Transcripts For CSPAN Federal Bureau Of Investigation Oversight 20140616

Comments on washington journal. Today the discussion of European Security and the challenges facing the transatlantic relationship after the crisis in ukraine. Well have that live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3. On wednesday, f. B. I. Director told the house judiciary retire committee that the f. B. I. Returned a database of taxpayer information mistakenly received from the i. R. S. He acknowledged that the f. B. I. Had the database for four years but said investigators did not exam it. The f. B. I. Would need a court order to legally look at the information. It is two hour and 40 minutes. Good morning the Judiciary Committee will come to order without we welcome everyone to the oversight hearing. I will begin by recognize ice to our nation and a confident you will serve honorably at the helm of the fbi. Last week marked the oneyear anniversary of the first leak of classified material by Edward Snowden a criminal betrayal of his country in arguably the most of it can the kid u. S. History. Over the past year the house Judiciary Committee conducted oversight over the apple Collection Program and spearheaded house passage of the freedom act this bipartisan information nationalsecurity program that it provide expanded oversdo9[qu;n of americas intelligence gathering. Although the leaks by pay the we have been a bit is for congressional reform the passage of the Bipartisan Legislation in a way no way condones or excuses is action the consequences of what he did not be a fully realize. I want to thank director comey and men and women of the fbi to work closely with members of the committee, house intelligence and leadership to kraft usa freedom act reform in such a way to preserve capabilities while simultaneously achieving the Global Collection another dark day in American History exactly one year nine months ago our Diplomatic Mission and benghazi was attacked for americans including our ambassador were killed the administration tried to blame the attack on a video critical of his long but we now know that was not the case it was premeditated carried out by islamist politicians. , in august 2013 relearned the Justice Department filed criminal charges against several individuals for their alleged involvement in the attack however as of to date no one has been apprehended. I of interested to hear more from director comey on the status of the fbi investigation. I know you may be reticent to comment of the Ongoing Investigation that the American People deserve to know if we should expect them to bring to justice the killers who murdered four of our citizens. I am also interested to hear more of the investigation into the i. R. A. Start getting of conservative groups. Last year your predecessor director mueller informed the committee the fbi was investigating the matter and was hesitant to answer questions if there was the ongoing criminal investigation. Earlier this year the official said that no criminal charges were expected in the matter and on super bowl sunday president obama stated there was not even a smidgen of corruption in connection with the irs targeting. Then on april 8 before this Committee Attorney general holder claims the investigation is still ongoing and led by longtime obama and Democratic National committee donors. Of may 21st also declined to answer questions about the matter explaining the investigation is ongoing. Frustration is mounting over the scandal and basic facts are unknown or contradicted by this administration. Is there an investigation has there been progress . What is the status . Why did the Justice Department and fbi continued to assert that the investigation is ongoing despite the assertion that no crime was committed . Do you disagree . Those facts and circumstances led the house to approve a resolution calling on the attorney general to appoint a special counsel. How could we trust investigation is carried out when the president claims no corruption occurred . I hope you can shed some light on that today the American People deserve no less. Finally a wish to discuss the reestablishment of the domestic terrorism is executive committee that was first established by janet reno in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing to disrupt homegrown terrorism threats to reform their unit attorneygeneral holder said tragic incidents like the Boston Marathon bombing and active as shooters situations like fort could dash have clear examples we must disrupt will laughters a with the arms of a nation. And it was necessary to respond to the teaching terrorist threat by the al qaeda core of leadership and but i take serious issue with the notion that america faces a reduce risk from al qaeda even cited by general holder the shooting and the bombing be like the fact that other extremism is on the decline so what does the attorney general really intend to target with the dtec . The answer that in part by stating we may concern ourselves with the continued danger reface from individuals within our own borders motivated by other causes including antigovernment a animus. Was the group advocating for Smaller Government overtaxes be included if with antigovernment animus . Given it appears to have used the irs to intimidate its political opponents the reestablishment of the dtec should cause us to stand up and take notice of the forward to these and other important topics today as well as other issues of significance to the fbi and the country it is my pleasure to recognize the Ranking Member for his Opening Statement. Thank you chairman goodlatte we will continue director comey for your first appearance before the house Judiciary Committee since taking office september 4, 2013. I have great confidence personally in your commitment to fairness and the rule of law. And in 1996 as assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of virginia, it you were appointed prosecutor in the bombing case in saudi arabia. In 2002 for the Southern District of new york you have a wide variety of complex, high profile cases to help the district return to some measure of normalcy in the aftermath of the attacks of september 11. In 2004 serving as Deputy Attorney general of the United States, you refused to certify the Bush Administrations lawless dragnet Surveillance Program then confronted senior white house personnel at the hospital when the administration sought to gain approval from mr. Ashcroft directly. Time and time again you have demonstrated your basic commitment to the rule of law even in dramatic circumstances. That is why i am pleased you are here at the helm of the fbi on this, the First Anniversary of our public discussion of the government domestic Surveillance Programs. The house passed h. R. 3361 the usa freedom act that i played a significant role to bring forward. This legislation designed to end domestic polka collection across the board applies to you to 15 of the patriot act the fis the did register authorities and National Security statutes. I am proud to have voted the only measure to pass the house to throwback any aspect of government surveillance since the passage of the fisa act of 1970 act. But balks collection is only one aspect of the of problem over the past few years our early difficulties with National Security letters notwithstanding the new fbi has proven a responsible custodian of the new legal authorities granted to the bureau after september 11. For the most part uses the tools congress has provided in the manner intended but the fbi is the end user of massive amounts of data without and a warrant or individualized suspicion. Of course, this raises serious Civil Liberties concerns. Director comey you have a struggle to bring in unlawful surveillance and i hope you will continue to work with this committee to help us restore a measure of public trust in this area. Although we have spent much of the last decade focused on counterterrorism is critically important to the bureau balance the National Security function with the of lawenforcement mission and in this vein of mr. Director, i would like to discuss with you the oscar joe of the violence in this country. Yesterdays shooting at the high school in oregon is at least the 74 School Shooting since the tragedy in newtown connecticut late 2012. The fbi maintains the background check system the bureau is often called upon to participate with the investigation of highprofile shootings. Because i believe a more complete background check system would help to stem the tide of violence i look forward to your views in this manner we phase many threats from oversees the fbi plays a fundamental role in extremist violence here at home as well. The bureau has called the sovereign citizen of movement of growing domestic threats according to the Antidefamation League between 2009 and 2013 there were 43 violent incidents between lawenforcement officials and government extremists. 30 Police Officers have been shot, 14 have been killed to these numbers we must add those officers shot and killed in las vegas. These are not isolated incidents. Director Comey Congress has the power of the fbi with considerable authority including legislation to brutality extremism. I put like to hear more about how the bureau puts these laws and resources to use. It represents 5 of the worlds population but incarcerates 25 of the world prisoners. The bureau of prisons is strained to the breaking point. So why the fbi often recommends federal prosecutions in cases letter already prosecuted in this state course of the offender faces is a trial with two separate jurisdictions. The fbi plays a Critical Role to protect our nations Computer Networks from cybercriminals and we must do more to prevent the infiltration of the cybersystem from economic and financial criminals. I would like to hear about the challenges presented from the international aspect. Finally i applaud the Deputy Attorneygeneral on the recording of federal custodian interviews and your support of this new policy. Of with this new presumption all fbi custodial interviews will be recorded and it helps all sides of the case. Prosecutors can share recorded confessions with the jury for those who feel they have been treated unfairly can fall back on recorded evidence. There are few exceptions that gives me pause but i want to see this new policy and i look forward to the fbi priorities today. I will use my a communications to fill in any questions that may not be able to be covered within that period. Thank you and the chairman and i yield back in the balance of time. Without objection all other members Opening Statements will be made a part of a record. Our only witness the director is joining us today. Please rise we will begin by swearing you and. Yqoraynz day swear the testimony youre about togie6v give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do. Let the record reflect director comey answered in the affirmative. Being sworn in as the director of the fbi director comey began his career in the United States Attorneys Office in the Southern District of new york as the assistant u. S. Attorney and later became the assistant attorney in the Eastern District of virginia. Director comey returned to new york city after the 9 11 terror attacks and became a u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. Late 2003 was appointed to be the Deputy Attorney general under john ashcroft. Director comey a graduate of william and mary and university of chicago law school. We welcome you to your first appearance as fbi director before the house Judiciary Committee and look forward to your testimony. The reinstatement is entered into the record in its untidy please summarize your testimony within five minutes and you may begin. Thank you. Thank you mr. Chairman, good to be back after the eight year break right here representing and expressing the gratitude of the people of the fbi. You have supported them in the bipartisan basis one of the challenges i discovered was the impact of sequestration on my troops now we have been adequately funded things to the support of the people in this room and were grateful we have much to do. We are National Security and Law Enforcement organization. I will see a few words about counterterrorism but i will talk about cyberthat touches everything that is responsible for a and it is not a thing but a vector we have connected our entire lives to the internet where are our children play, a health care information, finances, a social lives and government secrets, infrastructure almost everything that matters is connected to the internet soon our refrigerators will be in our lives so the people that we do us harm steal our information and secrets or damage to infrastructure come to do those bad things so what touches everything the fbi is responsible for. It is difficult to imagine a better way to explain it as the sheriff showed me of bullet shot from a machine gun but the clincher and his group had given birth to the modern fbi in the twenties because they heralded as a new type of crime with asphalt the in the automobile allowed criminals to commit crimes with shocking speed all across the country and we needed a National Force to respond and that is the fbi. That cyberfactor is that times 1 million. Dylan sure could 91,000 robberies in the same day from his pajamas and belarus. That is the challenge we face with cyber. It blows away the concept of time and spice they have shrunk a the world because they can move at the speed of light through the internet. So i know only nine months in that mine tenure will be dominated to make sure we are equipped and deploy and train that we shrink the world and we are well of the way banks to the work of my predecessor i hope you saw some of the good work we have done with respect to the chinese and massive criminal enterprises this is no different than kicking in your front door or stealing a companys most precious property be have to treated that way to send a message we will find you a hand to touch you significantly wherever you are in the world because we will not put up with this just because it happens in cyberspace. That issue will dominate over the next 10 years. Briefly, a counterterrorism you mentioned the threat from al qaeda but i do see the thread diminished in the region but at the same time i see the progeny of al qaeda at the franchise is thriving in the pork the governor or uncovered spaces around the gulf, north africa or the mediterranean. This remains a huge threat to us through the groups that have been in the news and others we wake up every morning worrying about and go to bet worrying about it with the confluence of that virulence with the progeny al qaeda with syria. It has become the breeding ground the Training Ground for thousands of chief toddies around several including dozens from the United States we can draw a line from afghanistan in the 80s three 9 11 and were determined not to allow all of wine from todays syria to a future 9 11 and determined to anticipate the diaspora that will happen at some point and respond aggressively in advance. We also face the challenge from the people from homegrown violent extremist and dont like the terms alone wolf but they are not directed by al qaeda but inspired and a train to to reemerge from their basement or bedroom to do something terrible and domestic terrorism is something the fbi that the unit has been busy nothing has changed in that regard we spend a lot of time about and using resources to address the hour National Security organization counterintelligence is the big part but nothing we can talk about because most is done in the shadows but an important part of the work done extremely well of the realm the world. Were also a Law Enforcement organization out there every day to lock up violent criminals people that would harm your kids corrupt Public Officials and all manner of bad guys that touch our responsibilities that remain combined in ways that make sense to me. I will close by saying as you have alluded to people are asking good questions about government power in that is a great thing. People should be skeptical. I am and the country was founded of people that were skeptical so they balanced among three branches that is great but to the extent icahn to answer those questions i hope they would give me the spacing in time to listen to the answers that is the angel of the details are reason why it matters when i get lawful process to search to get content of some bad guys feeling about a plot or enterpriser reason i need to be able to attract that lawful process the wrestle phone and someone who was kidnapped a child or fleeing from justice all of those matter a great deal and i believe they reflect the government working as it should it is hard for me to find the space it and time in a windstorm that i live right now. Thank you to the fbi we do have aircraft carriers or satellites but i have the amazing people that is the magic of the fbi thank you for the resources to hire them i saw an intelligence analysts last week it is the lifeblood that makes it through and an honor for me to be the director. I look forward to your questions. We will now proceed under the of five vitter ruled a double begin by recognizing myself. As i indicated we have questions about the iras targeting investigation so my first question is, is there an Ongoing Investigation to the targeting of conservative groups . Yes, sir, a very active investigation. Can you explain why there is an investigation given the president said there was not even a smidgen of corruption . Id be notice respect to the President Biden care about the characterization of it that we care about the troops there was a reasonable basis to believe crimes we have been committed so we are conducting an investigation. He was simply wrong . I dont know what he meant there in what context i dont mean any disrespect i have tremendous respect for him in the office but it does not matter what someone says about its. Can you give an indication of the conduct of the investigation or who is heading that up for what we might expect with the information bait made available to assure that this type of activity is addressed and someone will be held accountable if corruption is found to anybodys doorstep . I can only say a little because by law i cannot comment on the open investigation but for good reason we dont want the bad night the bad guys to know where were going so that is true with everything not just this case. But the accountable executive is a chair ref terrific executive but it is something i read dawn on a regular basis but i cannot say more about where we are. The offices of Inspector General beginning 2010 the fbi reverse course on a longstanding policy the office of Inspector General access to a grand jury information with their review i am aware you were asked about this recently and the pledge to avoid stonewalling to find out more about this but we rely heavily on the work of the office of Inspector General to overfed some to oversee our duty is will you resolve this dispute in the expeditious manner to allow them to effectively carry out their mission . I think the Inspector General is the central. I have of a great deal of respect for the person who holds that office and i have told him the Inspector General is the pain in the we are but it is vital just like the dentist makes me better to have him fully informed and robust. This is a legal issue what we are allowed to share with grand jury material and we are called title three but where we are now strass the Justice Department Legal Counsel what we can do. And if they should change the law. Get your testimony to find out more about this since that testimony . We immediately went back to talk to the new general counsel and found out there was the difference of view what the law permitted and that the core of the being we will ask them to tell us how to follow it. Is this what you can share as well . Were interested to know their position whether any action is necessary on our part. Number of companies have announced they are notifying customers when it bought a force requested a recipe now unless accompanied by a Court Ordered a gag order and that it is expressly for have bedded on the face of the subpoena. Is this a change of practice . How does this impact your investigation . It is a trend not just the fbi but state and local lawenforcement parts of the of windstorm leads more and more providers to say in the past they could have to say upon of drug to the report of the process now they are inclined to tell the person that is what we have to grapple with. Had you seen significant instances of Prominent Companies notifying targets of investigation like child abuse or sexual assaults or Drug Trafficking that was requested by subpoena . That to know that the process was withdrawn to figure out some other way to track this guy. This. So that lack of cooperation impeded that ability to go after suspected criminals . That is what i have been told. We interested to have you apprise us of the problems thisddsi nrni causesi o for the agency in the ways you think we may be helpful with that as well. It is now my privilege to yield to the gentleman for his questions for five minutes. Director comey, yesterdays shooting and a high school in oregon is a 74th School Shootings since the attack on sandy hook elementary in 2012. Can you tell me what your agency is doing to address gun violence . And in what ways the Judiciary Committee can be of help to you . Debut. In a bunch of different ways, first of all mention my Behavioral Analysis units the big brains that quantico made famous in the silence of the lambs movie we had people that are doing nothing about what are the markers of this behavior what are the indicators or the of clues to push that information to help educate folks on what they might spot so they look forward were also a doing trade around the country to help them learn to respond in those incidents but one of the key things to make sure you have not left to leave open into the schools own ambulance king get through the police cars the First Responders come into about then it is blocked we had a mass stabbing and the chief had gotten that trading kept a delayed opening and kids were saved because they could get out right away to go to the hospital so were doing a lot of that training and doing a tremendous game work to reduce gang work. But the background check requirements is a general feeling that ought to be expanded. To you have the view that you can discuss with us this morning . With that background check system the they have been in the news since sandy hook trying to get better to find out what records to push to a us but the policy question is for the department of justice. The legislature feels the background check requirements should be expanded in be made more exclusive. We are trying desperately in calling on someone in the fbi to give us direction. It is true we ended full collection in the general sense through the usa freedom act but i am concerned about large collections. And there is some privacy and advocates that are concerned about it. As the law exists today, can you describe how much information and the fbi could collect within a single section 215 order . I know now sitting here i can quantify the of legislation the house passed that you mention it makes good sense to me to collect in bulk. There is not a particular number but we could not collect the amount of records not tethered to the legislation. Section 702 of fisa is focused on United States persons outside of the United States. But the government doesnt take in large amounts of information above the United States persons through this authority. Does the fbi used information obtained under section seven of two in criminal investigations . Bedtime has expired. Because i avenue i want to talk about something that is classified. Let me check. The answer is, we do but to talk about details we need to be in a classified setting. Thank you. The recognize the gentleman for five minutes. Good to have you with us. I asked the predecessor to a9 about the benghazi investigation of course, his testimony is in the Opening Statement as well. I said then and now the entire scenario continues to use stick in my craw. I am not suggesting you are guilty but someone has not done a good job in my opinion. Referring to the Huffington Post article that explains october 18, 2012 the New York Times reporter kirkpatrick spent hours with unhanded a hotel as he sat down and drink with the governments of libya a long do you share my frustration and the media can gain access but we cannot lay a glove on him . I am not sure i would express. Assuming we havent. I would not express it as frustration i have been in this business a long time i know journalist can get access that we can so that does not surprise me. Mrs. Clinton appeared before a Senate Hearing in response to one of the questions she said what difference does it make . It is my belief in the issue whether a skier or indirect or direct involvement with it does make a difference. Do you concur . I take the benghazi matter very, very seriously. It is one i am very close to a and briefed on a regular basis putting a lot of work into and have made progress but the details i cannot talk about. I appreciate that. I you cannot go into great detail with the passage of each day were one step further removed that would not be pleasing at all. What you should know about the fbi is we never give up. Began to express criticism. Let me talk about the attorneygeneral in the area of marijuana enforcement with the divergence of assets from the prosecution to natural institutions in states where marijuana has obtained legal status. I presume that includes colorado and the state of washington and. With that fbi investigation of Violent Crime and Drug Trafficking that oftentimes spills over at the international borders. I am not familiar with the policy sitting here but i see it does not have much of an impact my troops have not mentioned it to me. I do not think so. I yield back. The gentleman from new york. Director comey the National Security permits the fbi to obtain the stuff that you could get under section and 215 order under fis of. The president s review group to identify principal regions by fbi officials of section 250 orders must be issued by the board recommended that all statutes should use the same oversight dissemination that is currently used with those orders. We have done that in the house version of the usa freedom act. Given the overlap is it necessary . Is the essential to the basic Building Block just does grand jury subpoenas are the basic Building Blocks they are very different from to 15 only giving information in limited circumstances like subscriber information, and i sp identification, no content, financial records records, a metadataum. Sure. But not with any kind of bold fashion. So the basic Building Blocks of our investigation i had a talk with the review group about this and i think they were dead wrong respectfully i dont think there is any reason why on earth would be making a harder to get a National Security letter that i needed my most important matters that does not make any sense to me. Do you think those restrictions are included in the usa freedom act passed by the house that those are okay. In the h. R. 3361 bill that the house passed it will be required of the basic use of section 215 on a selection term. How does that definition limit the governments ability to obtain information . Some critics have said you could ask for it area covered or does it go to. No. With that clear legislative intent to so the of thoughtful people were happy to discuss said to bar some of the things. As long as that did not accidentally preclude that makes total sense . If a terrorist is in a hotel then we need to use a lawful process for food is in every room that he is in 712. I have no use but if the other language i am happy to discuss. How many are issued in the given year. The number is in the thousands because of the basic Building Block but thousands of them. But to prevent the funds to compel a journalist to talk about sports of the sorts. Of the New York Times reporter who will refuse to name his confidential source , 49 states have issued some form of protection to reporters who refuse to testify about sources. Kid you give us your opinion of a federalvxf tottery protect freedom of the press to allow sources of what has happened with not be there without Confidential Sources but they have clamped down. What you think about the federal shield lot to 0. Despite those secrecy requirements we get the information we need . But my need to investigate the most serious offenses to have a robust press. I am not up to speedy enough that is for the department of justice when we should not ever investigate the most important cases at the news gathering function of. And we recognize the gentleman from california. There has been a lot of coverage the fbi had a and has said since 2010 the database of 1. 1 million records of the nonprofit organizations that they resent based on education and individuals working for you. I you have returns those records so they no longer have records. They return seven sometimes. Isnt it true they were to include the 61 03 informational and . That was an issue ive read about and heard about. If they send us information and asking us to return the information under subpoena that the basis was it contained that information is that true . I think that is right. If the irs could release that information youre not authorized to receive it as said database so is that a violation of the law under 6103 . My recollection is 63 a6103 is to protect private information and there is the number of legal hurdles including cuts way to share the information was available lois lerner did send a database that included 6103 information to the fbi in 2010. Isnt that true . I dont know who sent it. The department of justice gave us emails. Some questions that are important to the fbi but that they never had of valid reason to have a database with taxpayer individual informational nonprofits . But i have a valid basis to some Public Information it is through the guide star web site wide you need the data base . I dont know. Answer that for the record i would appreciate that. On what basis internal memos are available there reason to have been searchable for match and if it was publicly available. White you need a searchable database rather than andy you know today of the reason the fbi on the ongoing basis would need any nonPublic Information from taxpayers including the information from the of nonprofits . We use it to with investigations. Recorders but do you have Ongoing Investigations that were begun in 2009, 10, a levin that concerned referrals from the irs or nonprofit to the fbi . I dont know of any from that period of time. I not saying there are not i am just not aware. To the best of your knowledge have you relinquish to subpoena all documents related to lois lerner and transfers from the irs . I dont know the status of that. With the fbi . The retinoblastoma as i am sure we did our best to be fully compliant. Do you agree the robust oversight that the American People should inherently be suspicious or concerned when identifiable information is transferred from the irs to the fbi without a warrant . Direct a chivalrous know the taxpayer information is protected according to the law that is why i remember taking it seriously. To your knowledge what does the fbi do with this database in the three years it was in its possession . I have last. Land standing is the analysts in the Division Look to see if doj would ask us to do something so it sat on her final the last four years. So is it safe to assume of the fbi did not ask for it had no purpose and the irs encourage her to take it it was part of a coordinated effort to produce say investigation that never materialized . I dont know how to answer that. Your time is expired. When the employer tries to get Background Information on prospective employees be heard complaints the information and is an completely and people lose the opportunity for jobs. What is the fbi doing to upgrade their information . This information in our database . Some of it is yours, the state sometimes it is not included but you dont know. Of you could get back to me. Also sex trafficking 40 road has sex with a 40 yearold that is great . Is a crime diminished because it is a paid for . The child is still violated. Does the fbi recognize those encounters to bring prosecutions . I think so does the fbi have a process to deal with the child victims . Yes, sir. What is the process . Our office of victims of crimes works with the sex trafficking investigation to make sure the kids are treated like the victims that they are in the gateway to Services Provided in the locality that we rescue the child. There is the term called organized retail theft they drop bin up the interstate clean off a couple of shells shows what is the fbi doing to address this . I dont know enough to answer i am not familiar. Eight individual identification theft we have the breach of data that are valuable usury fuel the steel a couple thousand dollars from each account nobody investigates. What is the fbi doing to deal with the identification of to grab day credit card then take a couple thousand dollars and keep going . It is not a focus a lot of our work must organize to a criminal group but we try to take the resources to spend on the more complicated intrusions then offer training that is a gap of behalf to local and state enforcement that is over the internet. A lot of that crosses the state lines so the local police is virtually incapable to deal with that. You making sure there is a National Investigation with the breach and people use the credit card information in . With respect to the largescale intrusion and the Identity Theft a and with three spock with respect if we dont connect to a more sophisticated rate weve tried to hand it to our state and local partners to give the expertise they need to work it. The gentleman from california asking about the targeting of conservative groups by the irs. I am aware of some liberal groups that were targeted are you investigating those also . I want to be careful what i say;h2vjn ocs]nngsyvaf,ycabout the investigation with respect to the irs medicated medicaid and Medicare Fraud were they doing . It is of big part of the work across the country especially in pockets with a significant amount of medicare and Medicaid Fraud Program is just in tampa of visiting my troops it is the major focus around the country. Finally the challenges of dealing with the term loan wolf you dont like but how you prevent crimes from happening if there is only one crime involved . Very difficult. But the very brave people of my behavioral unit tried to push out to local Police Departments markers. Looking at the history of these cases you can almost always find something somebody saw in person or on the internet or social media, a marker this person was radicalizing so we tried to alert our partners and maintain a robust presence in the online world for these people will go to get the training say are looking for to do these terrible things. The chair recognizes the gentleman from iowa. Thank you for your testimony. I recommend your staff and cut out the 56 minutes use it as training for other members that come before the Judiciary Committee. That was an excellent Opening Statement. I married a woman from iowa. [laughter] it made a difference to me. I recall your testimony it was received a positive fashion and to reiterate june 8, 2005 to catch a terrorist with his hands on the check many steps ahead of preventive and disruptive measures as quickly as he can to incapacitate the tar get the right moment to in surveillance and pen registers with the search warrants allow us to do that. I take you stand on that Statement Today from what i have heard in the actions you have followed through on. And to think about the taste of i would ask, can you describe if you believe it makes us safer and how . Has a country, it doesnt make us safer bet it does not make us less saved but there are benefits offering assurances to people who have legitimate questions it leaves us no less safe and we were. Do you have more confidence in the private Sector Holding as opposed to the government . And what you see the 18 month. Of time would you see merit to having, being able to negotiate with the private sector to go into that data beyond 18 months . Can you foresee that . It could happen and it could be cases where is useful where we discover something is older and we need to check it. That the freedom act forecloses that opportunity. For the purposes of that particular Metadata Program yes it does. So it is possible that there is data beyond 18 months that would be critical to an investigation and it would be things that were considered by the people you referred to as experts who ask for five years of data. Its possible. See which most everything is. The southern border persons of interest from nations of interest. What can you tell us about how that situation might have changed over the last four or five years pecks are we getting more or less and from what countries would you be the most concerned about . I dont know enough nine ninemonth stint to give an assessment of the numbers. Its a big focus of ours but id have to get back to on the particulars of it. Would you have a sense that those numbers are increasing or decreasing . I have the sense that it is increasing. Its a particular worry for me with respect to syria because i can nofly a bad guy to keep them from going to syria but may look across into mexico to get out and come back the same way across the land border. Thats one of the ways in which i worry about it. And you have a number on what percentage of the Illegal Drugs that are consumed in america come from or through mexico . Is very high north of 80 i would estimate sitting here. And when the d. A. Says 80 to 90 that was inconsistent with your response. And you have any data that you can share with us the mite indicate that violence in central lets say south of the United States the violence rates within those societies and how that might affect our society as we see masses of people coming here . I dont other than i have a sense even after nine months is a significant issue especially in some of the countries in central america. And americans will become victims . Thank you for your testimony and thank you mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california ms. Loftis for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you director call me. Im heartened by your statement and i appreciate your service to our country and your commitment to the rule of law. Its great to hear you. I think you know we are in a an interesting time where obviously we want to pursue people who would violate the law and the same time in the digital age our expectations of privacy are shifting and getting it right in terms of legislation is not an easy task so i have some questions for you about databases. Its my understanding that this is a question not a statement that the fbis next generation identification database is going to include pictures for facial recognition. Is that correct . Yes. Mugshots. We are trying piloting the use of mugshots along with their fingerprint database to see if we can find bad guys by matching pictures with mugshots. Now i further understand and again this is a question not a statement that in addition to mugshots there they would be civilian pictures as well in this database. Is that correct . Thats not my understanding. As i understand it what we are using is mugshots arrest photos. So they would not be pictures included from state dmvs in the database . I dont think so. Yeah the next gem identification as i understand it is about mugshots. I think there are circumstances when state census records they will send us pictures of people who are giving special drivers licenses to transport children or explosive materials but as i understand those are not part of the database. I would very much if that is not correct please do let me know. Do we have an idea of what kind of false positive we would have in terms of matches using the photo Recognition Technology software . We dont yet. That is why we are violating it to see how good is it and how useful useful is it to Law Enforcement across the country but i dont know the answer to that. Its been reported and again i dont know that this is accurate that the database when fully i mean obviously theres a pilot theres a plan if it works to fully expand it that there would need approximately 52 million faces by the year 2015 in the database. Do you know whether that figure is accurate . I dont. Can you check to find out . Sure. Because what has been reported and again this is contrary to what you are reporting was that there would be several million pictures that would not be mugshots that would be coming from civilian sources which is something that i am greatly interested in. I saw some of the same media and that is what led me to ask my folks what is the deal with this and explains nation to me was the pilot is the mugshots because those are repeatable and we can count on the quality of them and they are tied to criminal conduct clearly so there was not a plan where we are going to add other nonmugshots photos. If i got that wrong i will fix fix it with you. I appreciate that. Its my understanding that the contractor who was building this next generation identification database is a Company Called morpho trust also built the state department facial recognition database which contains 244 million faces. Will your next generation Identification System be capable of importing importing the state state Department Records do you know . I dont know. I have not heard of that as either a current capability or intended capability. I will get back to on that. I would appreciate that very much. The reason why yesterday we had a vote on the appropriations bill that passed to prohibit the collection and retention of drivers license plates on cars. Its not that thats in plain sight but i think one of the issues that we need to get right and we would welcome your input on this is things that are in plain sight that we know are not private take on a different quality when they become part of a massive database that can be searched. So if you walk outside your front door you are in plain sight and you know your neighbor can see you but you dont really expect that would be photographed and be part of a massive database so that the government could know where you are at any given time. So the pictures, the identifiers on vehicles are useful to Law Enforcement go where do we draw the line of privacy for the American People . I would be very interested in your thoughts on that. Obviously we are out of time now but if you could provide your best judgment on where that line should be drawn it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas mr. Gohmert for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you director for being here. We appreciate you taking on the job you have taken on which includes the unpleasant task of having to come and talk to us but thank you for being here. You mentioned in your Opening Statement about syria being in breeding ground for. Terrorism. I had met with some libyans who had originally been rebels and the socalled arab spring and they were telling me that there are terrorists camps springing up all over Eastern Libya and thats the area they came through to meet with me in egypt. Are you aware of any terrorist training cramps springing up in libya these days . Its not something i know a lot about and its probably not something i want to talk about in open session even the little i do know. Since you mentioned syria i wanted to see if you knew anything about libya because these were people that they said were radicals so much in charge of the rebel efforts that they were quite active but anyway we know that on the border particularly texas with mexico there is this massive influx of particularly children and i keep hearing from people that have been there that have been working with them and articles that are being published. The information is pretty basic even though a spokesman for the Administration Says they dont know why theres this huge influx. They keep saying they are hearing that amnesty is coming and they will not be sent home and apparently as ive been hearing from Border Patrol but they are not being allowed to do their job and secure our border. I got a report from some Border Patrol from october 2008 to april of 2014 texas identified a total of 177,000588 criminal million defendants booked into texas county jails and those 177,000 have been identifieidentified through the secure Communities Initiative with 611,000234 individual criminal charges and so im wondering even though apparently what im hearing from the Border Patrol they are not being allowed to do their job and to protect americas borders. Is the fbi stepping in and picking up the slack and the least of the tens of thousands that are pouring in being able to check to see their criminal backgrounds . Given something ive read about in the media and given our responsibilities and authorities its not something that i have focused on or i believe we are focused on significantly. There are lots of other agencies that are but not the fbi. The department of Homeland Security is supposed to be that they are not letting the Border Patrol do their job. They are being told with a massive numbers dont turn them away and let them come in. This is what im hearing from the Border Patrol. Let them come in and then of course they are being shipped around the country to be cared for. But i would suggest direct or since you are in charge of the federal bureau of investigation and we know that this massive hundreds of thousands of crimes have been committed by people coming in illegally just in texas that it is something the fbi has got to pick up the slack on. The border is not going to be protected by Homeland Security then its going to fall directly on doj and i know it may not be warranted but its happening. Let me ask you shifting gears your predecessor was not aware that the mosque in cambridge boston area were founded the Islamic Society of austin founded and signed the papers by a guy named alamoudi that the fbi did a great job proving the case where he is now doing 23 years for supporting terrorism. Looking back on base tsarnaev headset that russia gave us what questions do you think would be appropriate to ask in the mosque that fbi agents never did . They went there according to the director mueller in their Outreach Program but not to question whether or not tsarnaev had been radicalized. What questions do you think would be appropriate in a mosque and if you think they are appropriate when you give notice of somebody being radicalized . See the particulars i dont know well enough to answer but in general we want to be able to ask whatever questions are logical leads for us to follow no matter where it is whether its a mosque or a church or a Grocery Store if we have a reason to ask a question we want to be able to ask it. That mosque has ties to radicalism and hasnt been followed up i can tell you by the fbi and i would urge you to do that. It is a radical hotbed and i appreciate your time here today. I yield back. The time of the gentleman has expired. The chair recognizes the drum and from georgia for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. Sir thank you for your service to the nation. We are living during a time where we and counter threats to our National Security on a daily basis and we are fortunate to have agencies like the fbi protecting us. Recently however the question has come up as to whether the relationship between the governments interests in prosecuting the unauthorized disclosure of classified information and the publics interest in a free press and that its been knocked off balance. Has the fbi ever used journalists as a cover for their agents and if so can we get a commitment that wont happen again . Not to my knowledge. Thank you. Journalists continue to find themselves in the crosshairs of programs of sensibly designed to catch terrorists. What measures has the fbi taken to ensure that journalists are not targeted and that they remain free to do their work without fear . We have an extensive set of rules that govern how we interact with the media during any investigation with its National Security or criminal that are contained within our investigation. An operations guide and a set of both that the department of justice regulations that the attorney general has promulgated so we follow that very very carefully. Thank you. Since the attorney general released a revised guidelines regarding the gathering information from journalists has the fbi been involved in surveillance of journalists and as a coordinates with nsa on these issues . To my knowledge no. We have not been involved in surveillance of journalists in the same with respect to the nsa. Already. On another note in many reverse stings fbi agents using confidential informants decide on the amount of drugs including ones that trigger harsh mandatory minimum penalties. Research demonstrates that these triggering amounts impact minorities disproportionately. Given the possibility of that vyas unconscious or not whether or not it plays a role in the decisions of what to charge a target with . Isnt it prudent to instruct your agents in terms of this issue, how to avoid the consequences of any bias in that regard . Bias is something i think we have to worry about in all Human Affairs especially when you have the Law Enforcement power that we exercise is something we talk a lot about inside the fbi but to make sure that our culture is one rooted to every possible extends throughout the organization and being blind to color and orientation to origin and following the facts. The charging decisions in drug cases that you mentioned are made by the fbi. Those are made by federal prosecutors so thats not something the fbi agent is going to drive. Well recognizing the power of prosecutors to decide on the charges to indict if there is still a lot of discretion with agents when it comes down to persons whom they are investigating and decide to arrest what to charge them with and those decisions are made to be subject to to some care and some oversight by superiors in that department. I agree very much. Thank you and i yield back. The chair thanks the gentleman and recognizes the gentleman from ohio for five minutes the director thank you for being here and thank you for what you do. Appreciate what you and your agents do every single day. Do you believe director that the attorney general should name a special prosecutor in the investigation of the targeting of conservatconservat ives by the Internal Revenue service . I dont think thats something for the fbi director to comment on. Every single republican in the house that we should and 26 them at that said we should including ms. Delfini in mr. Mr. Garcia overwhelming bipartisan majority said we infection do that based on what we have heard and learned about this investigation over the last year. But you dont believe we should do that . I said i dont believe its something the fbi director should be opining on. Let me go back to where mr. Issa was a few minutes ago. We learned from freedom of information requests Judicial Watch that the department of justice attorney Richard Pilgrim met with lois lerner and 2002 we interviewed mr. Pilger and we discovered an interview discs of information were given to the fbi from the Internal Revenue service and in fact we got a letter on june 2 a little over a week ago from the department of them just as telling us there were 21 discs that were provided by the Internal Revenue service to the federal bureau of investigation containing 1. 2 million pages of information two days later we got another letter where basically the same mr. Keswick of the department of justice said we forgot to tell you something. 21 discs 1. 2 million pages of information and some of that information included confidential information protected by Internal Revenue code section 6103. So we have a database that you have had for four years which not according to us but according to the department of justice lawyer mr. Keswick and the irs contained information that is confidential against the law. Youve had this illegal database for four years. Did you use anything in that database in a four year time span . No. Not at all . My understanding is and was look at the table of contents to see what was on it. Are you sure about that . Shuras i can be. Remember we got the e. And l. From mr. Pilger from lois lerner this is this. The fbi says raw format is the best because they can put it in their system like excel or this is a direct medication from mr. Pilger and ms. Lerner. You have it in the format you want and and you didnt use it and you had for four years and you didnt use of . Thats my understanding. We know six visits from the fbi to in person fbi to inperson and four but found while her application for c4 status is pending and you are telling us none of this information was used to target people like ms. Engelbrecht . Thats what im telling you. Wanted to turn the information back . When did you first learn you have this database that was never used an illegal database 1. 2 million pages when did you learn you have this information . Me personally . Today is wednesday. I think monday. The new director to know you have this for the last four years and you just learned a week ago . I dont think anything was being done with that and was sitting with the intelligence analysts. Did you know if there was a legal taxpayer information . Do you know for court order was used to get this . I think the was the disk was sent by the irs. So the Justice Department said the irs sent a legal confidential taxpayer information . My understanding no court order and they sent us the discs which were represented as being publicly available information. The federal bureau of investigation had 1. 2 million pages of confidential taxpayer information and this was never used to target people where we have examples like Katherine Engelbrecht who got six visits from the fbi while her application was pending. And they are supposed to believe we just had it and we gave it back sorry no harm no foul . They should believe that because im saying it and because what they know about the fbi. Let me go back to the first question. The very first question. 26 democrats every single republican in the house said we need a special prosecutor. As the chairman said in his Opening Statement organization on january 13 according to the wall street journal or organization leaked to the wall street journal saying no one would be prosecuted. Im just saying what the wall street journal said. I dont know if they said the fbi personally leaked that. The president said theres not even a smidgen in the person heading the investigation is the the and now we know its been in the hands of the fbi given it to him and the format the fbi wanted and you were saying the head of the fbi should not comment on whether its a special prosecutor not. Spare dont think the reactor should be offering of you on that. What i care of ballot is to buy folks think its . I think American People would like a special special prosecutor bins by the fact that we have 22nd 26 democrats in every single republican saying that very same thing. That may be so but i say given my role is not something i should be giving a view on. The chair recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico mr. Mr. Peer rec for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. Director welcome to the committee. I commend you on your demeanor and responsiveness of this hearing up until now. As i did when dhs secretary appeared before the Committee Last month i would like to outline the narrative and ask you to comment. Puerto rico is home to fewer than 4 million american citizens in 2009 there were about 900 homicides on the island. In 2010 that were nearly 1000 homicides and in 2011 there were 1100 homicides. An average of 3a day. The most violent year in the territorys history history. Each year homicide rate was twice as high as any state. Most murders in puerto rico are links to the drug trade. Puerto rico is within u. S. Customs on in use by organizations transporting narcotics from south america to the u. S. Mainland. Given the crisis i examined the level of resources that doj and dhs were dedicating to combat drug related violence in puerto rico and came away discouraged. The federal Law Enforcement foot and on the island was inadequate. I have done Everything Possible to press upon officials the need for an improved federal response to drug related violence in puerto rico both for its own sake and for the sake of communities in the u. S. Mainland on the eastern border and so on. Starting in 2012 my message finally began to register particularly at dhs. The agency created task force charged with taking steps to reduce puerto ricos murder rate the coast guard has substantially increased the amount of the time last year it i. C. E. Searched items were they made hundreds of arrests and seized a vast quantities of drugs and cbp once had assumed control of the Counter Drug Program earlier this year in southern puerto rico had been since 2011. I know doj agencies have enhanced their efforts as the u. S. Attorney for part a rico confirmed this very weak when i met with her i have been particularly impressed with the firearms and Crime Reduction initiative and joined doj and dhs throughout much of puerto rico. Ive also been impressed by other initiatives to which the fbi plays an Important Role like the anticarjacking initiatives and the creation of seven Strike Forces consisting mostly of local federal officers to target drug traffickers and violent criminals i i am told by reputable sources that while the fbi does great work in puerto rico, there are not nearly enough agents given the severity of the Public Safety crisis we are facing on the island. Would you comment on my narrative and tell me if the fbi will either increase or at least surge the number of agents it has in puerto rico . Thank you, sir. Your passion is justified. There is a significant problem with Violent Crime in puerto rico, something i didnt know much about before taking this job. It was my second day as fbi director i went down to our command center to watch as my Hostage Rescue Team participated in a huge takedown in one of the housing project. The problem is centered in the housing projects. The problem is centered in the free housing projects so it is something we spent a lot of time on. Not knowing that you and i were going to me today last week i sent a note to the whole office thanking them for all the work they have been doing on public corruption and Violent Crime of all sorts of its sorts of its something we are very focused on. Whether we will put more agents they are not i cant tell you sent sitting right here but as you know every six months we do a review of our threats and where resources are and that process is going on right now. I dont know the answer sitting here. Its something we are very focused on. We have some things going on right now but i cant talk about that you will read about soon and more effort by us to lock up some of these bad guys. Adlib forward to it. See the time of john mudd has expired and the chair recognizes it as a gentleman from texas mr. Poe for five minutes. The tenor of my question has to do with federal Government Agencies intimidation against citizens whether its legal or illegal and whether agencies working together to intimidate citizens and specifically i want to talk about one of my constituents Catherine Engelbrecht. She and her husband run a small business. They started in truth a vote to different organizations. They filed in july 2010 with the irs for nonprofit status. Since they did that and i know you dont have this information in front of you but let me read to you what happened to them after that was filed. The fbis domestic Terrorism Unit first inquired about the organization. What in the world is the fbi Terrorism Unit it sounds terrible. What is that . Its not terrible. Its men and women. It sounds very serious not terrible. Its or domestic terrorism that investigate people who want to engage in acts of violence here in United States not connected to an alqaeda type group. I appreciate what you said and i dont mean its a terrible unit that i just mean to sound serious and something we are concerned about. That was in 2010. 2011 barron inquired by the domestic Terrorism Unit again. January personal audit of enterprises by the irs. In march irs questions the nonprofit application. The fbi inquiry repatriates. October trip to vote questions nonprofit application. 2011 in June December but also in november fbi inquired three more times with the king st. Patriots. February 2012 the irs questions them again. 2012 february king st. Patriots the irs questions there application and asked questions about where they abandon what meetings this Catherine Engelbrecht speaking out and who had she spoken to and who is she speaking to my in the future and copies of the speeches are requested and who attended all of these meetings. Once again they are investigated like i said in february the king st. Paid patriots the same situation and the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms investigates. The audit Catherine Engelbrechts business. We filed a federal inquiry to see if they would run a federal investigation. Quick response no they are not under federal investigation. In july osha audits them. December Texas Commission on Environmental Quality audits them. The irs in december questions them again and march of 2013 that i arrests asked the more questions and finally the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms question them on an unscheduled audit. Based on that information is it illegal for different Government Agencies to Work Together to intimidate some individual business . Without legitimate investigative purpose . Sharon does the Justice Department said in a letter to me they are not under investigation. My problem is i dont know enough about the situation to comment and i dont know whether those dots are all connected. I hope they are encounters with my folks were pleasant and professional. I expect that they were but i dont know enough to say. Understand but does that raise suspicion to you . Is different interesting all these different Government Agencies over certain. Lack of time that suddenly start investigating an organization that the Justice Department said is not under criminal best to geisha and . Does that look a little suspicious . I can imagine them wondering about it but based on what you said i dont know enough about their business. I just cant say. Just a general hypothetical. It seems to me that it looks like there might be a coordinator at effort here by different departments. If there is a coordinated effort hypothetical take this case away hypothetical is that some violation of federal law for different agencies to work to intimidate lets say . As you said without proper investigative purpose its terrible and i suspect its unlawful in some respects but again i dont know. I know that. And you know i cant comment. I can imagine that we would be part of some effort to intimidate someone as an investigative purpose. Just cant say it. I think the chairman and i have other questions i would like to submit for the record. The gentleman may do so under there was a committee. The chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee mr. Cohen for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. First of all its very good to see you. I was pleased with your appointment. The last time i saw you was i think when you were here for the hearings about the Justice Department and some unusual circumstances in which you were heroic in your duties and so is truly commendable that you were appointed and you are serving. We have had the last few days of Congress Moments of silence a moment of silence has almost become a regular ritual for killings. We had one yesterday for the School Shooting in oregon. We lost a child. We have won the day before for killing of Law Enforcement folks in nevada. There was just student who was killed in Seattle Pacific for five days earlier who didnt get a moment of silence. We were here but their consulate happening and i think since newtown i think thereve been 74 shootings in schools. What can congress do to provide the fbi and Law Enforcement in general tools to reduce gun violence in these types of tragic deaths . Do you have any recommendations for us of something we can get accomplish that Law Enforcement would find an important element . With respect to the fbi, we are trying a lot of Different Things. Again as i began i thank you for the budget support we have been given. We are applying those resources to train to try to push out clues and indicators about what might indicate someone is about to do one of these things. Theres a lot of Different Things we are doing. I mentioned earlier one of the challenges im told we Face International instant background is getting Good Mental Health records from the states in the states are trying to get their act together but i cant sit here and suggest a particular legislative fix at this point. But i agree with you. I call whenever a Law Enforcement officers killed in line of duty in the United States. Ive been on this job for nine months and i make way too many calls. We lost two great people with families to a brutal execution in las vegas so i share your pain and that. Are there certain guns that should not be allowed or cartridges are chambers whatever cartridges that may be unnecessary for people to enjoy sport and shooting that might be used more for mass killings . Thats something im not expert enough to answer. It really is an something for the fbi to answer. Thank you sir. Public corruption you said is your top criminal following. In 2010 the Supreme Court found Honest Services statute unconstitutional and the efforts to resurrect that have stalled. Im concerned about public trust and Public Authority in government. Do you have any thoughts about how we can or should pass a new honor Services Statute and or other . Would that be an important tool to you in fighting public corruption . Has been the reason is such a high priority for us it is work we are uniquely good at and we are uniquely needed in the country. You havent studied the statue per se in the Supreme Court decision . I used to use the statue when i was a prosecutor in virginia and new york but beyond that i dont know enough to comment on particular legislation. Thank you. You are building a new building for having a new building built. I hope so. When do expect that to be finished . They have told me its a gsa of project and they told me five to seven years. I looked at the clock and i have nine years and three months ago. It is so badly needed but its sometime in my tenure. Sometime during your tenure. I would hope that you would consider recommending or acting in such a way to name that doubling for someone who reflects the moderate fbi and somebody who the American Public would have faith and reinstill faith in the fbi because they are a person who would be part of the new fbi and the new way we do things. In your tradition of respecting the constitution and the rule of law. Thank you sir. Your welcome and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina mr. Gowdy for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. Director you have excellent agents in South Carolina and i know would mean the world to you you to them if you the chance to tell them one of their fellow citizens from South Carolina appreciates their work. Theres a gentleman by the name of jim lana men in particular that really is a credit to the bureau. Im visiting all 56 by the end of year. I will be in columbia and i will find that guy and embarrass him. I probably just did embarrass him. Let me know when you are visiting and i will make sure the senator graham is not serving in the state. Jimmy jordan asked you about the irs targeting scandal. Im not going to ask you about it because you cant comment and its not fair for me to ask you a series of questions where you have to say you cant comment. I just want to make an observation to maybe try to help you understand where jimmy is coming from. You used to be in a courtroom where you had challenges for cause and you had preemptory challenges and i have never argued that the cause a prosecutor was particularly engaged in active or maxed out to a particular Political Party ive never argued that was a challenge for cause. Of course that person can still be fair but out of the universe of all potential federal prosecutors why anyone would pick someone in a sensitive investigation that involves political targeting with that background just mystifies me and again im not going to ask you to comment. Im just going to ask you to think about the fact that we do have a special prosecutor statute where there is a conflict or where it furthers the interests of justice. And when you have a chief executive who put in my judgment the department of justice and the bureau and a very awkward position by saying theres not a smidgen of corruption when the investigation is not over and when you have a prosecutor that has deep political ties. I would just ask you in the quietness of your own soul to reflect upon whether or not we can never have a fact pattern that warrants a special prosecutor if its not this. What in your judgment are the limits of prosecutorial discretion . Certainly the law is a clear limit. You operate that discretion within the law and obviously a sense of integrity and fair dealing that should be at the core of all federal prosecutors of our culture and our federal prosecutor. You know the federal prosecutor culture that thats an important limit of discretion. Thats probably the short answer. Do you think that theres there is a difference between the exercise of prosecutorial discretion and the wholesale failure to in or see certain category of the law . Potentially. I dont know what you are referring to be sure. When your agents are asked by a member of the grand jury about drug amounts you and i both know they are going to tell it to them when they are asked by a judge about drug amounts they are going to tell the truth and when they are asked by a probation officer about drug amounts they are going to tell the truth and we do have mandatory minimums. Some people like them and some people dont its still the law and i am troubled when any attorney general regardless of affiliation directs a group of prosecutors to no longer include in the charging document the drug amount. Surely there is a limit on what prosecutorial discretion is and i will ask it differently. There are certain laws that forbid conduct of possession of child pornography. There are certain laws that require conduct like registering for Selective Service and there are certain laws that required you to make reports to congress. Surely prosecutorial discretion is not available in all of those categories of law. As you know in the federal system there is tremendous prosecutorial discretion. Its one of the reasons that the sentencing guidelines in some of the movements may have been imposed but i guess i dont know which of those categories again. I would imagine theres a certain amount of discretion a prosecutor has discretion on even whether to prosecute. I agree with that but if congress a director relied to file a report by july the first of each year about how many 924e s you prosecute them if you can get away with saying in the exercise of my discretion im not going to comply with that law. Politics is one thing. The law is Something Else and when we use the word prosecutorial discretion to excuse the failure to enforce the category of law i think we are doing a real disservice to the concept of prosecutorial discretion i think we are doing a disservice to our public. Thank you mr. Chairman. The chair thanks the gentleman recognizes the gentleman from california ms. Chu for five minutes. Thank you. Director comey im concerned about the individuals who have been placed on the watch lists such as the nofly list and placed their base on incorrect information. The consequences for wrongful inclusion on the nofly list can be devastating. People are stigmatized as terrorist barred from commercial flight altogether detained and interrogated and subject to longterm investigation. These people may lose the ability to maintain employment that requires travel or because the government shares information about individuals inclusion on the watch list with a prospective employer. Watch list entries have a high areas like the doj Inspector General reports through the most recent 2014 ig report suggests that there are concerns regarding the agencys processes and procedures. The report found redundant and inefficient processes that clog the system and says the fbi average is 44 businesses to add suspect did terror suspects referred by their agencies but it takes twice as long 78 days on average to remove cleared suspects, former suspects. Director comey i believe defending our nation against terrorism is important but i also think we have to carefully balance that with their civil rights and liberties under the law. What specific steps is the fbi doing to ensure that innocent americans are not incorrectly placed on the nofly list and what reforms are being made to ensure that those who are erroneously placed on the lists are quickly removed . Thank you. I know i agree with your premise that its important to protect our liberties. I know we have an extensive process that we go through before someone can get on the list to make sure we have got it right and as you said im aware of the process to remove someone if there is a mistake or the matters and close in some fashion. I dont know enough to respond to your concern about the time lag or what improvements are needed. Could you respond to us in writing . Sure. Let me then ask about hate crime tracking. After the 9 11 attacks hate crime and violence committed against individuals in the seikh hindu and arab communities has increased. In receipt years there has been Violent Attacks across the country including the horrific massacre at the seikh temple in oak creek wisconsin that took the lives of six worshipers. In march of 2013 there were 100 members of congress including myself is sent a letter to the fbi and the attorney general holder urging the fbi to include the religious groups and arabamericans and hate crime tracking for instance tracking them as seikh or antiseikh or antiarab or antihindu crimes rather than an allencompassing category. We welcome the fbis announcement last year that they will be expanding the hate crime incident reports used by Law Enforcement to include crimes motivated by bias against seikhs induce another arabamericans against religious groups so director comey could you please provide us with an update on the status of the revisions to the hate crime tracking program and when you expect the updates to be completed . I will have to be give you the particulars and writing that im aware the issue and we have made progress in updating the categories you talked about. Most importantly to train our state and local counterparts about this because they are the ones who supplied the data to us about what these categories mean what why they matter. There has been a tremendous amount of training going on but i will have to follow up to give you the particulars on that. Can you detail how the task force will expand . I dont think it is going to affect me at all. This is something we have been doing all along and care an awful lot about. I think this is an effort that came out from the u. S. Attorney community and is a product of their desire. With the non it doj entities to make sure everyone is waiting on a regular basis to coordinate. I think they do that already better looking to improve but i ask my domestic terrorism guys the next morning i dont think it will change our life at all because we have been doing this and what we have heard about. Could you respond in writing . Thank you. I yield back. The time has expired recognizing the gentleman from idaho. Good morning. Actually i enjoyed your presentation and answers i like your fourth right ability and i enjoy listening. [laughter] you still have nine years ago. [laughter] as Deputy Attorney general under the Bush Administration in your refuse to reauthorize the warrant tapping program and i commend you that was a great move on your part. You stated you were asked to be a part of something that is fundamentally wrong. My question is what is it fundamentally wrong because it was not authorized by congress or because it was not constitutional . That situation involved programs i will still be careful because i dont know what part has been declassified but i a concluded not a legal basis under the constitution or statute for continuing it. So with dedication did you have a problem even if authorized by congress i understand later the administration sought authority mostly because of your statement. If authorized by congress to you think that would have been a constitutional or just the Legal Authority . I am searching back in my memory. I am not sure if i remember well enough. My concern was someone who devotes my life to the rule of law there has to be adequate basis either in the constitution or a statute by congress. If congress had acted and that action had not been challenger overturns that would have been Adequate Funding fluting. Savvier in the list of soliciting twos Service Members to their girlfriends new york is the web of wiretapping was challenged the solicitor general promised if ever used in a court date would be notified. But last year reuters report found doj is using information for croquets is without informing the defendant from the origin of the case for cody believe that is lawful with that intercept . That is a complicated question to make sure dont talk about anything that is classified but though way id which we interact with information collected or by the fbi is entirely lawful i dont know the history will live up to comment but it is now the practice where someone is notified of the circumstances that you talk about. The report is they were supposed to be notified but have not would to investigate these allegations of they were not notified . I expect to the Inspector General could have jurisdiction that is the most i can say based on your question. Maybe we should have a conversation about this. Thises in area of concern with the nsa abuse and we are all concerned about the Fourth Amendment protections and from your testimony it sounds like you are as well. Hopefully we can Work Together. I yield back. Thank you. I have the utmost confidence in louisiana and part of what you brought out with public corruption in the system more or less something that every a couple of months getting released from prison because of prosecutorial misconduct and Public Confidence is so important at one at what point does those sacks of misconduct rise to corruption . That is a great question. Identify call with public corruption of willful misconduct someone you knew to be in some innocent could be criminal conduct the label does not matter. Is this something you would commit to . I think it is very important for innercity communities to have that confidence to step up for witnesses to place their confidence in the system to know that it is on the up and up and because of a violation of something of that nature, something i would like you to look into. I hope your open to doing that. The other saying i would like to break up is there is an article may be one year ago that talked about the fbi will track criminal conduct by their informant. Do you do that . Yes. Do you have a range or do you tolerate certain acts as acceptable as it leads to a bigger fish . Almost like fast furious looking at the drug trade of innercity communities even though they become an informant to leading to a bigger fish you still create an addict and a crack baby although my colleagues dont take it that far. I am also worried about that with the drug trade and i see that in my community to see if you have approached it like that or have conversations about continuing to what informants to what they do. It is something we worry about a great deal. Unfortunately the way it works the best view of criminal activity will come from a criminal so those who are not informants have done those things before so restudy that if we are very worried about the informants committing criminal act after working with us and that is subject to a regime where if an enormous will continue to be involved there is a bunch of complicated players that we approve that or disapprove that we do want people committing crimes. It is necessary or monitor to take down a bigger fish. The other part is when the investigation starts to affect political elections the d. C. Mayoral race where it came out the candidate was under investigation that they said it just happened to me that time but then pointing to the North Carolina mayor that federal agents gave money to years ago and we allowed him to stay in office and run for mayor, get elected then indict him now it will cost taxpayers a special election and to knows what he has done in the meantime. Trying to play politics if we know someone is a bad actor we act on it immediately or dont effect elections that is the big concern of mine but they q for the job you do and your agents put their lives on the line every day. But i am concerned of the innercity kennedys how we deal with weapons of mass destruction with assault weapons and as lets get the of big drug dealers also. We now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina. Director comey your previous experience as a career assistant u. S. Attorney has to be some of the best experience you have for making a successful directorship of the fbi. I recall i was the u. S. Assistant attorney and it is the previous experience that makes your tenures of a successful. You were widely regarded as a prosecutors prosecutor and brought to bear your experience of how things work in the field to make the department of justice work better and i thank you will do the same for the fbi. It your experience as the u. S. Attorney and from what you hear from your troops how important is cooperation with the federal investigation of any variety . Vivid critical is the coin in the realm as you should know from your experience. How important is minimum mandatory sentences to get that cooperation . Significant it is a useful tool to elicit cooperation throughout my career. When a defendant looks set a mandatory five years or 15 years or 30 years in the only opportunity to get out from under that sentence is to provide substantial cooperation to the government is that the into saying factor . Yes. I have seen it hundreds of times. The assistant u. S. Attorneys are deprived of that tool in the toolbox to get cooperation will that having an impact on federal Law Enforcement with your ability as a federal officer to get your case is successfully completed . If we lose that tool. Sure. Again, talking about your tenure, and i seem to recall you were involved in which was the going after convicted felons with firearms or a single piece of ammunition used in the federal firearms laws to take those sophistry in wholesale fashion. We call the project in richmond but to said the very powerful message to criminals. As the deputy you oversaw project safe neighborhoods which is the same thing to go after felons do catch them with the firearm to put them away for a minimum of five years or life imprisonment. We did that across the country. Is it your recollection is the decline across the country where that program was implemented that it was related to the implementation and . I always thought when you send the message as strong as we sent. Also your experience as an assistant and u. S. Attorney and a deputy and certainly your role now coming is it your experience that federal prosecutors prosecute nonviolent drug offenders on a regular basis i dont know they have never done that. If you were told federal prison more than 50 percent are nonviolent drug offenders would that surprise you . More than 50 . I dont know but that would surprise me. That statistic has been alleged several times by members of this committee and i find it unbelievable. I dont believe it is accurate because being in the Attorneys Office for 10 years at of thousands of cases i dont recall a schooling after a nonviolent drug offenders. Sometimes we would to flip them if i was working fun getting case working the of the game case. We now recognize the gentlelady from texas. I am over here. Let me thank the chairman and Ranking Member as well for the yielding of the time to put on the record for my colleagues we were in a Homeland Security markup and therefore i did not have the wisdom of a the question is asked and maybe answered by my colleague. I will start off to congratulate you for your service with many directors reid know how important the responsibilities that you have far and how important it is to have an agency with such high esteem reflect diversity of america with the of reach and the diversity numbers of women and africanamericans and asians . With our population . Sitting here i cannot give you the exact figures but it is not a kiddie nothing and that is below the workforce of similar cohorts. Get me the numbers and what it is suggested door implemented under your leadership that it is not a good deed of . Talking about it a lot i sent dave message to all 36,000 employees explaining why i care about diversity and why it matters of effectiveness and to do the right saying so i sent to try to drive my view and on a more tactical level with the recruitment efforts in the job fair as it is a complicated answer but there is a lot going on. We have progress to make. Tavis like to get those numbers and work with the fbi on its approach. But in the local areas thank you for that fact. One of the most important aspects is to let the local Community Know what they do when a member of Congress Calls for them to join in a town hall meeting or university that is nonpartisan to be engaged with the community. I hope you view that as the Important Role. I speak to all once a week. You are my representative so get out there. The of maurice you know, the fbi the more you like we just have to talk to folks. I want to pose the question i am from texas and we have been dealing with a case that seems to have been caught in a quagmire of an africanamerican male that was designed as of the killing the body was found 18 days after it was reported in wellliked and the glove from a family in the area and with that on killing investigation i will request a general briefing on the parameters. This has gotten caught up of the scale of injustice that is almost unbelievable with local officials and even federal Law Enforcement if theres a to a close relationship and i dont make these allegations but as the inquiry. Land i want to get of briefing at this time. Also the case which i believe of the young man shot on his own front lawn with his parents saying this is his house in his car by a Police Officer in texas. Unfortunately he was acquitted were asking for the every investigation asking unanimous consent to put it into the record. Without objection. With local police abuse cases and second i think mr. Holder made 1. But to prioritize with the of major actors that with the federal system but will not hurt anyone . With respect to the drug cases in those in the particular Community Working on the lower of the fall of the other it is hard to take the street to gain with respect to the civilrights cases with the Police Brutality cases interruption are the important part of the civil rights investigation and priority as you may have seen people from the shares offices and las angeles. The time has expired. I said the name incorrectly. I wanted correct in the record. The name would be robbie tolan. The chair recognizes himself. Thank you director for your testimony suggesting the fbi is probating the scandal of the veterans affairs. Yes. The Phoenix Office is. I would encourage you to probe that. To cds end up with of attention to be held accountable. In terms of benghazi and perpetrators at this point to find them to bring them to justice at this point . In any case all instruments are brought to bear. Render standing you dont have that Legal Authority for whoever you want to uc committed. Is that your understanding . I dont want to talk about how i approach that investigation and dont want to get anything away. That weve run into a problem that they them have the authority to respond but what happens is leading up to that . There was no congressional authorization for that. But somehow he would not have the authority to seek a reprisal attack that does not square with me to seems there would be the intervention with the weaker case especially given in 2001. The reports the fbi had noticed we starting to use the islamic militants to wage jihad and syria and the report a couple weeks ago about a suicide bomber from fort pierce florida from syria. But to wage jihad with those types of people of those in the homeland. To with those affiliated groups and to get the worst kind of training to develop the worst kind of relationships because they are americans to do very bad things here. Not just the fbi but all parts of the wests governments. What tools do you use is not committing an act of violence . How do look to stop them . Material support statute . You want to get them before they strike. All of the above. Typically tweet charged with attempting to give support to a an organization or providing support but frankly we will use anything we can to become further radicalized. With the conservative film maker that is writing critical books about obama and the movie and the can play cnn Campaign Finance that they were reimbursed and i think that context the decision to charge him criminally the fbi had to put out a statement that came across to a routine review but i thank you know if you review the report with the name or the donation there would be no indication he would have a you reimbursement steady with a routine review that does not seem to be sufficient to trigger that type of inquiry so how could that routine review of the ftc filing wednesday to the inverse reimbursement indictment . I can imagine in a circumstance where coming from a similar business or connected to a person could see to the inquiry that could look at that the nation in scheme but i dont know that case well enough. There will be families who will donate if that is enough to trigger thank you would see more and more cases brought criminally. It is not your decision but i would like to explore that with you further in private. My time is expired. We now have the gentlelady from washington. Thank you for your time and service we have been deeply disturbed by the revelations of misconduct that the veterans medical facilities the department continues to report with the Inspector General and they are looking and 69 facilities. I want to understand will they look more broadly going beyond the phoenix issue . With those resources that they think are important with the investigation . It isnt something i can answer at this point i dont think i would it away with a criminal investigation but we will follow wherever the facts take us we opened it there because that was the primary focus of the original allegations but we are working with the v. A. I gm will follow the facts. It is the important issue. The white house release the findings of the big data review one of the recommendations was congress should amend the Electronic Communications privacy act to assure the level of Digital Content is consistent as with physical material but that was written in a time before email change the way we live and work and the current log gives projections for a filing cabinet. But the administration has recognized the law is very agitated and do you agree we need to update the policy . License is the administration has communicated that. There is the outdated distinction of the bill under 180 days in theory you could obtain without a search warrant we dont treated that way we get a search warrant in a matter how old saw that would not have any effect on our practice i have heard the concern and it makes sense. We have an email privacy act h. R. 1852 to make updates to address the issue to require Law Enforcement to obtain a warrant to gain access of the content for those stored in the cloud and has 216 cosponsors. I also want to echo concerns from my colleagues felt the bureaus work of human trafficking. These are horrendous crimes we have seen operations crosscountry to recover juvenile and young adults through prosecution and that is commendable but not to how to make deadend to and the prevalence is staggering so are there tools to combat online trafficking and what are the challenges that you face what can you do to help that . Wheat looking at the investigations online so people do that as we speak. Of one of the challenges is the increased use of encryption especially those who would harm children to say it is terrible they want to break encryption but no its not with Lawful Authority and involvement of the courts i need to do that but it is of a technical challenge that is increasingly difficult to. The back page issue is challenging because there is certain First Amendment issues but i dont want to say more at this point. Thank you for your time. Led chair recognizes himself for five minutes. As my colleagues have indicated we appreciate you being here and we have something in common were both graduates of the college of volume and mary i graduated 75 perhaps at the end of the hearing we get a quick shot to send it to the alma mater. [laughter] we used to be the indians and tell it became politically incorrect. But now we are the tribe. Club mythological figure. So i am told. In any event will come. First of all, to bring up again i have to hearings going on at the same time but relative to the china hacking and church is recently in those military hackers and economic espionage and in particular it is slander standing alkyl love and westinghouse and others were targeted by the military hackers. Also the chairman on the Foreign Affairs committee so with the particular interest in the us with the persistence of cyberspeenine etch if you could relate briefly with the guests the fbi is doing about that and well be introducing legislation in the future but one thing is calling for the fda fbi to expand the warnings they are now giving to American Companies how they are susceptible to cyberattacks and other types of attacks with the u. S. Peace drive u. S. Me and we look forward to working ways you and your people with head a modification we would welcome your cooperation in that effort to. As i tried to explain there of the two types of Big Companies those who have been hacked and those that dont know they have been hacked. [laughter] it is enormous problem they try to steal everything that is not nailed down or maybe that is so we give nationals cyberinvestigative task force to track the intrusions the we have to get better to share information with the private sector because they move that the speed of light behalf to get better to facilitate private entities because they will see things before we do and that is a huge part of the answer by it is the dermis feature of the cyberwork that the fbi does. Thank you. We know china is probably the overs factor is there a handful of others we need to be wary of . Sure. The internet is a very dangerous neighborhood there is a stack of bad actors to terrorist groups organized criminal groups because where our lives are that is are bad people come. It is a very complex challenge. There are other states actors and i sure want to point the mound in the open hearing but you can guess. In those 48 seconds this has been brought up of relative to the irs targeting searching groups i represent cincinnati that was the location of the irs facility that was most directly involved with the initial talk about or correct me if i am wrong it is still under investigation but we help and expect the fbi to give this full consideration to get to the bottom to prevent this from happening again. The gentleman from new york is recognize. They give for that Tremendous Service we have a gun violence problem in this country that should shock the conscience of every single american and. We have 5 of the worlds population of 50 percent of the worlds tons estimated there are more than 275 million guns in circulation some of which in the hands of criminals or the mentally ill. Also since the tragedy in newtown connecticut and more than 14,000 live in what had hit having killed since newtown. In more than 70 School Shootings with that gun violence of radiate to do Everything Possible to thwart the growing issue. I have devoted my entire career to deal with efforts to reduce gun related violence so whenever we can do to keep guns out of the hands of criminals is worth doing. I respect the opinion you articulated you dont feel it is appropriate to to comment on legislative measures that congress could undertake that we all acknowledge is a significant threat to this country to our health and wellbeing but what can you provide in terms of recommendation what congress could do to deal with the issue of gun violence in a more robust fashion . With respect to the fbi you are right the policy questions are not to opine that we have to get better to get the records into the background check to allow the gun dealers with a significant issues which is the challenge across the country. Garett may were not doing Anything Possible coming with the 275 million to find themselves and then hands of individuals to commit acts of violence who might to our children or the people of america harm. You are familiar with the economic espionage act . With that economic benefit of foreign entities. Was the vehicle used to recently charged agents of the Chinese Government . Is of particular case of the cybercase stemming the Counter Intelligence division has jurisdiction tear prosecute the trade secrets . Is that correct . Both with the counterintelligence division. It is my understanding the number of trade secrets theft and cases increase between 2009 and 2013. But there was a recent report at the national Counter Intelligence executive that losses to the economy from trade secret theft is tens or hundreds of billions her your. On dash per year. That is the huge numbers. Given the the of massive nature of those posed by trade secrets is important to make sure your agency has the resources necessary to combat this issue but there is no companion civil statutes to provide u. S. Companies with the opportunity on a civil track to deal with trade secrets theft. Would it be reasonable to consider an additional weapon in the toolbox to empower those United States companies. I dont know enough to respond but the fullers the toolbox of better. The gentleman from rhode island is recognized for five minutes then this is the final question this morning. I want to build on the question about gun violence. And regrettably we seem to be working and congress is committed to do nothing about it. But because of the of leadership of project exile the programs that became a National Model to invest since the efforts to reduce gun violence and risk project safe neighborhoods to build upon the work is the Effective Program but we did provide funding but looking at funding of 8. 5 million that barely failed but whether or not it should include investments for project safe neighbors. I am not in a position to do comment on the particular budget matter but it is hugely important. In my experience criminals can change behavior with respect to guns they gave no more thought to use of a gun than what shoes he wore a but our goal is to make that the object of focus because most common set homicides are happenstance the assassination is a disagreement so it is important to change behavior with those messages. You have a responsibility with jurisdiction over a wide range to combat the violence and the fbi overseas the system. You should not apply in about policy but you have a responsibility to enact a policy which enhances Public Safety. I assume you would agree that for every purchase of the firearm that captured or prevented criminals would enhance Public Safety and National Security. Anytime you can keep the gun out of the hands of the criminal you have done a good thing spinning so we require criminal background checks. That is where you cross. I am not a policy maker the attorneygeneral decides that. Of criminals dont get guns. But similar way to prevent those letters seriously mentally ill to have of firearm ought to be prevented from fire are purchasing a fire arm and the best way is a robust system for Accurate Information is reported from purchasing a firearm. Recognize a that vast majority are not violent but talk about that category of individuals what is the fbi doing in conjunction with state efforts to ensure they share that information accurately put into the National Database preventing people with serious Mental Illness from purchasing firearms . Communicating constantly to our state partners to tell them what records we can accept and what form it is useful but the job lies with the states to get their act together that there is the vibrant dialogue between my people that runs the background check system and to help the flow. This is the critical issue for our country looking at the most recent examples of terrible gun violence caused by some serious Mental Illness that should not have access to the fire arm. Thank you for your testimony. We have no more questions so this concludes the hearing and without objection have five days to submit written questions we are adjourned. They accuse. [inaudible conversations] today, discussion about European Security and the transgression transatlantic relationship. We will have that live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3. For over 35 years cspan brings directory to you, putting you in the remake congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences. And offering complete gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House, all as a Public Service. Brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch us in hd like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. This week on q a our guest is Emmy Award Winning journalist and Investigative Reporter lisa myers who discusses her career, state of media and her further plans. She recently left nbc news after more than 30 years at the network. Host lisa myers, over 30 years with nbc news, how would you define journalism today . Guest i think journalism is at its best is holding powerful people and institutions accountable and exposing injustice. I feel we are not doing that enough we are too driven by social media which is important but it has come to dominate a lot of decisions about coverage when we ought to spend more time digging and providing new information to the viewers. Host why did you leave the business . Guest it had been more than 30 years and i think change is a good thing. It was really a matter of i either change now if i were going to make a change or continue probably through the next election. I decided i wanted to take a pause and spend a little time playing golf, making a few speeches and then decide what i want to do next. Host have you come to any conclusion of what you might want to do next . Guest no