michel elias or specs the terms stated above. i sought counsel after she asked me to sign a document that she had are designed on september 26, 2008. on october 29, 2008 before the honorable judge alexander h. carver of the superior court of bergen county new jersey, i was awarded custody of my children. on that day, judge carver clearly ordered three times that the children's passports both american and japanese, be turned over to her attorney because she was an obvious flight risk. i did everything i could to ensure the safety and well-being of my children. i felt confident had every reason, reasonable expectation in our legal system with the ruling of judge carver and the strength of the united states government. that my american-born children would be protected from being kidnapped to japan. i was wrong. myumi was an employee of the japanese consulate in new york city issuing visas and passports. she used her position in the consulate as a tool to carefully collaborate the abduction of our children. myumi had replacement pass

we'll focus on the military side like michel elias. i did do an amendment back in 2009 that requires them, as mr. payne was pointing out so well, to begin educating and especially have people -- patricia apy will speak to this, i'm sure, when she testifies, so that people overseas and our jag corps are much better acquainted with the issue of child abduction to better serve those who are deployed overseas. so thank you so much, all three, for your tremendous testimony. thank you. [applause] i'd like to now introduce our third panelover experts beginning with ms. patricia apy who's a partner with the law firm of paris, apy and reese who specializes in complex child litigation. her qualifications for testifying for us are impressive and extense i have, and i will reference only a few of them. she has litigated, been qualified as an expert witness and consulted on international family disputes throughout the world. ms. apy frequently consults and is regularly qualified as an expert on family dispute resolution in non-hague countries and r

and also, two of you spoke in michel elias' case of a passport being issued under fraudulent circumstances. in other words the judge took the original passports and then someone at the consular's office in chicago illinois falsely issued either knowingly or unknowingly, but the japanese government told you that there would be an investigation. what happened that investigation? before you answer, in case of mr. bower, you talked about outright fraud where it is clear with wrong names and violation as you put it of the m. lat. what has been the verse-ounce of our government on that issue and then i will yield to mr. payne for any questions he may have. >> as far as the office of children's issues congressman smith i have not. i have spoken with them directly. i have not gained or lost anything from them so there is no common i can make upon that. as far as the phonecall from the ambassador from japan i have not received a letter or heard any news of good or bad from him personally. >> briefly, has somebody called you at any time or has it all been away see or what? >> there is that ongoing i