Transcripts For CSPAN3 Acting Homeland Security Secretary Wolf On Agency Priorities 20240713

Yourself and make up your own mind. With cspans campaign 2020, brought to you as a Public Service by your Public Television provider. Acting Homeland Security secretary chad wolfe and former Homeland Security secretary michael cher nof talk about National Security priorities. At a forum hosted by the Homeland Security Experts Group. Afterwards we hear from initials about how the federal is handling Election Security threats. Welcome, to those physically here and those who will be watching us on cspan and by other means. Im jane harmon, the president and ceo of the Wilson Center and former member of congress, who is proud of her role in helping to create the department of Homeland Security. Today we are pleased to cohost the inaugural Homeland Security Expert Group Meeting Experts Group meeting, or hseg with support from the miter corporation, American Airlines and mckenzy. Thanks. Its the best experts in american Homeland Security. It was founded over ten years ago at the Aspen Institute and is now rebooted, to use a tech term, and housed at the miter company. Were honored to be cochairs, and rob walker is the newly minted, vaunted, executive director. The hseg mission is to offer independent, nonpartisan advice to key government officials as they face hard security programs, raise awareness about those programs and offer solution. To remind, we are nonpartisan and we hope we add value. Sitting in our audience today are some of the most Brilliant Minds sharing more than one thousand years, im not making this up, of service in u. S. Security posts. They are household names, charley adam, and others. I do want to pay tribute to mike hayden. [ applause ] and i could take all day and name all the roaest of you. Thank you for your service. I used to say that the group is made up of the mothers and fathers of Homeland Security. As i mentioned, most of us were instrumental in standing up the department and staffing it. But over time, i have to be honest. We are now the grandmothers and grandfathers of Homeland Security. But we are spritely and as passionate as ever about the mission. The Wilson Center also is delighted to host a i guess its called the i forget what jay johnson called it, the state of homeland. The state of homeland address by our current secretary of Homeland Security, three of his predecessors also gave states of homeland addresses here over the last five or six years. So now it is my pleasure to introduce former secretary michael cher tof, who will introduce our current secretary. Please welcome mike chertof. [ applause ] well, its great to be here and to see a lot of familiar faces. And in particular to welcome the acting secretary of Homeland Security, chad wolfe, to address this inaugural meeting. Secretary wolfe was confirmed as the undersecretary of the department of Homeland Security office of strategy, policy and plans last november and he was then at the same time designated as acting secretary. He brings to the job a lot of experience going back to the birth of the actually the prelude to the department, the tsa, back in 2001. Hes it service of various levels of tsa, chief of staff both in the Public Private sector, worked on security issues. He came back as deputy chief of staff and chief of staff for the department before he ascended to his current role. And he is a recipient of the Homeland Security distinguished service medal, which is a very high honor. So we welcome secretary wolfe, who will give us a survey and overview, and then well have a period of time for discussion and questions. With that im happy to invite the acting secretary up to the stage. [ applause ] get this right here. Well, thank you, secretary, congresswoman, for the kind introduction. I appreciate it. Its great to be here with the Experts Group or colleagues, experts and thought leaders can discuss the pressing threats to the homeland. Some of you have served at the department and others continue to serve as mentors and friends to the departmental leadership. And a few of you have stood in this role. I often refer to the examples that you have set as heads into the new decade for the threat at landscape is more complex and dynamic as ever. On behalf of the department and personally really want to thank you to all of you for lande lending your expertise, insights, to making our country more safe and secure. As acting secretary, my priorities are guided by determination to ensure that the department is robust, resilient and forward leaning in 2020 and beyond. I want to provide a 360degree view of the Threat Landscape and priorities this year. As i walk you through these, youll hear missions that youre pretty familiar with. What weve also been doing work that you might have missed that always dont make the headlines. One example, earlier this week we rolled out a strategy to combat human trafficking, the importation of goods produces with forced labor and child sexual exploitation. They dont just threatens americans. They threaten our borders, immigration and customs systems, prosperity and National Security, which is precisely why were at the forefront of combating this. Our strategy outlines 40 action items that the department will work towards implementing. Our work establishes this mission as a departmental priority allowing it to be resourced and addressed accordingly in the months and years to come. There are a variety of issues like this one that may not rise to the highest threats facing the department but are nevertheless important and critical to what we do. Media may not focus on it. They may focus on one or two missions at a time. Rest assured that the men and women of dhs are determined, focused and headsdown every day doing the work. With that lets go ahead and jump into the top threats facing the homeland. In light of recent international events, ill begin with certain nation states, specifically iran, china and russia. Each of these have a different motivation and end goal, but all attempt to undermine our interests and international standing. First, the one thats been dominated in the news, iran. As i have stated repeatedly, theres no cred oibl or specific threat to the homeland from them. But begin what we know about iran and their capabilities and motivations, the department continues to operate with an enhanced posture. The threat is not new to the department. In fact in the summer of 2019 the department began working on an established iran contingency plan, actions we could take to address threats, one we saw on the 2nd. We remain reed to initiate measures immediately if we need to. We took the extra step of issuing a National Terrorism advisory system bulletin driven by a specific event and it was right. It was issued to both to and reassure the American Public, state and local, private and public, the dhs is monitoring and preparing for any credible threat. As the intest bulletin mentions we remain vigilant of psyche cyber attacks. Looking to the long term, its china who remains most significant and persistent adversary. Unlike others, they work to threaten the u. S. s power and prominence from within the system using overt and covert means. It uses the openness of our society and institutions, academic, or silicon valley, to expand its ability to shape information in the chinese narrative abroad. Beijing will continue to use overt legal political and economic levers of coercion such aze market acstoes pressure and shape the environment. Covertly it employs a number of tactics. China is our most persistent nation state threat in the cyber realm. Through activities that impact our prosperity and intellectual power, it is pursuing a longterm effort to threaten and undermine us. While we value our partnerships, we are working to hold bad actors accountable. Action is being taken across the executive branch including dhs to use tools appropriately to respond to the threat it poses, such as the committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and team telcon at the department specifically. At dhs im focused on leveraging the authorities, data and missions to counter their longterm objectives. I found that each component at the department was addressing the china threat in their own silo utilizing their own. The siloed approach is not sufficient to address this threat. We have an effort underway to examine all our missions. This includes but is not limited to the protection of critical infrastructure, countering weapons of mass destruction, supply chain, immigration, transportation, counter and foreign influence, cybersecurity and counter intelligence. Well identify and prioritize threats that match our resources and capabilities accordingly. Well be able to quickly identify any vulnerability gaps and determine where resources are needed. It is precisely this type of planning that goes on behind the scenes in the department daily. Doesnt make the headlines but it is critically important to ensure we are positioned to respond quickly. Unlike china, russia doesnt seek to weaken our economy or surpass us. They focus on disrupting the american way of life. In 20 staks, we expect them to interfere in the 2020 elections to sew public discord. More importantly the state and local officials who run our elections are prepared. We are working with our federal partners to make sure that those officials on the front lines have the information and tools they need to combat russian interference. We are also working to make sure that the American People understand how russians seek to undermine confidence in our elections in the simple steps they can take to avoid this. We are prepared in 2018 and dhs established classified and unclassified war rooms. These connected many across the u. S. Government including d. O. D. , fbi and the intelligence community. Our efforts helped make the 2018 elections the most secure. In 2020, were doing this and more to prevent our adversaries from degrading faith in our democracy and election results. So let me move on to Election Security more specifically. Election security is front mind for many of us as we go into 2020. From the white house down, the department of the u. S. Government more broadly is laser focussed on this issue. Under the leadership of corrector krebs the cyber agency has been working diligently to ensure were secure and resilient. Thanks to their efforts were working as a government and with Election Officials better than before. This is in contrast to 2016 when we were in contact with few to none and we had relationships with few to none. Its providing these partners with information, assistance, resources and tools to secure the resiliency of their systems. On election day, state and local officials bear the risk. Were doing all we can now to ensure theyre secure. Voters play a crucial role in elections. Were working hard as a department to make sure theyre aware of their rights, to request a provisional ballot. We recognize the potential effects of targeted attacks both real and claimed. Well continue to educate targeted populations to make them less receptive to misinformation campaigns and also work with partners to practice for potential disruptions. As always, Homeland Security experts, 100 security is never realistic. Were focused on building more Resilient Systems and processes as well as encouraging states to audit via paper. In 2020 over 90 of votes will have a corresponding paper ballot. Our duty is to know who and what is coming into our country. Transnational criminal organizations work on a daily basis to funnel people and drugs, money and weapons into the United States. To put it simply, Border Security is National Security, and we are prioritizing it as such. We have seen and experienced over the last several years it is our security thats closely linked with the security and stability of our partners to the south. Working with our Central American partners, we have built a framework and coalition to redoours the reach of Transnational Criminal Organizations and ensure those seeking protections can do so. These provide for burdensharing, to build their capacity. They also promote regional safety and security by sharing personnel and information to combat the Transnational Criminal Organizations. Coalition is founded on a basic premise. A secure region is a stable and prosperous region. It will attract public and private investment and provide opportunities for the youth of those countries which represent the future of those countries. In 2019 we signed 12 agreements with our central partners, guatemala, honduras and el salvador. Theyre the first stage leading to further partnership and prosperity. At dhs were working closely with the Development Finance corporation to identify investments that will i am prove port security, trade, and increase economic opportunity. In addition to that, such investment counters influence from our adversaries in the region and makes sense, where we have a strong presence our strategic adversaries will not. I think we can agree we would prefer not to have countries like china and russia establishing that type of influence in our backyard. The International Engagement is one component of the strategy. Over the last several months weve put together a strategy that is working. Weve ended catch and release, eliminating the incentive to exploit children. We have more tools than ever because of to remove, return and repatriate illegal aliens. Were working tirelessly to enforce statutes. Lastly, probably most critly we have expe dpooited and continued construction on the border wall. When we ask our agents on the grounds, what will it take . There is no ambiguity. Number one is a border wall system. I visited the border last week. We have 130plus niles miles in construction and more. Today we remain on track to complete construction of over 400 miles this year. That is work. Weve decreased ilegal crossings seven months in a row since 2008. We will take actions against those who threaten american safety. Weve achieved great success, but we remain in a crisis with over 40,000 apprehended. This is not sustainable. Let me speak to the mission thats been synonymous with the department, counterterrorism. Since 9 11 weve achieved successes in mitigating the ability of foreign terrorist organizations, ftos, to attack the homeland. Weve raised the global baseline of security. In 2017, dhs and tsa worked with International Partners to raise the security baseline around the world. Today commercial aviation is more secure because of the actions we took. Much like then, today were working to raise the global baseline for security. We are establishing criteria that all foreign governments must satisfy to assist foreign nationals seeking entry. We are transparent and up front with every country. There are no surprises. For a small number of countries that lack the will or the capability to adhere to this, travel restrictions may become necessary to mitigate those threats. Let me be clear, travel restrictions are not based on the faith of the citizenry or the region of the world these countries resign. Instead they are imposed because a country simply does an inadequate job of sharing information or poses an elevated risk in safety to the country. Safety and security of the American People is at stake, we dont leave any room for error. As we continue to address the threat from foreign terrorist org zblairgs we are seeing an increasing threat from dpleft i can hackers who adopt fto techniques. The recent trend of americans driven by violent extremist ideologies to commit acts of terrorism and target violence with little apparent warning creates a unique challenge. The threat is real and unpredictable and has serious ramifications on americans perception of safety. The departments strategy is release the last fall, positions us to confront this. It explains how well leverage tools to protect the country from ftos to protect us today. I want to call out the frameworks focused this framework calls for an approach to identify individuals on the path of violence and builds offramps for them. The framework recognizes the need to support and protect our most vulnerable populations, particularly our youth. Id like to thank congress for recognizing the importance of this threat, our work in this area, and were glad to have been provided additional funding. Implementing this to end these important attacks will be one of our Top Priorities under my leadership. Were working aguessively to again a plan. The plan will serve as a twoyear action document running from fy 20 to fy 22. It lays out steps along the way. I want to mention the urgency of our threat to faithbased communities. We are responding. Specifically we are actioning the recommendations of the Homeland Security advisory on the prevejs of violence. I want to thank the subcommittee for their work. Were moving out quickly but smartly on these. As each one of these threats show, professionals are operating in a complex environment. And throughout all the work we do, we continue to emphasize the importance of transparency, the protection of civil rights and liberties, and the protection of data in a digital age. Its an honor and privilege to lead in a mission to protect the American People, but as is true but it is true as it has been true for years, no one can tackle this alone. Rebust partnerships are critical. From state and local Law Enforcement to airlines to Cyber Security companies to Disaster Response organizations and a variety of others. Private sector partners, many in the room, are ultimately why we are so successful. Again, let me thank congresswomen harmon, secretary chernof and others for your contributions in the full group. Our nation is fortunate to have so many bright minds applying expertise to our issues. Again, thank you for the opportunity to outline the tremendous work that the men and women at the department of Homeland Security do every day. Thank you. Chpg chpg [ applause ] well, secretary, thank you for a very suck sinct and compelling exposition of what the strategies and in a variety of challenging areas. Were delighted to welcome you here and pay tribute to the work thats done by those in the field, in air, at sea who are protecting us. Let me take you back to the issue on which you opened and kind of concluded, which has to do with the Traditional Mission against global terrorist organizations. You talked a little bit about the end task with hezbollah. I want to ask you in addition, not just in the region but in this part of the world, i want to ask you about isis. There is some question at this point about the dimensions of the role and the field the u. S. Will have in iraq and syria. Are we concerned about isis kind of resetting itself and becoming more active . And then putting hezbollah and isis to one side, what other groups from global terrorist standpoint are we now being concerned about . I would answer that a couple of different ways. We talk about hezbollah and iran, as we look at the capabilities of iran we are most concerned when we talk about the homeland about cyber capabilities. These are mostly low level. Mostly disruptive versus destructive. But thats something that director krebs has looked at. Hezbollah are a sophisticated and capable of attacks here and overseas. They have a history approximately ill run through it, of assassinations. They also, we see them presurveil iconic infrastructure, bridges, tunnels, its a partnership as we look at, how do we combat the threat. When we turn to isis, obviously the campaign to defeat isis both in iraq and syria is working. And were seeing a sort of a degradation in their capabilities. We are still concerned at the department on their ability to inspire individuals here in the homeland. Its not necessarily to export their capabilities here, but its that inspire. So individuals, you know, in various parts of the homeland sitting behind a computer doing whatever it is they do are looking at this content online, becoming inspired, and will take certain actions into their hands. As we look at the threats, those are the ones thats how we approach different ones. And again we do this some visible to the public, but again a lot of what we do is unseen as well. Let me ask you one followup. Obviously theres been a discussion about foreign fighters returning for example to europe. Right. And of course hezbollah has a presence in europe. We have a Visa Waiver Program with almost all european countries. How do we take steps to make sure that europe doesnt become an intermeetiat step in people moving from the region into the United States in order to carry out operations . So that really becomes the relationships that we have with our partners in certain areas of the world. And so we have a number of capabilities at the department. A number of biometric capabilities that we share with foreign partners to make sure that its building capacity. Making sure they have the ability to track targets, and really keep track of individuals entering their country biometrically. Were able to share the information we have. They ping them against theirs. It increases security across the table. Its almost a free service the department provides to our partners. They had to be vetted and making sure that the security is there. Greece were sharing information with them, building that capacity in that area of the world. As we look at foreign terrorists, fighters and the like, leaving the battlefield, trying to enter europe and elsewhere. Its building that capacity. Its continuing to share intelligence which we do realtime every day. Its building that capacity to make sure theyre able to identify those individuals, track fothose individuals, and making sure that the ones that are really, really bad, we do something about them. Thank you, mr. Secretary. This was, im trying to count it up, either the fifth or sixth state address, and it was very worthy. I would add to something michael was asking you about. As charley alan pointed out, hezbollah has attacked the western hemisphere in argentina in the 90s, several jewish sites were attacked, but they do have global reach. Its something of great concern. Its a great comfort that youre focused on it. I want to turn to your workforce and say thank you again to the women and men at dhs. Dhs is only as good as you pointed out as the workforce and its a huge workforce. Its the more than 2 froert thousand people, the Third Largest department in the u. S. Government, and on a par with the global footprint of a bank like jpmorgan. Its been treated like a political football from time to time. I ought to know. I worked in another location about a mile from here, for quite some years, about 100 or so. And i also saw from this Vantage Point which affected our workforce the Government Shutdown last winter which definitely affected your workforce. So how is the morale . And what would you say to someone, one of the brilliant people, out there somewhere, maybe even at the Wilson Center, considering a career in the department . Let me start by saying its an actually privilege, really an honor of a lifetime to lead the men and women of dhs. Their mission sets are so diverse and so difficult on a daily basis, its really difficult to underscore, im sure secretary chernof can sympathize. Its difficult to underscore and scribe what they go through day in and out. In the course, awe lewded to it, i think the political environment we have does not help. When you talk about the attacks on cbp workforce, i. C. E. , and others, simply doing their job. And as we like to say, if you dont like the laws we enforce, because thats what we do in the executive branch, if you dont like them, go to congress, have them change. But were going to enforce the law. Its tough. It starts with leadership. I think we have a great leadership components across our components, making sure that theres direct vision, direction, to the folks underneath them. But i would also say that the workforce is rezilient. They continue to meet the mission with success each and every day. And again i go back to the difficulty of the job. We are the largest Law Enforcement agency in the world. Not the nation but the world. 66,000 large officers have have a very difficult job across our mission sets. And like any other launch Law Enforcement agency, you know, theres always going to be a morale of challenges. Were certainly facing that. And i would also say for the most part were a relatively young department. Were 17 years old this year. If you contrast that with state d. O. D. , department of justice, 200plus years old. That counts a lot for the institutional processes, how you take care of your workforce, how you mentor, whats that leadership, whats the ladder, how did you continue to build a career within the department . All those things add up to morale. The department is still working on it. Still have a long way to go. I like where were at, were positioned. I think were doing great work. And before i get to my next question, i assume theres been very little progress made on Getting Congress to consolidate its oversight by committees, which is a perennial wish that never seems to be granted . Ill take a pass on that. Ill add to that. The 9 11 commission, in case some of you forgot this, which was cochaird by lee hamilton, recommended that congress reorganize to support the mission. That recommendation has not been followed. I will say, i get a report every day, its a congressional report. Im sure you got as well. That ought lines the activities the department does on the hill every day. Every day that report is four pages long. Its briefings and i would say at least three days out of a week when congress is here, which is not a lot, is someone is testifying, a component head, Deputy Assistant secretary, the like, the amount of work, energy and resources that are expended on that, which again valid function, im not saying oversight is not needed. Its just at some point it becomes repetitive. Let me come back to the election issue. Its good to hear that in the last several years the state and local governments have been much more willing to embrace assistants from the department. Yep. Let me ask you kind of a two part question. One is in terms of the issue of disinformation which goes beyond the alex and goes with attempting to create general disengs and disunity in the american populous, how are we seeing toasters blunt th seeing efforts to blunt that . And the crens census is coming up. In terms of the security of the data, the efforts, disinformation that might be aimed at disrupting the census, what is the departments approach to that . Sure. I would say again when we talk about disinformation campaigns and the like, its a whole of government approach. Not just the department. The bureau and doj has a role here. When we talk about identifying certain activities, investigating those, and then taking them a step further in were able to. From a departmental standpoint, how do we educate the electorate if were talking about elections or whatever it might be . Its sharing that information and building that awareness up. I dont think the average american out there sitting around thinking about this. Individuals at the department are sitting around thinking about this. But how do we communicate that . I think thats the challenge the department, reel the entire federal government is facing. We see the intelligence. We know their tactics and techniques. We know what theyre targeting. How do we push that out . And i think the fbi just recently has taken a more pro active approach which is good. Sissa and the department is taking a more pro active approach in sharing that information so that they can make their own informed choices. When we talk about disinformation campaigns, sometimes theyre on very hot topic political issues. I think the government has to be very careful about how we validate, or we are amplification one group over the other or seen as picking sides. The question i have for the group and certainly we talked about offline is, what more can we be doing . Should we be looking at third parties that validate that, sharing information with them . I think these are all under consideration at the department. We continue to look at this. I wouldnt say we have the Silver Bullet in this but sissa is making great progress. Let me add an observation and ask you a final question so we can turn to the audience for questions. My observation is that as everyone knows, because this is a very smart audience, the constitution, our constitution, says that states shall regulate the time and manner of elections. And when the Homeland Department first offered to be more helpful in terms of Election Security, a lot of the states said, no, thank you. It was comforting this morning to learn that that attitude has turned around, and that the department and most of the states have now become friends and cooperating and sharing resources, and that is the way that well protect the security of the elections. So good work to the workforce at the Homeland Department. I appreciate that. I, you know, obviously the issue here is about federalism and where is the right where is the right balance . I think from a departmental perspective we want to make sure they have again state and locals are in charge of the election. No question about it. We want to make sure they have the tools and resources and capabilities to respond to certain activities, should they occur. Making sure we share that information and they use us as a partner. I dont think initially they saw us thats not unique. We see that in a number of different mission sets. When we first come in, perhaps even to regulate which we dont do in this case, but when were new, i think theres a lot of appritense hens. I thought it was a good move of jay johnson so declare election systems critical in infrastructure. That freed up funds and underscored their importance, i mean our free democracy depends on fair elections. But my final question is about something else. You talked in your remarks about the border wall, and that is controversial. Im sure you havent missed that. But i dont think i was unaware of that. I think most of us, at least i, supported in legislation when i was in congress during my hundred years, some parts of the border being secured by a wall. This is my question. Just yesterday Congress Passed or the Senate Passed the usmca, u. S. Mekco and Canada Agreement by an overwhelming bipartisan majority. This is amazing. We should salute it and salute most of the people who were able to vote. It also passed by a bipartisan margin in the house. A lot of our trade with mexico and canada is crossregional trade. It goes across crossborder trades. It goes across borders. Having walls could interfere with this. How do you balance or do you think about the equities here . We want open borders so that people who are vetted and are properly coming tots United States can get here. We want trade to flow easy. And at the same time we want to keep bad actors out. How do you think about that . Its a great question. I would say obviously one of the Main Missions of the department is make sure the free flow of trade and travel continues. Its front and center on our brain to do that. When we talk about a border wall system, were not talking about trade facilitation. Were talking about illegal entries into the country. I think those are two different conversations. But we continue again fantastic economy, currently, make sure we continue to have that crossborder trade with mexico. Again almost all of that occurs between or at ports of entry. So we need to modernize our ports of entry and make sure theyre staffed appropriately. I was in texas last month talking to a trade group about these issues making sure we have some of the busiest border crosses in the state of texas, making sure that trade continues to flow unimpeded while making sure we have the right security processes in place. So that a lot of that is what we do on the vetting side, but also a lot of what we do technology at those ports of entry. Its what cbp does and will continue. When we look at the wall system, again when i talk to our men and women in Border Patrol, thats the number one ask, making sure that they have a system that provides that impedance and denial. Were not talking about a border wall system. I keep saying system because its more than just the physical. Its also the fiber optic tables, access roads, cameras, sensors. What its signed to do we put those in priority locations that are difficult to patrol. Put that up so that we move the flow, move those seeking to come in illegally to areas that are ease whier to patrol. Congregate our Border Patrol officers there. We do it well. Both are critical. I think we have about ten minutes for audience questions. And michael why dont you recognize people . This is for members of the gro group. If you raise your hand and announce so people in the audience know who you are. Microphone coming. Chad, thank you very much. Tig about state your name. Pj crowley, Homeland Security expert. You just gave a fairly strikingly different state of Homeland Security than say Michael Chertof might have done a dozen years ago. Where you started with big power competition, threats by states. Talk a little bit about that evolution. I think, you know, michael and his time did not have the luxury, because its we still have the urgency of the external terrorism threat, but to what extent is this where we now have a Comfort Level that we at least understand that the evolution of the terrorism threat, to what extent is it the growth of cyber, since, you know, the big the threat from iran, russia, china, is largely cyberbased. And then to what extent are we now from a National Security stand poindp point and home lant security come back to this big power competition . I would say a couple of different ways to respond. One, weve not left or we still have our eye on the ball regarding foreign terrorist terrorism in general, probably what the secretary faced after 9 11 and the like. We continue to stay focused on that. Thats the core of what the department does in our counterterrorism activities and program. General. Looking at nation state threats, we go where the threat is. If we see threats coming in, economic threats or threats coming in from intelligence from the like, we shift and adapt our procedures accordingly. The secretary may have been faced with different today because our adversary changes as well. As they change, well change as well. We have a growth as a result of that. Making sure that not only the federal network are protected but that we are sharing information with our state and local partners. People ask me not specifically that question but how do you prioritize at the department. We follow the threat. We look forward of whats the threat of tomorrow in three or five years. Sometimes thats difficult when working with congress because it is a little bit of a tail when you build budgets and get new authorities, it takes time to do that. So again i think the threats of today you know when i leave the department in three or five years, there will be new sets of threats and the department will continue to innovate to address this. Recommendation for id and bio metrics of everyone who comes into and leave the country. Looks like you are going to implement those. What is it going to mean for most americans . I am working for tsa administrators. I am sure the administrators can talk to you all day of what it means. October 2020 is the deadline of flight commercials needing real id. What we see today is and i will say backing up this is a law from 2005 i believe. Having however many number of years for the state. It goes to security and making sure that we know these individuals. It goes to a whole host of issues that the administrator had to deal with. When we came in if you were to look at the map of the u. S. , if states were not compliant, you would seen in the neighborhood of over 40 states of non compliant. Every state is compliant except for i believe one or two and theyre online on the next couple of months. Over the last two or three years, we have been specific and very poignant that october 2020 date is firm. With that being said, state compliance is one thing. The compliance across the country is very low. It will be in the high 20s and low 30s. You can do the math. What we have asked is have the same dmv supplies us Realtime Data every month. We are asking them nicely to do that. It is going to help us make informed decisions on where we need to allocate our resources and focusing our attention. Other states are below 10 . It is a challenge for us. The department does not issue cards, states do. We need to make sure they continue to do that and well continue to have conversations about what that means. The biometric records, nothing to announced in that department. Certainly working on that as well. Final question. Time for one more question. Suzanne. Secretary, thank you for being here. Suzanne. You have noted already the controversies around the departments responsibility at the border. One of my concerns that it advise the American Public, dhs has become the department of immigration or the border. I worry that it takes their view of the department at large and may have been impact on our broader missions. How big of a concern of yours and what can we do about that . My only concern would be, it was one of my priorities when i came into this chair to make sure the American Public understands the full mission of what the department does. As i allude in my remarks while the media and others may focus on one or two mission sets. The men and women of dhs everyday are doing the full range of the mission. It looks like we only do border immigration and understanding. Again the threat israel the rea and we are focused on it. I will say the folks, men and women inside the department do not feel that way. They understand what they do and everyday matters. A lot of what i talk about we are doing at everyday in the department, we are making sure that we do and just dont get the headlines. It does not get the headlines until we perform. When we go back to our threat from iran, when we are able to take off the shelve, work that we have done five or seven months never got the time or attention or anything else. We were able to implement it was a matter of hours to protect the measure across the board we are able the do. I diend kind of brush it off a bit, the media and congress focus on what dhs do at the border. Again, it is important. The mission we do is absolutely critical securing the homeland everyday. Well, let me say and michael may have a final word. Our thanks to the corporation and American Airlines and mckenzie and our current secretary Homeland Security for making this session informative. Wilson center we always call ourselves, safe political space. It is good that different views were expressed in question today. This is a hard mission and everyone in the country wants you to succeed. I mean the bad actors have to be successful once and we have to be successful 100 of the time. Thats not achievable. If we can mitigate risks and make the whole country feel that we are putting secure styles at best use and real talent on the case. I think that puts us ahead. You have been at the Homeland Department for a long time and various roles and your leadership is very much appreciated. I echo that and i add that the entire team that came this morning to meet with us is an outstanding and very experienced team and dedicated and i think the American Public if they look at the first story of what dhs does or where we come into protecting the country in the environment where to be honest of the dynamics. Thank you very much. What an honor to lead the men and women of dhs, not only board of patrol and all the folks at the field everyday. The Leadership Team at dhs is truly outstanding. I get the opportunity to talk about this and they do the real work. Whether administrator or tsa, thats where the work of the department is doing. Like i said it is fantastic Leadership Group and i think the country should be proud. Great, thank you all for coming. [ applause ] over the next couple of hours, we are featuring a number of this years state of the states speeches. Florida governor rwandon desants next. And followed by justine ssenato raimondo. The tactics were remarkable and powerful. The Lessons Learned from the movement i think you can trace throughout the 20th or 21st century. The Movement Like Many Movement broke into different fashion. Some were conservatives and some were radical in activists. Others felt if it were not then when would women be able to finally get the right to vote . They saw this again throughout the 19th century and 18th century. So they took to the streets. They took to the white house where first of all, standing there everyday, day after day and throughout the team, starting about 1913 then president Woodrow Wilson decide ed enough is enough and distracting the work of a presidency. As they were in prison in a way against wilson and those who wanted to defeat the amendment and to defeat their spirit of advocacy so they became even more famous, these are very educated, brilliant women and so as more and more were arrested, they can add to their ranks and finally when they were released, they realized they had survived prison which was heroic just in that. They went around the nation and making sure everyone knew they had just been released from prison. It gives a sense of urgency and huge sense of sacrifice that they were willing to give literally let themselves after a while they knew they were going to be arrested. This year marks 100th year since the 19th amendment were ratified. It is part of our museum week here on cspan 3 featuring our American History tv program normally seen on weekend. Watch museum week night this week here on cspan 3. Up next, Governor Desantis delivers his state of the address in tallahassee. He spoke about a race of the schoolteachers and funding new water projects. This is about 35 minutes. Mr. President , members of the house and senate and fellow citizens. The constitution requires me to inform the legislature concerning the condition of the state and recommend measures on the great