[inaudible conversations] good morning. The committee will come to order. Welcome one and all. On monday september 16 a horrible tragedy unfolded in the navy yard in washington d. C. A very troubled individual took 12 lives in a senseless act of violence. The circumstances that led to this tragedy are multidimensional. The issues raised by this tragedy such as the adequacy of our gun laws and the quality of Mental Health care are outside the purview of this committee. But as we have learned more about aaron alexis a number of my colleagues and i have been asking each other why such a troubled unstable individual possessed a security clearance from the United States government. Why was he originally granted a security parents when he did not disclose his arrest record on his application . Why did the investigator responsible for looking into that arrest rights quote retaliated by deflating someones tires instead of disclosing alexis had shot those tires. We also wonder how such violence
The others were clearly a miss take. Mistake. Congratulations. Thank you for doing double duty here in the last six months in taking this on. To our colleagues who were good enough to find a way supporting a confirmed director, i thank you for your support. As the acting director, miss kaplan oversees the office of federal investigative services. The office responsible for ensuring that the federal government has a work force that is worthy of public trust by investigating and reviewing applications for security clearances. And by performing background checks to determine whether a person is suitable for employment by the federal government or federal contractor. Acting director kaplan, thank you for your testimony, for your leadership and good luck in what lies ahead. Letti, brianess is preoletti a special Security Director at the office of director of National Intelligence. Hes held this position since may of 2013 after serving at the Central Intelligence agency from 1981 to 2013. As
National captioning institute] committee. Performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] the circumstances that led to this tragedy are multidimensional. Many issues raised by the tragedy such as the accuracy of our gun laws and the quality of our Mental Health care are outside the purview of this committee. As we have learned more about aaron alexis, a number of my colleagues and i have been asking each other why a troubled unstable individual possessed a security clearance from the United States government. Why was he originally granted a security clearance when he did not disclose his arrest record on his application . Why did the investigator responsible for looking into that arrest write up that alexis had, quote, retaliated by deflating someones tires instead of disclosing that alexis had shot those tires . We also wonder how such violence could have taken place in the navy yard which is more secure than just about any workpla
Not be letting when we give them the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, which is what this security clearance is, that ought to mean something. And if they breach it, that ought for something that we consider very serious with very serious consequences. And so i applaud your work. I would like to know how many have actually been discharged or disciplined for either lying on applications. Obviously they wouldnt get the clearance. But not reporting after the fact. Mr. Chairman, again, thank you for the time. Thanks. Those were tough questions. Senator mccaskill. I think one of the most revealing things this morning is the realization that while an arrest report may be part of a background check, there is not a requirement that the underlying Police Report be obtained. And i tell you why this is a shocking revelation. Like senator ayotte, im a former prosecutor, and the vast majority of cases that would review a mental disturbance will not have a disposition. The criminal Justice System
Other jurisdictions besides seattle, they will refer another database and that is what they did. We did not go in this particular case essay will you depart from your policy . This is, again, something we need to take a close look at and will be as part of the president s review. Isis problematic that there information written on a piece of paper somewhere that we did not have access to. Shocking it incredibly that we wouldnt pursue a Police Report in any of these arrest situations because the nature of the charge, looking at the underlying Police Report, having been a prosecutor, can tell us very different information and a prosecutor may not have the elements to make a particular charge and the disposition may tell us nothing. Here,eing prior behavior getting a Police Report would have set up a very different set of conduct for anyone looking at that. So i do believe we do have to change that, we do have to get the underlying reports. And if that requires coming to an understanding w