Were going to call this meeting to order. I like to welcome our witness today Central IntelligenceAgency Director john brennan. You appropriately note in your Opening Statement that this hearing takes place against the backdrop of a heinous act of violence, perpetrated by a troubled and evil person. The committee has been consistent in consistent contact from the fbi with Early Morning hours on sunday and its been provided a great deal of information on the status of the investigation. I know that your team, along with the Intelligence Community partners are also working to determine if the killer had any connections to a Foreign Terrorist Group like isil. Let me thank your officers for what they do and for the long hours that they are likely putting in to understand this tragedy while also focusing on a wide range of threats facing our nation. Director, i know your organization stands understands the threat posed by isil and theres been much public discussion about progress, the u. S. Led coalition has made to contain isil geographically, to degrade its finance in Media Operations and to remove its fighters from the battlefield, however, while progress may have been made against those goals you note in your statement that our efforts have not reduced the group easter rorism capability and global reach. That assessment is significant. I want to take this moment to speak not only to you, but also to the American People. We live in an open society, one that voalues freedoms and diversity. Its recruiting individuals by leveraging that freedom and taking advantage of misguided hate to attack us and in doing so to divide us. Isils global battlefield now includes the United States and we cannot stand idly by. We must take the fight to them. We must attack them where they raise money, where they plan, where they recruit and we must deny them a safe haven. We cannot negotiate with extremist who seek only to kill and i dont think we will. Im not willing to accept the events of San Bernardino and orlando as the new normal, nor should anyone. We should be able to live securely in a free society and i think we will. And were not alone, our friends in europe, asia and across the world should be able to go to sporting events, concerts, dance clubs, and experience life with their families in safety. We will unit as a nation and as a coalition to confront isil and deny them safe haven, but we can only do so with a realistic proactive aggressive and awell defined strategy. And, frankly, we have to own it and embrace it. Now is not the time to Pay Lip Service to these threats. The sooner we, as a nation, relies that theres only one path force to take at this juncture, the sooner we will destroy isils capabilities and ensure the continued safety of our nation. John, i dont make these comments lightly and im confident we will highlight, during your testimony, these and other threats to our nation. But before i turn to the vice chairman, i would ask you to relay something to your entire organization. Our thanks and our appreciation for their work, your officers work in the shadows often in fear and dangerous environments, day in and day out to keep us safe. Theyre selfless dedication to their fellow citizens should be commended and we are in debt for that service. Mr. Director, i thank you for being here today and i turn to the vice chairman for any comments you might have. Thanks very much, and i dont want to think what youve said. I think youve said it very well and im very strongly in agreement with it. But i would like to talk about a slightly different dimension. I think its becoming apparent that the tragedy of the last weekend in orlando highlights one of the great difficulties this nation faces with the rise of the Islamic State. This enemy is very different from past adversary ris like al qaeda. Because isil not only seeks to control territory in several countries, but is taking advantage of technology and social media to recruit fighters and inspire terrorist attacks far from the battlefield. This trend concerns me greatly. According to the president and the fbi director, the killer in orlando was inspired at a minimum influenced by online terrorists material, similar online propaganda played important roles in the shootings in San Bernardino, chattanooga, garland, texas, as well as fort hood, texas and other attacks. So director brennan i hope you can ensure this committee and the American People, because this is an opportunity to do so, that the cia is doing everything in its power to understand how these foreign organizations work and operate. I think such knowledge is essential to help policy makers shape laws and counter isils online efforts so that we stop them from praying on atrisk individuals and radicalizing them to conduct such heinous crimes. I would like to ask that you update us on cias understanding of the extent and reach of isil and the implications for those of us here at home and for our friends and allies overseas. I think theres been some important progress lately and i think its important to share that progress with the people. On tuesday, the president pubically listed some of the Senior Leaders of isil who have been killed and i think thats welcomed news. Secondly, we would like the cia assessment on whether the 13,000 Coalition Air strikes against isil have been effective and what sorts of targets have most set back isils efforts. We know that iraqi forces have surrounded falluja and begun to move into the city. Iraqi forces have recently liberated the strategic town and broke the isil siege of adisa. Isil has now lost nearly half the populated territory it once controlled in iraq. Isil continues to look lose ground in syria, as well. A coalition of local forces is now pressuring the key town amanji which will cut isils smuggling roots into turkey, hopefully and put substantial pressure on the cap top. In some i think it will be helpful for america to understand whether the antiisil coalition the United States has put together is making progress. If so, how and where . In addition to isil, i would be very interested in hearing from you on other Global Threats to the United States and the challenges that you believe we face. In particular, i think all of us are concerned about the recent behavior of north korea, the aggressiveness of russia, chi chinas action in the South China Sea and the instability in north after from ka, in particul north africa, in particular. I thank you for holding this hearing and i look forward to the discussion. Mr. Director, well be joined by a lot of members as is evident they dont care what diane and say, when they see they youre on. Speak for yourself. Oh, no, hes speaking for all of us. Theyll be here quickly. We, again, thank you for being here, we thank you for what. Thank you for opening and agency in a work force that i am proud to be part of. I am privileged every day to lead the women and men of cia as they work around the clock and around the world often in difficult and dangerous locations to help keep our country strong and free and our fellow citizens safe and secure. Our hearing today, as you noted, takes place backdrop wanted violence that was perpetrated against innocence in orlando, florida last weekend. We join the family and friends and warning the loss of their loved ones were killed in the attack. We extend our best wishes for full and speedy recover for all those injured. It was openingness and tolerance that define us as a nation. In light of the events i would like to take this opportunity to often committee our assessment and citizens face, especially from the socalled Islamic State move to isil. On the battlefields of syria and iraq, the u. S. Led coalition has made important progress. The group appears to be a long way from realizing division, its leader. Laid out when he declared two years ago in muslim. Several notable indicators are trending in the right direction. Isil has lost large stretches of territory in both syria and iraq. Its finance of many operations have been squeezed and it has struggled to replenish the ranks of its fighters in part because few foreign fighters are now able to travel to syria. Moreover, some reports suggest that a growing number of members are becoming disillusioned with the group and are eager to follow in the footsteps of members who have defected therefore by reducing the groups inability in its goal to fight. Last month, for example, air strike killed an influential isil leader. Isil, however, is a resilient and large enemy and we anticipate that the group will adjust its strategy and tactics in an effort to regain momentum. In the coming months we can expect isil to probe the front lines of adversary ris on the battlefield for weaknesses to harass the force previously controlled and to conduct terror attacks against the enemies inside iraq and syria. To compensate for losses, isil will rely more on gorilla tactics, including high profile attacks outside the territory. A steady stream of attacks in baghdad demonstrate it is groups ability to penetrate deep inside enemy strong holds. Beyond is losses on the battlefield, isils finances are also taking a hit. Coalition efforts have reduced the groups ability to generate revenue and forced it to cut cost to reallocate funds. Yet, isil is adapting to the coalitions efforts and continues to generate at least tens of billions of dollars in revenue per month. Primarily from taxation and those areas that are controlled and through crude oil sales on the black markets inside of syria and iraq. Unfortunately, despite all of our progress against isil on the battlefield and in the financial realm, it has not reduced the global reach. The resources needed for terrorism is modest. The group will have to suffer manpower and money for the terroristic capacity to decline significantly. The branches and Global Networks can help preserve the capacity for terrorism regardless of events in iraq and syria. In fact, as the pressure mounts on isil. We judge it will intensify its Global Campaign to maintain its dominance of the Global Tourism agenda. Since at least 2014, isil has been working to build an apparatus to direct and inspire attacks against its foreign enemies, resulting in hundreds of cavities. The attacks in paris and brussels which reassess or directed by isils leadership. We judge that isil is training and attempting to deploy for further attacks. Isil has large of western fighters who serve as operatives from attacks in the west. The group is probably exploring for infiltrating into the west, including refugee flows, smuggling routes and legitimate methods of travel. Furthermore, as we have seen in orlando, San Bernardino and elsewhere, isil is attempting to inspire attacks by sympathiers who have no direct links to the group. Last month, for example, a senior isil figures to conduct attacks if they were unable to travel to syria and iraq. The same time, isil is gradually cultivating the Global Network into a more interconnected global organization. The branch in libya is probably the most developed and most dangerous. We assess that it is trying to increase its influence in after fre ka and plot attacks in the region and in europe. Meanwhile, isils branch is established the self as the most active and capable terrorist group in all of egypt. The branch focuses its attacks on Egyptian Military and government targets but has also targeted foreigners and tourists as we saw with the downing of passenger jet last october. Other branches worldwide, while also a concern have struggled to gain traction. The branch for instance, has been with and afghanistan Pakistan Branch has struggled to maintain its cohesion in part because of competition. Finally, on the propaganda front, the coalition is working to counter isils expansive propaganda machine. Isil paints a crafted image to the outside world the own military efforts, portraying its socalled as a thriving state and alleging that the group is expanding globally even as it faces setbacks locally. Isil releases a multitude of Media Products on a variety of platforms, including social media, mobile applications, radio and hard copy medians. To disseminate, the group primarily uses twitter, telegram and tumbler and relies on Global Network of sympathiers to further spread these messages. In some, isil remains a formidable adversary for United States and Global Partners have exceeded forcing it to devote more time and energy to hold territory and protect its vital infrastructure inside of syria and iraq. And though this will be a long and difficult fight, there is broad agreement to the International Community on is t sere yourness of the threat and need to meet it. It dominates my conversation with my intelligence and security counterparts globally worldwide. I frequently engage with them about what we need to do together in terms of information sharing, joint operation activity and being able to compliment strengths that we can destroy isil thoroughly. Now, as you well know, cia is not just Counter Terrorist agency, we are comprehensive service with global charter. Were called upon to address the full range of 21st century threats. As they often tell young officers at cia, i have never seen a time when our country faced such a wide variety of threats to our National Security. If you run your fingers along any portion of the map from asia specific, to north after fra ka, youll quickly find a flash point and global implications. China is modernizing military and extending its region South China Sea. North korea is expanding its Nuclear Weapons program. And theyre reasserting itself in the global stage. There is the cyber domain, where states and sub National Actors are threatening financial systems, Transportation Networks and organizations of every strike inside government. I am particularly appreciate the work this committee to try to come to grips and address Cyber Threats we face as a nation. The face of these many daunting challenges, our nation depends on cia and Community Partners to help keep our country strong and secure. In todays complex world, policy makers depend on cia more than ever intelligence insight and options. If we are to meet the National Security challenges that confront us, we must constantly adapt and invat. Thats why we announce the effort last year to modernize our agency for the future. Since launching our Modernization Program just over 15 months ago we have taken important steps to ensure our agency fully adapts to the challenges of our time. We still have work to do and some respects we always will. Thats because modernization about is about more than lines and boxes on organizational chart. Commitment to invat constantly so we can keep up with ever changing world. Key part of this mindset is commitment to making the work force as diverse as the world we cover. Just last week, the office of director of National Intelligence issued a report showing that the Intelligence Community is less diverse than the rest of the federal work force. As we report that forces those of us in the Intelligence Community troops about who we are and how we are performing the mission. As this committee knows, unvailed the landmark effort to make sure the work force reflects in our attitudes, backgrounds, ethnicities and perspectives, the nation works so hard to defend. This is a moral and mission imperative. Strong cia than it is for any other organization in the u. S. Government. Diversity not only gives us the understanding we need to operate in any corner, we also helps us avoid and bring to bear a range of perspectives on the complex challenges that are inherent intelligence worker. Again, i will like to thank to committee for the support for cia and Intelligence Community partners through the course of the year and i look forward to addressing your questions. Thank you. Thank you for that testimony. Note to members well do fiveminute rounds based upon seniority. We lead into unique global events unprecedented access to the entire world and highly trained officers who possess a wide range of talents and skills, to extent that you can discuss in this setting, do you believe that you have all the authorities you need to accomplish your mission . Senator, i believe that we have a great deal of authorities and very important solemn authorities to carry out and we try to do it to the best of our ability. The one area when i look to the future that concerns me, is in that Digital Domain, which is why we set up a fifth director, first time in 50 years we set up a new director. We oar able to understand all of the implications, vun abilities and the opportunities that that Digital Domain prevents. As i know this committee and others here in the congress are grappling with the issue about the role of government in that domain, Law Enforcement, intelligence and security organizat