Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140426 : c

reality. they provide thousands of paying strangers with public ordinances -- public performances over the tv. thank you. >> the case is submitted. following the oral argument, attorneys representing both abc ereo spur brief -- spoke briefly to reporters. clement, -- paul clement. i just want to say we are very glad to get before the court filedon the case that we trying to seek review of the second circuit's decision because we thought the second circuit's decision was profoundly wrong and was a real threat to the nature of the broadcast industry. we are very happy to be in court today. we are very pleased with the way the court considered the arguments. they understood the technology. they understood the stakes. obviously, they were focused on the interpretation of the statute and we convey to them are relatively straightforward position which is that a service can not provide live tv over the internet to thousands of paying strangers without engaging in a public performance. it is really as simple as that and the statute protects the public performance rights and the technology and service of aereo violates that. what is the number was -- number one weakness you would see in the reaction? >> i don't think we perceive the weakness. as aesented this case question of statutory interpretation for the court. that is the way the court process this case. they are concerned about the consequences for the broadcast industry and for other technologies. i think they also understand there is a fundamental difference between a service that provides content in the first instance and something that provides a storage service. a is the difference between car dealer and a valet parking service, one of them provides cars to the public and the other one only provides your car back to you, not a provision. i think you could make potentially similar distinctions in this case that ultimately -- but ultimately we want the court to decide this case and leave those questions for another day which is the position of the united states government. what is the number one thing that is different? >> i don't think i would do anything differently. that is not to say any argument could not be improved. it is to say the principal point of the argument is really to answer the justices questions. a lotiefing really does of laying the groundwork of the case and we felt like the justices had a very good questions and we will be happy to try to point them in the right direction in terms of our view of the case. >> were there any questions that surprised you? >> [indiscernible] >> one of the questions in this case does implicate how the copyright laws are going to apply in the digital age. iscertainly think there nothing about the digital age that makes the copyright laws obsolete. i think some of the arguments being made on the other side of this case that suggests as long the content is provided by a push of a button then the provider of the content is not doing anything. i think that really could revolutionize the technology and in the digital age. addressed back in 1976. it addresses mutual terms. i don't think it could've been much clearer. they did not want to allow public ordinances by transmission by any device and congress went further and said any device or process means any device or process now or later developed. i think congress has artie spoken on this very clearly. -- already spoken on this very clearly. -- i thinknk copyright cases in my experience are not left or right cases in any respect. i think the courts can interpret this as statutory interpretation. i think some justices may start with more concerns about the content providers and others but i don't really think that has any political valence. >> [indiscernible] what is at stake is the nature of broadcast television as we know it because a company like aereo can somehow lots ofcontent to paying strangers without engaging in a public performance, i think the networks will have to rethink the way they provide content because i think the traditional understanding has been certainly since 1976 that when somebody like a cable company retransmits broadcast over the airwaves, they engaged in public performance. if that changes, particularly if the changes in a way that suggests over the air broadcasts are uniquely vulnerable, i do think that companies are going to have to take that into account in determining where they provide a confident in what formats they use. >> he said things went well. moreviously, i have been -- didn't do more than one argument and more than one person had a different impression of how the argument went. i think the justices were asking the right questions. we certainly think that we provided the court with a straightforward interpretation of the performance right. thank you. >> my name is debbie -- david frederick. i am counsel for chet kanojia. the supreme court heard the argument today. from our perspective, the issue in the case was whether consumers would always had a right to have an antenna and a dvr in their home can make copies of local over the air broadcast television. that right should be infringed simply by moving the antenna and the dvr to the cloud. the court's decision will have significant consequences for cloud computing. we are cautiously optimistic based on the way the hearing went today that the court understood that when a person watching over the air broadcast television in his or her home is engage in in a private performance and not a public performance, it would implicate the copyright act. thank you very much. >> what the broadcaster says -- >> thank you so much. questions -- no questions. sorry. >> some independent scientists look at it after it was on the market and found a gene that was normally silent was not. that gene produces an allergen. you may have an allergic reaction and someone may die from eating the corn that is genetically engineered unlabeled as containing an allergen. the process of genetic engineering created a switch in that dormant gene as well as changes in the shape of protein. soy has a sevenfold increase in a known allergen. this was not intended. this was the background side effects of the process of genetic engineering. the process that is used to create the corn that we eat. here at the organization, european food safety is short -- authority, no problem. the gmo's are all part of this conspiracy. us all about it. here are whole bunch of other organizations and these are not organizations with some scientific sounding name. these are real medical and protective organizations. in europe, which is very anti-gmo, australia, here is the epa. we. -- we pay attention to them when it comes to global warming or something like that. they say it would not pose a risk. i can come up with dozens of these. >> this weekend, how safe is genetically modified food? this week and on book tv, the los angeles times festival of books authors and panels on the realities of war. saturday starting at noon and sunday at 1 p.m. eastern on c-span2. american history tv, georgetown university profit -- professor on title ix. this rumination against women in sports and the education amendments of 1972. saturday at 8 p.m. >> jay carney spoke to george washington university students about media and public affairs. mr. carney served as director documentation for vice president joe biden and he worked as washington bureau chief. we will show you his remarks tomorrow night. here is a quick preview. >> i remember we had some discussion during 2012 about if it is appropriate for the president to give interviews to john stuart and others -- jon steweart and other. s. the answer was yes because most people we are trying to reach would most likely watch the daily show. i think you can look back at 2012 and a series of interviews the president gave, probably the toughest interview the hat was jon stewart. probably the most provocative interview he had in the election year was with the anchor of the daily show. >> what does that tell you? >> i think you guys should examine it and write about it. that is a broader discussion about where the media is or the traditional medias today. it is also reflection on the fact that somebody like jon actually very smart, sophisticated consumer and presenter of the news. thatckages it in a way draws eyeballs and young eyeballs which is what we were looking for. >> you can watch all of secretary carney's remarks saturday night at 8 p.m. eastern here on c-span. last july, the city of detroit filed the largest chapter nine bankruptcy in u.s. history. michigan governor rick snyder served kevyn orr. today, he gave a keynote address at the american bankruptcy institute is premiering -- spring meeting. this is half-an-hour. [applause] >> one of the things he didn't mention was up until last year, he was part -- he was one of my clients. in addition to being a dear , i don't miss the fact that he makes those 12:00, midnight calls asking me what the deal is and why we don't have the definitive chesheet. thank you for that rather engaging interruption. up it is nice to be on the side of your friendship. this represents some of a homecoming for me both a gritty -- both figuratively and literally. trish redman who was at my first term. don't f its words, up. we have been in the trenches of many battles. my friends every year. some of my investment bankers that are here on this matter. some of the judges i have appeared in front of and i assure you i am very thankful you did not hold me in contempt. noticed some of the pictures they usually happy with my mouth open which is not my normal state of affairs. what is interesting about what al says is bankruptcy is unique in america. what i thought i would do is discuss three points with regard to detroit -- how we got there, what we're doing now, and what we see happening. i will do that by invoking a point of privilege that my wife reminds me of regularly, the five b's a public speaking. "be brief, brother, be brief." [laughter] al is right, i got involved in this matter as a part of the pitch team to receive the representation. when we went in others were there and when we went in we had a very frank discussion, and one of the questions they asked is, do you need an emergency manager? i thought i went off on a tirade, this is a ridiculous question, and i guarantee you i will work with every schmuck you get to do that job. they called the next day. despite my initial answer, i am comfortably discussed in my petite bourgeoisie position. i decided it was a call to service, an obligation to a city that has been so unique in this country's history. it is the motor city, motown, the arsenal of democracy, a border town, the jumping off point for the underground railroad, a city that has been central to the history of america, a city for so many reasons that has fallen down on hard times. i have not spent a lot of time focusing on a retrospective of why. there is enough attribution. there's enough blame, and you can read that. most of the free papers have chronicled detroit's arc to where it is now well. when we came in, we did an analysis, but one of the things that was striking is while the bankruptcy was filed july 18, 2013. the process had been going on for years before that. the process began in 2011 when the governor made a move to say i am going to take on detroit. 60 years of decline, of neglect, and i will to get it on in my watch. there's no upside here. the governor gets 2% of the vote from the county. he began with a review team that can march of 2012 that issued a report which ended in a consent agreement in april 2012. failing to meet the conditions of that agreement, a memorandum of reform had specific obligation that was approved in two city council votes for those provisions. failing to meet those, another team was empaneled in december of 2012 and issued a report, and the governor issued 22 pages findings of facts of the condition of the city. most of you have read it. $18 billion of total debt. roughly $2 billion in unsecured credit. 60% of the fires are arson. 40% of the streetlights out. 78,000 units abandoned. as you drive through the city, in certain parts of it, it looked like a shadow of the former great american city of was. the one thing that struck me of going into the city is the resilience of its people. while the city of detroit may be bankrupt, the people of detroit are not. they have a commitment to their city with the hope that they do dream of better things and that it shall rise from the ashes, the motto of detroit. what struck me in that retrospective is hopefully there is no cause and effect behind this phenomenon, but other cities i have gone to had a similar text. out of law school i went to miami. in 1981 there were periodicals -- "miami is dead," "paradise lost," "race riots," "fires and brimstone." "it is never going to come back." if you go to south beach, there was still the old training center where mohammed ali trained. everybody thought it would never come back. within a snapshot of five years, it began to turn. investment flowed into the city. 300 sunny days, great beaches. i think i want to go back, especially when i hear about the snow. the city began to grow and thrive. in 2001 i came to washington. my office was on e street, between seventh and the 9th street corridors. from it i saw buildings that were burned up from the 1968 riots. shaw, u street, nobody would go, too dangerous. from there, abe pollin built himself a stadium, and now we see thriving condominiums, gentrification, people coming back into the city supporting a space and despite the prognostications it was never going to happen, happening with dispatch. new york, i met with the director for the city of new york, and he brought some photos, and i said, that is detroit, and he said no, that is 130th street. thriving. it does not matter. every city, baltimore, inner harbor, pittsburgh, three rivers stadium, every city has an opportunity for revert, and that is what struck me about detroit. the costs of debt and unfunded obligations and conduct a borrowing from the pension funds and calling it deferral, unsustainable. the fact that last year we had a citywide service on a $1 billion -- the city would not function. you cannot cut enough of the fte's and services to balance the budget. and it was apparent. we tried initially to suggest we can do this without bankruptcy. i received some pushback on that saying that was sophistry, too ambitious. but what we have seen from last july 18 until now, in the past three weeks, we have made great momentum. some of you had read about it, the settlement with the bondholders. a confident member of this group took me to task a couple of times for putting out a deal that he thought was too rich, and i will take a beating on behalf of the city every day, but drove it down to one of $77.6 million. the interest rate was being calculated on a nominal amount of $800 million. a $400 termination fee. the transformation of that settlement is to make the $50 million of principal reduction payment. the city is paying down its debt without the risk to its casino revenue. the settlements with grs, pfrs, others, and hopefully more to come, and today we are to file yet another plan of adjustment. it took us from the needs that were apparent and had been discussed about for many years, to a point where we had a framework in bankruptcy to provide a structure and mediation is a process to provide a venue to resolve many questions, and some of the counterparties share this. let me tell you, there has been some heavy lift, late nights, and lot of positions, some people walking out, some people crying, all that kind of good stuff. we are getting it done. more importantly than that, three months ago in november -- six months ago -- i was up on seven mile, as i drive around the city to get a feel for what is going on. we are hanging between 500 and 800 lights a week. i want to take a look at the blight. i wanted to get a look to see how the buses were running. i was driving by that street corner, and i told this story before. there is a little princess, the age of my daughter, little pink backpack on, waiting for the bus. she is waiting for the city bus, because we cannot afford school buses. on that bus which she rides with adults and older children. it is her way to school. if that bus is late in november when the sun goes down at 4:30, if she is out there by herself on a cold bench all alone, that child is at risk. every day. she has to walk from the a stop past blighted homes. monsters live in those homes. people live in those homes. the risk to the city is tremendous. what we are trying to achieve to provide an adequate level of services for that little girl, for people who have done nothing wrong and expect to be paid and provide as sustainable and future for the city is crucial. the next steps, because we would like to take some questions. as part of a long race and we are now coming around the third turn and we have the fourth turn and the straightaway coming up, we still got a lot of lifting to do, because despite the successes we have had we have to negotiate definitive documents. we got to get through a planned structure with some of our counterparties. that is going to be difficult. we have to get the funding in. 18 million. we have the foundation community, kellogg, greater southeast michigan. 366 --have come in with $366 million we have state legislature and the governor that is appropriated to re-hundred $50 million and $100 million from the dia community. we have to get that in. we also have to come up with an exit strategy that leaves in place some post-emergent oversight which is the state of the art, the expectation, state of the law and the restructuring like new york that lasted from 1975 to 2008, 33 years. like here in the nation's capital, abdul sam is giving us a federal payment which still had to have a four years of a proposed budget before he could get out over oversight. that willrom detroit, have an obligation. let's talk about that true north. we do see a brighter future. we have a new mayor and he is as committed every day. he is as committed to turning around the city as anyone. we have a city council that is actually talking and working with the mayor. they have voted for some of the proposals that my office has proposed because it is in the interest of the city. we have fathers and mothers, roger penske, dan gilbert, committed to the city for years. $1 billion over the past 10 years to the city of detroit coming in. about what itals means to be involved. downtown, the central core, nine square miles are 97% leased. we have had investors come in who trip over each other. we have a group of investors from china and they bought three buildings because the value proposition and the relatively low acquisition costs smells a whole lot like miami, washington, baltimore, pittsburgh, and other cities that have gone through our renaissance. that is nine square miles in a city that is 130 miles squared. boston, manhattan, and san francisco in our borders. the city has to deliver services to all of those 139 square miles. there is still some work to be done. people about our efforts is that is almost not quite easy, but long overdue and expected. it is what we do as restructuring professionals. we look at balance sheets, assumptions, come up with proposals. that is the least of it. because when i and my core team -- someone said to me how many more professionals can you cram into a conference room? i said it depends, is a christmas eve or new year's eve? firm --team is max law my ex law firm. they have been doing this work since mid-2012 and they have been stellar in the ways we can handle ourselves. we have not fought, played games. i haven't proposed a rift reduction. set up deadlines in terms of proposals. if you don't agree in the first five days, -- we try to be reasonable and forth right and fair. to some people's position, a little bit too much but the important thing is we have to leave the city in a way that is able to move forward together so you can seize this moment to rebuild a great american city. what do i see? i see a city that is already on its way to its renaissance. a city that is thriving downtown. a city that is committed folks of good faith. a city whose workforce has been remarkably patient. when i first came in, there were gentleman that showed up at city hall. he is a sellout, he is an uncle tom. all that stuff. i like oreos. now, i am having lunch with a gentleman. they say, what can we do to help? we thought you were going to be darth vader but you proved yourself. moment to take this make the city better for that little princess in the pink backpack. that is what this is all about. i also see much effort. of 700,000 residents deserve and expect services in city that is going to resolve the blight and grow. i'm going to speak personally for just a moment on two fronts. number one, it has been a privilege for me to have this opportunity. i said i didn't want to do it because frankly i was thinking oil is goingnd of to buy and how much to my funding my pension plan this year. it seemed like it was a sacrifice but i cannot tell you how much worth it it was for what we are trying to achieve. the second thing and i didn't know she was going to be here but now that she is, i would like my wife to stand up so i can say to her thank you, honey. thank you for being supportive. thank you for being patient. [applause] i am sort of proud of her. the reality is when i come is to take out the garbage, walk the dog, i don't want you -- i don't care what you are doing in detroit. want to thank all of you as well because of the judge to the mediator to the professionals to the little part i am lame, as al mentioned, this is an effort that shows what everybody in this room does. the unique capacity in america to take an enterprise restructure it and give it a fresh start to give it the opportunity to thrive and grow. the many people out there don't quite understand what we do. many of them look at bankruptcy opposed to a business tool that has grown and achieved normalcy and how we use it. whether it is doing something in detroit or doing something in a private enterprise that you all do, i am proud to these small part of your brethren and be given this opportunity to allow the city to rise from the ashes. thank you in be happy to take any questions. -- and i will be happy to take any questions. [applause] ok. they are coming. >> will happen with the art collection? >> good question. he is going to sell it all off. last year, when i came in, i kept saying -- we hired christy to do an appraisal. as you all know, christie's is one of the most preeminent organizations around. we hire them in april and there were stories that kevyn was going to sell it all off. i will say right here, first of all, thank you to christie's. they lost some commissions in the process and people were calling them carpetbaggers, but i did that for a reason. we spent the following seven months saying to the community, this is an opportunity to save yourself. if you do not, we may have to sell some art. we are in bankruptcy, you sell assets, that is what you do. fortunately, as a result, the foundation community came, and one other conditions of the funders for that $860 million, none of the art to be sold. in our plan, we are going to preserve the art. it is one of the most seller art museums in the nation. we have four diego rivera's, wonderful paintings, but the interesting thing about the assessment, everyone thought that we had 60,000 pieces of art worth $50 billion. really, only 400 pieces of those 66,000 have value, so we will have the opportunity to preserve the art institute, a great facility. not just for the city but for america. that was an opportunity we did not have seven months ago. >> [inaudible] i'm sorry, i cannot hear you. >> [inaudible] >> i think your question is am i monetizing assets in the city. some and some not. under chapter nine, it is different. 903 and 904, i can use bankruptcy speak with this crowd. the judge, presciently, in an order said that the city had the discretion to make those decisions. we looked at the opportunity and there were three principal issues we have to deal with. one was dia, the other was the detroit sewer and water department, which we are going through an analysis now, to see if a mediation process will go through to create an authority for benefits of the city. there was bell island. the fountain was designed by the same architect that did the supreme court. that island we have leased to the state so that we can preserve it for city residents. that is generally what we have done so far to try to maximize value for our creditors. yes, sir. >> kevyn, i'm from chicago. we have our fair share of challenges, financially at the state and city level. i'm a high level, i'm curious, what lessons have you learned that could apply to other cities and states around the country tackling the same issues? >> thank you for the question. every time i go out i try to say, all municipalities are different, all cities and states have different enabling legislation as far as what they can do, all have different tax basis. chicago has a quite healthy tax base. one of my favorite cities. i used to go to hamburger hamlet quite often before it shut down. $19 billion in pension obligations. generally speaking, at 40,000 feet, i think your mayor is well aware of this, delay does nothing for you. the reality is, one of the ways we were able to get pensions to 100% for our police and fire, uniform retirees, and roughly 95% for general service retirees, is that their market investment in the pension funds paid better this year. partner of that is that there is oversight. there is a statute that says i will make criminal referrals if there is inappropriate behavior. there are people in prison as we speak because of misbehavior. if people behave in an irrational way and deal with the issues early on, you get over the risk. it does not get better. which issue with destroyed -- this issue with detroit has been coming for 50 years when population began to go down town and for 25 years more acutely when it was clear the tax base could not support the services, and in the past 10 years, when the city of a million lost 240,000 residents, 24% of its population, that is a city that lost the size -- in the city. there were plenty of warnings but you have to take the opportunity to do with them. yes, ma'am, and then yes, sir. >> after this extraordinary example that you had set for all of us in this room, what do you do next? what can you do that would match this kind of assignment? as a political career -- is a political career something you would consider? >> my boss lady is in the room, so the answer to the second question is no. the first answer is a warm island with my wife and kids. i do not know. i cannot say i have enjoyed the process because there are so many different images to the process i did not imagine. one of my staffers said, i'm not a politician. one of my whiny moments. he said, you were not elected, so get over that. i have since learned to put that cloak on, but i'm looking forward to taking it off. there are no political aspirations inside this heart. i've had enough. yes, sir. >> [inaudible] >> you talk pretty eloquently about detroit's population loss and the fact about the job losses are also equally well-known. have you seen signs that the city is stabilizing the population? my friends who live in detroit say they continue to lose people even sent the 2010 census. >> the reality is we are probably at 685 but there are some shelling population loss. in the central business is to there is growth. we do not have enough housing for people coming in. the other thing that makes it good, in the next three years, detroit will have five major infrastructure projects in that city for tens of thousands of jobs. we have a new bridge. we are such an important trade route for canada, they will build a multimillion dollar bridge, a welcoming center there, a new arena coming in, we have light rail going of the corridor, as well as indigenous development. not auto job necessarily, but new opportunities for residents, and taking many of our young people. i had a meeting with the united way yesterday and i could not tell you how many groups were dedicated to training our young people so they could get into apprenticeship jobs and become skilled tradesmen. we have a lot of work. i do not want to be pollyanna-ish. 139 square miles. the population with loss we have suffered a significant, but the opportunities that are coming the way of the city in order to turn that around are at least much better than if they were not there, which would be a different story. there is a reason to hope that is based in reality. >> keep up the good work. >> thank you so much. that is kind of you. [applause] >> in closing, once again, thank you all. it is good to be back in the bosom of the restructuring community. i will stay around a little bit so i can use some bankruptcy speak and feel like i am back home again. thank you so much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] policyrrow, the foreign institute looks at current relations between russia and ukraine. after that, friends of the earth and the american petroleum institute discusses the keystone xl pipeline and last week's decision to delay approval. plus, your phone calls and comments. live tomorrow at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the death of trayvon martin is indeed an american tragedy. act that this violent resulted in the murder of inyvon martin is repeated the streets of our nation. i applaud the young people all across the land who are making a hoodies, about the real hoodlums in this nation. particularly those who tread on our laws wearing official or quasi-official clothes. racial profiling has to stop, mr. speaker. just because someone wears a nutty -- a hoodie, does not make them a hoodlum. the bible teaches us, mr. speaker, in the book of michael. >> member wilson -- >> these words. >> the member will -- >> it will require you but to do justly and to allow mercy. in the new testament, luke teaches us these words. the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me. he has sent me to proclaim freedom. set the oppressed free. i urge all to hear these words to heed these lessons -- may god bless trayvon martin's family and his soul. >> he is no longer recognized. the chair will ask the sergeant at arms to enforce the prohibition. the chair must remind members that clause five of rule 17 prohibits the wearing of hats in the chamber when the house is in session. the chair finds the donning of a good is not consistent with this role. ule. members need to remove their hoods or leave the floor. >> find more highlights on our facebook page. and brought toby you today by your local satellite or cable provider. the issue of airport security continues to trouble the transportation security administration. boy was able to get access to the runway where dispose be limited to the employees of the airline and the airport. he hid in the landing gear of the plane that was flying to hawaii. some people are thinking it is miraculous that he was able to survive. he was unconscious when the plane landed but later regained consciousness at the hospital. it is really tough at the altitudes that commercial flights reach, there is usually loss of oxygen at that level. it is very cold, so people say it is very surprising that he was able to survive. >> does tsa keep track of attempts like that? that has got to be an infrequent occurrence. >> there are some lawmakers that say it is happening more frequently in recent years. that is a bit of a gray area, which is what lawmakers wanted to get into. airport perimeter security is usually handled by airport police department, but tsa is also supposed to make sure that every passenger that comes through has accurate boarding documents. there is some overlap in jurisdiction there. >> you wrote in one of your articles that a representative of california, homeland security committee, wrote a letter to the comptroller general of that perimeter security. what did he want to know? >> he is calling for a nationwide reassessment of airport perimeter security. he says this incident shows that there are large gaps in security in some of the jurisdictional gray areas i was talking about. he is calling for an examination for all airports in the country. he said that has not been done in several years. >> we are showing the viewer is a field hearing of the house homeland security looking at the 2013 shooting at lax airport. they talked about a number of issues including security. what sort of efforts did tsa make, in particular, after that shooting at lax? >> there has been a bunch of changes that have been recommended. the los angeles airport and the authority that oversees it conducted a review of the security situation of the emergency response situation during the november shooting and they found that it took too long for airport police to get over because tsa agents are not armed. in that situation, there are some groups that are calling for the creation of armed tsa officers. in that situation, the union for tsa workers said that the agents were sitting ducks because they had an active shooter, there were no airport police who were armed, tsa was not. >> once again the issue of security, and back to the stowaway issue, you write the tsa administrator headline in the hill says that they question the tsa chief after the stowaway. what will they want to know? >> that hearing was already on the books, probably will take on a different flavor now that this incident has happened. it was supposed to be a broader look at tsa's efforts to develop new procedures to keep up with the new threats that are emerging. i am pretty sure that there will be questions from lawmakers from both parties on how a teenager was able to access a flight in an area where only authorized personnel should of been, and what tsa would be doing to deal with those challenges. >> you can follow keith on twitter. you tweet about a poll dealing with the tsa and how people feel. only 50% believe tsa makes flying safer. did any of those poll numbers translate into fewer flights by passengers? >> it did not appear. that poll was conducted by harris interactive. it was more an assessment of passenger attitudes, about flying, they separated the data into people that live very frequently, business travelers, infrequent flyers. it did not seem like there was anything to suggest that people were less likely to fly because of the tsa. >> you can follow keith on twitter and follow his reporting at thehill.com. thanks for the update. >> the house homeland subcommittee hearing on airport security. this is an hour and 20 minutes. >> the committee on homeland security subcommittee on transportation security will come to order. the subcommittee is reading to them in the transportation security administration preparation for and response to emergencies at airports. before we begin, i want to welcome the witnesses and extend my thanks to those participating in the hearing. i appreciate the efforts of all those involved to have this important hearing. this is an official congressional hearing as opposed to a town hall meeting, and as such, must abide by certain rules of the committee of homeland security and of the house of representatives. i wish to remind the guest today the demonstrations from the audience coming including applause and verbal outburst, as well as the use of signs or packard's are in violation of the rules of the house of representatives. cameras are limited to accredited press only. i now recognize myself for an opening statement. i want to thank the witnesses for their participation in this hearing and their commitment to aviation security. also want to acknowledge the sacrifice of tsa officer hernandez who lost his life on november 1, 2013. it is my sincere hope that this hearing reminds us not only of the horrible events of that day but also motivates us to make changes that will improve our ability to detect and deter potential threats and respond to future emergencies. i believe we owe it to mr. hernandez and all those impacted by the shooting to examine the facts and shed light on the details and the timeline of this incident in an open setting. that alone is the purpose of today's hearing. the shooting that occurred here at lax exposes significant weaknesses in the federal or the ability of federal personnel to communicate and coordinate during an emergency. i suspect this exist in other airports across the country. perhaps these witnesses stem from constraints or clashes between agencies, or a believe that an incident like this is unlikely. it is certainly easier to push emergency planning and size on some time to the distant future rather than making a top priority than today when you have so many other competing demands for time and resources. having said that, most of my colleagues will agree, in a 13 years after 9/11, these types of flaws cannot be tolerated, regardless of the reasons. based on reports and pleaded by tsa, it appears there is widespread agreement on this. according to los angeles airports, the response and recovery efforts following the november shooting lasted roughly 30 hours. shooting affected over 1500 flights and 171,000 passengers. among the findings of the report, they highlight significant coordination and challenges among local first responders. i agree with the assertion that airport security needs to become more risk-based, emergency communications need to be more streamlined, and it must be a unified incidents command center after an incident like this. the report provided details on certain aspects of the response, but they did not mention where the officers assigned to terminal three were at the time the first shots rang out and what impact if any this may or might have. i believe the location of these officers is crucial to understand the viability of a flexible response. especially when you combine it with a lack of interoperable radio communications that we know exist. if we do not have law-enforcement officers station at heavily traffic screening point or ticket counters, we should at least have confidence that we know when the first officers will be there to respond to an active shooter or to an emergency. i look forward to discussing this issue in greater detail. we have had the benefit of reviewing tsa's recent report which highlights several recommendations, actions, including mandatory active shooter training for screeners and improved mitigation systems and enhance law enforcement officer presence at checkpoints and ticket counters during peak travel times. bottom line is tsa cannot do it alone. it must rely on local law enforcement partners in an event like this. for i conclude, i want to remind you that we are on a tight schedule today with folks flying out at various times this afternoon, so i will be enforcing the five-minute rule for all members to hopefully we can get through to give you of questions. we will follow-up on the hearing to look more broadly at what lessons were learned once we put the facts on the record here today and how they can be applied to airports nation wide. i welcome all member -- members to attend the hearing as well. i now recognize the ranking member of the full committee for any statement he may have. >> thank you for holding this important field hearing today. at the outset, i'd like to acknowledge executive director and chief galen of the los angeles airport for their hospitality. your willingness to aid the committee and oversight for hosting a hearing and accommodating our members request to choose a side of this tragic shooting of november 1, 2013, is appreciated. to administrative pistol, thank you for appearing before the subcommittee to discuss tsa findings in the wake of the shooting and planned reforms to mitigate a similar incident in the future. we placed the security of our aviation sector in the hands of men and women of the transportation security administration every day. those on the front lines, the tsa officers, deserve to know that we are doing everything within our power to see that they themselves are secure when performing the critical jobs of screening passengers. i'm pleased that the national president of the american federation of government employees is appearing before the subcommittee today to give voice to the transportation security officer worked corner. as has been well documented, on november 1, an armed guard -- gunman entered a term of three of los angeles international airport and opened fire on transportation security officer hernandez. the gunman then proceeded through the terminal, targeting other tsa employees, shooting and injuring transportation and security officers grigsby and spear. thanks to the bravery of the police officers on duty among the gunmen was open daily -- ultimately taken down and prevented from causing further harm. while some may wish to point fingers and assign blame for this horrific incident, i believe doing so would be counterproductive. all of our energy should be directed toward not only learning from the incident but also implementing needed reform. frequently, we speak of lessons learned from a tragedy but failed to implement the reforms necessary to present those lessons from having to be learned again. for instance, after 9/11, we identified communication between and amongst first responders was an area that needed major reforms. despite knowing this and having spent $13 billion to correct the problem, a review of the report the airport released last week revealed more than a decade after 9/11, the police and fire department at this critical airport could not communicate effectively during an emergency. the two transportation security the two transportation security officers have been trained to use in the event of an emergency did not work. the state of affairs is unacceptable. our police, firefighters, transportation security officers, and emergency medical personnel, along with the american public, deserve better. had the intent of targeting passengers incident tsa personnel, untold lives could've been lost. in addition to the communication issue, i have concerns regarding the training of transportation security officers are receiving for active shooter scenarios. i look forward to hearing from the administrator for how he intends to ensure all tso's are trained to respond to an active shooter scenario in a matter relevant to their work environment. before yielding back, i would like to acknowledge represent a divorce who represents the district the airport is in, and representative brown, for their participation in the hearing today. i must also ask for unanimous consent that representative waters and brown be allowed to sit in and question the witnesses at the hearing today. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. >> without objection, we welcome ms. waters and mr. brown. the chair now recognizes the chairman of the full committee, mr. mccall, for any statement he may have. >> thank you. i'd like to first offer my first -- sincere condolences to officer hernandez's wife, who we met with briefly before the hearing. i also want to recognize the tsa officers grigsby and spear. from what i've seen, you are true heroes. what you did the day. we appreciate your service. i want to thank the chairman for his leadership on this issue. i also want to thank the los angeles world airport for hosting us. chief galen, who gave us a tour of the terminal this morning. john pistole, tsa, ms. lindsey, thank you for hosting us and giving us a briefing this morning. they were very informative and insightful. it is critical that agencies responsible for protecting our airports are doing all they can to keep passengers and employees safe. i believe this hearing is an important opportunity to examine lessons learned from the shooting, what went well, and what didn't. how we should apply those lessons learned to others as we move forward. unfortunately, we live in a very dangerous world. that's like the one that happened here are difficult if not impossible to prevent. but what we can do is improve our ability to protect the threats before someone starts shooting or detonates a bomb or hopped a fence or takes advantage of any security loophole or vulnerability that we have failed to close for one reason or another. as chairman of the committee on homeland security, i know how committed our law enforcement officers are and our transportation security officers are, day in and day out to stay ahead of any potential threat. yet, the tragedy that the world watched unfold at this airport could very likely happen again at another airport in the future. so we need to be prepared for that. wherever and whenever it may happen. there are valuable lessons to be learned here today by this incident. first, we need to dissect exactly what happened. among the shortcomings in the response to the shooting, we know that all relevant agencies did not join together in a unified command structure until 45 minutes after the shooting occurred. even then the los angeles fire department did not join the unified command. this, along with the lack of in some cases interoperability communications made the job executing an efficient response more difficult. what is perhaps most concerning about the problem identified after the incident is that it was as if the government had been shooting randomly -- gunmen had been shooting randomly rather than targeting tsa, we could've had dozens killed within the 4.5 minutes it took for officers to obtain the gunman. airport police were operating vehicle checkpoints and stopping certain vehicles to check for anything suspicious. yet, as the airport report points out, it was possible the shooter went through one of these checkpoints and the officers were not able to detect or deter him. there is no such thing as 100% security, but the situation reminds us that we cannot become complacent. we need to constantly stay ahead of potential threats with proven tactics and techniques, and there are some parallels to what happened at the washington navy yard just a month and a half before this incident occurred. i do want to close on a positive note. what we saw today with ms. lindsay and chief janet, john pistole, not only prior to the shooting, what was done at the shooting to stop the shooter, to stop more bloodshed, the heroes that day, as i pointed out, are tso officers. chief, the great work that you did. i must say, i walked away very impressed with how this incident was handled by all the relevant agencies, but also the way they have looked in a self-critical way to examine what can be done better. that is what it is all about, how can we do a better job so we can prevent this from happening again? i must say i'm very proud of the los angeles airport police, ms. lindsay, your efforts with the airport, mr. pistole, what you have done with tsa, to make this place a seizure airport. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. >> the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for any statements she may have. >> might i add my appreciation to you, mr. richmond, and also to the chairman and ranking member of the full committee of homeland security. i also wanted a knowledge my colleagues commerce and waters, who has come up with great honor, served his community and showed great compassion for these issues, and to congratulate congresswoman for her important legislation that i hope will be passed and the president will sign. i thank all of you for coming to this hearing, particularly, the witnesses, mr. pistole, who is in service to the nation, ms. lindsay, your guidance of this airport, along with your colleague, chief gannon, who eloquently presented the case today of november 2013. mr. cox, thank you so much for standing very strong and tall for first responders in the name of tso officers. today we will learn what we can do to prevent or mitigate a similar incident in the future. at the outset, i want to knowledge the ranking member of the subcommittee, sir richmond of louisiana, could not attend the hearing today, although he wanted to very much. he has asked that i express his regret, which i will do all that and ask that i sit in his place during the hearing today. at this time, i ask unanimous consent that ranking member richmond's didn't be inserted into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> again i think that witnesses for a. before the subcommittee today. a special thanks to the executive director lindsay and chief gannon, the administrator pistol, national president cox, a friend to working men and women, for traveling to appear before the subcommittee. today we have the honor and privilege of having officer hernandez's wife present with us today and as we chatted about her wonderful children, i thought it was important to acknowledge to all of the officers, let it be very clear, you serve in the stations defense, and that tso officers across america are first responders and they are serving to protect our national security. mrs. hernandez, your husband fell in the line of duty serving his nation, and we are grateful to all of you for your sacrifice and your willingness to sacrifice, saddened that it occurred, but we thank you for your presence today. today's hearing focuses on an issue that i closely observed in my time in congress and as a member of the homeland security committee. that is the safety and security of our aviation system and airports. i served as easy the chair or the ranking member of the subcommittee and work to enhance aviation security and the security of our critical infrastructure. indeed, i was the principal author of the last repetition security administration authorization act to pass the house of representatives and i would hope that we soon have the opportunity to look at that again with the many changes we may need to include. understanding the importance of training for transportation security officers, not legislation contains a section focused on the talisman of a centralized training facility for the workforce. i look forward to hearing from administrator pistol today on how he intends to train the entire transportation security officer workforce on active shooter scenarios in a setting resembling their workplace environment, a crucial element to the many tso officers across america. today's hearing also focuses on a topic of great interest to me in light of a similar incident having occurred, as i mentioned earlier, in houston, texas. last may, a man entered the houston internet -- intercontinental airport and was in the parking lot for over an hour and subsequently fired shots into the ceiling near a ticketed area. thankfully, no passengers or airport personnel were injured in the incident. the shooter ultimately took his own life. as an additional point, it was a tso officer that first acknowledged or thought there was something suspicious about this individual. ultimately, as this tso officer confronted the individual and the department of homeland security law enforcement agent came out from under the direction and was part of the overcoming of the individual even though he had begun to look as if he was going to take his own life, taken together, the shootings at lax and houston bush internet -- intercontinental airport shows that airports are target rich environment, as unfortunate as it seems. whether it is the airplane, the area where passengers are, or whether it is in the open space and secure areas where tso officers are manning. knowing that it is incumbent upon us to implement recommendations and modify policies where appropriate that will make the airport environment more secure, airport personnel and transportation security officers. undoubtedly, russo will require resources and support from federal, state, and local authorities when an incident occurs that prompts support from multiple law enforcement agencies, communication systems are only as good as their weakest link. our challenge is to make that link a strong as possible. it does no good to the washington -- los angeles airport to invest in a communication system and the surrounding jurisdictions fail to do so. i look forward to listening to the testimony and will submit the rest of my statement into the record. >> i think the gentlelady. other members are reminded that you may submit written statement for the record. we are pleased now to introduce our distinguish panel of witnesses here with us today. first we have the honorable john pistole, the administrator of the transportation security administration and the department of homeland security since 2010. as tsa administrator, he oversees and manages approximately 60,000 employees, security operations of more than four hundred 50 federalized airports throughout the united states, federal air marshal service, mass transit systems, and pipelines. gina lindsey was appointed general director of los angeles world airport in june 2007. she has over 20 years experience in airport management. she has briefly served as managing director for seattle-tacoma international airport and her attorney aviation for anchorage international airport. aggie for hosting us. mr. patrick gannon, appointed to the position of chief of airport police for los angeles world airports in november 2012 hearing chief of airport police, mr. gannon leads over 100 -- 1100 police officers, security officers, and civilian staff and ensures compliance with tsa mandates, airport rules and regulations, and international federal, state, and local laws. he retired from the l.a. police department in 2012 after 34 years of service. finally, mr. j david cox is the national president or the association -- american federation of governing employees. the largest federal employee union representing six hundred 50,000 federal and easy government workers nationwide in overseas -- and overseas. i will also point out, mr. cox is from the eighth district of north carolina, so he is my constituent. always want to make note of that. i thank all of witnesses for being here today. full written statements will appear in the record. the chair recognizes administrator to stall to testify first. >> thank you, ranking member, congress numbers, for hosting this field hearing on this important topic. appreciate the opportunity to appear before you with these other distinguished witnesses. the events of november 1 demonstrated the bravery of our front-line workforce as well as their commitment to tsa's mission for protecting the nation's transportation system. in the immediate aftermath of the incident, tsa took a number of actions which i'd like to outline some including assembling a crisis action team to advise me and ensure communication and engagement with the workforce and stakeholders regarding the event. a call for a conference review of tsa policies, procedures, and training to identify improvements to the safety and security for tsa employees and by extension the traveling public. after meeting with the family of officer hernandez, and thank you for recognizing anna and the officers, the day after the shooting, i met with them, and then had the senior leadership team take the following steps. first, we communicated with our workforce what we knew and then with cricket updates. second, i convened a meeting of external stakeholders where we requested inputs for active engagements to consider and improve officer safety. third, i directed internal teams to assess options and make recommendations. fourth, i redirected a number of our intermodal viper teams from their surface trepidation missions to lax and other high-profile airports to serve as a deterrent to a shooter. from these reviews and assessment, we received hundreds of ideas and have limited over a dozen of them. employees from all levels of tsa contributed to ideas through what we call our idea factory and then over 100 town halls, i and other senior leadership team convened. we continue to welcome stakeholder work force feedback as we remain engaged in advancing modernization. in that regard, i want to recognize the immediate and ongoing engagement our senior leadership team here at lax has had with our over 2100 employees here at lax, the largest contingent of tsa employees of any airport in the country. and to thank each and every tsa employee, particularly here at lax, and terminal three, for their resiliency and dedication to the mission. i also want to thank director lindsay and to our police for their strong partnership prior to november 1, and since that day. the lax shooting raises a number of issues about the training we provide to our tsa employees, and while they have received a number of different types of training, active shooter training was not a primary focus. since november 1, lies mandated all tsa employees receive this training and am pleased to report over 90% of our six 2000 employees have completed this training. in support of further efforts to reinforce emergency procedures, we've incorporated a reminder in our shift greece regarding evacuation routes and rendezvous points identified in the local navigation plan. as part of our review, we study how officers notified law enforcement of an emergency most effectively and determined that we need to do two things. regular test existing alarms, and acquire and install many more alarms in airports around the country. interoperability of communications between tsa and most federal agencies and state and local authorities continues to be a challenge worldwide. we also instruct our federal security directors to own a wireless devices preprogrammed with their own emergency numbers to allow them to voluntarily program them into their personal devices. in addition to best practice we are linking -- when a distress alarm is received it would be appropriate to automatically focus on the location of the alarm. after carefully studying the presence of law enforcement officers at checkpoints, tsa is also taking the following actions, including incorporating maximum response times in their airport security programs and recommending standards for increased presence at high airport locations, such as checkpoints, ticket counters, to provide a deterrence and quicker it's -- quicker response time. in conclusion the shooting of officer hernandez and three others reminds us of the dangerous world we live in. the shooting serves as a catalyst for tsa to assess its existing safety kerry -- existing safety security policy. there is no guarantee of preventing terrorists and others from doing bad things. the actions i have outlined divide a measured approach to mitigate risk without trying to eliminate it. clark's thank you. the chair recognizes the chief. >> members of the committee, welcome to los angeles international airport. i am the director of los angeles airport security and chief of los angeles police. airport police is the primary law enforcement agency for los angeles world airport with a staff of 1100, of which approximately 2500 are sworn, the rest are support staff. los angeles airport police is committed to ongoing training. an active shooting exercise was held three weeks prior to the november 1 shooting. during this two-day training exercise we trained over 350 airport police officers in los angeles police officers and los angeles city firefighters to respond to an active shooter in an airport environment. we conducted this training in one of our airports. this training proved to be very helpful as we faced a gunwielding man at terminal three. on november 1, 2013, the alleged shooter entered terminal three at the departure level near a ticket counter. he walked to a nearby line at the foot of an escalator. at the bottom of the escalator was a podium staffed by geraldo hernandez. he removed an assault rifle from his luggage and shot the officer mobile times. he went up the escalator just a few steps but then turned and came back down and shot officer hernandez again. as the initial shots were fired passengers ducked for cover. within seconds tsa officers urged passengers to move away from where the shots were being fired a number of tsa officers acted heroically and put themselves in jeopardy to make sure passengers got out of the line of fire. i would like to specifically recognize tsa officers for their heroic and selfless actions to protect passengers who were slow to exit the area. 10 seconds after the first shots were fired a call came in to airport police dispatch. the call was made by a supervisor who was forced to run from the area and was unable to provide information about the shooting. shortly thereafter an airline contract service employee who was near officer hernandez used his cellular telephone to call airport police within a minute airport police had a full discussion of the shooter and responded as quickly as possible. following the initial shooting he went up the escalator through the evacuated tsa screening area and then into a terminal concourse apparently looking for other tsa officers. he fired an assault type weapons as people scurried for cover. this is where he shot and wounded other tsa officers and one additional passenger. airport police officers quickly converged on terminal three for many different directions as the officers arrived they were directed towards the suspect by a number of people in the terminal. the officers eventually confronted him near gate 35, where an involved shooting took place. he was stopped and taken into custody. the shooting of officer hernandez took place at approximately 9:20 a.m.. one minute 22 seconds later our airport police dispatch center broadcast the shots fired call in terminal three. at 9:25 a.m. airport police officers reported the suspect was down near gate 35. four minutes and eight seconds elapsed from the time the news the shooting was broadcast to our dispatch center to the time our officers reported the shooter was down in the terminal and in custody. there has been speculation this event may have been prevented if an airport police officer was posted at the tsa screening checkpoint in terminal three. the facts are that a podium-based officer at the checkpoint not have prevented this murder and the officer would not have been in a position to keep them from attacking officer hernandez. i believe it podium-based officer would be more vulnerable in a carefully planned attack. at columbine high school it was 46 minutes before law enforcement was able to make entry into that school. to respond and neutralize the suspect within four minutes to when we had the shooter in custody is remarkable. even so we continually look for ways to improve our response time, even though we work each day to prevent or deter violent acts at lax. we can never guarantee this will always happen. what we have learned is that when a violent attack occurs, speed and quickness will be the key to saving lives. thank you very much. >> the chair recognizes mr. lindsey to testify. >> members of the committee, thank you very much for coming to lax. and being willing to discuss the events of november 1. lax is one of the largest destination airports in the united states serving 66.7 million passengers through nine different terminals. we host 95 passenger and cargo airlines that end of the 615,000 operations in 2013. november 1 was like any other busy friday morning at terminal three. an act of violence by a loan gunman set off a sequence of events of which you have heard a great deal. the suspect came to lax and a vehicle driven by a friend and was dropped off by a departure level am a dislike many departing passengers. he was dressed as a typical passenger with luggage typically brought to the airport by passengers. even after he was in custody, communications, traffic control and tactical operations remained quite obligated. airport police and their partner agencies did not know if there were other shooters. they did not know if there was a vehicle with a bomb or a secondary device placed in the airport area. lax handles about 200,000 passengers per day in its central terminal area and it is a massive undertaking to make sure we keep everyone safe. as soon as dispatch was notified of the shooting all landside airport access was shut down. we could only reopen once we were certainly were not putting anyone in harm's way. however simultaneously we were still accepting arriving flights. the number of passengers ultimately held on board aircraft continue to grow. while airport police quickly apprehended the suspect, significant travel disruption resulted in tens of thousands of passengers. our best estimates were there are 23,000 passengers in the terminals at lax. of approximately 3005 hundred people in terminals 1, 2, and three escaped onto the airfield and were then bused to appropriate holding facilities. that is the plan we have in place and on that day it worked. other passengers and workers in terminals one, two, and the three ran out to the central roadway. those and other terminals were sheltered in place. others who were still expecting to depart on flights continued to arrive at the airport, adding to the congestion and traffic gridlock outside the central terminal area. of the 1005 hundred 50 flights scheduled for lax that day 1200 and 12 actually operated. although 74 of those were delayed in lines cancel 250 flight and diverted 800 flights to other airports 16 arriving flights were held on board for longer than 30 minutes. since these were not available what ran workers evacuated. of with lax effectively shut down or ripple effects throughout the national air transportation system that impacted an estimated additional 1500 flights remarkably the airport returned to full normal operations 30 hours after the shooting on november 2. of lax established 12 evacuation and shelter sites and distribute it 16,000 bottles of water. there were partner agencies with passenger accommodation that also made extensive use of the news media websites and social media to communicate what information we had. in the past several months it was reviewed in detail, every aspect of this incident and presented a comprehensive report to mayor garcetti and the board of airport commissioners with several key findings. the report assesses what happened, what could have been prevented, what response efforts worked well, and what areas of emergency management need to be improved. this report is available online. the most significant challenges centered on nasa vacation and public notification. in terms sheltering and customer cares, given the duration of the events, the ability to mobilize an entire airport community in response. lax has implemented a number of specific recommendations and will be implementing others in the coming months. the report also concludes that the immediate tactical response by airport police was swift, heroic, and well executed. collaboration with and in support with response partners was effective. terminal three was rapidly repaired and returned to service. we thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward to answering any questions. >> thank you. of the chair now recognizes mr. cox to testify. of flux thank you mr. chairman and ms. -- mr. chairman and members of the committee. what an honor it is to testify before a majority of the committee that has a southern drawl like me. first i would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of officer hernandez and our best which is -- best wishes for the full recovery of the officers. since the attack, -- unarmed, unprotected, and exposed, tsa officers at terminal three checkpoint were easy targets for a man with an irrational hatred of tsa and our officers. results of our analysis are made fully in abridgments -- in a written statement. i will focus on recommendations for improved security going i will focus on our recommendations for improved security. we believe tsa should create an armed law enforcement officer position assigned to protect passengers at airports or points and other key locations. deployment of newly trained and eo's wouldts l establish consistent detection. this is not a call for the arming of tsa officers. rather, our proposal would establish a new law enforcement unit within tsa. as we have heard since november 1, current airport law enforcement operations have gaps and inconsistencies that leave tso's and passengers vulnerable. many airports have no armed law enforcement officers at or in the airport. even where they do, different decisions about staffing and deployment have left many checkpoints without an armed law enforcement officer stationed to provide security for unarmed tso's and passengers. placing one or more armed tsleo at every checkpoint and key import location will provide several security improvements, including integration of law conscience into tsa operations, creation of a visible deterrent to those with criminal intent, as well as tose who subject tso's verbal and physical assault and provisions for the quickest possible response when an attack occurs. in the interest of time, mr. chairman, i would send the list are additional recommendations. tsa should establish protected installations at each checkpoint with bulletproof glass to allow armed officers to better observe the area, detect the problem before it escalates, and creative visible deterrent for those who might be planning an attack. tsa should continue to deploy tso's and the new armed tsleo's to monitor exit lanes. tsa must ensure close coordination between airports and local first responders. the lack of correspondence around the agencies on lax made a horrific situation even worse as emergency medical attention for our wounded officers was delayed. we strongly encourage tsa to implement the recommendations of gao report on013 scientific research and enhanced training to better identify threats to aviation security. we believe that that will increase the likelihood that they will be at the right place at the right time to detect and deter a potential attacker like the lax shooter. finally, tsa must immediately provide active shooter training to tso's relative to each airport, including interagency drills with other first responders. afg applauds representative julia brownlee for honoring our fallen tsa officers act, which officerant tso's public status. honoring public servants killed in the line of duty recognizes that a very small portion of the population volunteers to be put in harms way to protect their country. hr 4022 should receive enthusiastic bipartisan support. we look forward to the same for proposalsport we have made today. this includes my statement that concludes my statement. >> i now recognize myself for five minutes to ask weston. chief gannon, i would like to start with you. let me say, i agree that formats and eight seconds is quite a remarkable amount of time. your officers took down the shooter, and i want to a knowledge the heroism of the officers that serve under you and the work that they did, the preparation. theynk everyone recognizes were extraordinary, if not heroic. one of the issues that we have heard different information about with the location of the officers in terminal three that day, and i was just asked if we can get it on the record to be clear. >> one officer was using the restroom in an adjacent terminal, and the other officer was out on the airfield, which was part of his responsibility. -- itinterest is not to is to try to understand the policies. the officer who was in the restroom, was there a policy you operate under when you are taking a break, that you notify someone to have someone cover your area? or is it standard operation to take the break and then get back on? >> we have a policy. the policy is to ensure we have coverage in that terminal. for a restroom break, i do not hold somebody to making that kind of determination. i expect people to be able to use the restroom and get quickly back to where they are so why do not have a particular problem with that. my airport andut each terminal we have a tremendous responsibility, whether it is in the departure level or the arriving level, out on the airfield. there is a lot of different responsibilities are officers have. only one layer of security here at the airport. our focus has been on those two officers, but they are not the only officers working that day. they are not the only officers who have responsibilities for that terminal. >> explain that a little bit if you could, briefly, what were some of the liars that they that could have overlapped? >> in addition to the officers we have assigned to terminals each day we also have motor officers, bike officers. we have officers on foot throughout the terminal, officers who respond on moped. i have supervisors working in police cars, and roaming patrol units that are working in the central terminal area that day. so there is the response to a shooter or any incident that occurs in the airport, the ones officers, a number of not just the ones working in the terminal each day. >> thank you. the tsa isony stated recommending airport operators conduct active shooter training. lax had just done such an exercise, and i believe that contributed to the performance of the officers that they in november. coordinationng in when you do this training with local law enforcement at the airports? could you explain? >> there are two active shooter training. one is for all tsa employees around the country, around the world, to make sure they know what to do if an active shooter takes place at their place of work. that is one aspect. there are three types of training. one is an online course which 98% of our employees have completed. the other is a tabletop exercise that is often done in conjunction with airport operators. then there is tactical training, which is done, the training done three weeks before, combined, all 3 -- i commend the police doing that because it probably did save lives. knowing what to do to escape. isis as much escape as it evacuation, to get out of harms way. so that training is done in concert with authorities and police. we require that to be done at least biannually at all the airports around the country. >> i appreciate that. want to hold everyone else to their five minutes on a rather than ask a question i will now yield to the ranking member of the full committee. mr.questions you may have, thompson. >> thank you very much. how would the response to an active shooter situation be different today compared to what happened november 1? >> i think the response to the incident itself and to the it would be-- faster and quicker than that day. part of the difficulty we had on that day was coordinating all of the resources that responded to the airport. that was one challenge we have, making sure we understood exactly where they were being put to work, and building an effective plan. the other issue is prevention. we spent a lot of time wondering if we could prevent this incident. given the case of policy on sierra, he is not on anybody's radar screen. we could have prevented that. there are ways we can educate our employees and people within the airports to be better partners with us and more observant as to what is going on. maybe behavior exhibited by mr. ciancia could have been identified and acted upon before he had the opportunity to shoot. i do not think in this case -- we have put together an approach assigning officers -- officers to build relationships with people so we get better information out of our employees. >> i guess my point i'm trying to get at is, you have identified coordination as something that will be different now than before. based on what we have been told our visit, it is still different -- difficult for the police to talk to the sheriffs department to talk to .he lapd , what are youoing doing to effect that interoperability? >> it still exists here and throughout the los angeles area. the county is responsible for putting together an interoperability plan they have a plan in development. we have developed our communication system to be compatible, but that is still some time off. in the meantime, what we have done on the short term, with fire and lapd, the units that worked the fire stations associated with this airport or lapd officers on cap this, we provide them with a radio which they can monitor for us. we have frequencies where we can talk to lapd on our frequencies, so we do have interoperability to some degree, but not to the eighth and we need. >> the only thing i would add is we are encouraging them to take the steps they need to take, because we have already implemented the technology they are going to implement, so there really is not a whole lot more than encouraging them to take steps they need to take from an airport perspective. an active shooter atuation as a difficult -- is difficult scenario. recommending for the situation like this, the minimal kinds of training the tsa should have in that situation. >> number one, there should be an opportunity for the tso's to take the training and remember that their jobs are very demanding. if people are lined up to get into the airport, it is hard for them to get the training. number one, the time to do it. the training to understand what to do, how to get to the alarms, having more radios, that it would be permissible to use their own cell phones to call for help to get help immediately , how to evacuate themselves, .assengers, a safe harbor each airport is a little bit different, as we all understand. they are built differently. , freeinging, and again up the officer to have the time to do the training. that happens in every organization and the government and private sector. you struggle to get the time to do it. >> thank you. the gentleman recognizes the chairman of the full committee for any questions you may have. >> i will first take the opportunity to say thank you to the tsa officers out there. day in and day out, under very difficult circumstances they protect the traveling public from threats, whether they be lone gunmen or terrorist. you do not always do that, but i want you to hear it from the chairman. at threats, risks, vulnerabilities. this airport has been under threat since 9/11. it was a target, and was on that day. as i analyze this particular pattern, it seems to me that once someone goes through proper screening a weapon will be detected and picked up. so having the police officer beyond that is helpful but seems to me that the real vulnerability is before that process, before they go through .he screening in this case, the exit, where the shooter went through the exit to get into the terminal. the first threat, you want to push the threat out before it gets in. lessons in that regard when you look at what happened today? >> i absolutely agree. the thread for this airport the boulevard, the entrance to the airport, and extends through the curve area and drop off and into the terminals itself and up to the checkpoint, where our greatest threat occurs. so our police presence should be , our emphasis should be on those particular areas. that is consistent with the strategy we put together, consistent with the way in which last may when we moved from the podium assignment with officers standing at a podium behind the screening and moved them up front with that in mind. to reduce the threat. a number of challenges at any of our airports, and a number of issues that involve crime and other things that we have to address each and every day, but i also feel that it is important that we protect everybody in this airport to the best of our ability. >> putting a police officer in front of each screening checkpoint would be ideal. obviously resources are an issue. however, are there ways to be agile, flexible, to keep the threat guessing? if you are always one place, predict thee to threat at the particular juncture. in other words the flexibility , and agility, do you think that is important to move those assets around? >> i absolutely think so. if you are predictable you are vulnerable. that is why i do not think we should be as predictable. i do not want anybody who is going to cause an issue here and take a violent act of this airport is probably going to watch and look and pay attention how we do our jobs each and every day. >> let me just say that under five minutes is extraordinary. i think we can always do better. had he not just been targeting tsa we could have seen a lot more bloodshed that day. stole, when we look at resources, in the intercontinental airport it was a officer who responded. in terminal three. you have the viper teams. you have a lot of assets around there. teams, cvp officers. respond. can you speak to that in terms of bringing resources together to prevent this kind of threat from happening? >> there are a number of challenges and opportunities, multiple layers of security that could be brought to bear. one of the challenges is to know how to integrate the general resources. as the chief mentioned, it is one thing to have the police doing random patrols and having the unpredictable aspect along teams,ordinated viper which is another layer of security there. when we start introducing other components, who have primary responsibilities elsewhere in -- it becomes a question of what we are diverting them from and addressing what risk, what threat. we do balance this threatened vulnerability for assessing this to make informed judgments. you mentioned if we did have a special cadre of armed tso's, i have several concerns about that which i will go into later. that is introducing more guns into the checkpoint, i do not think it is a solution. >> i would agree with that. my time has expired. >> the chair recognizes ms. jackson lee for any questions she might have. >> let me refresh the witnesse'' memory. we started out indicating tsa officers are in the service of protecting this nation. i think that as we proceed at this hearing, it is a key element, collaborating with local law enforcement. chief gannon, i want to go on the record and say, four minutes was a remarkable effort and we thank you again very much. in that direct thought of national security, in 2013 you did a vulnerability assessment at lax with transportation security. and the federal bureau of investigation. in my opening regards, i alluded to the fact that tso officers should have the ability to pick the emergency line and it should work. they should know that the panic button will work or offer a proper response. in an active shooting situation, that is crucial. so my question is whether the vulnerability assessment that was done in 2013 took into account communication between first responders. on the other hand, the ability of the transportation security officers to call for assurance that assistance in the event of an incident. >> the most recent joint assessment was in february of 2014. it was part of the previously scheduled one. one of the things we looked at with the fbi is a communication not necessarily in terms of interoperability, because there is a number of challenges to that, from a number of different aspects. do the police want to have tsa officers on their regular channels and communications -- >> i want to ask other questions. please summarize. >> we looked at a number of things. including communications. we did not look at communications between first responders, fire, police, sheriff. that is not part of the joint vulnerability assessment. >> can we add the ability of a tso officer to have immediate response based on whatever -- >> the question we look at is tsa officers have the ability to communicate directly with airport police, and the answer is yes. as the supervisory tso did on november 1, 10 seconds after the first shot was fired. >> that was a red phone? >> a red phone. >> my point is we want to make sure all that is operable from our perspective. >> they have taken options to direct that. there toimportant for be a federal tso professional realization as opposed to privatization -- does this point out how important that is? >> i believe tsa is a federal workforce. >> but that it is important to be under the federal office as opposed to privatization? >> we recognize the congress mandate to have screening. >> some of us disagree with that. let me ask about the importance of training professional, tso, organization as opposed to privatization. might you comment briefly on what you think is important about a law enforcement entity. >> the american people had the outcry that they wanted the federal government to operate the screening at airports after 9/11. since that time tsa has done a fantastic job in protecting the flying public. i believe that needs to be a function of government, and they are doing an excellent job. part of it was having a law enforcement function in tsa. i commend of the work of the police department. they did a fantastic job. very brave police officers that ran into the situation. at the same token, tsa needs a law enforcement there. my good friend and colleague would not be looking to the phoenix police department to provide the security of officers . there needs to be some type of law enforcement inside tsa to provide security at that checkpoint. there are still a very large airport parking lots, all these types of things that have to be managed in an airport operation, at which we need to local law-enforcement and the airport law enforcement to do. those checkpoints and tsa, it was one of ours that did not get to go home to his family. >> thank you. i yield back. >> the chair now recognizes -- >> i apologize for having to depart at this time. >> thank you for your leadership. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, our host -- gentlewoman from california, our host. we are in your congressional district. we recognize you for any questions you may have. >> thank you, and i appreciate you being here. i would like to thank the committee chairman, the ranking member, the subcommittee chairman, richard hudson and congresswoman sheila jackson-lee who is sitting in for organizing -- ranking member senator cedric richmond. i want to begin by joining with my colleagues to honor the life and service of gerardo hernandez, a tsa officer who was killed in the line of duty on november 1. i offer my deepest condolences to his family and friends and want to honor all the tso's and other first responders who risked their lives to stabilize the situation. and protect the public on that tragic day. this hearing follows the release of two reports of the incident, one by the los angeles world airports and the other by the transportation security administration. i am concerned about some of what was revealed in those reports. but i'm not worried, because those things that were revealed, whether it is the red telephone or the panic buttons or even the interoperability are things that can be fixed. i think that ms. lindsay and chief gannon have already talked about a quick response to those kinds of things. they had the resource to do it, and they will certainly knew it. -- they certainly will do it. i would like to spend a moment to talk about the need for a consistent law enforcement presence at tsa passenger checkpoints such as the one where officer hernandez was killed. let me say this, i know that there are differences of opinion about this. what i am anxious to hear today and in the near future is that the discussion will continue. there may be things that can be tried. there may be alternatives, but what i do not wish to do is to simply have the issue put to rest. because i am concerned that there may be a better mousetrap. i am not sure. following the incident, i discussed airport security issues with leaders of the american alliance of airport police officers. i wrote a letter to the administrator, which recommended that law enforcement officers be stationed within 300 feet of checkpoints. i have a copy of that letter today, and with consent i will include it in the hearing record. i was pleased to learn that tsa was responsive to the concerns that i raised and addressed this issue in its report. specifically, tsa issued recommended standards calling for an increase presence of law enforcement officers that high-traffic locations within the airport, such as peak travel times and checkpoints and ticket counters. however tsa still does not , require that law enforcement officers be consistently present at these checkpoints, even during the aforementioned peak travel times. the report on the other time has not addressed the issue, it implements a flexible response approach to security which allows police officers to roam around the airport. but does not specifically require them to be present at the passenger screening checkpoint. the fixed approach requires the police officer to be stationed at each passenger screening checkpoint. airports that support the flexible response approach have argued that this approach provides better visibility of police officers throughout the airport and less predictability for those who are intent of doing harm. i realize that a consistent law enforcement presence is a controversial issue. i would argue that the flexible response message is not exclusive. a major airport cannot have police officers at every -- can happily stop was his and every checkpoint and still have additional officers patrolling the airport. in the capitol visitors' complex in washington, we have police officers stationed as well as additional officers and patrolling the vicinity. i think it is possible for lax. some airports and police departments have also argued that stationing a police officer at every screening checkpoint is just too expensive. i do not accept that particular argument. i do not want to compromise airport security in order to

Related Keywords

Miami , Florida , United States , New York , Louisiana , Canada , Australia , South Beach , North Carolina , Texas , China , Boston , Massachusetts , Town Hall , California , Russia , Michigan , Washington , District Of Columbia , San Francisco , Ukraine , Detroit , Bell Island , Illinois , Phoenix , Arizona , Houston , Los Angeles , Georgetown University , Chicago , Greece , Hawaii , America , American , John Stuart , Trayvon Martin , Chet Kanojia , David Cox , Joe Biden , Debbie David Frederick , John Pistole , Abdul Sam , Gina Lindsey , Cedric Richmond , Diego Rivera , Paul Clement , Roger Penske , Mohammed Ali , Julia Brownlee , M Jay Carney , Dan Gilbert , Richard Hudson , Jon Stewart , Gerardo Hernandez , Jackson Lee , Geraldo Hernandez , Trish Redman , Patrick Gannon , Rick Snyder ,