Nomination of Matthew G. Olsen to Be Director, National Counterterrorism Center Hearing Select Committee on Intelligence United
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S. HRG. 112–308 NOMINATION OF MATTHEW G. OLSEN TO BE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER HEARING BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2011 Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Intelligence ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 72–744 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 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) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:47 Mar 20, 2012 Jkt 072744 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\72744.TXT DPROCT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE [Established by S. Res. 400, 94th Cong., 2d Sess.] DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California, Chairman SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia, Vice Chairman JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine RON WYDEN, Oregon RICHARD BURR, North Carolina BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho BILL NELSON, Florida DANIEL COATS, Indiana KENT CONRAD, North Dakota ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARK UDALL, Colorado MARCO RUBIO, Florida MARK WARNER, Virginia HARRY REID, Nevada, Ex Officio MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky, Ex Officio CARL LEVIN, Michigan, Ex Officio JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Ex Officio DAVID GRANNIS, Staff Director MARTHA SCOTT POINDEXTER, Minority Staff Director KATHLEEN P. MCGHEE, Chief Clerk (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:47 Mar 20, 2012 Jkt 072744 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\72744.TXT DPROCT CONTENTS JULY 26, 2011 OPENING STATEMENTS Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, Chairman, a U.S. Senator from California .................. 1 Chambliss, Hon. Saxby, Vice Chairman, a U.S. Senator from Georgia .............. 3 Conrad, Hon. Kent, a U.S. Senator from North Dakota ...................................... 5 WITNESS Olsen, Matthew G., Director-Designate, National Counter-Terrorism Center ... 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Letter Dated July 22, 2011, from William Lynn to Senator Dianne Feinstein .. 15 Letter Dated July 22, 2011, from Keith Alexander to Senator Dianne Fein- stein ....................................................................................................................... 16 Letter Dated July 20, 2011, from Mike McConnell to Senators Dianne Fein- stein and Saxby Chambliss ................................................................................. 18 Letter Dated July 20, 2011, from Michael Mukasey to Senator Dianne Fein- stein ....................................................................................................................... 20 Letter Dated July 14, 2011, from David S. Kris to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss ........................................................................................... 22 Letter Dated July 15, 2011, from Michael Leiter to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss ........................................................................................... 23 Letter Dated July 21, 2011, from Kenneth Wainstein to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss .......................................................................... 25 Letter Dated July 22, 2011, from Timothy J. Heaphy to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss .......................................................................... 28 Letter Dated July 25, 2011, from J. Patrick Rowan to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss .......................................................................... 30 Letter Dated July 25, 2011, from Matthew W. Friedrich to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss .......................................................................... 32 Letter Dated July 14, 2011, from Frank R. Wolf to Senator Dianne Feinstein . 33 Letter Dated July 21, 2011, from Frank R. Wolf to Senator Dianne Feinstein . 65 Letter Dated July 22, 2010, from Ronald Weich to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss ........................................................................................... 79 Questionnaire for Completion by Presidential Nominees .................................... 98 Additional Prehearing Questions ........................................................................... 207 Letter from Don W. Fox, Office of Government Ethics, Dated July 11, 2011, to Senator Dianne Feinstein Transmitting Public Financial Disclosure Re- port ........................................................................................................................ 231 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:47 Mar 20, 2012 Jkt 072744 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\72744.TXT DPROCT VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:47 Mar 20, 2012 Jkt 072744 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\72744.TXT DPROCT NOMINATION OF MATTHEW G. OLSEN TO BE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2011 U.S. SENATE, SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in Room SD–562, Dirksen Senate Office Building, the Honorable Dianne Feinstein (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Committee Members Present: Senators Feinstein, Wyden, Mikul- ski, Conrad, Udall of Colorado, Warner, Chambliss, Snowe, and Coats. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, CHAIRMAN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA Chairman FEINSTEIN. The hearing will come to order. The process will be as follows: I will make some remarks. The Vice Chairman will make some remarks. We will then call on the distinguished Senator from North Dakota for remarks. And then we will proceed. I trust that is agreeable with everybody. The Committee meets today to consider the President’s nomina- tion of Matt Olsen to be the Director of the National Counterter- rorism Center. Mr. Olsen is currently the general counsel of the National Secu- rity Agency, and he’s held a number of senior positions in the De- partment of Justice, including the National Security Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Olsen has appeared as a witness before this Committee pre- viously, and he has frequently briefed members and staff over the last several years. I’d like to welcome him back to this Committee. I’d like to begin today by discussing the current terrorist threat and the role of what we call NCTC, which Mr. Olsen will be lead- ing, if confirmed. The NCTC is the central agency within the United States gov- ernment dealing with the identification, prevention, disruption and analysis of terrorist threats. It’s very important. While it’s best known for its role in consolidating and analyzing terrorism-related intelligence, it also plays an important role in conducting strategic planning for counterterrorism actions across our government. The NCTC grew significantly in size, capability and maturity under the previous Director, Michael Leiter. Its successes and (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:47 Mar 20, 2012 Jkt 072744 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\72744.TXT DPROCT 2 those of the broader counterterrorism community include numerous terrorist plots that were thwarted, both here at home and abroad. NCTC has also achieved less noticed but equally important ad- vances in the sharing of threat information across the intelligence community—a streamlining, if you will, of intelligence, an im- proved watch-listing capability, and greatly improved analytic ca- pability. Despite improvements and reforms, especially in response to the findings and recommendations of this Committee and others after the Christmas Day attempted attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, I’m still very concerned about the possibility of ter- rorist attacks against the United States. I believe this is a very critical time. The period leading up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is a period of heightened threat. Despite counterterrorism pressure against al- Qa’ida in Pakistan, including the successful strike against Usama bin Ladin in Abbottabad, the group remains dangerous and venge- ful. At the same time, the threat from al-Qa’ida’s affiliates and ad- herents around the world has increased and presents particular challenges. I’m especially concerned about the threat to the United States homeland from al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula—AQAP, we call it—as well as threats emanating from terrorist safe havens in Somalia and elsewhere. This means, at least to me, that this is a crucial time for our counterterrorism establishment to be at full strength and not to be leaderless. NCTC is a linchpin of this establishment. So I’m very pleased that the President has moved quickly to nominate Mr. Olsen, an individual serving in a senior intelligence community po- sition today, to take the helm of this organization. Let me take just a moment to read the first paragraph from a letter of support for Mr. Olsen’s nomination, written by General Keith Alexander, the Director of the National Security Agency. ‘‘I am writing to wholeheartedly endorse the nomination of Mat- thew G. Olsen to be the next Director of the NCTC. Matt has served as the National Security Agency’s general counsel for the past year and has shown true leadership, outstanding judgment and decisionmaking ability. He’s been a key part of the agency’s ef- forts to provide intelligence that allows our government to counter terrorist threats. In my opinion, Matt is superbly qualified to hold this critical intelligence community position.’’ Before