choice leaders and faithful servants, general ronald burgess. we thank you for his commitment, his dedication, and his service to our country for over 38 years. he leaves a legacy of patriotism and sacrifice that sets an example for all of us to follow. the impact he has mad