Drug assessment summary. And in that particular summary or study, most agents said mayor marijuana was at like 5 total risk to society and meth and heroin were the most serious drugs challenging them and the American People. Do you agree that we should spend more time, our Law Enforcement, working against meth, heroin and opiates and not marijuana . With respect to our narcotics laws, what we try to do at the department of justice and dea is focus on a specific region and problem and devote resources to that. We currently have a crisis regarding heroin and opioid abuse in the country. Some communities have been consumed by that particular problem. There are unfortunately some communities that still have problems with methamphetamine. So there might be a different focus depending upon the issue. Marijuana is not where cities have people needing marijuana and knocking off 7elevens. To get some money to buy their marijuana. They are doing that for meth and heroin, right . Certainly we have seen Violence Associated with meth, with heroin, with Prescription Drugs as well. The type of Violence Associated with the marijuana trade typically occurs at the dealer level, import level. I certainly have seen cases where there has been significant violence at that level. There is. Just like prohibition, we made it illegal. Its not because of the marijuana and the need to have it on street level basis where people need to commit violence to get money to buy a drug. We did the same mistake with marijuana that we did in the 20s with alcohol. The public demanded it. Racketeers, criminals got involved, we made them rich and they used guns to protect their properties. We made a mistake. Do you agree marijuana should not be in the schedule one, same as lsd and heroin . Scheduling is typically determined based on whether or not there is another use for the product. I think there would have to be studies by the fda to determine whether or not a scheduling change in any drug is necessary. Dont you agree you have to change the scheduling from one to get the studies . One of my constituents died waiting for the opportunity for charlottes web. A lot of people would like to get canniboids. Talk to Montel Williams and what it does for multiple sclerosis or Cancer Patients to give them an appetite. Dont you agree medical marijuana is serious and should be looked at as an aid to people in our society to get through medical problems and not be considered a joke . Certainly medical marijuana is significantly different from the criminal enforcement or use of marijuana. The department supports the fda studies in the use of the oils or the substance within marijuana that i hate to cut you off. I hope you would look into initiating what you can taking it off schedule one. Its crazy to have it with lsd and heroin. It should not be there. It should be studied. Rifra has been used to allow groups to discriminate against lgbt people. It has been based on 2007 doj office of Legal Counsel opinion that said it could be used to grant exemptions to federal programs. Will you commit today to instruct the office of Legal Counsel to review and reconsider the 2007 olc legal opinion that is being used today to justify tax payer funded discrimination counter to the president s executive order . I would like to look into that issue. If i could have my staff reach out to you and get more information on that, i would appreciate that. On that same issue, holdovers from the bush team, there was a holdover from bush for six years. Thats why the president got hardly any recommendations for commutations. Can i have a commitment from you to give more resources to people to study prison records and facilitate the expeditious sending expeditiously recommendations to the president for commutations of the thousands of people who are serving time for nonviolent drug offenses that arent serving American People by having them be in federal prison . The department has, in fact, taken a significant look at the staffing and resource needs of the office of the pardon attorney and sought to provide Additional Resources so that every application that comes through, whether it be for pardon or clemency can be considered quickly and efficiently. But it hasnt done that. Let me remind you what dr. King said. Justice delayed is justice denied. Every Single Person serving a day in prison who will get a recommendation is having their justice delayed and denied. On that note, the gentlemans time has expired. We will recognize the gentleman from ohio, mr. Jordan. Thank you, mr. Chairman. On february 2nd, 2014, chief counsel to irs commissioner John Koskinen learned that ms. Lois lerners hard drive had crashed and they didnt have all of her emails. The irs waited until june of that year, june of 2014 to tell congress. In that fourmonth time period between when they learned that her hard drive had crashed and they didnt have all her emails and june, when they told us, in that fourmonth time period, mr. Koskinen testified twice and did not disclose the fact they knew her hard drive had crashed. One month later, in march of 2014, the irs destroys 422 backup tapes. Just so you understand the fact pattern, they know on february 2nd, her hard drive has crashed, they dont have her emails, 30 days later they destroy 422 backup tapes with three preservation orders in place. In fact, one of those preservation orders came from the Justice Department. Ten months before that, you had told them, hey, preserve all the documents, preserve all the emails, weve got an investigation going on. There were two other preservation orders as well. So three preservation orders and two subpoenas. That sure looks like John Koskinen and the Internal Revenue service concealed information and destroyed information. But just last month you guys send us a letter telling us youre not going to prosecute anyone in the irs targeting scandal. You specifically say in that letter our investigation revealed no evidence to deliberately conceal or destroy information. Heres what i cant figure out. They learn on february 2nd, 2014, that lois lerners hard drive had crashed and they dont have her emails, 30 days later with three preservation orders and two subpoenas in place, they destroy the backup tapes. If thats not evidence of deliberately concealing and destroying information, what is it . Thank you, congressman. With respect to the matter that youve raised, as we set forth in our letter, we did review the issues surrounding ms. Lerners emails and the backup tapes. As with every criminal investigation, were looking for evidence of criminal intent and were looking for evidence of the specific reasons for why the actions that you note how many times do you have direct evidence of intent in any other type of Fraud Investigation . What were you looking for . An email where the commissioner sends an email to the guys in the tape room and says, destroy the tapes . You had three preservation orders, one of them came from the Justice Department. They knew there were problems with the hard drive and they didnt have all her emails. 30 days after that, they destroy 422 backup tapes. Thats not enough to take it to a grand jury . Certainly it was a matter under review, congressman. Weve outlined in our letter the findings of the review. If it wasnt a deliberate intent to destroy and conceal, what was it . Congressman, as we outlined in or letter the findings that we had based on those actions. Heres what you said in your letter. Justice departments investigation uncovered substantial evidence of mismanagement and poor judgment. What i just described, was that evidence of mismanagement by John Koskinen . Congressman, im not going to attribute it to just one individual because i believe certainly there would have been others was it evidence of poor judgment when koskinen learned that her hard drive had crashed, he comes and testifies before congress and doesnt tell us that and waits four months to tell us . Was that evidence of poor judgment . I cant speak to what was in his mind when he testified before you. I can speak to the information that we provided to this committee outlining the steps that were taken in the department of justice investigation. And the conclusions that were drawn. Heres what the American People want to know. What was it going to take before you take this to a grand jury . Would koskinen have had to wait five months before he told us, six months, eight months before he told us . Would they have had to destroy 423 backup tapes . 450 backup tapes . Would they have to destroy every single backup . What was it going to take before you take this to a grand jury, with three preservation orders in place, they have knowledge that theres problems with the hard drive, and they destroy the backup tapes . If that fact pattern doesnt warrant going to a grand jury and prosecuting, tell me what would. Certainly, congressman, that fact pattern was a part of the investigation, as were a number of other facts in there. We outlined in our letter not only the investigative steps that were taken but the conclusions drawn. Who were you referring to when you said evidence of mismanagement and poor judgment . Who . It seems to me the guy at the top is the guy responsible. Are you saying the commissioner had substantial evidence of mismanagement when he informed congress he destroyed 422 backup tapes . Is that evidence of substantial mismanagement on the part of John Koskinen . I would not attribute it to a specific person. Who would you attribute it to . Someones got to be responsible. Let me ask you one last question, if i could, mr. Chairman. You sent a preservation order to the irs in may of 2013. In march of 2014, they destroy 422 backup tapes. If a private citizen gets an audit notice from the irs and ten months later they destroy the evidence, would they be prosecuted . It would depend on the evidence of intent. Really . I bet the average american citizen, of course they are going to be prosecuted. Yet you guys with that fact pattern wouldnt take it to a grand jury. Who mismanaged what . Thats the question i want answered. Who is responsible . Someone has to be. We outlined in our letter no, you havent. You said some. I want to be if it was the guy who runs the irs, the guy presiding over the irs when we destroyed the 422 backup tapes. Is he responsible . As we indicated in our letter, there was substantial mismanagement. As we outlined previously, when we indicated we would provide this information to the committee, we are also happy to provide a briefing to the committee on other questions that you may have about this matter. The gentlemans time has expired. The chair would recognize the gentleman from georgia, mr. Johnson. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General lynch, i want to commend you and the department of justice on the fact that 70 individuals have been charged since 2013 for conduct related to foreign fighter activity and homegrown violent extremism. General lynch, this committee has previously heard how isil and other terrorist organizations feel potential recruits in publicly accessible social networking sites via encrypted messages platforms and also voice over internet apps. Are these encrypted private messaging platforms and also voice over internet apps hampering the ability of the department to quickly ascertain and address threats to National Security . And if so, in what ways . Congressman, thank you for the question. Certainly when individuals choose to move from open means of communication to those that are encrypted, it can cause a disruption in our ability to use lawful Legal Process to intercept those communications and does give us concern about being able to gather the evidence that we need to continue in our Ongoing Mission for the protection of the American People. How so . Well, with respect to individuals in this country, what we have seen is communications, this is in regard to specific cases, weve seen communications between them and individuals urging them to commit acts of violence, acts of terrorism. And then those individuals dropping from one type of communication to an encrypted method of communication. And we no longer have visibility into those discussions. When you say no longer have visibility into those discussions, can you break that down and explain exactly what you mean . Certainly. Typically we would, with a lawful court order, go to a Communications Provider and, focusing specifically on individuals against whom we had probable cause to believe were involved in criminal activity including terrorist activity, obtain the authorization to review their communications in the past as well as on an ongeg base basis. When individuals move to an encrypted platform, one that is not accessible by the provider themselves, then we have a situation where were not able to have our court orders handled in the typical way, that is to say, were not able to receive that information and ascertain what these individuals are planning, and also, just as importantly, with whom theyre planning these actions. And so we rely on other methods and means. But that is a loss of an important means, an important Law Enforcement tool. Is there any way that the department can overcome the use of encrypted data and Voice Communications by terrorists who are trying to recruit within the borders of the United States or a terrorist plot taking place between persons inside the United States . Take, for example, the terrorist incident in paris this past weekend, where i heard one expert say that he would be shocked if the terrorists were not using encrypted communications, perhaps even during the terrorist events. How can the department thwart that kind of activity taking place here on United States soil, given the fact that we have these encrypted communications . Well, certainly it makes it very challenging. Our approach has been to work with the electronic companies, the internet providers on a casebycase basis and help them find a way or work with them to find a way to allow them to respond to the valid Legal Process. And certainly were having conversations with the industry as a whole to make sure that they can in fact comply with Legal Process and provide us the information that we need. We rely on other means of surveillance, other means of gathering intelligence about those individuals and their associates. But it does cause us the loss of a very valuable source of information. Okay. With that i will yield back, and thank you for your testimony. Thank you. The gentleman from georgia yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Gohmert. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, attorney general, i appreciate your being here. Obviously people are rather sensitive to potential terrorism, especially since isis is known for keeping their word when they make threats, at least as often as they can. And we had a witness sometime back, the fbi director at that time, director mueller. And i was asking him about investigations at the mosque in boston where the stsarnaevs attended. And he indicated that the fbi had an Outreach Program with that mosque where they would commune together. But they never actually investigated at the mosque whether or not the tsarnaevs had been radicalized, even after russia gave the fbi a heads up that the older tsarnaev had been radicalized. They never asked any questions of the people there. And i know ive been through materials with fbi agents that have been cleaned out from the teaching materials at the Justice Department, and for some ridiculous reason they were classified, so we had to do it in a closed setting. But it appears to me that fbi agents, justice officials, are not even being allowed to be taught what it is that radical islamists believe, not even perhaps that Osama Bin Laden indicated that the egyptian martyr, Muslim Brotherhood member broke milestones that actually helped radicalize him. Nobody knew enough to go to the mosque and ask has tsarnaev been reading it . Have you heard him talking about milestones . It seems like we blinded as one official told me, we blinded ourselves of the ability to see our enemy. So, i was also surprised since director mueller was fbi director after alamudi was arrested, based on i understand information that britain gave us, but hes doing 23 years for supporting terrorism. He didnt know alamudi is the one was at the bottom of starting that mosque. We know that apparently alamudi helped in both the clinton and Bush White House find muslims that alamudi said could be trusted to work in those white houses. And im just wondering since we now know that he supported terrorism. We know at least the tsarnaevs, perhaps others, who have been radicalized worshipped at that mosque. Has the Outreach Program been terminated with the alamudibegun mosque in boston . And has there been any investigation into people that alamudi placed in the clinton and Bush White House now that we know he supported terrorism, hes doing 23 years. Do you know of any such investigations . Mr. Congressman, i dont have the information that youre requesting, but certainly what i can say is that you have touched upon the issue that all of us in Law Enforcement deal with as we work not only to protect the American People but to counter violent extremism that does pull in young people like the tsarnaevs. I appreciate you calling it viol