Transcripts For CSPAN3 Homeland Security Secretary Nomination 20171117

[ banging gavel ] this hearing will come to order. Good morning. We are meeting today to consider the nomination of kirstjen m. Nielsen to be the next secretary of the United States in Homeland Security. I want to thank her, her family. Our senators making introductions later on. I certainly want to call out mrs. Karen kelly, general kellys wife. Shes here also. Showing her support for the nominee. And i know ms. Nielsen will introduce her family in her Opening Statement. Americas facing enormous challenges. Our National Debt exceeds 20 trillion and theres no serious effort being made by either party to significantly reduce the 30year projected deficits that are currently expected to exceed over 100 trillion. Our enemies are on the rise. Russia continues to destabilize its neighbors and is partnering with iran to increase both countries influence in the middle east. The Iranian Nuclear agreement did modify irans behavior. For the worse. North Korea Remains determined to develop the capability to target the United States with nuclear weapons. And the threat of islamist terrorism has evolved, metastasized and spread all over the world, including to our homeland. The challenges facing the next secretary of the department of Homeland Security are equally daunting. We have just experienced unprecedented destruction caused by three hurricanes and multiple wildfires. Dhs and fema, together with their budgets, are already stretched thin responding to these disasters. As the use of the internet spreads and increases, so do the threats posed by social mediainspired acts of terrorism, hacking and cyberattacks. This committee has held more than 20 hearings laying out the sad reality that our borders are far from secure. As a result, illegal immigration persists. Illicit drugs flow virtually unabated and we are more vulnerable to external forces. Unfortunately, enemies from within may currently pose our greatest danger. Five years ago, on august 5th, 2012, evil struck in oak creek, wisconsin. When six worshippers were senselessly slaughtered at a sikh temple. Since then, the list of mass killings has persistently and depressingly grown. Im going to read a list. December 14th, 2012. 26 killed, 2 wounded at an Elementary School in sandy hook, connecticut. April 15th, 2013. Three killed, 264 wounded in a bombing at the boston marathon. September 16th, 2013. 12 killed, 8 wounded, at the navy yard here in washington, d. C. April 2nd, 2014. Three killed, 12 wounded, ft. Hood, texas. Five years after an Even Deadlier shooting that took 13 lives and injured 30 others. April 13th, 2014. Three killed at a Jewish Community center in overland park, kansas. May 23, 2014. Six killed, 14 wounded. Near the campus of the university of california, santa barbara. May 17th, 2015. Nine killed, 18 wounded in a motorcycle fight, gang fight, at a restaurant in waco, texas. June 17th, 2015. Nine killed, one wounded, at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in charleston, south carolina. July 16th, 2015. Five killed, two wounded at a military recruiting center at a Naval Reserve center in chattanooga, in tennessee. November, 27, 2015, three killed nine wounded outside a clinical in colorado springs, colorado. December 2nd, 2014, 24 killed, 24 wounded at a Christmas Party in san bernardino, california. June 12th, 2016, 49 killed, at least 68 wounded at the pulse nightclub in orlando, florida. July 7th, 2016, five Police Officers killed, 11 wounded near parking garage in dallas, texas. July 17th, 2016, three Police Officers killed and three more officers wounded at a Shopping Plaza in baton rouge, louisiana. January 6th, 2017, five killed, six wounded at the airport in ft. Lauderdale, florida. October 1st, 2017, 58 killed, 546 wounded at a music concert in las vegas, nevada. October 31st, 2017, eight killed, 12 wounded along a bicycle path in new york city. November 5th, 2017, just this last sunday, 26 killed and at least 20 wounded in the First Baptist church in sutherland springs, texas. During that list, i just called out, the deaths of 262 americans, more than 1,000 wounded. Id like to just take a moment of silence to reflect and remember those victims and their families. Later sunday evening my 34yearold daughter asked me the questions we are all asking ourselves, what is happening . Why is this happening . What can we do about it . Those are the questions the next department of Homeland Security secretary will be asked to address. It will not be an easy task. The department of Homeland Security employees approximately 240,000 people and manageds a budget of 66 billion. It is a department created by fusing 22 separate agencies with diverse missions. The result has been a department that is struggled to unify its effort and manage a workforce with low morale relative to other federal agencies. Fortunately, when ms. Nielson served under secretary kelly, she witnessed first hand how quickly and dramatically morale can be improved by providing the support they need to perform the task they were hired to do. In many conversation with general kelly, he called ms. Nielson a superstar. Hes also sent this committee a letter of endorsement. We also received a letter endorsement from tom ridge as well as a letter from 44 white house federal officials. I ask that these be entered into the record. Ms. Nielson, i thank you for your past service and your willingness to serve again and i look forward to your testimony. With that ill turn it over to our Ranking Member. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate this hearing and i thank the nominee for her willingness to serve. Today we convene to perform one of our most important constitutional functions to provide advice and consent for the president s nominee for senior positions in our government. On october 16th, President Trump nominated ms. Nielson to lead the department of Homeland Security. Recent events have only reinforced the need for the department to have strong permanent leadership, american citizens in texas, florida, puerto rico, the Virgin Islands and other regions have had their lives and livelihoods up ended by hurricanes. Our west, oust west raging wildfires have forced thousands of families from their homes, record breaking floods have ravaged communities across my home state of missouri and last week, new york city suffered its most deadly terror attack since 9 11. In times of crisis the American People come together and they crave leadership that brings it together. Brings us together. Dhs plays a Critical Role in insuring that the federal government provides that leadership and supports that effort. If confirmed as secretary, ms. Nielson will lead the Third Largest department in the federal government, oversee a workforce that includes more than 240,000 employees and contractors and coordinate 22 separate components including customs and border protection, immigration and customs enforcement, transportation security administration, u. S. Citizenship and immigration services, the federal Emergency Management agency, the coast guard and the secret service. While i was already aware of ms. Nielsons intellect and work ethic as well as her expertise in cyber, i appreciate the chance the other qualities she would bring to dhs. My hope is todays hearing will explore some of the challenges currently facing dhs and that will confront her if she is confirmed. For example, i look forward to learning how ms. Nielson plans to inform the counterterrorism capabilities despite the dramatic cuts included in the president s budget. I want to know what steps shell take to stop the illegal flow of drugs and contra bands in spite of the failure to address the need for more port officers, Border Patrol officers that serve at youre ports of entry. I would like to hear how ms. Nielson and will apply Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina and recent disasters to improve the oversight of dhs contract practices in crisis situations. Perhaps most importantly, i want to learn about the Management Experience and philosophy that she plans to bring to dhs. It is, in fact, judgment, Management Experience and philosophy that she will have the most important duties. Because of course she will try to surround herself with Department Heads and other high ranking officials that will do the daytoday operation of the department. No one that served as dhs secretary has had perfect knowledge of the breadth and depth of issues facing the department. I certainly think ms. Nielson is very knowledgeable and has great breadth and depth of the policies and issues facing the department, but the secretary must also have a leadership and management and communication skills to lead a complex and sprawling enterprise on day one. I hope ms. Nielson will discuss her strategies among the various components. I want to know how shell build employee morale and ensure that whistleblowers can manage to report waste, fraud and abuse without fear of retaliation. Final little and maybe most importantly, i hope to receive the public commitment from ms. Nielson that dhs will comply with oversight request from all members of this committee, including several of mine that remain outstanding. Ms. Nielsons predecessor, general john kelly was willing to speak frankly, even when his message was one that would not be particularly well received. It was the thing i found most qualifying of general kelly for the position that he held and the position he currently holds. Under his leadership, dhs was willing to answer requests from information from both the majority and the minority and while not perfect was far more responsive than many other departments. We have a constitutional duty to perform oversight of the department and i would like to continue the cooperation that general kelly showed to the majority and minority members of this committee. The department of Homeland Security is compromised of talented americans. They develop an implement counterterrorism and cybersecurity policy, they defend our border, think administer or Immigration Laws, protect our National Leaders and Critical Infrastructure and execute Disaster Preparedness and response. We must continue to ensure that these Public Servants have the support necessary to succeed in their mission and i look forward to working with ms. Nielson in that effort should she be confirmed as our nations sixth secretary of Homeland Security. Thank you, mr. Chairman. We have two of our distinguished colleagues who offer some words of introduction and support. Im going to yield to senator rubio who has to go run well start with senator rubio. Thank you, senator portman, mr. Chairman and to the Ranking Member and the members of the committee. I am honored to be here today to introduce a fellow floridaen as the president s nominee to be the secretary of Homeland Security. Ms. Nielson grew up in clearwater and among her many professional experiences began here in the u. S. Senate where she served on the staff of former Florida Center connie mac. She worked on issues that are matters that are not only important to our home state of florida but also critical matters for the National Security of our country. She has a long and distinguished career in Homeland Security matters that span more than two decades, earning a nationally respected reputation. She is an internationally recognized expert in resiliency and risk management, Critical Infrastructure, cybersecurity and Emergency Management. We have before us a nominee to serve in this critical position who understands the extraordinary and wide range of Homeland Security related challenges and the ever evolving threats we as americans face including hurricane preparedness, combatting Drug Trafficking and ensuring safe and Efficient Air travel. Ms. Nielson recently serve as the department of Homeland Security chiefofstaff under then secretary kelly and during that time i had the opportunity to get to know her better while working with secretary kelly on a number of Homeland Security issues. Id like to read a short excerpt from a letter from general kelly who could not be here to help introduce her because he is traveling with the president in asia. He wrote in part the following to this committee, quote, you have read of kirstens accomplishments. You have heard the accolades of her success and devotion to duty. What truly sets her apart is her integrity, sense of service to our nation and dedication to the men and women who risk their lives serving our great country every day. She is qualified to serve as the next secretary of Homeland Security and implore the committee to ensure a swift confirmation for the sake of our nation, end quote. Mr. Chairman, i would ask if appropriate that the full letter which i have here from former secretary kelly be entered into the hearing record. Without objection. Aside from ms. Nielsons impressive qualification i know her to be prepared for challenges, devoted to finding solutions and committed to working with us here in congress to ensure safe and secure homeland. I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to introduce this wellqualified nominee and i truly hope that the committee will quickly move forward with her nomination and that the senate will soon confirm her as the next secretary of the department of Homeland Security. I thank you again. Thank you senator rubio. Senator portman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate you giving me the privilege to be able to introduce the nominee today. Kirstjen nielsen is as was just said by my colleagues so qualified for this job and i must say, mr. Chairman, when you laid out the challenges we face its sobering and we need to have somebody with the experience and qualifications that she has and we need that right now and before coming further on her gished career and qualifications i want to take a moment to acknowledge elaine duke for her service. She took over the secretary duties at a challenging time. I know shes worked closely with the mr. Chairman and the Ranking Members. Im equally excite today introduce her this morning. We serve concurrently at the white house in the george b. Bush white house where she was a trusted hand. Senior director for prevention, preparedness and response. I saw a decade ago a professional dedicated to Public Service and the mission of securing the homeland just as i see that today in her actions more recently at Homeland Security and at the white house and im delighted, again, that she is stepping forward to take on this responsibility. I appreciate the opportunity to sit down with her a couple weeks ago to hear her priorities. Its exciting. To have someone with her energy and enthusiasm, work ethic and again her qualifications to do this. She has this hill experience we talked about a moment ago. She also has private secretary experience in the area of Homeland Security. I think most importantly, perhaps, she is the First Department of Homeland Security secretary nominee with previous experience at dhs. Thats important given the serious challenges again you just described for us, chairman johnson. With this Homeland Security expertise and experience from those years from the department and white house, her industry in homeland consulting experience and the most recent roles she will be the kind of experienced and capable leader we need now in this ever involving threat we find ourselves in. She served the chiefofstaff to secretary john kelly. She proved herself in the early stages of the Administration Transition and saw first hand the challenges of managing this diverse and sprawling agency and senator mccaskills right. Its a management challenge. Throughout her career and government, shes developed expertise in Homeland Security strategy, cybersecurity, transportation security, emergency resiliency. She speaks regularly about the need for resiliency in her Homeland Security posture. Thats incredibly important for the next secretary. Mr. Chairman you noted in your opening comments that the Committee Received written introductions from former tom ridge and michael chertoff. I know they both regret they couldnt be here to endorse kirstens nomination but these leaders know what this job entails, and if i may id like to just briefly read a couple of excerpts from their letters. According to secretary ridge, has been engaged in counterterrorism, all hazard risk manage mitt gas station and response policy from the earliest days. She brings operational experience as well having managed the daytoday operations of the department. She has since served as Principal Deputy chiefofstaff charged with coordinating the interagency policy making at the highest level with the secretaries and deputy secretaries. She is ready to hit the ground running on day one. Thats from secretary ridge. From secretary chertoff. She played a key role in helping lead the Lessons Learned effort post katrina, informing and changing the way we have dealt with disaster preparation and response ever since. Shes a Homeland Security leader for our times. She understands the 21st century challenges of a borderless cyber domain and has worked in the public and private sectors to address these consequently risk to americas National Security and economic stability. She offers our nation the credentials required, experience, expertise, National International perspective and public and private sector experience in the mission space, end quote. Mr. Chairman, i echo those strong sentiments. I believe her work ethic, her experience and her leadership is whats needed in Homeland Security and needed now. Im sure well have a fruitful discussion with the nominee today. I look forward to asking a few questions myself. I hope we can move this nomination very quickly through the senate so we can get her to work as the next secretary of Homeland Security at a critical time. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator portman. Ms. Nielson it is the tradition of this committee to swear in witness. Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony you will give before this committee will be the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god. I do. Be seated. Kirstjen nielsen is currently the Principal Deputy staff to President Trump and was the chiefofstaff to then secretary john kelly the department of Homeland Security. Ms. Nielson served in the Bush Administration special assistant to the president and senior director in the White House Security council from 2004 to 2007. She holds a bachelor degree from the George Washington university. Ms. Nielson . Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member mccaskill and distinguished members of the committee, it is an honor to appear before you today as you consider my nomination to lead the department of Homeland Security. I am humbled and grateful to the president for the trust he has placed in me to lead the great men and women of the department during such a critical time. I want to thank senator rubio and portman for their kind words and introductions. Thank you also to former secretaries ridge and chertoff for their statements. It was an honor to serve and work with them and i look forward to their continued partnership of our Homeland Security enterprise. Finally, i want to thank secretary former secretary, now chiefofstaff, general kelly, for his leadership example and 46 years of Steadfast Service to our nation. And if i could please allow me just a moment to introduce the members of my family who are here with me today. My father james, my sister ashley, my aunt and uncle, trevor and maryanne and one of my cousins from germany. I would like to thank mrs. Kelly for her support and for being here with me today. I was raised to believe in our country and its founding principles and ideals, to serve our country and to appreciate and be thankful every day for the freedoms we hold deer as americans. Im beyond grateful to my family for the values they have instilled in me in their unwavering love and support throughout my life. Thank you all for your continued encouragement and for traveling so far to be here today. If confirmed, it will be the greatest honor to again work with and support the remarkable men and women of the department. I just simply cant say enough about the incredible work of the people of dhs. Many of whom put their lives on the line daily to ensure the safety and security of our nation. Over more than two decades ive dedicated my career to working on Homeland Security issues. After working on Security Issues for senator connie mack i practiced transitional law in which time i will learned how operations are affected by organizational structures and delineation of roles and responsibilities. My service in the executive branch began in 2002 at the transportation security administration. It was an honor to work alongside the countless Public Servants who stood up tsa and tackled the very tough security challenges that we faced after the tragic attacks of september 11th. And who then later helped to stand up the department of Homeland Security. I was subsequently commissioned by president bush to serve as a special assistant to the president for Homeland Security and as senior director for preparedness, prevention and response. Charged with interagency policy development and coordinate nation i led the development of new National Strategies and policies articulating the roles of all levels of government and the private sector in protecting our nation. During this time the nation experienced the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina along the gulf coast. Based on the lessons identified from that response, i led the update and revisions to our Disaster Response planning and recovery planning to strengthen our efforts moving into the future. I worked with congress to draft the post katrina management reform act and coauthored the white house katrina Lessons Learned report. As weve seen again during this years severe hurricane and wildfire season tdhs plays a crucial role in Disaster Preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery working closely with public and private sector partners. I have worked closely with all facets of our Emergency Preparedness community and should i be confirmed i look forward to helping to ensure our nations resiliency to Natural Disasters, terrorist attacks and other major emergencies. While each aspect of the departments mission is important and as has been mentioned there are many, i believe one of the most significant for our future is cybersecurity and the overall security and resilience of our nations Critical Infrastructure. The scope and pace of cyberattacks against our federal networks and the control systems that run our Critical Infrastructure are continually increasing with a tax growing ever more complex. Cyber criminals and nation states are constantly looking for ways to exploit our connectivity and reliance on i. T. Systems. My experience in both the private and Public Sector has prepared me well for the multifacetted challenge that is increasing our resiliency to cyberattacks. I look forward to working with experts at the department and within the interagency and the private sector to address threats, protect our networks and essential functions and secure our nations interests in cyber space. At the start of the current administration, i also had the honor of serving as chiefofstaff at dhs under then secretary kelly. During that time i worked closely with state and local officials, cabinet secretaries, foreign partners and members of congress on all of the issues that dhs faces. I had the opportunity to develop strong working relationships with dhs leadership and helped to develop many of the departments current key priorities and strategies. Our nation today is facing a complex Threat Landscape that is constantly evolving, the threats we face are too many and too various i didnted for one entity to address them successfully alone. I understand the risks and resulting kwlenkz the department is tasked with resolving and eager to get to work wall of dhss partners, domestic and international from all sectors to find solutions. If confirmed, i pledge to continue the record of Exceptional Leadership that general kelly and acting secretary duke have established as dhs. I vow to the men and women of dhs, to you and to the hundreds and millions of americans who rely on dhs every day to work tirelessly to effectively execute each mission at the department. I will work every day to enforce our laws, secure our borders, coasts and waterways and protect americans from dangerous criminals, terrorists, cyberattacks and other threats facing our homeland. Together we will continue such efforts as though initiated by secretary johnson through his unity Effort Initiative to unite the department and remove unnecessary stovepipes. I also pledge to work every day to give the dedicated men and women of the department the support, tools and resources they need and deserve to carry out their difficulty and often dangerous missions. Thank you all again for the opportunity to appear before you today. Should i be confirmed, i look forward to partnering with each of you, the committee and the full congress to protect and secure our homeland and i look forward to answering any of the committees questions. Thank you, ms. Mealson. There are three questions the Committee Asks of every nominee for the record. The first question is, is there anything you are aware of in your background that might present a conflict of interest with the duties of the office to which youve been nominated. No. Do you know of anything, personal or otherwise that would in any way preventing you from fully honoring the responsibilities to which youve been nominated . No. Do you agree to appear and testify before any duly Constitutional Committee if youre confirmed. Without reservation. Thank you. Ill defer my questions to the very end. We do have a request for a second round of questions which im happy to accommodate. I want to make sure those that dont stick around will get a full hearing. Ill set the timer for seven minutes but im going to be very mindful of that and discipline that. So please members, dont be asking questions to the very end. If you do ill just ask ms. Nielson to submit her answer for the record. For now ill turn it over to senator mccaskill. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ill do my best to make the seven minutes. You scared me to death right just then. I feel like theres electric shock to my body if i go over seven minutes. I know that you revise your questionnaire last night and i want to make sure we get that on the record and what unfortunately done is youve gone through and clarified in the questionnaires both for the majority and minority that you would comply without reservation for any request to appear, that you would would without reservation to make any subordinate official available to appear and testify. You agree without reservation to completely and fully and promptly respond to any request for documents from any duly instituted committee of the congress if youre confirmed, you went on to do the same thing in a minority. I just want to get that on the record there was some confusion in some of the answers to your previous questionnaire that you like your predecessor understand that you have a duty to respond to oversight requests whether they come from the majority or the minority. Yes, maam. Thank you very much. I want to read a quote from your predecessor about the wall. And it was as follows, key quote is below, one second. It is unlikely that we will build a wall or physical barrier from sea to shining sea. Kelly testified to this committee. Were not going to build a wall where it doesnt make sense. Well do something but well do something across the southwest border. Do you agree with general kelly in that regard . Yes, maam. Whistleblowers. I am a big believer that there must be whistleblower protection. Can you briefly address how you feel about whistleblowers and protecting them from retaliation within the department . Yes. Id be happy to. Should i be confirmed, i would do everything in my power to make sure there is no retaliation. I feel that whistleblowers are very important part of the way that our democracy functions. I was very happy that recently the president signed into law another whistleblower act, of course it was greatly due to the chairmans efforts but i believe within each department, we need to ensure not only that theres an environment of trust and respect, but that there is a safe place for voices to be heard. Its vital that we understand any concerns of employees. Let me also address contracting after disasters. We are all very worried about all the americans. For the first time i believe in my lifetime, weve been unable to restore basic living necessities to thousands of americans for weeks now. Im confident youll get other questions about puerto rico but i want to specifically hone in on contracting. Youve awarded more than 2 billion, twice the amount, the agency typically conducts in an entire year just since Hurricane Harvey struck. What circumstances do you think is appropriate to award no bid contracts and what could you do to prepare the agency with contracts that have been competed that could slide into place in the aftermath of a disaster . Thank you for the question. This is an area should i be confirmed that i really would like to work with congress on. We need both the flexibility and accountability and agility in these contracts. We need to adjust the rules such that we can get the needed mission assignments, needed supplies to the people but we have to make sure theres a accountability and that we have checks and balances and internal controls. So im not fully aware of every particular avenue fema has perceived or pursued. What we need to be aware of is the innovation needs to be balanced with the accountability. Generally, what im looking to hear is that generally unfortunately a bias against noncompete contracts i think it should its a very, very, very last resort in my opinion, if its life and death, there might be some circumstance that i cant thats my point. What i really hope happens is that you begin a comprehensive effort. We know these disasters are coming. Yes. We know that theres there are going to be disasters, Natural Disasters across our country. All we have to do is look whats going on i believe a lot of this is climate, thats for another daily and discussion, but in order to have standby contracts that can be competed, that takes leadership from dhs and fema. Of course, you got to do a no bid contract if you have nothing prepared for the moment where youve got to have thousands of people restoring electricity. Yes. I agree. I think we need to have better modeling and based on that modeling, we need to work with state and local government to have those contracts in place predisaster, that is a much more effective way to do that. You and i discussed yesterday one of my biggest concerns is our ports. My colleague to the left here, senator portman and many of the other and senator hassan and johnson, all of us are so concerned about the Public Health crisis that grips our nation in terms of the death toll from opioids. We know that a lot of this is coming in, in fact i think if we really did take close analysis wed see more of it coming in through the ports in terms of opioids and especially fentanyl and we are adding more Border Patrol officers on the border that agents on the border and we cant fill the positions we have and were cutting port officers where we desperately need more manpower. There are thousands of folks short. Im quickly approaching where im going to get electric shock. I would like you to address and make a commitment that you will look at this imbalance and address it that we are actually potentially overloading the Border Patrol and ignoring the ports. Senator, you have my commitment. I look forward should i be confirmed to working with the folks at cvp, understanding their operational needs on the border. We talked about it, its a combination of both personnel and technology. We also have to remember that technology can always serve also as a force multiplier if implemented and executed correctly. We need to move with the times. We need to understand how and where the drugs are coming in, the best combination of resources which includes personnel to combat that. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Three seconds. I appreciate, but for the record i only really threatened a light tap of the gavel. All right. Senator portman . First, thank you mr. Chairman for your indulgence letting us have the opportunity to ask questions before you. I know youre going to have a lot yourself. First, welcome, and again, were delighted that youre stepping up to take on this important role. One of the things that was mentioned earlier was congressional oversight and there has been frustration expressed by this committee over my tenure on this committee the last several years that we dont get the kind of responses that we need to be able to do effective oversight. This is not a partisan issue and it shouldnt be. As the chair of the subcommittee, weve worked on a totally bipartisan basis and weve done good work but it requires the administration to be responsive. I would say that it might be helpful for me to give you a specific example rather than talk generally about it and it has to do with what the senator talked about earlier which is ability for us to focus on the supply side with drugs coming into our country. Were doing an investigation. Im not going to get into details because we tend to keep those nonpublic but were trying to get information from the front lines as to whats happening with regard to looking at packages. We know fentanyl is the number one killer now in my home state of ohio. It is increasingly the drug that is even pushing out heroin and other opioids as a synthetic drug. Most of it comes from china and the mail system. Private carriers as you know have to provide this advanced electronic data. Postal service doesnt. We want to know how can we stop this poison from coming into our communities and we all have and this committee have focused on the demand side but we also know if we can stop this poison from coming in it will save lives and at a minimum raise costs for these street drugs. We want to interview the online people who are actually doing the inspection of packages at jfk as your other sites where you have the post office bringing in overseas packages. Were told by dhs, those are two low level people, you have to interview the supervisors. We persist. They continue to say no. We interview the supervisors. They dont have the information for us. In fact, i will tell you eent supervisors one of them at least refused to look at the emails to be able to provide us some responsive answers which was frustrating. They told us. You will need to talk to the online people. So dhs refuses to allow us to talk to the online people. We go to the supervisors at their request. The supervisors say we really dont have the first hand knowledge you need to talk to the folks on the front line. I wanted to give you that as a very specific realtime concern that we have right now in the psi subcommittee and i think, you know, senator carper were here, he would echo my concerns. Hes the ranking democrat on that committee. We dont want to have to go to subpoenas but we will. I would just like the commitment that you expressed to me in private in our meeting about this broad topic that you will work with us to enhance the responsiveness of the department. It is a big straulg department with a lot of challenges and layers. We want the commitment that youll work with this committee which is the committee vested with the responsibility for providing oversight over dhs to respond to congressional inquiri inquiries. You have my commitment. There is no more [ inaudible ] Large Department with its large scope to be very clear with respect to the policies regarding oversight and transparency. I believe those are keys not only to leadership but to the Effective Partnership thats required to combat the threats today. So you would have my commitment that any question that you have we would be responsive and provide you the information you need to do your job which in turns helps us to do our job. Sending a message from the top is very important and i think my colleagues both sides of the aisle would appreciate that. On this issue of drugs coming in to the country, let me ask you about a specific legislative commitment. Most members have been involved in the stop act. It simply says with regard to private carriers you have to have the advanced electronic data as to whats in the package, where its from, where its going p that helps Law Enforcement to be able to identify those packages and stop some of this poison from coming in. Ive seen this at facilities or dhl facilities, fedex facilities. At the post office, theres not that requirement through the postal service. In 2002 this congress required the private carriers to do it and said the post office should do too. Lets have a report. That was 15 years ago and even today the post office is pushing back. So what i would like to hear today from you is your commitment to getting this legislation through. Its very simple. The post office has to require the same advanced electronic data so that your folks can actually identify this poison coming in and when we talk to ccb, they are very interested in having this legislation passed, they need this tool when we talk to the postal inspectors, we talk to local Law Enforcement, same thing. The legislation has not moved in part because the post office is pushed back. In the last two weeks, the commission that the president formed on opioids specifically recommended passage of the stop act. Yes. So now the administration is sort of on record officially. Can you give us your commitment today that you will support the stop act and help us to get this legislative fixed in this one area completed so that we can zbin to make progress keeping the supply of these drugs out of this country. Yes, sir and i also look forward should i be confirmed to providing any technical stance thats necessary to make sure we can implement it effectively working with the u. S. Post office and working with custom patrol to make sure they have the resources they need to play their part. Thank you. So many other questions i will ask some questions with regard to the security and the Faith Community because this is one of the issues we struggle with. Ill be asking questions on the management side about the complexity of the challenge unfortunately and particularly workforce management. We appreciate the fact that you are here today as a nominee with your experience and background to be able to help during a critical time. Mr. Chairman, please note that im yielding back 38 seconds. And ill note that i really appreciate that. Senator taser. Thank you. Ill utilize those 38 seconds. Just kidding. First of all, thank you for being here and thank you for the willingness to serve. Assuming you will get confirmed i hopefully montana will be on your docket for places to visit so we can look at a number of things that your Agency Impacts in rural america, Border Security, Airport Security and the like. Along the lines of Airport Security, the Law Enforcement officer reimbursement grants, are you familiar with those at all . Could you repeat it . Law enforcement re yes. So its a program to help Law Enforcement, to help local Law Enforcement agencies to secure local airports. I think its a really Important Program just to let the cat out of the bag in what i believe about it. The administration wouldve eliminated this program through their budget. I think it puts a whole bunch of things at risk by doing that because terrorists tends to go to the weakest link. My crack staff tells me the program is still at risk of elimination by the administration. I want to know what your view is on those and then ill have a followup. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you, sir. Should i be confirmed its certainly something i would want to look in to. Theres a mix of ways in which the department of Homeland Security can work with state and local officials, the area surrounding the secure area at airports is particularly vulnerable. It is a soft target. You can walk in without screening. So there is more that we need to do. Dhs can provide training. They can provide information. So what i would say is, yes, you have my commitment. Theres a combination of resources that dhs needs to provide and work with state and local officials. Good. I would tell you that i think in the end whether its called a Different Program or not, but but small Airport Security is just as important as big Airport Security. Yes, sir. I would hope youd fight hard for that. Real i. D. , its an issue that the senator from oklahoma and i have in common. Weve never ill speak for myself, but never been a big fan. Theres a number of reasons why. I think we can get this pounded out but its going to require some visiting, some bipartisan visiting with a number of senators to be able to make this work so that we dont end up doing things like in montana having a really i. D. That costs the citizens additional dollars. I just need your commitment that youd be willing to work with us on this issue to try to move it forward and it would be a bipartisan manner. Absolutely. To come together to get the solution because its been around as long as ive been here. Yes, sir. Border security, big issue. Sorry i wasnt here earlier so if im asking a question thats already been asked on this, forgive me. The president has been an advocate for a wall on the southern border. As you well know, i serve as the Ranking Member on the appropriations Homeland Security Committee Also besides this committee. So the question i have is from your perspective, number one, i assume youve been on the southern border. Yes. Youve seen it. What is your view on a wall and whats your view on technology . Yes. First of all, i just would like to if i could quote something senator mccaskill said at the beginning. The president has stated as have my predecessors at dhs. Theres no need for a wall from sea to shining sea. We need to work with the operators, should i be confirmed, i would look forward to speaking with state and local officials, those on the ground and federal Law Enforcement to include ccb to understand where we need a physical barrier. Technology plays a key part and we cant forget it. Theres a lot we can do with technology to help secure our border. In a much more costeffective way i might add. There was a report that was due by your office august 3rd i believe on a comprehensive review of what the plan is for the border. Today i didnt ask my staff this morning but we havent received it. And that maybe one of the reasons we havent marked up that Homeland Security appropriations bill. Number one, i guess is could you see if you could assuming you get confirmed put the gas on the pedal to get that because i think its really, really important to have a plan, that we actually have a plan moving forward for the southern border. Yes, sir. I do think the plan which i look forward to seeing should i be confirmed also needs to be linked in the appropriate way to any appropriation or any other absolutely. I agree with you 100 . Do you have any plans off the top of your head and you can use the last two minutes i have but i dont want you to on port security, what needs to be done there . I think port security, what i would say is we just need to continue to evolve with the times. Everything from cybersecurity threats we now face to additional, perhaps, more innovative ways in which the threats is there any technology that you know of right now that the ports dont have that they need . Im aware of some additional screening equipment that we are looking at piloting and using at the borders. Im not aware of the constraints that a port environment might provide but certainly we need the best the best and brightest both in terms of personnel and technology at the ports. Thank you very much and i would like the chairman to note i yield back a minute and 13 seconds. This is fabulous. I think we all appreciate, by the way. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I wont disappoint you. You know whats coming. A question on the northern border. Senator tester did, so yeah. The northern border threat analysis was released in july after our Bipartisan Legislation that senator kelly ayotte and i cosponsored. When we look at the northern border its 5,500 miles with a very, very historic and significant partner in terms of canada, but that doesnt mean that we can ignore our northern border threat assessment. Dhs is already committed to me that items such as improved facilities, better equipment and retention and better use of technology will address be addressed in this strategy but that strategy is only a first step. The implementation of the strategy must be prioritized during the budget process. Im just going to ask you a series of yes or no questions. Will you, if confirmed commit to pushing in the next dhs budget for sufficient funds for tax to execute the northern border strategy including funds to begin improving facilities and recruitment and retention at remote and rural locations and Smart Investments in technology to improve domain awareness . Yes, i will. Thank you. Will you commit to me that the northern border will be a priority of yours if youre confirmed . It must be, yes. Thank you and in order to fully understand, montana and north dakota share a border, if you want to come to montana, well make it so that you come to montana and north dakota at the same time and you will see that gap in Border Security that is particularly difficult in terms of recruitment and retention of staff and, again, monitoring pane securing the northern border facility and that would be that wide open space north of minot through the mn border. So its critically important that we get your commitment on the northern border issues. Another Program Within the department of Homeland Security which ive taken a particular interest in is the countering violent extremism section and we havent heard a whole lot about it but obviously when the chairman went through a number of those incidents, a number of those are really homemade, lone wolf kinds of situations and we want to make sure that we have relationships within within the organization and within the communities to avoid radicalization, so will you commit to evaluating the cve program at dhs and reporting back to us in 90 days on your initial plans regarding the program, its goals and its grants and how you intend to prioritize the mission of this organization, which i think is a little at sea at the moment. Yes, i do. I think its critically important and i would just ask that you pay particular attention to that to that problem. I was struck by your Opening Statement where you announced as we all do the principals that you believe in the principals of our founding documents and what constitutes our country and one of the great founding prison apple is that were a nation of laws and i think over the last couple couple months, we seem to find policies being announced in unconventional ways and policies being challenged in courts in ways that doesnt advance the goal of the administration, in fact, just delays the goals of the administration, but yet we arent sure whos doing the policy and how how we can effect seamless integration and implementation if dhs isnt involved, so i want to just give you an opportunity to respond to this question, if you are, in fact, confirmed and you determine that a policy announced from the white house, not dhs is, in fact, potentially illegal and goes beyond what dhs is able to do within the confines of law or regulation and otherwise not in the best interest of dhs or the american public, will you take up and repeat the president s statement of policy before congress and the American People bend the law or regulation to fit the policy thats been stated or will you tell the president and the white house that he has proposed limitations on his power and otherwise is outside the bounds of law and regulation and beyond what is good for, in fact, the department . Thank you for the question, senator. I fully intend in all cases and in all ways at all times to fully comply wall laws. I will expect the same of any employee or member of dhs. I would answer your question, yes, i would definitely tell the president if i thought a particularly policy violated any laws of our country, perhaps it would be more importantly to speak with him and other white house staff prior to any announcement of policy to make sure they understand both operational constraints, legal constraints, resource constraints and the views and incites of other stakeholders that would need to be part of its implementation. I think over the months, weve had a suspicion that sometimes the right hand doesnt know what the left hand is doing. You come from roles that have been supportive, deputy chiefofstaff, chiefofstaff, kinds of roles. Youre in a new role. Yes. In this new job and that means that you have to represent the constitution, you have to fulfill your constitutional obligations and you have to be accountable to this committee. And so i would appreciate ongoing zo ongoing dialogue and making sure that commitment is carried forth and so thank you so much and i would note that ive left 48 seconds on the clock. Duly noted. Senator peters. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and ms. Nielson. Thank you for being here for us before us today and your willingness to serve in this capacity. I want to thank you for the opportunity that we had to meet in my office to discuss a lot of very specific issues related to the state of michigan and i appreciate thaunt and if confirmed would look forward to the opportunity to work with you on those going forward. But ms. Nielson, we have seen an uptic in hate crimes across this country and in my state of michigan recently and im concerned that this administration has failed to give these incidents the full weight and the attention that they certainly deserve. So i just have a few questions. First, do you condemn White Nationalism and white supremacy. Absolutely. Do you condemn, antisemitism. Yes. Do you condemn islamaphobia . Yes. So let me turn to an incident in charlottesville, virginia. Do you agree that the individual charged with the murder of Heather Heyer was a White Nationalist or a minimal guided by extremist ideology. Yes. As the potential leader of a massive and diverse workforce, do you agree with the president s comments related to the charlottesville incident namely that there was some fine people on both sides . Sir, all i can say is what i believe and what i would do should i be confirmed which is both that i disavow any form of violence whether antiis a mettic, any kind of radicalization, anyone who chooses to espow their vows through violence. Should i become the secretary of Homeland Security, i would do all in my power to work with state and local governments in communities, both through an awareness perspective but also to provide that Key Information sharing that enables them to anticipate such threats. We cannot tolerate it as the United States. Well, in the aftermath of charlottesville, americans are urging congress to examine the threat of White Nationalist violence and potentially broaden the scope of the current countering violence extremism programs, the cve programs. Many of our nations civil rights including the american muslim communities believe that the cve program has been focused disproportionately on Law Enforcement led outreach and its flawed. I want to be very clear, Law Enforcement should in my mind continue to engage Community Leaders across the country, thats a very important element, however this type of engagement should in some ways be decoupled from cve efforts without adjustment, the current cv approach often permits and ive heard this from folks in my state, the perception of mistrust, perceptions that are routinely exacerbated by polarizing messages that coming out of the trump administration. So my question is, what are your thoughts on reframing the dhs cve mission to focus on engaging communities through a full range of Government Programs and agencies, for example, integrating the departments of education, health and Human Services and others . You can expand on your thoughts on dealing with this program. I do believe it requires the full weight and strength of the United States government. There are many different avenues in which we understand that individuals either become radicalized or find themselves on a path towards violence. The short answer is yes, should i be confirmed i would work with the other cabinets to utilize the tools and resources and information that they have, but i do believe the only way this works is to constructively and continually engage communities. We have to build that environment of trust and respect so that they feel that they can come forward in a safe way, not face retaliation and have alternatives to otherwise violence path. So if confirmed, will you commit to studying this issue and include the perspective americas ethnic and relevantus minorities in that assessment. Absolutely. As you know secretary kelly visited my home state of michigan very early in his tenure which i appreciated that visit, particularly with the arabamerican community which is very large in the state of michigan and i hope you would commit to visiting michigan as well given the concerns that have been expressed on a regular basis to me from that very large and vibrant and active community in the state of michigan. Yes, sir. Appreciate that. Acting secretary duke said that she would provide this committee with information related to the portion of dhs budget that is spent on domestic terrorism versus international terrorism. Will you ensure that that happens if confirmed . Yes, i would. An ohio man was charged with murder following the charlottesville incident. The department of justice is also opened up an investigation. As you know, unlike international terrorism, there is no domestic terrorism statute on the books. Do you think legislation is required to address domestic terrorism . Sir, its a good question. As you know i think Many Americans in the wake of charlottesville were surprised to learn that there is no such crime as domestic terrorism. That doesnt necessarily mean that fbi and the department of justice, state and local Law Enforcement dont have laws and tools that they need, but should i be confirmed it would definitely be a conversation i would like to have early on to ensure that we do have the tools that we need to prosecute such activity. Do you see any shortfalls now that you are concerned about . Not that im aware of, now, no, sir but would intend to study them. But you do plan to have a thorough review of that . Absolutely. I look forward to working with you on that as well what may potential need to be done. Do you support laws and policies that law police and other authorities to demand proof of citizenship or immigration status based on their perception of that an individual might be undocumented . I do believe in enforcing the federal Immigration Laws of the United States and i defer to state and local laws which i would also comply with and have any employee should i be confirmed who works with me comply with as well. So in your support, just to clarifying question, what in your mind, what would constitute reasonable suspicion and how would that differ from racial profiling . Takes good question and id have to understand what the states would argue the difference would be. I would do that and be happy to report back to you after should i be confirmed or is the question for the record. Very good. Thank you. Senator hassan. Thank you, mr. Chairman and good morning ms. Nielson. Good morning. And congratulations on your nomination. Thank you very much for meeting with me in my office last week i greatly appreciate it. Before i get to my first question, ill just add to the chorus of those of us who have states with us way northern border that we are looking for real attention to the northern border report and the improvements which should be making on the northern border. But i wanted to started to just on the issue of really our post caliphate strategy in combatting isis. As youve pointed out as a former dhs chiefofstaff and as the current chiefofstaff youre familiar with the current challenges of the department and the nature of the terrorist threat to our homeland. For the past several years, dhs has been leading the effort to address foreign fighter flows from the u. S. And allied western countries to isis battlefield in iraq and syria. Today the socalled caliphate is crumbling with the isis strong holds of mosul and raqqa having been retaking by allied forces. The thousands of foreign fighters who joins isiss ranks could form as former fbi director comeys put it, as terrorist diaspera. In your response to Committee Questions you alluded to steps you would take to i would like you to specify what steps you would take if confirmed in the first 30 days to address the threat from our terrorism diaspora . First if i was to be confirmed, i would speak in detail with the leadership from dhs currently. But in general, i think what we have to realize is that the threat has changed as you have described. So what we see now are more of an inspiration. Theres less directed attacks but there are no more dangers when they are inspired. The other challenge we face with inspired attacks is were seeing throughout the world, particularly in europe, but unfortunately here as well as recent events in new york indicated that terrorists or wouldbe terrorists or people inspired by terrorism use very common items. So i understand that. Just because of our time constraints, what concrete actions would you take . You know, one of the reasons you have broad support is because you are you have been there recently and are ready to leave . Awareness outreach is leaning to a different model, making sure that we use a jtf, a joint task forcelike mentality within the department to make sure we are leveraging all the different parts. And to be clear and prioritize what the threat is, making sure were addressing todays threat and not yesterdays the month before. Well, thank you. And i will likely followup with you on that bit. Also, i wanted to followup on a couple of the questions you heard about counter violence extremism. You referenced in your answers to Committee Questions that dhs must increase its capabilities to address terrorists exploitation of the internet and social media for radicalization. Could you just you talked just now about the need to constructively and continually build up relationships, but can you tell us a little bit more about what how you would actually do that . Yes, as i understand it, dhs amongst other partners have been working with the social media providers, internet providers, that is something i would continue. We need to in partnership find the terrorist substance on the internet and remove it. We know they are using it to inspire, to install propaganda and to cause confusion as we have seen in other circumstances. But the internet and social media are particularly vulnerable to such manipulations and we need to work in partnership to remove them. You also mentioned in our meeting in my office that the need to partner moms and imams. And im just really trying to get at what you mean by that. Well, we have heard, and i think what my reference was to some of the different associations, nonprofit organizations, ngo partners found in their experience, the best practice, the best way to do the Community Outreach and to increase awareness was to work, in particular, with the two groups of participants in those lives. So im sorry for interrupting, but again, time is short. Dhs has a unique office called the office of Community Partnerships that does exactly what youre talking about and what you have referenced in answers to a couple of questions now. But while you were at dhs as the chief of staff, the number of personnel was cut in staff. The director of the office resigned. Once more in your first days of dhs, you awarded grants made to several organizations. Among the groups that had their grants rescinded was a group of reformed White Supremacists who were working to pull others out of violent white supremacist groups and the Muslim Public Affairs council, which is a track record of engaging the Muslim American community throughout the country on this kind of issue. So can you tell me the reason why you took these actions at dhs, specifically why did you rescind grants that had been carefully vetted. And how does this harmonize with your desire to increase dhs capability to address terrorist exploitation of the internet . Yes, maam. I think the short answer is, it was an attempt to ensure any grants distributed would, in fact, be effective. So as you know, the awards were preawarded, if you will, purchased prior days to the new administration. What then secretary kelly did was put a hold on the award, the final announcement of those grants, and asked the office of Community Partnership to relook at the metrics so that we can build the metrics in at the front end to ensure any taxpayer money was successful. So track record was one of the considerations go ahead. But the question is, what has been done since . Im going to assume the metrics have happened by now. And it is not my understanding that we have issued more grants. And meanwhile, the office has been the personnel has been cut in half. So it doesnt speak to a real desire or sense of urgency about this. Yes, i look forward i look forward to hearing about the results of the grants. So they have been awarded, as you know, but its been four, five, six months depending on top grant. So with the metrics in place, the assessment and measurement will continue. Im very hopeful that well find best practices that we can then scale and that we can then work with this committee to ask for any Additional Resources, personnel, etc. , to do just that. Its a vital part of what dhs does. We just need to make sure we do it in a very effective way. Well, thank you. Thank you for your answer. Senator harris. Thank you. On september 5th, the administration said they were ending daca. Were you part of daca . Prior to that, i was instrument ta instrumental in putting together the policy at the white house. So there were a series of meetings at various levels of government that either coordinate in terms of establishing the process, in some cases, i participated as a deputy as one of the deputy chiefs of staff. So you were a part of a meeting that was held in the white house, in the roosevelt room, in late august that involved attorney general Jeff Sessions and white house Senior Adviser Steven Miller and dhs acting secretary at the time, elaine duke . I believe so, yes, maam. Okay. And as you know, more than two months have passed since the administration decided to end the daca program for nearly 700,000 young people. During our meeting last week, when the issue of daca was raised, i was encouraged to hear you say you want to work on this. Absolutely. Daca recipients include hundreds of thousands of individuals enrolled in colleges, fortune 500 companies and serving in the military. And every day since that announcement was made and even before, they wake up terrified. Every night they are afraid that theres going to be a knock on their door at midnight removing them from their home and tearing apart their family. Under these circumstances, do you agree that legislation must be passed to protect these young people before the end of this calendar year . I believe that we must and we owe it to them to find a permanent solution. Its no way to expect anyone to live a month or two months at a time. And while Congress Works on this issue, hopefully well be working in the bipartisan way. I have every hope that that is what is going to happen. If confirmed, will you commit that these young people will not be an enforcement priority while congress is working to fix this problem . Yes, maam. And in order to participate in the daca program, they had to submit information on their family. They stated their personal information would not be used for enforcement purposes. Two weeks ago i sent a letter with 38 other United States senators to dhs asking the agency to keep its promise by not sharing the information it demanded from the young people in order to deport them. We have not received a response. If confirmed, do you add mitt that this information will not be shared . First, i commit to you a response. Second, there are extraordinary limited circumstances that involve very specific national or Public Safety. To my knowledge, there are no other reasons or exceptions to enable that information to be shared for any enforcement purpose. If there are any, i will commit to you to immediately come and talk to you about it and work out a solution together. And will you submit to this committee that the information will not be shared for enforcement purposes. That you will make that policy clear to all members and employees of dhs . Absolutely. Thank you. At a december 27th hearing, i asked acting secretary duke to extend the october 5th renewal deadline for Daca Recipients. It did not happen. Its been reported that roughly 21,000 recipients were not able to gather the documentation and the 495 that was required as part of the filing before the deadline. If confirmed, will you reopen the application process and allow the individuals the opportunity to renew their status. I will commit to you to look into it. Im not familiar with the specific numbers. But if there are extenuating circumstances that we should take into consideration, i would look into those and talk with you further. I would urge you that part of the extenuating circumstances that should be taken into account is a National Survey that found 57 of americans say right now they do not have the ability to pay 500 of an unexpected bill. Additionally, there are a number of Natural Disasters around the country including my own home state. Americans have lost their entire belongings, their paperwork, and they are barely getting through the day much less have the ability to compile extensive documentation and come up with 495. And i would urge you to prioritize that fact when you think of the extenuating circumstances. Yes, maam. Thank you. On february 20th, dhs released figures for immigration enforcement. During a meet the press interview on april 16th, former secretary kelly stated, quote, just because youre in the United States illegally doesnt necessarily get you targeted. Its gotta be Something Else and were operating more or less at the other end of the spectrum, and that is criminals multiple convictions. Do you agree with that assessment . Yes, i agree that we should prioritize criminals and any others that in any way are concerning from a National Security perspective. And the definition of criminals is what . So, i would defer to you, but i would follow the law. So whatever the law tells me a criminal is, that is what we would target and nothing less than that. And in deference to me, i appreciate that, i would urge you to consider the definition of criminals to be people who have violated the law in terms of violations of the penal code and those are criminals as opposed to people who are undocumented and in this country because of situations such as the dreamers, which is that they were brought here as Young Children and no know other home except for this. Yes, so the criminality i would be talking about with respect to enforcement priority is above and beyond the original illegal entry. And it has been widely reported that between january and september of this year, i. C. E. Arrested nearly three times the number of individuals with no criminal history as compared to the same period last year. If dhs is focused on true criminals, it is clear that the frontline officers have a different impression. So if confirmed, will you issue a written directive to the agents that they prioritize enforcement activities in a way that targets criminals who pose a Public Safety threat and not dreamers or Daca Recipients . Yes. Although i will say, i understand that to be the current policy. But if theres any question about it, we will clarify. Okay. And in particular, will you agree to issuing a written directive to the agents that that is the policy of the agency . Yes, i would or if appropriate, acting director holman would. Great, thank you. Senator langford. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Susan, thank you for your leadership in the past and what you are doing right now to currently serve the nation and the willingness to go through this process. It is not a fun process to go through and all the paperwork and everything you have to be able to do. So thank you for stepping up to be able to take that leadership for us. Thank you, sir. Let me ask you a series of questions, one of them is a hiring issue. Customs and Border Patrol and several entities within dhs, it takes well over the standard 100 days for hiring, which is again way too long for federal hiring process. Customs and Border Patrol, they are around 450 days to hire one agent. There was a request put in in the past for an additional 100 million to be able to help fix that process. That is on top of the 65 million that was put in place last year to be able to help in the process. Thats 165 million to be able to improve a very broken process. My question for you is, how do we get this fixed . So that it doesnt take 450 days to be able to hire a person to be able to help us in customs and Border Patrol . And why does it take 165 million to fix the process . So very good question. I think that hiring is something that would be at the top of my priority list, should i be confirmed. Senator heitkamp mentioned concerns we have in hiring for the northern border, Cyber Security is another area as you know where we have difficulty in not only hiring but retaining qualified people within the department. We need to look at it holistically. The system needs to keep up with the times. So whether that is the way in which were advertising, the way in which were allowing those to apply, as i understand it, unfortunately, some of the websites, for example, where jobs were listed, the links are bad. So some of this is something that we can lowhanging fruit, if you will, but from the holistic experience, we have to have the internal controls in place to ensure that not only on the hiring side but then through the cycle of retention and professional development. Should i be confirmed, this is something i would look into, im not familiar with that. So among the authorizing appropriating side of this, this is something i tried very carefully and something we can do for less than 165 million to be able to fix the broken process. But, at the end of the day, we have to be able to reform how we are doing hiring and what happens with hiring. The senator brought this to you earlier that the request has been put into the administration by august 1st to get a comprehensive plan for Border Security, thats been mentioned by multiple agencies. Obviously, the first part of this is a discussion of the southern border. You have already mentioned were not talking about a wall from sea to shining sea, were talking about technology in some places, clear markings in other places and walls in others. We need to not only know the cost but the strategy for that on the southern border. And were going to want to know the same thing for the northern border. For instance, theres a much higher number of aerial systems on the southern border than the northern border. Although the northern border is more open, quite frankly, than the southern border is and is 2,000 miles longer. So were going to need greater attention to the northern border and a plan. And to be able to figure out cost. The initial cost estimate that came to us in the Appropriations Committee was about 20 million a mile. For the construction of the wall. Ten years ago we we are building 650 miles of fence that exists currently. That was about 2. 5 million a mile. So im trying to figure out why the cost estimate has gone up ten times in ten years. So we do have inflation, but it is not that great. Thats an area we need to get greater clarity on and to be able to determine how we are actually securing the border, but to do it with a taxpayers dollars in mind as well. Yes, sir. I look forward to working with you should i be confirmed. Appreciate that very much. We have spoken as well before about the election Security Issues and what were facing with foreign actors trying to interfere, not only in our free speech, but in our election process itself. One of the things that i raised at that time when we spoke last was about the length of time it took to be able to notify states that they were currently being probed by foreign actors. That is a length of time much too long. It was around 14 months from when a state was probed by a foreign actor to when they were notified, hey, you are being probed. We have to notify them so the two main questions that ill have for you to be able to Work Together on is, clearances, for state elected officials. So we can have a more rapid communication. The second one is, at the end of an election time, its an audible election, that will work with states, not to determine what their election system is, thats the role of the state. Their equipment, all those things, thats the role of the state. But to be able to make sure the state at the end of the election can audit the election would be helpful to be able to help out in the process. So what im looking for is just cooperation on trying to deal with things, i would assume, the American People will assume of us will be done a year from now when theres a large scale federal election again. Yes, sir. You have my commitment. In fact, when i went to vote this week in the virginia election, i was quite concerned with the scanning machine and started asking a variety of questions of what the security on the scanning machine was for the ballot. I think we all have to be very aware and work with the state and locals. The role of dh bs as you know is to respond to requests from the officials to make sure they have clearance to receive the information and offer a tool from the supply chain all the way through to dissemination of the voter roles that its protected. I also would just offer redundancy is important on the back end with audit. So whether it is paper ballots or physically moving the ballots as they do in california as chaperoned by the highway patrol, we need to ensure the integrity of our electoral system. All right. I completely agree. Let me bring up a couple more things rapidly to you. One is that i brought up to several folks both with fema and in leadership with dhs where we have a longstanding issue where congress determine in the 1990s nonprofits were ineligible for disaster raid. That was redefined to say it doesnt include houses of worship, so churches, synagogues or mosques cannot get disaster aids. But often those are the location for food distribution, supplies, clothing, Everything Else in the area. But they have been pulled out and defined as not nonprofits, which i think is an overstatement of what the law is. And something we can try to help clarify, but it is also something i believe the administration already has the authority to be able to clarify when it says nonprofits, that doesnt exclude faithbased nonprofits, especially after the lutheran case earlier this year clarified from the Supreme Court that we cant ever go to a house of worship. Until then, you cant participate in your government if you are faithbased. That gives an unfair decision for any house of worship to say, yes, you can participate with your government as long as you give up your faith first. Thats not something were going to do. So that is an area well be able to maintain that conversation and along with senator chester want to be able to rank the real issue. And the main point for me is waivers and decisions on waivers and how were going to settle the issues for the states that are still in that zone right now of making decisions, they need to be made as early as possible. But the longer it takes, the more difficult it is for us to be able to arrange things around that. Yes, sir. Thanks again for your service. Thank you. Senator hogan. Thank you for being here today and congratulations on your nomination. Certainly look forward to working with you. What are some of the key steps in your opinion to securing the border and to enforcing Immigration Law . And what are the key metrics that youll use to evaluate performance . So i would just say at the start that metrics are vital. I just dont think that we can effectively and efficiently spend taxpayer money without them. So we need to work with stake holders, we need to work with this committee and others to ensure we have metrics that actually are indicative of performance. Lots of times, not lots of times, but sometimes metrics can be designed in such a way to be a compliance exercise. Thats not what we need. We need something that actually demonstrates the performance. So having said that, the steps that we need to take, i think we need to look at it as a very integrated system. I believe you and i spent a little time talking about, its not just physical barriers, its personnel, its training, its technology, its working with state and locals, its understanding a variety of things that might be needed in special circumstances, such as surge control or if theres a Natural Disaster. I look forward to reading the border strategies that i know dhs is finalizing. And certainly, should i be confirmed, at that time, look forward to working with you in more detail. But i dont think this can work from an appropriations perspective or a true goal of security without those metrics. I do think they should be transparent. Ones that can be measured, ones that are repeatable, and ones that we have the ability to update if, in fact, they prove not to be as useful. And that also includes making sure that youre enforcing Immigration Law within the country as well as security on the border. Yes. When you talk about those metrics. Yes, sir. That needs to be measured and understood, not only by dhs, but the general public as well, right . They should be transparent, yes. Agree. All right. You asked i think some of my colleagues had talked about the northern border. And i certain lip want to emphasize the northern border as well as the southern border. And i want to ask for your opinion in regard to the use of Unmanned Aircraft technology for Border Security. So i think it provides us a very interesting capability as a force multiplier. The ability to have the situational awareness, but the sensors that we now have available to us enable us to enact a variety of threats that could be coming across our border. Anything from something in the cbrme perspective through to people through to elicit goods. Its a first multiplier. So we absolutely should be looking at it, the ways in which to i didnt grentegrate it. We have to make sure we are securing on the front and not adding security on the back end. So you would support the use of Unmanned Aircraft technology as a border, a piece of Border Security on both the north and the southern border . If the operators and folks on the ground believe in any way it can be useful, absolutely. And what about defending against Unmanned Aircraft. Whether that be at the border or address it on potential threats within the country . So thats the flip side. Thats where in our use we would have to, at the front end, think about the vulnerabilities that they can provide or how they can be used to do us harm. As we have seen unmanned vehicles, small ones, from everything from improvised explosive devices through to unfortunately, dispersible devices for chemical or bio attacks. We have to take that seriously as i understand it. There is some work that dhs is undertaking today on that. But that is one that we have to watch very carefully and include in our planning and resourcing to be able to combat. Right. So it raises everything from privacy issues all the way to a potential threat. As you said. In grand forks, north dakota, at the grand Sky Technology park, part of the Northern Plains test sites in the nation for uas, we are already working on those iss issues. And we have a partnership between not only the test site but the university of north Dakota School of aviation, one of the premier schools of aviation in the world, with the u. S. Air force, okay . With customs and border protection, which has responsibly for 900 miles of Border Security from the great lakes all the way out west for most of the montana border, 900 miles, and then we have Companies Like general atomics out there with predator, reaper and global hawk. So this is an opportunity for us to work with dhs on developing all these things uas. And so you and i talked about this in my office, i appreciate that, but again, i ask for your attention to looking at how we can partner co establito accomp we are talking about. Yes, sir, you have my commitment. Okay. The other thing is, we saw this attack in new york city, and in this case, the use of a truck. Yeah. Talk to me about, not only how we prevent or do more to prevent those types of attacks, respond to them, but also how, in your opinion, we can address this radicalization of people either who are radicalized overseas or here in this country. So all three. How do we prevent . How do with respond . And how do we address the radicalization . Yes, sir. So on the protection front as you know, dhs offers a variety of tools and resources with respect to any soft target attack. Its vital that, in my opinion, they continue to do so should i be confirmed, it would certainly be something i would to work with state and local Law Enforcement to ensure that theyre receiving what they need. But this is everything from information sharing to Vulnerability Assessments of soft targets through to active shooter drills and exercises that jttfs that form with the fbi are crucial ensuring they have the tools they need. I would be working closely with the department of justice to ensure that we are offering everything we can from a federal government perspective. As to the radicalization issue, in my mind, we have to look at it in almost two different points. The first point being, you know, why and how do or does an individual become radicalized within our country . What are they reading . What are they accessing . What are they hearing . What are they not reading, accessing or hearing that enables them to become radicalized. The second point is, once they are radicalized, what can we do to offramp them, if you will . To help them see theres a better more productive way to express their views that are protected in this country, but to do so in a nonviolent manner . So should i be confirmed, i really look forward to working with dhs but also to the many organizations, Law Enforcement communities and frankly International Partners who have looked at these issues to determine the best practices that we can use to raise awareness and eliminate the threat. That ability to network, to really network with all the other Law Enforcement agencies, security agencies, not only at the local and state and federal level, not just in this country but in other countries is such a huge part of what you do. And you referenced that, i think that is absolutely right. Thank you for your willingness to step up and serve in a very challenging and demanding position. Very important position. We appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Senator hogan, before i throw it to the next senator, i want to follow along the same path for continuity. One thing i was struck by is the in the recent new york terrorist attack using a truck, apparently, he read the howto manual on the internet that showed what kind of truck gives you better maneuverability, two wheels in the back, on the back axles, so you have a better chance of running over people. What is your understanding, im not a lawyer, but the current state of law of the lawfulness of that howto manual on the internet and what do you think we aught to do in terms of explore . For example, we dont allow child pornography on the internet. It is illegal to download it. What should we do in terms of that type of howto manual, that kind of incitement of violence on the internet . I would offer that i think we need to have a serious discussion, frankly, in conjunction with the executive branch and the legislative branch to really look at this issue of content. Obviously, our rules and values that we hold dear enable each one of us to speak freely within this country. Having said that, there is a point at which certain very specific descriptions of weapons, how to conduct attacks, we often jump right into terrorist use of the internet, but theres something before that. I do think we have to have that conversation and then work with those who provide and enable that information on the internet to find a way to identify and remove it should we determine that its not appropriate. Well, i want to work closely with you as you explore that. Because this is a different kind of enemy. And the old ways and tools just arent working. Senator harper. Thank you for visiting with me earlier this month. Thank you for being here today. One of the things im going to say to senator mccaskill, it is glad to have you back and were glad to hear joe is on the mend. A number of us on this Committee Like to focus on root causes, not just addressing the symptoms of the problems but what are the root causes. What were you saying are the root causes of hundreds of thousands of people trying to get out of evl salvador to get into the United States . What are the root causes of that . Yes, sir. I think it is push and pull as we often see, but generally to me what that means is, the conditions on the ground unfortunately in some of these countries are such that the citizens there believe they have a better opportunity if they go elsewhere. So on that note, what i would do, should i be governor, thats a good job. I can assure you. We can throw that in here, too. Should i be confirmed, is to continue to work in partnership with those governments. We have to increase the prosperity there. Theres a variety of programs you and i have discussed including the alliance for prosperity, but to really help Top Community find jobs that enables the community to be resilient in such a way that in and of itself provides the type of environment that citizens would want to stay. I also, as you know, feel very strongly that our drug demand in this country is an underlying push, if you will. Our drug demand is like no others. Americans, unfortunately, we have a higher drug rate, not only death rate from it, but use of Illegal Drugs than any other country. Thank you, thats good. Yes. So as you know, the high risk list and the high risk of using money, one of the ways we are at high risk was from four years ago. The fact that were spending a lot of money in this country trying to prepare for it and fight against the rising oceans, not only the ocean, but we see the messages of Climate Change rise every day. My state is sinking, the oceans are going higher. Do you believe that Climate Change is occurring and causing temperatures to rise over the past 30 years or so and is primarily caused by human beings . I do believe that the climate is changing. I cant une quiquivocally say t it is not just humans. There are many factors to it, yes, sir. Do you believe it is primarily caused by human beings . I believe Climate Change exists. Im not able to determine the causation. Really . Why not . Because i believe many are focused on this issue, on this issue alone. 98 of the Scientists Say this is a problem and we are the root cause. We as humans. For you to sit there and say, it is not really clear. Something is happening here and i think it is clear. And ill go on to my next question. I enjoyed meeting with you, i think youre smart, i think youre well spoken. I worry a lot about your leadership and experience as a leader and your lack of experience. Ive been privileged to provide leadership in 23 years in the navy, privilege to be governor of delaware for eight years and hopefully provided decent leadership there. The idea of me taking on an agency to add 240,000 employees scattered all over the world and leading them in the right direction, i would be daunted. It happened to one of my close friends, janet napolitano, daunting for her. Why should we believe that as smart as you are and as well spoken as you are, that someone who, as far as i know, has never led an organization of either 100 people much less 240,000 is ready to take on this responsibility this large now . Yes, sir. So i would like to offer that i have been privileged two have opportunities throughout my life, both professionally volunteering and other endeavors to lead. And to me a big part of managing is to be very clear about mission. To be very clear about roles and responsibilities to empower those that i work with and ensure they have the too manies and resources they need. I think moany of the leadership skills that brought me to this place are scaleable. What i would do should i be confirmed is work with the operational components, ensure that my expectations of them are very clear, i believe in accountability, just as i would hope that you would hold me accountable, i will hold others accountable, but we also need to acknowledge successes. So what i would be led by are my principles of leadership, integrity, leadership and effort. I would work with the men and women of dhs to ensure they have the tools they need, but that we consistently have the opportunity to audit, have internal controls and hold them accountable. Do you plan, maybe you have taken this pledge today, you pledge to respond to our request for information from minority and majority members of this committee . Yes, you have my commitment. Talk to us about the realization or possible realization and National Protection in ppd. I think there is a fair amount of agreement between you and me, just talk about what your views are. Yes, sir. First of all, i know its been said many times so i will just say it quickly, i do think that should it be confirmed, i would very much appreciate an opportunity to work with you to change the name. It truly does confuse stake holders. It eliminates some of the positive morale that comes from having a very Clear Mission statement, so i will leave it at that. I know we have talked about that and others have talked to you about it extensively. Cyber is an operational mission. Other parts of the Critical Infrastructure, security and resilience are operational missions. So any reorganization should take that into consideration and find the best way to balance those who should be at headquarters if you will in the National Capitol region and those in the field working with the owners and operators of the Critical Infrastructure, the private sector and the state and local territorial partners. So theres more than that we can doe. I dont know that we need to do it for any other reason than driven by the mission. Good, thank you. Richard, i think im the only democrat in here that quotes richard nixon. Richard nixon once said that the only people who dont make mistakes are the people that dont do anything. I make a lot of mistakes, i made a lot of mistakes in my life. I have learned as much from my mistakes than from those that ive done well. Talk to me about your biggest s mistakes and how you have learned from them. Some of my biggest mistakes, in general, i would say, are speaking i have learned to speak quickly, clearly and repeatedly when i disagree with something being proposed is the best cause of action, the most effective way. I also have learned repeatedly through a variety of experiences that policy cannot be made in a vacuum. It must be informed by those operators and by operational environments. There are many times when we all have had great ideas with policy hats on, but they are just not going to be implement in a way that reaches the original intent. I would also say that resources go hand in hand with any policies and strategies. Authorities must be looked at in terms of the best way to leverage them. There have been times when i have perhaps suggested that a new authority was needed from a policy perspective, only to find out upon further examination that there was authority, just needed to be differently leveraged. So i think doing that complete review before looking for Additional Authority is very important. Richard nixon would be pleased. Thank you. Senator danes. Its nice to hear you quoting senator nixon, senator carper. You can do an imitation. I was quoting john f. Kennedy earlier this week, so it is good to have bipartisan quotes. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your willingness to continue serving our nation as our secretary of Homeland Security. Regarding leadership, i think its a fair question from senator carper. I will note two prior secretaries of Homeland Security both have stated that you are a leader for our times. In a letter that was submitted to the committee as well as a son of a u. S. Marine, a fourstar marine that sat right there not too long ago, the fact that he put his full confidence in you to lead that organization, working with him s tells me a lot about your leadership. And i have a lot of confidence in general kelly, secretary kelley, chief of staff kelley, so im confident in your abilities. One of the most and greatest untold successes of this administration has been the result of President Trump signaling that the United States will enforce its laws. This has led to quantifiable improvements at zhs and the leadership of general john kelly with you as the chief of staff. Apprehension rates for illegal southwest border crossings have dropped nearly 30 year to date. Compared to last year. And some months have seen over a 60 reduction. Drug seizures have increased by many measures and morale has improved as well. In your prehearing question, you stated Border Security was the highest priority from a risk perspective. As secretary, how will you maintain this positive trajectory that we have already seen, mitigating the risk and further securing our borders . Yes, sir, thank you. You know, i would just offer, i think deterrence plays a key part here, deterrence in partnership. When i was the dhs chief of staff under secretary kelly, we had the up opportunity to travel and meet with government officials in our southern neighbors, and to tell them very publicly and to speak directly to their people in some cases, please dont take this dangerous journey. Its dangerous to you, its dangerous to your children, you are putting the hands, youre putting your life in the hands of those who have no other concern for you than the money that they can take from you, trying to smuggle you or traffic you across the border. So i think the constant communication with the parter ins is important. Deterrence is important and the part of deterrence that general kelly was very successful at was making very clear we will enforce our laws. It is vital that we do so. We will do so, should i be confirmed, i intend to do so. We also need that mix on the border that you and i have talked about. So it is not just people, its not just physical barriers, but it is that technology and it is the policies and procedures that enable us to sense and quickly respond. Something seemingly as responsible as a road enables us to actually monitor and respond should a threat be able to get passed. So theres a variety of things we can do in conjunction with state and local government that is i would plan on continuing. Well, i appreciate, too, your comments on the humanitarian side as it relates to what is going on as we are enforcing the law and the impact that is having on children on vulnerable young men and young women. Those coy yotes that you mentioned, when we see a fourlegged coyote in montana, we have a response i wont talk about here, but im grateful to see the hard number of results were seeing coming off the southern border now through your leadersh leadership. But importantly the softer area of helping the women and children, young people, who would otherwise be vulnerable to what happened. Im going to be seeing make the crossing. I spent 28 years in the private sector before i put a suit and tie on and came up the hill 12 years with the global cloud competing company. We faced Cyber Threats daily. And we were delivering security for customers, many of which were fortune 500 clients. You also have an extensive background in Cyber Security. Recently, in columbia falls, montana, the School District was hacked from overseas. They were using a stolen data of children and faculty to make very violent and very direct threats. Crimes of this nature surpass the authorities and the resources of state and local Law Enforcement. And we were very grateful for and dependent upon resources from the federal goverment to get to the bottom of this threat. As the secretary of Homeland Security, if confirmed, youll lead the whole of the government cyber efforts. How will you work to make our citizens and their personal information safer from these worldwide attacks . I thank you, sir. And i did enjoy our extensive cyber conversation. Thank you for having that with me. I think when we look at the information, the threat has changed. I would, if i were sitting here, maybe even ten years ago, talk a lot about confidentiality. Data breaches continue to this day, as you know, but what is more concerning is the ability of those who would do us harm through the internet to change the integrity of that information. Or through ransomware and the example that you gave was they were both able to get in, take the information, and then use it for nefarious purpose. That happens different from the criminal data breaches we have been dealing with over the last 15 years, which still exist, but we have morphed now to perhaps more dangerous area. And in particular, the integrity of information, whether we are talking about control systems or your blood type, my blood type, i would like it to be correct should i have a need to go to the hospital. So redundancy for key assets to include information becomes vital. When i look at the way in which we have worked as the department over the last 13 years, i think it has served us well to develop and create partnerships within the private sector, state and local governments, but what we need to do perhaps is the next step, the next evolution is to look across sectors, across regions, and to really look at the critical assets and critical pieces of information that we need to ensure that were protected. In my view, there is an enhanced federal role in that protection. Thank you. Im out of time. I will the only other concern i have about where this is all headed is in the area of quantum computing and the fact that our nation very likely may not be in the leadership position anymore in terms of the technology ability for perhaps others to break encryption. And that threat that is over the next hill here that is looming even closer as we speak. I look forward to seeing you in montana. I didnt get a chance though talk about the northern border, but we have one and would love to take you up to the northern part of the state and take a look at what is going on there with the northern border. Thank you. It would be my pleasure. Thank you, senator danes. I share your concern that we are not potentially in the leadership position of quantum computing. Thats a real threat and something we need to keep our eye on. Well start a second round. Senator mccaskill, i will continue and leave my questions for the end. I know that you are very involved in an after action report on katrina when you worked in the Bush Administration. If confirmed, will you respond to the response to hurricanes harvey and maria . Yes, maam. I want to talk about Counter Intelligence in the budget. There are pretty a guessive cuts in the budget. While we are dramatically increasing the funding for the border wall, for immigrant detention and interior enforcement, is severely cutting programs like the viper teams, which are essential in our airports, cutting those teams from 31 down to 8. Also, the urban Area Security initiative, which is very important to cities like new york where we saw the terrorist attack recently. The state Homeland Security program, state emergency for management performance grants, completely zeros out the Law Enforcement Reimbursement Program that also serves our nations airports, completely zeros out the countering violent extremism program, completely zeros out the terrorist attack program. The total is, you know, 582 million have been taken out of these programs. And let me ask you first, are you aware at this point whether new york city relied on any of the Grant Programs in their response to the deadly attack that occurred there recently . I dont have any doubt that they did. I would love for this committee to get the information if youre confirmed as to how many, how many attacks in new york city have been prevented, because they prevented a bunch of them because of this funding. And what role did this funding play in their response to the recent attack . And do you know of think rational for cutting the viper team so significantly, knowing what has gone on in airports across the world . As i understand it, the determination was simple balancing of risk. There are a variety of threats as you know that tsa faces not just in aviation but in mass transit land. Do you think there are metrics that evaluated the risk on more wall versus the viper teams . Im not aware of that particular cost benefit analysis that has been conducted. Well, the predecessor admitted theres been no cost benefit for the wall, knonone d. Were getting ready to spend a cagillion dollars on something with no cost benefit done. I really like you, you are really good at metrics and i like you talking about metrics. We discussed it informally up here. I would like you to take a swing at the metrics of the programs being increased in terms of real risk to our country, in terms of Homeland Security. Versus the programs being cut. Because thats what the analysis should be, it shouldnt be based on politics, it should be based on the metrics of risk. And if that has occurred, frankly, its going to surprise me. But if it has, i will be the first to admit what you were willing to admit a moment ago that im making a mistake by asserting this has been done on the basis of politics rather than risk. And i will look forward to you getting back to me on that. Yes, maam. If i could just offer quickly, i think it has to be riskbased. I think that we fail when we dont look at risk across the department. Frankly, across the inner agency because theres other departments that play a role in Homeland Security. So i couldnt agree more. I has to be riskbased and cant be done in a stovepipe way. And kind dove tails with the questions of my colleague, in that we all, no one here, wants you to do anything but prioritize people who are in this country illegally that are committing crimes. There is no argument there. There is no red shirt, blue shirt, there is no divide on that. But thats not what a lot of these resources are being used for right now. I mean, there are resources that are being expended that i dont think that analysis has occurred and im particularly worried as it relates to some of the funding that has really joined state and local Law Enforcement with the federal responsibility of Homeland Security. The more we abandon those programs that knit us together, the more vulnerable were going to be to an attack. And i look forward to you getting back to me on that. And ill yield the rest of my time. Thank you, senator mccaskill. Let me chime in a little bit on the risk base because i think theres another component that has to be riskbased but also combined with other effective solutions. If theres an easy solution for something that is a little lower ri risk, you also have to concentrate on that as well. Its a twopart formula. Senator harris. As a point of emphasis on enforcement priorities, we discussed this earlier, but the Previous Administration prioritized violent and serious crimes. And any conduct that would pose a risk to National Security. Do you agree that that should be the highest priority and with limited resources, certainly that is where the resources should go in terms of deportation and Enforcement Actions . Yes, maam. Thank you. You may be familiar with this case, but on october 24th, a 10yearold girl by the name of Rosa Maria Hernandez was being rushed to a hospital in Corpus Christi for an emergency gallbladder surgery. The Customs Border patrol stopped the ambulance and followed it to the hospital. Immediately after rosas surgery was over she was taken away from her family. Actions at or near sensitive locations such as hospitals, schools and churches unless prior approval is given or extenuating circumstances exist. Despite this, rosa maria was apprehended at the hospital after her surgery was over. If confirmed, do you commit to maintaining dhs policy as it relates to sensitive locations . I do. And should any further clarification be needed, i would ensure that that occurs. And, in fact, on that point, i appreciate you making that point, i urge you to issue guidance to the agents, if confirmed, that this policy exists and this type of thing should not happen again. I would. And in conjunction with the commissioner and director. Thank you. In your questionnaire, you stated that as dhs, you have the job of overseeing the job of 240,000 dhs staff and had resourced and budgetrelated authorities for the office of the secretary. Last week, the dhs office of Inspector General issued its annual report on Major Management and performance challenges facing the department. And the report reads, quote, dhs often fails to update and clarify guidance and policies, ensure management, offer sufficient training and reduce administrative burdens. Our reports are complete with insufficient training and to enable job enhancement. Have you read this report . Yes, i have. And you are probably aware that the Inspector General issued a similar report last year . Yes. So the obvious point there is that there seems to have been no improvement since last year. If confirmed, will you agree to report back to this committee within the first three months on what you have put in place to correct course, and in particular, emphasize the importance of training . The employees of dhs and clearly communicating policies with them . I will. And also, my other two big takeaways from that report were the needed continued focus on unity of effort and ensuring we have controls set by leadership. Yes, i would be happy to. And having had the expearps of running a Law Enforcement agency of almost 5,000 people as attorney general of california, it is clear to me based on my experience when you are running a large agency, you cannot run it just from the top down. It also has to be from the bottom up. And that means clearly giving guidance and training, in particular, to the men and women who have the authority, the power and the responsibility to enforce our laws. And there have been many nominees who have sat in that chair who have had veritying levels of appreciation of that point. But i would like you to commit to this committee that you will prioritize training and Clear Communication and guidance to an agency of hundreds of thousands of people. Absolutely. Thank you. At a june Senate Intelligence committee hearing, a dhs assistant secretary for Cyber Communications asserted that dhs was developing a policy to help states secure their election systems. Just yesterday as you know and you have mentioned virginia and new jersey had elections. If confirmed, what is the timeline, particularly the deadline, and you and i talked about this in our meeting, for establishing and implementing a dhs policy . Yes. So as i as youre aware, then secretary johnston clarified that, in fact, election infrastructure is considered Critical Infrastructure under our partnership model. The Government Coordinating Council has been created. Since we spoke, i have verified that it is, in fact, in existence today. It works closely with the election commission, uses thirdparty certifiers at the request of state to certify the election infrastructure. And then also provides a variety of other Vulnerability Assessment and other. So should i be confirmed, i would very soon upon confirmation ensure that we have reached out to all states and territories to ensure that they have what they need for local and state and federal elections. And are you giving yourself a timeline or a deadline to accomplish that . I will give myself one, but ive also said to you i would like to make that deadline in conjunction with the local and state officials and be happy to report to you what that is. Thank you. Its been reported that the administration is moving forward on a policy that leads to expedited removal of unaccompanied children who are arrived at the border, having pled incredible violence. If confirmed, will you please share with my office any policy memos that the department is planning to implement affecting the processing of unaccompanied minors . Yes. And are you aware of the administrations policy shift in that regard . What i am aware of is the expedited removal is limited in most cases to those who are from canada and mexico. So i understand there is an attempt to work with congress to ensure that when appropriate anybody who comes with an illegal industry, if they are appropriately in a situation where they need to be deported, to do so in an expedited way to save them from being detain in our country. But im not familiar with the policy papers or descriptions. You are aware that the unaccompanied minor issue playing out in the last few years is not about the children of mexico or canada, it is about Central American countries, and, in fact, the five top murder capitals of the murder. Yes, maam. So are you aware of a shift in the administrations policy as it relates to those children . To anybody from other countries that illegally enter, including those children, yes. And what is the shift of the policy . The shift in policy is, as i understand it, and should i be confirmed, i would definitely dive into the policy papers and descriptions, but i understand that the concern is right now the system is such due to a variety of other factor that is when somebody does come in illegally, they are detained and detained for a quite long period of time. Im running out of time so i want to ask you with one more question, do you agree with a policy that would expedite deportation of unaccompanied minors who are coming from the Central American countries . I believe in reuniting children with their families, if their families are not here are you saying you would deport the children to reunite them with their families who have put those children in a process of fleeing violence and they want those children to be safe and in the United States . Well, in that case, i would certainly want to work with you to understand more about the implications. Thank you. Senator, i apologize for getting out of order. It is all fine and i appreciate it very much. And i appreciate the chance to have a second round of questions. Ms. Nielson, i want to start by expressing my concern about your answer to one of senator carpers questions about Climate Change. When you are in charge of our countrys security, when you are in charge of our response to Natural Disasters, you need to be able to rely on science and technology and consider and assess the science and technology that you are being advised with objectively and put it well before politics. And what i heard in your answer was politics before science. And that concerns me very, very much. As governor of the state of new hampshire, when we were dealing with Natural Disasters, one of the with Natural Disaster, one of the first things we did is had the National Weather service telling what we could be dealing with. In dealing with security measures, i had to rely on engineers and technologists about the power of certain kinds of responses to possible threats. So just consider this a concern expressed by me if you are willing to dodge a question when 99 of the world scientists agree the number one cause of Climate Change is human activity, that concerns me about your qualifications to take on this role. Could i just answer that if i could . Yes. Unfortunate i was cut off by senator as well. What i would have said is not only is the chiemt climate is changing but we change our responses as a direct reflect on Natural Disasters. Of course it does. But if you are unwilling to acknowledge that the primary cause of it is human behavior, then you are not going to be able to change the modeling appropriately. So what we are looking for is people who are willing to acknowledge that there is a huge and incredibly well vetted peer review science that tells us that Climate Change is primarily caused by activity. And one of my concerns is, as many of your fellows, should you be confirmed, fellow cabinet members is people who will not acknowledge Climate Change. And they are often the people advising you in times of considerable Natural Disaster and threat. And they are not willing to listen to science either. So im going to move on to the question that i have wanted to ask in this second round, but just hope that you might educate yourself about what science says about Climate Change and the primary cause of it. You have my commitment should i be confirmed to review the science, yes, maam. Our countrys safety really does depend on that. Now, onto Election Security, i wanted to follow up on senator harris line of questioning. Because according to a news week report from early october entitled russians still have an open path to u. S. Election subversion dhs high outreach team, known as council, which you were referring to, are only just now reaching out to states to a satisfy their election cyberneeds. And mr. Chairman, i would like to submit this article for the record without objection. No objection. And it seems that you just confirm what this article said, which is that dhs has only started to reach out to states chief Election Officials within the past few weeks. We are more than a year away from russian hack of our election. We just had gubernatorial elections in two states yesterday. And months away from the 2018 election cycle. Why did it take so long for dhs to coordinate this council . And what actions did you take as dhs chief of staff to help accelerate the establishment of this council . Thank you for the question. And for the opportunity to clarify. So dhs, as i understand it, has been working with states for many, many months, 14, 15, in some cases. But the question is, as my understanding is they started to reach out to the chief election officers which is absolutely critical step. Yes, i dont believe that is correct. Respectfully in my understanding. When i was at dhs, we ensured that following on the work that secretary johnston did, we established what is called a sub sector. Sub text sector coordinating counsel, which is primarily the private sector side, if you will, also has some government folks on it. The ggs is very specific part of that partnership model. That was stood up in conjunction with a commission really focused on Third Party Certification of the infrastructure. Not the vulnerability, monitoring and threat and information sharing, which has been occurring since at least prior to january. Okay. So then i hope you will read this article and we will have further discussions about it. My concern is whether in fact Election Security is it really a priority for this president. It must be. And did you do anything in the white house to accelerate preparations to make sure that our election cybersystems were secure . Only from a policy perspective. So, again, i didnt have any command or control or assets at my disposal in my white house job. But, yes, ensure that the policy addressed any risk we have today. And are you russian efforts in 2018 cycle . I would like to be in the place i could answer in the affirmative should i be con fir firpd. I cant answer that now. That should be the goal. We should make sure that doesnt occur. So it is a priority of ours. Absolutely. Bedrock of our democracy is protected before elections take place . Yes, maam. And we have your commitment if necessary to ask for additional funding, for ask for Additional Resources to work with the states to ensure that when people go to the polls, and remember that there is early voting in many states, they can be confident again that the lexus temps in each and every state are secure . We must do it in partnership, yes. Thank you. I yield my time. Senator hasan, by the way, i would love to work with you and other members because the issue has been raised a number of times in terms of the resiliency mod elts we are using to design a hearing to look at that. One question i would have want to have ton the table during the hearing if we spend literally hundreds of billions of dollars trying to address this science, this problem, is what what kind of bang for the buck do we get . Again, so id love to work with you designing a hearing to elicit that kind of information. But let me start, miss nielsen with my questions down the same path. Last week we held a hearing with fema fema director, with the unprecedented disasters he was faced with after 17 two days on the job. Obviously l government has learned a lot of lessons from katrina. But one of my concerns, and i had ha ps tear by the heritage foundation, number of increase in fema disasters. Federal government to not only respond, but to understand exactly what the risks when i think thats state and local responsibility. And i believe this is, this is the question i have for you, you talked about the partnership model. Who really is primarily responsible for the response to Natural Disasters and what is fema and dhs role from that standpoint . Whats your understanding of that . Thank you, sir. Id like to answer two different ways. First, i believe that the primary responsibility is of the state and local territorial governments. They are there. They are on the ground. They know their communities and their vulnerabilities the best. Upon the request it is the roll of the federal government to provide assistance, that can be in the form of National Relief fund, and training and exercises prehazard. In terms of the bang for the buck part of the question, i think we really need to relook at it. Its not really a question of eliminating or eliminating what it is we are providing over all. But ensure we are doing it in the right way with partnership with state and local government. So perhaps there are some grants on the front end that could help them capacity build. Perhaps other ways in which we can distribute money after an event to make sure its spent efficiently and effectively. It seems to me after katrina and other Natural Disaster, weve learned that certain state and local governments are better prepared than others. Thats a quite honestly fema and the Homeland Security goes through to try and identify and maybe point out to states, there are some best practices in other states that you might want to follow. Having been involved with katrina and certainly the after action report on that, what were the lessons . What were the primary Lessons Learned from katrina . And what are the Lessons Learned from previous disasters that i believe set us up to respond and preplan around hurricanes . Over all i would say all of these Natural Disaster given size and scope, our plans have to be skalable and agile. As you hear, plan rarely survives first contact. And the reason for that its always contextual in terms of the given consequences of any given storm. So the unity of effort con stept i believe in strongly. It needs to be presented in a way that all parties understand the rolls and responsibilities, but also understand those roles and responsibilities could be different given the size and scope of the storm. Certainly in krabt whatrina is needed to do more ahead of time. We needed to ensure the contracts that senator mccaskill mentioned before were in place prior to event so we werent trying to contract last minute. Rules and responsibilities needed to be clear. When was it appropriate for the National Guard to be included. When was it appropriate for active duties for assignment. So part of its wa learning the lesson when something is that big and scope that complete and local government, as you mentioned in that case was incapacitated, what is additional federal roll and how best we can support it. We had a number of questions about the law. I would prefer you, by the way, as designing the prototypes, i was in israelis, and they responded with 150 mile wall pretty effective number of the components of that. But pretty good model to take a look as a prototype. We were together at the southern border in san diego. One of the things i was struck by is the almost unanimous opinion, that we create holes for illegal immigration. So im all for better barriers where they are feed but we need to do the laws in there. Can you speak to that issue . Yes, sir. Its something that ive had the pleasure of speaking about in various capacities with the attorney general and other state and local law firms such as those in san diego. The law has to be clear for it to be not only for us to be able to enforce it, but to serve as deterrent. So the more that unfortunately they are picking away, if you will, either through discretion or application or through backlogs or through the lack of Immigration Judges, we disable ourselves from not only enforcing the law but get the effect that the law was able to provide to begin with. So certainly should i be confirmed i look forward to having the conversations with attorney general, understanding the need for Immigration Judges to quickly and competently enforce our laws on that part of the system. And to work with state and locals to see whats working and not working at their level. I look forward to working with you. I know as we are trying to solve the whole issue of d. R. E. A. M. Ers, from my standpoint the humane thing is to stop the flow of children coming, stop incentivizing them to take the dangerous journal on what they call the beast and subject to all kinds of horror. I want to thank you for your past service. As he pointed out this is not particularly fun process. And as former secretary, as i well as i said in my Opening Statement, you are agreeing to step in the position with a very daunting task. I think in this hearing youve shown yourself very knowledgeable. You have a great deal of relevant experience and very well qualified for this position. So i thank you for your willingness to serve. The nominee has made Financial Disclosures hand biographical submitted by the committee. Without objection this will be made part of the hearing record with the exception of the Financial Data which are on file and available for public inspection in the community records. Hearing record will be made open until noon tomorrow for questions for the record. However, members wish to receive response to prior to anticipated committee on this nomination tomorrow, they must submit questions by 5 00 p. M. Today. This meeting is adjourned. This weekend hollywood black list artists read from congressional hearing transcripts. What was your last employment . My last employment, i just finished a picture called the tall target. In connection with your employment . I have been in theater for about 25 years, sir. I think im well enough known to all of them from the roles i have played. Were you a member of the communist party in 1942 . I sat on the grounds of the fifth amendment. Well, that might incriminate or degrade me. See the word communist is an emotional, hysterical word of the day. Much like the word witch in salem. Then at 6 00 p. M. A discussion on civil war monuments. It was about victory. The victory in many ways celebrated in so many confederate monuments was the victory over reconstruction. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. Real america, world war ii propaganda on it. And on 8 on the presidency, alexander talks about her book, 26 seconds a personal history of the film. Gradually, starting in the late 60s, versions of the film began to leak out. And people began to see it. And when they saw it, because of the way that the film looks, it did not look like what the Warren Commission concluded. American history tv all weekend every weekend only on c span 3. Up next on c pan