i'm a little bit burdened here because as nctc director i follow in the footsteps of two previous nctc directors and distinguished national security lawyers who lived this architecture in ways that i haven't and so i'm less in a direct position to speak on exactly how these programs work in the same way that my predecessors were. >> that's why i raised the question in my mind about your answer to senator wyden who i think took that as a definitive yes, and i think this is fine and nctc director thinks it's fine and therefore why in the world would we question it. there is a difference of energy in most instances in the community as to whether or not this is the right thing to do. >> i understand that. that's why i'm relying on my experts who assured me that the preservation of this gives us what we need. it certainly involved giving and take on particular provisions. i would be happy to talk to you in closed session or come at you -- >> i understand. i think we should do that because there are still major questions that need to be resolved here. in the remaining time, did you through y

i'm a little bit burdened here because as nctc director i folly in the footsteps of two previous nctc directors and distinguished national security lawyers who lived this architecture in ways that i haven't and so i'm less in a direct position to speak on exactly how these programs work in the same way that my predecessors were. >> that's why i raised the question in my mind about your answer to senator widen who i think took that as a definitive yes, and i think this is fine and the t.c. director thinks it's fine and therefore why in the world would we question it. there is a difference of energy in most instances in the community as to whether or not this is the right thing to do. >> i understand that. that's why i'm relying on my experts who assured me that the preservation of this gives us what we need. it certainly involved giving and take on particular provisions. i would be happy to talk to you in closed session or come at you -- >> i understand. i think we should do that because there are still major questions that need to be resolved here. in the remaining time, did you throu

he previously served as nctc's deputy director since june of 2012, prior to returning to nctc he served with the national security council staff as special assistant to the president, and senior director for counterterrorism. thank you, sir. and last but not least, michael steinbach, appointed as the assistant director of the fbi's counterterrorism division by director comey in july of 2014. he joined the fbi in 1995, held a variety of positions at fbi headquarters in the field and overseas during his ten-year career with the bureau. most recently served as deputy assistant director of the counterterrorism position. the witnesses' full statements will appear in the record. the chair francis "frank" x. taylor now recognizes undersecretary taylor for his opening statement. >> chairman mccaul, ranking member thompson, and distinguished members of the committee i'm pleased to be here today with my colleagues from the fbi and nctc to discuss the foreign fighter threat and our current efforts to disrupt terrorist travel. i would be remiss if i did not highlight one of the biggest threats to t

he previously served as nctc's deputy director since june of 2012 prior to returning to nctc he served with the national security council staff as special assistant to the president, and senior director for counterterrorism. thank you, sir. and last but not least, michael steinbach, appointed as the assistant director of the fbi's counterterrorism division by director comey in july of 2014. he joined the fbi in 1995, held a variety of positions at fbi headquarters in the field and overseas during his ten-year career with the bureau. most recently served as deputy assistant director of the counterterrorism position. the witnesses' full statements will appear in the record. the chair now recognizes undersecretary taylor for his opening statement. >> chairman mccaul, ranking member thompson, and distinguished members of the committee i'm pleased to be here today with my colleagues from the fbi and nctc to discuss the foreign fighter threat and our current efforts to disrupt terrorist travel. i would be remiss if i did not highlight one of the biggest threats to the security of our homelan

to do all of this my officers are using nctc's unique access of i.c. and law enforcement information wider than anywhere else in the i.c. this access includes our own data holdings, but as well as our embedded officers from ten other intelligence organizations. now to prevent individuals from traveling to syria in the first place my officers are also working to diminish the appeal of terrorism in partnership with doj, the department of justice and the department of homeland security and the fbi. we have helped develop tools to counter violent extremism and raise awareness among law enforcement and community leaders around the country. we try to taylor these tools particularly in the updated isil context and we've received a significant amount of feedback from communities with whom we have worked and there is a demand signal from those across the country. the nature of today's threat as we discussed in the be givening and was evident in the chairman and vice chairman's statement. it is challenging our ability to identify and disrupt terrorist plots and

and significant damage to the united states relationships nctc sister fated in that . do you believe that it provided to be correct? i could speak to the threat portion of that and i would say that it was the part of the most direct purchase on 4 and i can't say that i can disaggregate that level of violence and terrorism we have seen and issued aggregate that level from what we may have seen otherwise. because as you know, the turmoil railing that part of the parts of the world not that part of the world but those parts of the world. middle east south africa, asia. there is a number of factors going in to creating the difficult threat environment that we face some the assessment that we made at the time. as a community. was that this would increase or add to the threat picture in the places i don't know. looking backwards right now that we could say aha. that did by ex-percent, we are also i think clear in saying that there is a parts of the impact that we would not know until we would have the ben fist time to see how it would play out. in different locations all ove

it's something we should be able to agree on pier we know in the past that the eitc nctc minimum wage is my first speech for a minimum-wage bill signed by president bush. it was a bipartisan bill for a speech in january 2007. the presiding officer was barack obama and i stood up and when you stand up in the senate to address the chair and my first words in january 20002 him were mr. president i think you like the sound of it. [laughter] is a true story but probably not entirely true. one of my guests with jacob -- jason jacobs, growth is a middle-class working class kid. got a degree to teach at loyola university. he hasn't been able to find a job as a teacher and he's now working as a paraprofessional in a school district east of hamilton county where cincinnati is. he made only $16,000 last year and because he doesn't have children he will miss out on critical tax credits that could put more of his money in his pocket or my legislation david mentioned the working families tax relief act would triple the size of the eitc for workers without children and expand access to young workers

not just giving parents the peace of mind of knowing their children have insurance, not just eitc nctc giving apparent peace of mind that they can do a few things for their children that they couldn't do. it also means better performance in schools. it means they miss fewer school days and when they are at school they're less likely to be sick and may be less likely to be hungry because they have a little bit more money and their parents have more money in their pocket. if we care about not just these families in these neighborhoods that we raise children that would have higher test scores higher graduation rates higher college attendance rates and more people getting ged send more people going to college and finishing college. it means higher salaries and we enable the cache for the 44% of households that have less than three months worth of savings almost half of the people as country of less than three months of savings whatever age they are and if they are in their 50's we know what that means for their retirement. half of the people more or less half the people in this country on

first the terrorist threat integration center was set up by president bush, and then it was renamed nctc, and then congress codified it as part of the 2004 intelligence reform law, and i think nctc is terrific, and shout out to the people who work here so. if you're building something comparable to that that's going to work as well as that, my own view is you're on the right track. lisa: well, thank you. we think so. jane: all right, folks, 18 minutes and 40 seconds, please identify yourself and ask a question. do not give a speech. right here. wait for the microphone. pete baer: thank you. i'm pete baer with "energy wire." could you elaborate on the second of your four action points, how can the government use all of its capabilities more effectively to disrupt serious threats to critical infrastructure before they occur? lisa: so it's a very good question. what i met by that is, and the reference in the speech is using all of our tools. again, the terrorism model is instructive. we get around, literally get around the table in the situation room. our diplomats, our intelligence communi

, and then congress codified nctc as part of the 2004 intelligence reform law.and i think nctc's terrific, and shout out to the people who work there. >> here here. >> so if you're building something comparable to that that's going to work as well as that my own view is you're on the right track. >> well, thank you. we think so. >> all right, folks. eighteen minutes and 40 seconds. please identify yourself and ask a question. do not give a speech. right here. wait for the microphone. finish. >> thank you. pete bayer with energy wire. could you elaborate on the second of your four action points? how can the government use all its capabilities more effectively to disrupt serious threats to critical infrastructure before they occur? >> so it's a very good question. what i meant by that is -- and the reference in the speech is using all of our tools. again, the terrorism model is instructive. we get around literally, get around the table in the situation room. our diplomats, our intelligence community, our military our prosecutors and law enforcement officials, and

director, what does nctc do and why should i care? what would your answer be?ld tell the person that nctc strives everyday to be a center of gravity for our nation's counterterrorism efforts. not the center of gravity because to say would be a disservicedisservice to all of our partners and encounters work as well by center of gravity that provides information, analysis strategic planning and support of our national catechism efforts. and so if they asked i would say that they have a large number of officers who come to work everyday to assess, analyze and provide information in data defeat our terrorist adversaries. that's what i would say. >> and why should i care? >> you should care because as we talked about in my opening statement and in your opening statement, mr. chairman, the threat environment we face right now is the most multifaceted the first dynamic threat of violent we've ever faced and it manifests itself in chimeras all around this country but it's not simply a threat that manifests itself in far-flung places around the world. the kind of low-le

it's not duplicative at all, jane, and i think what weave seen with nctc is operators and policy makers are very, very well served in facing an evolving threat by having a source of rapid, integrated intelligence at their disposal. >> well, expressing my personal opinion, i was there when first the terrorist threat integration center was set up by president bush, and then it was renamed nctc, and then congress codified it as part of the 2004 intelligence reform law, and i think nctc is terrific and shout out to the people who work here so. if you're building something comparable to that that's going to work as well as that, my own view is you're on the right track. >> well, thank you. we think so. >> all right folks, 18 minutes and 40 seconds, please identify yourself and ask a question. do not give a speech. right here. wait for the microphone. >> thank you. i'm with energy wire. could you elaborate on the second of your four action points, how can the government use all of its capabilities more effectively to disrupt serious threats to critical infrastructure before they occur? >> so

it is the kind of thing that you know back when the nctc was starting to be formed, people ask why can't another agency do this, why can't the cia do this, why can't any other -- why can't the office of director of national intelligence do this before the actual formalization of that office be informed? i think you'll probably hear some similar questions. why do we need a separate agency to do this when we have the department of homeland security which is supposedly the civilian. we have the national security agency. why can't one of those agencies just handle it? it sounds as though the obama administration thinks that a separate effort is needed similar to the nctc. >> and so back to this topic of going on the offense and asking our viewers whether or not they think we should be engaging in offense when it comes to cyber attacks, going to turn to our viewers here in just a minute and have them respond to this and get their take on it. what is -- what is happening next on this front? i mean is congress -- is there legislation percolating, is the administration planning something? who's