Transcripts For CSPAN Former DHS Secretaries Testify On Homeland Security Threats 20240714

Field hearing here within a space defined by the remaining of the onal structure World Trade Center, at what was 18 years ago this week, the of ground zero, makes todays program especially meaningful. Many of you toured the museum last night, some for the first time. The events we chronicle here, he lives we remember, and the aspirations we embrace for a orld free from the scourge of activism are inextricably linked to the work of this committee the topics you will discuss today. Here at the 9 11 memorial and testify to the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on soil. Can and the single greatest loss of escued personnel in a single event in american history. Our exhibitions and programs collective experience of profound shock, andecedented vulnerability, overwhelming grief caused by the attacks. Take away more remaincautionary tale to vigilant to continued threats by sharing the man any follow of courage, coassion and service in response to 9 11, this museum of who we s the best can be as human beings. 9 11 ts inception, the memorial and museum vowed to ofor and preserve the memory all who were killed. Two days from now this memorial host as we do every year a solemn ceremony to mark the of the 9 11 attacks but in recent years, our it means ing of what to remember has had to evolve with the tragic recognition that too many, 9 11 is not past history at all. Survivors, responders, rescue and recovery workers, workers, volunteers and Community Members exposed to hazards and toxins in the of the attacks, 9 11 is an all too present reality. 16acre recovery effort at this site lasted nine may 30, oncluding on 2002, with the ceremonial emoval of the last column now tanding directly behind you here in foundation hall. During that time as well as on of day of attacks hundreds thousands, its estimated 400,000, responders and urvivors, workers and residents, were exposed to hazards and toxic dust released air at and around the World Trade Center following the on apse of the twin towers 9 11. In the 18 years since thousands have died. And tens of thousands more from injuries and illnesses sustained at all three attack sites. Including the pentagon and the crash flight near shanksville, pennsylvania. The scale of the 9 11 Health Crisis is almost inconceivable. 97,000 People Living in all and in 434 of 435 congressional districts are enrolled in the cdcs World Trade Center health program. His tragic situation exemplifies what we call here impact of dinal terrorism. Its ongoing human toil. Years well mark the 0th anniversary of the 9 11 attacks. For the witness generation, it is unbelievable that two decades will have passed. Memories of that day are still that vivid. Generation a new growing up in a world defined in so many ways by a pivotal event did not experience personally. Are are in college, some starting their careers. If, as someone recently 21st century tarted here, we must ensure that the next generation and generations to come understand the significance of the events legacies of 9 11, so they have the tools and the negotiate the challenges ahead. National security, the topic of todays meeting is among the challenges andse its a core focus at this memorial and museum. By this mornings hearing the museum has emerged as a vital convening space in to explore issues of global security, ounterterrorism, crisis leadership, and public service. We provide especially tailored programs for professionals in Law Enforcement, intelligence in the regularly offer Public Programs on security, defense, and foreign policy. Annual um also hosts an summit on security bringing on ther leading voices Security Matters across private and public sectors. Our next summit will take place 12th and 13th, and will ick off with dan coats and our chairman mike bloomberg. This years summit will also ffer an opportunity for attendees to preview our next special exhibition, documenting more than 10year hunt for barack obama. If youre interested in or would the summit like to visit this exhibition at know. R time please let me standing here, sitting here, in heart ofn hall, at the ground zero, were witness not only to the remnants of what was destroyed, but to the promise of a better future. The foundation at ground zero. From and build up create a safer world for our children and our grandchildren. Thank you for being here today for your dedication and service to the singular critical goal. Please be seated. This hearing on the senatety core. Ttee, will come to i would like to start with a brief moment of silence to honor lost their lives on that terrible today and the tost responders who continue lose their lives in diseases they are contracting from untold acts of heroism. Thank you. I would first like to thank Alice Greenwald and everyone involved in the creation of this special place. I would like to thank the 9 11 memorial and museum for hosting this field hearing on Hallowed Ground and for providing a sobering and moving and educational tour for Committee Members and staff last night and i would like to thank everyone for attending what i hope will be a thoughtful and informative event. In particular, i would like to think three of the former secretaries of the department of Homeland Security, secretary chertoff, napolitano, and johnson. For their attendance, testimony especially their service to this nation. We truly appreciate it. The title of this hearing, 18 years later the state of Homeland Security after 9 11, describes our goal, to look back transpired since that awful day. What actions were taken, what has and what has not been effective, and maybe most important, what has changed. In 2011, the 10th anniversary report card focused on the extent to which the 9 11 commissions 41 recommendations had been implemented. The report concluded with the but there is much more to do. Much work remains because we are living in a world of rapid and dramatic change. It is essential to acknowledge that the world evolves, enemies adapt, new threats and problems emerge. For example, if isis existed in 2011, it certainly was not on most peoples radar. We were worried about largescale, planned attacks by al qaeda, not a terror group using video and social media to inspire lone wolf terrorists. I doubt the creators of the internet and social media platforms ever contemplated how their innovations could be used for such evil. In his book, robert bork showed how the internet opportunity for previously isolated deviance to connect to others. Social media has sped up the process described as deviancy down. As a result, we have experienced the depressing proliferation of violent homegrown extremists, mass shootings, and domestic terror attacks. Another dramatic shift was illegal immigration in 2011, only 3,937 unaccompanied children in Central America were apprehended entering our southwest border illegally and families enon of exploiting our laws was so minor we wouldnt keeping track of it. 11 months into this fiscal year, more than 69,000 unaccompanied children from Central America and 432,000 family members have been apprehended with most claiming asylum and being allowed to stay. I use these examples to the evolving complexity of the problems we face and our inability to effectively address them. Unfortunately, there are not as Many Solutions as effective as hardening the cockpit doors. As chair of this committee, i have attempted to guide us through this process, gathering information, properly defining problems, identifying root problems, establishing achievable goals. Then, only after completing that work, begin to design workable solutions. Too often in the political realm, solutions are directed towards unachievable goals and do not reflect reality. The 10th anniversary report card showed significant implementation of the 9 11 41 recommendations, but those were solutions in response to 9 11. A 2015, this committee issued report, then Ranking Member, department of Homeland Security. He detailed 541 million spent by dhs from 2003 to 2014 and criticized the department for not successfully executing any of its five main missions. As an aside, let me mention what those missions are prevent terrorism, enhance security, secure and manage our borders, enforce and administer our immigration laws, safeguard and secure cyberspace, strengthen National Preparedness and resilience. And in that report, harsh as it was, it is not a reflection on the current secretary or past secretaries. He calls it a unity of effort initiative. It is still a harsh assessment. After 18 years, it is necessary to ask hard questions. For example, is dhs too big . Does it have too Many Missions . Can we expect one department to be responsible for National Disasters, cybersecurity, enforcing immigration laws, securing our borders, protecting government officials . Investigating counterfeit currency. Not only does the list go on, but in addition to operational responsibilities, dhs also reports 292 congressional committees and subcommittees, plus another 27 caucuses, commissions, and groups. The complex problems our nation faces will not be solved with rhetoric. Squabbling. It requires individuals working together in good faith, as numbers of this committee have done so often in the past. That is why i am grateful a Bipartisan Group of senators has the opportunity to be here to learn from a Bipartisan Group of former secretaries. I hope that we can fairly evaluate past successes and failures and use these assessments to guide future actions and policies designed to secure our homeland. I think secretaries and look forward to their testimony. Sen. Peters thank, chairman johnson, for convening this important hearing. Thank to Alice Greenwald and the entire 9 11 memorial and museum staff for hosting us here today. I am also careful to our former grateful to our former Homeland Security secretaries for sharing your thoughts and expertise. This hallowed space is quiet and peaceful today. We are surrounded by the remnants of the towers that were destroyed and the treasured 2,977 lives taken 18 years ago here and at the pentagon and shanksville, pennsylvania. Our colleagues and i had the opportunity to tour the museum yesterday and experience this extraordinary tribute to the lives lost in the most devastating attack on american soil, the attributes to the loved ones lost and the First Responders who ran into save the lives of others. Behind us is the last column, the final piece of steel removed from ground zero after the nine month recovery effort ended. Today, it stands as a monument honoring the 441 First Responders, police, firefighters, and rescue workers who gave their lives in the line of duty. This week, we remember and honor the lives lost on september 11, 2001. We must also reflect on the lessons we have learned in the years since as we work to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again. In the days following 9 11, our nation felt for the first time that we were vulnerable to the dangers of a very volatile world. In those frightful days, no one knew what the future would hold, only that we would arise from the rubble united and resolve to be stronger than ever. It was out of that uncertainty and determination to protect this nation from future attacks that the department of Homeland Security was founded. The new department, which rapidly grew to be one of our largest federal agencies, was comprised of 200 large and diverse agencies, many of which had operated as independent actors. These organizations, each with their unique cultures and histories, coalesced around a single and focused mission under one banner. The department of Homeland Security was created with one primary mission in mind combating the scourge of terrorism and ensuring we could say with confidence never again. But in the years that have since passed and as the world has changed, so has the challenges facing this great nation and this vital department. Today, dhs faces evolving threats, more complex than we could have imagined a few years ago. With each passing day, our world becomes more interconnected, cementing the Important Role cybersecurity plays in our everyday lives. A rise in violence driven by racism and other hate ful ideologies have altered our and the n of terrorism threats they pose. In one of the greatest threats to our National Security does not fly a flag, yet Climate Change poses an existential threat not only to the United States but our entire planets. The department of Homeland Security is our first line of defense against these and other challenges. As the threats to our homeland change, so must the efforts to protect our National Security. With nearly two decades of lessons learned, the time has come for a clear eyed assessment of what has worked and what needs to be improved. As we reflect on what the department has accomplished to date, we must consider whether the complexity of dhs can keep pace with the constantly evolving threats. In order to build a more Sustainable Department and defend ourselves from global threats, we must look to the future. It is not enough to understand of the moment, we must also make sure dhs is prepared to anticipate those threats arising in the future. This is a difficult conversation but one we must have to ensure we never again face a catastrophic event like september 11. Sen. Johnson thank you, senator peters. As the sets may be aware it our tradition to swear in witnesses, so if you could all stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony you commission will be the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth so help god . Please be seated. Our first secretary is former secretary michael chertoff, the founder and executive chairman of the chertoff group. Mr. Chertoff was a second secretary of the department of Homeland Security, serving under president george w. Bush. Led the department from 2005 to 2009. Earlier in his career, he was a federal judge on the Third Circuit court of appeals and was head of the u. S. Department of criminal justice. Secretary chertoff. Mr. Chertoff thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you members of the committee. I deeply appreciate and am honored by the opportunity to appear before the committee and particularly in this setting, which is so meaningful. I know in the audience we have a number of Senior Security officials from the state of new york, the Fire Department of new york, and the port authority, which of course is the organization that houses this facility. I also would like to request that the written part of my estimony be made part of the record. Without objection. Within minutes after the second plane hit the tower in the World Trade Center, i was at the Operations Center at the fbi with then fbi director bob mueller trying to figure out who had done it and perhaps more stop it ly, how do we from happening again. Ive vivid memories of the plane that went down in shanksville, also having heard orders to shoot the plane down, if necessary. Omething i never would have imagined i would live to hear. Within a matter of days after september 11, i was here with the attorney general and the fbi director, touring the rubble. You could still experience the smell and visual sights of the destruction, which was almost unimaginable. This is an opportunity to experience the seminal event of our lifetimes. It is appropriate to use the impending anniversary as a way to honor those who died and those who volunteered to run into harms way to try to protect victims of the attack. Firefighters, police, and then months and and years afterwards, those who left the comfort of their homes to volunteered to join the armed forces to continue to protect us against an enemy that was based overseas. But i am also mindful of the fact that we are coming up on 20 years, a generation of time. Passed since september 11. I think about the fact that there are now young folks in college for whom this is a history lesson, not a vivid memory. The question naturally arises, when the next generation comes on the scene, what will they be facing and what will they remember . And will they, god forbid, have a similar event to reflect upon . That is the value and importance of this hearing. What is the next generation going to face and how do we adapt ourselves to what that may be . So i have three brief observations. One is i regard the 9 11 event and some of the events callw thereafter as what i terrorism 1. 0. That is bin ladens vision of highimpact events with large mass casualties and dramatic visual siege of destruction and death. Department andhe the whole United States government has been good at preventing another attack of that size. We have become close a couple of times. That would have blown up 12 airliners. Ut its important that our us to not lead complacency. Because the enemies of this country still look to the possibility of a mass attack, whether it is explosions, chemical attacks, or biological attacks. As we saw in the months after 9 11, if you give terrorist organizations a safe haven, they will begin to experiment with chemical weapons, biological of ons, and other kinds weapons of catastrophe. It is important we deny them their safe havens. In connection with that, as we look to ongoing discussions with respect to the future of afghanistan, lets make sure we do not sacrifice our ability to strangle any plots to recreate the labs and Training Centers before they get started again. I would also say we have seen a morphing of terrorism to what i call 2. 0 and 3. 0, 2. 0 being small attacks like we saw in mumbai or in the Bataclan Night Club in france which are coordinated but do not have the scale of 9 11. Perhaps even more alarmingly is 3. 0 inspired attacks. Where people are incited over the internet to pick up car keys, guns, or make bombs to kill people randomly. Marker order to keep a that the terrorists are going to continue to attack. We have not o say, only jihad di terrorists, which are still networked internationally with each other, but we are seeing other ideological terrorists arising, what we sometimes call domestic terrorism, whether it is White Supremacists or other ideological groups. Even those are not purely domestic. They are reaching across borders using the internet to incite each other, to boast about the number of people they have killed. Carry out these attacks. We need to start to think about strategies to deal with this kind of terrorism, which involves much more involvement of local authorities and services. Al but also the creation of offramps. Ways you might intervene with are beginning to get into that mindset and divert hem before they wind up having o be in the criminal justice ystem or worse, wind up carrying out an attack. The third area we need to continue to work upon is cyber warfare. We see Ransomware Attacks on our cities that are shutting down services. In other parts of the world, we are seeing attacks on critical charter that have shut the lights off. Like ukraine. We need to raise our game with respect to this, and it has to be a publicprivate partnership. Along these lines, we are seeing the recurrence of what used to be called active measures, the use of foreign adversaries, like russia, of social media and other tools to attempt to influence and disrupt our democracy and social unity. Finally, before i conclude, i would like to say briefly that i think dhs has largely succeeded in the missions set out for we have not had another 9 11. But the Organization Must continue to adapt these challenges and threats. I think most of the recommendations of the 9 11 commission were adopted, but i have to say that Congress Still needs to streamline oversight, which is the one major suggestion that has not really been implemented. Thank you, and i look forward to answering questions. Sen. Johnson thank you. Our next secretary is former secretary janet napolitano, the president of the university of california. Ho got some great rankings recently in the wall street poll. She served as secretary of the department of home and security from 2009 to 2013. Under president barack obama. To serving as secretary, she was attorney general of arizona from 1998 to 2003. U. S. Attorney for the district 1997. Zona from 1993 to secretary napolitano. Ms. Napolitano thank you. I want to thank you for conducting this important field hearing and for inviting me to participate. I am grateful for the work you do on behalf of the American People, and i am honored to be with you this morning here at the national 9 11 memorial and museum. 18 years after the attacks, september 11 remains a somber day in which we mourn and reflect on the nearly 3000 lives lost in the attack on our nation. As we honor the memories of those whose lives were taken on that fateful morning, so, too, we express our gratitude to the First Responders, Law Enforcement, and volunteers, who pulled people from the wreckage of the pentagon, the World Trade Center, and who themselves later succumbed or died to injuries as a result of the recovery efforts. I would also like to thank the and women of the Department Homeland security for the in and day out. They are true patriots. Finally, i would like to acknowledge former secretaries chertoff and johnson, who are here today and who so ably led the department during their respective tenures. From the beginning of my tenure at dhs, we focused our mission on terrorism, Aviation Security, cybersecurity, and Border Management and security as well as the security of the Global Supply chain, the trafficking of goods and humans, and the resilience of the nation to natural disasters. To meet these challenges, we relied on intelligence to develop and implement effective programs and operations while working to make travel, trade, and commerce more seamless for the public. We created tsa precheck and significantly expanded global entry, Customs Trade Partnership against terrorism, and customs preclearance. We also transformed border ecurity, Immigration Enforcement and disaster preparation response and recovery. But as we all know, and as the former speakers have alluded, threats against our homeland are not static. They evolve. We in the Department Must adapt with them. Today, i would like to speak with you about three areas i believe the country must focus on cybersecurity, mass casualty shootings, and the effects of Global Warming on Climate Change. I will address one issue i believe is not a threat to the homeland the United States border with mexico. With the cybersecurity and infrastructure agency, dhs has stepped up to its cyber capabilities. But we have much more to do in this area. Our nations critical infrastructure, its utility grids, election systems, and our public and private networks are all vulnerable. Our adversaries and International Criminal organizations have become more determined and brazen in their attempts to attack us and steal from us. We need a whole government and public and private sector response to this threat, and it needs to happen now. We cannot outthink, outinnovate, and outresearch those who seek to do us harm by, among other things, investing in our Nations Research enterprise and leveraging such things as the gyms capabilities and intellectual resources at the department of Energy National laboratories. The less technical threat of mass casualty shootings is no less consequential to those posed in the cyber arena. Many in our country have sadly grown all too accustomed to stories of yet another mass shooting. Dhs office of intelligence and analysis was created to evaluate the nexus between threat and vulnerability. It needs to be aggressive in doing so with respect to gun violence and mass casualty shootings. I believe in the Second Amendment. But it did not contemplate citizens with combat ready assault rifles. I believe people should be able to use weapons for recreation, hunting, and protection, but if you cannot hit your target with 10 shots, you should not be shooting a gun. It is time for congress to ban highcapacity magazines and assault weapons, and it is time to enact universal background checks. It is also time for congress and dhs to recognize Climate Change is a generational threat to the homeland that must be addressed in a meaningful way. The uptick in extreme weather events on land and offshore clearly impact the missions of fema and the u. S. Coast guard from rescue and reconnaissance to disaster preparation, response, and recovery, our changing climate requires dhs to approach those missions differently. Climate evolution also implicates our border and immigration system, thereby directly affecting ice and others. Extreme weather is destroying crop fields in central and south america, devastating economies. With lost jobs and lost wages, he an per tour toward radicalization widens, as does the draw of northward aggravation. The downstream effects of Climate Change are among them. If we, as a nation, fail to address Climate Change in a holistic and global way, as a threat to the homeland, we will ignore one of the nations, and the worlds, greatest security risks. Finally, i would like to address a topic that i do not believe is a threat to the homeland the u. S. Border with mexico. Ive worked on issues related to that border for nearly 30 years, as a prosecutor, governor, and as secretary of dhs. Ive walked it, ridden it on horseback, flown it, explored its tunnels, and visited almost every land port of entry. There have been times, during my three decades of public service, when i did argue that the border was a threat. But now is not such a time. The border is a zone where millions of dollars of lawful commerce, trade, and travel traverse each day. It produces jobs for citizens living along it and throughout the United States. On its own, it is an economic engine. Proper Border Management requires a blend of physical infrastructure, manpower, and technology. What we do not need and what does not make sense is a wall from one end of the border to the other. As governor of arizona, i once proclaimed show me a 10 foot wall and i will show you an 11 foot ladder. That was more than a decade ago, and it is still true today. The debate about a costly and needless border wall should come to an end. It distracts from the Overall Mission of dhs. It is a red herring. I urge this committee to consider putting an end to discussions on a border wall and to return your worthy attention to more immediate challenges of securing our homeland. I am grateful for the opportunity to appear before you today. And like secretary chertoff and secretary johnson, i look forward to your questions. Sen. Johnson thank you, secretary napolitano. I would ask you to turn off your microphone only three of these may be in use at a time. Our last secretary is former secretary johnson. Hes a lawyer and served as secretary of the department of Homeland Security under president barack obama. Prior to that, he was secretary of the department of defense and was an assistant United States attorney from 1989 to 1991. Mr. Johnson chairman johnson, Ranking Member peters, members of this committee, good morning. Welcome to new york city, my hometown. Accompanied by my predecessors, Mike Chertoff and janet napolitano, i welcome the opportunity to testify at this field hearing in lower manhattan. In conjunction with the 18th anniversary of the 9 11 terrorist attacks. Senators johnson and harper will recall that, on the 14th anniversary of 9 11, they accompanied me to the annual observance in shanksville, pennsylvania. Like millions of others, 9 11 is painful and significant to me. I am a new yorker. I was in new york city on 9 11. I personally witnessed the collapse of the two towers. 9 11 also happens to be my birthday. Out of that day 18 years ago came my personal commitment to National Security. In the years that followed, i served as general counsel to the department of defense and as your secretary of Homeland Security for three years. Three years ago, on the 15th anniversary of 9 11, i presided at the ceremony to welcome the federal Government Back to one World Trade Center. My dhs office in new york city sat on the 50th floor of that building. As a point of personal privilege, i would like to acknowledge someone here who is probably one of the five best friends i have in the world, the retired new York City Police detective ive known him 30 years. We worked drug cases together when i was a prosecutor and he was a cop. He was one of those who ran into harms way 18 years ago on 9 11 and was awarded the medal of valor by the mayor of new york. Any assessment of todays Homeland Security must include an assessment of todays department of Homeland Security. I confess that i view todays dhs with despair and dismay. The department appears to be under constant siege and constant crisis, suffering from management of people and leadership vacancies and crippling attacks and constantly sued for the abrupt launch of illconceived and controversial immigration policies. More so than ever before, dhs is now the politically radioactive. There are public calls for a boycott of private businesses that contract with dhs while certain elected officials call for the outright elimination of certain components of dhs, if not dhs in its entirety. In the current environment, it is easy to forget dhs is responsible for the Vital Mission of protecting the American People and their homeland from the land, sea, air, and from cyberspace. Coast guard performs vital airtime safety, National Security, and counter drug functions. The secret service protects the president and others. Tsa provides Aviation Security to over 2 Million People per day. Fema is the nations Disaster Response agency. The end kick is the u. S. Governments primary Information Exchange hub for the nations cyber security. These are matters in which politics should play little, if any, role, and around which there should be bipartisan consensus and support. Yet the department, and its leadership, appear to be overwhelmed by the politically contentious and emotional immigration mission and the crises that have existed on the southern border to the exclusion, i fear, of all these other important Homeland Security missions. For the nations Cabinet Level Department, charged with rotected the American Homeland and its people, it should not have to be this way. I know every member of this committee agrees with that. Mr. Chairman, i am very appreciative that you and the members of this committee have held this hearing here in this hallowed place, in this bipartisan spirit. I look forward to your questions. Sen. Johnson thanks, secretary johnson. Normally, i would defer my questioning, but in my opening statement, i asked a generic question with what i consider a lively discussion last night, so i will throw it open to all three secretaries. You have alluded to it as well. When you have a crisis, whether it is three hurricanes and wildfires, when you have, as i described, the flow of primarily children but also family members reaching thousands in a year, and you all served as secretaries how can you handle it when you are overwhelmed in one area and have this department that has so many Different Missions . We will start with secretary chertoff and go down the line. Is dhs too big . Does it have to Many Missions . Should we reevaluate how it is structured . Mr. Chertoff i appreciate the question. Let me begin by saying, first of all, fortunately the secretary does not have to do everything himself or herself. One of the strengths of the department has been the professionalism of the career people who work in all of the agencies. That was something which i was able to rely upon during a very tumultuous fouryear period. I would say you can tweak elements of the department, but honestly, i think, particularly as it has been matured by my successors here and subsequently the ability to have a unity of effort, where you bring the resources and skills relating to prevention of terrorism, to reducing response in resilience. I think that is much more of a positive than a negative. There were debates over whether to treat cyber as a separate agency. In my experience in government and the private sector, often the attacks we view as Cyber Attacks come along with a physical attack. The ability to protect your infrastructure requires you have a holistic view, what we call convergence, rather than a fragmented view. I would argue that the key is to continue to build and mature the unity of effort and to maintain tradition, which i think we have had, through a number of administrations, of having a nonpolitical, professional operator carrying out the Important Mission of protecting the country and building resilience. Sen. Johnson secretary napolitano. Ms. Napolitano i agree with secretary chertoff. I would note that when the department of defense was created in the wake of world war ii, most analysts say that it took over 40 years for the department of defense to really become integrated. The department of homeland much younger than that. It has many more missions. But it is maturing, it is coming together, and the efforts spent tweaking, moving one box here, one box there, would not be worth the effort. I would suggest, respectfully, that one area that could really help the department would be to streamline congressional oversight. I know that is delicate and requires committees to give up some jurisdiction, but the committee on Homeland Security has a tradition of operating in a fairly bipartisan way and being a very good overseer of the department, and it needs to push some of those other committees out of the way. Sen. Johnson thank you. As you know, youre preaching to the choir here. Committee actually passed a bill to begin that process, establish a commission. Sympathetic with that, again, your voice will be mportant to hopefully get that accomplished. Secretary johnson. Sent johnson so i have the most recent experience here. One sense, re, in ts too large and in another sense, its too much. I came from the department of defense, which is larger than multiples. The departments of the air force, or the department of the avy in and of themselves, are larger than dhs. Nd its the Third Largest Cabinet Level Department. But its too big in the sense. Ing ts missions are very diffuse, very decentralized, cultures are vastly different. The ulture of fema versus secret Service Versus the coast guard, and the command and structure of dhs lacks maturity of the dod. So one christmas, i set out to every person dhs lacks in dhs who was directly reporting going and just kept going, thinking of people who report directly to me. Stop. On i had to there were so many people that i felt like i had to write to. By contrast, if you look at the department of defense, there is, example, somebody, a Senate Confirmed undersecretary who has oversight function over all intelligence missions, and so, except for the component leaders, and there are seven or them, there is no middle Level Management really those people and the secretary. Congress leased that just before or after i left the joint task structure that i created so we ould have more of a dodtype model when it comes to border security. Thing i would say is, in one respect, i think we actually need to go further. Like to see our government, and this is probably unobtainable, consolidate more of the federal aw enforcement missions under one cabinet level person. Would uld wave a wand, i take every federal Law Enforcement agency, put it under official, not vel necessarily the attorney general, who is the chief and de conflict all of the missions, much like they do in ministries of the interior in other nations, but, you know, its probably politically impossible to do that. In that sense i dont think weve gone far enough, law lidating our enforcement mission. I know there is discussion of possibly moving the secret back toto the treasury, the treasury department. I would not do that. Secret service is essentially a Law Enforcement agency and when youre talking Operations Security like the general assembly, it makes a lot of sense to have the service as part of one Cabinet Level Department with fema with the coast guard, and one pair of eyes and threats ing at all the and all the different ways someone can enter the country. Look, i really appreciate responses. I think its important testimony. It can and should carry an awful lot of wait. Thank you. Senator peters . Enator peters thank you, mr. Chairman. The department was established attack in response to an planned and directed by foreign a terrorist organization. Since then we know the country and Threat Landscape has evolved dramatically. In recent years, domestic terrorists have killed more in our country than international terrorists, and f. B. I. s domestic terrorism investigations involve white supremist violence. Secretary napolitano, during tenure, you were there probably at a turning point when e saw the Threat Landscape change and the current wave of White Supremacists violence. Im curious to your assessment, as to how you address that, what think we need to do, whether there are impediments, and i would like to hear from suggests as well, as we deal with the significance of what were facing now. Secretary napolitano yes, one of this nifest tastes radicalization of lone actors through the media. Et, through social when we dont really have a good about what causes somebody to read something all the way tera, up to going out and purchasing a and taking weapon it out on their fellow citizens. To me, we need to do much more in the sense of motivations the behind these violent actors. Need to involve more local, Law Enforcement and social trying to viders, in find, as secretary chertoff aid, offramps for these individuals. And we clearly need to of ritize these kind domestic terrorist events in the sense of the threats facing the country. Secretary chertoff . Secretary chertoff i agree with that. First of all, we need ways,ognize that, in many terrorism 3. 0, the inspired terrorists that weve seen, for example, in they are very similar to the White Supremacists terrorists who are shootings carry out in synagogues. There seems to be a capability networks of people who are very ideological, to find like beginning le who are to move in that direction, and to incite them to carry out acts violence. And, as secretary napolitano said, we need to understand that. To recognize, this is a global challenge. Its not just a domestic challenge. You look at some of the recently, eve seen weve seen references to the supremacist, the Christ Church shooter, where they essentially look for an along that line from the network around the world. O this, to me, is not just an american issue. But its an issue we have to deal with involving our partners well. Eas as mr. Jeh johnson . Mr. Johnson my first, second answer is, safety, safety, safety. Law d that, continued good enforcement. Initiatives to counter violent extremism at the federal and level. Grants from the National Level to state and local Law Enforcement, which include active Shooter Training exercises, support for active whichr training exercises i think are very important, and vigilance, public awareness, various, if you see something, Say Something campaigns. Is partnering with a number of cities, a number of sports teams, public awareness, public igilance does make a difference. You mentioned gun safety, gun safety, gun safety. Actions a number of that we can take but one that may be before the congress this expand background checks. Would you support that . Do you think its necessary . Like to hear from the other tie as well. Consistentt anything with the Second Amendment that has bipartisan support that it more difficult for a deranged violent person to get gun. Ands on a weapon. Cally an assault secretary napolitano . Secretary napolitano i think checks ersal background is a good step towards greater security for the country. But it is a first step. Secretary chertoff . Chertoff i agree. We ought to have universal checks. Nd in a similar vein, socalled red lag laws, where someone winds up behaving in a way thats suggestive they may be a menace that we actually remove their any firearms that they have. Some other things we could do as ell, as i think secretary napolitano said, im not sure why you need to be selling rounds. Es with a hundred if you cant hit the bird with the first 10 you probably hunting. T be thank you. Secretary johnson and i, just over a week ago, sent a letter dhs with our Homeland Security colleagues regarding allegations that this quietly ation has dismantled or cut back on multiple programs that were 9 11, attacks to detect and prevent activism, operated ly programs by the departments encountering weapons of mass destruction office. Is, i would like to have each of you give a brief opinion on your assessment of nations current readiness to prevent a chemical, iological, radiological or nuclear attack. Well start with you, secretary johnson. Johnson i havent been privy to intelligence or nonpublic information obviously the last 2 1 2 years on this. Sense is that its a threat continue, ve and we should continue to monitor among range of threats. Obviously not the only threat. I dont want with the threats mike e of the things that referred to, in terms of smaller scale terrorist inspired but this type of threat that you described, senator, is toething we need to continue about. Ilant there we go. Senator, i agree. Need to maintain vigilance. To understand that ctive intelligence sharing, realtime intelligence sharing, with our allies around the increases our security in this area. Extent were dealing with weapons of mass destruction that are anufactured abroad but attempted to be smuggled into the United States. Intelligence sharing internationally, globally, hould not be overlooked as an effective tactic or technique to country. Re the what both with secretaries have said. As i said in my opening statement, we did worry quite a chemical and biological and radiological attacks and one of the reasons e did is because in afghanistan, when we entered, we found labs where al qaeda was to developng, trying these kinds of weapons. The good news is, by reducing isis, weve of reduced the territory in which hey could carry out that kind of work. But i think complacency is a risk here. And again, as we talk about the would of afghanistan, i not want to see that become a safe haven again, where we could these erimentation with kinds of weapons. I would also like to mention which, to my mind, till remains maybe the most proficient terrorist organization in the world which a regime that certainly has moved in the irection of wmd, and again, we need to be very careful in haring intelligence with our allies, to make sure it does not become an attack vector with weapons. Hese thank you to those who have helped organize this event in a lace we can remember and mourn and honor those who stepped heroically into save others. We can mourn the many not just those killed on 9 11 but those in the years after that have been so devastated by the ffects of their heroism. I appreciate the testimony of each of the secretaries and your willingness to be with us today. You acknowledged in our discussion last night that in some respects we play the role of a policy loop. As a committee we have the opportunity to help guide the leadership at the department of Homeland Security. The area of Cyber Threats has been mentioned by each one of you as being a major area of concern. And id like us to dwell for a moment on that. Secretary napolitano, you indicated that perhaps more health to department of laboratories would be more helpful. You also that you also referenced Public Private partnership. There is no doubt the to protect various entities from cyberattack. Secretary johnson, you indicated in your written testimony that deterring actors from attacking us, cyber actors, is something we should pursue. Perhaps we will begin with you then secretary johnson and have each of you respond to what we might do to up our capabilities in deterring Cyber Attacks. Specifically im thinking with regards to your testimony. How can we deter those entitys that attack us . China, russia, north korea, ran. They continue to launch hundreds, thousands of attacks on technical databases, government databases, corporations and so forth. Is there some way we could do a better job of deterring that . How do we up our game in cyber . Mr. Johnson i think it is a basic equation. In my experience, all nation states, all organized nation states whether they are democracies or communist regimes, are deterred if the behavior is made cost prohibitive. If the nationstate recognizes that it is not worth the cost in terms of the reaction from the arget. Between and among governments there is a certain amount of surveillance activity that goes on. Im sure you recognize the new level of the theft of property, weaponizing things for political purposes that are hack, that are stolen, and i believe that you cannot create a complete line of defense gainst these kinds of attacks, therefore we have to put it to the bad actor and simply make the behavior cost prohibitive. I think that a lot of good things have been done in this administration in terms of sanctions directed at the ussian government. And by the congress. If you believe the intelligence assessments, a lot more is necessary both directed at russia and the other countries you mention. In terms of what more we can do on the defensive side, on my watch we really enhanced the capability of the which is ithin dhs. It is the information hub for cyber security. I was disappointed that not more private sector actors had partnered with dhs for information sharing purposes. I recommend to congress that you check in on that occasionally. See what you can do to encourage that type of information sharing. Ms. Napolitano i believe that m cake is a good tool. Cyber is an inordinately complicated topic. It is international in scope. The Technology Changes faster. Faster than question change aws or policy. It requires an agility and obleness that is not common in government. That is why it is important to bring the private sector in two how we deal with cybersecurity s a country. We need a whole of government a whole nation approach this area. We need to recognize that it is among the top three risks we face as a nation. When you read the 9 11 commission report, one of the key critiques it makes is that they were reverse engineering how the 9 11 attack ccurred. The report points out all these red flags that had arisen. They said that a key critique is that the government leaders suffered from a failure of imagination. In a cyber arena, we have all these red flags now. We should not entertain such a failure of imagination. Perhaps it is time for the country to have a 9 11 commission for cyber before we have, for example, massive Ransomware Attacks simultaneously conducted around the country. Or where we suffer once again a direct attack on our democracy as we saw in the 2016 lection. Mr. Chertoff the challenge here is that much of the infrastructure is in private hands. Even when it it is in government hands, it is often distributed and local governments. Often the basics do not get done. Youre trying to herd cats in a particular direction. I would say there are three things i might pay some additional attention to. One is i do think that the department has made a good step forward in standing up cease up what used to be the nppd and be more operationally involved. None of the things that would help would be to give private sector actors more access to private information. Right now it is hard to pass the test that is a requirement that you have a need to know request for information. It has nothing to do with whether or not you are a reliable person, it is just whether or not you need to know. If youre a contractor, it is an easy thing to satisfy, if youre running infrastructure gets difficult. I think changing the mindset on that and opening up the aperture for information would be very helpful. I do agree we need sometimes, articularly with nationstates, to be able to impose a cost. I would like to be candid. The structure in terms of how we escalate is still very undefined. What we do not want to do is accidentally trigger a war because we overreact to something. Think there needs to be serious thought, and perhaps some hearings on the question of what is the appropriate scale of escalation in response to certain attacks. Finally, i think we need to look at what i would call industrial policy as it relates to technology. Mike mcconnell and i did a piece on this a few weeks ago. We do not have a policy to encourage u. S. Or allied businesses to invest in Critical Technologies that we need to control in order to make sure the chinese dont own us. You see this play off with 5g right now. Where while way with government subsidies is pushing out 5g round the world. We go to our allies and say dont do this. I have done this myself, a lot of times what we hear back is you cant beat something with nothing. What do you have that is better and cheaper. Part of the problem is we have not facilitated a market in that kind of technology. We do it in a defense business with a Defense Industrial ase. I would argue we need to have a policy like that what i would call detect National Security ase. Sen. Carper i want to thank you or being here. For coming up with this idea nd an incredibly inspired tour led by the woman who runs the organization. I want to thank everyone here ho runs all of the volunteers, too. It is important never to forget what happened. If we use our memories of those that tragic day, we also look forward. And look forward in ways we have been talking about here too today. We have three of our Online Security chairs that are here, i have had a privilege as a member this committee to work with all f you. And this wonderful public service. And had a chance we have had also secretary john kelly. Tired fourstar marine general who served and was succeeded by kiersten nielsen. Now with kevin mclellan, you are all good people. I think Exceptional People your leadership has been a blessing not just for the department but for our country. I want to ask a quick question about leadership and leadership turn. When jay johnson was secretary of the department, we met with him and said you have all these holes. We worked hard to do something bout it. I want to ask secretary johnson, would you reflect on that again in the context of whats going on today within the department of Homeland Security and leadership . Mr. Johnson that was kind of an unpleasant memories. They were vacancies when they stepped into the department in 013. Un you and i talk about that. It was impressed on me that we eed to fill the vacancies. That was probably my top priority as soon as i took office. There were a number of Senate Confirmed vacancies at the time. I think that we benefited from filling those vacancies in rapidfire via nine months. Just about every job had been filled. With a Senate Confirmed erson. Here is a virtue in having a Senate Confirmed president ial ppointee in a lot of these component leadership positions. It is more job security. When you go through that product process you recognize that you are accountable to the president , but you are accountable to the congress. When you are in a Senate Confirmed position, when you have been confirmed by the senate, you are in a position to provide the president with honest and candid advice. Sometimes that he doesnt want to hear. I certainly got the benefit of that from our dhs leaders once they were in the job. We have terrific people, as you know, is one of the first to come to mind. Craig few gate needed almost no versight for me. E was a national asset, he was first rate and did a lot to restore fema to the position that it now occupies. I believe then and i believe now that filling the vacancies in this Important Agency has got to be the number one priority of he president and congress. If you consider threats to our homeland, we talked a little bit about terrorism. We talked about cyber, also a huge threat. E talked about illegal immigration, and i agree with ecretary napolitano, the movement of folks across the barter across the border. We address too often the symptoms of the problems. We need to also address root auses. Whether the issue of the threat is terrorism, cyber, immigration, Climate Change, we cannot do this by ourselves as a nation. It is it has got to be a team. Theres no in the word team. Would you just talk about the importance of relationships in cooperation with our friends and allies around the world . Mr. Chertoff when i was in office we had great relationships with our allies overseas. Even when there was a little bit of tension, and there sometimes was. For example, the war in iraq when the Bush Administration was not necessarily popular with urope. I had very Close Relationships of my counterparts, we exchange of we exchanged information. I mentioned the 2006 airline lot. Working with john reed, we had a very small number of people in the u. S. It we will able to coordinate and top what would have been a devastating plot and do it in a way that was disruptive. Now i meet senior officials from foreign governed foreign governments and they are hungry for american values. I think its very important that the congress emphasize our commitment to our allies and friends around the world. Ms. Napolitano i think the name Homeland Security in a way is a misnomer because if you wait until a threat actually reaches our homeland, you may be too late. It requires the department to have good alliances around the world for realtime intelligence and operations. Port security, passenger screening, cargo screening. That happens abroad. The department really needs to be able to look outward as well as inward to improve our overall level of safety and ecurity. It would be benefited if the country was seen as actively engaged and welcoming of these alliances as well. Secretary johnson just briefly please. Mr. Johnson i agree. Thank you. [laughter] i appreciate that. Senator scott. Senator scott thank you for your and your team for putting this together. I want to thank everyone here at the 9 11 museum and memorial for osting us. A vector thank each of our secretaries for being here. It is a sullen time in our nations history. I was in the city on september 11 and saw the terror inflicted on our nation. Unfortunately it still impacts a lot of people. Survivors, First Responders, families of the victims. I want to thank each of you for your hard work. You can continue to be proud of the department of Homeland Security for everything they do. To keep us safe. I was in the bahamas with the coast guard. They are right now saving lives from hurricane dorians aftermath. I was just at the border, the mexican california border. You can be proud of your border atrol. Ne question i have for each of you, as you go back, a lot of discussion after 9 11 was that agencies do not coordinate very well. I just finished eight years as governor and i watched the same hing continue to happen. We had the parkland shooting. We had five People Killed at the airport in fort lauderdale. We had three People Killed in a yoga studio right before i finished my time. In every case, the federal government had prior knowledge. Theyve gotten tips, and it wasnt followed up with. And to this day, no ones been able to explain to me why, or if anyone has been held accountable. Are we in a better position than we were after 9 11 . Or do we still have the same issues that federal agency had in those cases the fbi or still not coordinating with other federal agencies and local governments. Each of you give me your ideas. Ill start. Ill start. From my perspective, its much better than it used to be. Think that our Intelligence Community, or Law Enforcement community does a much better job of connecting the dots than it used to. I am sure that there is more we can do to get better at this. In my spirits, i have been impressed with the level of information sharing. I think a lot depends upon the personalities at the top of each gency. If the personalities at the top have a good collegial relationship, that trickles down to the people that are sharing the information. Particularly in the Intelligence Community i will say that i was not a fan of the creation of bni. I thought it was an unnecessary level of bureaucracy. Ut, i saw how jim clapper made it work. When i would get an intelligence product every morning, it would come from multiple intelligence gencies. There would be coordinated opinions, there might be dissents. I thought that that process worked well. Though there are a lot of different agencies in the alphabet soup giving us these products. I adopted the practice that if there was dissent in the intelligence report, i would bring them up to see me, the one who wrote it. And wed take it over. You would notice there that there wasnt a whole lot of difference. My overall impression is that were doing much better job than we did on 9 11. It depends a lot on the personalities. Ms. Napolitano i think intelligence sharing is better. It is always a goal. It is never perfect. I agree with secretary johnson. It depends in part on leadership from the top. From a Homeland Security perspective, i think that one of the focuses should be effective intelligence sharing into the state and local Law Enforcement environment. That surely is a work in rogress. Mr. Chertoff i think that one f the challenges we are facing is, as we are dealing with these inspired terrorists cooperating at the local level, it is often going to be the local authorities who get the first word. Just as we have a and ctc that is coordinated among federal agencies, i think Fusion Centers which dhs has set up for state and locals, or perhaps have a a Broader Mission to look at the issue of domestic terrorists and not only jihadi terrorists. What we need to be like the private sector to do that theyre not doing today to deal ith Homeland Security . Mr. Johnson i would like to see more investment in coronation on cyber. Most of the assets that can be attacked are in private hands. Some companies have done a very good job and stepping up, but a lot of them just hope some of these going to take care of the problem for them. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank you and Ranking Member peters for your continued attention to the issue of Homeland Security and for convening the searing today. Convening this hearing today. I would also like to thank all of todays witnesses for their lifelong dedication and attention to public safety. And for your efforts to protect our citizens and keep the United States homeland safe. Secure and free. Those thanks also go to everybody who is here from local and state Law Enforcement. Homeland security is a team effort and a team mission, and i am very, very grateful for all of your efforts. And a special thank you to the 9 11 National Memorial museum. Miss greenwald, to your staff for hosting us on this hollow ground. It is such a moving tribute to all of those who perished nearly 8 years ago. I, like many people on the panel have many memories about 9 11. I think the most significant one is the feeling i had when i picked up my eightyearold daughter from school. Realizing how much her world had changed. As i sit here, i am once again overwhelmed by our countries profound our countrys profound loss that day and the sacrifices made by First Responders. By the military and civilians and by their loved ones. In some ways 9 11 changed our country forever, but our response reinforced who we are. We are strong, we are resilient. We are reverent. We will fight for and protect our freedom. I wanted to turn to all three of our secretaries because i have een dealing at home in New Hampshire with members of different houses of worship who are now increasingly concerned for their safety. No one of any faith should have to fear for their life when they visit their house of worship. Sadly, as we have talked about of the past few years, americans have witnessed an increasing number of threats to Violent Attacks on houses of worship both at home and abroad. These threats are not confined to major metropolitan areas. Over the past month, i have visited with members of houses of worship in New Hampshire and heard about the disturbing threats that they have received. One rabbi noted that they now only open the doors to the temple shortly before services begin, and lock the doors shortly after the start of services. In addition to being concerned about that limitation on the openness that should mark a as e of worship, rabbi says she leads her congregation during those minutes when the doors are open, she wonders is this the night we die . A few of these houses of worship received a small amount of funding from the department of Homeland Securitys Nonprofit Security Grant Program in order to help secure them against threats. These funds help, but not all who applied were able to get hem. There is much more to be done to keep houses of worship across the country, safe, secure and free. The Nonprofit Security Grant Program was created during your time as secretary. Secretaries napolitano and johnson, the program continued to expand under your watch. So have the threats. Can each of you share with me your thoughts about how the congress, the department and the entire federal government can work to keep soft targets like houses of worship safe . Secretary chertoff, why dont we start with you. Mr. Chertoff this is always been a challenging issue. Houses of worship are very sensitive. We have seen it in schools, commercial establishments. It is impossible to lock down everything and have a free society. I think the grants help, and i think preserved during certain holidays. The police are sometimes hard to o some overtime. Some of it is training. Advising people about what to do if theres an active shooter, for example. The third piece is that this has to be better intelligence sharing. I would be getting you if i were to say there was an absolute way to stop this. This is a question of risk mitigation. I do not think you can get risk llumination. We are going to do the best we can. Ms. Napolitano i think there is real insight into what secretary chertoff said. We cannot lock down an open society. What we can do is to help mitigate risk. The Grant Program helps active Shooter Training helps the Grant Program helps, active hooter training helps. It really requires using a menu of approaches. There is not one single pproach. Mr. Johnson the grants program you mentioned what i was struck by when i would look at the grants every year is, the program was well known in certain communities, but not thers. Certain communities had figured out here after your how to apply, but it was not wellknown enough across the full spectrum of organizations it was intended to help. I hope that we have moved in a direction where there is larger awareness over the last couple f years. That is something i suspect congress can help with. In your states and districts. They are all competing for the same pot of money. So perhaps congress should consider raising the level of funding for these types of things because i agree with your assessment of the threat. Thank you. The other thing i wanted to touch on is something that Cyber Threats, but i wanted to focus a little bit on what is happening locally. Recent Ransomware Attacks designed to cripple Government Operations have targeted nearly every level of government, including in New Hampshire, and we have seen levels of attacks on cities across the country, so is there more we can do to assist state and local governments preventing and recovering from Cyber Attacks . Mr. Chertoff one thing that could be done would be to help localities to basic things to help secure the infrastructure, including things like having backups for data. It is not going to eliminate the problem, but it is going to reduce the issue. The impact. Ms. Napolitano yes, helping mitigate the risk is important. Also, i think that we ought to be exploring what the federal government can do and is doing by way of attribution. To help find the source of these attacks so that an appropriate response can be constructed. I think the single best thing anyone can do in that situation is raise the level of awareness about security among the people that use the system. Youd be surprised to the number of people who do not know how to respond to a suspicious email. A lot of these attacks begin with an active spearfishing. Somebody opened an email or attachment they should not have opened. So simply raising the level of Awareness Among people we entrust with the system goes a long way. Thank you. I am pleased to report our county officials did recognize a pfishing email open they got it and they had a pen and pencil backup system to shut things down, and it is going to be something we need to focus on. Thank you for your Service Center testimony. Thank you. Secretary johnson, could i just ask you one more time to tell us about your special guest . Mr. Johnson his name is roger perino. He is sitting right there. He does not like to be the center of attention. He is a marine. I met him when we worked drug cases 30 years ago. And on september 11, 2001, he was a new York City Police detective working in midtown. He saw what was happening, ran into harms way, and was almost one of the people he had a moment of silence for. He was the recipient of the medal of valor from the mayor. He went on, at my recommendation, to be appointed by Governor Cuomo to be commissioner of Homeland Security for new york state. Thank you for that. And, detective, commissioner, i thought it would be appropriate to honor you. I noticed as i look around, i see men and women wearing the uniform, i see some of new yorks finest here, i got to talk with the paleness of survivors. This building, this place, is such a monument to the courage of folks like you who protect us every day and who run towards danger, and so here you are, a living monument to that, and i do not want to miss this opportunity to say thank you for what you did and to give everybody here a chance to say to you and all of you in this building who are wearing the uniform, thank you for protecting us. Thank you for representing the best of new york and the best of america. So thank you very much, detective. [applause] i do want to raise an issue now that has not been raised yet but is extremely important to the security of the American Homeland and certainly to the security of my state. I represent the state of missouri. I spent part of my time in august when i was home in missouri, traveling around to the most economically distressed counties in my state. There are 114 counties in missouri and i chose to visit some of those that dont normally get visits from the press and so forth, and something that every Single Person in every Single Community that i visited told me about was the epidemic of drug abuse that is crippling and killing entire communities. Literally killing. Schools, it is unbelievable, and in my state, it is overwhelmingly meth, and according to the federal government, it is overwhelmingly coming over the southern border. According to the 2018 dea drug threat assessment, most of the meth coming into the country is produced in mexico and is coming across the south border. Missouri has seen a 52 increase in meth Addiction Treatment in last seven years, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health group. It is hard for me to ascribe to you, unless you are to visit and to see what this epidemic of drug abuse is doing to the towns and families and schools in my state. What a crisis this is. And so, i want to ask about what of all,ive voice, first to that crisis, and what it is we can do address this very real crisis that is being driven by what we do on the border. Secretary napolitano, let me start with you. I must have misunderstood you. I heard you say you did not think the border represents any threat to the homeland. I must have misunderstood you, because surely you could not have meant that the people in my state who are losing their lives, losing their children, losing their family members, the Law Enforcement who are completely overwhelmed by this epidemic that is coming across the border, i mean, surely that constitutes a threat to the security of the people of this country. I mean, dont you agree with that . Ms. Napolitano i think the border, as i said, it is a zone to be managed. It is certainly an area where Law Enforcement needs to be engaged in terms of drug smuggling and gun smuggling. And the like. It requires a whole of government effort. It requires partnership with mexico in terms of how the ports and thats are managed, is where when smuggling occurs, the bulk of it occurs through ports of entry. It requires using the best Available Technology for inspection for vehicles and for the manifesting of cargo, and the like. But what i mean to suggest is that the border itself is not the number one threat to the safety and security of the American People. Despite the overwhelming public attention being drawn to the border as the function of dhs. You think that it is a threat . You said in your testimony this morning and in your written testimony you did not think it , was a threat at all. Not the number one threat, but not a threat to Homeland Security. I cannot understand that. What concerns me is it seems to be increasing the deposition of some members of your party who say it is also not a threat at all, and i do not understand how that could be the case given the threat that my state and the people in my communities are facing. If we do not do something to stem the flow of Illegal Drugs across that border, i do not know what these folks are going to do, i do not understand when people say it is not a threat. Ms. Napolitano i think we need to look for areas of agreement. We can all agree on that. Ms. Napolitano we can all agree that we deserve a safe and secure border. The border needs to be enforced. And you wont get any question about that from me. The way i wrote my testimony was to say that the border is a zone. It is a zone to be managed in terms of threat. But it is not the number one threat to the safety and security of the American People. When you talk about drugs, and i understand the Opioid Epidemic and the meth epidemic. State prosecutor. I was a federal prosecutor. I understand this phenomenon very well. I reach out and sympathize empathize with the people of missouri and other states across this country who have expanse the devastation caused by this epidemic. I think what we need to be looking for is how do we prevent the importation of drugs . How do we deal with addiction as a disease as a country . That is really where the threat is. Not in terms of overall Border Management. Not in terms of a wall between the United States and mexico. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, i see my time has expired. Chairman thank you senator , hawley. We really do not have time for another round of questions, although i think this thing to go on for hours. I would like to afford all three of you in opportunity, if there is something we did not discuss, to talk about it, and as we discussed last night, and i think it is apparent here today, the fact that you are willing to offer your time and counsel and advice, first of all, this committee appreciates it, and we appreciate in the future. That is a solid offer. I would love to have you work with us to move this country forward. But why dont we start in reverse order with secretary johnson . If you have a few closing comments, please make some. Mr. Johnson as a former public servant, i guess i would plead with all of you who are today in the United States congress in positions of power. What i have observed happening of the past couple of years as is we do not seem to have acceptable levels we do not seem to have enough opportunities to reach across the aisle and achieve something risk andires political is politically hard. It was not that long ago that became very close to comprehensive Immigration Reform. The Senate Passed by 68 votes. That was a lot of democrats and a lot of republicans. On the recognition that Immigration Reform included both a path to citizenship, daca, take care of the dreamers, and border security. And smart border security. And people on both sides of the to coalesceilling around both of those principles and meet between. What i observed happening now is very few people are willing to do that anymore. And everyone is standing in their corners screaming at each other as the positions on both sides become more and more absurd to the disservice of the American People you were elected to serve. And that is reflective of a lot of other issues in my judgment, and so, my plea as a private citizen is to tone down the rhetoric. I think this committee, in particular, is an excellent place to do that because i know you try to operate in a bipartisan way. Please tone down the rhetoric. Take care of the peoples business. Thank you, secretary johnson. Secretary to pull it on her. Honorretary napoleon to napolitano. Ms. Napolitano i think the greatest service this committee can give is to help provide a strategic oversight of the entire Homeland Security enterprise. What are the greatest risks facing the country . How are they best mitigated . What resources are necessary to make sure that we are safe is we can be, albeit we will never be riskfree, and live in an open society, but i think if this committee can occupy that overall kind of board of directors role, it would serve the department well. Secretary chertoff. Mr. Chertoff i would be delighted to accept your imitation to continue to work with the committee on these issues. It means a lot to have this hearing here, because i vividly remember in the days and weeks after 9 11 out the country came together. And we recognized that this was not an attack on people of one party or National Origin but on all americans, and i remember being with congress a few days afterwards in the house chamber. Both the senate and the house present, republicans and democrats all unified in terms of their attitude to this. One of the privileges i had as secretary was to go to camp victory in iraq and swear in new american citizens wearing the u. S. Army uniform. They came from all religions. They were legal. They had green cards and they andify for citizenship, they stood in uniforms, not far from where there was live fire, taking the oath of american citizenship, and to me, that is what america is about. What binds us together is not National Origin or ethnicity, but belief in a common set of values. And so, i think it is important when we think about Homeland Security to recognize it begins with unity of effort. Not just within a department, but within the country. And that ought to be requirement number one for everyone to reemphasize and underscore that we are a nation bound by common values and a common constitution. That is what makes us great. That is what motivated the people we have celebrated in this hall. That is something we need to continue to cherish and uphold. Thank you. Chairman senator peters, do you have a few remarks . Sen. Peters thank you for holding this hearing. Enter your staff, who has done an upstanding job. I also want to thank Alice Greenwald again as well as your tremendous staff and volunteers for this amazing place that allows us to pay honor to those who lost their lives. And also to continue to educate us as to what happened here. And why we must never forget and make sure that this never happens again. I understand your job is going to become more difficult as the next generation comes along who looks at this as history, not something as vivid as in the minds as it is with all of us. But if we do not educate the next generation, that leads to the potential of it happening again, and it must never happen again, so you are involved in a very Important Mission with you and your staff. And thank you for having us here. And the secretaries for your testimony today. I think all three of you and your wrapup said it well. Something that i take to heart is i work on this committee. That is to understand that the department of Homeland Security has one of the toughest jobs you could possibly do in the federal government, because you have to do two things. First off, you have to keep us all safe. To me, that is the number one job of the government, to keep americans safe from harm. And that has got to be first and foremost on the mission, but you also have to balance it with the things you all three mentioned the values that built this , country, that we are a free society. What makes United States so special is that we are a open and free society. We have to endeavor to keep americans safe while also protecting constitutional rights, to protect civil rights. That is a balancing job it is incredibly difficult to accomplish and one that we are going to have to constantly work at to make sure that we can achieve the right balance. The other thing we must do, you have to be sure that the economy is robust and moving forward. So i know the border in michigan , some of the busiest borders in north america, where people there have to make sure we are safe as well as making sure commerce is getting there in time, and things are therefore the assembly line. Any kind of delay ripples throughout the supply chain, so they are watching that closely. But at the same time, you have to keep us safe, so this is a very tough job. I thank you for your service to the country. I thank you for your service. As we deal with a rapidly changing world and rapidly changing threats, it is always important to step back and remember where we came from, understand the lessons that we learned in the past so that we can apply those lessons to the future. Thank you for your service. Thank you for being here. You, senatornk peters. I want to thank the secretaries. It is an overwhelming job. It is a responsibility that you assumed and every sec. Assumes. It is hard to contemplate. You get blamed for a lot of failures, not credited with a lot of success, so thank you for helping this committee in the future. Again, i want to thank Alice Greenwald and everyone who has worked on this amazing and remarkable place. If you are an american watching this hearing, come here. You need to be reminded. It is true. We can never forget. And the thought that went into this place, as we walked down into this chamber, the way those First Responders did, what really struck me were those pictures of the people that day in new york all fixated on the exact same thing, as we were told to billion other people around the world watched in real day,the tragedy of that but as others have remarked, we have First Responders. We have members of the military. To me, we had a great dinner last night. We all went around the table. I think it was senator peters and senator romneys idea, lets go around the table and describe what you were doing on 9 11. We all remembered, and for my part, i was in scotch, wisconsin, i was in oshkosh, the thought this changes everything. Thathen, in the days followed that, the pictures that emerged of the firefighters, the port authority, the cops in new york city, the responders, rushingp the steps into danger to save their fellow americans, as we watched the finest among us, the men and women in the military also respond and volunteer and go halfway around the world to not only defend our freedom but literally trying to develop freedom and liberty and democracies for people they have no idea who they were. That is something pretty unique about america. We are not perfect, but i happen to think we are a phenomenal force for good in the world, and in the midst of tragedy, and not just 9 11, every mass shooting, every hurricane, every National Disaster seems to always bring out the examples of the goodness of the American People. To me, that is what this hearing is about. This is what our responsibility is, to not only preserve this good nation for future generations, to make sure it thrives, but it is our responsibility. That is what we dedicate this committee to do, so, again, i just want to thank everybody for attending. I want to thank everybody for their service and really just conclude by saying god bless america. Read the magic words begin the hearing will remain open for 15 days until 5 00 p. M. For statements and questions for the record. This hearing is adjourned. [gavel] [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] wednesday march the 18th anniversary of the 9 11 terrorist attacks. At a form, andrew card talked about the moment when he informed president george w. Bush of the attacks as the president was reading a story to second graders in florida. You are going to be remembered forever for a scene that has been played over on telogen vision from time to time on television. When 9 11 happened, you are with president bush, right . You were the person who went in and whispered in his ear that something had happened at the World Trade Center. What did you whisper in his ear, and what were you thinking when you were first told about it . Context. Put things in when we arrived at the school, there was a buzz in the air. Did you hear about a plane crash in new york