I would like to juxtapose two children. Weve seen the photographs of the babies coming from south of the border. But ive also seen as of late a photograph of a child three years of age born in ukraine, came to this country with his father after his mother died. Grew up in brooklyn. Masters degree from harvard. Serves in the military. Purple heart recipient. There was no way to prognosticate at the time this child sought to enter the United States that he would become the person he is today. No way. One can but only imagine the number of children weve turned away who may have been of great benefit to our country. Immigrants have made america great. Not by themselves, but theyve been a part of the greatness of this country. And when i see the photograph of this baby being separated from a parent, crying, theres just no way to know what weve done when a person is seeking lawful asylum. In my research, i dont find any place where the colonel, whom i have Great Respect for by the way, dont believe hes being treated fairly, but i have not found in my research any indication that he was required to wait in a third country for some period of time before he could enter this country. My research doesnt indicate that at that time persons who were coming from europe or ukraine in this case, any of them had to why are we treating persons coming from south of the border so differently . Wait in a third country, working out agreements such that if they dont do certain things in other countries, they are going to be denied the opportunity to traverse to this country . Why are we treating them so differently, if you would, mr. Mak aleenan . Congressman, under the u. S. Refugee programs, people do apply and bait in third countries while they go through the process with first of all the u. N. International migration, with state department, and then dhs, so it is a multiagency process that happens abroad. For refugees that come to the country today. To the most welcoming nation in the world. Is it your indication for me to the record that this is what occurred with the colonel . I dont know the colonels individual case, congressman, im sorry. I dont know it in totality. But i know enough about it to suggest that it appears to me that were not being even handed in terms of our approach at the turn of the century we had many people to come to this country, not the into the 21 and we didnt have the requirements we have for the people coming from south of the border. And a lot of these changes are changes that were made on your watch. This happened on your watch. You have some responsibility for whats happening. This is not to disrespect you, dear friend, but it is to say that some of this could have been abated. You did comment and indicate that it was terminated because of the way it was impacting people. I hope i said that correctly. Im not trying to demean you or the president. But it shouldnt have started. It shouldnt have started. Why what made us decide that these people should be treated the way they were treated . Sir, i dont think we have the time today to have a fulsome conversation on this, but let me try to answer your question. The laws have changed dramatically since the turn of the century and the prior arrival of mass migrations. Were trying to apply those laws. Were also trying to ensure individuals who need protections, protections for asylum, and these categories are political, racial, religious, membership in a social group, theyre able to receive those protections as close to home as possible without entering a dangerous smuggling cycle. We cant have an immigration system based on a darwinian principle, that anyone who arrives at the border is allowed to enter. We have 70 million vulnerable population my time is expired. I must say this, sir. Nowhere in the law do we have language such as you just used. That was done to inflame. If you were in court and being questioned, you would be taken to task for trying to use that type of inflammatory language. Darwinian. Theres nothing in the law that says darwinian. And you know this. That was done intentionally to inflame. Im not inflaming anything but thats what that language does. Im explaining youre using inflammatory language. I was careful to try as best as i could to be fair to you and the president , but the truth is this, they are people of color. With people of color, we have a different standard. If these were babies coming from the north, we would not have treated them the way we treated disagree. We apply the law equally to refuse he gees it doesnt evidence itself in what we see. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. Time is expired. Chair recognizes the gentleman from texas for five minutes. I want to thank secretary mcaleenan for your service to our nation and to the American People, protecting the American People. And i think very difficult times. When i was chairman of this committee, i saw the rise and fall of isis in the socalled caliphate. We just had recently the killing, the death of abu bakr al baghdadi. Id like to know just from the secretary and the two directors, fbi and nctc, what impact that has on the morale of isis and what how much of a threat are they today . I believe, just starting quickly and passing to my colleagues, i believe they do continue to present a threat. And as russ travers noted, the inspiration of their ideology persists. One thing weve done with dhs with the fbi put out a joint intelligence bulletin ensuring theres awareness of the potential. Even though it hasnt happened in the past after the death of a senior leader, the potential for someone to be inspired and to commit an attack in the immediate aftermath. We do think its going to affect their ability to reorganize and to direct, but were we maintain our concern about the diffuse and dispersed isis affiliates and their ability to mount threats against the u. S. Worldwide. I would agree with secretary mcaleenan. Certainly, its an important blow, a successful blow for which were all grateful. But it is also clearly the case they anticipated at some point they would need to have successors. To a large extent what were most worried about here in the homeland is what i would call the virtual caliphate, which is people who are inspired online, which is easier to do and not all tracing back to one leader. And director travers. I would just add that they have been thinking about the demise of the caliphate for a couple of years. Anani talked about it and the need to prepare for insurgency. As i said in my comments, they lost a lot of leaders. This is a bureaucracy pretty good at doing secession planning. Its a morale hit. You can largely attribute the decline in attacks in europe over the last couple of years to the demise of the caliphate. But, nevertheless, the ideology continues, the resonance continues and thats a strategic concern. I do think the threat level has gone down a little bit during mean, 2015, 2016 is one operational external operational plot per month, it seemed like. Let me add, domestic terrorism seems to be on the rise. Director wray, i want to ask you about in terms of numbers and arrests. How many domestic terrorism arrests were effectuated in 2019 . So, in 2019 we had 107 domestic terrorism arrests and we had, i think, 121, give or take, International Terrorism arrests. And so in terms of International Terrorism, there were more International Terrorism arrests than domestic terrorism . Yes. Theyre pretty close in number, but pretty close . Yes. How does that compare to the Previous Year . The Previous Year was both around hovering around 100 arrests both the prior year as well. I will say on the International Terrorism side in terms of number investigations we have ongoing, we have both the homegrown violent extremists, which are these people here inspired by various parts of the movement. We have about 1,000 give or take investigations of that sort. Then thats not counting the foreign terrorist organizations who are directed, structured International Terrorism organizations that have another 1,000 or so of those. While domestic terrorism is absolutely something thats very much top of mind and we at the fbi recently elevated to be a National Threat priority along with hves and isis, International Terrorism is very much alive and well and something we need to stay focused on, too. I think thats correct. You know, we talk a lot about domestic terrorism being on the rise but i dont think we can let our eyes off the ball of foreign terrorist organizations and International Terrorism. I introduced a bill with some colleagues. You know, you have domestic terrorism definition that was created after 9 11. Congress passed, you know, laws pertaining to terrorism. And both International Terrorism and domestic terrorism. International terrorism had charges aassociated with it. Domestic terrorism did not. The fbi opens cases of domestic terrorism and International Terrorism, however the u. S. Attorneys, and i was one of them, cannot charge a domestic terrorism case. Theres no specific charge related to that. I introduced that bill working with the fbi and it was endorsed by the fbi association. Do you have any comments on that bill and what what value that would give to the fbi and the u. S. Attorneys . Well, i think as i had mentioned in response to a different question, certainly we can always use more tools. As you say and as you experienced firsthand in the u. S. Attorneys office, we dont have a domestic terrorism crime as such. What you probably also saw and probably practiced while you were in the u. S. Attorneys office is our folks at the fbi, just like the ausas they work with dont give up, and so they find workarounds. Weve been very good at using Everything Else in title 18, including creative things. Most recently we used the federal riots statute to go after terrorism connected with charlottesville and the rise above Movement People there. We also work with our state and local authorities. Especially in places like texas. Weve had some very successful work with state and local Law Enforcement. You can get some pretty good hits at state and local charges. The state charge has the death penalty. But i think, mr. Chairman, in closing, you know, whether it was austin bombers, which was is clearly terrorism, to el paso to odessa, i think this is something we should take a look at at. I yield back. The chair recognizes the gentle lady from new jersey, miss watson coleman. Thank you for coming today. Good luck to mr. Mcaleenan. Good luck to you and whatever it is youre going to do next. I have a number of questions. I could be here forever. I want to start with either mr. Glawe or mr. Travers. There are 15,000 isis members in syria and other places and iraq versus 1,000. Who said that . I did, maam. Okay. What is the time frame youre talking about, from when to when . This is five years ago before the buildup of isis and the caliphate was formed. Isis was down to about 1,000 people. Even after the demise of the caliphate, the low end of the estimate is 14,000 isis members in syria and iraq, mostly in iraq. Which for us suggests there is a great Fertile Ground for a longterm insurgency. Do you think given the recent betrayal of our kurdish allies and and the uproar and chaos taking place over there becomes Fertile Ground for isis to grow there as well . Sorry, maam. I didnt get the question. The president of the United States pulled away the troops who were supporting the kurds, fighting with the kurds against isis. Turkey has infiltrated it theres been alliances with russia, our other really trusted friend. Isis is some of their prisoners are escaping. There seems to be chaos and fear and elimination happening over there. Im wondering, does that make it a more fertile territory for isis to grow as well . Thats just yes or no. Its a very fluid situation. We dont know what the syrian river is going to do east of the river. I believe both the president and the secretary of defense have indicated that we remain committed with our forces there to a contra campaign. So were just going to protect the oil. Do we have any idea how many members of al qaeda exist . Numbers are difficult to come by. Again, were looking at command and control structure that exists and then a half dozen or so affiliates and they have thousands of individuals each. So, are we talking about another 15,000, 20,000 . Im trying to figure out how safe i feel. I would say the numbers themselves are not a particularly good indicator of capability. This is what i heard, and you can tell me if im wrong. Im hearing that were doing pretty good at keeping bad people, really bad people out of the United States of america. Even in Cyber Security were doing a decent job of trying to protect our infrastructure, those things that important to us, whether its china for monetary reasons or russia for disruption of our infrastructure. Im hearing that, right . Thats basically what im hearing . Just anybody just tell me. I can only speak to terrorism but i think this country has done a great job of bushing borders out and establishing a comprehensive vetting position. I want to go into for a minute, real fast, this whole issue of domestic terrorism. And i want to direct my questions to mr. Wray. Mr. Wray, first of all im sorry, honorable mr. Wray, you have collapsed youre taking away this horrible category of black extremism and the report that went with it. You have now collapsed what is white supremism, replacement supremism and black separatism into a racially motivated category of terrorism. Do you then distinct make a distinction as to who commits what infractions . And do you have any indication, are we having a greater percentage of those incidences happening with white supremacists, white replacementists or black extremists . And if so, can you tell me the breakdown . Well, i cant give you exact numbers sitting here right now, but what i can tell you is that the reorganization of our categories, our nomenclature was based on a lot of helpful dialogue i had with congressional black caucus, with noble, with lots of other people and was part of a much broader reorganization. Within the racially motivated violent extremist category, i think it is fair to say from what we see internally that a huge chunk, the majority of the racially motivated violent extremism terrorism, the majority of that is at the hands of what i would call white supremacists. And are we aware of the linkages that might take place internationally, from what we saw at christchurch and things of that nature . Were very actively looking at that. We spent a lot of time trying to discern trends and leads on that front. And have we identified those connections, would we then be able to identify the groups as terrorist groups . Where there are groups as such, i think weve been pretty effective at identifying them. I will say, as i think i may have mentioned to one of your colleague, more and more on the domestic terrorism, its not really about groups in the same way we used to thing of groups as al qaeda and hezbollah. Its more diffuse, more unstructured and undisciplined. So, i think you have a really huge task. All of you have a huge task to keep us safe. And i thank you for the work you do. Im concerned about the fbi having its resources taken away from doing this really important stuff and put into a position to have to investigate itself as to whether or not there was a treasonist investigation done as it related to the 2016 involvement of russia in our election. And i pray that your resources arent taken away so you can continue to focus on that which is really a threat to us and it is safety and security and congress can concentrate on the other. Thank you. I yield back. The gentle ladys time has expired. Chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Crenshaw, for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here. A lot of great discussion today. Ill try to hit some different topics. This one this question regarding hezbollah and the recent decision of the lebanese president to step down, ill direct this to you, mr. Travers, how do you think that affects the iranian threat, the hezbollah threat globally and then maybe you can expand upon what the nexus is between hezbollah and some of the groups south of the border in south america and mexican drug cartels, if any. Well, the unrest in lebanon and hariris decision largely a local issue having to do with a whatsapp tax. Its been fascinating to watch. I dont know it has a great deal to do with hezbollah itself. I think hezbollah was a fan of hariris and would like him to stay put. Hezbollah itself, youre quite right, is an extraordinary organization and it does have global connections. Its a very mature organization. Its very careful in its decisionmaking process. Were watching very carefully its activities in the middle east right now how if it would respond to iran. In our view, it has no interest in going to war with israel, for instance. It has a high bar for any attacks against the United States. Nusrala is a pro. What is its capability and have you seen any nexus between them and groups south of the border . There was long thought to be a relationship between them and the triborder area, what about closer to our border, is there any potential for that kind of relationship . In this session, i dont think we can get into that. I need to do that in a closed session. Fair enough. Lets talk about the mexican drug cartels we see south of the border. Ill direct this to you, mr. Secretary. One thing that stands out to me from a tactical perspective is how capable the mexican drug cartels are. Their weaponry, training, their brutality and endless amount of funding. If you look around the world, as far as threats that at a very tactical level, theyre probably one of the most capable groups. You know, right now they have no interest in conducting attacks against the United States. Their interests are more business related. How can we do better with the Mexican Government to quell this threat and what should we be worried about in the future . Its a challenging one. I outlined it in my opening as one of the major threat vectors we see affecting the homeland. Not necessarily a directed act of violence. They focus that on each other, primarily, and unfortunately on the government of mexico and other allys Police Forces in the region. Really, their ability to smuggle hard narcotics in the u. S. Weve seen the impact of fentanyl and synthetic opioids. Methamphetamine is the main concern in scale, if you talk to our state and local Law Enforcement partners right now. There are four or five very violent, very capable organizations that impact the safety of the mexican citizens in a number of states. Is there more we can be doing with the Mexican Government . Is there a better relationship that could be had . Is that a good place right now . I think both the department of Homeland Security and other ic partners are supporting the government of mexico Law Enforcement. I think we need to continue work on the weapons flowing south, the money flowing south that is helping support Cartel Activities in mexico and in the region more broadly. That has to be a concerted effort across the usg. Thank you. Director wray, ill point this last one to you. You mentioned before thwarting various attacks, domestic and Foreign Affairs attacks over the last couple of years. You didnt give any numbers. Maybe those are classifies. Thats fine. I wonder if weve been more successful than we were 20, 30 years ago and why . Is it because stovepiping has ceased to be such a problem . Inner Agency Relationships are working better . Do we have better tools . Is our presence overseas helpful . Is it hurting . Are the eyes and ears on the ground, is the intelligence collection, is our view of the networks helping us out there . Are we keeping them busy so that theyre not planning attacks here . What is it . Im out of time after that question. Ill let you take it. In the interest of time what i would say most of most of the reasons for the success is boiling down to one word, which is partnerships. Partnerships between federal agencies, partnership in particular between federal agencies and state and local Law Enforcement, partnerships within Intelligence Community, partnerships with our foreign partners. All those things have led to greater flow of information, greater connecting of the dots, greater ability to get ahead of the threat and a greater recognition that theres no one disruption strategy. Theres a lot of different ways in which you can disrupt the terrorist attack. It could be a kinetic strike, criminal Law Enforcement action, it could be some visa action, it could be a Foreign Government taking action. Theres a lot of different tools in the tool box if everybodys talking to each other. I will say having been in the fbi building on 9 11 and been intimately involved in the war on terror during those years and then coming back into this role now, the difference between how closely everybodys working together i know this sounds a little pollyannaish, its night and day it and couldnt come a moment too soon. The chair recognizes the gentle lady from california, miss barragan for five minutes. We have seen an expansion of human rights abuses under this Administration Simply named migrant protection protocols or the remain in mexico policy. The name almost assumes that this program will actually protect migrants when it does the complete opposite. Instead of allowing Asylum Seekers to remain safely in the u. S. As they wait for their cases to be heard, as has been done by law under the u. S. Refugee act, you have forced nearly 50,000 Asylum Seekers, including vulnerable individuals like those with serious medical conditions, pregnant women, lgbtq people to wait in areas plagued by violence like the state of tamalpias, mexico, which is a level 4 threat. This is the same warning that countries like afghanistan, iraq, syria and north korea have. Im going to say this again. We are sending people, pregnant women back to dangerous places in mexico that have a level 4 threat thats equivalent of afghanistan, iraq, syria and north korea. Before you decided to return families with children and over Asylum Seekers to wait in these very dangerous places in mexico, did you conduct any type of analysis, any type, to assess the potential harm these Asylum Seekers might suffer . So, the migrant protection protocols is a program in connection with the government of mechanics im asking if you had any kind of assessment of the potential harm of where they were being sent. Did we do that . There was a months long dialogue with the government of mexico im asking if the United States its a yes or no. Did you assess the threat level before you sent them there . Between the department of Homeland Security, department of state, which jointly negotiated this program with the government of mexico, assessments were done on mexicans ability to manage this program and jointly with the United States. So, you did assess this and you thought it was perfectly fine. Do you know there are public reports of kidnappings, assaults and other reports on families and other Asylum Seekers that are returned to mexico . Are you reading these reports . Are you hearing about them . Certainly we carefully monitor reports of violence in the northern border states of mexico have you heard about people being kidnapped, yes or no . Yes. Have you heard about people being assaulted please let me finish the answer. I dont have that much time. I want to know what you are aware of because sometimes its not a yes or no. My colleagues over here are talking about how were a compassionate and loving nation, but sending a deaf child back to mexico into a level four area is not compassionate to me. Sending pregnant women back to these areas to be raped, killed and abused is not a compassionate nation and so im trying to assess whether you pay smugglers and put themselves at risk in a dangerous journey is not compassionate either. And lets talk about those. Just a minute. Mr. Secretary, shes still talking. Let her finish and youll get your chance to respond. Mr. Secretary, lets talk about those cartels. In a press conference yesterday acting cbp commissioner reacted mexican cartels could teach a Business Class at harvard. These are the same cartels at the border where your agency is sending tens of thousands of Asylum Seekers to wait for weeks, maybe months. Cartel members came to a shelter in a city where your agency has returned 10,000 Asylum Seekers. They demanded the minister in charge of the shelter turn over cubans for ransom. When he refused, do you know what happened . The cartels kidnapped him. That pastor has not been seen or heard of since then. Have you heard of this incident with the pastor . I have not heard of that incident. Okay. Well, in september i. C. E. Reported how many numerous people are subjected to mpp have been delivered to the hands of these very dangerous cartels. We at least can agree are very dangerous, just miles away from their forcibly returned by cbp officers. One migrant described how the mexican immigration officers transporting them turned them directly over to the cartels. Are you aware that mexican officials are turning these people directly over to these very dangerous cartels . Are you aware of that . Im not aware of any verified incident where that occurred. Its clear to me that the mpp program is creating a Business Opportunity for cartels who now have tens of thousands of Vulnerable People and desperate people who are being exploited. Its unbelievable to me that we believe that this is okay, that because its not happening on u. S. Soil that it is just okay. But as my colleague says, its on us. And one day we will have to go to heaven and go face those who judge us and we will have to live with the decision on what we did and whether we stood up for human rights, whether we let them happen under our watch. And i have to tell you, it is heart breaking that this country is closing the door on people who are fleeing violence and sending them back to dangerous places that have a level four threat where even u. S. Citizens are told not to go. With that i yield back. Gentle lady yields back. Chair recognizes gentle lady from new york, miss rice, for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I too want to join my colleagues in thanking you for your service. And wish you luck on your future endeavors. There have been several reports that President Trump is considering appointing acting uscis director Ken Cuccinelli or mark morgan even though the justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel have determined they are uneligible. Are you aware of that . So, im not going to discuss any president ial predecisional personnel efforts but i will note the administration will follow the law in naming a successor for the department of Homeland Security. Im glad to hear that. In your final hours as acting secretary, do you have any plans to change the current line of succession at dhs . Again, im not going to discuss any predecisional personnel actions. Im just asking if you are planning on doing that. Theres only 24 hours left. I have no present plans to do that. Have you discussed nominating someone to be the assistant secretary of mass of destruction with the president . I have not. Have you spoken to anyone in the administration about that . Again, im not going to discuss predecisional personnel matters. I was just you said you havent discussed it with the president. Have you discussed that specific thing with anyone in the administration . Im not going to discuss predecisional personnel matters. Last week facebook announced it removed russianbacked accounts to attack President Trump and joe biden. Multiple reports including the 2017 Intelligence Community assessment, special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, and a bipartisan report released earlier this month from the Senate Intelligence committee have all confirmed that russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 election and will do so again in 2020. Do you accept that that conclusion, mr. Mcaleenan . Yes. Our entities is leading that effort along with our intelligence and analysis, drukter and others are focused on threats posed to our elections including from russia. Mr. Wray, do you agree with those conclusions . We believe russia we assess russia continues to have designs on interfering and influencing our electoral system. And have either of you spoken with President Trump or anyone in the administration about russia and what theyre planning on doing in the 2020 election . Well, identify had, along with others, numerous meetings with folks in the white house, including the president on Election Security and on the threats they face. And do they do you conclude they appreciate russias interference in 2016 and the likelihood theyre doing it now to affect the 2020 election . Yes or no. You dont have to tell me who you spoke to. Do you have confidence there are there is someone in the administration that appreciates that . Let me say, it is Crystal Clear, i think, to all of us involved in protecting our elections, fbi and i dont want to speak for the other agencies, but from all my interaction from the other partners is Crystal Clear this is a top priority we take very seriously and throw every tool in the tool box against. Thank you. So i just want to make reference to an article that literally just posted on the new york times. I understand some peoples feelings about the new york times. Lets just accept for a fact that what im going to talk about is actually fact. Russia has been testing new disinformation tactics in an enormous Facebook Campaign in parts of africa as part of an evolution of its manipulation techniques ahead of the 2020 president ial election. The campaign underlines how russia is continuing to aggressively try different disinformation techniques, even as it has come under scrutiny for its online interference methods by spreading the use of its tactics to a region less closely monitored than the United States and europe. It said it was highly likely russian groups were using the same model of working what they do in africa is actually work with local people so that it wasnt immediately detectable these were russianbacked accounts. So the russian groups have already started using that model of working with locals right here in the United States to post inflammatory messages on facebook, and by employing those locals, the russians didnt need to set up the fake accounts as they have done in the past or create accounts that originated in russia, which is making it easier to side step being noticed. This is just an enormous, enormous problem. Director wray, were you aware of this using local people, not just in africa, and, it was disinformation of being critical about various american and french policies, but theyre doing that now in anticipation of the 2020 election. Can you tell me, are you able to address this . Are you finding facebook and other social media platforms helpful . If you could just expound on that. Sure. Obviously, i havent read the article you mentioned and have i to be a little careful about what i can say that i know through other sources but im generally aware of the phenomenon or tactic, if you will, that youre describing. I would say that we expect the russians will and already have continued to up their game from what they did in 2016. Of course, we upped our game, too. In particular you mentioned facebook. Weve worked very closely with a lot of the social media companies. Thats one of the big steps forward that happened in the midterms and that has continued right up to this day, is a lot of engagement with those companies to underscore to them that they bear, they bear a significant responsibility in this area and there are are a lot of things they can do under their terms of use, terms of service that would be harder for anybody in the government to do like a country like ours. Weve made a lot of progress. Theres a lot more sharing of information back and forth, getting synergies from working together. Theres still progress to be made. Were going to need to keep the pressure on. I think the bar is going to keep going up. You pointed to a good example of that. I would like to continue this conversation with you offline, if thats possible. I want to thank you for being here. I think we can agree this issue of Election Security is not a political issue. We are talking about saving democracy as we know it. And i know all of you gentlemen, i think i can speak for you in saying i know and im grateful that you appreciate that fact, too. Thank you. The gentle lady yields back. Chair recognizes the gentleman from mississippi, mr. Guest, for five minutes. I want to thank you you and your staff for visiting mississippi. In august i had a chance to visit with you as yall were conducting field hearings there. A meeting with members of the community about working together, the private sector, public sector, to see that we are making and creating a great place to live and worship and raise a family. I want to thank you for that visit. And more importantly, thank you for your service to our country. Earlier this month President Trump signed into law House Resolution 1590, a bill that was authored by my office, the terrorist and foreign fighter travel act. This law would require your successor to develop an exercise that evaluating the effectiveness of our nations ability to identify and deter travel deter terrorists before they travel through our state and into our states and into our nation. My question is, do you believe that bills such as 1590, bills that create exercises are helpful for the department of Homeland Security so that we are able to identify, close gaps and so that congress is better able to determine the necessary weaknesses within our system . Certainly. I think its the kind of activity we undertake really every day to make sure there are no vulnerabilities and gaps between our foreign agencies, foreign partners and were applying that at every opportunity to identify a potential threat, trying to enter the United States or even head towards us through our foreign partner nations borders. So i do think being very focused on it and highlighting it to exercise those kablts is a valuable approach. And youve testified several times before this committee and before other committees in congress, weve talked a great deal about southwest border apprehensions, i believe in physical year 19 its reached nearly 1 million apprehensions. Do you believe that Illegal Immigrants are encouraged by loopholes in our immigration laws to make the dangerous journey and to try to cross the border illegally . I dont think theres any question about that. We had 977,000 crossings. Were in our fifth month here in october of 15 to 20 reduction month over month. And thats because weve been able through International Partnerships to address some vulnerabilities presented by those loopholes. The number one being if you bring a child with you, you could be released into the u. S. Thats why we had that crisis in the spring. We asked congress to address that in november of 2017. January of 2018 and throughout my tenure as cpb commissioner. Congress has not acted on those vulnerabilities. Weve been partnering with using existing framework to try to create the ability to get immigration results elsewhere in the system since we cant do it here in the u. S. Mr. Secretary, what do we need to do as congress to close these loopholes . We asked for three very specific legislative changes that would have addressed the drivers of this crisis before it occurred. One is the ability to keep Families Together in an appropriate setting through an immigration proceeding. Thats what the Prior Administration was able to do at the end of 2014 crisis, direct court and the ninth circuit took that away from us in 2019 and we havent had that authority. We asked for congress to reestablish it. Were trying to pursue is it by regulation also held up in the courts. Secondly we asked for the ability to treat unaccompanied children coming from noncontiguous countries the same way we do with canada and mexico and provide them access to protections from their home countries so they dont make this dangerous journey. But if they do have the ability to repat rate them so theyre not incentivized to try. We asked congress to address the woman abilities vulnerabilities in our asylum system and the huge gap between Immigration Judges where only 10 to 20 are getting affirmative asylum recognition but at the border, 80 plus have been allowed to proceed with their cases that could take five to seven years while theyre released in the u. S. Those are the three changes in law weve asked for consistently for over two years. If congress were to act and implement the request that youve made, what impact do you believe it would have upon what were seeing as far as a humanitarian crisis along our southwest border. I think it would be provide us the ability to have integrity in the system here in the United States and not rely solely on foreign partnerships to address the loophole in our law that caused the crisis. This may be your last time as acting secretary to address this committee in this segment. Is there anything you would like to leave with us as Homeland Security, anything you see moving forward we need to address and prioritize as members of congress that would be able to keep the American Public safe . I think weve seen a lot of evidence of nonpartisan, bipartisan discussion on critical threats facing our country. You heard all four panelists outline the same three to five top concerns were facing, but weve had important dialogues, i think, on some emerging aspects that will be challenging in the future. Things like foreign influence, things like cryptocurrency. Those are conversations we need to have with congress in a bipartisan basis and come up with solutions. This committee is properly placed to support those dialogues. Thank you for your service. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. Chair recognize gentle lady from illinois, miss underwood, for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to begin by thanking the department and agencies represented here today and our entire Intelligence Community. In addition to protecting us from unseen threats, your continued work contributed to the Successful Operation this weekend that killed isis leader abu bakr al baghdadi. Im really grateful for your diligence, commitment to the mission. Director wray, you said when it comes to foreign interference in american elections, 2018 were, quote, a dress rehearsal for the beg show in 2020. The 2019 worldwide assessment threat report says, we expect our adversaries to refine their capabilities and add new tactics as they learn from each others experiences suggesting Threat Landscape could look very different in 2020 and future elections. So, sir, as much as you can share in this public setting, can you detail what those new tactics might be and increasingly sophisticated capabilities that our adversaries are developing . Well, i think you anticipated part of what im going to say which is most of what i would say in response to that question cant be done in an open setting. I will say that, as ive mentioned in response to congresswoman rishgs some of the things the russians have tried in other countries we expect them to try to do here as well. Its pretty common to test it out in other jurisdictions. Thankfully we dont have elections every year. So that gives us a little time to plan ahead. Certainly, technological tools keep evolving so their ability to come up with different kinds of false personas, the trolless, the bots, all those things become more vexing and more challenging. Which puts the premium on the point i was making before about our working with on the foreign influence side, working with the soernl media companies, in particular, to really get them to keep upping their game as part of the defense. The 2019 worldwide assessment says north korea, china, and iran have the ability to carry out a sophisticated cyber attack on our elections. We know they have the capabilities. In addition to that, which you say these countries have the motivation or the intent to attack our elections. I want to be a little careful what i can say in this setting but i dont think we have seen intention by those other three countries to attack election infrastructure infrastructure. Election infrastructure. To attack election infrastructure. That doesnt mean theyre not looking carefully at what the russians attempted to do and learn lessons from that, but all those countries in different ways are clearly interested in engaging in maligned foreign influence. Right. Difference from interference in election infrastructure. They have different ways of going about it but they take different pages out of each others playbook. Are you worried about copycats from smaller actors . Absolutely. Cyber actors and where that becomes particularly challenging is one of the phenomena we see in the cyber crime arena these days is what we call the blended threat which is where nation state actors essentially hire cyber mercenaries. You used to be able to separate the world into cyber criminals and nation states. If you see what might be a cyber criminal actor, he could be acting on his own for financial benefit or for his own whims or he could be hired by some nation state. Thank you. Mr. Mcaleenan, earlier this month this committee had a field hearing on Election Security in my district in Northern Illinois and during the hearing state and local Election Officials spoke so highly of their work with senior Cyber Security adviser matthew matter son. They coordinate with mr. Matterson to prepare and respond to emerging threats in our election infrastructure and they testified this coordination was incredibly helpful and valuable. What can congress do to expand their resources in this area as we prepare for growing threats in 2020 and beyond . Thank you, congresswoman, for that feedback. Mr. Masterson and a tremendous professional and well regarded in the field. I had a chance to speak with state and local Election Officials in illinois a few months ago. I had the same sense of the partnership. What can we do to expand it . We want to increase our presence. Conveying the capabilities to support counties, townships, that are running elections nationwide. We would like to be out and present in more places. Its that direct interaction when you have a partner you know that has that expertise that can really change your capabilities and your readiness. Thats a key area. Awesome. Im about out of time. I wanted to talk about domestic terrorism so were going to send out questions. I know this is your last day, sir, but i hope the department would respond. Our committee is continuing to explore how we can protect our country from these emerging threats and appreciate your ongoing work in that area. Thank you so much. I yield back. Thank you very much. Would the gentle lady want to mention the report you were trying to find . Thank you so much, sir. We had an opportunity to get a briefing from an fbi briefer, he came in wednesday and the classified came in this week. In response they mentioned on capnet there would be weekly reports about social media findings taken from the ic and distributed to state and local partners and it would be available to us each week. We attempted to log in and track what the russians are doing in real time. Its my understanding that report is being developed somewhere between your agencies. We do not have access to that. Im a little concerned, mr. Wray, because if that report is developed, we would like to see it. If its not, worried, perhaps, the briefer was not completely truthful in his update. Well, i think we were promised access to what we thought was a report that had been generally produced on a regular basis. Well get to you in writing what that is because vice chairwoman went down to look for it and it wasnt there. If i can get the information from your staff, ill be happy to have my staff drill into it and figure out whats going on there. Traveled in expected to be named acting Homeland Security. He was the chief of staff to kiersten nielsen. She was replaced this year by kevin mcaleenan. He said last month that he would resign. The fifth person to head the agency during the Trump Administration. Rallyight at a campaign in mississippi, President Trump made remarks about the impeachment inquiry. Democratsia and the have been engaged in a corrupt partnership trying to impose their will and to thwart american democracy by any means necessary. You see where its going. First they engineered the russian hoax, that was a total hoax. Everingle greatest lies foisted upon the American People. Then the mueller witchhunt, it never ended. With 18 angry democrats and an unlimited budget, lets go get him. That didnt work out too well, did it . That fizzled. A lot about people along the way. Now corrupt politicians nancy pelosi. [booing] pres. Trump and shifty adam schiff. [booing] pres. Trump and the media are continuing with the deranged impeachment witchhunt. This is one i never thought i would be involved in. The word impeachment is a dirty word. Not a good word. Totally phony deal. They know it. Everybody knows it. Thats why weve never had her greater sports and we have right now. Its true. [cheering] pres. Trump its true. If you think you have a lot of people in this room, all you have to do is go outside. A lot of people are trying to get in. If anybody wants to give up your seat, walked out. Anybody want to leave . Theres no place better to have a rally, to have a good time, and also be very serious, then at a trump rally. Especially on friday night. [cheering] pres. Trump we couldve of done this one on monday night instead. I said, lets do friday. [cheering] pres. Trump yesterday, the democrats voted to potentially nullify the votes of 63 million themselvesdisgracing and bringing shame upon the house of representatives. [booing] pres. Trump theyve been plotting to overthrow the i one. N since the moment the people here that are highly sophisticated there, long before i one. [cheering] pres. Trump 19 minutes after i took the oath of office, the , fake,e newspaper, fake Washington Post declared the campaign to impeach President Trump has just begun. At least they gave us 19 minutes. Yesterdays vote by the radical democrats is an attack on democracy itself. You, the republicans are really strong. The strongest ive ever seen them. The most unified ive ever seen them. [cheering] pres. Trump the most unified ive ever seen them. The American People are fed up with democrat lies, hoaxes, and extremism. The democrats outrageous conduct has created an angry majority that will vote many donothing democrats out of office in 2020. [cheering] pres. Trump make no mistake. They are coming after the Republican Party and me because im fighting for you. They dont like it. This is different. Theyve never had anything like this. Theyve never had an election like 2016, either. It never happened. Theyve never quite figured it out. They know they cant win. Lets try to impeach him. How about that . Crazy al green. You know . We have to impeach him because we cant beat them. I dont think so. I dont think so. Al green is another beauty. [booing] democrats, thee media, and the deep state are desperate to stop us. Its not me. Its us. 63 million but much more than that. Now, our numbers are higher than theyve ever been before. Would. Never been this [cheering] has committees continue taking depositions in the impeachment inquiry even law congress is on a recess. Three committees will hear from Trump Administration officials about the president s july 25 call with ukraines president about u. S. Funds earmarked for the country. Subpoena to appear on monday, a senior aide to acting chief both amy and office of management and Budget Energy expert and to nationals of counsel lawyers. On tuesday, a National Security council Energy Expert on wednesday expert. On wednesday, a state department Legal Counsel. On thursday, john bolton is scheduled to be deposed in the impeachment inquiry. Cspan, joe biden speaks at it his field office for his 2020 president ial campaign. Bunchthat, lonnie outlined his priorities and his official installation ceremony. President trump resented the medal of honor to Army Master SergeantMatthew Williams for his bravery and bident, joe and jill visit a new field office for mr. Bidens 2020 president ial campaign. After his remarks, mr. Biden greeted those in attendance. [applause] [crowd cheering] good morning, everybody