The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers rooms washington, d. C. , january 16, 2015, i hereby appoint luke messer to act as speaker pro tempore on this day signed john a. Boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain. Jall mighty ever living god in the heart in all peoples. Graciously receive the prayers we pour out to you for our country, through the wisdom of our leaders and integrity of its citizens, harmony and justice may be assured and lasting prosperity come with peace. Look with favor, we pray on this house and in your mercy, we beg you to grant that its members may be your instruments for us and for the whole world, that the flourishing of peoples the establishment of peace and the freedom of religion made through your gift be made secure. Pour out upon these men and women o god, the spirit of your wisdom, so they may decide everything for the wellbeing and peace of all. And may they never turn aside from your will. We ask this, through christ our lord amen. The speaker pro tempore the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. The chair will lead the house in the pledge of allegiance. Those on the gallery and the floor to join in. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, inib wh bey d justice r l. The chair announces the speaker aappointment pursuant to clause 11, rule 10, clause 11 rule 1 and the following members to the Permanent Select Committee on intelligence. The clerk mr. Gute res. Of illinois mr. Himes of connecticut, ms. Sewell of alabama, mr. Carson of indiana ms. Speier of california, mr. Quigley of illinois mr. Swalwell of california mr. Murphy of florida. The speaker pro tempore without objection the house stands adjourned until noon of tuesday, january 20 the house wrapping up a brief pro forma session, out until tuesday. Live house coverage as always is live on cspan. Next state, state of the union night, well have live coverage starting at 8 00 eastern followed live by the republican response by joni ernst, in the seat long occupied by tom harkin. We will open our phone lines taking Facebook Comments and tweets. Tomorrow morning, Michael Warren of the Weekly Standard looks ahead at the potential republican president ial field, and reports met only reports mitt romney may run again. And the standard of education testing in the u. S. Dr. Anthony fauci our just this sunday on q a, is battling infectious diseases. We have drugs that when given to people who are hivinfected i could show you the economy the dichotomy. In the early 1980s, if someone came in to my clinic with aids, their median survival would be 68 months, which means half of them would be dead in the months. Now, if tomorrow, when i go back to rounds on friday, and someone comes into our clinic who is 20 years old, who is relatively recently infected, and i put them on the combination of three drugs, a cocktail of retroviral therapy, i could accurately predict, look them in the eye and say, if you take your medicine regularly, you could live an additional 55 an additional 50 years. To go from knowing 50 of the people are going to die and eight months to knowing that if you take your medicines you could live essentially a normal lifes and, lifespan, just a few years last that is a huge advance. Director of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases, dr. Anthony fauci, on q a. Homeland security secretary jeh johnson talks about global terrorism threats and Counterterrorism Measures in the u. S. And abroad, as well as legislation to fund the department and why he feels it is dangerous to put political volleyball with department funding. He spoke at the aero club in washington for about 45 minutes. It is my pleasure to introduce our speaker today. Jeh johnson was sworn in on december 20 3, 2013, as the fourth secretary of Homeland Security. Prior to joining dhs secretary johnson served as general counsel for the department of defense, where he was part of a Senior Management team that led to more than 10,000 military and civilian lawyers across the department a big law firm. Secretary johnson oversaw the development of legal aspects of many of our nations counterterrorism policies, spearheaded reforms to the military Commission System at guantanamo bay, and coauthored a 250 page report that paves the way for the repeal of ask, dont tell in 2010. Dont ask, dont tell in 2010. Secretary johnson was general counsel of the department of the air force from 19982001, and served as assistant u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. I first knew of secretary johnson from reading the memoir of former secretary bob gates. Secretary gates has been around a long time, seen a lot of impressive, and maybe not impressive people, during his time in town. Secretary gates has this to say about secretary johnson, and i am loading. He is the finest lawyer i ever worked with in government. A straightforward, cleanspeaking man of great integrity, with common sense to burn and a great sense of humor. I trusted and respected him like no other lawyer i had ever worked with. That is awfully high praise. You have had a lot of jobs that test that sense of humor havent you . Please join me in welcoming secretary of Homeland Security jeh johnson. [applause] and you very much. Thank you very much. I get more goodwill from that bob gates quote from months ago so thank you, bob gates. Also, i want to begin by saying that im a big fan of aviation a big fan of commercial aviation , the airline industry, the airport industry. When i was a kid growing up in new york, i used to date my down on saturday mornings dad, please take me to the airport to go see the jets. Please take me to idlewild, laguardia, to see the planes. When i was at kennedy a couple summers ago, my heart was broken when i saw they had torn down the pan am terminal there, which was such an object of excitement and futurism for me as a kid in the early 1960s. I actually thought about becoming a pilot myself when i was in high school, looking for something to do, and rarely showing an interest in anything really of focus. I set my parents when i was about 17 or 18, i would like to try being a pilot. Can i take flight lessons . There was a deal at some Flight School where you get an hour for free. So i went up with this pilot in the single engine cessna. He let me take the controls. It was a copy day. A bumpy day. And i never again thought about flying an aircraft. [laughter] as general counsel of the air force, i did have the obligatory f15 orientation right out of langley. I put it out i procrastinated as long as i could and finally got the obligatory ride, with a pilot who was an Academy Graduate named sumo. I am proud of the fact that i did not lose it, literally. I have, as secretary of Homeland Security, flown commercial from time to time, to show my support for the Aviation IndustryAviation Security, our men and women in tsa. I go through the tsa line like everybody else. My staff was not so excited with me doing that, so the first time we went out to Reagan National a couple months after he took office a year ago, we went through the tsa line without incident. We got to gate 42 444 without incident. 42 without incident. And then my flight was canceled. I will not mention the airline. But i flew commercial again just last week. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. I wanted to take this opportunity to preview some of my thoughts for a state of dhs speech that i intend to give in about two weeks and some of my overarching thoughts about our departments mission. I intend to focus on Aviation Security in particular, but it did want to preview some of the things that are on my mind about the state of the department that im privileged to leave lead. The department of Homeland Security is the thirdlargest of our government, with 240,000 employees, and budget which consists of appropriate money the Disaster Relief fund, and fees collected by various components of 60 billion. We are responsible for counterterrorism, Cyber Security, order security, port security, maritime security, Aviation Security, enforcement of immigration laws, protection of Critical Infrastructure, protection of our chemical, bio and Nuclear Threats to the homeland, protection of our national leaders, and responses to natural disasters. Within the department of Homeland Security, there is customs and border protection, which itself is the largest federal Law Enforcement agency. Immigration, Customs Enforcement, citizenship services, tsa, the coast guard secret service fema, and the federal Protection Service. In my judgment, counterterrorism must remain the cornerstone of our department mission. We were formed, after all, in the wake of 9 11. And 13. 5 years after 9 11, it is still a dangerous world. In my view, we have evolved to a new phase in the global terrorist threat. We are in a new phase of the global terrorist threat. I have said before, on several occasions, that many of core al qaedas leaders are now dead or captured. We have seen the rise of al qaeda affiliates such as al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which remains active. It remains active in plotting attempts to attack our homeland. We saw that on december 20 5, 2009, with the attempted bombing of an airliner headed to detroit , the ups farm package threat. We see the rise of terrorist organizations that even the core of al qaeda has announced isil the most prominent example on the world stage. Isil itself represents a terrorist threat globally because of their resources capability, and the property. What is new about and depravity. What is new over the last 13 years . Here is a list. Foreign fighters, the phenomenon of foreign fighters. I sold isil consists of scores of people from countries other than iraq and syria, foreign fighters. Use of the internet, social magazines, literature, and open public calls by terrorist organizations for attacks on western objectives, in europe and in this country public calls by terrorist organizations for attacks, openly discussing how, for example, one might bring an explosive device onto a near thing an airplane. Coupled with increased savvy in how to communicate internally without being detected, as the director of the fbi has spoken out. Add to that the threat of the socalled loan will lone wolf, the independent actor lurking within the homeland, who could strike on little or no notice. We see, as a result of this new phenomenon, attacks of the type we have seen recently in ottawa, sydney paris, and yesterday in belgium the rate their raid there, the threat presented. All this represents a new phase in the terrorist global threat which we must respond to. So what are we doing about this . The nature of this threat is such that notice of a terrorist plot the first notice of a terrorist plot against the homeland may be detected by a cop on the beat just as easily as the Intelligence Community given the nature of how this threat is evolving more involvement of the potential lone wolf factor. So what are we doing about it . We are taking the fight directly to terrorist organizations in iraq, syria, and young yemen with an International Military coalition, and we will continue to do so. But there are other things that must be done and are being done to chuck todd, on nbc, you cant kill the enemy but not necessarily defeat the enemy. There needs to be a Law Enforcement response, given the domesticbased nature of what we are seeing now. The fbi doesnt excellent job at the tech thing terrorist the fbi does an excellent job at detecting terrorist threats interdicting individuals at home. On monday, i directed that we enhance our federal protective Service Presents at federal presence in major u. S. Cities. That is in place now. We need two more fundamentally on we need to more fundamentally and permanently worked at the federal level more intensely with state and local Law Enforcement, state and local police departments, active Shooter Training of the state and local Law Enforcement agencies informationsharing through dhss intelligence and analysis directorate as well as the fbi and other federal agencies, vertical integration vertical intelligence sharing. That has become all the more important through joint task forces, fusion centers. Vertical intelligence sharing with state and local Law Enforcement has become more and more important. To deal with the foreign fighter potential, the foreign fighter threat presented now globally we need to develop more robust informationsharing with our key counterterrorism allies overseas , to share information about individuals of suspicion. There is much work to do there. Some are concerned about the visa waiver program, through which we permit countries have their citizens travel to our country without a visa. Some are concerned about that program, because many of these countries are countries that also have a foreign fighter concern. The answer is not to discard the visa waiver program. It represents an important element of lawful commerce between and among our international partners. Late last year in november, we added information fields to what we call esta the Electronic System for travel authorization. I asked my staff to develop additional methods we might take to tighten security assurances we have with countries that participate in visa waiver, the visa waiver program, pursuant to the Human SecurityCouncil Resolution u. N. Security Council Resolution passed last year on foreign fighters. Information sharing generally with our foreign allies, state and local Law Enforcement, must be undertaken. We must keep this up, and indeed enhance it. Here at home, given how the terrorist threat has evolved in the manner in which i described earlier, our engagements with Community Organizations in this country are all the more important, what we refer to in government cbe engagements engagements with Community Organizations to counter violent extremism here on. I personally participate in these around the country. In columbus, ohio, chicago boston, los angeles, minneapolis last year, i have personally gone to Islamic Cultural Centers and other Community Organizations to talk about the issues that members of the community cap with my department have with my department through our immigration system at airports, some of the issues that people in the Muslim Community face at airports with profiling. I have in turn talked to them about how we can together develop a counter narrative to what terrorist organizations are putting on the internet and social media, how we counter that narrative to engage Community Organizations and our joint effort at home charity Homeland Security. I am pleased there will be a white house summit on countering violent extremism in just a few weeks. The if you see something, Say Something campaign has to mean more than just a slogan. It means Public Engagement in Homeland Security, Public Safety. Efforts will be rolling out, a new stateup spiffed up Campaign Around the time of the super bowl. Public engagement has become all the more important, Public Participation in our efforts. Much of our concern continues to center around Aviation Security which the experts in this room know much about. In july, i directed that we enhance Aviation Security at last point of departure airports overseas, in reaction to some of the threat streams we were seeing in. Then. We continually evaluate whether more enhancements were necessary without burdening the traveling public. The enhanced we enhanced Aviation Security just last week, and are looking at doing more and the short term in reaction to some of the right streams we are seeing this threat some of the threat streams we are seeing right now. Tsa last year seized a Record Number of weapons from carryon luggage, from passengers, many of them quite lawful who simply forget they are carrying a gun in carryon luggage. Last year, tsa seized over 2100 weapons, guns in carryon luggage at airports. That number is astounding to me. That is a record in any year. Guns, many of which were loaded in carryon luggage at airports. A total of 3610 guns, components of guns, replicas, stun guns, and other dangerous objects that individuals were attempting to carry on commercial aircraft. Tsa obviously has become popular because of precheck. People actually say nice things now about tsa, as you know. But precheck is not only popular with the public. It is an exercise in what we are doing more and more of riskbased security which allows us to focus on the population we know less about. It is probably not a coincidence we were able to see so many guns this year. We continue to evaluate whether more is necessary. Lastly, i visited atlanta airport. I wanted to see firsthand the breaching Airport Security that led to the gun smuggling that i sure everybody in this room is aware of. It is a holy club. A hole we need to plug. I encourage you to evaluate security in your airport or airline, evaluate whether we can be doing more reasonably when comes to our employees at airports and on airlines, and how they get into secure areas. I have asked our tsa Advisory Group to think about this issue and im hoping people in this room are doing so parallel to that. We have made, in the department, a big agenda item, preclearance capability at overseas airports at last point of departure airports overseas, where the Customs Bureau is present at the beginning of the flight overseas, rather than at the end of the flight. It is popular with the public. You get home. You are tired. You want to get in your cap, not go through extensive screening. Preclearing popular with the traveling public, and it is an opportunity to screen people were before they get on the airplane bound for the u. S. We now have preclearance overseas at 15 airports. Last year, 16 million passengers were screened. Abu dhabi, the most recent airport at which we opened, 290,000 passengers were screened last year, along with crew. More than 50 individuals were denied boarding in abu dhabi last year, including several on the terrorist screening database. I want to expand on preclearance capability. I want to expand on it in a way that does not give any airline or set of airlines a commercial advantage of any type. So we put out a solicitation worldwide to airports overseas preclearance. We received back late last year 25 indications of interest in setting up preclearance capability. We want to move forward on that. Border security is closely related to counterterrorism efforts. Over the last 15 years, we have invested a huge amount in Border Security, land Border Security. In the year 2000, there were 8619 Border Patrol agents. Today, there are over 18,000. In 2000, there was just 77 miles of fence across the southern border. Now there is over 700 miles of fence. In 2000, there were 56 aircraft for Border Security on the southern border. Now there are over 107, along with a unmanned aerial vehicles. In 2000, along with eight unmanned aerial vehicles. In 2000, one surveillance system. Now, we have over 40. Investment on the southern border has produced results over the last 15 years. In the year 2000, there were 1. 6 million apprehensions of those trying to cross through our southern border illegally, 1. 6 million. Over the last several years, that number has gone down to a fraction used to be. It has ranged between by the estimate of the research center, the population of undocumented in this country has stopped growing and is actually declined slightly to 11. 3 million. Many of you are aware that last summer we had a spike along the southern border ini illegal migration mostly unaccompanied kids crossing from Central America into south texas. The high point was june 10. In response, we put in place a number of things. We search resources to the southern border. More personnel, surveillance technology, Law Enforcement to crack down on the smugglers, the coyotes. More detention capability, more public messaging in Central America and mexico. The numbers dropped dramatically after that to the point where it is now considerably lower today than it was a year ago at this time and a most the lowest it has been in about two years. But, we are not declaring Mission Accomplished at all when it comes the Border Security, particularly on the southern border. Much of the uptick and the downturn in illegal migration is seasonal and very predictable. It starts at the beginning of the year, peaks in early summer and drops off when he gets really hot. We must prevent further spikes in illegal migration. Many of the poll factors still exist. The violence, the poverty in that part of the world still exists. The economy in this country is getting better. So, what are we doing . We have established increased attention capabilities. We have begun a new public messaging campaign in mexico Central America. We are building a southern Border Campaign plan where we marshal entire resources of my department devoted to Border Security. We are going to have a joint Task Force East responsible for florida, the maritime approaches and a joint Task Force Director who coordinates all the resources of our department in that part of the world. We will have a joint Task Force West that is responsible for Border Security in the southwest and will coordinate all the resources of my department. Cis and the coast guard directed at broader security Border Security in the southwest. This has been greeted with bipartisan positive reaction. On the immigration front on november 20, the president announced executive actions to fix our broken immigration system. We identified a number of measures of that were in the confines of existing law. We have developed and we are putting into place a new Deferred Action Program for those wet been in this country a number of years who have committed no serious crimes and have children who are citizens or lawful permanent residents. The reality is these individuals are low enforcement priorities for deportation. They are not going to be deported. For my Homeland SecurityLaw Enforcement perspective, want to know who these people are. I want them to come out of the shadows, be accountable and pay taxes. We want to encourage people to come out of the shadows. We have also as part of our executive actions prioritized those who are convicted criminals. Added emphasis on deporting convicted criminals, those who represent threats to Public Safety and those who are reason arrivals recent arrivals. Anybody who arrives in this country illegaly after january 1, 2014 is not priority for removal now priority for removal. On the Cyber Security front there have been a series of ongoing attacks recently. The intrusion at centcom the attack on sony. Im pleased late last Year Congress passed the National Security protection act, the federal information sharing security modernization act. The enhancement of dhss ability to hire a Cyber Security workforce and then last week we announced in the Obama Administration our legislative proposal for information sharing with the private sector through the dhs national Cyber Security and Communications Infrastructure center, also known as mccic. The president went there and announce our support for Cyber Security legislation which i believe and hope will pass this year. There is a mood in congress for Cyber Security legislation. All of you know about the challenges of that the secret service has faced recently with offensive jumping and other issues. I appointed an independent panel to assess the secret service. They came back with their report. Fundamental change is needed but it is important to remember that the secret service is the finest Protection Service in the world. No toother Protection Service could protect the dozens and dozens of World Leaders who come to new york every year for the uns General Assembly or the africa summit that occurred last year here in washington. Fema has come a long way from the days of katrina and the leadership of administrative. He has done a remarkable job. The coast guard is in the midst of a recapitalization, rebuilding of its fleet which im hoping congress will continue to support under the marvelous new leadership. This year in particular management reform at the department of Homeland Security is at the top of my list. The reality is that our department is very large, very decentralized. It needs management reform. It has only been in existence for 12 years. We need more mature processes or budget decisions for acquisition decisions. The reality is much needs to be done to improve the manner in which we deliver our services for the benefit of the public and the taxpayers who have made management reform a top priority. In my judgment, it is a Homeland Security imperative. Last year, i directed in april our unity of effort initiative, more centralized decisionmaking when it comes to budget decision, acquisition decisions looking for inefficiencies. Less stove piping. We have under the leadership of the deputy secretary a campaign to improve the morale within various components of the department of Homeland Security which has already showed positive signs and results. We have brought back the secretarys honors program. Last year, several hundred people attended. It was a big hit. On november 17, we received for the second year in a row an unqualified opinion from our outside auditors. Certain departments of our government who i will not name still do not have an unqualified opinion from an outside auditor. We have very aggressively over the last year filled the vacancies that existed within the seniorlevel positions within the department. Just within the last 13 months, we had a new secretary that would be me. A new deputy secretary commissioner of customs and border protection,a an new undersecretary. A new undersecretary for science and technology. A a new undersecretary for technology. A new Inspector General. A new director of citizenship and immigration services. A new deputy administrator. The new commandant of the coast guard. A new assistant secretary for immigrations, Customs Enforcement who was confirmed late last year. A assistant secretary for legislative affairs. An assistant secretary for public affairs. Pending is the Senate Confirmation of our nominee to be undersecretary for management. Who came out of retirement as the Vice President for administration of johnson and johnson to be our number three official within the department. They were a former law client of mine. Johnson inand johnson is a Large Network of Companies Operational components. Im pleased that he has come out of retirement to take on this job should he be confirmed. Virtually every senator who met him like tim. We have improved our responsiveness to congress and many requests for information we have received. We have won bipartisan praise. Some of you may know that 108 committees and subcommittees of congress that report to provide oversight to my department. I love congress. [laughter] i testified to 12 times last year in front of various different committees of congress. We are seriously building good bipartisan relations with members of congress, including the new members. Finally, i want to Say Something about our appropriations bill. The department of Homeland Security right now is operating on a continuing resolution which expires on february 27. A continuing resolution means you are basically allowed to spend at the rate you spent the last year. So as long as we operate on a c. R. We cannot pay for the surge in resources to deal with last summers spike in illegal migration. We cannot pay for new investments in technology for Border Security that we need. We cannot pay or fund new grants that are typically funded by the department of Homeland Security. We cannot pay for added secret Service Resources to implement the many recommendations that that independent panel made in the coming president ial election cycle. Our ability to fund new initiatives as long as we are on a c. R. On Homeland Security and a number of other things is seriously hampered as long as the budget is on a continuing resolution. H. R. 240 which chairman rogers of the House Appropriations committee offered earlier this week was a good bill. It provided 39. 7 billion to fund at the department and fund many of these key initiatives and new starts. Yet, it was in the course of house the liberation, bloated with politically charged amendments to defund our executive actions to fix the broken immigration system. There it stands. The president has made plain that if the bill comes to his desk, the president and i will recommend he vetoed those bills as long as it has those amendments on it. We need a clean appropriations bill for Homeland Security in this country. In these times, we cannot play political volleyball with the budget of Homeland Security for this nation. I urge and i have urged on a Public Statement yesterday that Congress Pass an appropriations bill for Homeland Security. In these challenging times, free of politically charged amendments concerning immigration. As i have said many times, i welcome the opportunity to work with congress on immigration reform, a legislative change to fix our immigration system. But, amendments to defund our executive actions is not the way to go. In conclusion, i would like to say that Homeland Security represents a balance. Homeland security is as much about preserving our values and our freedoms as it is building more walls and more screening devices. Because of who we are as a nation that cherishes Freedom Freedom of movement, celebrates diversity, cherishes privacy Homeland Security must represent a balance between those values and the basic security that is demanded for Public Safety. I recognize that and i recognize it is a key part of our Homeland Security mission. As long as i am secretary, we will continue to pursue that balance. So thank you all for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you. And, im happy to take a few questions before i go back to the office. Thank you all very much. [applause] thank you, mr. Secretary. As the secretary said, he is able to take a few questions before heading back to the office. A few things are going on in the world these days. I dont think anybody will complain about the work we have to do what you go back to our office. Ellen by the secretary back to the podium for a couple of your questions before we wrap up. Yes, sir . [indiscernible] what changes tsa might need to make to allow commercial flights to the island and how soon they might be accomplished . That is a very good question. We are in the process of opening up flights, travel from this country to cuba. That is something that is in the works. One thing i do want to say is the process we are engaged in right now of normalizing relations with cuba does not represent a change in our attitude when it comes to illegal migration from cuba. We have the socalled what foot dry foot policy. That is still in place. We have added coast guard cutters to the florida straight to interdict migrants who are coming from cuba and haiti. The normalization that we have undertaken does not represent a change in our attitude towards illegal migration from cuba. We do not accept illegal migration from countries from which we have at normal relations for years. I think it is important that message be underscored. Next question. I saw a hand. Right back there. Yes, sir . Do you mind speaking up . [indiscernible] i was going to mention that your Inspector General try to prioritize based on efficacy and efficiency. Is what you are doing effective . Is it affected the do it is efficiency efficiently as possible . I was going to say that those are three good litmus test to apply to any existing and future programs or actions because they really do cover it all. The second thing is i was very encouraged to hear youre interested in learning to fly. I wish to extend an invitation to potomac airfield to see how the National Capital airspace region actually works and to open a discussion for a alleviating all the financial pressures on on thethe agencies. Thank you. Yes, maam . We noticed the people who cross the border on the north and the south you pay a lot of user fees. Another department is always looking for sources of revenue. If you have come across the border in a car or walk across the border, you dont pay anything for the benefit of the security that is delivered at the airport. Might that be something you all might look at since you are encouraging beyond the envelope thinking . Aviation related fees are intended to pay for Aviation Security. So what about the fees for the security of people who walk or drive across . If they dont pay anything, why is it only one mode to pay . There are different ways to raise revenue to things. In the judgment of a lot of people and there is resistance to this, when it comes to Aviation Security and paying for Aviation Security those who use airports, airplanes more often than others in the public should you know, contribute more to that. There are many business travelers like the people in this room who use aviation more often than the average american does. So every year, we make a budget submission that seeks that has certain amount of aviation be paid through fees. The fees were raised a couple of years ago. As part of the budget deal. Congress has its own talks about doing that. In their wisdom, come out with something a little different. It is a judgment about how revenue should be paid, how revenue should be raised for certain services. Yes, maam . I just want otto we somehow unwittingly find reporters in this room. [laughter] you mentioned that the preclearance had found 450 people that didnt want to let into the u. S. , including some people on the terrorism watchlist. Is that your experience in general with these preclearance centers . Are they having a higher rate of finding people . I dont have any statistics offhand for the other airports. I do know that we are seeing considerable productivity in terms of the level of screening and a number of people are being identified for not not allowed to board at a number of these airports. As i have said, i think it is important anytime we can push out our Homeland Security beyond our borders. Id rather defend the homeland on the 50 yard line versus the one yard line. We put out this indication of interest and we got back a lot of positive responses which we are going to work on and develop further. Because i think this is a good model and it is a good model for Aviation Security and Homeland Security. Ok. Thank you all very much. Really appreciate it. [applause] thank you, secretary johnson. I have really seen an audience for a speech is so engaged and focused. You can see how he earned of those accolades from secretary gates. We have the traditional and soontobe famous aeroclub token of appreciation for spending your day with us. Thank you very much. [applause] we are adjourned with a reminder our next lunch is thursday february 26 with the acting chair of the ntsb. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the Supreme Court has agreed to hear gay marriage issue one of the headlines on the Washington Post announcing it will decide a historic question about whether the constitution requires samesex couples to be allowed to marry or whether states are free to limit marriage to a traditional definition. A question left open when the court last confronted the issue in 2013 and set a key portion of the federal defense of marriage act was unconstitutional and allow to resume in california. This newest case includes its suits from michigan, ohio, kentucky and tennessee. The court will hear in argument on april and decide the issue by summer. You can read more at washingto npost. Com. Secretary of state john kerry visited with the french president where he discussed the recent terror attacks and americas friendship with france. Madam mayor, thank you for that very generous welcome and thank you for reminding us of the extraordinary history that doesnt tie us together does tie us together. To be in this is to work building that the mayor just talked about and shared some of the history, a moment ago in her office she showed me a historic photograph of the resistance members sitting there in her office in august of 1944. A reminder of the close historic, inescapable relationship between our countries. I appreciate your very generous comments about all of our mayors. I know you have a relationship with him. Not only am i in a historic, but im with a historic mayor because she is the first woman to serve in his office and that is no small thing. Thank you. It is a privilege for me to be here with you and im particularly honored to meet the members of the Law Enforcement community. Those who were so directly engaged and affected by the events. You honor us and me and my country by being here today. We thank you so much for that. That video courtesy of france 24. You can watch the secretarys remarks in its entirety tonight at 9 05 p. M. Eastern on cspan or you can watch at any online at seacspan. Org. President Obama Holding a joint News Conference with David Cameron. They talked about iran, counterterrorism and the global economy. This is one hour. The president of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and northern ireland. Good afternoon. This month marks a notable anniversary. 200 years since the battle of new orleans. Here in america we called it a great victory over the mighty United Kingdom. Our british friends call it a technicality. The treaty ending the war was signed weeks before. Either way, we have long since made up. On this 200 anniversary of a Great American victory, we count their United Kingdom is one of our greatest friends and strongest allies and today it is a great pleasure to welcome Prime MinisterDavid Cameron back to the white house. As many of you know, david noted how comfortable the two of us are working together. This sent some commentators into a tizzy. Others debated its definition. Several analyzed how this term has evolved over time. Some seemed confused and asked what does obama mean and so let me put the speculation to rest. David is a great friend and he is one of my closest and most trusted partners in the world. Many of our most pressing challenges that we face, we see the world the same way. We recognize that as i have said before when the u. S. And the United Kingdom stand together. Our nations are more secure in their people are more prosperous and the world the safer and more just. Great britain is our indispensable partner and david has been personally an outstanding partner. With both of our economies growing and unemployment falling, we used a working dinner to discuss how we can create more jobs for peace. We believe that this needs to be the year when the u. S. And the European Union make Real Progress toward the transatlantic trade and Investment Partnership and we share the view that boosting demand in europe can also keep our economies growing. As innovative economies in this information age, we are expanding on technologies to prove how our governments server citizens and businesses given the urgent and growing danger of Cyber Threats we decided to expand to protect Critical Infrastructure in the privacy of our people. We believe that a strong commitment to reducing Greenhouse Gases will be an essential element of any ambitious climate agreement that we seek in paris this year and this will spur the creation of more Clean Energy Jobs on both sides of the atlantic. With regard to security, americanbritish unity is enabling us to meet challenges in europe and beyond. We agreed to maintain strong sanctions against russia until it ends its action in ukraine. We agree that the International Community needs to remain united as we seek a comprehensive diplomatic solution to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. I would add that additional sanctions on iran would undermine that International Unity and set back our chances for a diplomatic solution. And as the leading contributors to the Global Response to a bo