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Challenges and Priorities Hearing Committee On THE SECRETARY’S VISION FOR THE FUTURE— CHALLENGES AND PRIORITIES HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 26, 2014 Serial No. 113–53 Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 88–170 PDF WASHINGTON : 2014 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas, Chairman LAMAR SMITH, Texas BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi PETER T. KING, New York LORETTA SANCHEZ, California MIKE ROGERS, Alabama SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan, Vice Chair BRIAN HIGGINS, New York PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania CEDRIC L. RICHMOND, Louisiana JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania RON BARBER, Arizona JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah DONDALD M. PAYNE, JR., New Jersey STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi BETO O’ROURKE, Texas LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina FILEMON VELA, Texas STEVE DAINES, Montana STEVEN A. HORSFORD, Nevada SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana ERIC SWALWELL, California SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania MARK SANFORD, South Carolina VACANCY VACANCY, Staff Director MICHAEL GEFFROY, Deputy Staff Director/Chief Counsel MICHAEL S. TWINCHEK, Chief Clerk I. LANIER AVANT, Minority Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S Page STATEMENTS The Honorable Michael T. McCaul, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas, and Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 1 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 3 The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security ................................................................................................................. 4 WITNESS Hon. Jeh C. Johnson, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 6 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 7 FOR THE RECORD The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security: Letter From the Air Line Pilots Association International .............................. 13 The Honorable Loretta Sanchez, a Representative in Congress From the State of California: Letter From The Coalition For Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles ... 16 APPENDIX Question From Chairman Michael T. McCaul for Honorable Jeh C. Johnson ... 51 Questions From Honorable Patrick Meehan for Honorable Jeh C. Johnson ...... 52 Questions From Honorable Tom Marino for Honorable Jeh C. Johnson ............ 52 Questions From Honorable Mark Sanford for Honorable Jeh C. Johnson ......... 53 Questions From Honorable William R. Keating for Honorable Jeh C. Johnson 56 (III) THE SECRETARY’S VISION FOR THE FUTURE—CHALLENGES AND PRIORITIES Wednesday, February 26, 2014 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in Room 311, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Michael T. McCaul [Chairman of the committee] presiding. Present: Representatives McCaul, Smith, King, Broun, Miller, Meehan, Duncan, Chaffetz, Palazzo, Barletta, Hudson, Brooks, Perry, Sanford, Thompson, Sanchez, Jackson Lee, Clarke, Higgins, Richmond, Keating, Barber, Payne, O’Rourke, Gabbard, Vela, Horsford, and Swalwell. Chairman MCCAUL. The Committee on Homeland Security will come to order. Committee is meeting today to hear testimony from Secretary Jeh Johnson on his vision and priorities for the Depart- ment of Homeland Security. The committee is under several time constraints this morning, including limited availability of the Secretary, and scheduling com- mitments Members may have. For this reason, the Chairman will strictly enforce the 5-minute rule for questioning witnesses. Should Members have additional questions for the witness, they will be able to ask—they can’t ask during their 5 minutes, they can submit questions for the record pursuant to Committee Rules 7(e). The Chairman appreciates Members’ cooperation of moving the hearing along in an efficient manner. The Secretary will be testi- fying before this committee again in March with the release of the fiscal year 2015 budget. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Today is the 21st anniversary of the first World Trade Center Bombing, which marked the beginning of the War on Terrorism. Eight years later, the attacks on 9/11 changed our country, and re- formed our Government with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. So it is fitting that today the new Secretary of the Department, Mr. Jeh Johnson, is here to discuss his vision for DHS. Sir, your new position is among the most important in the Fed- eral Government. You are at the helm of the Department, charged with securing this Nation in the midst of evolving terrorist threats, shrinking budgets, and persistent management challenges. I appreciate sincerely, sir, your outreach to me over the past few months to discuss our shared concerns about issues of National se- (1) 2 curity. I am committed to solving these challenges and look for- ward to working constructively with you in the future. I just returned from New York City, where I met with the new police commissioner, Bill Bratton, and other officials, to discuss current threats. Al-Qaeda affiliates continue to target the United States. Iran’s terrorist proxies are present throughout the Western Hemisphere. A growing number of ungoverned locations across the Middle East and Northern Africa provide safe havens for Jihadist networks. With the growing concern over lone-wolf attacks, we have to adapt to the reality that threats are not diminishing, they are evolving. DHS has a major role in identifying and mitigating ter- rorist threats to the homeland, whether from plots directed by jihadists, networks abroad, or from individually-inspired radicals within our borders. The events in Syria are now threatening to become issues for us at home. I know, sir, you said in your speech at the Wilson Center, that Syria has become a matter of homeland security. I agree, and I want to hear what the Department is doing to counter this threat to the homeland. In addition, the capture over this last weekend of the top drug lord, El Chapo Guzman, is a huge win for the United States and for Mexico. He is responsible for thousands of deaths, and his reach went far beyond Mexico. He is public enemy No. 1 in Chicago and carries indictments in California, New York, and my home State of Texas. His arrest is significant, both symbolically and operationally. I applaud the ICE agents for their participation, along with the DEA, U.S. marshals, and Mexican authorities, for this capture. I want him to face justice in the United States, and make sure he is never out on the streets again. As in the Guzman case, spill-over violence from drug traffic goes well beyond border towns in the United States. Pourous borders are a vulnerability to homeland security, and our border security has been woefully haphazard since 9/11. Last year, this committee unanimously passed the Border Secu- rity Results Act, which requires the Department to create a Na- tional, strategic plan on the border, complete with metrics to check our progress. I am hopeful, with your DOD experience, sir, that you will be able to best organize your staff with both strategists and planners needed to address border security at the National stra- tegic level. I am also hopeful the Department will work with this committee on improving our cyber defenses, which I know you have vast experience in. The Department of Homeland Security has a critical role to play in the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protec- tion Act of 2013, which we unanimously passed out of our com- mittee earlier this month, takes an important step by codifying the Department’s cybersecurity mission. The committee would like to see a greater emphasis on building an experienced and streamlined cyber workforce, and increasing the security and resiliency of our Federal networks. All these mis- 3 sions will only be successful if the Department is managed effi- ciently. Next week marks 11 years since the creation of DHS. No one should minimize the job of combining 22 different agencies, sys- tems, and cultures into one. There have been many unforeseen challenges, but strong management means strong leadership. I appreciate your sincere focus on filling the vacancies at DHS in a very short period of time since you have become appointed and confirmed. With the DHS senior leadership vacancy rate at 38 per- cent, I hope you will encourage the White House Presidential per- sonnel to approve your recommendations quickly. DHS needs competent leaders. You understand how to inspire and motivate staff, but also, how to make the tough decisions. More than 200,000 men and women whose
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