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House Hearing, 108TH Congress - Law Enforcement Efforts Within The Department of Homeland Security
House Hearing, 108TH Congress - Law Enforcement Efforts Within The Department of Homeland Security
HEARING
BEFORE THE
FEBRUARY 3, 2004
Serial No. 83
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
(
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/judiciary
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON
91604 PDF
2004
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SUBCOMMITTEE
ON
CRIME, TERRORISM,
AND
HOMELAND SECURITY
(II)
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CONTENTS
FEBRUARY 3, 2004
OPENING STATEMENT
Page
1
2
WITNESSES
The Honorable W. Ralph Basham, Director, United States Secret Service,
Department of Homeland Security
Oral Testimony .....................................................................................................
Prepared Statement .............................................................................................
Admiral Thomas H. Collins, Commandant, United States Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security
Oral Testimony .....................................................................................................
Prepared Statement .............................................................................................
The Honorable Michael Garcia, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security
Oral Testimony .....................................................................................................
Prepared Statement .............................................................................................
4
5
7
10
13
15
28
APPENDIX
MATERIAL SUBMITTED
FOR THE
HEARING RECORD
39
45
53
(III)
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM,
AND HOMELAND SECURITY
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1 p.m., in Room
2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Howard Coble (Chair
of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. COBLE. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will come
to order.
The Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
will now hold the third hearing on law enforcement efforts within
the Department of Homeland Security. The first hearing, conducted
on July 9, 2002, examined the transfer of several law enforcement
agencies and offices to the new Department of Homeland Security.
The second hearing, conducted on November 20, 2003, focused on
the Department of Homeland Security efforts through the Office of
Domestic Preparedness to train State and local law enforcement
and other first responders to prepare for and respond to terrorist
acts.
This hearing examines how the transfer of law enforcement applies to the new department, has affected terrorism and nonterrorism of law enforcement missions, how these agencies are working with other law enforcement agencies in and outside of the Department of Homeland Security and whether the agencies need
new law enforcement authorities to adequately carry out their responsibilities.
The Secret Service has two missions: One, law enforcement investigations and, two, the protection of the President and Vice
President of the United States, their immediate family members
and others.
The Coast Guard mission has four parts: To handle maritime law
enforcement, maritime safety, marine environmental protection
and national defense.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau consists of
the investigative and enforcement functions for immigration, customs and air security. Responsibilities of ICE range from intelligence work to investigating child pornography.
I would like to commend you and your agencies on your dedication and efforts to protect our Nation against terrorists and other
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types of criminals. Your agencies carry great responsibilities and
burdens. While we are at war with terrorists, the country at the
same time faces growing drug cartels, the proliferation of child pornography, financial and Internet scams against the elderly and
other serious crimes.
Our Nation has limited resources that must be used wisely. So
I hope to hear today how your agencies are coordinating, cooperating and sharing information in these efforts.
There have been various press articles and reports about turf
battles between some of your agencies and other agencies outside
of the Department of Homeland Security. If these articles reflect
accuracy, I expect you all to work diligently to end these disputes.
I dont think we have time for the luxury of turf battles. We have
better things to do.
We do not have the time to deal with this sort of problem when
national security is at risk. I look forward to hearing how any disputes are being resolved and how the law enforcement agencies are
working together to protect the American people.
I want to thank the witnesses who were able to be here today
and look forward to their testimony, and now I am pleased to recognize the distinguished gentleman from Virginia, the Ranking
Member of this Subcommittee, Mr. Bobby Scott. And Mr. Scott, before I recognize you, I will say to our other Members, thank the
gentlemen from Wisconsin and Pennsylvaniastrike thatOhio
from being here. And your opening statements will be made a part
of the record without objection.
Mr. Scott.
Mr. SCOTT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to join you
in convening this hearing with several of our law enforcement
agencies and the Department of Homeland Security. The last time
we met with these agencies or their predecessor agencies, we were
looking at them on the verge of their merger with DHS. I expressed
my concerns about the effect of DHS superstructure, what effect it
may have on the traditional law enforcement missions of these
agencies as well as on preventing terrorism.
Coordinating information in law enforcement operations was
cited as a major problem in not being able to prevent 9/11. I was
concerned that adding additional bureaucratic superstructure
might not help, might even be counterproductive, and I continue to
have these concerns and hope our witnesses will be able to address
these concerns.
Although I am relieved that we have not had another catastrophic terrorism event since 9/11, the issue of what impact DHS
structure is having on preventing terrorism in our traditional law
enforcement responsibilities is not resolved just by the fact that we
havent had these unfortunate incidents.
I would like to know, for example, whether or not the traditional
law enforcement responsibilities have been affected by the association with DHS. Of course any terrorism incident would ultimately
be a local and first responder situation; that is, the local police, the
fire or emergency personnel. Some are concerned about the impact
that DHS has had on the ability of local law enforcement entities
to maintain their traditional law enforcement capabilities while
doing their part to enhance overall security.
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Localities are already hard hit by the cost of increased demands
that have been put on them, particularly by the recent alert increases and by the pronouncements of the Federal Government,
they have had to increase their vigilance. When we have these
alerts, their demands go up and they have obviously substantial financial implications. I am aware that the law enforcement components of DHS, it is not your fault, but we would like to know and
how you have been working with the local and State law enforcement agencies.
So, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you on this
and look forward to the testimony of the witnesses.
Mr. COBLE. And I as well. I thank you, Mr. Scott.
Today, ladies and gentlemen, we have three distinguished gentleman from the Department of Homeland Security. We place the
order of witnesses testifying alphabetically. Our first witness is Mr.
W. Ralph Basham of the United States Secret Service. Mr. Basham
was appointed as the 21st Director of the U.S. Secret Service on
January 27 of last year. Prior to this appointment he served as the
Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and as
the Chief of Staff for the Transportation Security Administration.
Mr. Basham is a native of Owensboro, Kentucky, a River alumnus,
right, Mr. Basham? Holds a Bachelors Degree from Southeastern
University in Washington, D.C. and has received numerous honors,
including the 1992 and 2000 Meritorious Presidential Rank
awards.
Our next witness is Admiral Thomas H. Collins. Admiral Collins
is the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and a longtime friend and shipmate of mine. Previously he served as the
Coast Guards Vice Commandant. He was also the Commander of
the Pacific area and the 11st Coast Guard District, where he developed a successful response to illegal drug and migrant smuggling
operations in the eastern Pacific. With an undergraduate degree
from the United States Coast Guard Academy at New London, Admiral Collins also has a Master of Arts Degree from Wesley University as well as a Master of Business Administration Degree from
the University of New Haven.
Our third witness is Mr. Michael J. Garcia. Mr. Garcia was appointed as Assistant Secretary for the newly formed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau. This is the largest investigative arm of the Department and combines law enforcement and
intelligence components from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the Air Marshals and
the Federal Protective Service. Mr. Garcia has a distinguished career as a Federal prosecutor and served as the Acting Commissioner on the INS during its transition to the new Department. He
is a native New Yorker and graduated from the State University
of New York at Binghamton, the tri-cities, right, Mr. Garcia? He
received a Masters Degree in English from the College of William
and Mary and holds a Juris Doctorate from the Albany Law School
of Union University, where he was valedictorian.
It is good to have each of you with us. We have your written
statements. They have been examined and will be reexamined, and
I ask unanimous consent to submit into the record their entirety.
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Now, gentlemen, as you all probably know, we try to live within
the 5-minute rule around here. You wont be lashed with a whip
if you violate it, but when the red light appears that will be your
warning that your 5 minutes have expired. There will be an amber
light to give you warning in advance.
So, Mr. Basham, why dont we start with you, and good to have
all of you with us.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE W. RALPH BASHAM, DIRECTOR, UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF
HOMELAND SECURITY
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the Secret Service most prominently brings to DHS. For 139 years
prevention has been the bedrock principle of both our investigative
and protective missions of the Secret Service. This is the agencys
culture and its creed. The Secret Service is fully integrated with
the many components of DHS, and we continue to share our preventative expertise with these entities, from the infrastructure protection, to information analysis, to emergency preparedness and response.
Secondly, our agency shares another unique strength with the
Department; namely, our experience in building partnerships and
sharing information with our counterparts and other law enforcement agencies, State and local governments and the private sector.
Such communication and cooperation is essential to a successful
homeland security program, and I am convinced that the blueprint
we have developed over the course of decades of experience is a
success story that has been embraced by the Department.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to report to this Subcommittee the status of our electronic crimes task force initiative,
of which this Subcommittee has strongly supported in the recent
years. As you know, the USA PATRIOT Act authorized the Secret
Service to expand our task force model in New York to cities and
regions across the country. These task forces have revolutionized
the Governments response to cyber vulnerabilities and computer
crime and serve as models for how law enforcement must cooperate
and operate in the information age. They remit the cutting edge of
our efforts to partner with Federal, State and local police, prosecutors, private industry and academia to safeguard our critical and
financial infrastructures and protect American consumers and industry alike.
In 2002, the Secret Service launched electronic crime task forces
in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Charlotte, Boston, Las
Vegas, Miami and Washington, D.C. Last year we established task
forces in Cleveland, Houston, Dallas and Columbia, South Carolina, and additional task forces are currently on the drawing
boards.
Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the men and women of the Secret
Service, we stand ready to continue our mission of protecting our
leaders, our financial and critical infrastructure, and the American
people. This concludes my prepared statement, and I would be very
pleased to answer any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Basham follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT
OF
W. RALPH BASHAM
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank you, as well as the distinguished Ranking Member, Mr. Scott, and the other members of the subcommittee
for providing an opportunity to discuss the law enforcement activities of the Secret
Service, and our role in the Department of Homeland Security.
The Secret Service was created in 1865 to stem the rampant flow of counterfeit
currency in post-Civil War America. Since that time, the Secret Service has been
the preeminent federal agency for safeguarding our financial infrastructure.
In 1901, we were assigned our historic mission to protect the President. And while
for more than a century the Secret Service has maintained its dual missions of investigations and protection, those missions have become fully interdependent and
completely inseparable.
Today, the Secret Services responsibilities reach far beyond counterfeiting and
Presidential protection. Our criminal jurisdiction includes access device (credit and
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debit card) fraud, cyber crime, identity theft, false identification fraud, bank fraud,
telecommunications fraud, and other financial crimes.
The Secret Service protects our nations highest elected leaders, including their
families and residences, as well as visiting foreign leaders and foreign missions. We
also coordinate security operations at National Special Security Events, which this
year will include the two national political conventions and the G8 Summit in Sea
Island, Georgia.
Just over one year ago, the Secret Service testified before this subcommittee in
full support of the Administrations proposal to transfer our agency to the new Department of Homeland Security. We did so because of our strong conviction that the
protective and investigative missions of the Secret Service were central to the mission of homeland security. We saw an opportunity for our personnel, with their
unique experience and expertise, to make a vital and meaningful contribution to our
common goal of protecting this nation.
One year later, I am enormously proud of the contributions that the 6,100 men
and women of the Secret Service have made to the mission of homeland security.
Our special agents, Uniformed Division officers, technical and professional staff
have endeavored each and every day to protect our elected leaders and critical and
financial infrastructures, and make a safer America.
Our efforts to support the new Department have been many. But there are two
in particular that I would like to highlight for the subcommittee.
First is our historic emphasis on prevention that we have brought with us to
DHS. For 138 years, prevention has been the bedrock principle of the Secret Service.
It began with our efforts to stem the flow of counterfeit currencyto attack the
problem when it was in production, not distribution.
It was continued with our protective mission, where we utilize threat assessments, intelligence and meticulous advance work to provide a safe and secure environment for our protectees. Prevention is also the central theme today of our
groundbreaking efforts to shield our critical and financial infrastructures from intrusion and compromise.
From day one, Secretary Ridge and DHS have recognized the importance of prevention. Indeed, virtually all aspects of the Department are committed to preventing
further terrorist attacks on American soil.
The Secret Service is fully integrated with the many components of DHS, and we
continue to share our preventative expertise with these entities, from infrastructure
protection and information analysis, to emergency preparedness and others.
Secondly, our agency brings another unique strength to the Department; namely,
our experience with building partnerships and sharing information with our counterparts in other law enforcement agencies and the private sector.
Throughout our 150 field offices across the country and around the globe, our field
personnel have developed productive and trusted partnerships with local police,
prosecutors, academia and industry representatives in their communities.
These partnerships are vital to the success of both our protective and investigative missions. We recognize that without cooperation and support from our local law
enforcement partners, we could not have a successful visit to a given community by
one of our protectees. We also could not successfully prevent and detect electronic
crimes and cyber attacks without the assistance, resources and expertise of our
partners in law enforcement and the private sector.
Such communication and cooperation is imperative to homeland security, and I
am convinced that the blueprint we have developed over the course of many decades
of experience is a success story that will further strengthen and contribute to the
success of the Department.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to report to the subcommittee the status of
our Electronic Crime Task Force initiative. As you will recall, the USA/PATRIOT
Act of 2001 included language, thanks to the support of this committee and others,
authorizing the Secret Service to expand our highly successful New York Electronic
Crime Task Force to other cities and regions across the country.
These task forces have revolutionalized the governments response to computer
crime, and serve as models for how law enforcement must operate in the Information Age.
The composition and efforts of these task forces are tailored to the needs of their
individual communities. They represent the cutting edge of our efforts to partner
with federal, state and local police departments, prosecutors at all levels, private industry and academia to safeguard our critical and financial infrastructures, and protect American consumers and industry alike. Their training and investigative techniques are innovative and unprecedented. Most importantly, these task forces are
making a meaningful difference in the communities they serve.
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Last year, the Secret Service launched electronic crime task forces in Chicago, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Charlotte, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami and Washington, D.C.
Just last month, we announced new task forces in Cleveland, Houston, Dallas and
Columbia, South Carolina. Additional task forces are on the drawing boards.
Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the men and women of the Secret Service, we stand
ready to continue our mission of protecting our leaders, our financial and critical
infrastructures, and the American people. Thank you again for the opportunity to
appear before the subcommittee.
This concludes my prepared statement. I will be pleased to answer any questions
you or the other members of the subcommittee may have.
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In our homeland security defense role, the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 has brought many new requirements
and initiatives that enable a more coherent maritime security
strategy. The requirement for port, vessel and facility security
plans provides increased vigilance through additional security
forces and sensors.
Transportation security cards and the vetting of crew and passenger lists through intel and law enforcement databases in partnership with our DHS partners has improved the process of allocating law enforcement resources to the highest threats.
Our maritime safety and security teams provide critical port security deterrents and response posture. Six teams are in place, and
seven more will be in place by the end of fiscal year 2004. And
these new units offer a rapid, deployable security force able to deliver vertically that support to our interagency partners and ships
at sea.
We have implemented heightened security measures and expanded law enforcement programs and capabilities, including security and control boarding capabilities at sea, a canine program,
shoreside law enforcement authority in partnership with the U.S.
Marshals, underwater port security capability, a vertical insertion
and vertical delivery of our boarding teams from helicopters, the
expansion of airborne use of force capability, and so forth.
The Coast Guard is also capitalizing on the synergies available
through revitalized organization relationships within the Department of Homeland Security. For example, I have just ordered the
relocation of our maritime law enforcement and boarding team
member schools to the Federal Law Enforcement Center in
Charleston, South Carolina, the premier supplier of law enforcement training for more than 75 agencies; and in addition, we have
developed very strong cooperative security partnerships with the
Secret Service.
Common mission focus and an emphasis on integrated operations
is a key goal within the Department of Homeland Security. Just
last week four Coast Guard cutters operating in the Caribbean
seized more than 11,500 pounds of drugs and caused approximately
3,000 pounds more to be dumped at sea. That work was done in
cooperation with immigration and customs enforcement and the
United States Navy. We thwarted five separate smuggling attempts and took 18 suspected smugglers into custody. The successful integration of Assistant Secretary Garcias operations with mine
epitomizes the power available to us by our collocation within the
Department of Homeland Security.
I dont want to suggest for a moment that successful homeland
security and nonhomeland security mission execution is not without challenges for the United States Coast Guard. We are working
our assets and our crews harder than ever, but the initiatives included in the Presidents 2005 budget request will continue to
strengthen our collective homeland security readiness. I ask you
and other Members of Congress to support the Presidents request
for the capacity and capability improvements for the Coast Guard.
Deepwater, our plan for major asset recapitalization, has never
been more relevant, and the implementation of the Maritime
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Transportation Security Act regulations is critical to our Nations
maritime security.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today, and I look
forward to any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Admiral Collins follows:]
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PREPARED STATEMENT
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Mr. COBLE. Thank you, Admiral. I note that we have been joined
by the distinguished gentleman from Florida; Mr. Feeney has
joined us. Good to have you with us, Tom.
Now, since I bragged on the Secret Service I am going to have
to say equally good things about the countrys oldest continuing
seagoing service, the Coast Guard. You know how high I am on you
all, Tom. And Mr. Garcia, I have not known that many people in
Immigration and Customs, but I am sure you all do equally well,
so I dont want to short anybody. Good to have you with us, Mr.
Secretary.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MICHAEL GARCIA, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS
ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
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switch between these cargoes driven only by that bottom line, often
carrying loads of drugs, people, money and other contraband at the
same time.
Homeland security requires the same kind of flexibility in our
approach to this organized criminal enterprise. At ICE we now
have it. That is why we dont segregate our smuggling operations
into artificial and impractical components. Instead we go wherever
the money trail leads us.
Operation ICE Storm, which targets smuggling organizations
along the southwest border, is the best example of ICEs new integrated approach to fighting smuggling crimes. The results of this
new approach have been remarkable. ICE Storm has produced
more than 700 arrests, 90 indictments, nearly $2 million in seizures and 46 assault weapons taken off the streets.
Let me put this in a different context. A couple of weeks ago during a news conference the Phoenix police chief stated that the murder rate in Phoenix has dropped some 30 percent in the last quarter over the prior year, and he touted ICE Storm and the cooperation between Federal and local enforcement as being largely responsible for this drop in violent crime.
The traditional offense of smuggling is a heinous crime in its own
right, but it also highlights potential vulnerabilities in our border
security. If organized crime rings can lead illegal aliens into the
country, terrorists could potentially use the same methods to infiltrate our borders. If narco traffickers can smuggle cocaine into the
country, terrorists could potentially use the same routes and methods to smuggle components for weapons of mass destruction.
This same approach underlies our counternarcotics mission. One
recent ICE case highlights that fact with stunning clarity. More
than 20 people were charged with narcotic smuggling in a ring that
operated out of JFK International Airport in New York. A number
of those arrested had badges allowing them access to secure areas
of the airport facility.
While that case centered on narcotic smuggling, such an organization could, again driven by profit, arrange for weapons of mass
destruction or the lethal commodities to enter the United States.
ICE applies a similar proactive strategy to all its operations. For
example, we have launched Cornerstone, a financial investigations
program aimed at closing vulnerabilities in the Nations economic
security in the same way that ICE Storm is focusing on closing
vulnerabilities in our border security. Todays criminal enterprises
and terrorist networks are highly adept at exploiting traditional financial and commercial infrastructures to earn, launder and store
the money they need to fund their operations.
As a recent GAO study points out, criminal and terrorist organizations earn their money through a wide variety of criminal enterprises. All of these criminal activities are targets of ICE investigations under Cornerstone. Each of these activities was in its own
way a mission of one of ICEs legacy components. Taken together,
these traditional missions merge into something much more powerful. They fuse into our ultimate mission, which is to protect the
homeland.
In Newark recently, ICE closed down unlicensed money brokers
sending millions of dollars to Pakistan. More recently, in Massa-
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chusetts, ICE charged a major gold refining company with commodities-based money laundering. In these cases there was no link to
terrorists, but the vulnerabilities are clear.
Just last week, ICE announced the largest case ever involving
the smuggling of counterfeit cigarettes into the United States. The
probe resulted in a 92-count Federal indictment against 19 defendants. The potential profits resulting from such a scheme are enormous.
Results to date shows that Cornerstone is moving in the right direction. Since March 1, 2003, ICE financial investigations have
yielded 1,200 arrests and bulk cash seizures of $75 million.
In summing up, I would just like to point out another areas
where ICE is taking the lead: the export of U.S. weapons component and technology. Over the last year, ICE has roughly doubled
the number of export enforcement cases that we have brought, and
we expect further increases.
And finally, the fight against child pornography is also a critical
focus of ICE. As you know, we have launched an unprecedented
initiative against child sex predators worldwide called Operation
Predator. This campaign, which fuses all the authorities and resources of ICE, has resulted in the arrest of roughly 1,800 individuals since last July. A key component of this initiative targets
Internet child pornography, and last month ICE announced the arrest of more than 40 people nationwide in connection with a global
Internet child pornography case.
Mr. Chairman, I have focused on just a few examples of how the
ICE mission at DHS works hand-in-glove with the traditional missions of our legacy agencies. I could speak of literally dozens of
other examples. However, I know that I am already over my time,
but I look forward to answering any questions that you might have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT
OF
MICHAEL GARCIA
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mission of each of the organizations comprising BICE, while integrating and ultimately enhancing the operations within our new Bureau. BICE brought together the
investigative and intelligence functions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the U.S. Customs Service (USCS), the Detention and Removal function of the INS, the Air and Marine Operations of USCS, the Federal Protective
Service (FPS), and Federal Air Marshals (FAMS) from the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA).
This merger brings together thousands of dedicated law enforcement professionals, including 5,500 Special Agents; 4,000 Detention and Removal employees;
1,500 Federal Protective Service employees; and Federal Air Marshals. BICE is now
the largest Federal law enforcement bureau and a key investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. Our primary focus has been to integrate all of these
resources in a manner that would allow us to further enhance the investigative efforts aimed at protecting our homeland without interruption of the longstanding enforcement duties of our former agencies. We are accomplishing these goals and
meeting the new challenges of the 21st century at the frontline as we continue to
develop as a premier law enforcement bureau.
In June 2003, BICE created a unified field structure for Investigations by creating
25 BICE field offices within a strengthened chain of command; placed the Federal
Protective Service, Detention and Removal Operations, the Air and Marine Operations, and the Federal Air Marshals at Division status to reflect their unique capabilities, and created a unified Intelligence Division. We will continue to bring to bear
all the specialized skills and knowledge of our personnel and continue to create unified programs for training, firearms and investigative support.
The BICE Investigations Division has continued to execute the enforcement mandates of both the immigration and customs statutes. By combining our capabilities
and expertise, BICE has realized significant synergies and been able to leverage resources to meet the inherited challenges and find new methods to overcome new
challenges.
BICEs newly created alien smuggling unit is an excellent example of how resources that were once spread over several agencies have been integrated into one
unit. This integration enhances BICEs ability to uncover and shut down
vulnerabilities in our national security. Set up to identify and dismantle criminal
enterprises that prey on persons who enter the country illegally, this unit works
closely with all of our operational components to leverage our expertise and unique
authorities. The combination of these investigative efforts enables BICE to comprehensively explore all aspects of the violation.
Last year, BICE launched Operation ICE Storm, an unprecedented multi-agency
initiative to combat human smuggling and the violence it has generated in Arizona
and nationwide. In support of the operation, BICE deployed 50 additional Special
Agents to the Phoenix area. These resources enhance BICEs investigational capabilities and its ability to respond to local law enforcement. ICE Storm was developed
to attack the smuggling-related violence that has grown in the Phoenix area at an
alarming rate. Court statistics show that, from January through October 2003,
Phoenix experienced a 45 percent increase in homicides when compared to the same
period during the previous year. Over the last few years, there have also been a significant number of incidents involving extortion, kidnapping, and home invasions.
In 20022003, there were 623 such incidents, 75 percent of which were the result
of human smuggling or related activity.
The BICE led task force uses its broad range of authorities and resources to dismantle organized crime outfits that have turned human smuggling into a bloody but
profitable venture. For example, a critical facet of ICE Storm involves targeting the
monetary assets of smuggling organizations. Following the money trail and crippling
the organizations financial infrastructure is crucial to disabling the smugglers operations. A financial analysis by BICE showed that during a six-month period in early
2003 more than $160 million were funneled into Phoenix through money transmitting businesses.
As a result of these efforts, ICE Storm has resulted in over 700 arrests, 90 indictments, nearly $2 million in seizures and 46 assault weapons taken off the streets
in the first 180 days of the initiative.
Another investigative effort that brought to bear BICEs combined authorities and
expertise was demonstrated in a case in Victoria, Texas, where 19 migrants died
while attempting to enter the U.S. illegally concealed inside a locked tractor-trailer
which was then abandoned by smugglers. By drawing on the array of assets now
available, BICE investigators were able to quickly identify and locate the smugglers
responsible and follow the money trail to the ringleader, who had fled the United
States. The investigation resulted in 19 indictments, the extradition of the ringleader, who with her co-conspirators, are awaiting trial. In addition, an undercover
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operation conducted in conjunction with this investigation resulted in the rescue of
a 3-year-old boy from the same band of smugglers. His captors were subsequently
apprehended and arrested. These types of criminals are exploiting vulnerabilities in
our border security for financial gain; however, their human cargo could just have
easily been a group of terrorists. For these reasons, BICE has made alien smuggling
investigations one of our top priorities.
In addition to investigating alien smuggling organizations, BICE is dedicated to
the continued investigation of smuggling organizations that transport illegal narcotics that pose a significant threat to our nations border security and the well
being of our citizens. BICE is a major contributor to the disruption and dismantling
of major narcotic organizations. In fiscal year 2003, BICE agents arrested over
12,000 individuals on narcotics related charges. If organized crime rings can lead
illegal aliens into the country, terrorists can use the same methods to infiltrate our
borders. If narco-traffickers can smuggle cocaine into the country, terrorists can surreptitiously bring in components for weapons of mass destruction.
Currently, there are approximately 400,000 absconders in the United States. Absconders are individuals who have violated U.S. immigration laws, were ordered to
deported, and fled before they could be deported from the United States. BICE is
committed to the complete removal of all criminal absconders and has prioritized
by identifying the Most Wanted criminal offenders. Two months after BICE publicly released the list of the Top Ten Most Wanted, nine of them were apprehended
and the tenth was confirmed out of the country. In prioritizing the worst offenders,
we noticed that a number of them were sexual predators, many of whom had
records of preying on children. As a result, on July 9, 2003, BICE launched Operation Predator, an initiative aimed at bringing to bear all of our powers and authorities that could be used to protect our childrenAmericas future and the essence
of our homeland. Since its inception, BICE has arrested more than 1,835 predators
and have deported or initiated deportation proceedings against those who are foreign born nationals. BICE will continue to remain committed to protecting our children through the relentless enforcement of Operation Predator.
In July 2003, BICE announced Cornerstone, a BICE Financial Investigations Division program designed to identify vulnerabilities in our Nations financial systems
through which criminals launder their illicit proceeds. Cornerstone is focused on
identifying systems that are being exploited by criminal or terrorist groups. Through
this proactive approach, BICE systematically and strategically examines financial
systems that may be susceptible to exploitation. BICE identifies criminal organizations that are exploiting these financial systems. BICE employs a methodology of
attacking the exploitation, disseminating findings through liaisons to the financial
and trade sectors, and working toward enhancing money laundering laws and regulations. Cornerstone enables BICE to focus its unique competencies and authorities
on stopping this exploitation through intelligence gathering, implementing fixes
where necessary to protect the integrity of our financial systems, and referring investigations for prosecution.
Since March 1, 2003, BICE financial investigations have yielded 1,213 arrests and
bulk cash seizures of more than $75 million. Since its inception in 1992, Agents of
BICEs El Dorado Task Force in New York City have arrested more than 1,800 individuals and seized nearly $560 million in criminal proceeds. These existing financial
investigations, which have been merged with Cornerstone, will aid the financial industry to eliminate the industry-wide security gaps that could be exploited by criminal organizations. As Secretary Ridge stressed in his announcement of Cornerstone,
Money is the lifeblood of terrorist networks. Through Cornerstone, BICE continues
to safeguard the integrity of Americas financial systems as part of our dedication
to homeland security.
BICEs Arms and Strategic Technology Investigations Program enforces import
and export control laws and prevents terrorist groups and hostile nations from illegally obtaining U.S.-origin military products and sensitive dual use technology. On
March 7, 2003, BICE Special Agents arrived in the Iraqi Theater of Operations
(ITO) to support the U.S. Central Command (CentCom) in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
A total of 15 Special Agents were initially deployed to assist CentCom in identifying
U.S. persons or entities that may have aided or assisted Iraq in the development
of its weapons programs, or in the acquisition of defenses articles, or controlled dual
use technology or products, or engaged in prohibited financial transactions with
Iraq.
To this day, BICE continues to maintain teams of Special Agents in the ITO. The
first U.S. charges to result from leads generated by the BICE teams in Iraq occurred
on October 15, 2003, when a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia indicted
two individuals on charges of brokering the manufacture and export of six armored
patrol vessels, valued at a total of $11 million, to the Iraqi military. At least three
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of the military vessels were completed in Iraq before the war and had been deployed
by Iraqi military forces. Both individuals were arrested by BICE special agents, subsequently indicted, and are awaiting trial in the United States.
In July 2003, BICE Special Agents executed 18 Federal search warrants throughout the United States to disrupt an Iranian smuggling network that was illegally
procuring parts and components for military fighter aircraft and missile systems
through a company called MULTICORE located in London, England. Additionally,
in August 2003, BICE and FBI agents in New Jersey arrested a British national
named Hemant LAKHANI and two other individuals for attempting to smuggle a
Russian-made Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) into the United
States. In addition, LEKHANI was also attempting to sell 50 additional MANPADS
to undercover personnel.
Americas welcome is also being exploited by human rights violators who enter the
United States in an attempt to avoid being brought to justice for their heinous
crimes. Their mere presence here undermines the values and ideals that are the
foundation of this Nation. BICE is committed to preventing this country from becoming a safe haven for foreign criminals and we have backed that commitment by
creating the Human Rights Violators Unit. This specialized unit is dedicated to
identifying and investigating human rights violators and assisting in their removal
from the United States.
In September 2003, BICE agents in Miami, Florida, arrested Frantz Douby, a
former Haitian military official who had been convicted in absentia for his involvement in the 1994 Raboteau massacre where dozens of villagers were beaten and
shot to death. Three other former Haitian military officers linked to the massacre
have already been deported.
BICE has created several additional programs to address vulnerabilities that
threaten our national security. For example, BICE established a Compliance Enforcement Unit to ensure that individuals comply with the requirements of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), and the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US VISIT) program. SEVIS is an
Internet-based system that maintains critical, up-to-date information about foreign
students and exchange visitors, as well as their dependents, which can be accessed
electronically. SEVIS enables the government to track students in the United States
more accurately and expeditiously. US VISIT is a program designed to collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, through a dynamic system, on foreign nationals to determine, among other things, whether individuals (a)
have overstayed or otherwise violated the terms of their admission, (b) should be
denied admission into the United States, (c) should be allowed to change, extend,
or adjust their immigration status or (d) should be apprehended or detained for law
enforcement action.
The vast majority of students come to the United States to take advantage of the
outstanding educational and training opportunities our Nation has to offer. Unfortunately, this system can be exploited by those who seek to do us harm, as we witnessed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and then subsequently on September 11, 2001. We must shut down these vulnerabilities and the Compliance Enforcement Unit is making great strides through the use of SEVIS, and US VISIT
by identifying those individuals who may pose national security risks.
The merging of 22 agencies and bureaus into the Department of Homeland Security provides new access to law enforcement databases that will now be used by the
BICE Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) to greatly broaden its enforcement
capabilities. For example, the LESC now has access to intelligence information from
the former INS, Customs, and the Federal Protective Services databases. This will
improve our ability to provide timely information to state and local law enforcement
agencies around the nation, as well as to international enforcement agencies.
Coordination between Federal and local law enforcement around the country has
expanded significantly since September 11. As additional resources become available, the LESC will become even more critical to law enforcement and national security investigations. In fiscal year 2003, the LESC responded to nearly 600,000 investigative inquiries from federal, state, county and local police agencies in all 50
states. This surpasses the total inquiries handled in 2002 by more than 175,000.
The operational area that has perhaps benefited the most from our restructuring
is Detention and Removal Operations. It is now a separate division, bringing a
sharper focus to its unique mission, which includes the National Fugitive Operations Program. This program is designed to locate, apprehend, and remove alien
absconders. Our Detention and Removal Program is continuing its efforts in promoting public safety and national security by ensuring the departure of those aliens.
Officers assigned to Detention and Removal continue to work toward the location,
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apprehension, and removal of all criminal aliens, absconders of the immigration
process, and all other aliens ordered removed from the country.
The BICE Intelligence Division provides a centralized robust intelligence capability to support all of BICEs operational programs as well as other Department
components and federal partners. This enhanced intelligence capability has proven
critical in the success of BICE investigations and initiatives including ICE Storm,
the Victoria, Texas smuggling case, and Operation Predator.
Air and Marine Operations continue to protect the Nations borders from smuggling and acts of terrorism with an integrated and coordinated Air and Marine
interdiction force. Airspace security is still being provided in the National Capital
Region and coordination of real time information exchange is at an all time high.
The Federal Protective Service (FPS) is relentlessly securing and identifying potential vulnerabilities of more than 8,800 federal buildings nationwide. As the FPS
continues to protect federal buildings, it has integrated its operations with BICE intelligence and investigations in regards to attempted penetration of federal buildings and assisted Detention and Removal Operations in moving detainees at federal
facilities.
As mentioned earlier, the inclusion of the FAMS and the Explosive Unit and their
mission to promote confidence in our Nations civil aviation system through the deterrence, detection, and defeat of hostile acts targeting U.S. air carriers, airports,
passengers, and crew has served to further mobilize the people and resources of the
Department of Homeland Security. FAMS operates as a distinct unit within BICE,
enhanced by BICE intelligence and operations data. Moving the FAMS to BICE provides an increased surge capacity during periods of increased threat to the air transportation system; improves the Departments ability to investigate events of interest
in the airport environment through better connectivity between FAMS and the federal law enforcement community; and, provides FAMS with broader training and career opportunities.
As we have shown, criminal activities are best attacked by multiple investigations
that are interconnectedtracing all the criminal components of the violations and
not just a single act. The additional jurisdiction and resources that the combined
agencies bring to BICE have enhanced our abilities to investigate national security
threats and strengthen the Department of Homeland Security. BICE would not have
been able to maintain the continuity of these multiple operations, much less enhance the way in which they are carried out, if it were not for the extraordinary
sense of purpose, dedication, and steadfast determination of the men and women
who work for the agency. They fully understand that their day-to-day work is critical to the security of this Nation and its economy.
In conclusion, I would again like to commend Congress on its efforts in pursuing
the safety and well being of the American people and thank you for the opportunity
to testify before you today. There is no higher duty of the Government than to defend its Nation. It is an honor to serve with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is a team of elite and dedicated law-enforcement officers who
face the ultimate challenge of protecting and serving our Nation during a time of
monumental change. I am confident that with the leadership of the President, guidance from Congress, and the continued cooperation and coordination within the Law
Enforcement Community, we will continue to evolve as a premier law enforcement
agency within the Department of Homeland Security. The American people deserve
nothing less.
It would be my pleasure to answer any questions you may have.
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And Mr. Secretary, I am referring as well to transshipments,
these goods that are shipped from countries of origin to a third
party country that may end up in the United States and not be
charged against the appropriate country. What sort of time frame
could you give me on that?
Mr. GARCIA. A number of parts to your question, Mr. Chairman.
Obviously, as you mentioned, those avenues of investigation, textile, cigarettes, key components of the traditional customs mission.
I think I mentioned in my opening statement one recent example
of our commitment to these traditional law enforcement areas. The
largest cigarette counterfeiting case to date which was recently
taken down, within the last week, showing ICEs commitment to
this traditional enforcement area. That commitment carries across
the board into all the areas you mentioned, IPR, textiles, all our
trade enforcement authority as well.
We approach it in two ways, one in the traditional area of enforcement, such as that recent cigarette case, and two in the area
of vulnerabilities. Now, while we havent seen, Mr. Chairman, direct links between violations of those rules and regulations in terrorist financing, they do provide an avenue for raising incredible
amounts of illicit funds. I think the cigarette smuggling business
alone is estimated to cost the U.S. a billion dollars, in lost revenue
a year.
They do provide tremendous opportunities for organized crime to
raise money, and wherever you have that opportunity you have the
vulnerability that those avenues could be exploited by terrorists or
others intent on harming our homeland security. So we have a twoprong focus, of our traditional focus on enforcing the trade laws
and our homeland security mission of closing down those
vulnerabilities.
Mr. COBLE. Now, additional Customs agents were authorized, I
believe last session, 50 I think. Now, what about transshipment?
Are you directing additional attention to those?
Mr. GARCIA. Certainly, under both the theories that I just gave
you. The Inbound diversions, where materials, cargo enters the
country that is supposed to be destined to be transshipped,
transited through the country, and be exported so it avoids certain
duties and other obligations in the country, obviously poses a twoprong problem again. One, the economic impact of having people
skirt the laws when other law-abiding businesses are playing by
the rules. It has a tremendous economic impact on businesses in
this country. And second, when you have containers that are transshipped that may not go through the same security, that are bonded or sealed and you have organized crime taking advantage of
that mechanism to get items into the country, again you have a
vulnerability, a vulnerability that could be exploited to harm our
national security.
So, again, taking that approach of the traditional importance of
that as an economic crime and that as a potential to be exploited
for homeland security reasons, we are very much committed to that
traditional area of enforcement.
Mr. COBLE. Now, those additional agents, are you dividing so
many with transshipments, so many to port
Mr. GARCIA. Yeah.
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Mr. COBLE.control, et cetera?
Mr. GARCIA. I will get back to you.
Mr. COBLE. I would like to know more about that.
Mr. GARCIA. Certainly, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. COBLE. Admiral, in the old days you remember, and so do
I, that when we were talking about port security operations, safety
was the number one word. Now safetyI dont mean that safety
has been abandoned, but now security certainly is alongside safety.
Am I right about that?
Admiral COLLINS. Yes, sir, absolutely.
Mr. COBLE. And I dont mean to suggest that we werent concerned about security before, but in a less focused way.
Admiral COLLINS. Clearly. You know, prior to 9/11 on a resource
basis, we probably were allocating 212 to 3 percent of our resource
base to port security issues. That clearly transformed itself quite
rapidly after 9/11, and we pulsed up at one point above 55 percent
of our resource base, and that has trailed off with a combination
of rebalancing and additional resources that have come into the
Coast Guard. We are now about 20, 27 percent or so, 25 to 27 percent for that mission area.
Mr. COBLE. I will continue, Admiral Collins, on a second round.
I see my red light is on. Mr. Scott.
Mr. SCOTT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to follow
through with that. 24 percent right now is the allocation of your
resources toward what?
Admiral COLLINS. Port securityport and coastal security, but
always the devil is in the details with these numbers. If you added
up all our law enforcement activity, drugs, migrants, illegal fishing,
and of course our ECZs, and along with port security, coastal security efforts, they represent about half of our budget. It is about half
of our budget. And the other half falls at, you know, the traditional
missions of marine safety, search and rescue, marine environmental protection, ice breaking, aids to navigation, and so forth. So
it is about evenly split between the two. And if you look at our performance in those missions, I think you will see in our budget and
brief document that goes along with our budget a fairly consistent
high performance on all those areas, even with resource adjustments.
Mr. SCOTT. You indicated that you had had seizures of drugs. Do
you have any idea what portion of the drugs that are coming into
the Nation that you actually intercept?
Admiral COLLINS. Certainly. We have athere is about 540 tons
estimated that is moving through the maritime into the United
States or toward Europe. We have goals of seizure rate goals and
removal rate goals. Removal is those that we dont see but are
abandoned by the trafficker as we chase them at sea. But currently
it is 68 tons of that amount is what we are in fact interdicting.
Mr. SCOTT. 10 to 15 percent?
Admiral COLLINS. Right. That is the seizure rate and a removal
rate if you will count all that abandoned, discarded, thrown over
the side
Mr. SCOTT. 85 percent of the drugs sent to the United States, 85
percent85 to 90 percent actually get through in your guesstimate,
because you obviously dont know?
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Admiral COLLINS. These estimates change year by year. Some
portion of that is going to Europe, and I can get you the specific
distribution and the current estimates of that flow.
Mr. SCOTT. I would appreciate that.
Mr. Basham, I understand that 5 minutes didnt allow you to
give a full presentation on how we are working with the boarding,
counterfeiting of $20 bills. Do you want to say something about
how well we are doing or what the challenges are?
Mr. BASHAM. Actually, as you are aware, Mr. Scott, the redesign
of the 20 just came out this past spring, and it is a bit early to tell
as to the effects of the redesign and the security features. We are
not seeing a large number of counterfeit 20s getting into circulation, but as a matter of fact, I happen to have a couple of samples
of the counterfeit that we just took out in the Seattle area, and to
be quite honest with you, it is somewhat alarmingly close to the
genuines. If you wish, I can have someonehave you
Mr. SCOTT. I dont know if you can show those to the camera.
Just hold them up a little bit. Hold them up just in front of you.
Mr. BASHAM. Well, I have a sample of genuine notes and then
two samples of the counterfeit currency of the new redesigned 20s.
And with the exception of a somewhat noticeable flaw in the paper
consistency, if you are at the Wal-Mart and you are clerking at the
Wal-Mart, I suspect these would have gotten through. But it is
notat this point we are not
Mr. SCOTT. Now, most of the tests that are usually given are
some marker thatdo those work on the counterfeits?
Mr. BASHAM. No. But it is a deterrent for those who do not know.
But it doesnt workit will give you an indication, but it doesnt
work in every case. So it is not a reliable way of determining counterfeit
Mr. SCOTT. Is there any cheap, reliable way that you can tell?
Mr. BASHAM. There is no cheap, reliable way of detecting it. Because of the confidence that the American public has in its currency usually it just passes through one hand to the next and finally getting into the Federal Reserve System, and that is where
the majority of it is found.
Mr. COBLE. Thank you, Mr. Scott. We have been joined by the
distinguished lady from Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee. Good to
have you with us, Ms. Jackson Lee.
Mr. Feeney, the gentleman from Florida.
Mr. FEENEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It seems like another
deterrent to counterfeiting 20s is that, counterfeit or not, a 20
doesnt get you very far anymore.
Admiral, I was interested in your testimony. In Florida we have
more coastline than the rest of the eastern seaboard put together.
We have got 14 deepwater seaports. We have challenges in Port
Canaveral, for example, which is the only place I know of on the
planet that within 35 miles you can get into the air, you can travel
by rail, by road or in international space. And of course we have
got both a very large passenger port capacity, and we have got
some military applications, and we have got a very large cargo.
And I heard you describe the increasing interactivity between your
agencies, intelligence, for example, the Immigration Service which
is the importantI am interested in knowing how we are doing as
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we establish the Homeland Security Department, specifically relating to the Coast Guard working with local law enforcement.
Florida has a pretty comprehensive homeland security approach.
We have got port security. We have got the harbor pilots that obviously have interest in this regard. We have got the cargo aspects
of the port, and I thought maybe you would share with us how you
are dealing with our local law enforcement, our sheriffs, our port
security, et cetera.
Admiral COLLINS. Sure. I would be pleased to. I should probably
note up front that Florida is probably one of the more I think aggressive States in dealing with security and the strategy to deal
with security.
Mr. FEENEY. Thank you. I was Speaker of the House when we
adopted that plan. So I will take that as a compliment.
Admiral COLLINS. It certainly is, and we have developed over the
years not only for security but in other mission areas, search and
rescue and boating safety, a whole host of things, a very close relationship with the marine patrol and other elements within Florida.
I should note that the Maritime Transportation Security Act requires the development of a new security regime across the United
States, including Florida. We have been in dialogue with the Governors office and others within Florida on how that is supposed to
roll out. We have created a local captain of the portby captain of
the port jurisdictions, area maritime security committees that are
required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002.
Those have robust participation, local, port authorities and State
figures as well as our DHS partners, and it becomes the clearinghouse to coordinate the development of security plans and security
operations at each port.
You take Miami, for example, there is a terrific coordination in
the Port of Miami. Every time a cruise ship comes in, how you deal
with that cruise ship, what is the division of labor between local,
small boat resources, State resources and Coast Guard, and that is
done in a coordinating fashion to ensure the appropriate security.
So day-to-day operations are coordinated through the captain of
port, and other entities like the Joint Terrorist Task Force, between FBI, DHS and local folks, and through those various mediums coordinating mechanisms, I think we are doing terrific stuff.
And the Maritime Transportation Security Act promises in its coordinating mechanisms of the area maritime security committee
promises even closer collaboration going forward.
Mr. FEENEY. Thank you. Secretary Garcia, I appreciate your testimony. I had a chance to speak with you about some issues earlier.
And one of the things I am interested in as we put together this
new Homeland Security Department, it is a baby in time, but it is
a huge baby, and there are some real challenges, including in your
department. And there have been suggestions that as your mission
gets broader, you lose focus. I mean, there have been some recent
arguments that suggest that the agency is losing identity, for example, that the mission itself is becoming diluted, that the direction is in some ways being lost and that of course there are always
people displeased by any change. There are some suggestions that
morale is low in the agency.
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I appreciate the fact that we have got interconnectivity between
the different challenges that you have, but you have a big task now
ahead of you, and can you address sort of how you are going to
keep an agency whose mission gets much broader also focused and
efficient?
Mr. GARCIA. Certainly, Congressman. I think it is important to
step back, as you say, and look at what we have done here, and
that is to merge tremendous organizations with different history,
different culture, different worker rules into one new law enforcement agency.
If you had told Customs agents, Immigration agents 18 months
ago that they were working underwould be working under the
same agency umbrella today, they would have looked at you in disbelief, and that is what we have done. And that is only on the
agent side. We have brought Federal Protective Service in, the Federal Air Marshals in, Detention and Removal into this umbrella,
Intelligence assets.
There are cultural differences. There are differences in work
rules and journeyman levels, in administrative support systems.
You can imagine, in your experience with bureaucracies and Government agencies the tremendous challenge of putting those together, and at the same time ensuring that we dont fall back at
all in our traditional missions as we have discussed some today,
that we continue to push forward on narcotics and smuggling and
export enforcement and launch new programs under a new organization.
What have we accomplished? We changedreally changed the
face of law enforcement, reorganized those investigative assets into
a unified law enforcement system of 25 unified field offices across
the country reporting up one chain into a new headquarters structure with new program boxespredator, with human rights violators and other programs new to the Department of Homeland Security. There is anxiety in change, and that is certainly so. And there
are challenges.
What we have to do is get the information out to the field. I visited 22 of our 25 field offices I have just mentioned within the past
year. I have done town halls. I do regular messagings. I have noticed actually a change in the anxiety level, and it has gone down
as we get forward on our path, as we announce our permanent
leadership which we continue to do. In fact, most of it is now in
place, and we move forward and gain ground. And as we bring
these new tools to bear in different ways, as we show and demonstrate our commitment to the traditional mission about our ability to do things differently now, our ability to create new culture
and a new organization, and we see that
Mr. COBLE. Mr. Garcia, the time has expired. We can continue
that on the second round.
The gentlelady from Texas.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me
thank both you and the Ranking Member for making sure we
didnt miss this very important hearing. I think as the headlines
have challenged us over the last couple of days on the vulnerability
of our intelligence and intelligence gathering, to understand the
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law enforcement components of homeland security I think are extremely vital.
Let me take a moment of personal privilege and congratulate our
JTTF in Houston and add my appreciation to Richard Garcia, the
special agent in charge. The FBI is not here, but the special agent
in charge who was a key component to that task force, because we
just hosted one of the super events of the world, the Super Bowl,
and I am here to tell you that we are safe and sound, and we are
very appreciative of all of the agencies that participated, which include the Secret Service and the Customs and the ICE and a number of others. And I know that the Coast Guard was carefully handling the port at the same time. So we appreciate the work that
was done over these past couple of days, and I want to make note
of that as a public compliment.
But I do want to focus on several aspects of your efforts and raise
these questions overall and then, if you will, throw them to you
gentlemen to answer.
I want to get a status of our work with respect to identity theft
which has become certainly a huge domestic concern, but it has impact with respect to terrorism as well. And so I want to see what
strides we have made in dealing with international issues of identity theft, meaning those who are maybe traveling internationally
or those who would use the identity of either someone from their
place of residence or someone here in the United States that would
help penetrate the borders and/or to do harm within the borders
of the United States.
With respect, Admiral, to the Coast Guard, let me raise a point
of contention or a problem that we had in Houston, and that is
weak land entry. Now, I know that you are in the waterways. My
question to you is do you coordinate and have meetings with ports
as relates to how they accessor how individuals are able to access
by land but then may have them enter into the port land area and
do harm on the waterways either by way of commandeering a
small boat, if you will, or some other harm? Is there a constant dialogue with port leadership of respective ports so that your work is
not simply on our byways? I am interested in that issue, and I
would be interested in your comment on your Coast Guard intelligence coordination centers and whether or not they are working
and do they work land and sea as well.
I would appreciate, and I guess this requires sort of a simple sentence, because I am giving a number of questions, but I would like
to get these on the record, your thoughts about the budget for 2005
as it relates to each of your segments. And then I would be interested in any particular needs that you need as we look toward legislative activity in 2004 and/or budgetary at this time.
But I think, gentlemen, if you can start off with this whole idea
of intelligence, and do you feel that you are fixing the loopholes in
your intelligencein our capability, if you will, or the sharing of
intelligence. I think that is key for me. And then you can go into
the respective questions that I have asked you. And I thank you.
Mr. Basham, you might want to start.
Mr. BASHAM. With respect to the sharing of intelligence, as you
are aware, the Department of Homeland Security has been very aggressive in putting together and bringing together a number of the
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components within that department to share information, disseminate information. We are involved with the Terrorism Threat Integration Center. They have stood up the Homeland Security Operations Center. We are constantly working with the Department as
well as with other departments within Government to ensure that
the information that we obtain is shared and that they are quite
frankly doing exceptionally well in sharing information with the
Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security.
So I think we have made some great strides in that area, and
I think it will continue to improve. And I am sure my colleagues
here would agree.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. How many notches up from 9/11? Five
notches, six notches, two notches up?
Mr. BASHAM. A grading scale, I would hesitate to grade it. I can
only say that I think it has improved considerably over the time
prior to 9/11, just because we are all now together sharing information at one location, and so therefore I feel it has improved considerably. I will defer to my colleagues here if they have
Mr. COBLE. The gentlemans time is expired. So if you all could
answer her remaining questions as tersely as you can.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. GARCIA. Thank you. I would echo what Director Basham has
said in terms of intelligence sharing. Obviously, I think it was
pointed out originally how important that is. In post-9/11 we are
all under one agency roof. We all share into the DHS facility as
well as across agency and department lines and I have seen tremendous improvement in that from my days even back in the Department of Justice when I worked terrorism issues in New York.
In terms of the budget, I saw some tremendous advances in 2005
in enhancements, a 10 percent overall increase related to institutional removal, international program, compliance enforcement and
our air and marine division. Enhancements that will make us an
even more effective homeland security law enforcement agency in
the years to come.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Admiral.
Admiral COLLINS. In terms ofI echo the comments of my colleagues here in terms of information sharing and intel collection.
I think it is getting better and better and better every day, and the
big reason is we are under the same roof, have common goals, one
team, one fight, sharing staff. I have staff in ICE. ICE has staff in
my operation. We are sharing our intel databases, ready access into
the maritime database from other agencies and vice versa. We are
doing collaborative screening. In other words, vessels and people
and cargo coming into the United States, we are doing collaborative
screening. We are doing screening collaboratively with FBI and
ICE and Customs and so forth.
So I think the combination of those features, whatever the notch
equalsI am not sure what a notch equals but a number of
notches we have increased, and I think we will get better and better all the time.
Also what is very, very positive to me is that we have in the maritime created a tiered intel organization, an information sharing organization at the local level, at our area level, the middle management level and at the headquarters level in Washington, and it is
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a tier structure that allows a great deal of information flow into the
maritime community.
So to answer your question about Houston, we have a field intelligence support team that is a giant team. It is made up of Coast
Guard, our DHS partners, the State police, the local port authorities and others, and it can bring and get a common operating picture of the port and all the things that impact the port.
I think that is a very, very positive development, and more of
that to come. Thank you.
Mr. COBLE. Ms. Jackson Lee, we are going to have a second
round so that we can come back to your remaining questions.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you.
Mr. COBLE. We will start our second round now.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Will the gentleman yield?
Let me just apologize. For my coming in from Houston, the
planes were delayed in bad weather, and I apologize for that. If I
am not here for the second round, I have a bill on the floor, and
I will submit my questions for the record.
[The information referred to follows:]
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Mr. COBLE. Reclaiming my time, let me extend kudos to you all
having hosted a very fine Super Bowl. And since my team did not
winthat is a game, folks, that I think neither team should have
lost.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chairman, you have nothing to be
ashamed of. Those young men from all of the Carolinas were dynamicand I hope the witnesses will allow us this exchangebut
they were outstanding and you are absolutely right, they were both
winners on the field.
Mr. COBLE. This has nothing to do with the issue at hand. I have
had more people come to me in recent days and they will say,
BobbyMr. Scottbest Super Bowl I ever saw. Kudos to you.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Absolutely. Come back again.
Mr. COBLE. I wasnt there. I saw it on TV.
Admiral, when I hear Coast Guard, I think search and rescue,
aids to navigation, drug interdiction, et cetera.
A, have those bread-and-butter issues that you all have been
doing since 1790, have they been adversely affected, or if not adversely affected, compromised as a result of additional food on your
plate? A.
Number B, how about the coordination of efforts with the Navy
regarding maritime homeland security?
I guess that would be one and the same question.
Admiral COLLINS. Mr. Chairman, I dont think so. I think the
search and rescue standards, we are not walking away from those
a bit. In other words, being on scene within a certain time frame
after the initial call notification, we are adhering to that. We saved
well over 5,000 people last year in the United States who are alive
today because we were around. So we are attending to that.
We are exceeding our performance standards for search and rescue. We are exceeding our performance standards relative to aids
to navigation. We are exceeding our performance standards relative
to ice-breaking. I think we are working hard, we are meeting the
performance standards across the board.
It has been with the help of great partnering with State, local,
and Federal to help us with that mission and our partners in DHA.
That is one secret. The other secret is that our budget has grown.
We have increased the capacity to do this work; from 2002 to the
present our operating budget has increased over 50 percent. And
we have grown our people force structure by over 10 percent. So
that allows us to deal with some of these new demands.
Mr. COBLE. That is the answer I was hoping for. Oftentimes folks
ask me, how about the Coast Guard? Can they still take care of
their bread-and-butter issues? And I am glad to hear you say you
can do that even though you are probably strapped.
The gentlelady from Texas asked you about identity theft. I do
not think you got into that. How about getting your oars into those
waters?
Mr. BASHAM. Thank you for the opportunity.
Last year we launched a very aggressive initiative on identity
theft. And as a matter of fact, we have provided training to State
and local law enforcement to, first of all, help them identify what
identity theft is really about; and if they come upon a situation
where they think they have an issue, how they should preserve the
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evidence in a case of that. We have sent over 40,000 CD-ROMs to
State and local law enforcement entities out there to show best
practices, to show them how they go about working a case of this
nature. In fact, we are in the second printing or the second rendition of that CD-ROM on identity theft.
And so we are very aggressively working that issue and we feel
that it is going to have a very positive effect. The Secret Service
is very involvedcontinues to be involved working with our partners out there.
Mr. COBLE. Thank you, Mr. Basham. I still have a little time left.
You all have not responded to my earlier concernand I hope it
is because it is not a problemand that is turf battles. You have
read about it as far as you all are concerned.
Can we assume that is not taking a lot of your time?
Mr. BASHAM. I can say, originally, Mr. Chairman, it was somewhat a concern to the Secret Service; and I am sure you were
aware of that, as you expressed. However, we have found that that
has not been a problem for us. It is not a distraction for our agents.
In fact, we are working very, very close with ICE out there and
task forces.
We have a very robust effort under way within DHS to deal with
financial crimes and financial infrastructure protections, working
with ICE as a partner. So we feel it has enhanced the Governments ability to deal with those issues. And so I feel very, very
strongly that it has improved and it is not a concern.
Mr. COBLE. You all concur? Admiral?
Admiral COLLINS. Absolutely. And if you look at some of the
major initiatives that we are launching, it was done in a collaborative way. Container security, for example, is a close partnership
between TSA, legacy Customs and the Coast Guard and others, including NARAD from the Department of Transportation.
If you look at the efforts with migration and migration interdiction between ICE and the Coast Guard, and drug interdiction,
many of those have been enabled with ICE aircraft and Coast
Guard cutters working together in a collaborative way and getting
terrific results. There are coordinating mechanisms built into our
Department to allow for coordination across the organizational elements.
The Coast Guard attends the operations policy weekly council
meeting in BTS every week to compare notes on where we are
going and how we can coordinate better. I feel very positive about,
it and where there are seams, there are efforts under way look at
those seams and how we deal with them together.
Mr. COBLE. I am glad to hear that.
Mr. Secretary, do you concur?
Mr. GARCIA. Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. We work with the Coast
Guard very closely across the board.
One recent case we had down in the Everglades, port security,
where the Coast Guard invited us into their investigation to assist;
and we did some great work together down there.
As Director Basham said, we work very, very closely in the financial crimes area. Echoing your opening remarks, after 9/11, there
really is no place for turf battles. There are issues where there has
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to be coordination, and we are working at better coordination at
this table with our partner agencies.
Mr. COBLE. Glad to hear it.
The gentleman from Virginia.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Basham, I wanted to follow up on the ID fraud.
We have seen TV ads where one credit card company will show its
fraud alerts and will void charges being charged to one person;
they will cancel the charges and whatnot.
When they find that a charge was improperly done, do they routinely report it to the criminal justice people, or do they just write
it off and issue a new card and keep going?
Mr. BASHAM. I think a number of the credit card companies accept a certain level of risk. And now, to the percentage of ones they
actually write off versus charging it back to a merchant, I can get
that information.
Mr. SCOTT. Do they report it to a criminal justice authority for
prosecution, for investigation and prosecution?
Mr. BASHAM. Well, the only times I can comment on that is when
we are actually contacted, which is frequently that we are contacted. We work very closely with the credit card companies, particularly if we find
Mr. SCOTT. If you find that a chargeand I have had a card
where I dont know how they got the number or whatever, but the
charges were improperly being put on a credit card. I reported it.
They canceled the charges and I got a new card.
Okay, does anybody prosecute that? Investigate it? Do you have
the resources to investigate cases like that?
Mr. BASHAM. On a singular charge against an individuals credit
card? I cant say that we have the resources to track down
Mr. SCOTT. If you had more resources, could you track down situations like that so that people would stop doing it?
Mr. BASHAM. Yes, we could.
Mr. SCOTT. If you had more resources?
Mr. BASHAM. If we had more resources, we certainly could.
Mr. SCOTT. We will see what we can do.
I look forward to you testifying in favor of a bill that I have introduced to give you those resources.
Mr. BASHAM. I will be honored to.
Mr. SCOTT. We have heard all about the coordination between
the agencies. One of the downsides of that is, some agencies can
get information a little bit easier and more casually, particularly if
they are using the foreign intelligence side of the criminal justice
system, than other agencies.
Can you say a little bit about how law enforcement works cooperatively with agencies that are acquiring information under the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for which probable cause is
not needed?
Mr. GARCIA. If I could take the first shot at answering that, perhaps.
One, as you point out, Congressman, the FBI has primary domestic foreign intelligence collection capability under FISA and the
other intelligence statutes, domestic collection authority. There are
other probable cause and other requirements under that statute,
but they are different from the
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Mr. SCOTT. Under FISA you do not need the probable cause of
a crime. In fact, you dont need a crime. It can be anythingforeign intelligence, they can get the information.
In the old days, they couldnt use it on the criminal side, and so
there was no incentive to abuse the foreign intelligence collection
to try to run a criminal investigation without probable cause.
Now that everybody is sharing everything, you have an incentive
to abuse the foreign intelligence, and somebody on the criminal
side can ask one of their buddies, I have a hunch, no probable
cause, just a hunch, can you use FISA to listen in a little while,
to see if we can find something out? When you are sharing all of
this information, going back and forth, that can be a problem. In
the old days, since you couldnt share, there was no point in asking.
If they found anything, you couldnt use it.
My question is, with all of this information-sharing, do you have
people who are using FISA to get information, sharing that information with everybody else thatnice to hear it, but couldnt have
gotten it on their own?
Mr. GARCIA. I will give you my perspective from ICE on that.
Obviously, as I said, FBI has primary collection authority on
that; I think the collection authority in that area is under FISA.
We participate with the FBI and joint terrorist task forces cases
by nature aimed at terrorist financing, terrorist support, terrorist
plots in the United States.
Our agents, as part of that task force, would have some access
to the information collected by the FBI under the rules governing
information-sharing, the PATRIOT Act and the rules that were in
place before that. Those agents participate in a task force setting
and have access, as needed, as I understand it, to that information
on particular cases governed by the rules for that sharing that are
now in place.
Mr. BASHAM. Actually, I would echo that. We, as well, participate
in the joint terrorism task forces, and a great deal of that information is compartmentalized. And it is not shared across all agencies,
but only those agencies that have a specific interest or a specific
jurisdiction that it deals with.
So I would say that with respect to protecting that information,
as best you can under that setting, they are very cognizant of the
need to do that. That has been our experience with it.
Mr. COBLE. We will have one more quick round, Mr. Scott.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Garcia, you indicated that when you catch smugglers, they could have used the methodology to smuggle weapons
of mass destruction with the same methodology that they are
smuggling drugs and people, they could. .
Do you have any evidence that they are using the same methodology?
Mr. GARCIA. No, Congressman. What our approach is is that certainly the vulnerability exists. If, particularly in that case, we have
people with access to sensitive areas of a facility, an airport, the
danger exists or the potential exists that they would take advantage of that access to move weapons or move WMD components
through the airports or across the border.
Certainly, these are organized criminal enterprises driven by
profit. Where the profit was greater, that is where we believe that
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criminal activity would be focused. So if terrorists or others looking
to harm
Mr. SCOTT. You do not have any evidence that they actually
havelet me ask you, I have several other questions that I am try
trying to get in quickly.
Is ICE working with the State Department on visa issuance?
Mr. GARCIA. In the visa security unit, yes, Congressman. That
was, up until recently, run by Asa Hutchinson at the bureau level,
BTS level. It is now operationally within ICE.
We have signed an MOU with the State Department to govern
procedures. DHS has signed in terms of visa issuance. We are now
in the process of implementing that, getting funding for that program. As of today, the only DHS personnel overseas are in Riyadh
and Jedda, Saudi Arabia, as required by the statute. We are now
coming up with a plan for further expansion of the visa security
unit overseas working with our partners at the State Department.
Mr. SCOTT. When there are violations, how much prosecutorial
discretion do you have? Do you have any prosecutorial discretion
if you have violations of visa procedures?
Mr. GARCIA. Most of the visa law enforcement authority rests
with diplomatic security of the State Department overseas. Under
the terms of the MOU, we work with diplomatic security to look
at investigations that would result from the visa process and see
which ones of those would be amenable to presentation for prosecution. Ultimately, the decision for that would rest with the U.S. attorneys office.
Mr. SCOTT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. COBLE. I have one more, too, and then we will wrap it up.
Mr. Secretary, would you classify the intelligence that your office
gathers as responding to domestic threats or foreign threats? Is it
possible to separate the two? To what extent is your domestic intelligence work integrated with your foreign intelligence work?
I am piling on here. I am giving you four or five questions.
As to the mission of the office, it appears very similar to me to
that of the FBI and the DEA, for example. Explain whether and
how the Office of Intelligence is duplicating or complementing the
work of the other law enforcement agencies responsible for domestic intelligence. What are the unique responsibilities of your office
compared to the other offices?
And if you would, explain any plans for the sharing of intelligence amongst the other agencies.
And what role does the Terrorist Threat Integration Center play
in all of this?
Mr. GARCIA. Certainly.
Mr. Chairman, ICE collects law enforcement information. As I
pointed out in response to Congressman Scotts question, we do not
have domestic intelligence-gathering capability. Our capability to
gather intelligence is essentially to gather law enforcement information, case-related information, operational information.
We have different divisions in ICE that provide different types
of information to our Central Intelligence Division, our main division for intelligence responsibilities. The Federal Protective Service
gathers information about violations on Federal property; 8,000
buildings they protect nationwide. The FAMS have a civil aviation
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piece, bringing in information about violations in their particular
domaininvestigations, broad authorities, tremendous information.
Detention and removal, moving more people through their system
than the Bureau of Prisons last year, has a similar capability to
collect information from that community. All, merging with ICE.
As you can see, very different branches and types of informationcollecting information can be used operationally by ICE. For example, human trafficking information. Someone stopped on the border
may have a phone number that links up with a case in Newark.
We use that to drive our cases.
We share across our divisions, clearly. We also share laterally
and across the board and upwards. We participate with the IAIP,
the DHS primary intel group. The TTIC, we have personnel assigned to the TTIC on a full-time basis where we have access to
all our systems. We are part of the terrorist screening center. We
have personnel assigned to the CIA and we brief on specific issues.
So we take advantage of all of those opportunities to make our
information available upwards into DHA, into the TTIC and across
to our agencies sitting here and in other departments, and then we
brief on specific issues. We briefed the FBI, in fact, within the last
week on an issue that we uncovered that we thought was particularly important.
Mr. COBLE. Thank you, sir.
And one final question, Mr. Scott.
Mr. SCOTT. One final question, Admiral Collins. You indicated
that your guesstimateobviously, we do not know for sure85 to
90 percent of the drugs trying to get into the United States actually make it. We are stopping 10 to 15 percent. Is getting it down
to 50 percent a realistic goal?
Admiral COLLINS. I think you have got to look at it. There is not
one silver bullet. There are a number of different strategies that
are being pursued aggressively under the coordination of ONDCP
that looks at source country strategy, interdiction zone strategy
and so forth. And I think, hit it high, hit it low, and hit it in between, also focusing on demand and supply; and a combination of
that multifaceted approach yields tremendous results.
Mr. SCOTT. I see on the supply side if people do not want as
much drugs, you could reduce it. How much would it cost? I mean,
in terms of
Admiral COLLINS. I think it is a multifaceted approach. I was
just down at the Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West,
which coordinates all the interdiction efforts for the United States
out of that southern vector coming into the United States; and they
had a substantial Colombian delegation, the minister of defense
and others, briefing on the progress they are making in country. It
is very, very impressive.
And I think the combination of a dedicated, focused, professional
military really turned around in Colombia and committed to administration in Colombia, along with a solid effort in the interdiction zoneI think we have a window of opportunity to go and undermine this whole operation.
Mr. SCOTT. The reason I ask that is, I read there is one study
that said if you wanted to reduce drug use by 1 percent in America,
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you could spend $30 million on drug rehab, about $300 million on
prisons, or a billion dollars on interdiction.
Admiral COLLINS. Like I said, I dont think there is any one individual solution. It is multifaceted. And you have got to be very
proactive in supporting Colombia and the great things they are
doing as a country, in country.
Mr. SCOTT. And that costs us about a billion dollars.
Admiral COLLINS. It is a huge payoff, I think. And in the interdiction zone and on the demand side, it is multifaceted. If you look
at the national strategy on this issue, it
Mr. SCOTT. We are at 85, 90 and catching 10 to 15 percent now.
How much more money will it cost to get it down much further?
Are we talking billions?
Admiral COLLINS. I dont have at the tip of my fingers a number
for you, Congressman.
Mr. COBLE. I thank the gentleman. I think this has been a good
productive hearing, and we thank you all for your contribution.
This concludes the oversight hearing on law enforcement efforts
within the Department of Homeland Security.
The record will remain open for 1 week, and gentlemen, I have
additional questions that I am going to submit in writing, and we
will look forward to hearing from you.
Mr. Scott, do you have any written questions that you want to
submit?
Mr. SCOTT. No.
Mr. COBLE. If you will respond, the record will remain open for
1 week. Thank you again for your attendance, and the Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 2:20 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
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APPENDIX
MATERIAL SUBMITTED
FOR THE
HEARING RECORD
FROM THE
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