mr. bersin? >> mr. chairman, i think as you know, we are openly confront being the issue and the challenges that we face. and i want to point out and i commend the o.i.g. as well as c.b.p.-- and the f.b.i. in the number of investigations that have started. we have to recognize and put in perspective that it's the kind of emphasis that the agencies are giving to the problem. that put more resources into the problem that begin in the first instance to see an increase in the number of cases that are open. more cases have been referred by cpbia to the joint information system. and those cases are being taken at greater rate by d.h.s.-o.i.g. for which we are thankful. this is an issue of attention and focus and resource allocation. >> let me follow up on that if i can, mr. bersin. because one of the things that you have had really large backlog on is your periodic reinvestigations. you went through some opening -- them in your opening statement but how many periodic reinvestigations you have completed so far

mr. bersin? >> mr.irman, i think as you know, we are openly confronting the issue and the challenges that we face, and i want to point out i commend the oig as well as the cbpia and fbi in the investigations. we have to recognize though and put in perspective that it's the kind of emphasis that the agencies are giving to the problem that put more resources into the problem that began in the first instance to seek an increase in the number of cases opened so the more cases that has been referred by the cbpia to the joint information system and infect those cases are being taken at a greater rate by the dhs oig, for which we are thankful but this is an issue of attention and focus and resource allocation. >> let me follow up on that if i can, mr. bersin, because one of the things that you have had a large backlog on is your periodic investigations, and i think he went through some members in your opening statements, but could you go through those again in terms of how many periodically investigations comp

mr. bersin? >> first, i should say, mr. senator, what a difference three months makes. yes, i think it's fair and the law-enforcement professionals, both in oig and iaa know i say this respectfully when i say there was more than tension and friction. there was outrage confrontation and an unacceptable situation. and this is not, in most situations like this, it makes no sense to try to fix the blame, but rather fix the problem. and i went to complement both offices for endeavoring to do precisely that. in april of this year, the inspector general reached out very directly and said that he wanted to discuss this issue and he wanted to see that working together we could actually reverse the history of the last few years, which again was a function of people passionate about their duties and dedicated public servants who saw the world in a different way. i think we've made huge strides toward that goal. a january 2011, as the senator knows, we entered into an unprecedented agreement within dhs with ice, with homeland security investigations, which for the first time, cbpia