Transcripts For CSPAN3 CIA Inspector General Confirmation 20171020

Allegations of retaliation against cia whistleblowers. Mr. Sharply served as acting cia Inspector General since 2015. This hearing is an hour and 20 minutes. I call this hearing to order. I would like to welcome our witness, christopher sharply, President Trumps nominee to be the next Inspector General of the Central Intelligence agency. Chris, congratulations on your nomination. I would like to recognize the family that you have brought with you here today. I understand your wife, kimberly. Yes, sir. Is here, as well as your son, steffen, and aden. Yes. Steffen, aden, give me a wave. Okay, good. And your daughter, gillian, and her husband, james. Yes. Good. Of course, your mother joyce. Welcome. Our goal in conduct thing hearing is to enable the committee to consider mr. Sharplys qualifications and to allow for thoughtful deliberation by our members. Chris already has provided substantive, written responses to 85 questions presented by the committee and its members. Today, of course, members will be able to ask additional questions and to hear from mr. Sharply in this open session. Mr. Sharply earned his b. A. From American University and received his masters degree from the naval post graduate school. In 1981, he received a commission from the u. S. Air force where he trained as a special agent, and a counterintelligence officer in the air force office of special investigations. Chris continued to serve in the air force in a variety of posts, including as director of security, until he retired from the air force in 2002. Immediately following his retirement, chris joined the office of the Inspector General of the department of energy, as a civilian federal special agent. Since then, chris has worked as the deputy ig for investigations and inspections for the department of energy, and helped to build the new oig offices at the t. A. R. P. Program and the federal housing authority. In 2010, chris received the president ial rank award. In 2012, chris retired as a federal civilian Law Enforcement officer and started his career at the Central Intelligence agency. Chris, if you dont mind me saying, i dont think youre very good at retiring. From 2012 to 2015, chris served as deputy Inspector General at the cia. Since 2015, chris has served as both deputy and acting ig of the cia. Chris is independent and the Inspector Generals are critical to the efficient management of the Intelligence Community. And i trust that you will lead the cias office with integrity and will ensure your officers operate lawfully, ethically, and morally. As i mentioned to other nominees during this nomination hearing, i can assure you that this committee will continue to faithfully follow its charter and conduct realtime oversight over the Intelligence Community, its operations and activities. We will ask difficult and probing questions of you, your staff, and well expect honest, complete, and timely responses. Chris, i look forward to supporting your nomination and assuring its consideration without delay. I want to thank you again for being here today for your years of service to your country, both in Law Enforcement and in our military and i look forward to your testimony. I now recognize the vice chairman for any opening statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And welcome, mr. Sharply. Good to see you again. And welcome as well to your family. Congratulations to your nomination to serve as Inspector General of the Central Intelligence agency. I believe that the job of the Inspector General is critical to the effective operation of any agency. This committee relies upon the Inspector General of the intelligence agencies to ensure the organizations are using taxpayer dollars wisely, conducting their activities within the rule and spirit of the law. And supporting and protecting whistleblowers. Whistleblowers who report fraud, waste, and abuse. These ig functions are even more important in an organization like the cia, which by necessity does not operate in the public. I appreciate that youre the third ig nominee to come before this committee this year. I wish to express my hope that will soon receive from the president a nominee for the position of the ig for the overall Intelligence Community. This position has been vacant since february, and i know you cant effect this directly, but im very concerned about the number of changes occurring there. As i mentioned, i appreciate our meeting earlier this month. We talked about a number of important issues you will face as the cia ag. I want to reiterate some of our discussion and ask you system of these same questions that we had in private, address these questions in public. One, we discussed the importance of supporting and protecting whistleblowers. Today, i want to hear more about your plans to ensure all cia employees know their rights and responsibilities, as well as the processes for them to report waste, fraud, and abuse. I would like to hear a greater commitment from you on this issue. Your job, and we talked about this in our conversation, is to be hard headed, to find problems, uncover abuses and recommend fixes. And you must guard your independence fiercely. I would like to hear you reaffirm thats also your view of your role in this terribly important position. As you know as well, the committee completed a report on cias detention and enti interrogation program. You and i discussed how your office both lost and then found its copy, the copy of the report, and how you decided to return it to the committee. We talked about the fact that i disagreed with your subsequent decision to return it. Today and if public, please describe how the report came to be lost and why you made the decision to return it to the committee. Finally, i want to get your reassurances that you will support this committees investigation into russian interference in the 2016 u. S. President ideal election. Again, thank you for your service to our country, thank you for being here today. Thank you for agreeing to accept another opportunity to continue to serve our country. I look forward to todays discussion. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator warner. Mr. Sharply, would you please stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear to give this committee the truth, the full trout and nothing but the truth, so help you god . I do, sir. Please be seated. Chris, before we move to your statement, it is practice of this committee that i ask you five standard questions that the committee poses to each nominee who appears before us. Just a simple yes or no answer for the record. Do you agree to appear before the committee here or in any other venue when invited . Yes. If confirmed, do you agree to send officials from your office to appear before the committee and designated staff when invited . Yes. Do you agree to provide documents or any other materials requested by the committee in order for it to carry out its oversight and legislative responsibilities . Yes, i do. Will you both ensure that your office and your staff provide such materials to the committee when requested . Yes, i will. Do you grow to inform and fully brief to the fullest extent possible all members of the committee of intelligence activities and covert actions rather than limit that only to the share and the vice chair . Yeshgs, i do. Thank you very much. Well now proceed to your opening statement, after which ill recognize members by seniority for fiveminute question times. Chris, the floor is yours. Thank you, chairman. Members of the committee, i want to thank you for affording me the opportunity to appear before you today. As you consider my nomination to be the Inspector General of the Central Intelligence agency. Im honored and humbled that President Trump has placed his confidence in me to tackle the challenges of this important position. Chairman, if i may, at the risk of being redundant, i would like to speak to my background and experience that i believe qualify me to serve as the cia Inspector General. Im grateful to have served our nation for the past 36 years, a journey that began after receiving a commission in the United States air force in 1981. My initial training was as a special agent counterintelligence officer. The skills that i acquired prepared me for a challenging assignment during my ten years of active duty service. And also prepared me for my service for another ten years in the air force reserves. My assignments included commander and director of security, leading teams of counterintelligence and Security Specialists in support of highly classified Access Programs. I retired from the air force reserves in 2002. I then began my employment as a civilian special agent at the office of the Inspector General. I rose through the ranks to become the depp tip Inspector General for investigations and inspections, with responsibilities covering the Nations Nuclear weapons complex and system of national laboratories. I was privileged to have been asked by two new inspectors general and the federal Housing Finance agency to assist them in Building Brand new offices of Inspector General. Focused on detecting and countering fraud in the efforts of the federal government to stabilize u. S. Banking, securities and Financial Markets during the economic crisis of the 20082012 time frame. In 2010, i received a president ial rank award for Meritorious Service for my leadership in building investigative programs that identified billions in fraud, and supported successful prosecutions that often returned significant dollars to the u. S. Treasury. In 2012, i retired from federal service as a civilian special agent Law Enforcement officer. That is when my experience at cia began. I was asked by then cia Inspector General David Buckley to compete for his deputy Inspector General position. He informed me that he hoped i would bring the best practices i gleaned from other roles to be applied at the cia office of Inspector General. I answered that call and entered back into federal service in 2012, where i served as mr. Buckleys deputy until his retirement in january of 2015, and where i have served as deputy and acting Inspector General until now. Mr. Chairman, i strongly believe in cias mission, to preempt threats to our nation. I stand firmly behind the outstanding work of the cia office of team of auditors, inspectors, investigators, and support staff. As acting Inspector General, i have issued over 100 classified reports and have made nearly 250 recommendations to cia leadership to strengthen key programs and operations. And promote economy and efficiency across the cia mission. I have further strengthened the processes and procedures within the office of Inspector General by incorporating special standards and best practices yut lizzed by offices of the Inspector General across the community. I have endeavored to establish a reputation within cia as an independent and honest acting Inspector General who does not hesitate to tack it will hard issues and trusted by cia officers around the world and by the director and the senior team. And it is my hope as it certainly has been my objective to gain the trust of this committee. If confirmed, i will continue to keep the Committee Informed after office Inspector General work. Is right now with National Security risks. And with keen attention. The cia appropriately response and that classified highrisk mission that those classified activities received. That is why a capable Inspector General is needed. With that Mission Integrity and efficiency so those skills that have been acquired and that has prepared me to fill the cia Inspector General. Thank you for this opportunity to testify and i will answer any questions you may have. It is my intention that for planning purposes we will encourage members to have additional questions for the record. I will also remind members for those that they should of that fact. And the cia Inspector General of whose work in most cases but the work of the ids office and employees had you planned to continue your efforts that the employees and contractors are fully aware of the function of the ig . With then cia there is an Awareness Program to see on an annual basis. Making a complaint in that training. With that significant effort soever those opportunities arise. Beyond that and extensive damage sure Whistleblower Program and i have had the opportunity to build two whistleblower hotline programs and to make improvements for energy and here at cia per gram very proud of the practices we put in place with those contractors with the ability to make confidential and anonymous and any given time those process to put him place that every complaint or concern that is received is given a review by then senior staff by the office of Inspector General slow those skills sets are able to look at the issue to say they think the complaint or concerns should be handled. The biggest challenge ended it is of recruitment with those systems in place with of cia with the on boarding process to recruit our fox. In my opinion and to put very strongly about and for every person to identify the individual but i have to give three conditional offers of employment. I know that statistically to out of three and will lose over the period of time from the time i give it to the time they go on board and for every offer of of prime and i have to conduct five interviews ago to fill 10 slots but is perceived of by a turnover we have other Mission Areas would like a the services of my people have to offer 30 offers of employment and then 150 interviews that is the anonymous process so the process of on boarding is the most prominent. I want to go back to follow up on those whistleblowers. So with these Whistleblower Programs talk about what else you can do on the hot line it in the answers to the written questions that youd try to beef up to bring in those experts to help devise you and to take us through your commitment have particularly with increased retaliation of reprisals basis of the whistleblower. Whistle blowing and the programs of the Inspector General is essential to the success of any Inspector General of any program whether confidence of whistleblowers that they feel and comfortable to provide information if they are not they will not come to you if you cannot fulfill your mission of exploring fraud waste and abuse. So in particular to everything is compartment it scattered around the world that the first thing that i did to approve the of Whistleblowing Program is with the robust of Reach Program about what that program is about so the main thrust of that reaches to ensure where the cia officer is located around the world to make a confidential anonymous complaint or sharing of concern. Diane very comfortable the we know from the type of work that they are in with the effectiveness of the various programs we know the even though i am comfortable with the program it would be appropriate and prudent to invite others. Then the ig Community Better known to have very solid programs when i refer to this in the questionnaire a lot my chief of staff to reach out to these individuals with individual assessment with the education effort. And then as it comes into a timely fashion. And then to address those issues. And that can be prevented calmly and quickly. But what did come up was how the report was lost and with that explanation that you offered we in the process. And if anybody was held accountable . I would be happy to discuss those issues and i understand it is an important issue. So we received a copy of the committees study december 2014. That the reporter be uploaded and that was done. When we receive guidance they should not be placed into any system with the freedom of information act so that organization in that uploaded to delete the report to take the desk to put in a classified safe to delete that from the system from the right to administrator responsible to handling the media but the process is in place an order to control the classifieds is to destroy a the diskette. And then to request we got the desk to the best of my knowledge i asked where was but nobody could find a desk. I informed the committee we could not find it. And then to insure there is no way to find out what happened. So with that itea administrator is that it had been shredded and they were unaware of the deletion of the document and had shredded the desk. Several munch months later the individual departing going through the classified safe and they found the disk it was the embarrassment to me and the litigation to cease at that time part of the conclusion of that litigation was a congressional document to inform the of committee we found a the disk and opened the investigation with what happened. How do we find testimony it was shredded when it wasnt . The bottom line was we found the individual who had since left from the office of the ig and california did not remember actually shredding the disk but they felt because they shredded others they shredded that as well. It is embarrassing and i have apologized. Also around that time to the chair of the committee that produced the study that i made the independent jump to return the desk disk it is not a reflection of what the quality of the report or the effort it was a fiveyear effort and i understand the value to the committee. I do have an unclassified a copy of the executive summary in my possession. Those were the circumstances with that incorrect testimony i have since changed the process at the cia to make sure it cannot happen again that there is a second decision level that process is in place i am convinced nothing like this would never happen again. Mr. Sharpley thanks for reading with us i thought you were candid so they give for that. Any other questions are in a classified setting. Senator feinstein . I do have one question. When did you inform the Committee Found a the disk . Dont have the specific date but as soon as i founded i called the end and informed the staff chief. If you could find the date of appreciate to know this i have a special interest as i was chairman of the committee when the report was done. And is a grateful relief not one fact has been refuted and that 7,000 page report were the 500 page summary. So the point of disturbing to the department with some poison document and learn from it. I very much doubt that has happened and i really look forward to the declassification. And i am heartened to see increasing the members of congress agree to that. So let me go to a document that i just received with the whistleblower situation i will read and ask for your comment that the sharpley nomination when the Intelligence Community has day begun to attract questions by the indian that said this highlights the communities continuing struggle to deal with the issue so the document dated february 2017 is on the official letterhead of the office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community to detail is a serious flaw of procedures used to investigate the retaliation in cases. Bearing the title pertaining to whistleblowers to access declassified information the authors name is redacted i would ask that you send a copy to the intelligence committees office. I am unfamiliar with that document. I am not aware of its contents space and. [inaudible] have you looked for it . On the letterhead of the intelligence committee. This is the first to my never heard of this. Let me read the conclusion. Of the of protection policies and standards and to have a failure of reprisal protections for those making protective disclosures. Than to be legally sanctioned of alleged wrongdoing by intelligence to the superiors in the government designated to receive the information the document states the complainant making a protected disclosure has a minimal chance to have that process to be adjudicated in the complete manner. To issue policy directives parts of which were enacted into law with procedures under which the whistleblowers could report waste fraud and abuse without fear of retaliation. And also had a couple of cases that i. M. Interested you have not seen this document. You know, of which of what i am speaking . I do not provide not in possession i am aware of it. I will give you the title. Cia Inspector General nominee has three open whistleblower retaliation cases implicating him. I may end by the name of adam and project of government oversight so what do you know about this . Spec recently i read an article by this gentleman i am unaware of any open investigations on me or the details of any complaints about me. So is hard for me to respond to that but if there are complaints or investigations i support a process in place with the confidentiality of anyone and acting ig in for confidentiality it is important to recognize the process and we honor them but i cannot speak to the specifics. I ask this be put in the record so mr. Sharpley can take a good look and let us know when writing what is fact and fiction. Would be pleased to do that. If i take one moment with respect to the documents you are referring to that is done at the assessment that there is the of minimal ability to have that particular issue looked at i cannot speak to the rest of the inspectors general i challenge the validity i feel very strongly of the whistleblower retaliation and a the hot line. With all concerns whether involving crime or mismanagement that are put out from the council of inspectors general i am very proud. And not know where that is coming from. Floor anyone to make those claims. That would be included into the record. If i understood the reading of the document is the icig so we need to request the document from the Intelligence Community ig. Mr. Sharpley just to close out this line of questioning, without commenting directly on any specific allegations or claims that may or may not have been made against you, have you ever retaliated against nt whistleblower with in the of officer federal agency . No senator i have not. Mr. Sharpley, i one to commend you for being a very productive Inspector General as sanders stand it the cia office has issued more than 100 audits making more than 340 recommendations to the agency in just the last year. One of the committees Top Priorities is to make sure that each of these agencies is doing everything that it can to minimize the risk posed by Insider Threats. Insiders have repeatedly exposed devastating amounts of highly classified information so i notice with great interest the Office Conducted a review without getting into classified information can you confirm if the agency has fully implemented all of the ig recommendations with respect to that audit or inspection regarding Insider Threats . This is a very important question it is extremely important issue having to do with the cia mission they have not implemented all of the recommendations. Some time ago i initiated the Insider Threat initiative over 26 reports addressing the number of various having to do with security clearances physical threats in the of workplace is a very important area that you bring up and that said i know that but to place an emphasis on the Counterintelligence Center the programs and the mission of the Insider Threat. But they have done a lot of work but a lot more work needs to be done even though i am in the process now that will summarize all the work we have done and add to the additional areas that doesnt mean i will back off the issue of this continues to be an area of challenge for the cia and i have emphasized that with my recent issuance of the highest challenge to address is an important area. I am glad to hear that i would ask you keep the Committee Fully apprised of your efforts in this area and in particular identified to the Committee Recommendations that have not been implemented because that is hard to understand with those egregious breaches that have happened in the Intelligence Community. I commit to do that. Mr. Sharpley i am troubled about your decision to return your copy of the report that was sent to your office for the lesson to be learned of a variety of topics with the Inspector General oversight thinking youre setting a terrible precedent if your office in the committee are raising Historical Records because somebody down the road is an unhappy so hypothetically what if a few years from now after this committee sent you a report for russia influence in our election . If you say he doesnt like the report and wants to return to . So how does your decision not set a precedent . That was in response to a request from the chair that was the trigger. So you are obligated to follow the law. Status see why the law does not govern this that maybe i and missing something . The highest obligation is to follow the law but you say you made your judgment . But i have got to tell you. Id like the concept of your Office Taking than choosing which report to you will keep that is the inescapable conclusion with the dreaded disk but you still returned it that driven out the judgment. Said to make an independent judgment to return to the court that produced the report. You are not concerned of your obligation of the precedent . It seems to me that sets off a horrible precedent which is why i asked you about somebody down the road in the future to said they are concerned about the russian report you were not concerned . Were talking about a hypothetical. I am talking about something that conceivably could have been because of the decision you made to set a precedent which investigative reports to oppose the nomination the highest duty is to follow the law and that govern meet your judgment. My colleagues mentioned in this question the cia contractor whistleblowers. Do you believe whistleblower protections should extend to cia contractors . Said to be very interested yes or no do you believe whistleblower protection should extend to contractors . Yes i do. Were making progress. Mr. Chairman good to see you again. I will fall to run a couple of conversations in a classified setting the ig has oversight but we are dependent on the ongoing investigations with the Inspector General office. Covert operations are difficult that it doesnt mean they have oversight so covert operations should have oversight. The answer is yes. I review all covert action efforts al least every three years and those reports are available to the committee. I currently do. You have then there are wild the season going into a permanent nomination you have a little more time so are their structural changes you can look at to say we need to take a long look . So if i am confirmed i will do a top to bottom review of the organizational structure to assure that the resources are focused to use them most efficiently their areas of covert action we could focus a little more effectively and as the acting Inspector General to make far reaching changes so if confirmed by with but those programs. It is the challenge of any organization to measure success. So for those dollars that are invested to be overseen by this committee with responsibility and oversight how you work with the agency that they are looking at the metrics of success that is the right to direction and hitting the target. If spending taxpayer funds and i think it is important from the Business Enterprise standpoint. In with the other areas they are typically examined and if they are not there to make a recommendation. If this is effective and this goes finance the metrics of the overall approach of first sanders. Been to with our investigations. One way that the organization is running efficiently and i commit to look in that area. Has the deputy of the acting teesixteen debrief the Senate Intelligence Committee Full report on the cia torture techniques . Know why did not. No . I had no opportunity. And with the office of Inspector General and then it was deleted from the system than the disk rethought vs. Shredded was really displaced. It seems awfully hard to learn the potential lessons of that report. I have had the opportunity. We read that executive chapter that dealt specifically with those operations that it seems to me to process to make sure they renominated and. My decision is not a reflection of the value that i placed on the report. Did you consider reading a before returning it to make your job more effective . No i did not for cry did not have an opportunity to sit down and read the report because at the time with the timeline by the time we found the report the request had keyman requesting it be returned. Your returned it on your own judgments you could have read it then returned it. I could have. You chose not to. Not with the time that he and. But what was your thinking and legal basis i was not looking at it. Event it was a congressional documents. And requesting that i return in a. And what the request was. What does that mean for future reports . I dont recall that i have already testified. Dc how people would be concerned that the decision is that a precedent for future cases . I do understand the concern. So with regard to finding that report once again that it had been shredded that turned out not to be the case it was testified to by a former employee it was a gas . That doesnt inspire confidence as important is this to be handled within the office. Can you speak to how you would address that . The individual responsible for handling a the disk is the individual who said they shredded it. When we found the disk there were no longer an employee he shrugged his shoulders to say it was a guess i dont actually remember seeing it i just had a stack and i thought that i shredded it. So an employee who had a stack of media i could see what have that reaction im just thinking that something that should have acquired a higher level of attention. Those changes that i referred to that i was talking about earlier put in place there must be a supervisor read level approval so of other instructions have come out and for some reason in this is the administrator there is a Quality Assurance in place to review and authorized the shred in the future. Since most of your questions deal with a request i made at had copies let me set the stage that this was battled and on our behalf by the Justice Department they did not have to do it in the District Court the last was the United States Supreme Court and they ruled this was community property. All then returned. In every case, warriors made a determination based upon the Court Process that i have every right to make the request and that there were most cases if not all cases obligated to return them. So we need to give a little bit of history and maybe you wont necessarily come them mr. Sharpley for doing something important to the committee. Senator came to have. Thank you mr. Chairman. Not to belabor this issue but when you made this issue did you consult with anyone, the general counsel, anyone other than yourself in making that decision . My counsel. And what was the nature of that advice . I was making a decision to return this. What are the circumstances surrounding it and are there any issues i should know the answer was no. This was your judgment to respond to the chair. You have one of the most important jobs in the United States government because a secret agency in a democracy is an anomaly. It is a necessary anomaly but still an anomaly because the transparency and accountability that applies to virtually every other aspect of the United States government isnt present by necessity. That means those of us including you and us whove given the responsibility of providing the oversight of this agency is especially awesome in my view, and i want your commitment that you realize that this is a different job in my opinion then in the department of agriculture or even the pentagon. Do you understand the weight of this position . As i said in my opening remarks, its my belief that programs that are highly classified see less light of day. They dont see best practices. They focus on mission and are not necessarily focused on the effectiveness. When you are dealing with those types of programs with special Access Programs and Nuclear Weapons programs thats all they do, jerry classified areas and classified missions to shine the flashlight on those activities to ensure they are adhering to the wall and the programs are being run in an efficient and effective manner as i discussed with you in our private discussions to give the tax payer a seat at the table to make sure the hardearned money and taxes are being utilized properly. And the constitutio and the constitution is being abided by. We had a prevision that has people with full clearance to do some analysis i and the physical facilities that report occurred. Do you view the gao as a possible ally . I do understand the gao is working at the request and the direction of the oversight committees. There are policies and procedures across the office of intelligence dealing with the work of the gao. I worked with them in the past, and the only concern that i have and this falls back into my lap is to start work at the Central Intelligence agency that they check with us to ensure the work that weve done and that we may have products that are useful and this would be inefficient if weve already done more dependent work and i wouldnt want the gao to add to the inefficiency. I understand your concern that what youre telling me is you in certain situations would view it as an ally, as an asset of your office. Yes i would. One final question, do you view checking on or reviewing the integrity of the analytical process. I want to emphasize that because there is a great danger as you indicated earlier talking about the mission and operations that ther theres a danger therf contamination of intelligence because of commitments to the mission and again, you are one of the few against that in a system of oversight. We do work at the analytical objectivity and we plan in the coming year and out years if i am confirmed to continue the work in that area. I want to emphasize the importance of that because if you look back over the last 50 years many of the Foreign Policy disasters were based upon skewed intelligence, based upon the desires of the policymakers whether it was the bay of pigs, vietnam, iraq, whenever. And so, i want to emphasize that analytical integrity it seems to me and objectivity is absolutely key function because human nature is always to tell the boss what they want to hear. And you are one of the people that sets the process and will take the responsibility seriously. I understand your concern. You have my commitment to take on that issue and to continue to look at it. Thank you mr. Chairman for being here today having family with you for support i appreciate that. The fact that you served as the Inspector General, maybe you might want to explain how prepared you for the job that we are asking you to do what you are asking us to affirm you to do for that position. Thank you, senator i would be pleased to do that. I had an opportunity many years ago back in the 90s to be part of a group of the predecessor of the council Inspector Generals for the president s council on being a part of development of the quality standards for investigations into quality standards for inspections. Those standards are sort of benchmark best practices and have since been changed slightly but practices are bare. When i arrived at the cia, the reason i was asked to come aboard to compete with position and decided to take it is because i wanted to make sure that th the process is utilizedy our inspections, audits and investigative groups and use those standards. That is exactly what i did i implemented the standards across the mission. Having had the opportunity to stand up, be a significant part of standing up to the brandnew offices of Inspector General at the special Inspector General for the program of the federal Housing Finance agency i was able to utilize that knowledge, the skills that i obtained from the previous period of time and put them to work in those organizations and those organizations have been very successful to putting prosecutions that have returned billions to the u. S. Treasury. That same approach i used that the cia Inspector General. Has a couple things i want to go over. As a former governor myself, we now have the budget to give the flexibility to do things most important. Im sure you looked at the budget now. Are you able to move money where you know the critical need is and how important is that for you . The discussion that you and i had in this area caused me to sit back on my heels and reconsider this. You might want to tell people what we talked about because there were areas that you identified you were not able to do what needed to be done but you have money in other silos to help you do it. There were various silos. One is used for salaries, and the other is for contracting and for travel and this type of thing and you cant blend of those monies and cross them across the silo. But i appreciate the chair and vice chairs advice in this area as well and that is a great way to move the money across to allow me to address issues and needs that i have if there is a way that we can do it i would ask the committee support. As it stands currently, im going to attack us. What is the greatest Security Risk that the United States faces . Outside of the threats to the nation whether it is obvious outside of the threats is ensuring the integrity of our intelligence programs and that those involved in the various Intelligence Missions remain dedicated and true to their oath. That is why ive taken and done a lot of work on the threat of how to strengthen the systems of the agency to ensure that when people do run astray, Staff Members and contractors, that we have systems in place at work that we can detect. If you are asked to render your assessment and evaluation, do you feel confident you could speak truth to power . I absolutely do feel confident i can speak truth to power. And if you would ask the current director and former directors, they would tell you the same. Thank you. So, we all know that it is very important that politics not shape the work that we do in our intelligence agencies and the Intelligence Community. King told the committee if youve ever been asked or experienced in the effort to limit your full independence since youve been acting . That is a very good question. I dont know if you remember when you were the attorney general of california, you were very helpful and i thank you again for your help. There has never been a time under any director that ive worked for that im aware of anyone trying to undermine the independent of the Inspector General. I think it is clear the reputation that i dont cia that that is something that i dont think anyone would attempt, but certainly independence is returned to the very fabric of the process. Every opportunity, conferences, new employees, etc. We emphasize the importance of independence. I know that this director is supportive of my independence. Will you commit to the committee that if ever you are talked with or anyone indicates the folks you might do one thing or another that you will report to this committee spin absolutely. I believe you have faced some resistance that has prevented you from getting access to information to assess the situation in terms of performing your oversight responsibility. Will you commit today to notify the committee if in the future you faced any resistance whatsoever in your efforts to obtain information that is necessary to pursue your disabilities . Where anybody has encumbered or tried to be successful in not providing the information we need to do our important oversight role. Please rely on the committee to help you if you need help in accomplishing that goal. Theres been a lot of discussion about whistleblowers i understand you were not aware the project on government oversight report that was released yesterday regarding the three open cases involving allegations that you and others committed retaliation against but obviously this is a serious concern and im going to assume after the hearing you are going to currently rise results with h what is in that report and i request to you is that you then immediately before we vote on the confirmation report back to this committee in writing your analysis and perspective on the content of that report. Are you willing to do that . Senator, i want to make sure that i do not cant wait to area but there was an article that refers to a report and i am unfamiliar with the report with respect, im unaware of any details or complaints or actions or convolutions of wrongdoing made about my career or anything that ive done. As it relates to the letter that was referred to by senator feinstein where you familiarized your content and referred back to the committee and your perspective on what it says thas about these three cases . Yes, senator, i commit to doing that. And you obviously understand that when we are talking about the importance of whistleblowe whistleblowers, for those folks to come forward it is an intimidating process. They are putting their jobs on the line and opening themselves up to the likelihood of retaliation and if they dont have confidence in the system, it is likely that they will not report to the ig and wanting the information to get out and have transparency and sunlight on the issusome light onthe issue thatn prone to leaks of information to the press so we are talking about classified information that creates its own problems when that is leaked to the press. Will you commit to improving and strengthening the systems that are currently in place to assure that there is no retaliation whatsoever when they come forward . I can connect to you that we will improve upon the systems in place. A lot of concern about the whistleblower issues and my concern you might not be aware of the content and investigati investigation. Granted to the committees authority is in effect with making sure that a whistleblower would be able to help them from being reprised and retaliated against. Most all the rest have those kind of protections and i know we talked about this briefly in my office. Do you believe that the employees even though it isnt going to be in the wall do you believe that the employees of the cia ought to have this type of protection that every other federal employee has had since 2001 . I support any protection. I am not aware in my five plus years at the cia where having a Stay Authority would have changed circumstance. That doesnt mean something couldnt happen in the future where it could be used effectively, so i do support. In light of the concerns raised and the importance of the job. Its against any kind of reprisal from the agency itself is terribly important and should you be comforted by hope that you would bring that back to the agency. You have my commitment, senator. Thank you for your testimony to the committee and i will repeat my commitment and urge members if they have additional questions to make the questions available before the end of business today. Thank you for being here to support your husband come your children in it to your mother and his great to have you here for this and with that, the hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]