Entirety at our website, cspan. Org. The Vice President of afghanistan told the United Nations today that attacks from terrorist groups against afghan civilians are being planned from pakistan territory. His remarks are next on cspan3. Local Law Enforcement officials testify about security challenges facing the u. S. After that, the premier of china talks about his countrys economy. And later, a conversation on technology and innovation. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. This thursday morning, were live from the Cannon House Office building on capitol hill where members of the House Homeland Security committee discuss the recent bombings in new york and new jersey. Also the overall threat environment in the country and the work of their committee. Guests include new jersey democratic congressman donald payne jr. , Georgia Republican congressman barry laudermilk, Brian Higgins and Pennsylvania Republican scott perry who is the chair of the subcommittee on oversight and management efficiency. Watch cspans washington journal live beginning at 7 00 eastern thursday morning. Join the discussion. Afghan Vice PresidentSarwar Danesh spoke about security challenges facing his country and the region. Topics included iran, syria, north Koreas Nuclear program and relations with pakistan. His remarks at the u. N. General assem plea in new york city are about 30 minutes. So i have great pleasure in welcoming the Vice President of the Islamic Republic of afghanistan. His excellency Sarwar Danesh, and i invite him to address the General Assembly. Translator mr. President , your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct pleasure to attend the 71st session of the u. N. General assembly. I would like to sincerely congratulate ambassador Peter Townsend from fiji at assuming the presidency of this years General Assembly session. And want to thank his excellency ban kimoon, the u. N. Secretarygeneral, for a decade of his persistent efforts and wise leadership in arenas of support on fundamental freedoms, the rule of law, justice for all, and wish him every success in his future endeavors. Mr. President , the 21st century has brought with it an evercomplex international arena. Some old conflicts have lingered. With new threats and challenges in the forms of wiviolent extremism and terrorism, displacement and migration, Climate Change and other challenges have emerged threatening all of humanity. We have realized that their cooperation provides the most viable avenue to promote peace and security. And to ensure a World Without hatred and conflict. We believe that the u. N. Still remains the single most Important International body for the promotion of global peace, security and prosperity and that achieving a more Stronger Organization remains a priority for all of us and the way forward. The United Nations vital role in helping afghanistan transition into a democratic and realistic society is a clear example of the profound impact in helping to create real change for better societies and communities around the world. Allow me to update the assembly on the current state of affairs in my country. While the government of National Unity in afghanistan has passed two years since establishment, i would like to briefly present our view of the achievements of the government of National Unity under the leadership of his excellency, dr. Muhammad ashraf ghani, the elected president of the Islamic Republic of afghanistan. Mr. President , we in afghanistan aim to strengthen the spread of National Participation and cooperation for reflection and implementation of wishes and will of the afghan citizens. Based on national consensus, all groups, political figures and afghan elites inside and out of the government are jointly sharing ideas for strengthening the political system and the government of National Unity and for implementation of reforms within the framework of national interests. The Afghan Nation has inherited a legacy of conflict, oppression, discrimination and inequality. We believe democracy is the best solution to these problems as it provides the only foundation to ensure justice and inequality and enable social and political groups to be adequately represented. To this end, we have a modern institution that provides for this goal. And only its full implementation can ensure political stability in our society. Our government has made considerable achievements in different areas over the past two years, including reducing maternal and child mortality, increasing access to education, improving basic freedoms, strengthening the telecommunications and information sectors, improving the rule of law and preserving justice and human rights. Internationally, our government has gained a proper status for proving to be a trustworthy partner to the many countries that are engaging afghanistan and have enlisted for security and stability of the country. We are sparing no effort in implementing our commitments towards reforms. Our plan and systematic efforts are ongoing to eliminate corruption and strengthen good governance, judicial reforms, promote womens empowerment, ensure Effective Service delivery for our citizens, ensure accountability standard at all levels of the government, institutionalize meritbased appointments of senior officials, as well as to secure transparency in government contracts with the establishment of the National Procurement committee. In order to strengthen transparency of our future parliamentary president ial and District Council elections, the process of consultations and technical and legal studies on reforming the electoral bodies and electoral laws has concluded, and initial steps towards electoral reforms will begin very soon. Combating the threat of narcotics is another priority of the National Unity government. In this regard, we are cooperating closely with the u. N. Odc and other International Partners and will continue our joint efforts with the National Action plan framework. At the warsaw nato summit last july, nato members and our other allies pledged to provide 1 billion u. S. Dollars in support on an annual basis for the Afghan National defense and Security Forces until the end of 2020. Also the results of our mission which offer support in areas of training advisory and assistance to the afghan Security Forces was also extended beyond 2016. We extend a particular debt of gratitude to the United States of america for providing the largest share of support. In less than two weeks time, afghanistan and our International Partners will come together at the brussels conference to review and reach important decisions on the fullest scope of the joint partnership in the way forward. The National Unity government will be presenting comprehensive update on the positive trajectory of our Reform Efforts conductod the basis of selfreliance. Through mutual accountability framework, we look forward to our International Partners to make new assistance on the basis of afghanistan peace and development framework. Mr. President , despite these achievements, continuation of the undeclared war against afghanistan, the need for security still remains a serious challenge for the government of National Unity as our people are still subject to merciless attacks of terrorist groups. Currently, more than ten terrorist groups were sent from outside afghanistan with the goal of creating obstacles for our state building efforts and preventing the establishment of peace and stability are fighting against us in afghanistan. One of their main objectives is to suppress democracy, freedom of speech and our free and independent media. That is why our journalists are subject to serious threats while reporting from the battlefields. And also during terrorist attacks. Afghanistan requests the United Nations to appoint a special representative for the safety of journalists focused on the protecting all journalists, including those serving in afghanistan. Over the past several months, terrorists, including taliban and daesh who continue to enjoy foreign support attacked the peaceful and civil demonstration of the Enlightenment Movement in kabul and killed tens of our educated youth and elite. They also attacked the university of afghanistan and other civilian facilities, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. Based on existing evidence, these attacks were planned and organized from the other side of the line inside pakistani territory. This year, the taliban tried to take control of more areas in the country, especially in kunduz and helmand provinces. As a result, hundreds of extremist militants of taliban and daesh, many of whom were foreign fighters, were killed or captured. We call on the International Community to pay particular attention to the elimination of terrorist safe havens located outside of the country. We are to implement their international pledges in the fight against terrorism and to avoid a dual policy of making a distinction between good and bad terrorists which undermines the international order. We ask all of you, what were the previous leaders of the taliban and al qaeda residing. And where were they killed. And this very moment, where are the leaders of the taliban and Haqani Network cloelocated . From where and how are terrorists being trained, equipped and financed during a fullscale war . We have repeatedly asked our neighboring country pakistan to destroy the known terrorist safe havens, but we, unfortunately, have yet to witness any change in the situation. Afghanistan has always desired peaceful relations with all countries of the region. However, the government of National Unity reserves the right to do whatever is necessary for the defense and protection of our people. We have also kept open the doors of peace and negotiations for those taliban elements and other groups who are willing to give up violence, return to peaceful life and adhere to our constitution. In this connection, a Peace Agreement is about to be signed between our government and the Islamic Party that will be an important step for progress in our peace process. We believe that the quad lateral Coordination Group composed of afghanistan, peoples republic of china, pakistan and the United States can remain a useful platform to further peace efforts. So long as the government of pakistan acts in good faith to meet and fulfill its commitment within the parameters of the qcgs road map. Mr. President , despite our security challenges, afghanistan has always maintained a positive approach in regards to our relations with all regional countries. And islam ic world. We consider them to be our best partners and seek to strengthen our cultural, social and economic ties and to use our experience to promote peace and coexistence and present a moderate interpretation of islam. In this regard, we welcome the express readiness of the organization of the islamic cooperation and any islamic country to help promote the peace agenda in afghanistan. I want to add that islam as a religion, as a clear thought, culture, civilization and history on the one hand respects human dignity, rights and freedoms and drives National Sovereignty from the will of people. And on the other hand, is against any kind of injustice, exclusivism, hatred, radicalism and violence. Those individuals and groups that resort to violence, terror and killing under any name are not acquainted with the spread of this humane religion and are using islam as a tool to achieve their evil goals. How can islam possibly give permission for terrorism and suicide attacks . To take lives of thousands of innocent people. Who are clearly considered human as representative of god. In the holy versus of koran and considers the killing of one innocent human equal to that of killing all of humanity. We expect of the prominent islamic scholars who will take part in a conference in mecca to further enlighten the true image of islam and declare their condemnation of terrorist and extremists on behalf of our great religion. Mr. President , in order to achieve Regional Cooperation, we need to have a stable region. Afghanistans Foreign Policy is founded on the creation of an economy based society. Afghanistan is an active member of the Regional Organization of sarc and echo and an observer member of the shanghai organization. It aims to actively take part in the revitalization of Regional Cooperation agenda within the heart of asia, stumble and processes. Afghanistan and all of the regional countries have common threats and common interests. We should come together and cooperate to fight against our common threats, including terrorism, radicalism, drugs, organized crimes, illegal immigration and smuggling. Also, the establishment of the regional railroad, energy transit, mine extraction, trade and transit can provide an important joint Economic Cooperation for us. Afghanistan is an important crossroad of trade, transit and Economic Activities can connect the south asia with central asia and the middle east to the east and south asia. Within china, iran, afghanistan and expansion of cooperation in the port of iran. With implementation of these projects afghanistan can reach to International Markets and countries can also get better connected with respect to the principle of noninterference and other countries im holding use of force in resolution of conflicts, respected territorial integrity and national governty, exchange of knowledge and science and technology and most important of all we can prepare for Economic Growth of all countries of our region. Request neighboring countries and in the region and the first country to become the un country and member state and its International Commitments or in the last 16 years we have served as a point of emergence whereby the International Community has come together in this connection i wish to also highlight and thank the uns role in facilitating a role for afghanistan stability and prosperity. During recent years we have signed documents of longterm tra teejic cooperation with 20 of our allies including the us, eu and in a to and important conferences of london, chicago and warsaw and policies and decisions and like other members of the International Community its serious and decisive in fighting against radicalism and its against this ominous phenomenon. It has been years since our nation is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and has made tremendous sacrifices in order to defend common values of humanity. We have lost many of our Great National figures and hundreds of in peace officers and journalists and members. However we believe that terrorism has become Global Threats against world peace. This is true when we witnessed science of radicalism and different forms in europe and america and incidents of terrorist attacks in many countries over the world. In this regard, and considering the extent of these threats, measures of the International Community against tourism and radicalism will not be enough and successful millions the effective wholistic measures encompassing political, cultural, economic and even military aspects are considered as a universal strategic need. The un should hold an International Conference with the gain of introducing a new set up to combat terrorism. We believe serious efforts in the fight against terrorism and radicalism are in need of exact and thorough planning for at least 20 years and in this plan afghanistan should receive special attention from the International Community as they are at the forefront of this fight. One of the ominous outcomes of violence and radicalism is the new wave of immigration last year that made it an Important International challenge. We express gratitude to the countries that offer support especially germany and other European Countries that welcome african refugees with open arms. Also reports the un and its Member States to have a new approach toward this International Challenge and countries where immigrants are coming from to deal with the root causes and reasons of immigration. Especially the ominous phenomen phenomenon. Mr. President , a glimpse show that injustices, threats of violence and conflicts are still endangering millions of human lives throughout the world. We are witnessing the extent of terror in syria. We announced our full support to a comprehensive solution to the syrian conflict that will reflect the will of all syrians. We also have the conflict in yemen. Resolve the issue of palestine and the legitimate rights and pal state prisons including the right to have an independent government and invite all sides to start direct talks in order to achieve a sustainable solution and peace and peaceful coexistence. Afghanistan supports the historic agreement would mean 5 plus one countries and the republic of iran in the Nuclear Program within the joint comprehensive man of action and peace and stability and development and program i should have that we believe are dangerous for the region and endanger war peace and security. Mr. President , since 2001, when we commenced a new chapter of our modern history, afghanistan has regained its historical place among responsible members of the family of the nations that are presented in this assembly. And its our full and abiding commitment to uphold the charter or render a role in promoting global peace, justice, human rights and rule of law. And Human Rights Council for the period of 2018 and 2020. We call respectfully and all of the friends and all the Member States that support our candidacy in the you coming elections. So in conclusion i wish to reiterate on behalf of the Afghan People and government our deepest gratitude to all of our International Partners and peace and security and prosperity for the past 16 years. And especially sacrifices of nato and troops in the fight against terrorism in afghanistan. Together we have come a hong way in our journey. But our task is unfinished. We look to continued support for the coming years and stand confident in realizing the goals we have jointly set to achieve. Here, i wish to highlight once again afghanistans Firm Commitment to the realization in a world in which peace and justice and tranquility prevals. I thank you. The front page headline in todays Washington Post is also Available Online at Washington Post. Com. Donald trump used charitys money to settle his legal disputes and the reporting of david hooking into this story. And thanks very much for being with us. Glad to be here. First did donald trump violate any irs rules . Well, the irs hasnt really even investigated this case so i hate to be the final judge and jury but the irs will say that if youre the president of a charity as trump is here you cant use the money in your chair toy buy things for yourself and to benefit your businesses. Thats called selfdealing and totally against the wall and a number of cases trump did just that. Took money out of his charity either to pay off money that his businesses owed or buy things to decorate the hallways of his clubs or his house. This is the latest in a series of stories that you have been working on. I know you sent donald trump so questions. So far no answers from the exam pain but what are some of the questions that are still unanswered . The biggest question is whether trump had given any of his money to charity since 2008 and its named after him. Since he is giving no money to them and as far as i can tell not much money to anybody else. Anybody got any of the millions of dollars and almost no gifts since 2009. How much time has donald trump spent on his foundation . Thats a good question. Every year in his irs filings he has to tell the irs how many hours a week he spends working on the Trump Foundation. For nine years he told the irs an average of zero hours per week. I dont know how thats possible. In the last filing in 2014, or the last filing that we have access too he said he worked 1half hour per week. Let me put two examples on the table and have you exmain. First case of Martin Greenberg in 2010. What was this about . He was a player at a Charity Golf Tournament and that Charity Golf Tournament had a prize, a 1 million prize. If you hit a hole in one and you win 1 million. And on the 13th hole he hits a hole in one. Everybody goes crazy. He gets his picture taken. Goes to the clubhouse to celebrate his Million Dollars and they pull him out and they say actually you won nothing because the rules of the hole in one contest say that the ball has to travel 150 yards from the tee to the hole or else it doesnt count. If its less than 150 yards the prize isnt good. They set up the golf course in the way that the hole was always going to be too shooter so when he made that, it was too short. He sues. He sues trumps golf course and theres a legal settlement in which they agree to pay some money to charity as sort of a way of settling the lawsuit. But what you can tell from tax records is that his foundation received nothing from the golf course its the actual party to the lawsuit. Instead 158,000 donation to the Donald Trump Foundation charity. So it ameans that the charity paid a settlement that the golf course was supposed to pay. More significantly front page of the post is a check from the foundation. 100,000 to fisher house but theres a story behind this check. What is it . So trump has a resort, a club called maralago. He puts up a giant flag pole. Brought him a lot of good publicity but it was against the town rules. The flag pole was too high. He ends up with 120,000 of unpaid fines to the town against this club. So they go to court. And the agreement is that the town had wave the 120,000 of unpaid fines. And has to make it apart of fisher house that isnt do it. And trumps golf course paid nothing to fisher house. And effectively the club had an obligation of 100,000. What is this all about and we found two cases in which trump at charitiesty options bought large pictures of his own face. One for 20,000 and one for 10,000. And he paid using Donald Trump Foundation money. Now that means if a charity pays for those items the charity owns them and they must be used for charitable purposes. He had to use his own money. To use the charitiestys money at a means by law the portraits had to have charitable use. One painting is still missing. One of them we will find yesterday hanging on the wall of the bar of trumps golf resort outside of miami. Unless they run a soup kitchen in the bar that is not a charitable use and not a proper use of something bought by charity. We were a couple of days away from the first president ial debate. A lot of questions about the Clinton Foundation that will come up and now questions about the Trump Foundation. Does one negate the other . Theyre really very different and theyre different in the moral understanding of both. The Clinton Foundation is huge. It deploys more than 200,000 people and the question for clinton is a moral responsibility. And did he get favors for folks that are also donor foundation. And the work is true and real and in the case of the Trump Foundation its a much smaller enterprise. It doesnt do any of its own charitable work put passes money on and the question is about the moral responsibility of wealth. Trump is a wealthy man and wants it to be known that hes wealthy and made a big deal about how philanthropic he is but he doesnt feel the responsibility to use any of his own wealth for philanthropy. He seems to do everything he can to have other people pay for his fill lan t instead of him. He made that reference. Other peoples money. After a lot of media pressure he paid it but before that i cant find any evidence that he was using anything other than peoples money to pay off his charitable obligations. The latest in a series of investigative pieces looking into the donald j. Trump foundation. The storys Available Online at Washington Post. Com. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. Well look back at past president ial debates. Saturdays on cspan at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. This saturday is a 1976 debate between general ford and former georgia. Gov more jimmy carter. We were faced with heavy inflation, over 12 . We were faced with substantial unemployment but in the last 24 months and we have 500,000 more americans out of work three months ago. And since mr. Ford has been in office in two years weve had a 50 increase in unemployment. The 1980 debate with former california governor Ronald Reagan and president jimmy carter. When i made my decision to stop all trade with iran, as a result of the taking of our hostages i announced then and have consistently maintained since then that if the hostages are released safely that we would make delivery on the items. We had adequate warning that there was a threat to our embassy and we could have done what other embassies did either strengthen our security there or remove our personnel before the kidnap and take over took place. And the 2000 president ial debate between former Texas Governor george w. Bush and incumbent Vice President a al gore. Ill balance the budget every year. Ill pay down the national debt. I will put medicare and Social Security in a lock box and protect it. One quarter of the surplus for important projects and send one quarter of the surplus back to people that pay the bills. Watch past president ial debates saturday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. The cspan radio ap and cspan. Org. Next local Law Enforcement officials from around the country testify about their Counter Terrorism efforts and specio experiences. Well hear from john miller and Orange County florida sheriff jerry dennings. The Security Committee is chaired by congressman michael mccall. This weekend our nation was shaken by terrorist attacks in minnesota. And new york and new jersey. And the injured victims and their families and i appreciate your Deputy Commissioner miller and our hearts go out to the people, the good people of new york. The threat environment is as high as we have ever seen it. Especially from radical islamist extremists. Last year this committee tracked the most home grown jihadist plots ever in a single year mt. United states and in 2016 could be even worse. Our city streets are are once again becoming the battleground. Ft. Hood. Boston. Chattanoo chattanooga, San Bernardino, orlando. Some said this regular terrorism is the new normal but i strongly reject that argument. Complacency is not an option. Terrorists are threatening american lives, our livelihood and our way of life. We cannot falter with so much at stake. That is why yesterday i released a National Strategy to win the war against islamist terror. With proposals for fighting the enemy oversaes and stopping radicalization in our community. And make sure that our front line defenders are better prepared to stop acts of terror. This means that police, fire and other emergency professionals need to be able to detect suspicious activity and catch potential terrorists before its too late. If a plot goes undetected its quickly to prevent loss of life. We saw that play out this weekend when our First Responders acted heroically to protect their fellow citizens. So to the witnesses testifying today i want you to know this committee is greatful for your service to our communities and your sacrifices for our country. Also want to convey one message above all else and that is that we have your backs. Were committed to give you the tools to fight terror. And its the challenging times. Its been a hard year especially for Law Enforcement. You have tough questions in the press and youre staring down violence in our streets every day. Thats why this committee has fought to protect important dhs Grant Funding that you rely on. In fact, later today the house will vote on my bill to authorize an additional 30 million in annual grants to help your communities guard against the dynamic Terror Threat including active shooter attacks, i. D. S and suicide bombers. We have pushed federal agencies to share intelligence with you and share more quickly and comprehensively. We need to ensure that the federal government properly incorporates the valuable ct information you develop from the streets. The street intel in the communities where you serve every day. Today i hope youll share with us what is working on the front lines and what is not. In particular, we want the to know how we can better support you to respond to this unprecedented Terror Threat. Last weekend i went to the 9 11 Memorial Service and listened to all the nearly 3,000 names of those killed read aloud. We do this each year to remember the fallen and to honor the heroism we saw on that faithful day. From First Responders, from police, and every day citizens. Like those brave americans we lost, our witnesses this morning have sworn an oath to protect our people. So before we start, let me just say again, thank you. With that the chair now recognizes the Ranking Member mr. Thompson. Thank you mr. Chairman. Id like to thank you for holding todays hearing. In light of the recent terrorist attacks in minnesota, new jersey, and new york, id like to offer my sympathies to the victims and their families. I believe we all agree that terrorism and any other violence in our streets is an all too common occurrence. We must act boldly to stem this tie. Mr. Miller, thank you for coming to town. I know its a very busy time for you and obviously you are still doing your work before this community today. Thank you for your service. We still stand with the land owner and have not forgotten about the victims of the june terrorist attack. Plflt chairman in just the past four months, incidents in orlando, dallas, minnesota, new york, new jersey have brought in to sharp focus the complex diverse and confounding nature and those that are inspired to carry out attacks do not neatly fit a single profile or single hateful or violence or extremist ideology. And seemingly was not part of a terrorist cell. Just this past saturday a hone actor thats been investigated for possible ties for isil attack ten people at a mall in minnesota. Also last weekend in new jersey and new york its believed that the suspected bomber that also shot two Police Officers may have been inspired by al qaeda and right now appears to have acted alone. In july a perpetrator who had no former affiliation with any particular group but may have been inspired by a black separatist group shot and killed five Police Officers in dallas texas. We know by now that our Law Enforcement is a target for terrorists. We also know that Law Enforcements job is made more difficult by the availability of assault weapons. Earlier this month, one of our subcommittees received testimony from representatives of local Law Enforcement identifying the availability of guns and the lone wolf threat as Serious Problems for police. In fact, i would note that one of our witnesses to date, has gone further in describing this challenge by stating that the widespread availability of guns in this country makes it possible for potentially dangerous persons to legally acquire weapons to cause mayhem and causalities. And this isis abroad and home grown extremist. I look forward to engaging the chief on this point. Even a terrorist note that it is far easier to carry out an attack in the name of that ideology with a gun than in europe. A testimony by one former member of isil published this summer underscores this point. And terrorist recruitment in the followers. For america, it is easy to get them over the social network because the americans have open gun policies and if they have no prior record they can buy guns. We dont need a contact man to provide guns for them. Mr. Chairman we have seen the scenario, the former isil member mentioned unfold with assault weapons here in this country. We saw it in San Bernardino where perpetrators inspired by isil walked into a soft target and killed 14 people and injured another 22 with an assault style weather. We saw it again this june in orlando and walked into a night club and killed 49 people with an assault weapon. I witnessed it and recognize the impact of assault weapons was having on our Homeland Security. And make a determination of what they stand for and how prevalent some of these Assault Rifles available to date. Otherwise we dont make some modification. Ergoing to continue seeing some of what you see happening here now here in orlando. I agree with you that radicalization is a problem. And not to give into terrorism. And places where our constituents live work and play at risk of becoming battlegrounds hike syria and afghanistan. As lawmakers we make it more difficult for terrorists to carry out attacks on u. S. Soil. Taking an action and it would be a good start. However it seems that in the waning days of this congress theres more appetite for counter productive proposals such as closing the border to muslims or ethnically profiling whole communities. Secretary jay and time for us to rethink it. Opening statements may be submitted for the record. Were pleased to have a distinguished panel of witnesses here before us today on this topic. I want to thank you for being here today. He is in my hometown in austin texas and finally mr. John miller. Deputy commissioner for the new York City Police department. And he is very busy and back home at new york. Thank you for being here now. Id like to recognize his opening statement. Good morning chairman call Ranking Member thompson. And really represents 68 of the largest cities of the kriets and the chairman of the Homeland Security committee. I want to first of all thank you plflt chairman and your committee for your outstanding leadership and your work in this vital area at a time when i think the threat not only continues to expand but the consequences of terrorism are hitting our communities every day. I can tell you that the one thing that keeps us all up is the issue of the lone wolf. And just in the last few days we have seen the consequences. And become radicalized and we can no longer call this an emerging threat. Its an imminent threat or on going threat and its a threat that we continue to fight. We witnessed the horror of the lone wolves not just this weekend and the city. We also have to keep in mind that we have our own home grown extremists with very different views and theyre extremes no matter which way you look at that. Three thanksgivings ago is you have a man by the name of mr. Mcwilliams that is part of the priesthood who on that thanksgiving night went around austin trying to burn down the mexican conciliate and with an aflt k. 47 type of Assault Rifle aattacked the conciliate and attacked the federal courthouse and attacked our headquaters firing 108 rounds into our occupied headquaters nearly striking one of our detectives in the middle of the night. We have an American Hero and texas hero and only in texas can a Police Sergeant take a shot while he is being shot at with an ak 47 from 312 feet away. Strike the suspect in the heart while holding two horses with one hand. I think it speaks to the professional i feel of the American Police officer and the courage despite the National Discussion around policing today. He know theyre out there and theyre going to continue to hurt us and radicalization is how we get to that point. Its important for this committee. Especially for elected officials to temper our comments and temper our broad brushes were using to paint members of the community and religion of the race of a National Origins as criminals or as terrorists. Individuals feel marginalized or feel that theyre not welcome end up being much more susceptible from radicalization whether its from a street gang or islamist using social media to radicalize folks. Its critical that we continue as Police Departments and Sheriffs Departments and as a nation to build bridges to make people feel welcome. The communities we serve whether theyre muslim, african american, hispanic, asian, christian, jewish theyre the greatest force multipliers. Theyre the ones that are going to spot the suspicious behavior. Theyre the ones that have to feel they have to feel there was a Community Member that found one of the unexploded devices. It was i believe a member of the community that happened to own a bar that trusted a new York City Police department that felt they were included by the new York City Police department and help the new York City Police department capture that suspect before he can carry out more terror in our nation. And do that for our community. The crown terrorist enterprise you know is important us. We continue to work on the National Level with the Sheriffs Department with their intel Commanders Group to be able to tie some of the issues that we see across the country to be able to not just disrupt but prevent terrorism and look forward to talking about that. One of the areas we need help with is the Law Enforcement terrorist prevention program. Theres no national coordination. No designated official at dhs which prepares and ill plement a terrorist prevention plan and letp needs to be explored and hopefully absolutely strengthened. One of the piggest frustrations i have as a police chief and my colleagues will share this is as it relates to Grant Funding and the distributional funds fema is still not the right organization to be spear heading that. Its too much focused on response. Well were responding to the terrorist attack and already feel the American People. We have to have another office that understands the importance of prevention and the importance of disruption and unfortunately fema, despite our efforts of Police Executives to put more effort in terms of funding for prevention and disruption continues to focus on me response and its too late not only in terms of the psychological impact of the nation and we want you to look hard at how those funds are being distributed and who is responsible for the funds being distributed. And dlifr the results that the division of congress because it lacks authority, budget and staffing. We hope that you will consider remedying this organization by further directing dhs to put some teeth into that position. Fortunately the incumbent assistant secretary of Law Enforcement continues to work with us but she is able to do so because of the efforts of deputy secretary who has been playing an entry gral role in helping her despite the challenges. It continues to be a great challenge and i hope that we will look at having industry when we put in a search warrant and not sit on it for days on end when we have seconds hours minutes to try to disrupt the next attack. Whether its a person with mental illness, Islamic Radical or some other radical we have to have laws that make these things a priority. I want to thank congressman donovan and Ranking Member payne for your leadership and making it a stand alone asset at the federal level. We hope your bill passes because it will be instrumental in helping us respond to the next threat and i want to say thank you for 5308. We should take the interest for terrorist organizations and invest that interest in the safety of the American People and the safety of every day crime and i thank you for your leadership and i look forward to the discussion. Chair recognizes the sheriff. My name is Michael Bouchard and i have been in Law Enforcement for almost 30 years. Ill be speaking briefly but in my actual testimony i submitted i will go into a greater depth and be at 30,000 foot. Im the Vice President in charge of affairs for Major County Sheriffs Association of america and ill testifying on their behalf and like all of you and all of our fellow americans on 9 11 our world was changed dramatically. The men and women of Law Enforcement work as neighbor streets do not become the next battleground. The major violence has evolved and the expansion of encryption and the use of social media and inspiration of lone wolf attacks and recruitment is very evident and very prevalent. We find ourselves at a new age where criminals and terrorists enthusiastically operate beyond the confines of law through encrypted networks and applications in mobile devices id like to submit our paper following this discussion. Home grown violent extremists is another example of the threat environment facing local Law Enforcement. They come from a variety of backgrounds and driven by reely jous or ideological factors. They prevent a uniquely dangerous situation for Law Enforcement. Robust Community Engagement as was mentioned by the chief is very important in a direct way of combatting violent extremism. It requires commitment to meet with leaders of Diverse Communities and those relationships become resilient. As evidence of recent radical islamist terrorist attacks and others the threat posed by our governments refugee and visa programs are real. When its conducted and no information is available from their home country its impossible to verify the information needed to make an informed decision on the threat level posed by an applicant. And found the u. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services granted citizenship to over 800 individuals from special interest countries that have been ordered deported or removed under a different name. Thats the vetting process were talking about. It requires them to consult with state or local governments and the intended distribution of refugees to localities. Despite this requirement no one is making any members of the association on this issue. Theres been over 1200 refugees settle in my state with the majority and not one phone call. With the increased threat environment Law Enforcement has been continuously asked to do more with less. The president proposed an fy 17 budget that cuts funding by 45 . The total amount received have been reduced every year. Through executive action and not legislation the administration recalled certain 1033 military surplus equipment. On the same day as the San Bernardino terror attack my office received an order to return an armored personnel carrier to be destroyed because it looks too militarized. It pulls up to protect money and its viewed as normal but if Law Enforcement pulls up in the same vehicle at the same building to protect lives somehow its bad in fy16 congress allocated a initiative to help prepare for event and complex coordinated attacks. And they proactively offered suggestions to fema and address Law Enforcement needs. And no progress has been made on that issue either. And after i selfdeploy to involved agencies to ground zero and hurricane katrian we engaged in dialogue on how to train Regional Response teams. Where does that Program Stand today . I dont know. Its been two years we worked on that and its completely fallen off the map. Our boarders are more secure than ever and undocumented individuals continue to illegally enter the homeland. If we dont have Border Security we do not have national security. Id like to thank the committee and staff for all of their work and bipartisan and countless bills passed the community with the aim to secure our homeland. Id hike to thank for his committee and engage us in local Law Enforcement. Greatly appreciated and often not hurt at other levels. I thank the committee and look forward to other questions. Good morning, chairman mccall and Ranking Member thompson and members of the committee. It is indeed an honor and a privilege to me to provide testimony today during this hearing to discuss ways to stop the next attack. To be a doomsday reporter. The nation experienced a paradigm shift in our global war on terror. I agree that we should not accept the current state of affairs as the new normal. Theres been numerous recent violent incidents on soil that indicates that terror subjects brought the fight to our homeland and theyre now focussing on soft targets in our cities and counts which puts local Law Enforcement officers squarely in the cross hairs of violent extremists. My community, the metropolitan orlando area experienced such an attack on the 12th. Members responded involving an active shooter. The incident remains under investigation by the fbi but it is believed that a lone gunman killed 49 innocent people and injured another 53 persons in the Pulse Night Club incident. The incident began shortly after 2 00 a. M. When omar began firing at patrons of the club on a night designated as latin night. If were going to be successful at reducing the attacks on american citizens by violent extremists federal state and local Law Enforcement authorities must improve our working relationships in three ways. Number one, we must improve the access to information. The sharing of actionable intelligence information that can be used to identify an arrest subject involved in plotting attacks before an attack occurs. Funding to include training and equipment must be increased. As it relates to information, the department of Homeland Security, dhs should reassess policy on state and local agencies from having access to the data base that identifies individuals as being in this country illegally. And they are not aware of the subjects status. Its clearly a function of the federal government and sheriffs do not seek this authority. We have enough on our plate. They already know they are illegal and have the authority to arrest and deport them. Local and state Law Enforcement should know who they are dealing with even if they cannot arrest for immigration violations. As it relates to sharing information, florida sheriffs have seen increased immune kags from the department of justice and dhs to state and local Law Enforcement concerning critical incidents. Assistant secretary at dhss office of Partner Engagement has been a driving force behind this and most have been invited to participate in Conference Calls following International Events effecting Law Enforcement and Public Safety and give credit for increasing communication with state and local Law Enforcement and for pushing facts to sheriffs directly as opposed to sheriffs receiving information from the National News media. In order for american Law Enforcement to prevent, respond to and mitigate domestic terror attacks, analytics and training will be entry gal will be integral. Its numerous projects funded in previous years by the urban Area SecurityInitiative Grant program. We have been working for the past two years to get dhs funding restored to our ree swron. Region. They worked with the Orlando Police and these efforts. We have petitioned dhs and fema to reassess the msa and the need to strengthen and security Central Florida from another terror attack. Like the Pulse Night Club incident. The Central Florida region has been fortunate to receive 45 million since 2004. The Orange Countys Sheriff Office has managed the funds. The funding received prior to 2013 was critical to our regions ability to prevent, protect, respond to and recover for not only terrorism but broad range of other threats and hazards. We are only as good at preventing a terror attack as the quality of information that we receive about that attack. I will gattis cuss one of our most notable regional partnerships called the Central Florida intelligence exchange. Its located in orlando. It is only one of three Fusion Centers in florida. It serves as a central repository and local Law Enforcement agencies. In addition to this Counter Terror i feel focus, assisting agencies and assistance needed to recover from hazards such as hurricanes and national advertise asters. And the investigation of crimes that possibly contain terrorist activity or other Homeland Security issues. In other words Fusion Centers located throughout the country are pivotal to our nations. Due to the lack of funding critical needs in the Fusion Center have been lost. And areas near the university of Central Florida. Due to a loss of funding we have not been able to expand the project into areas around our top tourist destination. Prior to june 12th, 2016 we have more than a dozen funded training exercises over the past 12 years. I believe the agencies responding to the pulse incident flaw leslie initiated an active shooter response. Because of training paid for through historical funding. You have a list of the training exercises in your material. We train to respond as a region to a terror attack of the disaster. About 150 of my deputies along with multiple other Law Enforcement and fire and ems agencies responded to assist the orlando Police Department doing the pulse incident and it was a natural thing to have regional capability and vulnerability assessment. Regional prepareness and response and Recovery Efforts are pivotal to the mission of stopping or reducing terror attacks. Presently fema uses the office of management and budgets geographical boundaries to find in the federal register when calculating risk scores for msas. We believe the boundaries should be expanded to include the area to the east and the msa to the north. We realize that that is a heavy li lift. In september 2015 we began the process of lobbying the federal government to come bien it. It was broadly supported and numerous letters were written to the fema assistant administrator of Grant Programs and the office of information and regulatory affairs. You have a list and copies of materials. And dallas and other places most recently in new jersey and might be minute and there is a need to have an overall increase in new Asset Funding across the nation. An overall increase would expand the ability to the for the top 100 high risk areas from 85 to 90 or better area with the most risk. Areas like Central Florida will no doubt make the list. Congressman has expressed support to increase funding nationwide. In 2016 the orlando msa was 34 on the list of 100. When only 29 were funded. Local and state agencies have equipment needs and the requiz sit training for use of the equipment including mobile command centers, surveillance equipment, tact car length weapons, Armored Vehicles and explosive detection is important. In closing, i thank you for allowing me to speak and i ask the committee to analyze the current msa methodology formula and the data used in the formula to reflect current threats and vulnerabilities. Thank you. Thank you sheriff. The chair recognizes commissioner miller for his opening statement. Thank you mflt chairman and thank you for your continued help and support with our program. As well as peter king and donovan that comes out of the new york city Law Enforcement community as done kathleen rice. Good morning to the members of the committee. First id like to thank the chairman for giving us this opportunity to talk about this. And changing threat and how we might respond to a terrorist attack. Nobody had any idea that we would be sitting here within days of an actual terrorist attack. Talking about how we did respond new york city has been the target of more than 20 terrorist attacks. And some have succeeded and most have been prevented through the use of good intelligence and robust of syria using the internet and social media tools that delivered a call to arms to those that travel to syria or fight for isil and there that interact but also understanding how to leverage propaganda that includes compelling videos, twoway conversations over social media applications, both encrypted and unencrypted, online magazine filled with messages, giving useful tactical critiques on attacks that have already happened, including the orlando shooting, and giving instructions on how to make bombs. These are specific custom design messages to urge people who could not come to syria to fight or iraq, to kill americans here, the message is hold a promise to those who are receiving them, of valor, of belongings, of empowerment. And these messages containing these false promises resinate particularly with recruits who are failing in life, living in the margins, who have low self esteem or feel isolated. No city in the american has been as many plots and attacks. No city has paid in much as blood as we did on 9 11 and the 15year since, no city his invested in the effort to prevent, if possible, or respond if necessary, to a terrorist attack. We thank this committee. We thank our appropriators. We thank the department of Homeland Security and secretary j. Johnson for steadfastly continuing to support those efforts with funding. That said, the nypd and the city of new york invests significant amounts of our own budget to support those efforts. This year alone, the nypd created the Critical Response command, the crc is a highly trained, especially equipped, uniform force of over 500 officers that work full time every day as a Counter Terrorism force in the streets of new york city. They protect critical locations and shift between key potential terrorist targets depending on the intelligence weve evaluated that day and the global threat stream. Weve provided the same weapons and training through our Strategic Response command, srg, the city wide flying squad that can be called on to assist our Emergency Service unit which is s. W. A. T. Capable unit that is our goto First Responders for any crisis. That adds up to capabilities that is unmatched by any municipal Police Department on the globe, as far as we know. Weve trained over 8,000 regular patrol officers and tactics to counter the active shooter, as we have seen this trend grow over recent years, those are the officers who are most likely, because of their proximity in number, to arrive in such a scene first. The nypd has built what is widely regarded as the most sophisticated Intelligence Bureau outside of the intelligence government. That bureau works hand in hand, particularly the fbi, joint Terrorism Task force and Homeland Security. Over at the jtt in new york we have over 100 detectives assigned inside the jttf that are integrated and operating gross designated as federal Law Enforcement officers. The nypd has spent over 300 million over the last eight years combined city and federal funds to build and maintain the das or domain awareness system. This combines a network of cameras across the city, over 8,000 of them, with data from our 911 call system, with license plate readers, with radiation detection, sensors across the city, with Law Enforcement databases. In the last year under former commissioner bill braden, that data faced inwards to people like me at Police Headquarters was pushed outward, it was turned outward to the people who need it the most and could use it the most and thats the cop on the street. Every Police Officer in new york has access to that information from their department issued smartphone. This phone is able to access the network, it means during a terrorist incident, as we saw just this week, that having 1,500 people who work full time on Counter Terrorism can quickly be changed to 36,000 in the street. Were able to push Law Enforcement information, pictures of the suspect, information we had to every Police Officer in the street who was working when we decide today go out with a picture of the suspect we had probable cause to arrest, all of that with the power of just hitting a send key. In the moments starting after 8 30 p. M. On saturday night when two bombs were placed in new york city on that evening. I also have to say the seemless cooperation between the fbi and nypd in our Homeland Security partners, whether that was fbi, ert, evidence response technicians, working in a post blast with our crime scene investigators, bagging and tagging the same way, sending everything to the same lab, the fbi lab at quantico, whether it was our nypd bomb squad detectives, working side by side with their sabt, special agent bomb techs from the fbi, our detective bureau, jttf. It was a force multiplier that worked that case as if they did it every day together, because they do. Thank you and ill be happy to take questions. Thank you commissioner miller. I now recognize myself for questions, i think the last time i saw you, john, we were in new york at the 9 11 ceremony the next day, received an intelligence briefing at the Intelligence Unit at nypd. Little did we know that within days there will be a terrorist attack in the streets of new york. I was presented a video by i think encapsulates the threat moving forward and in my ways in prothetic in terms of what we saw happen last saturday. In all its gloiry, remaining and expanding. Commissioner miller thank you for that video. We saw that, obviously, last week before the tragic events in new york on saturday. Now, what i was struck by is stay home and fight, are we seeing a changing evolving message now coming out of isis syria to stay home and attack in the United States . I think we are. I think that the messages, especially the preramadan message which called on people to attack where they were, has shifted from come to syria and fight with us on the battlefield to, as one of the message have clearly written, it said we love you more doing actions in their countries, referring to countries other than syria, meaning we would rather have you fight at home than come here and fight on the battlefield. Which concerns me from Homeland Security perspective, because i think as we have some success military, well see the battleground coming more here to the United States. This is a copy of mr. Rahamaes journal that was found on his person when he was taken into custody. I know youre familiar with it. He talks about the sounds of bombs being heard in the streets. Streets praised Osama Bin Laden his brother. He talked about fort hood texas. He talked about pressure cooker, bombs and pipe bombs in the streets as they plan to run a mile. He talks about god willing the sound of bombs be heard in the streets, gunshots to your police, death to your oppression, you continue your slaughter against be in afghanistan iraq, syria, pal stan, he wrote, according to his compliant in another section, he wrote that his guidance comes from the man that you mentioned, chief isis spokesman and external operations chief who was killed by an air strike, who talked about killing where you are. Precisely, i think the evolving threat were facing. Commissioner miller, i have to ask you this question, was the suspect, mr. Rahami, at any point in time, under the radar . Is there anything we could have done differently to have stopped him . Im sure than if after every incident, our federal partners will go backwards to this case and reevaluate that. But based on what ive seen so far as part of the investigation, he seems like many suspects who came to contact with this system at various times and was handled to the extent that the system of the law and guidelines that we operate under would allow them to. And its unfortunate in many of these incidents and we stop most of these things as you know, but the ones we miss, it seems like its always after the fact that somebody comes forward i noticed he was radicalizing but i saw this or that but they failed to report it to authorities and i think thats probably what well find out to be the case here. Chief, we have for today authorizing nearly 40 million for grants to train an active shooting, to train in ied and to train in suicide bombers. Can you tell me how that could help your city and my city, the city of boston, help better prepare for this type of event. You know that training is really key to be prepared to respond, and unfortunately, with the tightening budgets around the country, one of the first things that goes away is the training budget. So from the perspective of the major city chiefs, your bill will go along way in preparing the resources throughout the nation and big cities and throughout the counties and without it i dont think that we can prepare, to the extend, that we need to. Unfortunately for us in austin we make it a priority, so we sacrifice, not every city has that ability, and i think for us we desperately need the funding. Thank you very much, coming from the outset, theres no question this committee is absolutely committed to keeping america as safe can possibly be. 100 is what we strive for every day and the man in women is various departments, we salute you for that. One of the things we struggle with is when thesen incidents of the long wolves appear. You get a lot of people after the fact what he should have done this and should have done that. So now theres a discussion that well, maybe we need to put more surveillance on the individuals and to some degree even profile individuals. And i think mr. Miller, since new york is kind of the melting pot and as a practitioner of this, especially in light of the bartender dialing 911 saying, i think we have a problem. Can you explain that kind of engagement with those kind of communities, what your experience has been . You cannot profile a community at the same time, that count on in these cases. We have had many people from the arab muslim and help us in various investigations over various times. And in the context of that video, weve also kind of sat down and to them on the idea the main stream so we want have to be able for the messaging and powerful propaganda that some of their young people might be susceptible to and work with them to try and figure out how do you counter that message and what do you use. So this is a conversation with a community of partners that has to keep going and you cant keep it going by separating them. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. A lot of the statement proliferation weapons. But some of us have even promoted the notion that why should be able to by being on the terrorist watch list is, you know, what were trying to do is close every potential vuner b vulnerability that we know of. It has nothing to do with the Second Amendment. Its just that if youre too bad to get on a plane and then its clear in the minds of to to improve that youre not. And so chief, can you kind of on where that assault weapon. And clearly that one of the challenges we have in this nation is the fire arms in the fact that we use the Second Amendment as a an excuse to pass common sense laws that will help keep fire arms in the hands of law abiding americans of sound mind. I can tell you coming from the state of texas where the Second Amendment is king. I spent a lot of time talking to conservative members of our community, they are in favor of universal background checks. Theyre in favor of closing the gun show loophole where we can watch people go in there, if youve got the cash, cash is king, you can buy whatever you want. We have a responsibility as policy makers, i would urge this body, is this body that can get it done at the National Level, to celebrate the Second Amendment by ensuring that we take steps to ensure that responsible people are gun owners and not people that will do harm to their fellow americans and quite frankly as it relates to mental health, it might do harm to fellow americans or themselves. We need help, i know the support is out there. I think that the survey show that from the American People and ahe