His commitment makes him a valuable asset and we are happy to have you. I would like to join you and welcome mr. Donovan. He is an outstanding attorney and an outstanding public servant. Great to have you on board. Just to show how bipartisan we are going to be, as a democrat, i would like to welcome my former colleague dan donovan. It is great to have you here and i look forward to working with you. Anybody else echo mr. Richmond onto a more serious topic, yesterday in boston, sorts are merging that mr. Rahim was killed by federal Law Enforcement officers after lunging at them with a knife. After communicating with and spreading isis propaganda online. Known associates are also being arrested as we speak. These cases are a reminder of the danger posed by individuals radicalized by social media. In garland one month ago. He urge others to do the same the mohammed cartoon contest that islamists have singled out as a target. The final tweet minutes before the attack, he told his follower
We have an obligation and thats safety and security of the homeland. Theres going to be handoff between the various agencies. How do we make sure with this increased workload and increased pressure to help the refugees that we dont make a mistake that could potentially put our homeland at risk . And ill start with anybody in the agency. Maybe Homeland Security. I was concerned of the numbers and well go to the security. Just to be clear, yes, we are our goal, whatever you want to call it for physical year is 85,000. Within the 85,000 we are thriving to admit ten thousand syrians. That is not a capt. The only clarification i have is that secretary kerry said its not a ceiling. Its the floor. I think if that were to be raised it would be a higher number. The hundred thousand refers to the aspiration, the goal to do a hundred thousand refugees to ky 2017. I can assure you on our side there will be no shortcuts on security or medical screening. There will be no shortcuts on processing. We
Regarding the Security Checks. We will not cut corners. The Security Check requirements were developed in the inner agency with the consultation and expertise of the fbi, our dhs partners, and the Intelligence Community partners and the security regime was set up with all that input. And i have heard no discussion of making any cuts to it for any reason. I would like to point out that the grant grants of Refugee Status are discretionary so that if there is a doubt, the case is referred for further review and if theres a National Security concern, that individuals application is denied. As the refugee situation continues to evolve, the administration is assessing its capacity and resource needs for fiscal year 2016 within an increased number of refugees it will be important to preserve currently available resources and fund this at a sufficient level. Mr. Chair, if i may just one question related to accountability. Mr. Bartlett, i understand that youre working with the decisions that ha
Has acknowledged they do not perform oversight of these programs. Remarkably, a similar argument for collection under these programs is marked by the arguments under the section 215 program. This is the promise of big data. This is the Technology Age in which we live. What it means is that massive amounts of information can now be collected in order to anticipate threats and to anticipate individuals who might engage in wrongdoing. That approach is what the founders rejected. While information is being collected under foreign intelligence authorities, in certain circumstances, it may be used and is being used for criminal prosecution. The problem is, our communications are now global. We have historically depended on the borders of the United States to protect us. We are no longer bound by geography in how we communicate. Our conversations go internationally routinely. When they do, they can be monitored under a mere yut of programs currently in place. Similarly, our private papers and
Then it said it planned to accept a floor of 85,000 refugees and at least 100,000 next year. Once here with Refugee Status those individuals can claim any job and collect any federal welfare benefit. Recent statistics from the department of health and Human Services office of Refugee Resettlement indicate that 75 of refugees receive food stamps and more than half receive Free Health Care and cash benefits. For refugees from the middle east the numbers are even higher. More than 90 of recent middle eastern refugees draw food stamps and about 70 receive Free Health Care and cash welfare. Refugee settlement also comes with security risks as we have witnessed with the surge of isis recruitment among, for example, somali refugee communities in minnesota. Anyone claiming to have a serious and honest discussion of Refugee Resettlement must ask the difficult questions about integration, how can we accomplish that. Assimilation, and community safety. This is certainly true with respect to count