Transcripts For CSPAN2 Public Affairs Events 20240713

Americans. It has sickened over 1 million americans and it is impacted every one of us. My deepest sympathies are with those we lost, and i salute the efforts of those on the front lines including the dedicated Intelligence Community professionals reporting for duty and carrying out their mission. These are truly trying times and your courage, honor and sacrifice will not be forgotten. Id like to begin by thanking President Trump for his Incredible Opportunity for me to serve our nation and for his confidence in me. I would also like to thank former u. S. Attorney general John Ashcroft for his gracious and humbling statement. I am forever grateful for your faith in me. I also want to recognize and thank senator cornyn for his kind words, and my fellow texans for their support. It is been the privilege of my life to represent the constituents of texas was Congressional District. Finally and most Important League theres no way i could be with you today without the encouragement and support of my family. Id like to recognize and thank my amazing wife michelle, are truly wonderful daughters, and my mom kathy and my five brothers and sisters, kitty, bob, sharon, pam and alert. Watching from above im sure as my late dad robert. My career in Public Service is drug reflection of my families selflessness, their sacrifice, their enduring love of country and for me. I simply dont have the words to adequately express my gratitude. My journey here today has been a mixture of Public Service and private sector experience. I graduated college at age 20, law school at age 23, tried my first case at age 24. A decade later as a managing partner of my own law firm and by most measures i was successful. But something was missing. As the son of two publicschool teachers i was taught from an early age of Public Service selfsacrifice, reflecting back i realized it was those values that push me to a higher calling, what a service to the American People. The catalyst for me came with september 11, 2001, when the first plane struck i was sitting on a 35th floor of a highrise Office Building in dallas, texas, that looked a whole lot like the ones in new york that were under attack. I watched so Many Americans give their lives that terrible day and then the much the fall i watched many more sacrifice so much to defend the United States. And it inspired me to take stock of all the gifts that i have been given and what i might contribute to the defense of this great nation. Within a few years i changed careers altogether. I left that civil law practice behind to become a federal prosecutor in the United States department of justice. And during my four years in the u. S. Attorneys office for the Eastern District of texas i service chief of at the terrorism, National Security, First Assistant just attorney, and finally u. S. Attorney. My daily responsibilities involve leading and managing, directing and prosecuting National Security cases and related matters including domestic and international terrorism, drug and human trafficking, transnational crime, and the illegal immigration among others. I let him at the districts joint Terrorism Task force activity and worked closely with just a 12 officials and fbi on terrorism prevention, the overriding priority for the department of justice. In these roles i came to appreciate the value of donated and integrated interagency efforts and the importance of timely, accurate and objective intelligence and keeping americans safe. For the past six use ive been fortunate to serve with you all in congress. I continue to prioritize National Security issues, seeking assignments on the house intelligence come judiciary and Homeland Security committees. Although serving the citizens of the fourth Congressional District of texas has been the honor of a lifetime i believe that my passion for service combined with my experience, my abilities in my judgment makes me the right person to have successfully lead the men and women of the Intelligence Community. If confirmed as dni my top 40 will be to present the president and senior policymakers and this committee with objective and timely intelligence to better informed decisions about the future and safety of our great nation. As the president rentable intelligence advisor i would ensure that all intelligence is collected, analyzed and reported without bias, prejudice, or political influence. I see threat doesnt tell just as more than a leader, america, and integrator. The dni must at all times be an arrow catcher, a problem solver, and obstacle mover for the ic. Addressing issues, resolving conflicts of putting tools and resources in the right place at the right time and always, always the dni must be the voice to advocate for and defend the interests of the ic and its people. If confirmed as dni, you have my commitment to deliver timely, accurate and objective intelligence and to speak truth to power. Be that with congress or within the administration. Let me be very clear. Regardless of what anyone wants our intelligence to reflect, intelligence i will provide if confirmed will not be impacted or altered as a result of outside influence. Above all, my fidelity and loyalty will always be with the constitution and the rule of law, and my actions at dni will reflect that commitment. Many of you have asked me what i see as the greatest threats facing our nation. The route is the Threat Landscape today is the first, dynamic and geographically diffuse more so than ever before. I believe the immediate focus of the ic must be directed to the geopolitical and Economic Impact of the coronavirus pandemic as well as its origins. The American People deserve answers, and if confirmed i pledge that the ic will remain laser focused on providing them. We face entering charges under the front as well. These include china, from the race to 5g to preventing cyber espionage. Russia and his continued efforts to undermine our democracy by interfering in free and fair elections. Iran and its continued pursuit of nuclear capabilities, ballistic missiles, and sponsorship of terrorist groups. North korea and its continued possession of Nuclear Weapons and delivery systems. And transnational issues like cybersecurity, safeguarding our supply chain, and, of course, preventing terrorist attacks or a resurgence of isis. This list is by no means exhaustive. To address the full spectrum of threats and threat actors, the ic must work continuously to earn the trust of the president , the congress and the American People. At its core the dni position is about leadership. If confirmed i hope to be a stabilizing force to build trust and break down barriers to information sharing as warranted in order to sharpen the analytic work of the Intelligence Community jerk for me, the odni remains the office best position to lead integration of the Intelligence Community. We can never underestimate the t a truly integrated intelligence operations or analysis or assume that agencies would do so on their own without strong leadership from above. That said, i believe every Government Agency must constantly review its operations to ensure it is setting the right priorities, to the Mission Objectives and spending taxpayer dollars effectively and efficiently. If confirmed i will work with ic leaders to assess what is working well and where we need to make adjustments to make the community more effective, efficient, and resilient. In closing, to remain the worlds premier intelligence enterprise, the ic must continue to recruit and retain the best, brightest and most Diverse Workforce our nation has to offer. The men and women of the ic of dedicated Civil Service who rarely, if ever, we see the full recognition of their sacrifice to country and dedication to the mission of keeping americans safe, secure and free as dni, the would be no greater champion of their hard work and dedication to this country than me. Im honored by the opportunity to be here with you today, and i thank you for your consideration of my nomination during these difficult times. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you for those remarks. We will go into the first block of time consumed by the chair, vice chair, senator risch, senator feinstein and senator rubio. Members will have up to five minutes. Ill try to bank some time. Several questions. When youre confirmed to be dni you will be walking into an organization thats been let for quite some time by acting officials. It applies to the position for which a been nominated but also more recently to the Inspector Generals office. Independent and ability to speak truth to power are critical in both offices. Can you speak to your views of the importance of the Intelligence Committee Inspector General and your expectations of what the office, about office as dni . Senator, thank you for the question. You made reference to acting officials. I have been an acting officials for a period of time. I was acting u. S. Attorney an appreciation for why Senate Confirmed leadership does make a difference and is important and appreciate this committee considering the in that regard. I also appreciate the comments you have made as has vice chairman warner about speaking truth to power. And i very much intend to do that if confirmed as dni. With regard to the Inspector General position, i have a strong record of supporting and defending and working with Inspector General. For example, i have publicly defended Inspector General Michael Horowitz even when some of my colleagues have criticized his work and even when i disagreed with some of his opinions. But i understand the role and the importance of the Inspector General because there will always be misconduct, waste, fraud, and abuse when you have government. I am very committed, if confirmed, as dni to working with Inspector General to make sure that the Intelligence Community has that type of process in place to ensure that the Intelligence Community is always acting in the best interest of the American People. Over the course of the last three years this committee has issued four reports about russias meddling in our elections covering russias intrusions in the state election system, the use of social media to attempt to influence the election and most recently confirming the findings of the 2017 Intelligence Community assessment. While being mindful of the fact that were in an unclassified setting, what are your views on russias meddling in our elections . Chairman, my views are that russia meddled in or interfered with active measures in 2016. They interviewed interviewed in 2016 and they will tend to do so in 2018. They have a goal of sowing discord and they have been successful in sowing discord. Fortunately, based on the work, the good work of this committee, we know that they may have been successful in that regard but theyve not been successful in changing votes for the outcome of any election. The Intelligence Community as you know place a vital role in ensuring that were safe, secure and Credible Elections, and that every vote cast by every american is done so properly and counted properly. Will you commit to bring information about threats to the election infrastructure and about foreign governments efforts to influence elections to congress so we are fully and currently informed . I will. Will you commit to testify at this committees annual worldwide threats hearing . I will. Last question, i mentioned over the past three years with issued four reports. Number five is finished. Number five will go for declassification. Do we have your commitment as a dni that you would expeditiously go throgh the declassification process . You do. Senator warner. Thank you, mr. Chairman. You actually took some of my questions. My eyesight is good. Mr. Ratcliffe, good to see you and i appreciated our time last friday. I want to follow up on a couple of the chairmans questions first. As we discussed, we are volume five, and so far our first four volumes have all been unanimous or i think maybe with the exception of one dissenting vote, you know, if we get this document to the odni, we need your commitment not only that we do it expeditiously but as much as possible to get that volume five reviewed, redacted and released ideally before the august recess. I know youve not seen the report yet. All i would ask is aspirationally that you commit to that goal because i think as we discussed to have a document that could be potentially significant, come out in the midst of the president ial campaign isnt a good or fair on either side. If i could clarify little bit, recognizing youve not seen the document, its 1000 pages that that you try to get this cleared prior to august . Vice chairman, i will again commit that i will work with you to get that declassified as expeditiously as possible. Again our goal is to get it out before august. Again, following up on the chairmans comments, and we talked about this in person but i want to for the committee for the public record, youve indicated that you do believe that russia interfered. What this committees judgment was, particularly in on four but throughout all volumes was that not only did russia interfere but during their interference in 2016 had, they had a selected candidate they were for and a selected candidate they were against, for candidate trump against candidate clinton. Have you had a chance to review our documents and have you reached a similar conclusion, conclusion that actually reinforces the unanimous conclusion of the Intelligence Community assessment, or can you comment on our volume four . Yeah, senator, i very much appreciate the bipartisan approach in which this committee addressed that issue. I did have a chance to review volume four which i know confirms the ic assessment. I have no reason to dispute the committees findings. I will say that i have no reason to dispute the committee that i serve on, house Intelligence Committees finding finding which is a different perspective with regard to that one issue that you mentioned about a preference for a candidate. I was not on the committee at that time. I have not, i respect both committees but have not seen the underlying intelligence, tell me why there is a difference of opinion between the two committees. But again i very much appreciate volume four and work this committee put in and again i would reiterate the most important take away from the findings of both committees is that as russia continues to sow discord, that theyve not been successful in changing votes or the outcome of election and we need to remain committed to making sure that that does not happen in the future. Respectfully to me, to make that kind of assessment and decide how were going to prevent russias further interference in 2020, if they have a clear preference for one candidate over another, over another that would also alter how we counter those efforts. I really hope youll spend the time and look at the underlying intelligence, if you find that you reach a conclusion that is different than the unanimous conclusion of the Intelligence Community or the unanimous conclusion of this here i would expect a brief on that and pointing out how you found our conclusions or the ic conclusions were inaccurate, you will commit to come back to us if youve reached the different conclusion once you have reviewed that underlying intelligence. I will. One of the things we also discussed, an area of the community that seems under assault with the acting odni, and that is the Election Security unit. Theres obviously different parts of the ic. The nsa has a group. The cia has a group but one of the most important is the group that is stood up, was stood up by director coats, and includes intelligence professionals like shelby pearson. They have briefed us on a regular basis. I would like your commitment that since where literally less than six months away from this years president ial elections, that you will taking efforts to dismantle the current leadership of the Election Security unit or the current capabilities of the Election Security unit this close to the 2020 election. Senator, i have no intention making changes in that regard. And that unit should they have data that is relevant and appropriate for this committees responsibility, that that unit will be able to continue on a regular basis to bring this committee. Senator, i want to make sure that im clear throughout the day that if confirmed as the dni and a look at the global Threat Landscape, i mentioned the Global Pandemic and the ics role with respect to that, but the other immediate concern is safe, secure, verdict about election and ill make it my highest priority to confirm to do Everything Possible that we have those safe, secure, Credible Elections in 2020. But its important again that group who has breached this made under that brief. Continuing to echo what the chairman has said, and again the clocks they are not running. Will you give me a high sign . Youre done. Did i get my five minutes . Last question then. You know, should you be confirmed, we are already passed due date on when we would have the traditional worldwide threat hearing. You have committed to the chairman that you would hold that hearing. My hope would be that that commitment would take place within 60 days of you being confirmed. Senator, ill make a commitment to, i look forward if confirmed to appearing as a dni in a worldwide threat hearing. I dont want to make a commitment in terms of time that i dont know what i am promising exactly. What i will make the commitment is that if confirmed, i agree that its important and i will work to make that happen as expeditiously as possible. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Congressman ratcliffe has been incredibly generous with his time with me. Ive had an opportunity to spend some time with him. I have all the questions that i need answered from him already. Indeed, most of them arent available for discussion in open setting like this, but in the interest of keeping you on time and on schedule, im going to yield back my time since i do have answers to my questions. So thank you. I thank you, senator risch. With that, senator feinstein. Thanks very much, mr. Chairman. Congressman, welcome. Id like to ask you a couple of questions about whistleblowers, if i might. This committee has adhered to a tradition of protecting whistleblowers. However, its my understanding that your participation in President Trumps campaign to punish and discredit one ic whistleblower suggests you do not align yourself with his bipartisan approach. Let me give you an example. During a december 11 hearing of the House Committee on the judiciary you claimed without any evidence that the whistleblower got caught making a false statement. On december 12, you tweeted that the whistleblower didnt tell the truth, both verbally and in writing. He also attacked hpsci staff providing guidance to potential whistleblowers on how to lawfully make a disclosure. Heres the question. If you are confirmed, do you believe that your past remarks concerning the ukraine whistleblower will discourage ic whistleblowers from exercising their rights, consistent with the law to make protected disclosures . Senator, thanks for the question. I want to make it very clear, if confirmed as dni, every whistleblower, past, present, and future will enjoy every protection under the law. I dont want to relitigate old issues of what happened during the impeachment inquiry. My issue was not with the whistleblower. My issue was with what i perceived as a lack of due process in the house process. Again i dont want to relitigate the issues i leave it at that. But every whistleblower can expect full protection under the law. Whistleblowers are so important. A whistleblower in doctor in china is one of the reasons we got an earlier warning. So ill make that commitment to you, senator. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. On the evening of april 3, President Trump announced that he was firing mr. Atkinson because he had sought to transmit to congress a credible whistleblower complaint of urgent concern, one that was required by law to be transmitted to congress. Do you share the belief of members of this committee and the senate that mr. Atkinson was improperly fired, despite the fact as acting director maguire said he did everything by the book and followed the law . I appreciate the question and i think before you entered the room i talked about my history in strong support of working with Inspector Generals. I talked about Inspector General horowitz who was someone i went to when i thought there was a problem with the misuse of intelligence authorities, and very much appreciated his approach and work and some of the concerns i raised presented, were presented in his findings in his report. With respect to Inspector General atkinson and the situation that you described, i dont have enough information to answer your question. And if i can explain why. I will tell you that my dealings with Inspector General atkinson, i had no issues. I think he did what he thought was right. I think he did think he was following the law. The flip side to that is that the legal opinion within the odni, from the general counsel and from the department of justice, office of Legal Counsel, my reading of it is that their determination was that he may have exceeded his authority because the investigation involved issues that were not intelligence activities or Intelligence Community employees. Thats a legal question that i dont know the answer to. Again, i very much want to reiterate that if confirmed, how important Inspector Generals are in government, and my strong history of working with them. And i understand although hes an acting capacity Inspector General tom is in that role. I dont know him but hes a 30 year veteran, very well respected so i hope to have the opportunity to work with him. Thank you. I appreciate that answer. If confirmed, do you commit to directing all ic agencies to cooperate fully with congressional oversight requests regarding covid19 . And to promptly produce the full membership and staff of the congressional Intelligence Committees, all intelligence requested by congress, regarding covid19 . Senator, thanks for the question and that is meant to be broad. It is and i appreciate the question, and in my opening remarks, and i think reiterating in one of my responses, that the immediate concern that i have is getting answers from the American People to the through the Intelligence Community, if confirmed. If confirmed, the Intelligence Community will be laser focused on getting all of the answers that we can regarding how this happened, when this happened, and i commit to providing with as much transparency to you as the law will allow and with due regard for sources and methods that everything be provided as quickly as possible. Thank you. Just a couple of questions quickly about hard targets. In your view, is of the ic doing enough to collect against hard targets like north korea . Senator, as you know the challenge with north korea is visibility. And i think my impression from the outside, like you as a member of an Oversight Committee of intelligence, is that we have very good collection. Im only caveating that because if confirmed as dni i may have a different viewpoint or more information to look at. I would make it a priority. You know, i think collection obviously an analysis of intelligence is what makes this the greatest intelligence enterprise in the world, and i will commit that if we are not doing enough, senator, i will make it a high priority to improve any standards that we may need to employ. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations on your nomination. I think thats you. With the television i cant see that far away. Weve gotten to know each other a bit over the years, not in the setting of intelligence but through mutual friends. I just kind of want to ask you a very simple and straightforward question. You have an accomplished career. You are by standards in a seat considered by the cook report as a safe district. You seem to be enjoying your work. Why are you doing this . I dont mean that in a negative way. Obviously you have exposed yourself to criticism in the climate today and politics is pretty intense. I think the most fundamental question is why, why is this a job you are willing to step forward and do at this time . Senator, i appreciate the question and i appreciated the time weve had to get to know each other when you have come over to the lower house to visit with us. First of all, i think anytime the president asks you to do something for your country you ought to consider. If theres a way to salute but to leave a successful law practice, to be prosecutor and make a fraction of that to be a federal prosecutor, that the nation is too important and what the Intelligence Community means, how would as positioned the United States as the world superpower between the Intelligence Community, congress, the president and across the board right now is something thats at issue. Weve got intelligence authorities and their uses being questioned. I realize its sort of a difficult time but dni, again, the core responsibility is leadership. Its easy to raise your hand when things are going perfectly. Its harder to reach your hand when they are not, and the mission is to import of keeping americans safe, and the opportunity to lead is something that a want to do. And i guess i will say this. Its been the privilege of my life to serve as a member of congress, but the best job i ever had was to be the United States attorney. What i loved about it was it was an apolitical position. I stood up always to represent the United States of america, never one party or another. And i very much view that as this role for the dni. I look forward to treating every member, republican and democrat, exactly the same way. And, frankly, being out of politics. I mean, thats an important question because ive heard some of the skepticism thats been raised is about experience and the experience needed to lead this intelligence enterprise. Its my duty actually pretty extensive experience both on the committee in the house, Homeland Security and intelligence and also in judiciary and in your work as a u. S. Attorney. What is it in what you have done over the last, during your career that you believe prepares you best for the role you now have of overseeing all of these different pillars of our intelligence capablities . As was mentioned earlier i have now seen intelligence from three different vantage points, as an enduser and the developer, as a consumer of intelligence, and as an overseer of intelligence. And as far as experience, i started handling National Security issues back in 2005, and that included intelligence authorities. My first exposure with fisa was 2005, and in trying to respond to this committee we found that in at least one instance, the authority that i used remained or the matters that a work on remained classified. So from an experience standpoint as far back as 2005 i have been using those authorities. But i think the role of u. S. Attorney in particular and my time as chief of antiterrorism for four years is particularly wellsuited and analogous to the dni. So as u. S. Attorney i was running a federated enterprise working across federal agencies, integrating, coordinating, sharing information and doing so in an apolitical way. And thats very much what the director of National Intelligence does. Integrates and coordinates across all 17 intelligence agencies, making the Community Better so they can make members of congress, the president and our policymakers better informed on National Security decisions. My time in congress as well, the committees ive been on, legislating, creating National Security laws. I think ive got a broad, deep, and more than qualified level of experience when we talk about National Security issues. I also think ive got good judgment because ive identified when there are problems with use of intelligence authorities, and i have spoken truth to power when they see it misuse. I enthusiastically support her nomination and i look forward to voting for you. Thank you. If any member currently has one additional question ill be happy to entertain them. If not, senator feinstein. If you have a quick one. [inaudible] if i could ask one question, something that i have followed, tried ive been very concerned by the gross of contractors over the last 20 20 plus years in the agencies, and when i was chairman of the committee we made a big push to ensure that all inherently government functions of the ic were performed by Government Employees, and not contractors. Its my understanding that that effort continues today, and we made substantial progress over the two decades in this. What is your view on the appropriate use of contractors in the Intelligence Community . Senator, im not saying this because you are considering me for the position as a nominee, but i agree with every word you just said with regard to contractor used and how it should be limited and where Government Employees should be doing government functions. I know theres always a look in terms of ratios and the percentages. Im not a one size fits all person. If confirmed as dni i will look at where things stand. Right now, but the concern that you have, the sentiment that you expressed, let me just reiterate that i agree with you completely and look forward to working with you on this issue, if confirmed. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator feinstein with that the first block of time is expired. The chair would move to the second block of time, and go somewhat out of order because senator wyden is not here. I will turn to senator collins for any questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Congressman, i appreciated the opportunity to talk with you last week as one of the authors along with former senator joe lieberman, of the 2004 law that created the director of National Intelligence position. I have a special interest in making sure that the leader of the Intelligence Community fulfills what we envisioned. In that regard, i appreciated the opportunity to review your background with you in depth to make sure that you met the statutory standard of having extensive National Security expertise. So today i want to turn to a different issue. As some members have already said today, the ability to speak truth to power is essential to serving as a successful dni. Would you communicate the intelligence communities analytic views to the president , even if you knew that he would strongly disagree with them . Of course. Would you be willing to communicate the ics analytic conclusions to the president , even if you believe it would place your job in jeopardy . Of course. When, assuming your confirmation, when you participate in the next open worldwide threats hearing and you are asked to provide an unclassified ic assessment that you know that the president vehemently disagrees with, what would you do . Senator, whether youre talking about the president , whether youre talking about nancy pelosi, Mitch Mcconnell, anyones views of what the what the intelligence to be whenever will never impact the intelligence that i deliver. Never. Thank you for that strong response. I am nevertheless, going to ask you one more that has to do with the internal operations of the Intelligence Community. What would you do if the Intelligence Community was prepared to publish a president s daily brief that directly contradicted the white houses conclusion on an important issue like north korea . Would you still allow the pdb to be published . And the reason i ask this question is there are some very experienced analysts within the ic that are concerned that you might attempt to shade the conclusions in order to avoid alienating the president in presenting his daily brief. Senator, i think before you were in the room i reiterated multiple times that i wont shade intelligence for anyone, whether were talking about the president , members of congress, any policymakers. As far as published on the president s daily brief, you know, i guess im not sure the word published when you say, how you mean that. I shouldve used the word issued. If confirmed as dni one of the things ive made clear to everyone is that i will deliver the unvarnished truth. It wont be shaded foranyone. What anyone wants the intelligence reflect wont impact the intelligence that i deliver and finally and i asked this question to you on the telephone but i want to ask it to you for the record , the president has said that the ic has run amok and needs to be reined in. Do you share thepresident s view . I think what we talked about senator about a number of things there. And im sure going to get a lot of questions about what the president says or what the president thinks and again i dont mean to be repetitive but none of those things regardless of what he says or how he says them or help nancy pelosi or Mitch Mcconnell or anyone says about the intelligence or the Intelligence Community will not impact the intelligence that ideliver. Thank you. Thanks mister chairman. Iq mister chairman, congressman, welcome and thank you. Donald trump said last year the constitution says and i quote here, i can do whatever i want as president . The attorney general has said the president doesnt have to follow the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and can conduct surveillance without a warrant. Those two statements are a direct threat to the Constitutional Rights of americans. And it makes the director of National Intelligence last line of defense for our democracy. Do you believe the president can spy on americans outside the law . I dont think anyonecan spy on americans outside the law. So would you refuse to authorize the intelligence communities to conduct warrantless surveillance . Senator, when you talk about you answered no. My answer is consistent. Whatever the law is is what i will do as confirmed as dni. Even my authorities i will act within my upper 80s but most importantly i will be guided by the constitution and the rule of law so whatever authorities allow the Intelligence Community to do, all of our actions if im the director will be in compliance with what the law is. My time is short congressman. The point is you really didnt say no in answer to my question. You said there may be circumstances. I happen to think that answer , that there may be circumstances when the president can spy on americans outside the law is an exceptionally dangerous testimony. Im going to move on. Can i just so the record is clear maybe i misspoke then. I want to be clear that no one can spy or surveillance outside the law and if confirmed as dni, one of my highestpriorities will always be to make sure the Intelligence Community is acting in accordance with the law. Iwant to make that very clear senator. Again, your qualifying this paste on circumstances and thats what i think is dangerous. I also want to get into your views on whistleblowers. Now, it is open season on whistleblowers right now in washington dc and you gave a pleasant sounding statement about whistleblowers so i want to be very specific. If the Inspector General determines a whistleblower complaint should be sent to congress are you going to send it over to the department of justice or the white house to get their permission . And he was a lower complaint if im confirmed as dni is going to be handled in accordance with the law. I dont know how i can be more clear than that. I think you could say unequivocally no because thats what i think is important. And what i want to know is whether theres any kind of veto power over whether Congress Hears from whistleblowers and as with the previous question with respect to spying, you want to have it both ways. You want to try to portray yourself as defender of the constitution and then you water it down with the specifics. Should the identity of whistleblowers ever under any circumstances be disclosed without their consent . Know, whistleblowers are entitled to anonymity. What is your opinion of those who would call for the outing of icy whistleblowers . Whistleblowers are entitled to anonymity under the law and if someone are you distinguishing between lawful whistleblowers or lawful whistleblower complaints . Again, im trying to get a sense of what you believe. If someone is a whistleblower under the law they are entitled to the protections of the whistleblower statute under the law and i heard the answer, one last question i want to get again. You in your written answers seem to think internet voting is okay. You gave a very qualified answer. I happen to think its the equivalent of putting our ballot on the streets of moscow so could you tell me why you think internet voting is okay given all the threats that we have seen to our democracy . I dont recall the response or how i responded senator but it seems to me that is a policy issue that if confirmed as dni, i would not be in the role of making policy. Whatever the law is we expect you to be a leader on Election Security and if you support the kind of Snake Oil Salesman weve got in this country that are selling some of these online voting operations, you are going to put at risk our special system of government. I think my time is up mister chairman thank you. Welcome congressman. In your statement for the record, you wrote that both the president and i have a good rapport. If you are confirmed as dni, you said you have my commitment to deliver accurate and objective intelligence and speak truth to power. Dan coats , joe mcguire, other dedicated ic professionals had a good rapport with the president as well until they didnt. Can you give me some specific examples of when you had to speak truth to power, in particular if its involved the president of theUnited States . Senator, i appreciate the question. The reason i said a good rapport is i think trust is important and i think its one of thethings thats important and can strengthen the relationship between all parties. Intelligencecommunity , congress, thepresident. One of the reasons that i indicated before you were in the room that i wanted this job was the cause it is apolitical and i have held apolitical positionsbefore. As us attorney that is an apolitical role and in those instances, i frequently had to speak truth to power from the standpoint of there were many occasions where people wanted me to exercise my discretion in a way thats considered something other than what the law was. Can you give aparticular example . I dont want to give examples that would give away a specific case but if someone was for instance a good republican or a good democrat and held a position and maybe deserved some specialconsideration , those kinds of things. I think thats adequate. I just want to reclaim my time here for a moment. Last year the president extended for the dni position stating you would do an incredible job and we need somebody like that in their. We need somebody strong that can reign it in because as i think youve all learned, the intelligence agencieshave run amok. What do you think he meant by that . I dont know. I saw thecomment senator. Ive made clear that again, first of all, ive made clear as i just said to you one of the reasons i want this position. Ive made that without betraying any conversation but that sentiment i have expressed to the president and he understands that im looking forward to this position because its a political and that the intelligence that i will deliver his unvarnished. Do you think the Intelligence Community or even a Single Agency has run amok . I have never said that. President trump as repeatedly and without any basis in my view accused the hardworking men and women of the ic ofworking to undermine hisadministration. Do you think , do you believe that theres a quote unquote deep state inthe ic . I dont know what that means, senator collins and i talked about that in our call and i dont know what that is. You agree it would be inappropriate and in some context illegal to remove or reassign, to screen or otherwisediscriminate against career ic personnel for political reasons including on the basis of their work assignments in previous administrations . Yes. The president has publicly stated that heexpects loyalty from his appointees and he publicly withdrew your nomination and appointed another individual but then formally resubmitted your nomination. That sortof turn of events just raises some unique questions. During your conversations with the president regarding this decision what priorities did he communicate to you that he expected you to pursue on his behalf and did the word loyalty ever, . Senator, a couple of points there. I want to be real clear. My loyalty is tothe constitution and the rule of law and i have made that clear to everyone including the president. But didyou discuss loyalty . Know, ive made clear that if i am in a position my loyalty is always going to be to the constitution and rule of law. So you made that proactively clear. I made that proactively clear. And you were not asked. I absolutely was notasked. And one of the priorities, again, i dont want to get into specific conversations but the sentiments is keeping politics out of the Intelligence Community. Its one of my priorities and one thing to i guess because its beenreported , i withdrew from consideration. I wasnt withdrawn, so i just wanted the record clear with respect to that. Senator collins, you have one additional question you would like to ask. Senator wyden, one additional question. Thank you mister chairman. The congresspassed a law requiring an unclassified report. Who was responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. It is a law that the dni is outright used to comply with this law, denying the public a single shred of information on this topic. Do you agree that the government is bound by this law and is obligated to provide this report which stipulates in public, in public who killed Jamal Khashoggi and underwhat circumstances. Senator, i share your concern. I think that samescene the same information you have and you are referring to the provisions in the nda a and if confirmed as dni , again i will ensure that the law is complied with. I realize that the information i think in the report if we are talking about the same thing is a request for unclassified information. So if confirmed i want to look myself at the information to make sure that the information has been classified properly. But thats not the question. This is a law. This is a law, congressmen and consistently in every one of the areas i asked you about with respect to spying, with respect to whistleblowers and now with respect to the law these are pretty much straightforward yes, sir no questions and now youve said youre going to look at what is classified with respect to the late mister Jamal Khashoggi. We passed a law that resulted. It is supposed to be made available now. So ill look forward to your adding to the record on it but i will tell you you have certainly been briefed with respect to coming to this hearing but on issue after issue, i asked pretty straightforward questions but i have gotten a kind of let us circle the subject and not answer it. Any additional questions. Just one. As you know congress is not authorized organizational changes at oh dni and we have not appropriated funds for that purpose but acting director karen l has been reorganizing odni. Would you half that reorganization and seek authorization from congress to reorganize if you found the need to do so . Senator, thanks for the question. If i can comment on senator wydens point, i was hoping to make a point that im certainly not trying to be invasive but the position im being considered for is the president principal intelligence advisor, not his Legal Advisor and there is Legal Counsel that i would go to if i were confirmed as dni but senator, i appreciate the question about organizational changes. As you know im not so presumptuous as to know that im going to be confirmed so i have considered or talked about any sort of organizational changes. I want to make clear that expect to have unfettered discretion to make all personnel decisions if confirmed as dni and i will make them in the best interest of the ic to make the ic better and i will certainly as with everything work with this committee to keep it fully and currently informed. I want everyone to sort of remember that im being considered for this position but i am one of you right now as a member of an Oversight Committee and america functions better when its elected representatives are fully informed Intelligence Community and i intend to do that. With that i will bring to a close in the second walk of members questions and we will move to the third block. Anybody whos askedquestions is excused if theyd like to leave. They remind members that when we conclude at 12 00 we will reconvene in closed session at 2 00 in the capital of Senate Security building and we will again be operating with blocks of time and there will be a Conference Room there for anybody that would like to sit and read intelligence products, listen to whats going on in the closed hearing and then come in fortheir question period. Withthat i recognized senator blunt. Congressman radcliffe its good to have you here. This job has gone vacant for too long area its a critically important time and im glad youve been nominated. I read with great interest the letter in the record that was given to us from former attorney general ashcroft area youve been a good friend of mine for a long time and i trust his judgment. I know you worked with him as a us attorney and also in a law firm that was formed after you both left the Justice Department and his view of you which he shared with me personally as well as in this letter is significant. Weve had a chance to visit your work on the house Intelligence Committee and i particularly appreciated your last comment about the importance of being fully open and an Oversight Committee like this one being fully informed. I would say that when we stood up this structure after 9 11, i certainly anticipated a much smaller coordinating opportunity rather than the bureaucratic size of the seat today. I hope when you have a chance to look at this that you will look carefully at whether or not the structure as its grown as served the principal purpose of coordinating information or if in some way it may have created yet one more stovepipe of information. Id like you to comment on your views maybe as a house intel number of just the size of dni itself and if that size isone you think is too big , too small or just right. Senator, thank you for the remarks and the association with former attorney general John Ashcroft who was a Great American and, but i like you come into this position if confirmed with some preconceived impressions based on discussions ive had on the Oversight Committee and as senator collins leaves the room i want to make sure one of the goals of the dni if confirmed is to make sure that the odni and dni position are working exactly like senator collins and those who did up intended it so i had a chanceto visit with her about it. Like you i come in with the perspective that you have conversations that maybe indicate that there is too much bureaucracy and theres too much redundancy. Some redundancy is good but if theres 17 agencies they dont need to be doing the same thing 17 times or purchasing the same things so it will be one of my immediate priorities to assess how the odni is functioning. Again the goal of the odni is to make the ic better so the ic can make you better and the president better and policymakers better so i do think that i want it to be as efficient as possible but ill be thoughtful and talk with the heads of the intelligence agencies and elements to find out where they think some of these things may just be unnecessary redundancies and address those. I think another question to ask and you dont have to comment on this but for you to ask is this agency has grown area and have we let the other agencies not have the attention or the staff they needed as the whole universe of intelligence, the Us Intelligence has grown. So much of it has grown at this point that was to be the central clearinghouse, the agency that coordinated information to be sure nobody was left out and i would look at that. During the 19 years that we have, the last 19 years weve been very much focused on violent terrorist extremists as the focus of so much of our intelligence efforts. Certainly that threat has not gone away but its also equally certain that Great Power Competition has emerged in ways that we wouldnt have anticipated even a handful of years ago. Talk a little bit about rebalancing the resources you have to continue to keep an eye on the threats that we have so focused on for almost 2 decades now but also to rebalance into the Great Power Competition we see as a significant challenge for us today. Senator, great challenge and i appreciateyou asking because ive had that conversation with a lot of people about what i view as the greatest threat and the greatest threat actor and i view china as the greatest threat actor right now. Look where we are with respect to the covid19 and the role that china plays. The race to 5g , Cyber Security issues. All roadslead to china there. So one of the priorities, highest priorities i will have if confirmed as dni is to make sure, again, my background with regard to violent extremists, that is a generational challenge that we will continue to deal with. You may forget about them but they dont forget about us and i agree in making sure we look at the National Intelligence framework and whether we are committing enough resources to the rising power is china, when you look at the initiatives that. The belton road, the made in china 2025. All of the military civil fusion initiatives. Where they literally want bylaw Tiny Companies to collect intelligence. These are all spokes of the same initiative thats for china to supplant us as the worlds superpower and to be able to set standards around the world and we clearly dont want an authoritarian regime like the Chinese Communist party putting standard in the world marketplace. So i look forward to sitting down with you if confirmed about how odni and the other 16 elements are dedicated to the risingplaque that is china which i view as our greatest threat actor. Certainly russia is another great threat, you want totalk about that for a second as i conclude my questions. Different just because russia, we are concerned with russia in terms of anytime you have a Large Nuclear stockpile. They are certainly dedicated to sowing seeds of discord. We are most concerned with them with regard to election interference and making sure we have, secure Credible Elections because thats what they have been focused on and they been as i said earlier ive been successful in telling seeds of discord not fortunately in changingvotes for the outcome. Between the two to be clear i view china as a risingpower. Whereas russia has an economy of about the same size as the economy inmy home state of texas. We need to be concerned with Vladimir Putin is a very bad actor and so as dni if confirmed i will make sure we balance appropriate where our resources are going with regard to both of those threats. Mister radcliffe and congressman i look forward to your nomination was here in the committee and on the floor. And youre working with us as you get this job. Morning congressman. Id like to start with a series of questions that were from the questionnaire and i believe they can be answered yes, sir number you did not answer them thusly in the questionnaire they can be easily answered with yes, sir number the first is less than 35 would you ever ask, encourage or support and intelligence professional adjusting his or her assessments to avoid criticism from the whitehouse or a political appointee mark. Know would you change or remove content and intelligence assessment for politicalreasons or at the behest of political leadership. Question 39, when you consider an individuals personal political preferences to include loyalty to the president and making a decision to hire, fire or promote anindividual. And question 39, do you commit to explicitly consider professional qualifications in ic personnel decisions without consideration of partisan or political factors. Yes. The of 39, if you were to receive edible evidence as dni that an individual was undermining icy objectivity and furthering the political agenda, would you immediately remove that individual . Yes. The, will you or any of your staff impose a political litmus test for icy employees. Finally if confirmed would you reassure your workforce loyalty tests are not allowed the ic . And as such occurs would you commit to informing congressional Intelligence Committees and immediately stopping such efforts. I would. Iq. Next question, can you give me a case where you have ever publicly differed with this president mark. Yes. Please do briefly. Example i can think of most recently was i think it was october, the president s decision to withdraw troops from syria. There was a resolution considered regarding that issue. That i supported i think was referred to by some as a rebuke of thepresident. I think im right on this, the specifics of that. Any other incidents . Im sure there are. I dont recall any of them sitting here. In your position as a member of the house Intelligence Community or as a nominee for dni, have you seen any intelligence that finds with high confidence or any confidence for that matter that the coronavirus originated in a lab in wuhan rather than the market . I have not. Thank you. I only wanted a caveat in the sense of because the pandemic, i want to say that the last classified everything i had was time in, its been a while since ive had a classifiedbriefing on the coronavirus pandemic. At the answer that i gave this morning myself. Like me you have not seen any intelligence project that indicates. I have not. You took the oath this morning from the chair and said you will agree to appear and share information with thecommittee. Will you appear before this committee if the president or an official inthe white house tells you not to . Of course. And you will bring us i think theres been some expressionof the worldwide prep during. Again, we say. You gave the right answer, ifi were you i would qualify. But the point was i want to make sure we were talking about here in connection with the worldwide press. Im talking about generally, if this Committee Requests your attendance to testify in the white house says do not go, will you honor the oath you took this morning . I will. I want to make sure i understood the question properly. The president has stated that he feels that socalled enhanced interrogation as waterboarding as the value produces valuable results john mccain has said repeatedly that it does not. Who do you agree with, mccain or the president. I follow the law, always follow the law. Would you believe waterboarding is a violation of the antitorture law. My understanding is the law makes clear in several places torture is illegal and that would be the final financing in the army field manual. And. So this has nothing to do with your personal opinion. Youre simply saying ill follow the lawbut if a law was changed to allow waterboarding or other forms of torture you say that was okay . I think the obligation that i havesenator is to follow the law. The constitution and law of the country is the oath i think. In any role as dni, as a member of congress. I dont want to get into policy decisions about which the dni should not be involved in. Im a policymaker now youre considering me for a role where i would not be making policy or i would follow the law as legislators create laws or as the Supreme Court interprets those laws. One final question. If you are running for reelection and your Campaign Manager shared polling data which included cross tabs and detailed information about where your campaign stood with agent of a foreign government, would you believe that wasokay . No. Thank you mister chairman area. Punishment radcliffe, congratulations read let me follow up on senator kane questioning, he asked if you see any intelligence that the coronavirus originated in one of the two labs in wuhan and he said no im using any intelligence that supports the communist party claim originated in aseafood market in wuhan mark. No. I presume youre aware the respected scientific journal the lancet published a study of chinese scientists in january concluded that in fact did not originate in the market. I have. That more than a third of the original cases i know contact in the market whatsoever including what they believe to be the first known case as well. I didnt recall that but if thats what it reflects. Are you aware that to the best of our knowledge there is no evidence that the backs of any kind including the horseshoe batwas even sold in the market. That is my understanding. Just to be clear the point i was trying to make is its been a while and threw no ones fault since ive had an updated classified Briefing Regarding the coronavirus pandemic. I understand and im asking this question not just speaking of the virus but more particularly and matter of intelligenceanalysis. Everything we just discussed is not planned outside information, its not a National Security secret. It is publicly reported in a journal like the lancet or news sources or so for. Much of what we know about the virus is the result of publicly reported information or social media evidence from wuhan in the early days and so forth. How critical is the role of that kind of unclassified Public Information and the analysis that our Intelligence Committee should be conducting . Its vitally important, one of the things we are seeing is open Source Intelligence is increasingly valuable and we need to find ways to make sure that we are collecting it and analyzing it. Its large sets of data that we need to processing their. And so its a challenge, but its a tremendous source of information. And should be utilized by the Intelligence Community going forward. I couldnt agree more. I think theres always a bias towards thinking of the secret is not stolen through clandestine means that its not valuable information when all of these pieces of information whether were talking about the chinese coronavirus or what russia is up to in your for the Nuclear Program stitched together into a mosaic and that mosaic usually is a question of circumstantial evidence that you can use common sense reach the best conclusion, not direct evidence, not conclusive proof. To give you an example of how we might forwardlooking on this issue open Source Intelligence, we used open Source Intelligencetools , we may be able to get earlier warnings around pandemics like this or viruses like this. As they are beginning, so those are the types of when i was referring to how the Intelligence Community and leverage open source information, thats what i was referring to. Moving on to one of the director of National Intelligence chief responsibility which is setting the priorities for the counterintelligence our nation needs to collect, last week acting director of National Intelligence releases statement saying the Intelligence Community will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the again through contact with infected animal was a result of an accident at alaboratory in wuhan. The New York Times subsequently reported that senior National Security officials, National Security Council Officials urged the Intelligence Community to collect Additional Information to the extent possible on the origin and cause of the wuhan pandemic. The New York Times, and other Media Outlets have suggested that would be inappropriate. Is it inappropriate for the president to set collection priorities on what he thinks is Urgent National questions and 40 usd and i to drive those priorities is that you can fax that are Intelligence Officers are able to gather . That would be appropriate. I think that would be totally and completely appropriate, thats what we would expect the cabinet for the president and his senior National Security cabinet members to do. One final question, ive heard a lot of questions about this from both sides. Obviously youre a politician right now, you got and are after your name. Some people raise thequestion whether you can separate politics from intelligence. He discussed in the past this isnt done successfully at times if you look at someone like leon pineda, a pretty partisan guy when he was in congress when he was bill clintons chief staff but was an outstanding director of the Central Intelligence agency. Or you could look at it the other way, take someone like bob gates, lifelong intelligence professional but since he left the government, its clear to everyone that hes a republican and he supported republican additives for office. Since he got out of office even though easter and democratic administrations. Just want to point out even though those are not the dni job, but the director of Central Intelligence job have a similar need for separating politics and intelligence this is something that can be done and it has been done in thepast. And wanted to see if you have comments about those precedents or how you will separate politics from intelligence. I appreciate the question senator and earlier i talked about the fact that i very much love representing people here in congress but i held an apolitical job before as us attorney, one where i represented the United States neither party. And both parties out of everything that i did area and so i have done that and done it successfully and then highly regarded in the way that iveapproached that. And i enjoyed that and its one of the reasons im going from a safe district and asking you all to consider me as the nominee. I have every not just every intention but every confidence that i will do exactly as im telling you. I will be entirely apolitical as thedirector of National Intelligence. Thanksvery much