surveillance act, which allows for the surveillance of non-u.s. persons outside of the u.s. the entire hearing runs about four hours.

[gavel banging] >> the committee on homeland security will come to order. without objection, the gentlewoman from florida is permitted to sit on the dais and ask questions to the witness. the purpose of the testimony is to receive testimony on the full pace and scale of threats to the homeland. i now recognize myself for an opening statement. 22 years have passed since september 11. since then, the nature of the threats we face has evolved, and security challenges are becoming more dynamic each day. i don't say this lightly -- this is one of the most dangerous times in the history of the united states. some of the greatest threats include an open and lawless southwest border.

ask any border sheriff or, for that matter, the mayor of new york city. efforts by foreign adversaries like the chinese communist party that target our critical infrastructure. of course, we also have the wars in israel and ukraine and rising chinese aggression in the taiwan straight and south china sea. to overcome these significant challenges, we must take a clear eyed and holistic look at these threats. first, we are facing an unprecedented crisis at our southwest border. in just three years, the administration has systematically dismantled our nation's border security and created the worst border crisis in american history. while my friends on the left defend these actions, though now may be less so than they did at the start, it is clear this crisis is not a result of budget

cuts, changes in border patrol resources or changes in the immigration laws passed by congress. what has changed is the cancellation of effective policies that had secured our borders. the biden administration ended proven policies like remain in mexico and construction of new border wall systems. as a result, people testing the system were released into country, called home, and millions more came. a lot like a college town bar that does not card. before long, they have a line out the door. worse, as acknowledged by attorney general garland, drug cartels have taken advantage and executed a strategy to push masses of people to tell you border patrol and bypass them with fentanyl, killing americans at an unprecedented rate. worse, as acknowledged by attorney general garland, the drug cartels have taken advantage of this policy shift and executed a strategy that is

tying -- basically resulting in mass human trafficking. undersecretary mayorkas, we just saw a record-breaking year for illegal immigration. dbp reported 2.40 7 million alien encounters along the southwest border in fiscal year 2020 three. since taking office, secretary mayorkas has overseen more than 6.5 one million southwest border encounters, 7.8 one million nationwide encounters, and more than 1.8 one million known got aways. to put this into perspective, the number of illegal immigrants who have entered our country since president biden took office is greater then the population of 33 of our nation's states. i will repeat that -- more than 33 of our 50 states. furthermore, violent mexican cartels are making record profits.

"the new york times" reported that cartels earned around $500 million a year in 2018 on human smuggling. today, they earned an estimated $13 billion. the failure of this administration's border policies has created a crisis that transnational criminal organizations pearl young -- prey on vulnerable migrants. yet, sec. mayorkas has continued to mislead congress and the american people, claiming that this is what a secure border looks like. malicious activity by terrorists and state actors poses a threat. without question, the homeland is less safe under this president. the catastrophic afghanistan withdrawal signaled weakness and a lack of leadership to the world. our nation's adversaries have been emboldened to attack our allies and friends and are undermining our security here at home.

significant threats to our cities and local communities are only growing. as each of you recently testified before the security committee and homeland affairs, foreign terrorist organizations have gained a sense of momentum following hamas' brutal attack against israel last month. these terrorist organizations continue to call for attacks against the u.s. at home and abroad. this includes al qaeda, which, as director ray has pointed out, has issued its most specific call to attack the u.s. in the last five years. as our adversaries seek to further destabilize the middle east, we must confront how these threats directly impact our own homeland security. according to dhs, 294 aliens whose names appear on the terrorist watch list were stopped trying to cross our southwest border between ports of entry since fiscal year 2021. compare that with 11 individuals stopped in the 4 years before

fiscal year 2017 through 2020. think about that for a moment. it is intuitive. why would these individuals who under the previous president only had 11 attempts to cross and were caught, suddenly feel like they can try again? policy changes. in the last two years, dbp encountered over 6000 aliens from afghanistan, 1600 from pakistan, 259 from iran and 123 from iraq. additionally, dhs documents obtained by this committee show that more than 20,000 russians and nearly 230 afghans and more than 830 whose backs have been released into the country via the misguided mass parole program with minimal or no vetting. these are just the ones we know about. how many other individuals posing a national security threat have been among the 1.8 one million known got aways?

no one knows, and that is terrifying. our committee has been engaged with dhs, and the fbi to ensure resources are appropriately allocated to counter these threats from terrorism. that said, more must be done. we are still waiting on sufficient information on the biden administration's handling of the heightened national security risk posed by a massive number of aliens with terrorist ties illegally crossing the southwest border. we will not be deterred. we demand dhs form plan without delay, compliance i might add is dictated by the constitution. third, anti-semitism is rising and threats against communities of faith in the united states are reaching historic levels. anti-semitic attacks have risen sharply in the united states since october 7. foreign terrorist organizations like isis have called on extremist supporters to target jewish communities in the united

states. the free world pledged never again nearly 80 years ago. now it's time we stand firm and united against this evil. we must not let these anti-somatic attacks and increasingly hateful rhetoric become a harbinger of more to come. we must do what we can to protect houses of worship and vulnerable communities from such violence. cyber attacks continue to undermine our homeland security. the cyber threats we face from malicious nationstates and cyber criminals are increasingly complex. this summer, the federal government experienced multiple incidents, including right before the secretary of commerce's visit to china. our critical infrastructure is also under attack. this year's annual threat assessment highlighted the threat that cyber actors pose to critical infrastructure owners and operators. dhs and the fbi have a crucial

role to play in supporting these owners and operators to defend against and respond to these threats. finally, we must address the challenge. against the backdrop of all these threats like this picture of a regime that continues to challenge the united states economically, technologically, diplomatically, and militarily. through its relentless espionage, they are stealing u.s. espionage, trade secrets and other sensitive data of america and american companies. over the past year alone, ccp has increased its espionage efforts against the homeland in a variety of ways. these include surveillance balloons, collecting intelligence on sensitive sites, chinese nationals posing as tourists to access our military installation, and other sensitive sites. and chinese nationals who have crossed our southern border at unprecedented levels. 24,000 apprehensions of chinese nationals at the southwest border in fiscal year 2023

alone. a 1100% increase from last year. it does not take a rocket scientist to see there is intentionality there. if recent reports are correct, may also operate dozens of overseas stations which aid transnational efforts by intimidating and threatening chinese business abroad. dhs and the fbi must ensure that transnational repression tactics and schemes by foreign governments cannot continue on american soil, and we stand ready to help. the ccp has also made strides infiltrating our nation's education system. that chief concern of every american that billions of dollars of ccp are flowing into our k-12 classrooms and institutions of higher education. this is a systematic effort to expand its influence within america's classrooms and promote its authoritarian and anti-american agenda. what is the homeland committee

doing about these threats? in may, we passed hr to come of the secure the border act, the most comprehensive border security legislation in decades. we have addressed cyber threats had on with a holy nation approach. we passed legislation encouraging responsible use of open source software in the federal government and building dhs's cyber workforce. i have convened a group of committees across congress to discuss and develop solutions to this problem that implicate multiple committees of jurisdiction. just last week, this committee advanced legislation to prohibit the dhs funds from flowing into universities that host chinese entities of concern. further, we passed common sense legislation to counter the brazen espionage and that of u.s. innovation by borrowing the purchase of drones from the prc or other foreign adversaries. we have held multiple hearings to examine the evolving threat of terrorism more than two

decades after september 11 and their implications from the homeland, including a recent hearing where we received confirmation of the needed and significant that the iranian regime poses to the united states homeland. this committee has also demanded information on individuals from uzbekistan and other countries who used a smuggler with ties to isis to enter the united states through our southwest border. we also demanded information on dhs's screening and vetting of evacuees. most recently, being -- we requested documents on terrorist threats at the southwest border. the department and fbi's delays and lack of responsiveness have become an unacceptable pattern. make no mistake. we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to secure these answers for the american people. i look forward to a productive conversation about the current threats to your homeland and the actions being taken to prevent them. i think our witnesses for being

here and i look forward to your testimony. i now recognize the ranking member, the gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson, for his opening statement. >> thank you mr. , chairman. good morning and welcome. secretary mayorkas, director wray, and director abizaid, we welcome you. with one notable exception during the prior administration, you and your predecessors have regularly come before this committee to discuss threats facing the homeland and how your department and agencies are keeping our country safe. thank you for being here today and for your service. and please convey our thanks to the dedicated public servants who work for you and for all of us every day. this hearing takes place with a war going on in the middle east and threats from foreign terrorist organizations and domestic violence extremist,

insurgent anti-semitism and islamophobia. we are seeing more sophisticated cyber attacks, unprecedented global migration, and have a presidential election less than a year away. the list of issues critical to the homeland goes on. my democratic colleagues and i plan to ask about these issues and we stand ready and willing as always to work with you to address these challenges on behalf of the american people. unfortunately, my republican colleagues have a different agenda today. and we need to be clear about what the agenda really means from the outset of this hearing. republicans are directly having -- republicans are directing politically motivated attacks at the administrative witnesses. they are doing so for their own failures at governing. the infighting and support for a republican presidential candidate who is, himself, a

threat to democracy. that is what some people in washington do other than take responsibility for their own failures. and to be sure, republicans have failed at running the house of representatives. they have ousted their own speaker, paralyzing the house and bringing the legislative process to a standstill for weeks as they fought among themselves. they cannot manage to pass bills to fund the government. instead, they have a pool of -- they have abruptly pulled spending bills on the house floor and have gone from a near shut down to near shut down, despite the harm it caused to our government and economy and our security. they appear on television to rant about border security and they issue vulgar, so-called reports with false statements and racist rhetoric about the border. others complain about bookstores refusing to sell their propaganda. when it comes to paying for

border security personnel and resources or passing legitimate border security legislation, they are awol. they talk to us about strengthening the outside and then vote to cut funding for the agency charged with that important mission. they revere their presidential candidate, who admires dictators and estimates, -- dictators and despots, calling them capable, competent and smart, who recently referred to political opponents as vermin and threatened to use the justice department against them. who talks about directing "detention camps" on united states soil. republicans don't want to own up to it or deal with any of that. rather than getting their own house in order, they direct baseless attacks at the administration and secretary mayorkas in particular.

we know the extreme members are desperate to impeach someone, anyone at all. they are on a crusade to impeach the secretary, although there is zero justification for it. unlike the trump administration, the biden administration has followed the law on border security and immigration claiming asylum at the border is lawful. if my republican colleagues don't like the law, well, they are in the majority. try to change it. the prior administration also refused to provide information sought by congress and more than 100 congressional inquiries. but this administration has been and continues to be responsive to congress. it is my understanding today's hearing is secretary mayorkas' 27th time testifying before congress since being confirmed as secretary.

under his leadership, dhs has responded to more than 1400 congressional letters and produced more than 11,000 pages of documents to this committee alone. secretary mayorkas is carrying out his responsibility as secretary of homeland security but republicans don't like the administration's policies. cabinet secretaries shouldn't be impeached over policy differences. that is not what the constitution says. that is not what the founders intended. they certainly shouldn't be impeached to distract from republican failures or to appease the extreme maga element that has overtaken their party. rather than the impeachment distraction, we should be focused on how congress and the administration can work together to secure the homeland. that is what this committee has done since its inception. that is what we were sent here to do and that is what the american people expect of us. it is a shame that my republican colleagues are working their own agenda and instead, the homeland suffers because of it.

mr. chairman, i yield back. >> the gentleman yields. other members of the committee are reminded that opening statements may be submitted for the record. i'm pleased to have an important panel of witnesses before us today. i asked that our witnesses please rise and raise their right hands. do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give before the committee on the homeland security united states house of representatives will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? let the record reflect that the witnesses answered in an affirmative. please be seated. i would like to formally introduce our witnesses. the honorable alejandro mayorkas was sworn in as the secretary of homeland security by president biden on february 2nd, 2021. mr. mayorkas has had a 30 year career as a law enforcement official and lawyer in the

private sector. from 2013 until 2016, he served as the deputy secretary of the apartment of homeland security and is the director of u.s. citizenship and immigration services from 2009, until 2013. the honorable christopher wray became the eighth director of the fbi on august 2, 2017. he started his law enforcement career in 1997 serving in the department of justice as an assistant u.s. attorney for the northern district of georgia. the honorable christine at his aide was sworn in as the director of the national counter -- national counterterrorism center on june 29, 2021. she is the eighth senate confirmed director and the first woman to lead the united states counterterrorism enterprise. previously, she served as a deputy assistant security of defense. i thank all the witnesses for being here today. and i recognized secretary mayorkas for five minutes to summarize his opening statement.

>> chairman, ranking member, distinguished members of the committee, and september, the department of homeland security published the 2024 homeland threat assessment laying out the most direct pressing threats to our security. already, in the weeks since the assessment was published, the world has changed. hamas terrorists horrifically attacked thousands of innocent men, women and children in israel on october 7, brutally murdering, wounding and taking hostages of all ages. in the days and weeks since then, we have responded to an increase in threats against jewish, muslim and arab american communities in these institutions across the country. agents directed a jewish student, communities and institutions for pre-existing inquiries at a level of anti- semitism in the united states and around the world.

last month has shown that the threat the department is charged with confronting has evolved and expanded in the 20 years since our founding after 9/11. today, individuals radicalized to violence can terrorize using a vehicle or a firearm. a transnational criminal organization needs only to conceal 2.2 pounds of fentanyl in a commercial truck or passenger car crossing through the port of entry to kill as many as a half a million people. actors and nation states such as russia, iran, north korea and the people's republic of china can use computers to steal personal sensitive information., shut on critical infrastructure and extort millions and ransom payments. compromising deep fake images can exploit and ruin the lives of a young person. extreme heat, wildfires and devastating hurricanes are increasing in frequency and severity. our department's founding

russian outcome the threat -- our department's founding rationale, the threat posed by foreign terrorists using weapons of mass destruction, remains. the men and women of the department of homeland security work every day to mitigate these threats and many more. i am immensely proud to be here today on their behalf to discuss the work they do, the challenges they face and most importantly, the support they require from congress to do their jobs. thank you for the opportunity to do so. i would like to focus on two such means of urgent support. first, congress must not allow these authorities to lapse. our department's authority to implement the chemical facility antiterrorism standards expired on july 28. that means that the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency is far from inspecting over 3000 high-risk chemical facilities including one in shepard, texas where an explosion last week forced nearby communities to shelter in

place for hours. we are also barred from identifying who is accessing them and whether they are stockpiling dangerous chemicals. historically, more than a third of inspections identify at least one gap in the facility's security. the counter drone authority will expire saturday, challenging, among other missions, the secret service's ability to protect the president and vice president and customs and border protection's ability to control the southwest border and intercept cartel drones, sparing drugs and contraband to the air. the department office weapons destruction authority will the spire -- expire december 31stwhich would hinder our ability to detect biological and illicit nuclear material threats and safeguard against the use of ai in the development of biological weapons as president biden charged us with doing last month and his executive order on artificial intelligence. finally, key elements of our intelligence authority under section 702 of the foreign intelligence surveillance act will expire december 31st.

expiration will leave the country vulnerable to attacks supported by american citizens and it would cripple our ability to identify and secure american citizens who are the targets of such attacks. renewing each of these authorities is common sense , bipartisan, and critical to the national security. this is not a moment to let our guard down. second, we need congress to allocate sufficient resources to enable our nation's front- line officers to carry out the difficult jobs and keep the american people safe. last month, our administration requested critical supplemental homeland security funding that would help us do just that. this funding package would allow us to more effectively combat the scourge of fentanyl and the impact of historic migration and accelerate work authorization for eligible noncitizens this -- noncitizens. this funding will, in short, make a critical difference in

the department's operational capacity and in national security. ensuring the safety of the american people as a national imperative and a governmental obligation. i look forward to partnering with congress to deliver, to the men and women who keep the country safe. i look forward to working with you to address the threats and challenges america faces today and in the years to come. thank you and i look forward to your questions. thank you -- thank you, and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, secretary mayorkas. i now recognize director wray for five minutes to summarize his opening statement. >> good morning. it has been more than five weeks since hamas terrorists carried out the brutal attacks against innocent israelis, dozens of american citizens and others from around the world and our collective efforts remain on supporting our partners overseas and seeking the safe return of hostages, but this hearing,

while focused on threats to the homeland, is well-timed, given the dangers implications, the -- the dangerous implications the fluid situation in the middle east has for homeland security. in a year where the terrorism threat was already elevated, the ongoing war in the middle east has raised the threat of an attack against americans in the united states to another level. since october 7, we have seen a rogues gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against americans and allies. hezbollah expressed its support and praise for hamas and threatened to attack u.s. interest in the middle east. al qaeda issued its most specific call to attack the united states in the last five years. al qaeda in the reagan peninsula called on jihadists to attack americans and jewish people everywhere. isis urged its followers to target jewish communities in the united states and europe. given those calls for action,

the most immediate concern is that individuals, or small groups, will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the middle east to carry out attacks here at home. that includes homegrown violent extremists inspired by a foreign terrorist organization and domestic violent extremists targeting jewish americans or other faith communities like muslim americans. across the country, the fbi has been aggressively countering violence by extremists citing the ongoing conflict as inspiration. in houston, we arrested a guy who had been bomb making and posted about killing jewish people. outside chicago, we have a federal hate crime investigation into the killing of a 6-year-old muslim boy. at cornell university, we arrested a man who threatened to kill members of that university, 's jewish community.

and in los angeles, we arrested a man for threatening the ceo and other members of the anti- defamation league. and i could go on. on top of the so-called loan -- loan after threat, -- loan after -- lone actor threat, we cannot and do not discount the possibility that hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil. we have kept our sights on hamas and have multiple investigations on individuals affiliated with that foreign terrorist organization. and while historically, the cases have identified individuals here who are financing terrorism overseas, we continue to scrutinize intelligence to assess how that threat might be evolving. but it is not just hamas. as i highlighted to this committee and my testimony last year, iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, has directly, or by hiring criminals, mounted assassination attempts against dissidents and high-ranking current and former u.s. officials including right

here on american soil. take hezbollah, iran's primary strategic partner, who has a history of raising money and seeking to obtain weapons here in the united states. fbi arrests in recent years also indicate that hezbollah has tried to see operatives, established infrastructure and engage in spying here domestically. raising concerns that they may be contingency planning for future operations in the united states. and while we are not currently tracking a specific plot, given the disturbing history, we are keeping a close eye on what impact recent events may have on those terrorist groups and their intentions here in the united states and how those intentions might evolve. i want to be clear. while this is certainly a time for heightened vigilance, it is by no means a time for panic. americans should continue to be

alert and careful but they should not stop going about their daily lives. all across the country, the fbi's men and women are working with urgency and purpose to confront the elevated threat. that means working closely with our federal, state and local partners on the fbi taskforces, taking an even closer look at existing investigations and sources to increase awareness across the border and doing all we can have working with our partners to protect houses of worship in the united states. the bottom line is that we will continue to do everything and that in our power to protect the american people and support our partners in israel. protecting -- in israel. protecting americans from the threat of terrorism is and remains our number one priority. as you all know, the range of threats that we have battled each and every day is enormous from cyber attacks to economic

as minage to violent crime and narcotics trafficking and everything in between. the problems we tackle are not getting any easier. but we have continued to work and outpace our adversary. we were disrupted 40% more cyber operations last year and arrested over 60% more cyber criminals than the year before. we easily have 2000 active investigations across all 56 field offices into china's relentless efforts to steal our innovation and intellectual properties. and over the last two years alone, we have seized enough fentanyl to kill 270 million americans. that is more than 80% of all americans. just this month, working with our partners, fbi boston seized 20 pounds of fentanyl latest pills that were pressed to look like heart-shaped candy.

that is one of the largest single seizures and new england history and demonstrates the deadly reach of the cartels trafficking dangerous drugs to every corner of our nation. i am incredibly proud of the 38,000 skilled and dedicated professionals in the fbi who tackle these complex challenges. and i think it is our shared responsibility to make sure that they have the tools they need to keep all of us safe and indispensable in the toolkit against foreign adversaries. i am happy to talk about all of the things the fbi has done over the last couple of years to make sure we are good stewards of the 702 authority. i can tell you that it would be absolutely devastating if the next time an adversary like iran or china launches a major cyber attack, we don't see it coming because 702 was allowed to lapse.

or, with the fast-moving situation in the middle east, just imagine if some foreign terrorist organization overseas, shifts its intentions and directs an operative here with a contingency plan to carry out an attack and our own backyard. and imagine if we are not able to disrupt the threat because the fbi's 702 authorities have been so watered down. i want to close by thanking you for your continued support of the fbi's men and women that work tirelessly and selflessly to protect all americans. thank you for having me here today. and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, director wray. i now recognize director abiza id. >> thank you. thank you for the opportunity to

appear before you today. this hearing is especially timely as we continue to monitor the response of deep global terrorist actors in the wake of the home was tragic and brutal october 7 terrorist attack. the attacks affected americans directly including over 32 that were killed and those that were taken hostage. while hamas itself continues to focus its operational activity on the immediate region, the hamas attacks and the conflict it has precipitated have reverberated across the globe among an ideologically diverse array of threat actors. whether it is members of al- qaida or isis, individuals inspired, including those motivated by a racial or ethnic animus, or groups considered to be part of the iranian aligned resistance, terrace and violent extremists are exploiting multiple court grievances to fuel violence. among these grievances are the renewed salience of the israeli-palestinian issue, the already heightened atmosphere of anti-semitism globally and narratives that call for violence as a result and a refocused attention on u.s. military involvement in the region and the relationship with israel.

all of these are amplified by graphic images and emotive content shared over social media in a way intended to drive groups and individuals to political violence. here in the united states homeland, the current height and -- heightened threat posture is driven primarily by our concern that individuals may increasingly mobilize or attack, particularly against jewish, arab and muslim communities. this is consistent with the years long assessment that those inspired to terrorism rather than those directly relating to hierarchical organizations, are the most likely to carry out a successful attack on u.s. soil. outside of the united states, we are monitoring the activities of foreign-based groups, particularly isis and al-qaida, which you view the u.s. as their primary enemy and have publicly called for attacks in the wake of october 7. their ability to orchestrate attacks on the core operating

arenas has been diminished by years of counterterrorism pressure. but while these groups have disaggregated and have become more focused in the local regions in recent years, they have a presence across a wide swath of territory from west africa to south asia. and we are on the lookout for any attempt by their members to leverage the crisis, to rebuild and refocus against the united states. iran and its proxies, including lebanese hezbollah, iraqi shia militants, are major concern. principally, through their ability to generate attacks in the middle east, including those that have significant escalatory consequences. while we have no intelligence to indicate iran or its proxies had foreknowledge of hamas' october 7 the tachy, we remain focused on iranian and iranian linked activity in support of hamas and directed against u.s. interests since the outbreak of the conflict. thus far, iranian aligned militant groups have conducted over 50 attacks against u.s.

forces in iraq and syria using rockets and unmanned aerial systems. this is in addition to several instances of missile attacks and the daily military attacks on israel by hezbollah which also happens to be a globally capable terrorist organization. even as united states comes under attack, iran and has will are trying to walk a fine line in the region avoiding overt actions that risk opening them up to more direct conflict with israel and united states and enabling anti- u.s. and anti- israel attacks. iran's current regional activities come on top of an already aggressive global posture over the last several years, including attempted attacks and united states against iranian dissidents or retaliation against former u.s. government officials that it deems responsible for the 2020 death of a commander. it is clear that even in today's heightened threat environment, significant pressure brought to bear against terrorist groups over the last two decades, along with investments in effective ct defenses here at home, have resulted in overall diminished terrorist threat to the united

states homeland. however, as evidenced by the events of the past six weeks, the threat landscape is highly dynamic. the country must preserve its ct fundamentals to ensure constant vigilance. among these fundamentals is the intelligence, collection enabled by section 702 of the foreign intelligence surveillance act which provides key indications and warning of terrorist plans and intentions and supports international terrorist descriptions. i respectfully urge congress to

reauthorize this vital authority, not only for the ct benefits but for the benefits it brings across a range of national security challenges. at the national counterterrorism center, we are part of the whole of government's ct architecture that is foundational to our national security. and though built with 9/11 as a backdrop, this architecture has proven adaptive to today's environment and capable of addressing an inherently unpredictable range of terrorist adversaries. for those that serve as part of the community, i would like to end with a thank you. your years of dedication to the mission has done so much to protect the country from terrorism. united states has relied upon you time and time again and today is no exception. with that, i welcome your questions. >> thank you, director. members will be recognized by order of seniority for five minutes of questioning. an additional round of questioning may be called after all the members have been recognized.

i want to also acknowledge the many members on the committee on both sides of the aisle who have been fighting the terrorist attack and their service in the united states military. those that are veterans here doing that and those in the government service doing that before you came to congress, thank you for your service. i now recognize myself for five minutes of questioning. director wray, since january of 2021, approximately 1.8 million illegal aliens got away, evaded border patrol and entered our country. this does not account for the unknown got a ways which former border patrol chief testified before this committee could be about 20%. which means the real number of got aways is well over 2 million. can the fbi guarantee the american people that known or suspected terrorists, including any from hamas or other terror groups are not among those got a ways?

>> certainly, the group of people you are talking about is a source of great concern for us. that is why we are aggressively using all 56 of the joint terrorism task forces -- >> but there is no way for you to guarantee? >> again, as you say, there is the unknown and then the known unknown. what i can tell you is that our 56 taskforces are working their tails off to make sure that they identify potential terrorist suspects whether they are on the watchlist are not. >> you think the number, the increased number increases the threat to the american citizens? >> i think any time you have a group of people in the united states that we don't know nearly enough about, that is a source of concern for us from the perspective, in our lane of protecting american citizens here. >> wording it might be another way. if the number were lower and the border was not as open as it is

then we would be safer. >> i think greater fidelity about who is coming into the country and how they're getting in is essential to making sure we protect americans from all sorts of threats, including a potential terrorist attack. >> i do, too. director wray, since taking office, we have had, with the policies implemented at the border 6.5 one million southwest border encounters and a total of 7.8 nationwide crossing. does it concern the fbi that the policies of this administration or the department of department of homeland security are allowing this unprecedented number of unknown and unvented people into the country? i know that it is rewarding of -- rewording of the previous question, but go ahead and answer. >> again, i want to stay in my lane. when it comes to physical security, foreign security, i want to defer to the department of homeland security on that. >> but that increased number is increasing the challenge before you in the fbi, right? >> certainly, i can tell you that we have seen an increase in the number of so-called kst's attempting to cross in the last

five years. and we are concerned, not just about the people on the watchlist, but those that have gotten in another way and that you may not have sufficient evidence or information to identify. >> the individuals on the watchlist that we talk about, why do you think in four years before this, there were only 11 and suddenly, there are 294 in the past few years. why do you think that is so? >> i can't really speak to that issue. i'm not in my lane. i can tell you the threats that come from the other side of the border are very much consuming all of our field offices, not just in border states. that's why i made the point -- >> sure, i agree. if i heard you correctly, what you said is not every country -- is every state in the country as a border state now.

>> the threats that come from the other side of the border are affecting every state. >> absolutely. 100%. as the governor of massachusetts. she is screaming at the top of her lungs about the situation on the southwest border. your boss, the attorney general, came in and said to us that he was very clear that cartel strategy was to take advantage of the current policy to overwhelm the crossing sites and use border patrol agents being overwhelmed by that group than bypass. do you have reason to disagree with him that that is the cartel strategy? >> i would not have reason to disagree with the attorney general. >> do you find it interesting that within two months after that, secretary mayorkas came in and said he was unaware of the cartel strategy? do you find that interesting? >> i am not familiar with that testimony. >> yeah, he came in and told us

he was totally unaware of that testimony, that that was the cartel strategy, despite your boss in the senate clearly recognizing that it is. let me just say this in the few seconds i have left. i would like to ask each of you to take back to the people who work for you, that despite the political differences on this, dais, we deeply appreciate the men and women who are manning the posts and doing the best they can for this country. as someone who went down range and was in a helicopter that had bullet holes ripping through the bottom of it, i understand the courage that it takes to do the job that you and your people do. i want to make sure that i ask each of you, despite our political differences to take , this message back. we are deeply appreciative of the men and women who man their posts for this country's sake. with that, i yield to the ranking member. >> thank you very much.

let me paraphrase what the chairman said. while we praise our men and women, when the opportunity comes to put the money where the praises are, democrats on this committee have consistently supported the funding of dhs's budget. we have consistently funded the fbi's budget and the intelligence gathering agencies because we understand that those men and women who put their lives on the line, deserve all the resources. taken from them, we have not, on -- taken from that, we have not, on the democratic side, ever voted against one of your budgets. we understand that we can differ on the policy but we don't differ on the fact that you need the investment. there are some members of this committee who advocated defunding the fbi. i cannot, in my wildest dreams, imagine if we had an impotent

fbi, where that would put us. director wray, if those advocates that wanted to defund the fbi in this country, can you give us a snapshot of what that defunding would mean for the security of the homeland? >> well, the fbi in the last year, for example, has arrested over 18,000 violent criminals. that is about 50 per day. so defunding the fbi would mean that many more violent criminals out on the streets terrorizing neighborhoods. we have, as i said in my opening statement, about 2000 active investigations into chinese, economic espionage, restricting our funding would be a gift to the chinese communist party. the fbi has about 380 investigations into cartel leadership and this would mean

more power to the cartels. fbi has investigations into 100 different ransomware variants, and each one of those has scores of victims. limiting funding means more hacks and more intrusions and more damage to critical infrastructure. china alone has the biggest hacking program in the world, by far. they are not slowing down. they are not restricting their funding. so from our perspective, it is not just about the hard-working career professionals of the fbi, their families and kids that would be affected. more importantly, it is state and local law enforcement counting on us more and more. and more importantly than that, the american people that we are trying to protect from gangs, the chinese government, cyber hackers, cartels, child predators, etc. >> ms. abizaid, can you say what

resource deficit would mean for your agency? >> yes. thank you very much. the national counterterrorism center has a couple of important missions. we are the primary center for the united states government to analyze and assess the foreign terrorist threat. we work on screening and vetting of individuals that are trying to enter the country. we support dhs and fbi an -- and that mission with the intelligence database of known and suspected terrorists. we do a lot of work against state, local and tribal authorities to do the kind of information sharing that is absolutely essential. especially in a dynamic that threat environment like we have today, to keep everyone informed and armed with the information they need to protect against exactly the kinds of threats that we have outlined here for you today. decreased funding for the national counterterrorism center, decreased funding for any piece of the overall ct architecture that works collaboratively together has an impact on the ability to stay

ready against the terrorist threat. >> thank you. secretary mayorkas, there is a supplemental proposal being put forth by the administration, can you share with us what that means for dhs? >> ranking member thompson, that supplemental is dedicated to the critical mission of securing the border and also battling fentanyl. those funds are needed for personnel, technology, facilities, and additional support resources critically needed to advance the mission. we are under resourced and have been perennially. >> thank you very much. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields. i now recognize the gentleman from texas, the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, mr. mccall.

>> thank you mr. chairman. , first, i want to say thanks to all three of you. your employees who work so hard to protect this country. having served the department of justice for many years and the chief of counterterrorism and national security. i think that you don't here that -- hear that very often these days. i agree with you that the 702 is a critical element to securing and protecting americans and we -- americans and i will fight very hard to get that reauthorized. moving forward, director wray, we have had about 7.5 million encounters at the southern border. we have had 7000 special-interest aliens as we have had nearly 200 on the terror watch list. when i chaired the committee, i

got the briefings, the first question i ever asked was, how many sia and how many on the terror watch list? 200 is alarming to me. does that give you concern? >> certainly, the numbers give us concern. i think it is important in some ways to realize that it is numbers alone don't even really tell the problem. we have all seen how much damage a small number of foreign terrorist can cause. sometimes people, as crazy as it sounds, tend to forget that it was 19 people who killed 3000 people. >> that was the next point i was going to make. it only took 19 to create 9/11. and that is alarming. i just got back from israel. i saw the hamas video. it is very disturbing. i know you testified previously that hamas could either inspire attacks or maybe get into the

country. the problem is that we don't know who these 200 people are. and to your point, how many others got in that we don't know about. why won't either you or the secretary provide us with a the full, complete and accurate information, as i would get when i was chair of the committee? who are these 200 individuals? who are they? is hamas on the list? we know the sia includes countries like iran, lebanon and iraq. that gives me great pause. will you provide that to this committee? >> we will certainly continue to engage with the committee in closed session with numbers and information, as you know, from your past experience with this issue. for one thing, the numbers themselves change, literally, moment to moment. so it is important for us to be careful and to be accurate and timely with the information we have got.

>> it could be in a classified setting. that is how they used to do it when i was chair of the committee. i don't have the information. my governor in the state of texas who has to deal with this problem on a daily basis and cannot get this information. i understand that before 9/11, we had walls up, sharing information and connecting the dots but this is 2023. it seems to me that we should be able to share that information. >> ib happy to have my staff follow-up. i know we have had a lot of engagements with the hill over different numbers and populations of individuals, so i guess i would have to circle back to figure out exactly what happened. >> i would like this. as an american and a texan, i would like to know personally. mr. secretary, there was an austin swat officer killed in my

hometown who was on the terror watch list. a swat officer murdered by someone on the terror watch list and the family involved was mohammed nassar. do you have any information about this? >> mr. chairman, we are pleased to provide you with whatever information we have. >> please do. and let me just say, 18usc section 2a says whoever commits an offense against the united states, counsel's command and induces or procures a commission is punishable as a principal. human trafficking, a criminal enterprise in this country now with people of no legal status. an entire population seven times over to be killed by fentanyl. 12 billion total. 300,000 people dead due to

fentanyl. i would argue that you have been aiding and abetting the criminal enterprise that has occurred in this nation. i see my time. well, i have 15 seconds. >> no, you don't. >> oh, i'm 15 seconds over. i'd still like to go on, but i think i made my point. >> it's going the other way. >> the gentleman yields. i now recognize the gentleman or new jersey for his five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. just for informational purposes, there are americans on the terror watch list as well. i would suggest we take it all -- take in all of the information. with respect to that. i want to thank the witnesses for making themselves available

today. director wray, in 2021, more than 26,000 americans lost their lives by homicide. close to 21,000 of which were committed with a firearm. the same year, 61 of 73 law enforcement officers who died from felonious assault were killed by firearms. while we are seeing more states, specifically reliably republican voting states, adopt more permissive gun laws, we are also seeing a rise in antigovernment and violent extremists targeting law enforcement. how dangerous is it to be in law enforcement right now under the circumstances? and how do we rectify the threat to the men and women of law

enforcement? dir. wray: well, certainly this is a dangerous time for law enforcement. 2021 was the deadliest time for law enforcement since 9/11. the pace is close to what 2021 is. i say that with a level of personal familiarity with it. in 2021 we had two of our agents killed in florida, attempting to execute a search elated to child exploitation case, and a task force officer of ours in indiana got gunned down at inside of our office. one of the things i decided i was going to do when i took this job now 6.5 years ago, every time an officer is shot and killed in the line of duty

anywhere in the country, i call the chief or the sheriff myself and talk to him and express my condolences on behalf of the fbi. i have a little write up on the family, a photo of the officer, and i've made 350 of those calls. being in law enforcement is dangerous enough. what it shouldn't be is wearing a badge making you a target. we are seeing way too much of that in today's america. >> let's see. can you explain why 60% of guns used in violent crimes in new jersey, the state i represent and have lived in all my life, come from pennsylvania, virginia, north carolina, south carolina, georgia, and florida? what do those states have in common that make them dangerous

exporters of criminal firearms? dir. wray: i'm not sure i could speak to the specific circumstances of each of those states. certainly straw purchases and gun trafficking is an ingredient that drives the violent crime problem that we have in this country. it is one of many things that drives that problem. >> thank you. mr. chairman, i would like to yield the final minutes of my time. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. i asked to yield, just to respond to something that my distinguished colleague from texas just said, who i know has served for a long time as a federal prosecutor, as have i and as has secretary mayorkas. i think it is incredibly dangerous to accuse secretary

mayorkas of aiding and abetting crimes. as you well know, you need to have the intent to do that, and it is clear that whether you disagree or not with secretary mayorkas' approach when dealing with the border, to accuse him of aiding and abetting crime is very serious and is, i think, unwarranted in this situation. >> will the gentleman yield? >> yes. >> i live in a border state. you do not. i have dealt with this issue for 25 years. i have never seen it this bad. it's his dereliction of duty that has created this problem in the united states. 7 million people. how are we going to deal with that? no legal status. human trafficking, fentanyl. we will disagree on this one. but i have to say that the

change of policy has created this problem. and he knows better. he was a u.s. attorney in los angeles. like you were, he knows better. >> will you wield for one second? >> i'll yield back. >> the time has expired, so if something else wants to yield to the gentleman, you may do that. but the time has expired and we would like to continue. i do appreciate the dialogue. i believe no we are with mr. higgins, the gentleman from louisiana. you are recognized for five minutes. rep. higgins: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, ultimately as we consider threats to the homeland in our annual hearing on that topic with leading members of the executive branch before us, it's important to reflect upon the simple fact that ultimately americans are quite capable of defending our own soil, our own

cultures and communities against foreign invasion or against arm ed oppression from within. however, it is far more threatening to our republic if our own government facilitates criminal invasion. and it is incredibly threatening to our citizenry if our government's highest level of law enforcement coordinate organized campaigns of weaponized oppression, harassment, investigations, arrest and prosecution. and imprisonment of free americans. that, mr. chairman, is the primary threat our homeland indeed faces today. secretary mayorkas, i have noted you as a worthy adversary for

2.5 years, but my issue is not with you today. i'm done with you. i've completed my investigative work. it's quite extensive. i have filed my articles of impeachment against you and i've provided my investigative work to the appropriate committees. so let me just say that my articles have been filed. and my time with you is done. director wray, last year you might recall our exchange involving the fbi's involvement on january 6 and prior. i'm happy to jog your memory to quote, i asked you, did you have confidential human sources dressed as trump supporters positioned inside the capital on january 6 prior to the doors being open? your response, i quote, again, i have to be very careful of what i say.

to which i said, it should be a no. can you not tell the american people, no, we did not have confidential human sources dress as trump supporters positioned inside the capital on january 6. a year has passed. we sit here again a year later and we the people still do not have a definitive answer from you or anyone else in the biden administration regarding the fbi presence and participation in the months leading up to the november election and in the weeks and days prior to january 6 and on january 6 here in d.c. we cannot get a straight answer, although we have a tremendous amount of evidence harvested and reviewed over the course of the last year, which you will see in

september. stephen auto formally charged in washington, d.c. testified that he was aware fbi informants would attempt to stop the rally. you confirm that the fbi had confidential human sources at the stop the steal rally in january 6? dir. wray: congressman, as we discussed before, i am not going to get into whether we have or have not used confidential human sources. >> will move on. it's my time. you said no, you are not going to answer. that is cool. dir. wray: mr. chairman, may i answer? >> this is my time. earlier this year, an fbi informant who was reported to have quoted under oath, march to the u.s. capital with fellow

proud boys members on january 6, close quote. he said he was communicating with his fbi handler while people were entering the u.s. capital. can you confirm that the fbi had that sort of engagement with your own agents embedded into the ground on january 6? dir. wray: if you are asking whether the violence at the capital on january 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by fbi sources or agents, the answer is an emphatic no. >> are you saying no? dir. wray: violence orchestrated by fbi agent's or sources, no. >> let's move on. are you familiar with a ghost vehicle? the director of the fbi should know what it is. dir. wray: a ghost bus. i'm not sure i use that term before. >> pretty common in law enforcement. it's a vehicle that is used for secret purposes.

it's painted over. these two buses in the middle, a they were the first arrived on january 6. i have all of this evidence. >> mr. chairman. point of order. sure. it has run over the time. >> you'll recall that i have been very fair in letting people finish their questioning throughout my tenure as chairman. i will continue to be fair on that regard. but i will make a note to the members, if you can stay within your time as possible, we have a lot of people that want to ask these gentlemen questions. with that, the gentleman yields. but your point, i have been very fair. >> i don't think i accuse you of being unfair. >> you're making a point? thank you. >> may i close the statement? >> no, i think your time is

expired. >> i note that other members across the aisle have been granted time. i would like my question to be closed. this is a very significant hearing, mr. chairman. and these buses are nefarious in nature and filled with fbi informants dressed as trump supporters deployed onto our capital on january 6. your day is coming. >> you have made your point, mr. higgins. i now recognize mr. korea of -- correia of california for his five minutes of questioning. the gentleman can yield to you if you want. >> i will yield to you. >> the rules of the committee says that once the chair calls the time, it is done. those are the rules of the committee. >> thanks for pointing that out, mr. ranking member. >> thank you for holding this

hearing and i especially want to thank the witnesses today in front of us. mr. mayorkas, mr. wray, and miss abizaid. you have a difficult task in this committee today. first of all, you have the challenge of finding a needle in the haystack. domestic terrorism. you have a chart here that says the number of incidences at the national level. you have got to play defense here in the u.s. as well as defense overseas. and i agree with my colleague mr. michael mccaul. the stakes have never been so bad. we are coming out of covid right now. we have countries, essentially failed democracies around the world. worldwide refugee movement.

and on top of that, i understand, mr. wray, you essentially declared a possible heightened state of alert? you have got to watch the things going on right now? dir. wray: i have testified and i feel very strongly that we are at a heightened threat environment. >> i couldn't agree with you more. we have two wars going on at least in two areas of the world. i'm here really to ask, how can we help you do your job better. i'm not going to be here to ask for impeachment or hold you accountable. i am here to make sure that you are able to hold the line 100%. we can't afford to have another uvalde in our country, we can't afford to have another 9/11. i am here to listen to what it is, what resources do you need to start your job? and i want to start off with mr. mayorkas. do you need more or less analysts? this is a big job. how do you find a needle in the

haystack? do you need more analysts or less at the homeland security? can that help? sec. mayorkas: congressman, we have submitted a request for supplemental funding. we need additional personnel, resources to include facilities, technology. >> and we need technology, sir. we need good intel. we need to make sure we are able to work with our allies, our law enforcement, state, local, federal coordination. that is why homeland security was created because of the silos that existed before 9/11. coordinate good intel to make sure you are able to do your job. cbp 1, do you get information off of that? do you take their information? what kind of data do you require for cbp to work?

sec. mayorkas: cbp 1 is a process that we use to screen individuals before they arrive at the border to make a determination whether or not they should be allowed. >> do you enter biometric information? what is it exactly that you collect to make sure that the folks that are applying are essentially vetted? sec. mayorkas: we screen and vet them to make sure that they don't pose a public safety threat or a threat to our national security. >> thank you. director wray, what can we do as congress to help you make sure you do your job better? make sure that you 100%, nobody scores on us? dir. wray: congressman, i appreciate the question. certainly the budget request that we have submitted both in

the '24 budget itself but also supplemental are all things we desperately need. second, reauthorize 702 in a form where we can actually use it to protect americans here from foreign threats. third, secretary mayorkas highlighted, which i think can't be highlighted enough, the need to reauthorize the counter authority which is going to expire at the end of this week if something is not done. if it is gone, no one, not dhs, not fbi, no one here can protect americans from that threat. those are a few things that would be very important from the fbi's perspective. >> let me say i appreciate the three of you being here today because we need to make sure that the public out there on main street understands the good work you are doing. it may be confidential but you are doing a good job protecting our families back home. i want to make sure people understand that we need to work as a team to make sure the job gets done.

ma'am, any thoughts on what resources you need to do your job? dir. abizaid: i would associate myself with my colleagues' comments here. the 702 authority is crucial to the counterterrorism mission and to your point about working as a team, the counterterrorism architecture that we have built across the intelligence community, defense and homeland security professional community, needs to be sustained. and sustaining that at the levels we requested would be incredibly more helpful. >> thank you. mr. chair, i yield. >> i now recognize the vice chair of the committee. the gentleman from mississippi. five minutes of questioning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. to all of our panelists, thank you for being here today. particularly in the threat environment that we face. director ray, you state in your reports that the threats we face as a nation have never been greater. i agree completely with that. secretary mayorkas, you also

talk about the threats at your port where you say terrorist threats in the united states remain heightened along with other events that sharpen the focus of potential attacks. you go on later to say the increased prospects for violence, you talk about the increase prospects for violence in the united states. so at a time in which we face increased threats domestically or where we see it internationally, events continue to seem to spiral out of control. i want to talk specifically about the events that are transpiring along our southwest border. mr. secretary mayorkas, i have behind me a chart that has the encounters of cbp. this was taken off of the cbp website. i just kind of want to walk through some of the information contained there. based upon the research i have done, it appears since the president took office, since you

became the chairman of homeland security that there have been roughly 7.4 million encounters along our southwest border. if you were to put all of those people in one geographic area, that would represent the seventh largest state in the united states between arizona and tennessee. we see that the last month prior to you taking office that there were 95,000 encounters along the southwest border. we see that the numbers reported here by your department on september of '23. the last reported numbers. that number has spiked now to 341%. an increase of almost 250%. we know that as part of the problem. the president appointed the vice president to help try to stop the flow of illegal immigration from mexico and central america. that appointment was made in

march of '21. in march of '21, the end of the month, there were reported 192 encounters. now we know again the end up number is over 341,000. under her watch as the borders are, we see the increase is 75%. the numbers have grown exponentially under your and the vice president's leadership. one of my questions to you is, do you look at the daily encounter numbers that are put out by your department? is that a statistic that you look at on a regular basis? sec. mayorkas: it is in fact. the numbers about which you speak are reflective not only of the challenge at our southwest border, but rather a challenge of migration throughout our entire hemisphere. >> and i understand that. you do look at the numbers. you do look at the daily reporting numbers.

i want to harken back to an interview in 2019 at that time with former secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson, during the trump administration. the former director of homeland security in an interview said, my staff will tell you that if the number of daily apprehensions was under 1000 the day before, that was a relatively good number. if it was about 1000, it was a relative that number. -- relative bad number and i was going to be in a bad mood that day. he also went on to say when donald trump was president, there were 4000 apprehensions. i know that if 1000 overwhelms the system, i cannot begin to imagine what 4000 a day truly looks like. we are in a crisis.

my question to you is if secretary johnson said 1000 immigrants a day when he was in the position that you said, if that was a bad day, and if 4000 a day was a crisis, what is a bad day for you, secretary mayorkas? we see now that the numbers have exploded. they are no longer 1000 today. not even 4000 a day when this article was written. it is over 11,000 a day. so what number to you represents a bad day when we see the number of apprehensions increase dramatically? i will give you the remainder of my time to answer the question. and i will yield back. sec. mayorkas: we do not minimize the significance of the challenges at the southwest border and we are intensely focused on it. >> is there a number? would you like to give a number? i asked for a number. that was my question. what number to you represents a bad day? and are you refusing to answer the question? sec. mayorkas: vice chairman, as

i said, we do not minimize the challenges at the southwest border. >> that wasn't my question, mr. mayorkas. i asked a simple question. give me a number. and you are refusing to answer the question. what is that number? sec. mayorkas: i have answered your question. >> no you haven't, mr. mayorkas. you have not answered the question. >> i could do hand signals. >> if you would like to answer for him because clearly he does not intend to answer my question. >> i think it is -- >> is it not a fair question? >> i'm just saying you are over your time. that is all. >> we do not need any more points about over the time. as i have just said to you just last week, i let him vote after we had gaveled out. i am gracious here and i will be gracious to both sides. i will ask for no more interruptions about time being expired. thank you. >> i would like to ask the witness to answer the question. do you have a number? sec. mayorkas: i have answered to the best of my ability, mr. chairman. >> clearly.

i now recognize mr. carter. >> mr. chairman, if i may? >> point of order? >> i'm just asking, are you basically suspending that rule? >> i have since the beginning. this is the last time i am going to answer this question today, mr. iv. allow people to continue a question or train of thought that extends beyond that time. i have done that on both sides of the aisle. i'm not going to articulate or waste anymore of these gentlemen or this gentlelady's time finding the policy as i have executed it since the beginning of my chairmanship. you are not recognized. you are not recognized. >> you are not following the rules. >> the ranking member is recognized. >> mr. chairman, we adopted a set of rules. i have tried not to get involved. i have the point of order.

the rules clearly specify everything that is being raised. >> i have never once -- >> i am not completed. >> finish your thought. >> thank you. so i am saying that we adopted the rules on how we conduct business. and any time a member raises the question, is consistent with the rules. if that becomes a problem, i think we have to modify our rules. because that is how we operate. that what congresses are required to do. that is what committees are required to do. and for people to ignore the rules is inconsistent with the rules. so i am just saying to you, follow the rules that we adopt. >> and we will continue to follow the policies as i have been doing it since i was chair man. if you are in the midst of a we -- midst of a thought, we are

going to let you go past your time. number two, i haven't heard anyone raise an issue on the left and i have allowed people on the left to go overtime. not once, mr. ivey, have you said when one of your members have gone over, the person of your time is up. fascinating to me that you are only doing it when it is on the side of the aisle. >> if i might have a chance to be heard. >> please, yes. >> all i am saying, under the rules, we have a right to raise the point of order. >> you have used your discretion to grant additional questioning if you want to. but to say i can never raise a point of order that is consistent with the rules, it doesn't make any sense. i mean, it is just a clear violation of the rules adopted. by the way, the rules were not adopted unanimously. there was a republican decision to adopt it so these are your rules. >> the point i'm making is it's intriguing to me that we are consuming this time over this issue while i've never once heard you raise the issue when i

have allowed ms. jackson lee to go two minutes over. but today it is an issue in the midst of a very important hearing. >> anyone can raise a point of order. >> you are absolutely correct. i'm not blocking anyone from doing that. but i think i have the right to reserve that therese point of order. >> that is an excellent point. can we move on? thank you. >> mr. carter, the ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from louisiana is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to the witnesses for joining us today. i'm heartbroken by the innocent lives that have been lost, the civilians being targeted by hateful terrorist groups like hamas. this is outrageous and inevitably leads to tragic consequences. condemning these atrocities and protecting innocent lives at all costs is pivotal. our discussion on worldwide threats is important for the

american people so we can further address such issues void of bipartisanship. we all must do better. director wray, our nation's hbcu's produce some of the brightest who enter our ever-growing workforce. repeated threats to these institutions have caused widespread destruction on campuses by shutting down classes on campus activity. mr. ray, could you please briefly update us on the fbi's activity and things that you are actively doing to monitor and combat such events in the future? dir. wray: thank you, congressman. certainly the threats we saw against hbcu's were appalling. there is absolutely no excuse for putting campuses, students, faculties, staff in a position where they can't go about their lives at school in fear.

we have actively been investigating the threats that come in. as you know, there was an arrest related to some of the threats, and a juvenile was responsible for a number of the threats. i think more importantly, we have doubled down in our engagement with hbcu's. i have personally engaged with a number of hbcu law enforcement heads. we have an increased partnership with campus law enforcement over the last two years. that is including in this recent threat environment, we are very careful to include campus law enforcement and all of our law enforcement partner calls. we have campus liaisons, officers appointed in each one of our field offices to focus specifically on engagement with academia. so that is a big part of it. it is not just the investigations and the analysis, but also the outreach. >> how has that been ramped up

with the recent hate speak for muslims and jewish brothers and sisters and palestinians? we see this over boiling because of what is happening in the middle east. spreading and boiling into the college campus environment as well as just our general communities. we know that hamas is the true threat. but because of these risks, we are seeing this bleed over into a level of hatred for innocent people who have nothing to do with hamas. dir. wray: certainly, we are in an environment where the numbers of tips and threats that are being reported have gone up significantly since october 7. we were already, as i testified earlier, already at an elevated threat environment even before october 7, and it has gone to a whole other level since october 7. the biggest chunk of the threats that have been reported to us by a good margin are threats to

the jewish community, synagogues, jewish prominent officials, things like that. we also have a large number of tips and leads related specifically to hamas and radicalization and recruitment. we do also have some threats to muslim americans that have also been called in. so we are urgently running down every tip and lead we get to try to mitigate them. the thing that establishes the post october 7 environment even more than the pre-october 7 environment, one of the things that distinguishes it -- >> director, i don't want to cut you off. you have an important job. we appreciate the hard work that you and the men of your department do. secretary mayorkas, you acknowledged this in your open remarks. if congress does not act to ensure that cwmd continues to

operate, as you know, last night we passed a temporary measure that will extend it through february 2024. if this is not made permanent, if we are not able to move forward with a permanent measure, how does that impact your ability to protect american cities and to protect our country? sec. mayorkas: congressman, thank you very much. it is an incredible detriment to to our ability to secure the american people. in just the last two days, a local law enforcement officer equipped with some of the equipment that we provide to detect radiological nuclear material, in fact, was wearing a device that detected an

abandoned material in a very unsafe location that could have caused a tremendous amount of harm to people in the surrounding community. this is a vital authority that we absolutely need. >> thank you. my time has been expired. >> the gentleman yields. as a point of order and informing the committee, post -- votes have been called. we are going to do two more members, and then we will recess and reconvene after 10 minutes. i now recognize the chairman of the oversight committee, mr. bishop from carolina, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. as i listened to your opening statement, i am floored by the fact that i perceive a dramatic shift in the positions of each of you from the hearing and the testimony that you gave in the way you answered questions just last november. director abizaid, i want to begin with you. last time i ask you this, does the natural counterterrorism --

national counterterrorism center assess a threat at the southern border? your answer was, we don't, actually. the judiciary committee has released a document that says there are confirmed 1.7 million ghana ways. it may be one of you has a better number. millions have been processed and released to the extent the mayor of new york says that new york city is being destroyed. director abizaid, do you continue to maintain that there is no material risk of organized terrorism from this massive infiltration? both of people minimally encountered and almost 2 million people neither encountered or vetted whatsoever. dir. abizaid: i appreciate the question. we absolutely recognize the kind of vulnerabilities that are associated with border securities across all of our

points of entry. but i would maintain, and i talked to my analysts about this on a regular basis, that as we look at the global terrorism environment, as we look at foreign terrorist organization'' intentions to seed operations into the united states, we don't have the evidence that terrorist organizations are trying to do that at this time. >> you are aware, i made this comment the last time, the 9/11 commission report talked about the system blinking red. there were obvious risks. director ray sat next to you just a few minutes ago. you changed your tenor to and you said, you observe that it took only 20 to take down the world trade center. so among 1.7 million coming in, not vetted by the federal government or any government, why is that not an obvious risk to you that we could have organized terrorism? how many cells can you create of 20 people? dir. abizaid: if i may, i would

like to clarify. we absolutely recognize the risk. if you look at the type of counterterrorism enterprise that we have built that is focused on collecting overseas, border security, screening and watch listing individuals with terrorist identities, it is absolutely a risk that we understand and a vulnerability that we have worked very hard to shore up. so my comments relate to the intelligence about foreign terrorist plans and intentions. it is not a statement about what risk we think we have. >> that is even more astonishing. i will stop you and reclaim my time. that seems to me even more astonishing because you have sat in this administration almost since its beginning alongside secretary mayorkas while elective policies have been pursued to allow that to happen. uncontrolled immigration processing millions of people through border patrol posts, the

cbp, and border patrol to overwhelm those agencies so that this unbelievably and un- precedented number could come through. you've all permitted it to happen and said nothing about what you know and knowledge to be a material risk. it seems to me we are going to see the manifestation of that risk. secretary mayorkas, in your testimony both written and oral today, you said the world has changed since hamas' attack in october. what has changed about hamas? sec. mayorkas: hamas has been and continues to be a terrorist organization. >> exactly. and so does hezbollah and so do all the others, including al qaeda. nothing has changed. and you have supervised elective policies that have allowed this level of flow into the united states. isn't that true? sec. mayorkas: that is not true. >> you haven't done it selectively? you couldn't have changed

anything to attenuate the flow? is that your testimony? sec. mayorkas: our policies are directed at securing the border. >> can you give me a quick answer? could you have changed anything took -- to attenuate the flow? sec. mayorkas: we are seeking to address the flow every single day. >> that is amazing. you will continue to say that sort of thing. i agree with mr. higgins. it does not warrant much asking. let me ask you, mr. wray, we have seen this spectacle of hundreds of thousands of people waving palestinian flags, attacking the gates of the white house, vandalizing places. you have expended tremendous resources to stop for an maligned influence, with millions of people coming in unvented. is it now operating in the united states homeland? dir. wray: we view it as a threat. it is not a foreign maligned

threats, but that is just terminology. >> do you know it or not? in other words, do you know whether those protests are insignificant, the product of people allowed in the country, the millions illegally? dir. wray: we have not seen intelligence that would indicate that. i do want to add, congressman, when it comes to testimony from last year, arm looking specifically at the transcript, we had a concern from a national security perspective, that we had seen an increase in those trying to cross the past five years. >> i specifically brought up the case and that we brought against an individual to smuggling foreign nationals. i would be working hard to cover my posterity too. but you didn't come forward and say what she said was completely wrong. and you should have. >> the gentleman yields. >> i know recognize the gentleman from california for his five minutes of questioning, and we will recess after this questioning. >> a longtime friend of mine

who works in the intelligence committee once told me that the challenge with our job is that we are only known for our failures. that most americans have no idea about the successes that we achieve on behalf of the american people every day. whether it's fentanyl seizures at the border or a terrorist plot that is disrupted, most folks don't know about it and aren't able to thank you for it. and when they do see the work, they see it in a public hearing like today. so i just want to thank you. i also want to thank director wray and secretary mayorkas for sending to my congressional district a couple weeks ago some of your staff from the special agent in charge of san francisco to the office to assist us in hosting a cybersecurity summit for our small business community. it was very effective and helpful. i think they have a better sense of where they should go. director wray, i wanted to ask

you about the extrajudicial killing of a skih -- sikh leader in canada. my district has one of the largest sikh populations in the united states. one who lives in fremont, which is my district, very publicly acknowledged that he was warned by the fbi about his own safety. i just want to know what the fbi is doing to protect individuals in the sikh community from any threats to them because of who they worship and what they believe. dir. wray: without talking about any investigative work we are doing other than to note part of what you are describing involves an increase in violence and threats against people for their views, for their beliefs, for example, the transnational

aggression that we talk about so much is certainly a variation of that. we have seen that with the chinese and the arabians, for example. but when it comes to the sikh community, we have quite a number of efforts to raise awareness about who to call, what to be on the lookout for. to understand what a hate crime is, for example. because one of the things we know about hate crimes, whether they are against sikhs or anyone else, they are underreported. so we want people to understand what a hate crime looks like so they know when to reach out to law-enforcement. we try to raise awareness and it ties into your broader point about the intelligence community in terms of prevention, quietly preventing things. our vision statement is ahead of the threat and if we are successful in being ahead of the threat, the threat doesn't end up coming to fruition. it's a little bit like being the

holder for a place kicker. you can distinguish yourself if the kick goes smoothly, but it is hard not to be noticed if the kick does not go well. >> at the end of the year, section 702 expires. this is a part of the law that allows the intelligence community and law enforcement to investigate and stop credible threats to the united states, to our homeland, to our people, from abroad. could you conceive a greater case of self sabotage to create a vulnerability to the united states than letting section 702 lapse at the end of year? dir. wray: i think letting 702 lapse would be shortsighted at best and dangerous in the extreme, at worst. to be clear, 702 is what allows us to get eyes on foreign threats overseas that pose national security threats people

-- threats to people here in the homeland. as somebody who was in fbi headquarters on 9/11 and spent an awful lot of my time in the years after that engaging with the victims and the families of the 9/11 attacks, we should never be in a position where we can't say we did everything constitutionally, legally in our power to see the threats when they are coming. that is what 702 enables us to do. and especially in this heightened threat environment. as i said in my opening statement, we have a whole row of groups calling for attacks against us. the idea that we would deliberately blind ourselves to information that is lawfully in our possession just strikes me as crazy. >> and do you believe a foreign national terrorist suspect should be afforded the right to a warrant requirement? dir. wray: no. and i don't think there's any court that suggests otherwise. there is a lot of people

throwing around the words unconstitutional in this debate. and yet i don't think there is any court that has found the way in which 702 is used is in any way a violation of the constitution. >> because these are foreign nationals from overseas? dir. wray: correct. >> thank you. we will recess until 10 minutes after the last vote and we will text out that exact time once we have it. thank you.