Transcripts For CSPAN Confirmation Hearing For Homeland Security Secretary Nominee Chad Wolf 20240712

Committee held a confirmation hearing for chad wolf to formula become head of the Homeland Security department. Mr. Wolf has been serving as acting dhs secretary since november of last year. Answered questions on election interference, domestic terrorism, and Human Trafficking, among other topics. This is just under two hours. Meeting toe are consider the nomination of acting secretary of Homeland Security, chad wolf, to be the confirmed secretary of the department of Homeland Security, which is an enormous task. This in the past, i truly appreciate anybody who was willing to undertake such enormous responsibility. I would ask my written opening remarks be entered into the record, without objection. I will keep it short. I know which got time restraints we have got time restraints. The secretary of Homeland Security manages 240,000 people in the department. The responsibilities for Homeland Security are vast. Starting with the Emergency Management agency, which has to do with deal with hurricanes, wild fires, and now covid, amongst many other responsibilities. More security is a huge issue. Hes done a pretty good job of establishing the out of control, illegal entry we are experiencing were experiencing over a year ago. The department is concerned about cybersecurity, election security, the security of our Critical Infrastructure. As we just witnessed, some of the protests have sprung into riots, was a protecting federal buildings. We have tragically lost Patrick Underwood in oakland, california, a member of the federal protection services. The responsibilities are enormous. Of the envy any sector Homeland Securitys task. One quick would, i do want to talk about my standpoint, would next to narrate job dhs what an extra ordinary job dhs has done in dealing with covid. I know that is not the narrative in the Mainstream Media and from many of my colleagues, but the fact of the matter is, i come from a manufacturing background. I understand the difficult situation. Covid is an act of god. If you think back to the beginning of this when we were concerned about running out of president s, the signed the production act and we produced ventilators and the buddy ran out and nobody ran out. I know what was not perfect. I know people did not get everything they wanted, but we did not run out. Was oversupply over two thirds. I know the men and women throughout the federal agencies dealing with covid have been working 24 7. You have done a pretty extraordinary job through this very difficult situation. What is unfortunate is someone like acting secretary wolf, i said the same with louis dejoy, the postmaster general, not only thankless task, but it opens you up to character assassinations, as well. I find it very unfortunate. I want to thank you personally and the men and women that served with you on the department for working tirelessly to keep our homeland secure, keep this nation safe, and dealing with all these enormous issues youre dealing with day in and day out. You for your past service, your willingness to serve in this capacity, as well, and i welcome you and any guest you may have brought to the hearing. Hope you can introduce them, your family members. It will turn it over to senator peters. Senator peters. Think it, mr. Chairman. Thank you, acting secretary wolf, for your willingness to serve. Today, we are considering the nomination of chad wolf to be the secretary of Homeland Security. Under this administration, we have seen an unprecedented willingness to abandon the norms of Senate Confirmed cabinet officials. This has been a particular problem at the department of Homeland Security. The countrys thirdlargest agency. And an absolute critical part of safeguarding our National Security. Vacancies and acting officials are part of every administration. But we should beware, this administration has abused the vacancies to the tremendous of this department. The president refuses to formally nominate a leader for the dhs refused to formally nominate a leader for the dhs for more than 500 days. It was not only legally questionable, but created chaos and confusion, regarding numerous threats to our National Security. The department cannot successfully tackle the serious challenges it faces without strong, steady, and independent leadership. Has experience at the department, primarily as chief of staff, but also as an undersecretary and now acting secretary, he has been involved in some of the most controversial and concerning decisions the department has made. Ant todecisions warr critical review of his record and call into question whether he is the right person for this critical role. Under his leadership, the department has faced daunting challenges, asylumseekers at ar southern border, pandemic, civil unrest, and Deadly Wildfires and hurricanes. While these challenges would strain even the most repaired staff, i am concerned by reports of slow decisionmaking and the sidelining of experts. Reports that raises serious questions about the judgment and independence of agency leaders. How also concerned about the department has failed to adequately address the rise of domestic terrorism and white supremacist violence. While the threat of domestic terror is not new, the necessary shift from mainly foreign threats that have nominated the hasrtments origins, it been 18 years since congress and so muchlation has changed since then. Our country faces persistent threats, both longstanding and new, including foreign and domestic terrorism, election security, national disasters, cyberattack, and now a pandemic. It is this committees responsibility to ensure that any agency has the experience, readership, and temperament to protect the American People. Before i wrap up my remarks, i want to take a moment to acknowledge the severe toll the pandemic has had on the department of Homeland Security. Hundreds of frontline personnel have an affected while working every day to help keep us safe. We have lost 6 tsa officials to the pandemic. Our hearts go out to all of those who have suffered because of this terrible disease. I would like to acknowledge the Border Patrol agent is fighting for his life now after being attacked in arizona while on monday night on duty monday night. I wish him a speedy recovery and i think him and i thank him and his fellow agents for all the work that they do every night. I look forward to the discussion country. The welcome. I asked to enter a letter that was received by the house of Homeland Security chairman, outlining his concerns with the lack of compliance with requests for information. Thank you. Thank you. It is our pleasure to have senator ted cruz introduce mr. W olf. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to the committee for welcoming me here. Be an historicly moment and the First Senate Committee hearing ever with a pool table in the background. I see you have a lovely pool table in your living room and i will say that at this time of deep and contentious division, perhaps if the senate gathered around a pool table and a beer, we might get more done then sitting than sitting in a room and yelling at each other, but that may not happen today. It is a pleasure to introduce chad wolf, a fellow texan and a dedicated public servant. He is an individual i believe is eminently qualified to be the next secretary of Homeland Security. Chad was born in jackson, mississippi. He made his way to the great state of texas and grew up in plano, texas. He began his career working for not one but two texas senators. Hell after the hill after the september 11 attacks to protect our country from attacks. He became an early leader at the tsa, finishing out his first run in 2005. 005 after over a decade in the private sector there, chad turned to the tsa as chief of staff in 2017 before becoming deputy chief of staff and eventually chief of staff at the department of Homeland Security. He has been the acting secretary since november 2019 and in that role, he has shown strong leadership. That leadership has been tested in particular by the protests that became ryan and the violence we have seen across the country. Worsee was that violence than in portland oregon. Attempted toem recount it recap he took the responsibility to theect personnel with greatest seriousness. He did so at a time political divisions in this country made it much more difficult to do so. When the at a time mayor of portland and the governor of oregon both told him to get the hell out. Was not willing to abandon a federal courthouse that was still hearing cases, still in operation. He was not willing to hand the courthouse over to the mob and allow them to burn the courthouse to the ground. Nor was he willing to abandon the men and women whom he has been entrusted to lead. Federal Law Enforcement officers of violenteds physical attacks in portland. Having rocks known of them, Water Bottles thrown at them, industrial grade lasers fired their eyes in their eyes, resulting in murderous num erous eye injuries. Them,mbs thrown at protesters armed with guns, knives, night after night attacking officers in profoundly political context. Wolfsbeen impressed by steadfast commitment to do his job, to follow the law, to protect the federal facility he and torged to protect, stand with the men and women and federal Law Enforcement officers. Inelieve that record, addition to his long history and experience, qualifies him well to be confirmed as the secretary. Thank you, senator cruz. The tradition of this committee to swear witnesses in. Mr. Wolf, if you will stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony that you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god . I do. Thank you, please be seated. Mr. Wolf was a pointed to the actor appointed to the acting secretary position in november of 2019. Coordinated strategies and policies to advance the department of Homeland Securitys mission. He held numerous leadership positions in the department, including serving as chief of staff. He served as Vice President and senior director at wexler and walker. Mr. Wolf. Distinguishedg members of the committee. Today,n honor to be here and to be the nominee for the secretary of the apartment of Homeland Security department of Homeland Security, Whose Mission is more sacred than ever before. I would like to thank senator cruz for being here today and introducing me, his kind words, of for his continued support the department. Means lesstion often personal time with family and loved ones, which is a sacrifice felt by all of us in Public Service. I would like to take this time to recognize my family for their ongoing encouragement, patience, and support. Please allow me to introduce my wife of 16 years, hope. She is my rock and without her, i would not be here today. I would also like to acknowledge my two children who keep me grounded and focused on the important things in life like Little League. I would like to recognize my parents who were unable to travel to d. C. Today. In an early age, they instilled in me a sense of Public Service and commitment. I would also like to thank members of this committee and their staff and the important that they do every day. I have had the privilege of meeting you over the past several years and i look forward to the opportunity to work closely together with you to advance the mission of the department. I would like to thank the dhs workforce for everything they do to keep the homeland safe and secure. Most americans do not understand the sacrifice that they make, the unfair criticism that they endure, and the complexities of their job. From one employee to another, i thank you for your service. Like many americans, my personal commitment began on september 11. At that time, i had no idea that the events of that morning would shape the future and the future of our nation. Heeding the call to service, i the transportation security administration, the very agency tasked with securing our airways and ensuring another event 9 11 would never happen again. I was proud to serve with tsa at its conception inception. I have had several positions, including the department chief of staff, the undersecretary position, as well as the acting secretary position. Over the past 10 months, while serving as the undersecretary, i experienced some of the most difficult challenges of our lifetime. I could not be prouder of the accomplishments we achieved. We faced a Global Pandemic had on. Head we aggressively pushed back against maligned foreign actors who sought to interfere in our elections and worked together with all 50 states and territories to protect our election infrastructure. We have been tireless in our efforts. We believe that we taken extraordinary measures to traffickers,man covid19onal crime, fraud, and more. We have stood firm against civil unrest and violence, much of which have been directed to our nations foreign properties. Resources,ent has provided aid to states as appropriate, and has done so with the respect and professionalism i have come to expect the dedicated men and women of dhs Law Enforcement. We are supporting our state and as we recovert from numerous hurricanes. Ourdepartment has marshaled assets, exercised our authority, and acted to protect the safeguard of the American People in our way of life. Our eyes are remaining firmly on the horizon. Enemies,egies of our the dhs will adapt at every turn to defeat those who seek to do our nation arm. Our mission our nation harm. Our mission is increasingly complex. One that transcends orders. Transcends borders. It has been the greatest honor to serve with the men and women of the department and if i am fortunate enough to be confirmed, i look over to continuing our progress to protect the lives of all americans. Thank you. Thank you, acting secretary wolf. I want to express my sincere gratitude to your wife and children. I am sure they do not see a whole lot. Especially since you started serving this role. Thank you very much. There are a few questions for the record. Is there anything you are aware of in your background that might present a conflict of interest with the duties of office to which you have been nominated . No. Do you know anything, personal or otherwise, that prevent you from discharging the duties that you have been nominated . No. Do you agree with no reservation to comply with any appear if summons to you are confirmed . Yes. Frequently, i well reserve my time and pass the questioning, but maybe it is because i have been the target of a number of false allegations here over the past weeks and months. I know you are having to endure this as well, so i am going to fouryou my time to address current attacks against you or your office, and i will list them and you can respond to each of the four. First, if you can respond to the allegations of the order succession issue, you can respond to the charges about events occurring at add you cann facility, if respond to the whistleblower complaint from brian murphy, the forer acting undersecretary intelligence and analysis, and then just today, a brandnew charge about contracts that were let out by dhs. Take as much time as you want and address these for the committee, please. I will take those in order. We are certainly aware of the opinion regarding the order of succession of the apartment. We strongly disagree. I will continue to say that i inspect the role that they play, but that does not dismiss the fact that we believe they have a faulty decision in the legal logic that they use. It is inaccurate. We will continue to talk about that. And nonbinding decision that they made. We will continue to state our position. We stated in attic. We will continue to we state it emphatically. We will use our authority to designate successors. We have the unique authority to do that. We did that in this case. And not under the vacancy reform , but under the aha, with which they did not comment on. That is the first one. When this at the outset. We take whistleblowers very seriously. Have certain rights. Certainly make sure that those investigation by the office of the Inspector General are played out and will be fully cooperative with that. Regarding the ice whistleblower complaint, it is my understanding that the oig is starting to have individuals on the ground in that facility in georgia. They will be talking with those individuals today and tomorrow. I look forward to that investigation. Some of what we have seen thus are dramaticr allegations concerning medical procedures. Some of the facts on the ground and what we have seen do not back up those allegations. I will let the oig process play out. There is a kernel of truth to any of that. That i willantee hold those accountable and we will take decisive action. We need to make sure that we fully investigate them so that all sides have a chance to be heard. Regarding the intelligence and analysis, the whistleblower complaint from mr. Murphy is false. It is a fabrication completely. I reject any lame that i attempted to influence or retaliate against any act. I removed or reassigned mr. Murphy at the beginning of august for a very specific reason that i issued and a statement on. I received edible allegations that he abused his position, his authority, and possibly violated numerous legal requirements when he personally directed a collection of information on u. S. Journalists. I refer that to the oig. There is an s to gaging. I told him at the time that i needed to there is an investigation. I told him at the time that i without any appearance of influence by him leading that organization. He had dissipated with that. And we see what is occurring at the time. Indication that information was being collected on journalists, i had to take that action for any type of investigation was completed. I will continue to talk about everything i have done, the conversations i have done with mr. Murphy, i am happy to go further on that as well. And then, just recently, overnight there is a new story awardedme contract dhs to my wifes firm in 2018. I just found out about it last night when the Media Inquiry came in. Staff, i was chief of acting secretary, the undersecretary, or any other position. I have no role in that. I do not see procurements until they are released, on the news, in the street. If i was involved, which i am not, i have recusal is in place, to not only include her firm but also clients that i have had arriving at the department. Fabricated story that has no evidence of anything, but that is not going to stop folks. I appreciate the opportunity to address each of those, chairman. Thank you. I give you my, time. Thank you. Fromolfe, as we learned the faulty intelligence related to the search for wmds in iraq following 9 11 using confirmence to preconceived biases, has devastating consequences. Areted institutions essential when dealing with National Security issues did security issues. My question is would you agree that accurate Intelligence Reports are absolutely crucial for Law Enforcement and other stakeholders to affect the address and counter threats to our nation . Yes. It is true that in july, you personally withheld from an intelligence bulletin calling out a russian attack on president on Vice President bidens Mental Health . No. I did not withhold it, i asked for the product to be improved, which they did over a period of time and that was released at the beginning of september. Time. It was held for a how long was it withheld before the product was improved . I saw that product at the beginning of july. Outlined my concerns the intelligence i agreed with. It was the quality of the product itself that was lacking. Any product that comes out of the department, i am very specific on making sure that it is a professional document. When i brought this to the attention of career officials, they agreed with me. They had not seen the product for was going out. They agreed that it could be improved. It came back as a better document at the beginning of september, outlining that are sourced, better put in contact. It was issued on september 4. So it took a couple months before it could come out. Doesnt normally take about close to two months for you to bring a two page Intelligence Report up to the quality standards that you think are necessary . Does it really require that much time . No. It does not. And reliedack to ina on them to improve the product. At that time, we did have a leadership change at the beginning of august. There was a leadership change, we had new leadership, acting leadership that came into that office that was reviewing that office and a number of reports. You are saying that it does not normally take two months to put a two page report to go through . Longcannot comment on how it takes ina to produce each of their documents. What i asked them to do was improve upon that product so it went from a page and a half to about three and a half pages. It was better context, a better product at the end of the day, but the important part was that the intelligence did not change. I did not direct them to change it. I was focused on i understand that. It just seems to be a real long time to do that kind of change. It is curious that the report was only issued after broke about it. Couple page report doesnt come out, a newspaper a news comes out. Ofre have been a number products coming from the ina. We have spoken about it. Staffpossible that your chose to elevate this particular report to you because a lot of reports have come out. Is it possible that your earlier staff elevated this report that you help is, so from sometimes, because it was about the president s opponent . No. Not possible . How many have you reviewed and put a hold on . I have reviewed they do not come to me for approval, we make sure of that. I want to see that they are released, and i have reviewed a half a dozen to a dozen of those products as they are going out the door to make sure that i understand they are, that they are up to my standards, and as we have talked, this one i asked them to look at a number of those reports, this one specific, to improve upon the product. To it seems like a relatively small number that comes to your attention. Will you commit to share those reports . Iereleased drafts of can go back and see which ones they have sent out. You will provide those to the committee so we can take a look at it . I appreciate it. Has the staff ever been encouraged to withhold Intelligence Reports to align with the white house messaging and rhetoric . No. Weeksent you a letter last asking that you and any staff named in the whistleblower complaint, as well as other staff with knowledge or involvement with the activities cited in the report, meet with committee stuffed or transcribed interview. As of today, you have not responded to that request. Can i get your commitment that you and your staff will make yourself available for interviews in the investigation into these allegations of political interference within dhs political reporting . I want to say that we are currently doing not for various committees at the moment. I appreciate that the Senate Intelligence committee has expressed interest , so we are going through a process of at least three individuals that have thuscribed, and the house far. We received your letter last friday so i think we are on the third or forth business day and will respond to that so that you have all the information that you need. I appreciate that you are working with other committees. This one has particular oversight when it comes to your service. This is relevant information and i would expect that you would be willing to do that. Happy to work with the committee as a whole to make sure you have all the information. I want to indicate that the office of the Inspector General and the geisha and into this as well, so we need to make sure that we are providing information to them at the same time. We have the pole levels of review. We have multiple levels of review. An important issue that we talked about, i want to spend some time getting some direct answers from you relating to white supremacist violence. I showed the chart earlier. Can you confirm that white supremacist violence is the most deadly threat now facing our nation today . I think when you talk about domestic terrorism, we talk about homegrown violence byremists who are motivated a foreign terrorist organizations and then we talk about Domestic Violence extremists. Within that category, our racially, and ethnically motivated individuals, particularly white supremacists, from 20 16 to 2019, are the most consistent threat when we talk about Domestic Violence extremists. All thenot agree that threats facing the homeland, the pandemics, the hurricanes and like, that new that was the intent of the question. I do want to say when we talk historically, we been ignore what has occurring over the past four months when we talk about antigovernment antiLaw Enforcement folks. We have to address the threat that has been occurring in the country over the past four months. A quick question here. The Department Released the strategic framework for countering terrorism and targeted violence. A long time coming. It is out now. What actual steps has the department taken to reduce the threat communities face from white supremacist actors . Grant that there are programs out there. What specific actions as the department taken has the department taken . Understand you do not want to talk about the Grant Programs, but it is a thing that we do. I am granting that. Conjunction with others, part of our mission is to make sure that we are educating folks, sharing information, pushing out since april, ina has pushed out 20 or so products regarding White Supremacy extremism to Law Enforcement officers. We are pushing intelligence out, but we are also providing Community Awareness briefings and the like. A big part of the resources we put behind that are the Grant Programs themselves. I appreciate it. Time is up. As long as you brought up the supremacists, i would reclaim a couple minutes of my time. Acting secretary wolf, you seem to make a distinction between what you have seen in the past couple years with extremism and what has transpired over the past four months. For the weekend, i some pretty interesting videos of the press conference in chicago that showed what happened when Peaceful Protesters took a lefthand turn and went into a shielding either people who are throwing Water Industrial fireworks at the Chicago Police officers. Assessmentt is your in terms of who is really protests peaceful and up transitioning into riots. Peters seems to want to conflate the white supremacist groups. I do not think that is the case. What do you say . What is for the main groups, the main ideology behind we have seen in the past four months when peaceful protests turned into destructive riots . I do not know how many businesses were burned in kenosha, wisconsin, but the city shut down. Can you comment on who is fomenting that violence over the past four months . Is focused onent countering any form of violent extremists. Thatwe produce a framework the Ranking Member mentioned back in september of 2019, we specific pointed to two threats when we talked about domestic terrorism. Domestic violence extremists, specifically we talked about white supremacist extremists, but also anarchist extremists. Back in september 2019, there were concerns at that point. This is not anything the department has come to the last four months the last few months have highlighted we have seen in portland. I will talk specifically about portland again where we had over a 60 day. A courthouse specifically the intel we received out of portland and we received across the country as well has an anarchist sort of theology. I want to be clear ideology. That we are clear looking at the criminality coming out of the activities of groups. We are looking at the criminal activity. The fbi is the lead investigator of any type of criminal activity that is coming out. The we saw in portland was activity occurring at that courthouse and against that courthouse, which is protected by dhs. In portland, we saw three or four months of activity being organized. It was coordinated. It was not spontaneous every night. That is what we saw firsthand and we see that in other communities around the country as well thank you. Thank you. N langford,tman, the then scott, then romney. Senator portman, are you available . I am. Thank you for holding the hearing. I appreciatef, your service. This is a tough time for our country in many respects. Covid19 and the demonstrations of writing we have seen. You are in the middle the demonstrations of rioting we have seen. You are in the middle of it, underwood was killed outside the oakland courthouse in court for new in california, but you have also lost officers to covid19 contracted on duty. We think of them, too. Recently, another officer injured on the border. These men and women are doing the work to make our country safer and secure. Your people are also responding to the wildfires in california and throughout the west. Soo the recent hurricanes, you are in the middle of a lot. It is important that we have confirmed peter schip at the department right now. At theirmed Leadership Department right now. Certainhat the chairman ly shows that concern. We need a confirmed secretary. We are focused on this because we believe that the men and women of the department deserve to have that kind of certainty and accountable leadership, so i am delighted we are having this hearing today. I want to get you as quickly as possible. It has to hit on some of these battles that we talked about earlier, which are a huge distraction for the agency at a critical time. In our conversation, we talk about the whistleblower complaints and you adjust those again today. I am glad to hear that youre m seriously. Public testimony this morning, you made a personal commitment to that. You also made a commitment to making sure that our election is safe and that is really important voting is started in to help our states, so let me give you a second to expand a little bit on that. You talk about what dhs is done in this regard. About, when we talk which aqaba threats to the political infrastructure. Over the past three to four years, we have talked with all 50 secretaries of state. Thousands of local jurisdictions. Making sure that our election here in november is going to be the securities election today. Two date. Is some of the security selections that we have held to date. Very proud of the work that we have been doing, so we know in this election cycle that they have not attributed any segregation and against any from aructure nationstate adversary. That speaks of the type of work that we have done over the past arena have to years be at this time, going back to 2016, there were indicators and warnings that they were targeting our election of the structure. We do not need that today as i sit here today and i think that is because all of the work that our entire agency is done, as well as the work the administration has done, is calling out individuals that e identified can you address briefly the recent report that came out that microsoft and various countries trying to interfere with the election . They mentioned russia, china, iran, can you adjust that . Absolutely. When we talk about nationstates and our elected our election systems, we talk about russia, china, and iran, and it all comes about differently, but all three are a threat. I have been consistent about that. The intelligence assessment put out in early august was very consistent about that. The microsoft report that you mentioned also talks about all three of those nationstates being a threat. I know that there continues to be a lot of focus on russia and there should be. You cannot do that at the exclusion of making sure that we continue to address threats that are from both china and iran. Report says is not consistent with what you are saying about the infrastructure not being intact . That is correct. They are not focused. We do not have specific intelligence that they are not focusing on political infrastructure. That is not saying that they cant or wont, but influencing campaigns we see them let me change the subject. With youro do Disaster Relief fund. 600 federal supplement on insurance ended. Many people have not been able to access their unemployment insurance. The president and his administration stepped in and used you stepped in and provided help at 300 of federal supplement on top of the state supplements per month. That has been a sixweek program and that ended last week. But you talked about pointing out a Disaster Relief fund in order to be able to do that. I personal believe that that 300 x engine is a good idea. I think it should be done until the end of the year. I think it is about the right amount, there is no magic number, but it is not disruptive to the labor market as the 600 was. However, my understanding that the Disaster Relief fund has now reached its cap, you said that it reached a number was based on some analysis that left enough money in the Disaster Relief fund to respond to the natural disasters. The last couple of months, certainly the hurricanes and wildfires are at the top that list. At the top of that list. It, the amount that has been set aside for the unemployment insurance, i am a there is a legislative proposal and we will see what happens, but the child to replenish that fund is unfortunately not replenished in the cr. Can you talk about that for a moment as something that was raised before. I expect that you have all the details but my understanding is if thatnding has theot enough to handle, disasters that we face in trying to extend the 300 federal program, can you talk about that . As of today, fema has obligated around 49. 5 alien 49. 5rs in funding billion dollars in funding. The drf is used to respond to disasters. Hurricane sally 2. 4 million thus far. We will see how that continues to rollout. Ar balance in the drf is little north of 25 million so there is still funding inside our Disaster Relief fund, continue to address, as you know Hurricane Season goes all the way to november, as well as to adjust the wildfires out in the west. We do have funding in the drf to continue to support efforts around the country. My time has expired. Do we have enough or not . We do have enough as we sit here today. If we have additional hurricanes, depending on size and the wildfires, we may have to have continued discussions with congress about additional funding for the drf. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you mr. Wolf for being here, for your testimony, for your willingness to serve and for the conversation we had last week. I will join my colleagues in offering condolences to your entire workforce and the losses of the officers you have suffered and to your families their families. Isolated forces are gaining strength worldwide, launching attacks interact last month, andng land in afghanistan this potential resurgence of isis is alarming. It. Bviously cannot ignore what steps has the dhs taken to strengthen the counterterrorism capabilities in the event that isis continues to grow in these regions . Our counterterrorism portfolio and the core capability of what the department has done over its 10 yard. We have a layered approach with policies and procedures that we put in place, from keeping people out of the country to identifying individuals coming into the country and making sure that we are removing individuals as we see fit. We do that with close coordination with our foreign partners. We do that through travel restrictions over the years. Making sure that our screening and betting programs are at the heart of our counterterrorism programs, and our programs at the department are some of best in the world. We share that. We share that with our allies across the world taking sure all they have programs, biometric programs that we share to show that realtime information so that we know who is transiting certain countries. Making sure that when we see people returning from the battlefield, back to you the are, back to europe, we able to work together. Thank you for that and i look forward to working with the security teams as well, appropriately balanced. I heard from many constituents regarding the recent statement that put ppe and cleaning supplies purchased by schools are not eligible for reimbursement to the program. While these items may not typically fall within the program, schools were under the impression that it would be reimbursable and have acted accordingly. In new hampshire, they must now find another way to pay for 350,000 in covid related expenses. There has been a bipartisan outcry urging fema to reconsider this position. These are extraordinary times and schools need the support to ensure that School Students and teachers and their families can save in returning to the classrooms. Reimbursements for schools and ppe . I have spoken to fema about this and this has to do with the authority fema has versus the ppe measures and the traditional operating expenses. Fema is funding outside of to address some of these concerns the schools have. We have over 39 different agencies yeah. I am going to interrupt you for just a second because i know how sparsely those resources have already been spread and restate. Routine aboutng Sanitation Equipment in schools. There nothing routine about that. Cloth dhs is distributing masks in september as well. I appreciate that. But i will point out that fema led to believe that they would be able to get reimbursed. They have therefore deployed agencies in other ways. For months, my stuff and i have been trying to get an update sorry, that i just asked you. Let me move on to the last question. Minutes s than two two months until the president ial election. There is propaganda coming in russia. Yesterday, reports surfaced that putin and his top aides are probably directing an operation. Based on everything you have seen, do you think the russians are seeking to advance propaganda against vice den. Ident writing bi russia, china, and iran have different ways of doing this. Russia looks to denigrate Vice President biden. China prefers biden. And iran prefers biden. Russia iswer is that in fact seeking to advance propaganda. All three nationstates are. Because i have a little bit more time, let go back to one other issue. We have been trying to get thetes guarding distribution of ppe. I understand many of the tasks have transitioned back to dhs and the department of defense, but how precisely is the work that is being shared. Can you tell the committee what femas role is in the response . They continue to coordinate a number of activities when we talk about making sure ppe gets to certain places. I talked earlier about the lost Wages Program that fema continues to administer. That is a covid relief type of activity. Coordinate a to majority of the activities. Certain activities have as theyoned back to dhs are medical in nature as we continue to fight this. I am happy to have fema refute on exactly what they are doing. This is not a secret. Brief you on exactly what they are doing. This is not a secret. It has been difficult getting information and what tends to happen is dhs are hhs is doing this or fema is doing that, and i think it is imperative that we get information from you all. For march all the way to present day, fema has been overwhelmed with the amount of letters they have received and they are processing them as quickly as possible. We are being as responsive as humanly possible. They have a deluge of letters from members of congress. And letters, and i know i am over time, but the letters from congress obviously should be responded to, but if you have a structure in place for Clear Communication and constant calm indication, some of those letters may not be necessary. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Inc. You. Thank you. We last time we were here, were talking about what is happening in portland and the Law Enforcement under assault by the rioters attacking federal Law Enforcement. Said that there were 277 long or smith that had been injured in those attacks. Can you give us an update on the federal personnel and the injuries that have been sustained . Injuriese 349 separate to Law Enforcement officers in portland. Many have recovered. The bones have healed. Stitches have come out and the like. We have 120 five dhs personnel that have high injuries eye injuries from the lasers. We do not believe any of them will be permanent. There will be damage and some are going under evaluation to see what the extent of that damages. Damage is. We not only talk about physical injuries. We talk about the information out on the internet of these officers having to deal with that and their families. I guarantee you senator that our efforts at the department are to support those officers. Will you tell them thank you from us . Yes, sir. They stepped up and did it at the cost of their own blood at times and their families have paid an incredible price. Please do pass our thank you to those folks as well. Let me head down south. Numberseen some of the of the statistics of the cartels altering their methods to move drugs into the United States. They have changed techniques and locations and the quantities have gone up significantly. We have seen this in people in isolation who have struggled with drug abuse in the past. The pandemic is causing a severe driven people into drug addictions and the cartels are taking advantage of that. What are you seeing on the southern order now in terms of drugs . There are a couple dynamics at the southern border. We talked about a new border system going up. Those are in trafficked areas we are putting that up that is causing cartels to try and find new pathways, new avenues into the country. Areas orving those to we do not have those system so you have more cameras and agents in areas that have difficult, or historically difficult to patrol. That is causing disruption. We are seeing more movement, which is exactly where we want to push the illegal contraband. We want to push them to ports of entry where we have the technology in our terms of how we deal with these things. We are seeing some of their tactics change. They are recruiting more u. S. Citizens today than they have historically because we have cut traffic in the ports of entry. Legal permanent citizens can seeingck or we are individuals trying to smuggle illegal narcotics in as well. We will continue to deploy more technology. To look inside cars, vehicles, as well as individuals. What do you need . Based on the transaction and areas where there are additional inspections, what you need now . Two things. Additional resources for personnel as well as Border Patrol personnel. We have requested that in the past and it has not an approved to date. Normal feessee the start to increase. They are down because of covid. Less travel, so we are not able to hire as many folks as we would like to see. We would like to see more , as well as continued funding. I know that congresses supportive of that nonintrusive inspection that we have. We try to increase our inspection from a low percentage ards to about 70 i20 23 by 2023. Continued support and funding for that initiative, and for the border wall system as we continue to put that in place and funnel human traffickers to ports of entry or areas where we prefer to encounter them. The individuals were crossing the border illegally, do you see changes . The northern triangle countries have closed down their borders. What are you seeing as far as the flow of people . We are seeing a different flow. 2019, there were children and family units from the northern triangle. We put a number of policy procedures in place. Singlewe see mainly adults from mexico. Not exclusively, but the main percentage by far. It harkens back to the 80s and 90s of seeing that same trend and flow. Almost exclusively are coming here for economic reasons. Different dynamic that we see today in 2020 versus 2019 people cross the border and were sitting down because they knew they would be released within a matter of hours if not days in the interior of the u. S. Today, we see they are running from border confessional order patrol. Changed. Ic has the demographics have changed. We are trying to change with them. As deputy chief of staff, and now is acting director, natural disasters, Border Security, terrorism, cybersecurity, election security, it is a remarkable portfolio, so thanks to your team, thanks to your wife in kids for loaning you out to the nation i hope you get a chance to catch some Little League games with the kids as well while youre also getting a chance to be able to serve us. Thanks for doing it. Mr. Wolf thank you, senator. Chairman johnson thank you, senator lankford. Senator rosen . Sen. Rosen thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member for holding this hearing. Of course, thank you, acting secretary wolf for being here today. Thank you for the conversation we were able to have last week before this hearing. I really appreciate it. I want to go back to your confirmation hearing for undersecretary position. It was before this committee on june 12th of 2019. I asked if you were involved in developing the family separation policy, and you answered me, unequivocally no, maam. I asked how you became aware of the policy and you told me, quote, through discussions with staff, discussions leading up to the attorney generals announcement in april, 2018. After that hearing an email exchange became public in december of 2017. You emailed the Justice Department spokesman, attaching a memo with the file name, and i quote, uac options. Uac, of course, meaning unaccompanied children. You wrote in the email to the other official that you worked with others to pull the memo together and that the purpose of the memo was to give thend. H. S. Secretary nielsen, quote, an idea of what she can do right away versus actions that will take monthsplus to implement, and i end quote. When you open the attached political memo, its called policy options to respond to a broader surge of illegal immigration. Out of 16 policy options, family separation is number two on the list. So let me ask you this. I asked if you helped to develop this policy and you told me no, is that correct . Mr. Wolf thats correct. Sen. Rosen you and several others, quote, you pulled together a memo for the dhs secretary that discussed the family separation policy, and this policy was implemented. You know children were separated from their parents at the hands of our government. So lets go back over the cover email. You said the purpose of this memo was to give secretary nielsen, the d. H. S. Secretary, the person whose chief of staff you were, an idea of what she could do immediately versus what would take months. Is that correct . Mr. Wolf thats correct. Sen. Rosen so, at your confirmation hearing, when i asked you if you helped develop the policy, you didnt mention this memo. Is that also correct . Mr. Wolf i dont believe the memo was discussed at that hearing. No. Sen. Rosen thank you. So lets talk about your memo. Heres what it says for the number two policy option. Again, im going to quote, announce that dhs is considering separating family units, placing adults in adult detention and placing the minors in custody of hhs as unaccompanied alien children or uacs. But but those children that you recommended classifying as uacs were not actually unaccompanied, were they, mr. Wolf . Mr. Wolf im sorry, can you repeat your question . Sen. Rosen you said you were going to separate, this is what you said in your memo, and im quoting, you considered separating family units and treating the children as unaccompanied. They werent unaccompanied. They were part of family units. Thats what you said in your memo. You called them unaccompanied, but they werent. Mr. Wolf again, unaccompanied as a legal terminology. Let me just say it was not my memo. You keep referring to it as my memo. As i said last year that the secretary, secretary nielsen, relied on not only her operators but also her policy, her Immigration Attorneys to develop policy options. Sen. Rosen you were part of the team. And as her chief of staff, you have direct relationship and responsibility. You were part of the series of memos that went on deciding to separate children and treat them as unaccompanied. Mr. Wolf i had a responsibility to make sure that the secretary was fully staffed. Anytime we talked about immigration within the department, i appreciate it may sound simple, but it is anything but simple in making sure that we pull uscis, ice, cbp, General Council policy office, and any number of other individuals sen. Rosen i understand. But i have a chief of staff, anyone who has a chief of staff understands that its a complex job. Mr. Wolf that was not my portfolio. It was not my issue set at that time. Sen. Rosen so let me ask you this question. Mr. Wolf yes, maam. Sen. Rosen youve been acting secretary for 10 months, do you now consider it your job to speak the truth to power when utterly abhorrent policies like this get proposed . And do you support ending family separation . Do you stand by that . You testified for that. Mr. Wolf as i testified last year, i testify again this year, i support the president s decision when he issued an executive order to stop that practice as the department did. We executed that executive order, i believe, in june of 2018. Sen. Rosen thank you. Id like to talk about the ending of tps quickly. Mr. Wolf yes. Sen. Rosen nevada is home to more than 4,000 tps holders and their families. 1700 of those are essential, Critical Infrastructure workers, meaning they provide services that americans depend on to operate during this covid19 pandemic and they are in all of our response efforts, according to dhs guidance. We know whats happened last , the decision to deport tps recipients. In light of the federal Appeals Court decision, what are your plans for deporting tps holders from the countries of el salvador, haiti, nicaragua, and sudan . Mr. Wolf were not taking any measures at this time. As you know, we cant do that i believe until about 52 days after that court decision. 45 days of that is allowed for individual parties to appeal that decision. We certainly expect that decision to be appealed. Basically it starts from that 52nd or 53rd day. We then look at a number of those tps decisions that have been issued. But youre probably looking at the earliest 180 days out before any individuals are, any tps orders are enforced. Its still very much in the courts, unfortunately. Well continue to play it out in the courts, even though we did have a ninth Circuit Decision last week. Theyre still very much, and theres other lawsuits i would say and other court cases, depending on the country that were talking about regarding tps. All thats to say, theres not one answer on how were addressing tps. Sen. Rosen would you consider speaking now particularly of protecting those essential workers that are critical to our Pandemic Response . Mr. Wolf well continue to look at that. Again, we have, again, about 180 days before theres going to be any action taken. But these are temporary programs. Tps is a temporary program. We litigated, we talked about this in 2017. Policy decisions were made by former secretaries at that time regarding tps. If this is a population that the United States congress feels very passionate about, very much like daca, very much like some of these other temporary populations, then i would encourage congress to find a lasting solution for these individuals. Sen. Rosen i would love for us to do that too. In the meantime, we are very short of those essential workers in many of our communities across this country and during a pandemic. I would just urge special consideration of those families who are putting their own lives on the line to save others as we , this week hit over 200,000 , families whose lives are forever altered by the death of someone that they love. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Wolf yes, senator. Chairman johnson thank you, senator rosen. Senator scott . Sen. Scott thank you, chairman johnson. Secretary wolf, thank you for being here. Talking about tps, twice in the last year, i took a bill to the floor, all republican senators supported it, which would completely revamp the tps program, which after it expired would come back to congress and , congress would actually make the decision of what should happen with regard to tps. And it would immediately have granted tps to venezuelans, which is very important, especially in my state. Unfortunately, the democrats blocked it both times. Its interesting that theres this interest in doing something about tps, but the democrats dont want to fix it. So first of all, i just want to thank you for what youre doing. I was just down in pensacola with fema down there with the hurricane that just hit. The individual that runs the southeast for fema immigration check does a great job. I just want to thank fema for their efforts. I know theyre not doing it just in florida, but theyre doing it around the country as weve had different disastrous. The people that work at fema do a great job. Mr. Wolf well, i appreciate that. Obviously, when we talk about fema, we talk about the Covid Response a lot, but outside of that, theyre normal every daytoday work, responding to wildfires in california and oregon, hurricane laura in southeast louisiana. Theyre still there. Theyre still onsite. We are into the greek alphabet on named storms. Its a very active season, and i appreciate the support. Sen. Scott yeah. Ive been up here. This will be i think my 21st month, along with senator holly. I just want to tell you my experience with Homeland Security and the people that work for you, theyre very responsive. Your legislative affairs team is very responsive. You get an answer. Its not always exactly what you want, but everybody ive talked to, theyre trying to be very responsive. One thing i know thats important to you is Law Enforcement. I just want to ask you how you, i dont know if you saw what happened last week. I did a unanimous consent that all the republican senators signed off on just a resolution , in the senate supporting our men and women in Law Enforcement. It shocked me, but the democrats blocked it. I mean, i cant imagine not supporting that. Youve got a lot of wonderful men and women that work in Law Enforcement. Hows it make the people that work with you feel when you see that people dont recognize that they put their lives on the line . In my eight years as governor, we lost 51 members of Law Enforcement in the line of duty while i was governor. I mean, these people are putting their lives on the line every day. How do you think it makes the people feel . Mr. Wolf yeah. Its extremely difficult. Dhs is the largest Law Enforcement agency in the country, from Border Patrol to ice to secret service and everything in between. We have an extensive Law Enforcement community at the department. Its not the only thing that we do, but its a big portion of what we do. I travel and i get the opportunity to talk with those Law Enforcement officers, the first thing they say, and they could say a lot of things to me, the first thing they say is, thank you. Thank you for talking about what we do and how we protect the homeland. They put on a badge, they put on a uniform every day at great risk to themselves, and now to their families. I talked about doxxing earlier and theyre just trying to go to work and do their job and protect their communities. When they see some of the dialogue thats out there and trying to paint them a certain way with a broad brush, obviously there are bad actors in every profession to include Law Enforcement, we need to hold those individuals accountable, but when they Start Talking about Law Enforcement across the board as being racist or whatever it might be, it impacts these individuals. Theyre not robots, theyre humans. I try to talk to them a lot about making sure that they understand the support that they have at the various highest levels of the department, making sure that were supporting them, not only through training and resources and ppe and in covid environment, but i think a lot of what we do in supporting them is what we say publicly. Making sure that we have their back. We need to hold individuals that abuse that accountable. And i will do that from my position. But federal protective service, and weve talked about portland here a little bit, i dont think most people knew about the federal protective service five months ago. They know about them now. They know about the work that they do being unfairly targeted and the like. I appreciate those comments, and ill keep talking very specifically about the Law Enforcement mission that the department has. Sen. Scott thank you for doing that. I had the opportunity to visit the u. S. Customs and Border Protection International Mail facility in miami before covid, so i think it was last fall. They went through and talked about how theyre trying to combat counterfeit goods from communist china. Weve seen unbelievable human rights abuses. Theres an article today, i havent looked at the background of it, but on top of what theyre doing to the uighurs, heyre doing something similar with the tibetans in communist china, and its disgusting. Can you talk a little bit about what youre doing to try to crack down on goods that are produced with the statesponsored uighur forced labor, and how youre able to do that . And how difficult it is for your mail centers to try to stop some of this counterfeiting and try to even deal with human rights abuses . Mr. Wolf yeah. Ive been to the same mail facility in miami, and its quite an impressive operation that they have, as they screen parcels coming in. When we talk about china and forced labor, the Department Took some action recently, along with the administration in putting in withhold removal orders for specific Companies Operating in china that have been identified as using forced labor. So, from a cbp perspective, we can put these orders in place that are actually fairly effective because we simply dont let the product come in. It allows companies that are using those, that have relationships with these companies, theyre going to have to shift. Theyre going to have to adjust. Theyre going to have to make sure that subcontractors and folks that theyre using in china are not part of this order or have not have been identified as having these abuses, having this forced labor, having products made from forced labor. We think that theyre very effective. Obviously, theres other things that the administration can do as far as sanctions and other activities. But from a dhs perspective, we think that these withhold orders are actually very effective. Were very proud of sort of the piece of the pie that we play there. Were very forceful and leaning forward and making sure that we identify these companies that are using this forced labor in china and calling them out. Sen. Scott i just want to finish by thanking you. Ive had the opportunity to meet with d. H. S. Individuals in Central America. Ive met with them along the border with mexico. I can just tell you theyre a class act, trying to do their job and they need the support of congress. Thank you very much. Mr. Wolf appreciate it. Chairman johnson well, thank you, senator scott. I think senator romneys next on the list, but i think he mightve logged off. Senator romney, are you there . If not, we will go to senator carper. Sen. Carper thanks, mr. Chairman. Mr. Wolf, welcome. Good to see you. Thank you for joining us to today. Ive mentioned this to you before, but i think it bears remembering the name Jane Holl Lute may or may not mean anything to you. She used to be deputy secretary of the department, and shes testified before us in that capacity any number of times. I remember once when she said to us that one of her foremost goals as the deputy secretary was to get the department of Homeland Security off of gaos highrisk list. She would go meet with gene dodaro, the controller general, on a monthly basis and say that this question like, how can we get off your highrisk list . And theyd lay out the steps that the department of Homeland Security needed to take, and ultimately succeeded. I learned the other day from my staff that dhs is now one of three capitallevel agencies with over 400 open jail open gao recommendations awaiting action, joining the department of defense and the department of health and Human Services with this high number of open recommendations. Among those recommendations are 26 priority recommendations related to emergency preparedness, related to border and transportation security, infrastructure, and cybersecurity among others. You and i have talked a little bit about this before on the phone. I just want to gauge your interest in if you are confirmed as our secretary to have the same kind of passion that Jane Holl Lute held for these issues when she was deputy secretary . Mr. Wolf yes, senator, and i appreciate the conversation that we had on this. We do have about 434 open gao recommendations, thats about a 50 decrease from a high that the department had in january of 2011. Its only slightly above our alltime low that we had in september of 2018. As you know, and im sure ms. Lute said, our practice at the department is we actually dont close out any gao recommendation until both we and the gao agree that it is closed out. That may not be the practice across the government writ large, but thats the practice at dhs. I also point to an april, 2020 letter that we received from the comptroller general highlighting the remarkable effort that dhs has implemented, about 83 of all gao recommendations during the past four years, and that exceeds the overall average of most federal agencies. Thats not to say that we dont have more work to do. We do. We get a lot of recommendations given our breadth and our mission, and well keep plugging along. It continues to be a focus of mine, not only making sure that we respond to the gao, but also to the i. G. Sen. Carper thank you. Thats encouraging. The preamble to the constitution ints off with the words, order to form a more perfect union. The goal of the Founding Fathers was perfection, knowing that we would never get there, and i think thats a good goal for us in this committee and certainly a good goal for Homeland Security. I would urge you to maintain the attention and the commitment there. Second, a number of us have been down to Central America and with a special focus, as you know, on honduras, guatemala, and salvador, the northern triangle countries. One of the countries, among the three, where we are seeing the most illegal migration, as you know, is guatemala. A lot of folks are coming out of the highlands. When i went down there, i said, why are so many people come out of the highlands . They said, theyre farmers. Theyre agrarian people. They have been going through a series of droughts that have decimated their ability to raise crops, including coffee. My colleagues know im a big rootcause guy. I dont just look at the symptoms of problems, i say, well, what is the causes of the problems . Do you have any thoughts about a connection between the illegal migration of folks out of the highlands of guatemala and whats going on in terms of our climate . Our oldest son, lives out in california. Theyve just been through firestorms from one end of the state to the other. My wife was down in antarctica back in, gosh, in january, where they set record temperatures, 70 degrees in antarctica. We are seeing, i think, a Record Number of maybe hurricanes expected to come to our country this year. So somethings going on here. As it turns out, i think something might be going on in guatemala. What do you think . Mr. Wolf i appreciate the question. Weve done extensive work with the northern triangle countries, with the government of mexico and others over the past threeandahalf, almost four years now. Weve signed a number of agreements back in 2019, from asylum and cooperative agreements to security agreements, to biometric agreements, making sure from a departmental perspective that we continue to help them from a security perspective. Now we work with the inner agency. We work with the state department. We work with usaid and others to help with things like food insecurity. We also address corruption. Theres a number of other issues that the northern triangle countries, the countries that you mentioned specifically, are dealing with. The department plays a specific role when it comes to security, we send teams down there. Weve had embedded teams in guatemala, honduras, el salvador. Precovid, building up their capacity, because what we know and what they have said to me, officials have said to me specifically, is that the more stability that they have in their country whether thats security, whether thats food security, whether thats an economic environment that allows individuals to stay there, is best not only for their country, but for our country as well. Were working as an interagency sort of a fullgovernment , response. Dhs has a piece of that, making sure that we provide the resources, the support, the capacitybuilding for Central America, for those northern triangle countries. Sen. Carper thank you. Five or six years ago, they had a president ial election where in guatemala, and there was a newcomer who was running. Hes actually had his own television show. A very popular guy. His name is jimmy morales. His Campaign Motto was, neither a thief, nor a crook. Neither a thief, nor a crook. He got elected to be president. I remember working with him from afar, from down there from afar, trying to mentor him and encouraging him to surround himself with excellent people and not to follow the same bad path that a number of his predecessors had followed. Corruption, that sort of thing. He ended up leaving in, maybe not disgrace, but in just being greatly discredited. It was a huge disappointment. Theres a woman who was the attorney general in guatemala, who wanted to run for president. She was in el salvador meeting with a guy named bukele, hes now the president there, and figuring out how he got elected president in el salvador and how that would help her in her campaign in guatemala. Then she was not allowed to come back into her country. Could not come back, was denied as attorney general. She was death on crime, death on corruption. Why do you suppose we never stood up for her . Not to say that they ought to elect her, but at least to try to encourage the authorities in guatemala to let her come back and run . Mr. Wolf well, im not sure i can answer that question senator. It was before my time, so im not specifically familiar with that individual. What i can tell you though is that the relationship that we have with president gimmatteis administration in guatemala is good. They are a strong partner. They understand. They want to continue sort of the agreements that weve put in place with guatemala, as well as the other countries. When we talk about the administration there today, they are good partners. We continue to work with them. We think we can always do more. Obviously, covid has been a challenging time for all of us, particularly the northern triangle. Weve provided resources to increase their testing, to increase some of their quarantine capacity as well. We continue to try to support them on a number of fronts. Sen. Carper thanks very much. Mr. Wolf thank you. Chairman johnson thank you, senator carper. Senator hawley . Sen. Hawley thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Wolf, thank you for being here. I enjoyed speaking with you last week in anticipation of this hearing. Let me talk to you a little bit about operation legend, which the department is participating in, which is so important to my home state. Just last week with another tragic shooting death in the city of st. Louis that marked , that citys 195th death this year, three months to go of course in a year that already surpasses though last years total, which was itself horrific, 194 killings in 2019. We are seeing a surge of Violent Crime across my state, unfortunately, and across the United States. This is one of the reasons why i so appreciate your departments cooperation and help with operation legend, which is itself named for a missouri resident, legend taliferro, a fouryearold boy who was killed sleeping in his home in kansas city, missouri. When you were here in august, you talk at some length, about the departments involvement in operation legend. Can you just give us an update of where those efforts stand . Mr. Wolf sure. Absolutely. We continue to support the department of justice. I talked a little bit about mutual aid support, as far as from a Law Enforcement perspective. Anytime the department of justice calls and tells us they need additional investigators, so mainly were talking about i. C. E. Homeland security , investigators that are involved every day with criminal organizations, illicit crime, firearms, anything that comes across the border and has a nexus inside the u. S. , they get involved in. They are the primary response as we work with operation legend in various cities throughout the country to include in missouri. Were happy to do that. I. C. E. And hsi is happy to lend their expertise and specifically focus on some of that Violent Crime activity thats occurring in those areas. Obviously, senator, you know the idea of operation legend is surge resources in there so that you can close cases quicker. You can get them to the investigative stage quicker. You can get them through that investigative and prosecutorial stage. You want to speed up the timeframe, because as you know being the attorney general, it takes time to get through all this. You want to flood the zone with resources to address the issue, and were happy to be a part of that. Sen. Hawley thank you for what you are doing. As someone who served as the attorney general of my state, my states former chief Law Enforcement official, i can tell you that having additional resources, i mean, we always welcomed prosecutorial help, investigative help. So i know that missouri Law Enforcement officials are very grateful. They have told me that. Theyve said that on the record. Im very grateful for what youre doing. Thank you for your partnership with d. O. J. And your help to our local officials oftentimes are , very strapped for resources. That is just the fact of the matter at all times, but especially at this time to react i want to talk about Human Trafficking. Earlier this year, the department announced a new strategy to end Human Trafficking and recognize that issue as a priority for the Homeland Security department. I really applaud this new focus. Ive introduced legislation in this congress to authorize a comprehensive study to determine how widespread Human Trafficking is now in this country. We havent had a comprehensive study of this sort in over a decade. I think its time we found out. Can you just give us an update on the implementation of the departments strategy on Human Trafficking and what progress has been made . Mr. Wolf sure. Absolutely. So this is an area i dont know that the department has really talked about it in length. Obviously, we have a Blue Campaign and again, ice, hsi does a lot of work in this Human Trafficking area, but its not an area the department has traditionally talked about. I think were trying to change that. We have a strategy, as you talked about at the beginning of this year. In october, we will be opening a Human Trafficking center at the department. So again, were trying to signal that this is a threat. This is sort of a threat line that we continue to focus on at the department, making sure that were applying all of the resources throughout the department into one center to attack this issue head on. I can get back to you on the specific updates from the strategy itself, but let me just leave you with the fact that we take this seriously. We are devoting extensive resources to it. This is not just a oneoff issue that we like to tack on at the end of the sentence. This is an issue that we care deeply about, and were putting a lot of time and effort into it. Sen. Hawley well, i certainly appreciate your focus on it and i think that the department did so much last year to raise awareness about the levels of Human Trafficking we were seeing on the southern border and cartels involvement in human terrific, and the horrific details about the use of children, the selling, the renting of children and how trafficking rings were doing this on the southern border. That awareness, i mean, getting those facts out there and then coming up with a strategy to combat that, i think, is so key , and the department is stepping up to that. Mr. Wolf i appreciate that. And we continued that along the southwest border with our fraudulent family unit program, which is making sure that as individuals come across that border and they do claim to be a family that we hold those , individuals accountable. And were doing that a couple of different ways, rapid dna and elsewhere. And we continue to find a high amount of fraud. Whether these are individuals and children that are being trafficked or being smuggled or the like, we are finding a High Percentage of fraud there. Sen. Hawley Human Trafficking has got to be the worst of human rights abuses. It truly is modern day slavery. Its a travesty to have it in any form in this country. And i applaud you and encourage you to continue the efforts to use the full weight of the department to root it out and to bring those criminals who are perpetrating it, whether inside this country or outside, by pushing it into the country, to bring them to justice. Let me talk to you about another form of human rights abuses going on in china. Senator scott mentioned this and i just want to follow up. I was delighted to see the cbp take action last week by issuing five new withhold released orders on various Consumer Products made by companies and made by companies in the xinjiang region, and chinese one facility thats widely considered to be a concentration camp. I think we need to do even more. Ive introduced legislation that would require all major multinational corporations to certify that the whole of their supply chains are slave free. To your knowledge, is cbp currently weighing any more comprehensive bans, limits on the importation of goods from the region of xinjiang rather than just bans on specific producers . Mr. Wolf the answer is yes to both of those. So continue to look at not only sort of a regional approach, but also additional producers. Cbp also took similar actions, i believe, with the company out of malaysia several months ago as well. So again, china is obviously a big focus, but were also looking across the globe, making sure that we hold folks that are participating in forced labor accountable. I believe so far this fiscal year, cbp has issued 12 wros, including eight again from china itself. So well continue to lean in on that. Sen. Hawley very good. Again, i salute your work on that and hope that well be able to push forward and to do our best to root out the sort of forced labor and certainly to end any american complicity in it. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chairman johnson thank you, senator hawley. Senator sinema. Sen. Sinema thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate acting secretary wolf joining us today. I want to focus my questions today on several issues related to Border Security and immigration, key issues, of course, in my home state of arizona. I remain committed to finding bipartisan and Common Sense Solutions to secure arizonas border and protect Public Health while also treating migrants , fairly and humanely. Strong Border Security and a fair immigration system should be mutually reinforcing goals, and im always ready to work with my colleagues in a bipartisan way to achieve these goals. So my first question for you, mr. Wolf, is your department has not completed Environmental Stewardship plans for border barrier projects in arizona, despite local stakeholders expressing significant concerns about the impact of these projects on water and Cultural Resources. While my office has received information from dhs that these reports will be available soon, construction began before mitigation plans were complete. I will note that my office received reports of dynamite blasting in Guadalupe Canyon yesterday related to wall construction. Do you believe that esp should be completed before dhs begins construction on a specific project or it takes action, such as blasting with dynamite that will have a permanent impact on our land . And could you explain why or why not . Mr. Wolf sure. Thank you, senator. We continue at the department mainly through cbp obviously, in , conjunction with the army corps of engineers who is building our border wall, a new border wall system, to minimize or mitigate any impacts to natural Cultural Resources along the southwest border. I will say the president did issue a National Emergency to build a new border wall system. So where appropriate, we are waiving regulations to make sure that that work does not slow down, is not delayed and we continue to build new border wall system. That is not to say, again, that we take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and cbp continues to solicit information from the public on how to address environmental impacts. Now, as we talked earlier, i believe last week on the Environmental Stewardship plans, those are almost to completion. Those should be issued in october, and were happy to share those with you, those specifically regarding the 137 miles in the tucson sector. Well continue to abide by our responsibilities to make sure that were good stewards of the environment, making sure that we are doing everything that we can to minimize and mitigate impacts to the environment as we build that new border wall system. But its been very clear that that is a National Security issue, and were going to continue to build that new border wall system. Sen. Sinema thank you. I just want to note that the reports are not available yet, and yet there was dynamiting in the Guadalupe Canyon yesterday. And so it seems like theres a cart before the horse situation and i do want to note that , residents of Southern Arizona have expressed intense concern about this. So i hope this is something that youd be willing to address in the order in which you move forward with these projects. My second question is a common theme that i have raised in many of our conversations is the , insufficient communication between dhs stakeholders in arizona and my office on a variety of issues. This includes the border barrier construction concerns we just discussed, but it also includes a wide array of other topics like the use of hotels to attain the attain migrant children, conditions in i. C. E. Detention facilities, consultation with arizonas tribal leaders, crossing restrictions at our ports of entry and the use of title 42 authority at the border. My office has asked you and your office to provide the guidance that your department uses to keep detainees safe and ensure that trafficking victims are not returned to danger in mexico. Ive also asked you to take some common sense steps such as having proper backandforth consultation with arizona tribes on issues such as wall construction. Can you tell me what the specific steps that youve taken to improve communication between dhs and our state, local and tribal partners in arizona . Mr. Wolf sure, senator. Ive talked to leadership, both at i. C. E. Based off of conversations that you and i have had, as well as c. P. B. Making sure that those lines of , communication, it starts at the local level. Obviously, theres only so much i can do from washington, d. C. But i need to make sure that ice , area directors, cbp, port directors there in arizona are making sure that they are communicating with their individual stakeholders. Obviously, ive gone to arizona numerous times over the past 10 months. And every time i go, i start off with a roundtable of dhs leadership, making sure that they understand what my priorities are. The top priority, usually in all of those roundtables is about communication. Making sure that they are communicating to their stakeholders why were putting in a border restrictions at ports of entry and why were doing what we do. We addressed the issue, i believe, we had with the mayor of phoenix, trying to understand more about the use of hotels for uacs. Again, thats a practice that dhs has been utilizing for a number of years, over a decade. But again, was able to get the i. C. E. Director on the phone with the mayor, and i think that issue has been resolved as well. So well continue to make sure that were communicating. I tried to meet with a number of tribes in arizona. It was unfortunately right at the beginning of the outbreak of covid and i believe the reservation was closed at that time. So, continuing to be willing to meet with any and all individuals, but it also starts there at the local level within the state of arizona. Sen. Sinema thank you. And i appreciate that. I know the mayor is eager to have constant communication and an open line of communication with folks representing dhs in the metro phoenix community. My last question. Currently, dhs provides a migrant whos going through pacr or hrp with a 48hour consultation window prior to their interview with a uscis asylum officer. But migrants in cbp custody have inconsistent and limited ability to receive calls back from legal representatives or nonprofit organizations. Can you talk about how you plan to address this issue so that migrants in these programs can receive the phone calls from counsel . Mr. Wolf absolutely, senator. So pacr and hrp are the two programs, i believe, youre referencing. Those are expedited removal programs. Obviously, thats authority granted to us by congress to make sure that we do those removal proceedings in an expedited manner. We make sure that they have access to counsel, that they have all of their Due Process Rights through that expedited process, but it is an expedited process. And we try to get that down to a certain number of days. So we continue to make sure, again, that they have access to counsel or any other Legal Services that they may need to represent themselves or their clients. I think its important to keep in mind that pacr and hrp are part of the expedited removal process the department goes through every day. So its different than other removal proceedings where perhaps that will drag on for weeks and months, and theres multiple opportunities. The expedited removal process is again defined by congress and were trying to do that in a very expedited manner. But we continue to allow them access to counsel and any other, again, Legal Services that they need. Sen. Sinema last comment ill make, mr. Chairman. I know that my time has expired. I just want to note that only 13 of over 2,000 hrp cases and only 18 over 2,700 pacr cases have had a legal representative in their proceedings. So theres clearly a lot of work that we have yet to do here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Chairman johnson thank you. Thanks, senator sinema. Again, acting secretary wolf, i want to thank you for your service and sacrifice. I want to personally, again, thank your wife and your kids that they dont can see as much as im sure theyd like to. So again, appreciate that. And please convey allie my personal appreciation, but i think the communitys appreciation to all the men and women who serve with you working day in and day out 24 7 trying to keep our homeland safe. God bless all of you. We really appreciate it. The nominee has made Financial Disclosures and provided responses to biographical and prehearing questions submitted by this committee. Without objection, this information will be made a part of the hearing record with the exception of the financial data, which are on file and available for public inspection in the committee offices. The hearing record will remain open until 5 00 pm tomorrow, september 24th for the submission and statements and questions for the record. And like many of our Committee Members mentioned, it is important that we have a confirmed secretary for the department of Homeland Security. So, acting secretary wolf, ill do everything i can to move this nomination along as expeditiously as possible. Thank you. This hearing is adjourned. [gavel bangs] [chatter] heres a look at our live coverage thursday. On cspan, the houses back at 9 00 a. M. Eastern for general speeches followed by legislative speeches at 11 00. Members are considering nearly 100 amendments to a bill that establishes new clean energy initiatives. The Senate Returns on cspan 22 vote on the nomination of the u. S. District court judge for virginia. Then on cspan3, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell appear together on capitol hill for the second time this week to testify on the Economic Impact of the coronavirus. Let Senate Banking hearing gets underway at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. There are several events streaming live in our website thursday. At 10 00, fbi director Christopher Wray testifies before the senate Homeland Security committee about worldwide threats. A house agriculture subcommittee looks at Wildfire Response and recover efforts. At 7 00 p. M. , our campaign 20 coverage includes a rally with President Trump in florida. That is all live at cspan. Org. Our campaign 2020 coverage continues with candidates campaigning and debating. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. Joe biden traveled to charlotte, North Carolina to speak with voters at a black economic summit. Event, theto the former Vice President also answered a few questions from reporters. Got off the plane in North Carolina. It is up to you guys. Ok . Have used that are preparing . Prepare butarted to i havent gotten into it really heavily. I will be tomorrow. Vice president , yesterday president xi jinping said he does not want a zerosum game in relations with china. Elected, do you think u. S. Relations with china will be a zerosum game . Fmr. Vice pres. Biden no. There is a lot at stake in how we handle it. I will be firm on chinas violation of human rights, violations of the South China Sea and a whole other things. Recent analysis can show that china is word that i will be tough. I make up excuses for that. None whatsoever. Are you still vetting Supreme Court nominees even if youre not planning to their voices must be heard. It is important is make it clear what is going to happen, what is about to happen if republicans vote for the nominee. What will happen is womens rights as it relates to everything from health care will be gone. We will finance the Affordable Care act. Women will be able to be charged more than men for the same procedures again. We should go to the American People [indiscernible] gigantic mistake and abuse of power. Thank you. Thank you. [engine roaring] mayor lyles good afternoon. Or good morning. Its still good morning, i believe. I want to say thank you for coming out on this fabulous charlotte fall day to have a very important conversation with a very important person that we will hope to see in january, on a stage, being inaugurated as the next president oe