Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20160621

It will also, this is important, it will also set up a process to to monitor, investigate, and detain terrorists while warranted by evidence. In that way my proposal is far and away stronger than the senior senator from californias for several reasons. First, her amendment is unconstitutional. Last week i mention the problems of the late senator tended kennedy had when his name came up on a watchlist by mistake. He was denied a ticket and airport one of his trips from washington to boston. After realizing the problem he had a lot of trouble getting it resolved. If you can bet Teddy Kennedy had trouble getting it resolved, what kind what kind of have . Fairly he said as much, he said now that they had that kind of difficulty for member of congress, how the world are average americans going to get caught up in this kind of thing. How are. How are they going to be treated fairly and not have the right to be his . Senator kennedy asked the question we all need to be asking right now. A wellknown, wellconnected powerful public figure like ted kennedy had trouble getting his name removed from a watchlist, to have any confidence that the average americans wont have their Constitutional Rights denied with no Legal Process to woul it . Friends across the aisle would not provide due process rely abiding citizens placed on a watchlist by mistake. Lake like the late senator kennedy, like mine way. Way. Secondly, the feinstein mm and has another flaw. There are no additional tools for enforcement to investigated detain terrace. My proposal stops stops him from buying a gun,trr take them off the stree. The fbi director coming test to testify before the senate that legislation that merely blocks a firearm transfer to a person on a watchlist without more actually disrupted terrorism investigation. Thats because if we automatically block a transferoe it would tip the terrorists that the lawenforcement is watching them in building the case. Andct then they would choose some some other weapon either illegal or manufactured. Nc as this could have tragic consequences. As a terrace could take immediate steps to speed up their attack, obtain legal actions or thwarting lawenforcement surveillance. We need to be careful about enacting legislation that could the worse of the fbi director,th effectively blow a terrorism investigation. No matter how wellintentioned, i believe that would be the effect of senator feinsteins amendment. The truth is, under that amendment, motivated motivated terrace could buy a gun, be denied, and walk out of the gun shop and find another avenue to carry out a terrorist attack. My by letting a dangerous terrace rope regardless streets the proposal or democratic friends would make us less safe, not my legislation and contrast would not only block that person from buying a firearm, becauseab the fbi would be immediately notified, they would not be able to take it with them, they would have to wait at least three days while the fbi conducted additional investigation. Oty but it would allow the authorities to carry out that investigation followed by next bidet the court for hearing where a judge could block the sale and authorize the arrest of the terrace, if in fact there is evidence to prove that that was the case. If the judge deemed there is probable cause to block the sale of, the terrace can be immediately detained by Law Enforcement. I repeat i repeat myself, if youre dangerous enough not to own a firearm, arent they also dangerous enough to be taken off the streets . But the senator from californias amendment would let the back i go. This way my proposal goes much further than our democratic friends, we have to do more from preventing terrorist for buying guns we have to lock them up and stop them before they kill innocent americans. Importantly, my amendment would apply to anyone who is previously under an investigation for suspicion of terrorism within the last five a years, like the orlando attacker. The orlando attacker was not even on a watchlist, so i do not know what our friend from california was try to propose bd saying if you are on a watchlist you should be denied a gun but i guess youre saying even if you are not on the watchlist you would be tonight a gun. W but weve set if you are on the watchlist for the last five years, than the fbi would be provided notice. Senator would you youll purchase one for,. I will yield to the senator after remarks. Imn almost through when the proposals were offered from the senior senator from california did not even get a majority of votes in this body. My related proposal back in december was bipartisan and garnered 55 votes, im glad the junior senator from indiana and from west virginia, both democrats supported that build then and i hope they will do so now. Both made the decision to do most right instead of what j. Was politically convenient. The due process clause of the United States constitution is more than just a convenience, it is after all, our constitution. Something senators pledge allegiance to uphold and defend the constitution of the unitedit states, but then to vote for an amendment to deny Constitutional Rights without due process of law, it sure seems intention with that oath. St we must advance commonsense legislation that fences selves against islamic extremism and my amendment i believe is a good place to start. It is not the only idea, the the senator from may, senator collins, senator from pennsylvania have interesting ideas that i know they would like to develop and have ado chance to have a vote on. In the meantime, we need to doey more to equip the fbi and the with the lawenforcement tools they need to gather information on terrace so they can lock they up. We have to be able to connectue the dots for we can connect the dots. I hope today my colleagues will for my amendment. It blocks terrace from buying guns, detains terrace, detains terrace if there is evidence to prove sufficient to status by that should be taken off the street and it upholds the Second Amendment to the constitution of the United States. Gun again, the question before so should be clear. We are going to to vote on two proposals that postop terrace from buying guns. One is constitutional, one is not. Amendme i would strongly my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to is for the one that is constitutional and that would be the shield back amendment. I will yield to the senator for question. It is my belief that our mens meant amendment does cover, senator leahy and senator nelson cemented to a set amendment which is incorporated, which jut does cover the orlando killer. I just wanted, just wanted you to know that. Ifornia, thank you very much. I would say to my friend from california, the problem in this instances the shooter was aot licensed security guard. He was guarding the courthouse, he also had a firearms firearms license from the state of florida. There is nothing about her amendment that would havegh prevented him from purchasing a firearm. Indeed the only thing that mightve happened would be that the fbi wouldve been notified under the fiveyear look back provision. But the fbi had already investigated this particular shooter and cleared him, notwithstanding notwithstanding all the troubling signals we see now in retrospect. So i still believe that there is nothing in the feinstein amendment that wouldve prevented this shooter fromns tn purchasing firearms because he had a firearms license already pain i thank you for your time. I yield back. Will now report the motion to invoke cloture gun cloture. Madam president first want to thank my colleague for decades of work to address gun violence and then i want to thank also Sanders Murphy and poker for standing on their feet for almost 15 hours to force the Republican Leadership to release allows some of the votes on gun safety. Six months after rejoined the senate in 1993, there was a terrific impact of assault weapons when a deranged gunman and enter the law offices in know california killing eight people wounding six others madam president when you lose someone they love to gun violence it is hard to get that out of your soul in one of those killed was the attack of the law office was an assault weapon was one of my sons best friends. And yes the soul of our family and his family and all of the and their families gunned down i willll f tell you the pain does not go away. It . I know we all feel that a the question is what are we going to do about it . If not now then when is the time to do something about it . , after orlando the worst mass shooting in American History i see my friend senator nelson who has been there and looked into the eyes of the families and he will never be the same this is a moment to do the right thing to take action is it going to stop everything in the san future . Now. But it is a crisis so we have to do what we can do we should have done it after california after sandy hook after Santa Barbara and aurora but we didnt so lets do it now. Roughly ready and this year madame president 30,000 americans will have died from gun violence and in 10 years roughly 300,000 americans are killed by a gallon every 60t year 300,000. Has lost nearly 60,000 after 10 years of vietnam they tore the nation apart but 300,000 americans from gun t violence over 10 years and my republican friends do bottomn nothing that is the culture they claim they want to do something but when you look at the bottom line of their proposal they do nothing and the gun epidemic continues. How many times to be common to the senate floor descender thoughts and prayers to the family . And that was in the 1990s. Now unfortunately i was just on the floor in december after a mass shooting at a Holiday Party that killed 14 people and wounded 17 others in san bernardino. I stood right here, and i begged for us to come together and pass sensible laws to prevent another community from the gutwrenching heartbreak my state was going through. Through. To prevent another committee from the gut wrenching heartbreak my a state was going through. That was six months ago. We did nothing. To i was here on the floor after a mass shooting in Santa Barbara in 2014 with the pause that gives family and friends of the love ones to use a gun and dangerous way. And to do it legally no action. Urge every when is a finely going to japanese to make sure peopleer that buy again to get a bad deft project do we need to defeat isis . One of the most brutal and vicious groups that is why support the president s actions to take them now and i am glad to see the iraqis. We need to make sure the al long wolf does not get hay guide precocious mentally unstable people have guns . But should that be allowed on our streets even the of inventor of the assault style weapons and said he never meant it to be used on the streets those weapons have no business being in civilian hands. Now today we had been news from the Supreme Court. They refuse to take up the case that challenged the assault weapons ban in connecticut and that is good news. And it follows the legal opinions we have seen from the courts. So yes there is a right to bear wen arms to have common senseon god modest that they are trusted get a weapon and those that are not are not and pass a background check. What happened in thes overall . Si dash minded as america. With the gun death we know that they save lives that germany tightened their losses in shooting deaths dropped in half from 106 iran from 2012 after the day drp from 35 in 2014. Violence ended 56 drop in gun violence between 93 and 2010 according to the law center to prevent a gun violence. And connecticut also sought a 40 drop in debt related murders in 10 years because they pass a 1995 law. Now we cannot prevent every single tragedy with past with safety laws. And to buy firearms or explosives and requiring background checks for about its. There are 30,000 reasons to pass these amendments. To and those that could die in years and. In there is something i want to conclude with. Here. We are 100 senators. We had the honor and privilege leakages something about those per year. Safe in with those measures it will take more time with, that with safe at school say fattish Shopping Mall in the movie theater. Loo and a nightclub. Ince and that we lose 300,000 americans over 10 years and had done nothing since the 90s. And i would and thanks to my colleague for her work on this legislation and the senator blumenthal and i will reclaim my time for the debate on our side. To the senator from iowana before i speak i ask unanimous consent to speak for 20 minutes followed by senator nelson and murphy. Without objection. Would you please tell me when i use 70 minutes i will reserve three minutes for senator from pennsylvania to follow with his three minutes. The chair will do so. That want to express my unwavering support for thoseom killed and wounded in orlando. Life and Community Members this terrorist attack represents the great tragedy with ann affront to our way of life with the existence of americans will do all i can to give the fbi the tools they need to investigate the circumstances of this attackn the radical islamist d terrorist they have reason to be upset and even furious isc september 11. The real problem of islamic terrorism but the leadership has taken their eyes off the ball and is trying to turn this tragedy into another debate about violence. We will gladly have that debate but very soon with misleading or incomplete statements occurred and we heard running statements to purchase those who would commit terrorism these s comments and with the fully automatic weapons about background check. Uy they cannot buy those even with the fact check had theund minority leader to claims. And with a background check. With a semiautomatic with the radical islamic terrorist would lie about what is not a reason to change a lot. The minority leader in the senator from connecticut in his amendment is before us is a terrible. Ay t no one convicted of terrorism with the other side means and they say terror loophole is someone who might be space any number of watchlist. Not to time and again the heathers side says they support the Second Amendment rights we have every reason not to believe that. And the amendment that they proposed violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and that this amendment due process clause because a fundamental Constitutional Rights cannotme be infringed upon with the due process of law. With the same kind of constitutional was that it contained when first proposed so the Bush Administration proposedt similar wrongheaded ideas but that is before the Supreme Court recognized the Second Amendment protects the individual right of a gun ownership they are prominent voices against the terrorist watch list amendment and for instancepl in an editorial in the l. A. Times asked and answered the question this way should people on the nofly list be able to buy guns . Yes. The editorial pointed out that they are not convicted of any crime the vastd the losl majority of the people on the list are foreigners already for inhibited from buying guns and the l. A. Times stated that it is of only fundamental right in the feinstein amendment for only allowing a challenge after it was denied with no prior judicial involvement in the san bernadine a shooting would not have been stopped had the amendment been in place at the time. Bueno have done so again orlando either. This past week then near times ran an opinion piece by ucla law professor at am winkler the professor noted that the nra has raised people n objections to the feinsteinased amendment including the attorney general can be based only on and suspicion in to sue the department but only after the right is denied the professor winkler wrote we should take the nra criticism seriously and also roche if the attorney general believes a suspected terrorist should be added to the list they should have to go to court first and offer evidence. Of only after concluding the attorney general has probable cause should the court to approve the denial of a suspects right the aclu also opposes theso feinstein amendment on civil bae liberties supporters of this amendment would not prohibit a person in this database from exercising the first pro and rights or the right to vote or the ability to have an abortion with the same when absence of due process. Ter the fbi takes action now when a person in a terrorist to database tries to purchase a gun the senator from connecticut requires universal background checksho last week the senator from connecticut contended there is less gun crime and fewer s homicides in states that pass strict gun control laws like his state but homicide rates are higher in connecticut than in many states that provide greater protection of gun rights such as mine state of iowa. You need to do is look at Merrill Lynch refused claim that imposing tougher gun murden control reduces crime. Despite stringent gun control murders in maryland of russia have increased dramatically the other side wants it both ways. Heads i win curtails orions when the state laws are in stringent they say they work regardless of any were elsewhere cry rises they argue it is because othero states have lenient laws the Washington Post recently reported to have a study that found no correlation at all much less causation between homicide in state gun laws and the same newspaper fact checker gave my colleague claims three pinocchio. Been and reenacting the assault weapons ban to stop mass murder of his policy has been tried and failed even the Justice Department funded Research Found the effects of the ban and on crime to be known or minimal once again the Washington Post fact check that democrats are erroneous claim to give threee pinocchio the senator from connecticut also has statements made about all mine purchases of guns as a wouldbe terrorist could order one from amazon and it would show up at their door without a background check. This is not though lot either. From a a person is not allowed to take possession of guns from ordered online outofstate or from a licensed dealer without undergoing a background check additionally the senator from connecticut amendment would create a new federal felony for not reporting a loss to a stolen gun to local police or to the u. S. Attorney general. It would apply only to lawful gun owners and not to criminals in america that we normally prohibit with criminal actions of thatiz gives the freedom it does so ra. Much less that whatnv criminalizes is inaction for ordinary citizens this is very rare. The senator from connecticut and others invoked the gun show will pull anybodyck watching would think that people who buy a firearm is subject to a background your check about the senator from connecticut was year if your individual lunches all your gun to another individual you may do so assuming you n dont have a reasonable cause that a person is prohibited from owning a gun just as there is no background check required in your driveway there is thew. One required with a private pier to piers sale atta pinchot to hear my colleague discussed that you would assume that these gun shows were lawless freeforall for a felon and terrorist to obtain the new was still legal weapon you can have the rest of my time regardless of how much time it is. What to think the senator from i would yield a just want to take up a momente weret mr. President i want to express my deep frustration with what is about to happen on the senate floor becauseg. We have a system of a series of votes and we will g accomplish nothing that is a were making sure of tonight and it doesnt have to be this way that is what is so maddening just one aspect briefly is the background check legislation we will vote on is the version that goes further than the bipartisan compromise that we worked out a couple years ago. What are the chances that would pass . Pretty close to zero and we know that if we have a vote on background checks should be the only bill that i am not aware of that has had bipartisan support in may not pass sanders than that at least has a chance that we will not even have that vote lets talk about the other big controversial issue that we already know the outcome of that is about terrorist and if they can buy guns and what do we do about this . So lets start with a simple lel goal number one terrorist should not be able to buy guns legally. That shouldnt be controversial. But it shouldnt be controversial that it is an innocent american who is denied his or her right to buy a gun they should have an opportunity to clear their name because governments make mistakes the federal government makes mistakes all the time the mere fact that they have a list almost guarantee somebody is on the listereby pee longley that is not a reasonon to do nothing but to have a meaningful process whereby people could challenge their status. Process the bills that we voted onk abot tonight have serious flaws. First the feinstein amendment there is no due process ought all. Nothing to speak of the way it is designed by the way before we even have the or votes to it is failed overwhelmingly but the attorney general to put now allf anyone on the list no judicial review she can create the criteria the list and all of a sudden theyre denied the opportunity to buy a gun. The b the proponents will argue there is an opportunity but the problem is that person has to go to court the burden is on the buyer to prove his evidence genesis and can see the evidence talking to prove the evidence is flawed if youre not allowed to see it . N odyssey that is not aro serious attempt to give someone that is wrongfully placed the chance to clear the name. Orney the cornyn approach is better than a we have no now because a has the new tool that the attorney general does not have that is a three day period during which it would have an opportunity to make the case i think that is difficult for the attorney general to do is adjust to this legislation is flawed because of bad better than what we have probably not enough in many circumstances which is why we shouldnt just be talking past each is other i have legislation senator collins is working on legislation and to make sure that terrorists cannotth buy a gun the believe also make sure that the people on the list were put there properly if there is a litigate mistake by lawabiding american citizen has a reasonable opportunity to mitigate that against his server name off the list the attorney general can come up with the west but a summer is not on it with an emergency mechanism to block whh the sale if the attorney general says so than provide a reasonable and manageable amount of time during which this could be mitigated if the buyer says i am notli fully think i am i should not be denied my second her amendment rights under my approach and under senator collins that innocent american would have a chance to have his or her day in court that is denied undere the feinstein approach me know the bill will fail they both will fail nobody disputes that. But why arent we working on something that could get done . Stopping them to buy gunsngfully and at the same time give all lawabiding and americanan to clear his name if wrongfully put on the list . I am not saying i have the only way to get this accomplished by adding senator collins legislation will be unveiled soon and i know she has been working on this constructively with the group of folks that one or the other approach needs to get a vote in this body because it is the only approach that really is a serious way to balance these two priorities and have a chance to earn bipartisan support i yield the floor. Do mr. President yes the senator from florida florida, orlando, mr. T presid ent this is the ar15 the civilian version of the semiautomatic of the m16 this is what the killer in orlando took in the same the caliber two to three collapsible stock. Do we think that a person that is on the nofly last ought to be able to buy one of these lethal killing on a machines . I have been a hunter all my life i grew up on a ranch i alone in numbers of guns but my guns are for hunting these guns are for killing. Just and that is exactly what that weapon ted to 49 people the little over a week ago. C so if we have a list that is approximately 1,000 american citizens or American People that are here legally both not americans that category is called american persons on the nofly last, if they cant get on a plane to fly, should they be able to go out to buy one of these . Now there is another 1700 People Better on a select t list and those are the ones that are close to credible evidence that they are a terrorist. 1700 that they are close to credible evidence that they are a terrorist and do we want them to go by this kind of weapon . Watch and then there is another category that we call the terrorist watch list. And in this country that is about 5,000 people of american persons that there is declaratory evidence that they are a terrorist. Do we want them to purchase these weapons . N the feinstein go, that a group of 5,000 that is it. Donk berisha is many more that internationals the 5,000 american persons on that list i dont think we want them to buy this. Even if that had been the had law and senator feinstein included the bill that i had filed that would have caught him because it says if you have been on the terrorist watch list, as he was in 2013 and 2014 and they did not have any prosecutable evidence so they close the case but if you have been on the watch list, and then when you purchased the gun the fbi would be notified so they could make the updated decision to go back to interview that person and if they had seen the he was purchasing these knowing he had been on the watch list they would have talked to him that is what is in front of us and it seems to me it is common sense. We hear words all this is the nra blocking the votes to put the fear of god in our republican friends and colleagues on the next republican primary i am so brout proud of the senator from connecticut it and what he did for 15 hours to bring this to a head. Your time has expired. Thank you for listening to my plea and i yield the floor. Thank you gentleman and i think the staff and my colleagues colleagues for joining us here on the floor wednesday night into the early hours of its be clear about the fact this body was going to ignore what happened in orlando last week with the largest mass shooting in the history of the country and if not for myself and senator booker and 30 others we would bee moving on with business that have nothing to do with keeping this nation safer i know people are skeptical but at least we will see where people stand on simple concepts that if you are suspected of terrorism you should not be able to walk out of a gun store with a dangerous assault weapon and a new poll today shows as 87 percent of americans support that and guess what . A greater percentage of republicans and democrats. Why . Because this country is under attack and the new weapon of choice is therom gettn assault weapon after september 11 we made a decision to stop terrorist from getting on the plane because theyre using them to kill americans so today the recruiters are specifically instructingas wouldbe terrorists to go into the gun shows and walkout with assault weapons that can kill 50 people in an instant so why would we apply the same carefulher they i protection if they are suspected of terrorism cannot get on a plane or an assault weapon . One day have to exist if it is again show oregon store . It suggested a greater percentage support expanding background checks to prove youre not a criminal for a potential terrorist before you buy a weapon. These two measures are not controversial anywhere else in American Public except for hear those amendments offered by not even halfstitutid measures the amendment would take people off theay background checklist those leaving a Psychiatric Institution to buy a weapon. Weapon it is just a shield for members who dont want to stand up and do the right thing the reason i came to the floor on wednesday is because i know at a deep personal level what were linda was going toward dont know the families when with the community is and i believe for all of the psychological harm more harm is piled on if you are electing to run your country hurts awful when you lose someone but it is worse when youre leaders are silent firehn silent, totally silent in the face of your personal horror. Long after the moms and dads left sandy hook after their boys and girls were lying dead there was one father who would not or could not leave his name was kneale and he came to this congress to tell us his story as we head into this ago i will leave you with his words to speak about his son has a divorced dad with one son, his best friend his son was dead and said we used to talk about coming to washington sunday he wanted to go to the Washington Monument last year he asked if we could meet the president because he believed in you he learned about you in school and he believed in you and i want to believe venue to i know you cannot give if him back to me and if i thought you could i would ask the island to believe he will think about what i told you today n that you will do something about it whenever you can do to make sure that no other father passed to see what i have seen my friends we need to have an answer. Several notable indicators are trending in the right direction. Isil has lost stretches of terrorist and finance operations has been squeezed. Fewer foreign fighters are now able to travel to syria. Members are becoming disillusioned of the group. The antiisil coalition is taking steps to exploit vulnerability. In addition to, the coalition is removing isil from the battlefield. Last month, for example, a u. S. Air strike killed an influential isil leader. Isil, however, is a cohesive enemy and the group will change strategy. We can expect isil to probe the front licenses in the battlefield for weaknesses to harass the forces that are holding the city it previously control and conduct terrorist attacks against the enemies inside iraq and syria. To compensate for losses, isil will rely more on gorilla tactics including high profile attacks outside of the territory. A steady stream of attacks in baghdad demonstrates and beyond losses on the battlefield, isis fanses have taken a hit. Yet, isil is adapting to the Coalition Efforts and continues to generates tens of millions of dollars per month primarily taxation from areas that it controls and crude oil sales inside of syria and iraq. Unfortunately despite all of our progress against isil on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduce it had group easter rism capability and global reach. The terrorist capacity to decline significantly, moreover the groups can help preserve capacity for terrorism in iraq and syria, as the pressure mounts in isil will intent fie to man taken dominance of the Global Tourism agenda. Since at least 2014 isil has directed attacks resulting in hundreds of casualties. The most prominent examples are attacks in paris and brussels which we assess were directed by isils leadership. Isil is training and attempting to deploy for attacks. Assets has fighters who could potentially serve for attacks in the west and the group is probably exploring a variety of means including in refugee flows, smuggling routes and methods of travel. Further more, as we have seen in Sen Bernardino and elsewhere, last month for example, Senior Adviser to conduct attacks in their countries if theyre not able to travel to syria or iran. The branch in libya is probably the most developed and most dangerous. We assess that its trying to increase influence in africa and to plot attacks in the region and in europe. Meanwhile isils sanei branch, focuses attacks on Egyptian Military and government targets but also targeted forchers as we saw with the down of russian passenger jet last october. Other branches worldwide have struggled to gain traction. The yemen branch has been, struggled to maintain cohesion in part because of competition with the taliban. Finally on the propaganda Front Coalition is working. Alleging that the group is expanding globally even as it faces setbacks locally, isil releases a multitude of Media Products on a variety of platforms including social media, mobile applications, radio and hard copy mediums. To disseminate the online propaganda the group primarily uses twitter, and tumbler. In some, isil remains formidable advisary and to protect vital infrastructure inside of syria and iraq. And though this will be a long and difficult fight, theres brought agreement in the International Community on the seriousness of the threat and on the need to meet it collectively and decisively. I frequently engage about what we need to do together in terms of operation sharing and being able to complement our respective strengths and capability so that we can destroy isil thoroughly. We are comprehensive with global charter. As they often tell young offers at cia, i have never seen a time where our country faced wide variety of threats. If you run fingers on any portions of the map, you will quickly find a flash point with global implications. China is modernizing its military and extending reach in south china sea. North korea is expanding Weapons Program and russia is threatening neighbors and asserting itself in the global stage and then theres the cyber domain with theyre threatening Financial Systems inside government and out and i particularly appreciate the work of this committee to try to come to grips with Cyber Threats we face as a nation. In the face of daunting challenges, our nation depends on cia to keep our country strong and secure. Indeed, in todays volatile and complex world, policy makers depend on cia more than ever for intelligence insight and options. If we are to meet challenges that confront us, we must constantly adapt, since launching modernization program, we have taken important steps to ensure that our agency fully adapts to the challenge of our time, now, we still have work to do and in some respects, we always will, thats because modernization is about more than lines and boxes in an organizational chart. Its about mind set. A condition to keep up with an ever changing world. A keep part of our mind set is key to making as the world we cover. Just last week the office of director of National Intelligence issued report showing that the community is less diverse than the federal workforce. Those of us in the Intelligence Community to conduct hard truths about what we are, cia unveiled landmark effort to make sure our workforce reflects our backgrounds, ethnicities and the nation we work hard to defend. I truly believe that the Business Case for diversity is stronger for cia than any other organization in the usa government. Diversity gives us the cult churl cultural understanding and again i would like to thank the committee for the support for the cia and Intelligence Community partners through the course of the year and i look forward to addressing your questions, thank you. Mr. Director, thank you for that testimony. A note to members, we will do based on seniority. You leave the organization with unprecedented access to the entire world and highly trained officers who process a wide range of talents and skills. To the extent you can discuss in this setting, do you believe that you have all of the authorities you need to accomplish your mission . Senator, i believe that we have a great deal of authority and very important to carry out our mission and we try to do it to the best of our ability. The one area when we look at the future that concerns me is in that Digital Domain which is why we set up a new directrate. As i know this committee and others here in congress are grappling with the issue about the role of government in that Digital Domain, Law Enforcement, security communications, we as a government have the ability to be able to monitor that domain from the standpoint of identifying those threats of National Security that we need just the way we have within the fiscal domain, aviation domain, the consensus about how the government has an obligation to protect its citizens in those various domains, the Digital Domain is a new domain, it is the new frontier and i do not believe our legal frameworks as well is our organizational structures and capabilities are yet at the point of being able to deal with the challenges in that digittial domain that we need to have in the future. This is the one area that i encourage the committee, the congress, this administration and the next administration to continue to work on particularly as this country is going to be part of the internet of things where virtually every type of electronic and mobile device is going to be connected to this internet. That interconnectiveness gives Us Convenience in our lives but also creates as a vulnerabilities. So thats the area that im concerned that the authorities not just of cia but of fbi and nsa need to be looked at very carefully. As you know, the committee is extremely engaged in that side and our hope that we can continue to make progress in understanding what the structure should be in the future. You know, your Opening Statement not just as a Counterterrorism Agency but Intelligence Service with global charter. Do you believe your organizations focuses too much of its time and resources on the terrorist threat . I think this committee knows very well that the terrorist treat is nationwide but also beloved homeland, which is why the cia has been called to help lead the fight and to take the fight to terrorist organizations so we can defeat them abroad so theyre not able to carry want and prey acts here. The cia has multiple missions, both human and technical, we can provide policy makers in congress with the insides that they need. We have a Counterintelligence Mission to make sure we protect from adversaries that are trying to sale. We also have dimension given roots, since our birth in 1947 every administration has taken advantage of cias tremendous capabilities that n that covert action military realm and as we fight terrorists in the battle feeldz of battlefields in syria and iran, i also would add one component to the mission. As good as cia is we are not able to confront problems simultaneously. We want to make sure that theyre able to fulfill their obligations of intelligence organizations and theyre not subject to the whims of corrupt political masters who are going to try to use them for their own political agendas, as we develop the partnerships, we are trying to develop the professionalism as well. John, last question, youve been at the helm of the cia for roughly three years now, the world has changed dramatically during those three short years, while this is not the appropriate venue in which to go into great detail and discussion of sources and methods, its a Good Opportunity for you to speak to the American People, educate about the cia and in some sense humanize what is an opaque organization to most. How has the cia horgs changed in the last three years . Well, mr. Chairman, thank you for the opening remark, i first raised my hand and swore allegiance to this country in august the fifth in 1980 and worked for cia for 25 years and during those 25 years and subsequent years to include the last three in some odd three years, ive had the pleasure and honor to lead the cia, i am always impressed with the expertise, the capabilities, dedication of americans from every state in this union who come to cia recognizing that theyre going to be aligned unfairly because of the representation of their work. They recognize that the work they do is essential to keep their families, neighbors, fellow citizens safe, and so i truly believe that the agency core and essential to keeping this country safe and secure from the growing threats we face around the globe and coming back to cia and being able to spend every day with cia officers,i am amazing of what theyre willing to do on behalf of their country. I provide annual memorial in front of wall of honor where 117 stars grace that wall and represent cia men and women who have given their lives to this country. They do it again without seek seeking, public so i am honored to be part of this organization. Thank you, director. Vice chairman. Thank you. Thanks mr. Chairman. I hope to get in three questions director, so the first is in listening to your remarks which i think were a lot of Broad Strokes and very interesting. I wanted to ask you about about a couple of things that you said, you said that libya is the most dangerous country in the senai but most active. You mentioned military and governmental targets, can you explain for about that, please . I talk about libya as being the country where theres the most Dangerous Branch of isil outside of syria and iraq, they have several thousands of individuals who have pledged allegiance isil. Consolidate inside of libya or use libya to carry abroad. Theyve attracted individuals from countries inside of libya and so i am concerned about the growth of libya as another area that could serve as the basis for isil to carry out attacks inside of europe and in other locations. That is very concerning, particularly since libya is right across from europe and the mediterranean and the refugee flow that is are going there. Theres a group within the senai, isil, it used to be an Egyptian Terrorist Group which was basically consumed by isil and that Group Pledged Allegiance to isil. They already had a capability, a number of individuals who were ready to carry out attacks, we do attribute the downing to have Russian Airliner that was able to get on board the aircraft and to bring it down. So great concern about isil has been able to rapidly develop capabilities in other countries and in some areas they were able to coopt and acquire groups that were already in existence, nigeria is another country. Boca harom is Islamic State in west africa where you have individuals who are on the march, waving the isil barn. I was just in singapur last week where i talked to my asian counterparts concerned about what we might see in Southeast Asia as terrorist organizations, increasing interaction or connections with isil. This is a glowbl challenge. The numbers of isil fighters now far exceeds what alqaeda had at its height. We are talking about tens of thousands of individuals. Can you estimate the number . Right now wist mate within the syriarock area, 20,000 fighters, down from estimates last year where we estimated they might have had as many as 33,000 or so fighters. In libya the numbers range 5 to 8,000 or so. Inside of egypt, there are several hundred if not over a thousand hardcore fighters inside the senai that are a combination of individuals who were formerly as well as other others who are joined. In afghanistan, pakistan in the hundreds, so the numbers are significant in iraq, syria, 7,000 or so. Again, they are hardcore fighters, logistics specialists, facilitators and others but the numbers are significant. I want to get in one other thing, you said use twitter, tumbler, that those are the most used. Explain a little bit you see, i find this huge personal privacy that you have to keep everything private and when you have the electronic world being used as the propaganda mechanism to fuel the lone wolf torques to two on the lone wolf, for the United States thats a big security problem. What do you recommend from an intelligence point i know it puts you on the spot, we are trying to discuss a bill on encryption using court orders to Ask Companies to cooperate in cases of National Security as well as major, major crime and its just very difficult and yet we see this propaganda, i read those magazines. I see whats happening. And enormous frustration, its not like you go to the library and find something in the stacks, this is a few clicks and you pull all of this material, what do you think the responsibility of the technical sector should be. Well, senator,ic you put your if i thinker on two major issues here. One is that youre absolutely right. Isil has made extensive and sophisticated use of the various Technological Innovations that we have witnessed over the past decade taking full advantage of social media. A large part of the isil are young individuals who have grown up whether it be in the middle east, europe or other places in the era of great technological development, using the mediums comes natural to them and gravitate toward them but they also are very aware of what mediums provides them the greatest security and the greatest protection from government inside and oversight of that. And they recognize that a lot of these apps provide them the ability to communicate with encryption and also provide impediments to governments to be able to gain access to content of their information, so i will go back to what i said earlier, they really need to have the discussion that is going to be a National Discussion about the appropriate role for the government in an area where the private sector owns and operates the worldwide internet and we know that the the internet does not respect sovereign borders. Its not just a question of what the United States can do but around the globe. I dont think theres a consensus about what that appropriate role is for Law Enforcement, intelligent agencies, in terms of being able to have foundation to what can happen to that digittial domain whether its with the propagandia that the organizations are involved or whether or not their directing or training unsighting individuals but also the vulnerability of Critical Infrastructure as well as our way of life here to to malware that can be deployed by nation state that is have that capability and intent. Its something that we need to come to grips with. We dont want to face equivalent of 911 in cyber domain. When i think about the governments inability to be able to follow up with some type of device, holds a lot of documents or information that it could be culpatory, there is something that the government has to come to grips with in terms of the authority and the role of the government in making sure that this country is kept safe from those who want to do us harm using the Digital Domain. You talked about territorial domain of iraq and syria, i would like to get the agencys assessment of what it would like, a mix cocktail of opposition groups and so forth. If isil is defeated, what are we facing, what are we continuing to face in syria, whether assad stays or he goes, theres going to be significant questions raised as to what we are going to be fazing. I think theres maybe some people coming that all we have to do is defeat isis in syria and in iraq and then everything will be fine. We know my question is what is syria going to look like if and when that happens . Syria is cocktail of actors many of which are in violent conflict with one another. There are two principle terrorist organization that is operate inside of syria and one is isil and the other which is alqaeda and syria. That also has presence in other countries, several thousand of fighters, some engaged in the battlefield with president assad but also some plot to go carry attacks outside of syria. What we want to do is destroy the two terrorist organizations. As you know, the u. S. Government supports opposition and if we are able to eliminate the terrorist groups theres still a long ways to go in order to address some of the outstanding issues inside of syria. It was generated because the assad regime that was abusing its power, so there needs to be some consensus between shea and sunnis. This is where Bashar Alassad needs to depart so there can be more legitimate government thats able to preside over the syrian country. In addition to that you have tensions between the syrian curds in the northern part of syria and arabs and the rest of the country. So theres a lot of tensions, very similar in some respects where the nature of the country really has been a serious impediments for lebanon to have a functional political system. So we have a long way to go. But the important thing is to destroy the terrorist organizations and bring the conflict down. Stop the bloodshed and bring the assistance that the Syrian People so richly deserve and need and then be able to make sure that were able to develop a government structure thats going to be represented of syrian poem and be able to address the reconstruction of the country which is going to cost billions upon billions of dollars. Given the russian involvement in syria now and whatever decisions they make relative to either assad remaining or assad leaving, how does that complicate the resolution for some kind of a cease fire or whatever. As a way to prevent what they saw as imminent collapse of the Bashar Alassad regime. They have boast Regime Forces and they are involved in carrying out strikes against the opposition. We work very schoasly and talk with the russians about how to bring the conflict down. We work with them to try to see what we can do on the terrorism front, but i have been disappoint that had the russians have not played a more constructive role in terms of leveraging influence inside of syria to bring the Syrian Regime and military forces down in terms of engagement and to be more helpful as far as negotiating track. Secretary kerry has been work to go stimulate traction there. But also more constructive. Is assad stronger today or weaker than a year ago . A year ago he was on his back foot as the Opposition Forces were carrying out operation that is really were degrading the Syrian Military. As a result of the Russian Military intervention, he is in a strong position than he was in june of last year. Is that enhance the ability to reach a diplomatic solution or less . Again, it depends on how russia decides to exercise its influence, but right now the strength in Syrian Military and russian unwillingness to use the leverage that it has has made it, i think, more difficult. Sounds like the russians have put themselves in a position which we hope theyd never be. Thank you very much, mr. Director, just a quick comment on encryption since it has come up. Its important that if encryption is restricted in the United States it still would be very easy to download strong encryption from hundreds of sources overseas and in my judgment, requiring companies to build back doors in their products to weaken strong encryption will put the personal safety of americans at risk at a dangerous time and i want to make it clear i will fight such a policy with everything i have. Now, with respect to my first question, mr. Director, i want to talk about accountability at the cia. The agencys 2013 response to the very important report on torture stated that the agency agreed that there were, and i quote here, significant shortcomings in cias handling of accountability for problems in the conduct and management of cia activities. Document goes onto state and i quote here, the cia must ensure that accountability adequately extends to those responsible for any broader systemic or management failures. It has now been three years since the cia said that. Is it still the case that no one has been held accountable for the systemic failures that the agency has acknowledged . First of all, senator, i want to say that we disagree with your opening comments. First of all, u. S. Companies dominate the International Market as far as Encryption Technologies that are available through the various apps and i think we will continue to dominate them so although you are right that the ability of Foreign Companies to be able to have those encryption capabilities will be available to others, i do believe that this country and in private sector is integral to addressing these issues and i encourage this committee to continue to work on it. The agency over the course of the last several years took actions to address the shortcomings that we have fully knowledge in the detention and interrogation program. There was accountability that was taken and accountability for some of those management and systemic failures and we would be happy to address in a different setting the details of those accountability steps that, i think, the committee is aware of. I want to make sure i heard that right, i believe you said that individuals have been held accountable for systemic failures f thats the case, i certainly think thats constructive. I will say we will await your classified response that we have more details on that, but i heard you say there have been individual accountability and i would like to see the details on that. Right, any type of systemic failure is going to be related to the individuals failure to either provide the type of management and oversight or the performance so theres a combination of factors that contribute to systemic short comings. Were individuals held accountable, yes or no answer . Yes. I would look forward for getting that response and i appreciate that because i think thats very important. Let me wrap up about a question of upcoming policy that we are all going to be tackling here in the committee. Section 707 of the surveillance act is up for renewal, expiration next year, the office of the director of National Intelligence is disclosed and under section 702 the cia routinely conducts warrantless searches for emails and other communications of specific americans and the year before the cia conducted nearly 2,000 of these warrantless searches. My judgment if theres evidence that an american is involved with terrorism or espionage, the government ought to pursue that lead aggressively. Agency can get a warrant to read the persons emails in an emergency situation which i strongly backed, they can even obtain the communications right away and get judicial review afterwards. My question is if there was a rule that said that the cia could only search for Americans Communications under section 702 of the Justice Department has obtained a warrant with the exception for the emergency situation or when a person is in danger, would the cia be able to comply with that rule . I will have to get back to you. Thats a complicated issue and i dont want to give you an off the can i cuff response. Fair enough. I think two weeks ought to be sufficient, mr. Director and i appreciate the fact that in both areas youre going to go get back with me, we will look at what port of the response has to be classified and what part can be discussed in public but both with respect to accountability and torture and i look forward to your response. I should point out also that the agency has appointed a privacy and Civil Liberties officer that is a full member of our senior staff that we want to make sure is going to be fully involved in all of the activities that the cia is look forward to meet that individual. Has a person been appointed . The person has been appointed an operated within the cia. This is the second or third week. Please ask that person to make an appointment, time is convenes with me. Sure. Director brennan, thank you for being with us here today. Seldom we get to see you in a Public Session like this in public comments, our military leaders, the director of National Intelligence and others say over and over again that they feel we are facing more threats from more directions than ever before, do you share that assessment . Yeah, i do. What kinds of things has the cia done to be more agile . Take optimal advantage of the great expertise that we have within the organization. I am a very strong prop oant of integrating capabilities so that we are not attacking the problems in individual streams. Thats why we set up our Mission Centers where we have our regional and functional Mission Centers where we can bring to bear not just our capabilities but open source capabilities, our ability to bring the different braz as you noted the array of challenge that is we face, proliferation with north korea, cyber domain, terrorism thats plaguing so many countries and threatens us, instability in the countries, i have never in my 36 years of National Security service seen a time where theres such a array of issues of National Security consequence. I am constantly going to the white house. I want to make sure that we take full advantage of the resources that you provide our agency so we optimize. How much is that complicated by what appears to be the new addition of substantial selfradicalization in the country . These socalled lone wolfs the ones that operate because of terrorist organizations, its an exceptionally challenging issue for the Intelligence Community, security and Law Enforcement to deal with. The tragic attack in orlando, we have not been able to uncover any direct link between that individual mateen and a Foreign Terrorist Organization. But that inspiration can lead someone to embark on this path of destruction and start to acquire the capability, the expertise and maybe do surveillance and carry out an attack without triggering any of those signature that is we might see as a Foreign Terrorist Organization tries to deploy operatives here. So those individual actors either acting alone or in concert with some cohorts, it really presents a serious challenge and we are working very closely with fbi, department of Homeland Security and others to give whatever intelligence we have that might help them identify some of these individuals. I think youve been asked this particular question, but let me just say again, i think we are eager to hear from you the kinds of things you need to better deal with this really unique and hard to penetrate selfradicalization because you dont have the other contacts that all your other sources may come across. Let me ask one additional question about china and cyber attacks. Last year the president announced a common understanding with chinas leadership that neither country would conduct or knowingly support cyberenable threat of intellectual property for commercial advantage. In your view does that mean that cyber enabled theft of intellectual by people from china has ended . No. Do you see any goodfaith effort from the part of Chinese Government to crack down on this . I see some effort by the Chinese Government to follow through on some of the commitments and challenges, theres a lot of entities, people, organizations inside of china, some of them operating as part of the Chinese Government, some working basically on contract and so therefore we are exceptionally vigilant about the different attack factors that individuals or countries could attempt to use in order to penetrate our systems and networks and databases, whether theyd be Government Systems or private sectors to steal intellectual property. Im continued to be concerned about the Cyber Capabilities that reside within china as well as the the actions that some continue to undertake. Thank you, director, and thank you chairman. Senator warner. Thank you, mr. Chairman, first of all, director brennan, is good to see you and i want to reiterate personal thanks to you and all of the intelligence professionals that serve day in and day out without necessarily the recognition they deserve and. Senator and i are leading efforts to recognize that service in terms of oss congressional recognition, we do small things like intelligence professionals day but im blessed to have a lot of the Intelligence Community in virginia and i hope you will relay to folks at the agency how grateful we are for what you do day in and day out, number one. Number two, i do want to raise some concern in terms of your response to senator widen. I think the issue around Digital Security is one of the most complex ive ever been engaged with. Encryption, just a small component part of that. I think public press indicate that had the terrorist in france used telegram, belgiumencrypted technology, belgiumencrypted company, 2,000 apps a day are added to the iphone store, over half of those are foreignbased entities and to renegotiate or relitigate the idea of whether encryption is here or not, encryption makes us safer, now we have legitimate challenges and issues on how we work through a way within our legal structure to get in information. I personally it would make america less safe and do great economic as well as National Security harm for us to litigate or to mandate in any way a solution that would push the bad guys in software and as complex as this issue is its going to get more complex as we move into the socalled internet of things as we think about centers on refrigerators and our cars and recently kids toys which are now interacting 6. 4 million information of children were hacked into last year. And this is only going to go grow larger, my opinion to put experts in the room beyond the capability of individual members to help us guide us to a solution set. I still think its the best one, but the point being that this is an international problem, it is not a problem that can be solved america only and its going to require enormous collaboration and what i am so concerned about is that we are of this issue has perhaps disappeared from the newspapers on a daily basis, we could see some other invent using encrypted technology that would then lead us to a quick solution set and getting this wrong would do enormous harm to our security and to our, i think, economic preeminence. I wanted to raise one issue. Chairman burro and a number of members that had trip recently and i think i dont want to speak for all the members, but some concerns about the ability of european allies in terms of information sharing, we obviously saw the horrific attack in brussels, but as our nation grieves this week over the killings in orlando, there were was also youre well aware the brutal attack on a French Police officer and wife in front of a child and exploited outrageously. Can you comment on postbelgium, collaboration, information sharing among amongst the europeans and in particular some concerns i have with our german allies . Well, first of all, thank you for your comments, senator about the agencys workforce, and i want to thank all of the senator who is visit agencies overseeings when you travel. It sends powerful message to them that they have support of authorizing committee of the senate. We have engaged extensively with our European Partners particularly since the paris and belgium attacks but we have had longstanding relationships on the terrorism front for many, many years. Over the past two months myself and other Senior Leaders have traveled to talk about our experiences here in the United States. Bringing together structures, mechanisms in order to take advantage of data thats available. As challenge in the United States, we are still one government and so we were able to operate within one legal system. As you know with europe theres countries in the eu and they are several intelligence and security services. They do not have the interconnectivity either from a mission and legal perspective or from an it perspective and so we have talked to them about some mechanism that is we can use to better facilitate information sharing among them because thats the key, is being able to take information, a bit of data and be able to operationallize it. Its ctg. This falls within the eu. So that we are able to push out to those countries simultaneously, so that they have the same information and know that they can talk to one another about it. We talked to them about different mechanisms that they could use to set up some type of system, whether its eu based, but they have still i think ways to go. They have made some important progress. There are some of the countries in europe that are much better able to share information within their governments and systems as well as across the southern bord borders, its not just a technical solution but protect privacy of citizens as they share information, whats the threshold for putting the individuals name into a database, putting them on a watch list, they are working their way through that and we are trying to provide as much assistance and spor as we can. Senator king. I appreciate the question and the answer. I think its very important. It struck me when we were there that the political rivalries and the ancient relationship between the countries will make it difficult to ebbing change with one another, therefore some neutral europe hole, i think ctg, it seems to me that has to be the answer and i encourage you to continue to encourage them. Unless they get a head on this, they are only going to be as strong as their weakest link particularly with a situation of open borders and not sharing. You mentioned that youre a great believer into cias capability and the reorganization. I support that. Put operations and analysis in the same box, could you update us on the intelligence as part of this reorganization . Its a legitimate concern and its one that the agency has had to deal with over the course of many years because the Counterterrorism Mission center has roots in the coant Counterterrorism Center which were commingled in the same area. I headed up back in the early 1990s and i was aware that we need today make sure that we taken objectivity. Those safeguards and some of the techniques that we use to make sure that there maintains the objectivity and integrity is part of the instruction in our career analyst program, the cap Training Program that all analysts go through. We also want to make sure that we have the senior analysts and senior managers mindful about the responsibility of analysts. Analysis drives a lot of cohort action. It drives a lot of i just dont want to covert to drive the analysis. Thats right. I must say that the analysts that i know are very, very jealously guard the analytic as well as they should. There is an issue but i am ive been satisfy that had we have been able to maintain that objectivity and integrity while getting the benefits of that location. Quick question, how does the Intelligence Community and the cia in particular assess the iranians compliance with the jcpoa so far . So far so good. So far so good. Another question about organization of the cia, it seems to me we have that distinguish between effort and effectiveness, do you have a standard procedure that measures effectiveness of programs after action reviews assessments. , weve got to understand whats working. Is there a systemic way of assessing what is working and how its working . One is that general has review to make sure theyre consistent with the law and how effective theyve been. In the area that usually generates the most concerns and controversy which is in covert action, we have set up last year a new office called the covert action measures of Effectiveness Office where we have Senior Officers working and reviewing all of those covert action programs to make sure that we understand whats the aif i efficacy of the program and how effective has it been in terms of realizing the i i objectives that have been set out. I appreciate that. One of my mottos in life is does it work and how do you know. I appreciate that. Finally, there hasnt been an ig at the cia for 17 months or so, why the delay, is there a nomination forthcoming, i think this is a very important, one of the most particular, when are we going to get an ig nomination . Inspector general of cia is one of three officers within the cia which are president ially appointed an Senate Confirmed and so therefore its the prerogative of the senate and the white house, so we have had an acting ig, the deputy who is presiding over that office. I would like to think that i would seen that such a nomination would be forthcoming soon. I hope youll convey the importance that the Committee Puts on that position and we believe an appointment in the immediate future is appropriate. Ly do my best to to do that. Thank you, thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator cotton. Thank you, director brennan is good to have you here again. I have been in the Intelligence Committee of a makeshift day care. [laughter] i did, however, hear his Opening Statements and many of the other statements and thanking you on behalf of the men and women who serve the cia, in many cases, they face even more hardships and risks and do our troops and while our troops get recognition appropriately at the ball games or when they walkthrough airports, obviously your officers do not and they deserve recognition that our troops get as well. I want to discuss cooperation with our Intelligence Community from silicon valley, specifically twitter and a Company Called data minor, according to the wall street journal as well as other media reports, data minor, which is owned in part by twitter, only Company Authorized to access tweets that twitter has recently cooperated with the cia but in just a few weeks ago ended that cooperation. So our Intelligence Committee no longer has access to data minors information. Could you comment on these reports . It appears as though data minor was directed to not provide its service to cia Intelligence Community and so therefore we need to be able to leverage other capabilities in order to make sure that we have the insight we need to protect this country. So those reports are correct . I am not going to dispute them. Wall street journal also reported that the ceo of twitter, jack dorsey directed data minor to stop the contract because he was worried about the optics, end quote of helping intelligence agencies, do you believe that to be accurate . I do not know his motivation for my corporate decision he may have made. I have no basis to dispute that. The wall street journal also reports that among customers of data minor remains it russian today, Vladimir Putins government which Vladimir Putin has put is quote trying to break english monopoly, end quote. I believe so. Im not certain of that, but i dont have any information that they have been excluded from their services. Is it disappointing to you that an American Company would sell its product to russia today, a propaganda arm of the government of russia yet not cooperate with the United States Intelligence Community . Im disappointed that there is not more active cooperation consistent with their with our legal authorities that may be available from the u. S. Private sector. Thank you. I want to turn now to the open skies treaty. The commander admiral testified that the open skies treaty has become critical component of russias capability directed at the United States, do you agree with that statement from admiral haney . Admiral haney would be in best position to make a comment like that and i would be happy to look at that separately. The director general stewart has testified the construct was of a different area, the things you can see, the amount of data you can collect, the things you can do allows russia in my opinion to get incredible Foundation Intelligence on Critical Infrastructure, basis ports, all of our facilities, so from my perspective it gives them a significant advantage, end quote. Can russia been therefore im sure that russia and others take advantage of those Technological Developments in order to advance their intelligence collection capabilities. Do you believe that the processes and procedures might allow russia to exceed the limits imposed by the opening skies treaty . I would have to take a look into how those capabilities could be used to to exceed those. Thank you, my time expired, thank you again for your appearance today. Senator. Thank you, mr. Chair. Welcome director brennan