Transcripts For CSPAN3 Former Senator Dan Coats Testifies At DNI Confirmation Hearing 20170228

If that comes with the general, ill take it. If it comes with civilian, ill take it. There are too few leaders in either strike. We leave this program now and take out to Dirksen Senate office. There is a confirmation hearing for dan coats, nominee for director of National Intelligence. Dan coats is former u. S. Senator from indian. The chairman of the Intelligence Committee is richard burr of north carolina. This is live coverage on cspan 3. I call this hearing to order. I would like to welcome our witness today, senator dan coats, President Trumps nominee to be the next director of National Intelligence. Dan, congratulations on your nomination and welcome back. Im sure you didnt expect to be walking these halls so soon after your retirement. I would also like to welcome back your wife and my good friend, marcia, and i want to thank her for her support for you and her willingness to share you with the rest of the country. Ive known both of you for many years and ive seen firsthand the strength of the relationship that you so thoughtfully describe in your statement for the record. Our goal in conducting this hearing is to enable the committee to consider senator coats qualifications and allow for thoughtful dleliberation by our members. He has given substantive written response nor than 148 questions presented by the committee and its members. Today of course, members will be able to ask additional question answers hear from senator coats in both open and closed session. Dan coats can comes us to with more than 34 years of Honorable Service in the house, senate and as u. S. Ambassador to germany. Those of us who have had the good fortune to work with dan know the depth of his commitment to the Intelligence Community and more importantly to its work force. Senator coats, youve been asked to lead the Intelligence Community at the time of profound threat and challenge. Were facing threats from state and nonstate actors alike and are engaged in a robust debate at home on the scope and scale of intelligence collection and what authorities are right, appropriate, and lawful. I expect you would be forceful advocate for the Intelligence Community in those discussions while maintaining an unwaivering respect for the rule of law. I have complete trust that you will lead the community with integrity and ensure the intelligence enterprise operates lawfully, ethically and morally. One of your tools is the authorities under the surveillance act schedule to sunset later this year. They enthe Intelligence Community to protect our troops, anticipate terrorist threats and mitigate cyberattacks all while safeguarding privacy and civil liberty ests American People. Simply put it is essential that congress authorize these authorities to help keep the country safe while protecting our constitutional rights. I look forward to working with you and all of my colleagues to reauthorize fisa as soon as possible. Dan, ive known for many years, and believe your years of service to our nation and unique experience make you a natural fit to lead our Intelligence Community. As mentioned in director pompeiio as mentioned to director pompeiio, i can assure you this committee will faithfully follow its charter, conduct vigorous and realtime oversight over the Intelligence Committee,ity operations and activity. We will ask difficult and probing questions of you, your staff, and we will expect honest, complete and timely responses. I look forward to supporting your nomination and ensuring its consideration without delay. I want to thank you again for being here for your years of service to the country. I look forward to your testimony and i will now recognize the vice chairman for any comments he might make. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And i also want to welcome you, dan. Congratulationses to your nomination to serve as fifth director of the National Intelligence. We have known each other for many years and i believe the president has made an excellent choice in asking you to serve as dni. Let me also echo the chairmans comments and acknowledging your wife, marcia, and we remember our wonderful trips weve had together. I would point out that only thing that i might potentially hold against you is that your socalled sherpa that you brought along, senator chambliss, raises some questions of judgment in my mind, but i wont hold them against you throughout the whole hearing today. Senator coats is well known to the senate and Intelligence Committee. He served as Senior Member of this committee for many years. And has been an advocate for asserted oversight of the Intelligence Community throughout his tenure. Dan firmly believes in the value of intelligence and the importance of its timely relevant and absolutely free of political influence. As the nations chief intelligence officer, your job will be to find and follow the truth regardless of where it leads. It all comes down to the obligation that we have all talked about on this committee when we serve together. Tell truth to power. To the president , to the policy and military leaders, to the executive branch, to members of congress. Maintaining your integrity and independence even in the face of political pressure is an absolute requirement of this position. Dan, the job for which youve been nominated has many rewards and possibly even more challenges. You will be expected to lead in enterprise as we have talked about privately of 17 diverse and intelligence agencies. And some areas you will have Clear Authority to direct actions but as we know, in most areas, odi has to also convince rather than simply having direct authority. You will be expected to serve as president s top intelligence officer, to coordinate and integrate Intelligence Community activities, to lead the work to enhance infectiveness and efficiency of the enterprise and ensure the integrity of that analytic product. While these are just a few of the many issues you will face, i know youre up for the challenge. You need to make clear, even in my Opening Statement, that one of the first challenges i will ask you to take on, head on, is to support our efforts to understand russias interference in the 2016 president ial election. As you know, this committee is conducting an investigation into that interference. Were also looking into whether campaigns inappropriately engaged with officials of the russian government. And we will seek to determine what the intentions of those interactions were. We take this matter very, very seriously. The chairman and i, as well as members of the committee, on both sides of the aisle, have made commitments that the outcome of this investigation will not be prejudged and that committee will follow wherever the information leads. We need to get it right. It is my intention this investigation will remain bipartisan and seek to be as transparent as possible. And remain free of any political consideration or interference including, including interference from the white house. I will not accept any process that is undermined by such political interference. This inquiry will be thorough and be exhaustive because at end of the day, what we owe most is answers to the American Public. You know how important this type of inquiry is. It is not about being a democrat or republican. Nor is it about relitigating the 2016 election. This is truly about upholding the core values and sanctity of the democracy that allamericans hold dear. Our plan is to view the raw and finished intelligence and understand how the Intelligence Community made its conclusions on russian interference. And i will ask you today, again to commit to all members of this committee, that you will fully cooperate with this review and that you will direct all the Intelligence Community agencies to provide all the information that we require, including the raw information to make sure we get it right. Wraw information te get it right. Raw information to we get it right. Oraw informatio we get it right. Nraw informatioe we get it right. Graw informatio sure we get it right. Aw informae we get it right. W information t we get it right. Information to we get it right. You and i had conversation in my office a few weeks ago, and we didnt think you would be back in so quickly. I very much appreciated that conversation. And you assured me there that you will not support the return of water boarding or other socalled intense Interrogation Practices nor will you support reestablishing secret attention sites operated by the ic. You also assured me that you will always present to the president his cabinet and advisers and congress the unvarnished facts as represented by the best judgment of the Intelligence Community. Whether that analysis is in agreement or disagreement with the views of the president or for that matter anyone else. Again, i will ask you today to reaffirm those commitments that you made to me and make them publicly to the American Public. Finally, if confirmed, and i look forward to supporting you, you will have unique challenge of working for a president who has said comments that i believe at times has den grated some of the work of the intelligence can community. So you will have a very Important Role to make sure that brave men and women who serve us often in anonymity, that you will have their back. And make sure the morale of these brave men and women is respected. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you for your willingness to serve. And i look forward to working with the chairman as we go through this hearing. Thank you, very much. Thank you, vice chairman. I would like to recognize select Committee Intelligence and my good friend, Saxby Chambliss who will introduce senator coats. Cut on that microphone, will you . I know its been a long time since youve been here np. You know, when i was in the Senate Somebody did all this for me. Ive today adjust to a lot of things like that. It is really good to be back in front of so many friends on this committee and as much as i miss each of you individually, i have to say, im happy to be on this side of the dice today. Im happy toint duce to you a friend of all of us senator dan coats, nominate bid President Trump to be the fifth director of National Intelligence. S2465 was introduced by senators Feinstein Rockefeller and graham on the 19th of june, 2002. Then after 2 1 2 years of discussion and debate, the intel reform and terrorism prevention act of 2004 was passed overwhelmingly by both the house and senate and signed into law by president bush. That act created the office of the director of National Intelligence and placed all of the placed the dni at the head of the 16member intelligence agencies. The dni was charged with directing and overseeing the National Intelligence program and to serve as an adviser to the president and the executive offices of the National Security council and the homeland Security Council about Intelligence Matters related to the National Security of the United States. Today i understand that odni have somewhere around 2,000 employees who support the dn i as oversight spomt for the entire National Intelligence program of some 53 billion. I as oversight spomt for the entire National Intelligence program of some 53 billion. Some recently questioned the structure and effectiveness of odni. Perhaps after 12 years of the creation of a new agency, particularly one as sensitive as this, perhaps a review is in order. But there is one thing that cannot be overlooked. And that is that during these 12 years with strong leadership for the dni, from a commitment of to security by dedicated employees at odni, and by very good oversight of this committee and the hipcy, odi led an ic that led intelligence to its customers that prevented another large scale attack against america on u. S. Soil. We all know the world is a more dangerous place than ever today. Bad guys are greater in number and more so fistcated in their operations than ever before. Thus the strong leadership from dni is more important today than ever. No one is better suited to give that leadership than our friend and former colleague, dan coats. As ambassador to germany he was a customer of the ic. A long time member of this committee, dan participated in conducting extensive oversight of the ic. Now he will be providing the intelligence that is to be subjected to that oversight. His experience pro pairs him well for both these new roles. I have traveled the world with dan coats many times, visiting our count are parts, our allies, as well as World Leaders and while dan is, for the most part, as we all know, very friendly and easy going, ive had the opportunity to observe dan in being very firm and direct in addressing sensitive and difficult issues with all of those individuals that we have visited. And doing so in a very professional manner. Dan has been in Public Service since 1976 when he was district director for then congressman dan quayle. He then served in the house of representatives, United States senate, and ambassador to germany, and then again in the u. S. Senate. Now after that remarkable 40year career, dan is willing to continue to serve his country as the dni. Lastly say a lot of dans strength is from the support he receives from his lovely wife, marcia, to whom he has been married now for over 50 years. I will leave it to dan to introduce her but suffice it so say theys been a great daem mate. In using sports culture, with top security i get good intelligence from time to time and one piece of intelligence i picked up on about dan is that sea huge chicago cubs fan. Needless to say, he felt pretty good last fall. But one other thing i found out about him is the day after he and marcia were married he took her to the a cubs game and his marriage still survived that. It is my pleasure to introduce to you senator dan coats. I encourage all of you to vote to send dans nomination to the floor quickly and quickly confirm him to the new director of National Intelligence. Thank one mr. Chairman. Saxby, thank you. Dan, if you would stand please. Raise your right hand. I do solemnly swear it give the committee the truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. I do. Please be seated. Dan, before we move to your statement, i would like to ask you to answer five questions that are standard for the committee. We pose it to each nominee who appears before us. They just require same yes or no for the record. Do you agree to appear before the committee here and other venues when invited. Yes. If confirmed do you agre to send officials from your office to appear before the committee and designated staff when invited. Yes. Do you agree to provide documents or any other materials requested by the committee in order for us to carry out our oversight and legislative responsibilities . Yes. Will you both ensure that your office and your staff provides such materials that the committee when requested . Yes. Do you agree to inform and fully brief to the fullest extent possible all committees of intelligence activities and covert action rather than only the chair and advice chairman where appropriate . Yes, we are appropriate. I want it thank yto thank yo much. We proceed to your Opening Statement. You are recognized. Thank you. I have remarks thanking saxby. He needs to leave. And i want to jump ahead just a little bit of what i am going to say in my written remarks to you. Just to thank him. A great friend. Someone i had the pleasure of serving under on this committee. He has left his mark in many, many ways. Including friendship among his wife, and saxby between marcia and me. I want to thank him for being willing to come here today and make these remarks on my behalf. Chairman burr, vice chairman warner, members of the committee. Im honored to appear before you as the poogs of director of National Intelligence. It was a great privilege to have served on the Senate Select committee and committee on intelligence and see upclose the great work done by members of the staff and their supporters. I will admit however the view is a little bit different down here from up there. In fact, i recall many days sitting up under looking to who is ever down here and saying im glad thats not me. Well, here i am. I would like to begin by thanking President Trump for nominating me for the position of director of National Intelligence. Im humbled by his confidence in me. And will work tirelessly to lead the worlds, what i believe, and i think most believe, the finest intelligence enterprise in the world. I would like to also thank Vice President pence, my indian colleague and someone im honored to call my friend, for his support. I deeply appreciate his faith in me. I would also like to acknowledge jim clapper and his Principal Deputy stephanie sullivan. Their oversight of the Intelligence Committee off the past year has been commendable and them helping me in this position has been helpful. They left a great team that has not instrumental in providing a smooth transition for odi and nic. And the hoosiers who elected me and several times to the house of representatives and to the United States senate over past years. Ive done my aboutest to represent them and im honored by the confidence they put in me time and time again. While i will always be a hoosier at heart, if confirmed as next director of National Intelligence, i will represent the dedicated men and women of the office of director of National Intelligence and broader Intelligence Community to the best of my ability. Finally saving the best for last, i would like to thank my wife, marcia, my children who are here today. Together my three children have produced, according to marcias and my observation, ten almost perfect grandchildren. My career in Public Service is a direct reflection of my familys enduring support and love and without their encouragement i would not be sitting here today. Its been a long road of Public Service thats brought me here before you after 34 years of service in the house, senate and as u. S. Ambassador to germany, i was ready to make a transition and plan to move on to a new chapter of my lifelong journey. Back home again, to indiana. But as i have learned over those 34 years, the life doesnt always work out the way you think its good going to work out. When called upon to consider this position i first consulted my most important adviser, my wife, marcia. As i examine the responsibilities of such a significant office. As former teacher and family therapist marcia understands me, probably better than anybody. And the importance of Public Service. She is the rock that provides stability and wise council. Shoulder to shoulder with me at every aspect of my life. Scil. Shoulder to shoulder with me at every aspect of my life. Ecil. Shoulder to shoulder with me at every aspect of my life. Lcil. Shoulder to shoulder with me at every aspect of my life. Il. Shoulder to shoulder with me at every aspect of my life. L. Shoulder to shoulder with me at every aspect of my life. Shoulder to shoulder with me at every aspect of my life. While im no longer retiring from Public Service, what i am retiring as i sit here today is my policy hat. Hat i wore as i represented my constituents, made judgments and cast votes in committee and on the floor. That hat will be replaced. Its retired. But if confirms, i put on a new hat. The dnr hat. And just as this government transitions to a new leadship i too hope to transition to the role of principal inpell generals adviser to the president and all duties that come with that. In this new role itll be any responsibility to present to the president , seniors in the administration and you the congress with the best and most objective nonpolitical and timely intelligence as you consider policies in the future for our great nation. The president and i have personally discussed my potential role as his principal intelligence adviser and we both recognize that this position is frequently the bearer of unpleasant news. But if confirmed, my responsibility would be to provide him with the most accurate and objective and political intelligence possible. In my various conversations with many of you prior to this hearing i was asked about how i see the larger role as dni. Those who know me and saxby referenced this, im an avid sports fan and no never more avid this past year as i celebrated the seemingly impossible accomplishment of the chicago cubs after 108 will years of effort, winning the world series. So allow me to compare how i see my role as dni using, well, an baseball analogy, but a football analogy. On the Football Team the bladpls are guided by a team of coaches. You wonder how many there are. One time i counted and i thought there were 17. I thought that meant something here relative to the number of agencies we look after. There is a coach for offense, defense, special teams, one for offensive line, one for defensive line, one for quarterback and on and on it goes. But every team has a head coach. That leader who walks the sidelines and while not dictating to each coach, assistant coach how do their specific job, pulls each of the specialists together to form a seamless and focused team. I see the role of director of National Intelligence as nail gous for the head role for the Intelligence Community. Integrating ic and leveraging all of the expertise in our community. We have immense talent res nant in many agencies across the ic. Each one contributes unique capabilities of our expertise that is necessary for a team to be as a whole successful. Unique access of our human intelligence sources and Detailed Analysis from the cia. The important input from the Defense Intelligence agency. Expertise of the National Security agency. Which i believe is second to no none. Gee jo spatial mastery demonstrated by the geo spatial intelligence age sin, acquisition proficiency of at the National Office and intelligence of Armed Services bring to this team effort. Profi office and intelligence of Armed Services bring to this team effort. Domestic counterterrorism worked on by the fbi and specialized skills of the ic elementses relevant within the state department of straeshry, justice, Homeland Security. I see it as my job to pull all of these team members together under the same game plan to o produce the best coordinated and best integrated intelligence we can find. To make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. And given the complicated threaten viernme threaten environment that we face today and around the world now more than ever the ic must work work as a team. The threats are more challenging, dynamic and geographically diffuse than ever before. Allow me to address in no particular order what i see a as some of the most challenging issues we currently face and i could spend a lot of time on this so i will abbreviate and talk about just a few. Clearly the rising schreiber thre cyber threat must be highlighted. Cyber threat must be highlighted. In a world with tremendous opportunities but also many vulnerabilities. I would also highlight the threat of radical islamic terrorism which continues to be a significant threat to the United States and its allies abroad. They are spreading their message of fear and hate through cyber space and mobilizing to venues beyond the selfdescribed c caliphate. The disputed territorial claims in the east and south china seas is troubling and will be a longterm challenge for the United States. Russias assertiveness in Global Affairs is something i look upon with grave concern. Which we need address with eyes wide open and healthy degree of skepticism. And north koreas provocations is something the Intelligence Community needs to be laser focused on. The list continues with a diverse set of challenge egg including a iran, syria, afghanistan aej oth afghanistan and other hot spots around the world. I will bring my years of experience on how to execute a plan and bring together teams of people toward a common goal. As the ambassador to germany from 2001 to 2005 i oversought activity of more than a dozen federal agency eats the american embassy. I trust that my experience is coordinating and integrating that many different departments and agencies overseeing their activities, leveraging their strengths and bringing them together under a single strategy will serve you well as dni. As members of congress in both of house and senate i have had a keen interest as hopefully you know. In ensuring we are responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. In evaluating federal programs i made it a point to ask questions about what works and what doesnt and why. I also believed it was important to assess how we establish priorities. We must ask ourselves, in a time of tightened budgets what programs are truly essential and which may no longer be necessary or only partly necessary or of lower priority. How does each Program Support our overall goal or strategy and it is duplicative of another effort if i will look to ask the ic and these and many more questions if confirmed as dni. And in the vein of efficiency theres much discussion about the role of the dni in the office of the dni. Let me share with you what i have learned in preparation for this opportunity. Over the last 12 years since its inception it has been tasked by many responsibilities. Many in statute. Executive orders, president ial memoranda. Along with recommendations coming from the 9 11 commission and silverman rod commission on wmd. The people supporting these directives are hardworking folks from all across the ic. Ive known a significant amount is on rotation from other agency possess. As you know nctc, an organization of 750 people, created by the law enacted in 2005 work is counted in that number that we have. Which is less than 2,000. By the way, less than a third of the number of band members for the Armed Services. So that may put it in some perspective. Odni was established for pre9 11 stove piping to ensure collaboration and integration across the intelligence elements. People are who are supporting these directives are hardworking folks from all across the ic. Odni brings together talent from across the community to integrate intelligence it does its best to connect the dots. Not just specific dots from specific agencies and specialties and in keeping with earlier football analogy you cant play a complete game with just a star quarterback and wide receiver. Maybe if you are the patriots you can pull that off once in a while but i dont think that happens very often but even the pats need a strong offensive line, strong defense, agile teams and place kicker along with many other player to be the best in the business. Not everyone will be the mvp but they are a team nonetheless and everyone on the field plays a critical role. We succeed as a team. If we come up short, we fail as a team. And we use that experience to address it so it doesnt happen again. As i looked at many requirements of the office reflected in various laws orders and recommendations i have been em pris pr impressed by the offices tasks by the resources this he have. With the size of the odni doesnt mesh with what i have seen firsthand and i believe it does a disservice to this committee and your efforts to keep the size of odni in check which is your obligation and my onably gag on obligation. I believe they must constantly review. And not only the office of the odni but the entire ic and try to learn how we can do things more efficiently and effectively. We dont have a choice. Much has been made public i about the role of the enterprise and how itll fair in the future. Im encouraged by what i see with Leadership Team in place at ic agencies i know this community will continue as world class intelligence enterprise it is today. Before going to questions, let me share with you the early goals if confirmed i will share with the ic. I intend to push the ic to be the best it can. And not accept the status quo when it comes to challenges facing our nation. I expect the ic to be innovative in its approach to shahard probs and solutions to solve them. I intend to be a cham chamon for the hardworking men and women for the ic. Be there for them the way they were here for all of us. Everyday men and women of the ic work tirelessly on the front lines, often in the shadows, often times in very dangerous situationes with a common goal of keeping america safe and secure. I also intend to work with all of you as former member of the committee, to ensure you that the ic has support it needs to tackle whatever the opposing teams bring our way and to ensure that congress and this committee have access to the information you need to conduct your oversight responsibilities. I am honored by the opportunity to be here today and i thank you for your consideration of my nomination and with that, i look forward to answering your questions. Dan, thank you very much. Let me say for members, i will recognize members in order of seniority for five minute round for those that need it we will have a followup round. Just for members timing we will go from open hearing immediately when complete to a closed hearing for whatever period that might taken a that will be in our normal hearing room. With that, let me recognize myself for five minutes. Dan, you and marcia had a good gig. Retirement. She was excited. You were actually really excited. 34 years. Now youve got now you have agreed to do a job that many called thankless. Why . Ive been asked that question many times each step of the journey. The response has always come down to a sense of duty. When asked to serve your country, whether it was in uniform, which i did for two years. Or whether it was in the congress or ambassador and the run for senate again after quite a hiatus. And then to say yes to this job, i was reminded of the phrase that runs through my mind. I dreamt and believe that life was a beauty and i think thats what i was looking forward to. I woke and believe that life is a duty. When asked by the leader of your country to serve your country again, the answer needed to be yes. I know you understand well from your experience on the committee how valuable raw intelligence can be to the oversight process. If asked by committee, will you provide raw intelligence to the finished product and assessments . I absolutely believe that is my responsibility and the responsibility of the ic to provide what this committee needs to do, to do its oversight properly. I noticed in your statement, that you highlighted my and i quote, acquisition proficiency of satellite specialist unquoted as National Reconnaissance office. Im sure you probably agree, however, that the Requirements Development process for our satellites is in need of significantry form. Will you work with the committee to streamline that process to ensure that we can more quickly get to the design, build and launch phase . Absolutely. Agility is critical in this time of rapid technological change. We see, and i believe now, 11 nations who have the capacity to launch instruments into space. I was shocked the other day it read that the nation of india on one rocket launched, deposited more than a hundred satellites in space. They may be small in size with different functions and so forth but one rocket can send up i think 111 platforms. We cannot afford to be behind the curve of the offensive and defensive capacities that we put up into space. And so, streamlining that acquisition process is not something that should be done, it is utmost importance that it be done. The role of the cia played in the interrogation of terrorists suspect as part of the rdi program, those detention facilities operated by the cia have long been closed and president obama officially ended the program seven years ago. I think the debate space on this subject has become confused and im certain that law is now very clear. Do you agree that it would require a change in law for the cia or any Government Agency to lawfully employ any interrogation techniques beyond those defined in the Army Field Manual . I absolutely support that. That is the law. I might note for the committee, you may ill bring it up if you dont, when that vote on the ndaa came up, the mccain amendment, i was one of a few who did not support that amendment. First of all, i will follow the law of every aspect regardless of my personal thoughts. I had one reser valgs thvation couldnt reconcile in my mind. I didnt think no because i didnt think thats where we needed to go. I voted no because i thought we needed to have a discussion about what you need to do in a situation where you have the necessary intelligence to know that something terrible is going to happen to the American People in a very short amount of time and you have the legitimate individual who can tell you where that radiological bomb or biological material is and you dont have time to go through the process that Army Field Manual requires. Im not saying that should im not saying im not trying as i said, i took off my policy hat. I follow the law. And im sure the ic follows the law. The answer to your question is absolutely. But i do think it is at least worth discussion relative to the situation that might occur where we might have to hopefully with some special authority, might have to go outside that. I dont have the prescription for that. Im not kboing to agoing to adv that. Im simply trying to find what it was going through my mind when that amendment came up. I thought weed into theed more discussion on that. That was on the policy side. That hats gone. You mentioned in your Opening Statement that you intend to ask the Intelligence Committee to be innovative in its problems. Ive been pushing the community to innovate for years and i look forward to working with you and supporting this endeavor to change an ic community that looks forward with innovation as an opportunity. As has many on this committee. Turn to vice chairman. Thank one mr. Chairman. Let me echo what the chairman has said about satellites and our whole overhead capacity. I think you were part of many vigorous debates and think much more futureoriented and recognize as you pointed out both other nations moving in this area and tremendous opportunities within the commercial space so i appreciate your answer on that. As i mentioned in my Opening Statement, get you back on the record for items that are terribly important. I want to start again with an issue of great importance to me and i believe this committee and that is our current investigation into the russian hacking attempts. Do you promise to fully and completely cooperate with the committees investigation of the russia Election Hacking including by turning over all requested ic cables and intelligence products and other materials to the committee as promptly as possible. I think it is our responsibility to provide you access to all that you mentioned. And do you plan to continue any investigations the ic is carrying out or may carry out regarding russias active measures especially as a refer to interference and elections in our country and for that matter countries around the world . I think this is something that needs to be investigated and addressed. I have not seen the classified information. As my colleagues may or may not know, the day you go here and you leave the senate, you lose your classification. You have to start over at zero. It took much longer than we had anticipated. I just received it last thursday. I was back in indiana last week helping to try to close things down there to return here. And so i have not had the opportunity to be briefed on what the classified version of that investigation has come up with. So in answer to your question, yes, i think this is an issue russia has a long history of propaganda and trying to influence various nations cultures and elections and so forth and it is happening in europe and as we speak. They seem to have stepped up their game and they are using cyber and sophisticated methods that they didnt have before so i think it is a very key issue that we understand fully what has happened and how its happened and have a full report on that. That certainly will make sure the ic produces the intelligence access that you need to do your job. I appreciate your answer. Obviously one of the Core Functions of the ic and as odni you have to coordinate this as the analogy back to the coach, of making sure that you speak truth to power, and youve got a remarkable background, but you will be the first dni who was not either career military, career intelligence, or a career professional diplomat. And again, similar to mike mpo pompeo, being a policy advocate, how are you sure the Intelligence Community will continue to provide unvarnished assessments to the president and his administration regardless of any politics . Well, thats our responsibility and my prior marry responsibility to know exactly what we can and cant do. Marry responsibility to know exactly what we can and cant do. Our job is to do our job. Our job is not to formulate policy. Our job is not to influence intelligence in any way for political reasons. Our job is to present the truth to make policy decisions about where we go and i will not tolerate. I will not tolerate anything that falls short of that standard. Thank you. Chairman raised the issue around the current law in terms of the u. S. Army field manual on intelligence. I would simply point out that everyday in one form or another the military deals with some form or another the socalled ticking time bomb scenario and i believe that general mattis is appropriately pointed out that he would not stray and from the socalled enhanced techniques just dont work. I would hope that you would echo again what you said in the last that you would commit to following the law and not lead some effort to try to change that law. I can absolutely say that i have no other obligation except to follow the law. I greatly respect the views of john mccain who not only understands this but his work and sugt subject to it and general mattis, years and years of experience, i respect both of those and i intend to be available to work with them and talk with them. Experience, i re those and i intend to be available to work with them and talk with them. But the goal is clear, the law is clear and following what that law is is my primary responsibility and i will adhere to that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator risch . Dan, i dont really have any questions for you. You sat right here for all the time that you did and i know what your Decision Making is like. You and i had such of these tough decisions to make and i know what your analysis is like and i have absolutely confidence. I think it was a great appointment by the president. Thank you and especially thank marcia for agreeing that you could do this job. We appreciate it. America appreciates it. Thank you for your willingness. As a comment, ive been sitting here looking that empty chair. Who died . Yeah. Thats senator rubios chair now. Oh, sorry. Im not going to comment. I hope hes not watching on cspan. He will show up through the door. Im not commenting on the trade made here. Again, thanks so much. And as you know, they are remodeling your office next to mine on the fourth floor in russell and man, its a mess. I wish you hadnt had left. Are you able to seize the new room on the other end there . No, i wasnt. That doesnt mean i didnt try. Maybe can i help you. Thank you. Thank you. Senator widen . Thank one mr. Chairman. Good to see my former finance Committee Partner in the cause of bipartisan tax reform. I was la little baffled in references to football since hoosiers are about my game, basketball. But we will talk about that another time. In january 2017 there was a written assessment that Vladimir Putin and russian government developed a clear preference for president elect trump. Given putins preferences, how are you going to actually show our allies with elections coming up that the Intelligence Community will support them against russian efforts to ins lance der locations. Well, russia has a long history of doing this. Though they stepped up their game and use more sophisticated tactics. As i also said, i have seen the classified vergts classified version of this, but it is publicly known, acknowledged and accepted that russia definitely did try to inflew ent influence the campaign. To what extent, i dont think we know. But following through on that in terms of forming our allies of what we have experienced and what they will experience gives them i think the ability to better understand what the russian efforts are. I think the transparency of what has happened is necessary for the American People so that when they make their judgments about future, whether future elections pour whatev or whatever, there are outside inflew ens trying to influence him one way or the other. I think this should be looked at carefully and there needs to be, flankl frankly, a response. Vice president pence, i read his remarks and he said there needs to be consequences for what they are trying to do. What i hope well see is that because people are concerned that what happened to us will happen to them, that you will make intelligence sharing with these countries a priority. I think thats already being done. And needs to be done. I wanted to hear it from you. But we will move on. You have said that if youre confirmed, the reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would be your top legislative priority. For years, i and members of congress, have been asking for an estimate of how many innocent lawabiding Americans Communications are getting swept up in this collection. Will you commit to getting this number to this committee and the public before reauthorization . Yes, i do. I will do everything i can to work with admiral rogers in nsa to get that you number. Ive been told it is an extremely complex process for a number of reasons. As i said, without classification, i dont know what all these reasons are. I need to learn what they are but i also need to share with admiral rogers the need, i think, to get this committee, not just those numbers, but all of the information they need, in which to make a judgment as to the reauthorization. The Intelligence Community believes that reauthorization is extremely important. It is a program that has provided a significant amount of intelligence relative to what Foreign Agents or individuals are trying to do to harm americans. And so, you know, it has layers of oversight at all three levels of government. Has been examined by the privacy Civil Liberties board, overseeing board, and supported by the fisa court. With y but this something you will be going through this next year and we will make sure you have all of the information you feel you need make adjustments that congress decides to make. So you will commit to making sure we have the number of innocent americans being swept up before reauthorization. Will you commit to declassifying any secret legal interpretations related to fisa as well . Thats something that ill have to continue to work with you on. Obviously im going to commit to do everything i can to try to get you that number. I need to find out why it has taken so long and what are the complications in getting that number. I think its important for the committee this is declassification. Well you mentioned the number also. But on declassification, as long as it doesnt i mean, declassification process is in place so that we can, if there are sensitive sources and methods that could be exposed, that have negative consequences to our intelligence agency, we have to declassify those. But those we can declassify for, for the needed purpose, i think we need do. Mr. Chairman, if i could take a few more second, as you did. My point is, and i appreciate what senator coats is trying to say here. A, we need it that number. We have sought it for years and years. More and more americans are getting swept up in the searches. We are trying to do go after foreign targets that are a threat us to. But as Tell Communications systems become globally integrate integrated we get more and more lawabiding citizens swept up. We need that number and declassification. Look forward to working with you. Thank you. Senator collins. Thank you. Welcome back, senator coats. Were delighted to see you. Along with former senator Joe Leiberman of the 2004 law that created the director of National Intelligence, i have a special interest in your nomination. Im delighted that the president has chosen you for this important position and i believe that he could not have made a better choice. Thank you. I want to talk to you about the importance of the dni serving as the law provides, as prince pam intelligence adviser to the president , im concerned about reports that the president is changing the composition of the socalled Principals Committee on the National Security council by adding his chief strategist and downgrading or so it appears, the role of the director of the National Intelligence. How will you ensure that you can fulfill the statutory mandate to serve as president s top intelligence adviser at National Security Council Meetings if this proposed reorganization goes forward . Thats a question that i have been addressing directly with the president and his staff. I was informed that the drafting of that executive order was not intended to not have the director of National Intelligence as part of the Principals Committee. It was drafted on before, by the president bushs administration before the dni was even stood up. And so they took language from that. Never intending, not to have the dna be a part of the Principals Committee. I have been reassured time and time and time again from the president to his advisers that i welcome and needed and expected to be a prt of the prints pals committee. It is essential to the process of being in a position to know what is moving on up to the National Security council relative to the team. I have great confidence in general mcmaster in terms of his putting together a team that he knows will be one of the most Effective Team that he can. And i think relative to who is added or not added to that team will be under his jurisdiction and that as i said, i have very great confidence that he will put the team this place that i thinks can best serve the president. Thank you. Thats very reassuring since i cant imagine having the deputy dni on the deputys committee then not having the dni on the Principals Committee. Which needs to resolve issues that are of the highest level that the deputies could not resolve. And certainly the president should want to have his principal adviser on Intelligence Matters present at those very important meetings. And i was ensured that was the entent. And the other was just a mischaracterization of the order. Thank you. The second thing i want it raise with you is that President Trump asked an individual who runes a private equity firm to lead a broad review of the u. S. Intelligence agencies. As far as i can tell, this individual does not have National Security experience nor does he appear to have experience in intelligence. As youre well can i wair, the president can receive independent advice from the intelligence board which can provide outside advice regarding a full range of intelligence activities. So to have that additional review, particularly from an individual who doesnt appear to have the requisite background appears to be textbook definition of waste and du duplication. In addition in your statement you talked very eloquently about the responsibility of the dni has to bring the intelligence agencies to together to review to make sure they are working effectively and efficiently. My concern is, that an outside review by an individual without experience can result in r recommendations that are essentially arm chair quarterbacking of the leadership of the Intelligence Committee. Do you view it as your job to review the operations of the Intelligence Committee . I do. Ive made that clear to the president and to his advisers that that is where i stand. Clearly, as i said in my Opening Statement, every agency needs to consciously review itself, particularly at a time when Budget Resources are restrained. At any time. Whether they are or not. We want an efficient and effective government streamlined to efficiency. But in terms of looking at that and assigning someone to that position, if it involves the Intelligence Community, i that i needs to be under my authority. I made it very clear. And i believe thats what case will be. I know mr. Feinberg personally. I think he is a patriot. He wants to serve his country. He brings many talents to that. I dont think that translates into reporting to the white house. And that being under the control of the National Security office. Sorry. Im just the dni, which i i ought to have that down pretty well, dont you think . So i want to just assure you that thats an issue i have been engaged in and i have full confidence thats wait itll turn out. Thank you very much. And i wish you all the best. Thank you. Senator . Welcome back, dan. Thank you. I want to go back to up a can el of the some of the ground that senator collins covered. I think that most of us agree with your analogy and want you to be head coach. Were a little concerned that sometimes the owner of the team may rather hear from the offensive coordinator right now. So some things with regard to the executive order with regard to mr. Feinberg, the appointment of the director of the cia, to the committee, they open a lot of questions for how youre going to maintain dnis leadership role and structure that has served the Intelligence Community so well after a peer yood when period when we realize stove pipes do not help american National Security. So i want to make sure i understand what you said to senator collins. Do i understand that the executive order that came out that seemed to remove the dni from the Principals Committee was a recycled Bush Administration executive order that doesnt reflect current law and historical precedent thats my understanding. I i want there at the time. I had no participation in that. That is my understanding. I cannot fully say that thats what exactly happened. But what has been told to me is that the intent was never to not have the dni as part of the Principals Committee. They reassured me quickly that look, that they also are thinking that there may be occasionally the committee is meeting, dealing with something that doesnt involve intelligence. Perhaps a flood or Something Like that. I dont think any of us are worried about that sort of situation. We do want to be reassured one, reassured with regard to your position. Thats very important. Im not reassured to the process that these executives orders have been going through and given what i see as a pretty enormous omission. Let me move on to another issue with regard to inscription and weve had this conversation a lot when you were hoere on the committee. Cription and weve had this conversation a lot when you were here on the committee. Something you have to deal with moving forward. Admiral rogers called inscription the foundation to the future. I think secretary carter called encryption absolutely essential. He said quote im not a believer in back doors or single technical approach to what is a complex and complicated problem. Im just not. I dont think thats realistic. I dont think thats technicallily accurate, end quote. Hayden, manuel gallegus c hayd hayden, mcconnell, cher to the, mcconnell, a lot of mcconnells, all made strong support for encryption and opposition to socalled back doors because of the risk inherent to them. Do you believe that strong encryption is an essential tool for the American Public and private sectors to protect personal business, Financial Data from hackers, criminals and malicious governments . Yes, i do. And i think it is important obviously for the government, all government entities, we are all aware of attempts to break into systems that deal with our defense, financial resources, any number of things. So encryption has a very positive effect and is needed. We also have though the responsibility of trying to understand what those who are not using the internet for the for the right purposes. We used to be separated by two id oceans and felt we were pretty safe and we could always be ready for something coming our way. Now in fracks of a second someone can hit a key and cause incredible damage to the United States and many, many ways all across the spectrum. So there are those occasions that i think when we need to at least think about, and when we have legal authority, to address situation where we need to get information, cooperation from the Public Sector would be helpful. And i this i that conversation has been going on and needs to continue going on. And the ceos of companies that, you know, are making devices and guaranteeing their buyers encryption and they worry about their familiars and communities and attacks on the United States. Ears and communities and attacks on the United States. Rs and communities and attacks on the United States. S and communities and attacks on the United States. Im not in a policy decision to decide how it happens but i thisty needs to be an ongoing discussion in terms of what legal authorities. And in the end we follow the law. Whatever it is. Regardless of our personal opinions. Thank one chairmayone chair. Well, great to have you back and be on this committee with you and know have you an important and in many ways unique sense of these issues but also we have watched as a committee and as a congress the dni operation grow beyond what at least initially thought it would be. And im wondering, as youve had a chance to think about this, why do you think that has happened and how much of it is a result of the congress taxing the dni with specific assignments rather than letting the dni decide which agency should have that assignment for give me a sense of how you think thats developed and how your review of the other agencies would also involve review of what the director of National Intelligence and that entire operation under your daily management would look like . Well, ive been asking the same question. Ic in regards to this. I found that statutory requirements, executive orders, directives, have added functions to the dni that are mandated by the congress or by the executive branch. Also, i think people dont understand that nctc is a part of the dni. They have about 750 employees at the nctc. I dont hear anybody calling for not having an nctc. But by statute, it was made part of the dni. We have rotations that come. I think about 40 of the people there are rotated through. It is much like what the military has tried to do with their joint exercises and so forth. They want navy to serve with the normally at a certain point and the air force at certain point so that they they are familiar with the whole. And they arent stove piped. And it is under the efforts of what gold water nichols was trying to accomplish. It is more complicated than just little more than just the number. There is 1750 people out there, why do we need that many . Those two factors played a major role in that. Having said that, it doesnt mean we cant take a hard look at this. How can we streamline . How can we be more effective . But simply taking a number of people here and putting them over there really doesnt change the dynamic if the reason that theyre here is for integration process, coordinating process, and so forth. So to finish my remarks, it simply if youre going to integrate information that is coming from 16 other different agencies, you have to have members there from some of those functions. That know whats coming from their funks so thctions so thisn be part of the integration solution. And you think congress has rightly or wrongly created all those specific assignments for the dni as opposed to either letting the dni determine who had the assignment or making an assignment to one of the specific agencies and knowing that the dni would over, have oversight . It is prob lay goably a good question for senator collins. I i know senator leiberman and others put this together. Having having to work through the process of becoming law, i read an interesting book about what that two and half years was like in order to achieve that. Many times we have a vision here and we have our staff write it up into law and from the starting point to the ending point we dont sometimes recognize it when it comes back with all of the decisions that have been made in toward make adjustments so certain entities have this authority and that authority. So there is some fog in art abothe air. Clearly an overseer, clearly someone with assigned authority. But not necessarily the authority to simply go into every agency and deal with their operations. I would conclude by saying on this topic, i think nobody is in a better position to work with the relevant committees of congress to try to go back now and take a look at that law, what it was intended to do, whether it has achieved what it was intended to do and advice you might have as you have a chance to look at this from both perspectives of what the next dni might be able to deal with because of reforms and efficiencies and that you built in while have you this job and i look forward to you being part of this committees activities for the next several years. Thank you. 12 years on and probably time to take a look at it and see what works, what doesnt, what changes can be made to make it better. Exactly. I look forward to you making one of those one of your major goals. That is one of my major goals. Thank you. Senator coats, i would first take issue with your analogy, i can assure that you the assistant coaches of the the new England Patriots would be astonished to think that Bill Belichick is as passive as you may portray him. You must be more aggressive. This isnt a passive role, senator. Let me move on to my only concern about your nomination. Youre one of the most likeable affable people i have ever met. I like o traveling with you and working with you on this committee. Im not sure likeable and affable is who i want in this position. I want someone trustee and mean and tough because you are riding on 17 agencies that want to go in Different Directions and report to a president who may or may not want to hear what you have to say. Can you assure me that not only are you changing hats going into this job but you will be hard in terms of your execution of this, i think, the second most important job in the United States government right now. Well, its heeding at the level of Bill Belichick may be tough. I havent seen any other nfl coaches achieve the level of Bill Belichick. In both attitude and success. But i hear exactly what youre saying and i think the Office Demands it and i think the times demand it. Clearly we are we are not in a passive situation from a world threat standpoint. It has reached the level that we dont we cant afford not to go at this with everything we have. And to put a point on this, three most serious Foreign Policy mistakes in my lifetime are the bay of pigs, vietnam and the invasion of iraq. All of those were based upon configuring intelligence to meet the desires of the policy makers. Thats the Common Thread that runs through. The pressure on you to try to meet debt manned of the policy makers and it just happened on saturday, when allegedly the trump administration, white house, put pressure on the department of Homeland Security intelligence and analysis to come up with justification for travel ban rather than asking what the story on people from these countries. They gave them the answer and said give us the evidence. Have you heard about this incident that just was reported this past weekend . I read that in public. Yes. Does that concern you . As i said in the beginning, as i will say frequently to both the president and to the executive branch, you need to fully understand my role. And my role is to provide you with intelligence to formulate policy, not formally policy, not be a spokesman for any political decisions that are made. So yes, i have i have made this clear. I will continue to make this clear. I cannot go outside the bounds of my authorities and i believe those authorities require me to do nothing less than what i just said. Quick yes or no question. Do you need this job . No, i dont need this job. One of the benefits of being in your generation together i think as i look at the panel here i dont know what youre talking about. Thats the right answer. You and i go back to the bay of pigs. Vietnam. If we havent learned anything from these incidents, then shame on us. Thats right. And i want you to remember, because there is going to be a moment when youre going to have to say, i dont need this job. Because im going to be asked to do something i dont want to do. Im not predicting that well. But it could happen. And this isnt about this president or any other president , it has happened over the past 40 years. Couple of followup questions on National Security. I dont know why the language came from but the language says where instances, youre invited where instances pertaining to dni expertise are to be discussed. I cant imagine where that couldnt be the case. Im worried where you said, if that is a problem we will fix it. It should be fixed now. You shouldnt be welcome to the meetings, you should be part of the meetings. I would urge you to talk to the white house about this executive order that was issued barely a week after president was in office about correcting that fault. And the secretary fault in that is to put steve bannon, president s political adviser, on to the National Security council. I understand that president bush forbad karl rove from even going to National Security meetings let alone being on it. I hope you will go back and take that message. Admiral mullens says this is politicizing National Security from the beginning. I think thats very bad practice. Thank you, senator. I will take that message back to the president. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And it is great to see you, dan. Just as senator kings concern, i sat next to you for up a can el of years and i found him to be quite the unpleasant human being on quite a number ever occasions. Of course everyone who knows you, knows thats not true. Were fortunate and grateful your willing necessary to continue to our our kun trip. First, this unusual situation regarding Counter Intelligence in particular and the synergy with this placement of illegally accessed information and the use of media organisms under the control of Foreign Government and rt and sputnik and the like. There has always been an element of propaganda involved in politics but this synergy with propaganda and intelligence and influencing and manipulating, directing policy making in Foreign Countries reached a level in many places, from europe and i believe even in the United States, that is unique. I just want to, and you may have touch owned this earlier, but this is a challenge that is perhaps a bit different from what we have been dealing with over the last decade and certainly since post 9 11. Not just that Foreign Governments have foreign intelligence agencies that target us but they strategically use information with over our olcy makesers policy make eing potentially our elections. How do you view multiple different agencies with synergizing that and the new element i think we are grappling with fully understanding . I did meng earlier that advances in technology upped the games of those who want to use these techniques. And digitization of the worldwide inters in have been marvelous advances for mankind. But have extreme vulnerabilities also. And can be taken advantage of. We fwheed need to educate our po the fact that these types of things are happening. To factor in their decisions to government and government funks and election answers so forth is not, they are well aware of the fact that they cant just simply believe everything they hear and everything they read. There are effort to undermine who we are as a trun country. Causing us to lose confidence in our countrys ability to protect us et cetera. I think that requires much more agility. Much better means of not only intercepting these but putting the, not only defenses in place but offenses response to know that, so those that are doing this know there is a consequence to what they are doing. I would just add that given the fact that this touches upon Intelligence Community so heavily, there is always a tension between allowing the American Public and our allies to understand what is happening and yet allowing intelligence commune it to continue to work in ways that does not divulge more than is necessary. That tension is always there. And i think is an important part of the element that we should take into account moving forward. I really do think in many ways one of the greatest defenses towards any efforts to interfere with our political process from outside the country would be to allow the American People to be aware as much as possible much what the efforts entail so they understand the force and motivation behind things they may be reading, seeing, et cetera throughout the process. Im glad it hear you say that. I think you will have a key role to play in synergizing across agencies that serveness that regard. The second issue is our detention policy. Im troubled by the direction it has taken. We know for a fact and have seen in opensource reporting that former gitmo detainees have gone on to rejoin the fight against us. American citizens killed. Others fighting against us now. What is your view of our detention policy at the end . The last administration. Do you have views now about what you advise the president in terms of how we should, what our intention policy for terrorist and enemy combatants should be in the new administration . Ive had the opportunity to travel with senator burr and other members of the committee and senator burr leading our contingent before him and senator chambliss and senator feinstein. These questions have been asked of intelligence agencies in terms of what has happened to those that have been released it from guantanamo . Are they running starbucks in yemen . Are have they rejoined the fight . And a significant percentage of those have rejoined the fight. So i know we have a high value of target of individual team in place that can look at this situation and make these determinations as to who may or may not be released, but this is an ongoing conflict and the last thing we want to do is tell the American People we are sending somebody back in to become once again our adversary. Ive been supporting of that detention which i think is done in a lawful way. Done in a humane way. But simply sending everyone back home i dont think is the solution. I believe the last starbucks at yemen closed last week. So on a serious matter, robert levinson, former fbi agent, disappeared in iran in 2007. He is believed widely to be held by iran, by elements of the iranian government, he and his family are from florida. I would ask in your new role you pledge to do Everything Possible to help locate bob and help bring him home. Yes, and in my closing months of in the senate, i was also advi advised of someone else put in a similar situation. This one in turkey. And we, our office, had been working to try to determine what the basis of this was. And to get him released. So im well aware of the situation from a more personal basis in terms of our needing to address these issues. Senator man s thank you. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. C. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. H. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. A. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. N you. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. You. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. S. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. S. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. With that being said, tough questioning and a lot of tern. T. With that being said, tough questioning and thank you. W im new to this committee and we are trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible. I think i would first ask, i think the question was asked to you by Ranking Member about would you be able to turn over the information and make sure we had access to that information and you said that was your intent. Do you have the authority to make sure if if were getting what we consider slow rolled, do have you that authority to make sure we are able to have that access, whether it be any 1 of the 17 agencies to conduct a full investigation. Yes. I hope i said more than intent. Thats my authority, my obligation. You have the question or no . Timely is the equation here. And it needs to be given to you completely, timely, unvarnished. So we can count on that . Yes, you can. A lot of people are frustrate ped. Yes, you can. I have no intention to hold anything back from this committee that they need. In 2004 when the dni was created, who lost faith, who lost confidence . Why did we need the dni to be formed . Have you evaluated that . I have. Ive done evaluation and reading and discussions with members and some of those who were part of that process from the beginning. I served with both senator leiberman, senator collins, and i know their role in this and others. We didnt reduce any of the 17 agencyes. We still have the 17 agencies. What happen said this socalled stove type procespipe process. They werent sharing information. Everyone put out their own. Some dismissed. We had more faith in this agency than that agency. You didnt get a complete picture. I view this as making a puzzle. You got 17 pieces that all need to come together. You want input from those 17 to be put in the right place but you want that all to come together in into one picture. There s there descenting views in there . Yes. If they are descenting viewes from this agency or that agency or different views about the level of what the intelligence is, that you need to know that. But what the committee needs to know and what president and the customers and executive branch need to know is that to the best of our ability this integrated intelligence is provided to you by all 17 agencies pulling together every little piece of that puzzle. You think the 17 agencies believe have you the authority or the dni has that authority to remove them, remove that director . Or take an extremely strongly by the president for that person to be remove fed they arent doing their job . Taken to the president , these are president iallyappointed positions. What im saying, thats who they are answering to . Thats their boss . Well there is collaboration and other authorities, we add discussion with that earlier. About the initial views of those who are putting it together and were for various reasons a modified as it moved itselves through legislative process. Over the executive branch, you know, coming in and making rec m men recommendations. You think with all of the additional news media, the social media, everything going on today on the internet, socalled fake news, if you will, do you think the dni has a responsibility to speak up and say this is hog wash . This has no credibility to this whatsoever, for the American Public to figure out what is real and not real . We have a role to provide intelligence. But making decisions relative to policy, and we can make analysis to provide to you and our policy makers but it was mentioned earlier truth to power. Our job is to provide the truth. And power goes to those people who are in a position to make those determinations, make policy, make corrects, make laws. Et cetera. And thats what we bring to you. Not that were not spokesmen. You dont believe the socalled New York Times article whether what side people might be on that you should give any clarity from the dni . We provide that information. I dont envision myself as going on cnn every night and saying here is what we have done. I envision giving that information po policy makers. Many identified russia, china, iran and north korea to the top of the United States have you chosen one who you think is our top Security Threat . Thz this is an all of the above category. Given the diversity of threats we have. Miening my i mentioned early on that cyber, because it effect almost everything we do in this country, in terms of peoples safety, financial, commercial, our national defense, intellectual property, on and on you can go. Most capable you are concerned about . You know, i would like to take that to closed session. I have strong thoughts about that. Thats fair. Thats fair. That could turn into something we need to do in closed session. Thats fair. Thank you for your continued service and willingness to serve. Thank you. Senator lank ford . Dan, great to see you again. Good to be on that side of the desk. You cant get up when you need to. Take a call. You are stuck. Great to see you. I want to follow up on a conversation that senator king had with you. I have the same line of questioning to close the loop on. Youre one of the nicest people ive ever met. Thank you. And that is to your credit. Not only to your faith and your family, but the people you have served for a long time. But i really want the dni to be able to be tough when it requires to be tough. And to be clear when there is time to be clear. Because the policy makers around you need clarity, need straight forward facts and i need the fact that they know they can trust and we will deal with nice in the hallway when we grab a bottle of water together and get the chance to chitchat. But i need to hear clarification from you again, that when the moment comes, and its crunch time you can be as tough as you need to be. James, i think thats a senator, sorry. James is always good. You said such nice things about me. I just fell into your friendship. Thats okay. Senator, i absolutely understand that this role demands someone who can stand up to the pressures that will be placed upon him. Political pressures, we have 17 agencies. Not everyone will agree in terms of the way to go forward and there needs to be a director who can assert that authority. I have been blessed to have scott who backs me up with good wise counsel. But i recognize the need for that. Given the situation we are facing worldwide in terms of these threats, we dont have time to just be the nice guy. We have to go after it. I have often said to people in my state that say im too nice that i say i can say no with a smile. I know you can too as well. That will be your nary. Some pressure wont be just from policy makers around pup theyou. There a tendency of us in the political world to somewhat chase the priorities of the headline of the latest news story and that becomes the ic priority. For many in the ic community, they saw the cyber issue a long time ago. The media is only recently catching up to real threats we face on cyber. One of the things we need from you in days ahead is to keep the agencies on focus to where the real threats are, not just where the meaheadlines are. And a good for instance of this is, it is amazing to me how little we talk about narko terrorism any more and we have tens of thousands of p em that die through either the trafficking individuals of drugs or from overdoses as a result of that, that are americans dying all the time. And it is one of the constant threats we have. But the news doesnt talk about it much any more. So it drift to the background. Have you the responsibility to make sure that it doesnt drift to the background among our Intelligence Community that we stay on focus ones that the that we face all the time and that when the issues come up we are on top of them. Let me ask you a strange question for us. When we get a chance to visit together, will we still be able to talk about the coats waste of the week . Will you still focus in on an area i found that we need to resolve. You know as much of us do on this diaz, if there are things that need to be fixed, there is some other entity that sees it but the practitioners in the agency actually see the problem. We need help in oversight part of it that when you see something in any of the 17 entities or your own office, can you help us be able to see some of those things as well to know what it fix legislatively . Yes, i intend to do that. I went some passion every week to the senate floor 55 times to assert the waste of the week. I have looked around a little bit and said maybe that fits a waste of the week category. Lets investigate that. Obviously i have to be confirmed before i start that process but im committed to doing that. I want to reflect on what you said about the narko terrorism. You and i have talked about this personally. I think each of us with the experience talking to families who tragically lost a member of their family because of maybe 17yearold going to party and someone says here try this. And they end up in the hospital and many of them parish. It is a scourge cutting across america. Have you it in indian. We have it in our state and it is not something to ignore or push aside. It is undermining the very essence of this country. And it is, effecting families and communities in ways that havent made the headlines as much as they should. It has to be a component and intelligence does play a role in terms of how these things are brought into our country or within our country manufactured. Thanks, dan. Senator . Senator coats, i enjoyed our time together. Thank you, i did also. I know many colleagues raised the issue of the National Security council. Im sure you agree is t is critically important in terms of National Security. As has been mentioned, president s executive order issued on january 28th, which basically put the director of National Intelligence in a place where he or you if confirmed would not be included necessarily in the National Security Council Meeting and Principals Committee meetings. If confirmed as director of nci, do you believe it is critical to have a permanent role in those meeting he sh. Yes. Have you led the president s staff know it needs to be modified . I have, and it hasnt been addressed yes but i have been reassured over and over and over by the president and their staff that thats their intent and they expect me to be there. Have you given the date if would be modified . Will it happen before your confirmation . They havent given me a date. I cant answer, i dont know of a particular date. My understanding that executive order was modified on january 30th. Correct bp. And modified to include the cia director. Is that correct . Correct. So you mentioned earlier that the executive order was something from the bush era that was resuscitated but modified since it was issued. You agreed to that, is that correct . I think the 30th i need to its been modified since issued under this administration. No, it has not been modified. When was the cia director added to that . That was part of the original no, it wasnt. Oh okay. The press conference statement. It was not a an action taken. Okay. Because i have a copy of that here. And it was added back to National Security council. So the point is, that this bush era document has been modified since issued to include cia director but did not put back in ndi. I may be wrong in saying it with a a bush era you indicated thats what administration told you. I said pmy understanding is that it was taken from an executive order taken under the Bush Administration and that was issued before there was this position of dni. And i have been told verbally that the intent was not to leave the dnis position off, just that apparently someone drafting that language didnt realize that language didnt include the di because there was no di that particular point in time. The bottom line is that i have full 100 confidence that i will be part of the Principals Committee. Yes, the my concern is not about, on this point about your qualifications, my concern is what environment youre walking into. Okay. And in particular if confirmed whether or not you will have a seat in that body. If the administration is telling you that it was some document that was issued a at time gone by, we know that it has since been modified to include the cia. It did not include joint chiefs. And it has been replaced the position for which you are here to testify. So my concern is that there has been no indication or assurance given that you will, if confirmed, actually be a member of that body. And i would like to know from you, if that does not happen, are you prepared to still assume the responsibilities without the authority that you would have if you were a member of that body . Im fully prepared to assume responsibilities. Even if the executive order is not modified . Yes, i am. Ive been assured that i have the authority to be a member of that committee and be that committee and every one of its meetings. Wouldnt you agree the assurance would be sealed if the executive order is modified to indicate that the position that you now seek is actually entitled to be a part of all meetings that relate to National Security . As ive indicated before, im going to take that message to the administration that the question was raised here. Im perfectly comfortable with it because i trust them and i believe what they have told me and i intend to do this. I o would be concerned sir i would like to get back to you im concerned because it was said it came from the bush era. But i appreciate your service and your candor. Mr. Cotton . Thank you, dan, for once again answering the call of service. Thieank you. Marcia, once again standing beside dan as the call of service. I congratulate you on your service. We have spoke about the challenges of integration all 17 agencies that you will face as dna. Youre obviously very familiar with them and familiar with the kind of intelligence products that each produce and priorities that they each have. Have you any thoughts on what actions can be taken in the very short run to make that process work more efficiently and to produce coherent picture for policy makers whaen and what is happening in the world and your role overseas in your role as dn sni. Theres a lot i need to learn. I want to get acquainted with various leaders of the agencies. But as i have said before, given the nature of the threats that we face that we need to act sooner rather than later. I have believe that getting the right people in place is what can best execute doctrine and in achieving goals you want to achieve. And so we will quickly, if confirmed, move into that mode of filling that up. I did recognize earlier on that previous leaders of the odni and the smooth transition that they have arranged by ep suring that theres continuity during this gap period, period of time. But this is one of the this rises to early responsibility. One of the original purposes of the odni was to take the desperate kind of intelligence collected, be it human int intelligence, bank records, email telephone passenger manifest and synthesize them together to create a coherent picture. I think thats important function and still can play that function and part today. One thing i have heard on occasion from my visits to the various agency answeies and tal with their front line personnel is there have been bureaucratic mann mandates on the reporting requirements, hr requirements and so forth that get their core collectors or analysts out of the business of core collection and analyzing and spend too much of their time focused on fulfilling those bureaucratic mandates. Have you seen that in your preparation and do you have thaults abo thoughts about that and how can you keep the constituent agencies of the ic focused on their original mission . Well, i havent had enough experience to evaluate that. I will certainly take that as an issue to address. But you know, without the confirmation, i havent had the opportunity to engage with the other 16 agencies except to begin to formulate some relationships with a few of them, starting with the director of central central intelligence. Weve had a number of occasions to talk to each other and share what we think the concerns are and what we think we need to do. I think that is a very important relationship. Maybe the first important relationship. So we are already working to establish that. Thank you. Finally, you mention the Rob Silverman commission in your Opening Statement. That was a commission of expert task to recommend ways to ensure the Intelligence Committee is sufficiently authorized, organized, equipped, trained and rye sour resourced. What kind of lessons, if any, would you take away from that report . Not all of those recommendations were implemented. I think it is worth going back and looking at the original intent. Then the reports from Rob Silverman. They made a number of recommendations which were constructive. But i just think after 12 years or so, the agency clearly has evolved into what it is today. But taking a look back at where it was intended in the first place to go, and as i said, this was a compromised piece of legislation, like most spla legislation. It was interesting in the articles i was reading. Total of eight people who were in a position to make an assessment as to what exactly the authorities of the dni were and there were eight different answers. So i think that alone is a signal that we ought to perhaps go back and look and see if we want to make some adjustments to the law. That would have to be done in conjunction with the congress, of course. But at some point i think maybe sooner rather than later that would be something we ought to look at. Thank you, and congratulations again. Thank you. Senator cornyn. Senator coates. Congratulations. Thank you for answering the call to duty once more and particularly your wife marsha whos always supported you through your service. This is a great contribution and i want to thank you for that. I want to ask you about two subjects. One is to ask for your help in your new job once you become confirm. I would be concerned the foreign registration act which originally passed in 1938 needs to be updated. For example, we experienced during the time that Congress Passed a bill called the justice against sponsors of terrorism act that once congress voted n unanimously to pass that, the president retovetoed it, congre overwrote his veto that a Foreign Government spent untold amount of money to try to lobby the United States congress. It troubled me because im not sure many people knew what the source of the funds or the source of the lobbying effort was. It just strikes me as really important, particularly in light of the russian activities that are going to be the subject of investigation here that we look at the Foreign Agent registration act to see if it needs to be updated so that congress and the public can see where money is coming from by Foreign Countries, perhaps hiring lobbyists on k street to try to influence domestic legislation. So id like to ask for your office and your offices help to work on that. Well, you have that. I want to do that. I think more transparency needs to be offered to the public as to what this is and what this isnt. Absolutely. Absolutely. I want to go back to a comment that was made by one of our leagues, my friend from oregon, whos asked you to and others to produce the numbers of innocent americans swept up in intelligence gathering operations. I just want you to talk, if you will, briefly about all the various minimization procedures to suppress incidental or inadvertent communications. First of all, it is illegal to target american citizen. Correct . That is correct. Without a search warrant. That is correct. So what we are talking about primarily is targeting foreign intelligence persons overseas. 702 is specifically designed for that purpose. By the way, i was the director of the fbi as recently as yesterday in my presence referred to 702 as the crown jewels of the Intelligence Community. Would you agree with that krashthizatio characterization . I would and the Intelligence Community also sees it that way. The entire community. So we saw what happened over the course of the due bait over the usa freedom act which ultimately i voted for, but im concerned that we not let the debate on the reauthorization of section 702 get caught up in that same sort of hysteria where some people were worried that their own government was spying on them when that decidedly was untrue. But thats history. But i want to make sure, given the importance of section 702, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to our Intelligence Community, that we make sure that we do Everything Possible, first to educate every are one so they understand what is authorized and what is not authorized, and then to work with the congress to come up with an orderly way to make sure that these crown jewels of the Intelligence Community, this section 702, is authorized. I want people to understand that people arent targeted, even Foreign Agents overseas, without court approval. And there is judicial review from time to time. There is oversight and review within the executive branch and heaven knows there is a lot of oversight here in the congress over this. As well as in the various intelligence agencies themselves. There are layers of protection to make sure that no american has to worry about their own government spying on them. In fact, every conceivable effort is is being made to prevent that and protect the privacy rights of americans which we all agree is important. So i just ask for your continued help. Obviously you know a lot about the topic. But given the particular importance of the reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, that we Work Together early to try to educate people to try to better inform everybody involved so that they can be reassured that proper balance between privacy rights which we all agree are important, but National Security that exactly the right balance is struck. Well, senator, i couldnt agree with you more. My colleagues have heard me talk on when i was a member of the committee on finding that balance. I think from one end of the spectrum to the other end of the spectrum, we are all on the same page, that we cherish our private rights in this country. They are constitutionally provided to us. We wants to do everything we can to make sure those private rights are secure. But we also want to make sure the constitution provides for the common defense. We are under attack through a number of sources, whether through cyber or any other of a number of ways, United States is vulnerable to attack. And they want us to do everything we can to keep them safe. So finding that balance so that we dont take away private rights, and at the same time use the necessary tools to determine what the bad guys are trying to do. Thats important that we find that balance point so we can accomplish both of those. 702 is designed to go after f foreign bad guys. It is lawful collection. That that process, there is some incidental what is called incidental names of americans, potential names of americans, some bad guy might have on his laptop the names of 40 americans. And so if hes targeted for something, all of a sudden 40 american names, we put a process in place in devising this law that there is a minimization of this. I wont go into all the details of minimization because i cant explain it as well as other can. But it is a process that understands that were not targeting these people, but incidentally they came up, because they were on this guys email, or on his phone list. The level of oversight here is all three branches of government, and it is significant to try to secure those privacies. Theres a query practice, and that is. But all of these are authorized. All of these are under court review. And oversight review. And so this is such a critical tool. I think it deserves full transparency to the level that we can while still protecting sources and methods and classified information. We need to ensure that the public is not led into a situation where they think theyre, you know, in deference to my colleague from oregon, sweeping up information about them. We are trying to sort it out so we can find out if that bad guy in syria, or wherever, is talking to someone in the United States. We kind of want to know what theyre talking about. And so and there are processes there that protect rights and sort that down. Theres procedures to go to court. There are procedures to go to court. If content needs to be secured and you have to show probable cause and a court has to issue a warrant. All of that. All of that. I worried when i went back home on the issue of bulk collection and meta data. Now thats been resolved. 215 of the patriot act has been involved. We dont do that anymore. I was constantly asked by people back at home, what about this mega data . I said, no, its not mega data. Its meta data. No, its mega data. Theyre collecting everything on us. Theyre listening to all our calls. Py asked then Keith Alexander who was head of the nsa, he said, well, if we were listening to everybodys calls wed have to hire 330 Million People to work 24 hours a day. Thats impossible. Were not. Were just trying to sort out the bad guys from the good guys. Now that is a discussion that we dont have to have. It is done, it is the law. Were following the law. We have a new system now. It would be up to policymakers if they want to make any adjustments to that. But the 702 is such a valuable too many regarding what foreign bad people are trying to do to americans that i think the Intelligence Community feels very strongly about it. It is your decision. We need to provide you with the information that you need in order to make decisions as to how to go forward with this program. Im sorry, i went into a servant mode there. Thats a little bit over the top. I used up your time. Your wife was giving you this that wouldnt be the first time, richard. Senator wyden has asked for one additional question. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I think we do need to clarify this 702 issue, because it is critical, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Lets stipulate that i and every member of the senate wants to go after the foreign threats, or as you correctly call them, foreign bad guys. No question about it. What has happened because communications have gotten so sophisticated in globally integrated, an indeterminate number of americans have their data being collected under section 702 and the government can then conduct searches for their communications without even a court order or even a particular suspicion. To step back from our twopart question, i asked if you would get the number of the public, innocent lawabiding americans, are being swept under fisa 702 collection. You said yes. And then you went on to say it was hard. So my twopart question is, is the answer still yes, you will get us the number . And since we have been trying to get this for years and years i mean literally. As you know, from being on the committee. Will you commit now to getting us a report every 30 days until we get this number . We need it for reauthorization. And it goes right to the heart, frankly, of how you do the balance youre talking about. Foreign bad guys . Absolutely but an indeterminate number of people are being swept up because Global Communications are now so sophisticated. So, twopart question. Will you stay with your earlier answer and say you will get us the number of innocent americans who are swept up before reauthorization . That is a yes or no. Before you answer yes is the answer still yes . Its a yes or no. Senator, i cant answer that with yes or no because i qualified my yes with you. At least that was my intent. Let me just explain. I qualified it because i said it has been extremely hard to come up with that number for various reasons, which i dont fully understand. I said i would want i wanted to talk to director rogers. I wanted to talk to nsa in terms of whats the problem here . Why cant we . And what is since my question what is the right definition in terms of swept up . And the numbers. Basically what i hope i said, and i want to clarify the record for this, is that i will do my best to work to try to find out if we can get that number. But i need first to find out about why we cant get it. I dont think anybodys trying to withhold it. Lets go to my second part. Will you commit now to getting us a response every 30 days until we get this question answered . Because this has gone on literally i say this to my friend. This has gone on for years. And it has been sort of one reason after another. And these are law abiding americans. So will you report to us every 30 days until we get this answer . Thats a yes or no. Well, i dont see that as a yes or no either until i get the answer in terms of whether thats even possible to i mean i can call up admiral rogers once every 30 days and say where are we . But i would like to first understand why it is what the issue is here in terms of getting that exact number. I dont want to come up with a number that, once again tells the American People something that nobodys ever come up with a number here. Weve had years of stalling on this. This is a legitimate question. Youre a friend. I need to know the answer. I need to know the answers to those questions before we have a vote in here because there is central to your key priority which is reauthorizing 702. Youve get me at hello on going after the foreign threats. But im not there with respect to these answers on innocent americans. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The chair would ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter to the committee, senator warner and myself, from the electronic privacy information center. Without objection, so ordered. Dan, one last question. Just to make it clear, the executive order which was National Security president ial memorandum number 2 has not been amended since it was issued. Correct . That is absolutely correct. There was a question that it wasnt clear in my mind exactly how it was answered. And i just want to make sure that we cleared the record. At this time it the open hearing will adjourn and we will reconvene in a closed hearing upstairs. President trump gives his first address to a joint session of congress tonight. It starts at 9 00 p. M. Eastern and you can see the speech and reaction after the speech live on our companion network cspan. You can also see it online at cspan. Org and on the cspan radio app. Ahead of torrents speech we spoke with the senates president pro tem, orrin hatch of utah, about his role