help from being present the committee will come to order today we are meeting to consider a house resolution four for an hour record nies my sale to make an opening statement house resolution four four  a resolution of inquiry seeking information from the department of homeland security about the production and release of intelligence assessment entitled the right wing extremism current economic and political climate dueling resurgence in radicalization and recruitment this resolution introduced by ranking member kean and thirteen other members seeks a range of materials associated with that document today i will often amendment in the nature of a substitute that request and deals of on mr king's resolution to ensure that the committee has provided the materials necessary to assess how document was produced when this  s produced assessment first surfaced in april i like many americans had issues with its content certainly its definition of a right wing extremism which did not clarify that violence was the department's true focus raised considerable concern so do you to suggest in that returning was veterans posed a potential threat to the homeland that's why on april fourteenth two thousand and nine i wrote the first letter from congress to secretary and apollo tano about this assessment and it acts for a long among other things information on the department clearance processes for the s and cessna's particular wanted to know why the report focused on veterans on april twentieth two thousand and nine and the department responded to my concerns in writing and her letter analysis directorate within the department targets terrorism and other violent criminal behavior that threatens the nation the secretary explained that the department's review found that since the department was established in two thousand and three that never before been a robust clearance process but i know a intelligence products that clearance process that was in place more sufficient specifically she told the committee that the assessment was disseminated by i n a without the agreement of the office of civil rights and civil liberties it is my understanding that a new clearance process is being established that takes into consideration the very concerns that this committee had expressed the committee will look to the new i n eight leadership to utilize the new clearance process going forward certainly bart johnson the new deputy undersecretary for intelligence and analysis is uniquely steeled to take the lead on reforming the d h s s essman process given his extensive experience as a former with the new york state police his twenty three years as a new york state trooper and most recently the d n i director of homeland security and law enforcement support and outreach qualify him to fix i  broken process he knows what intelligence the nations force prevented me and he knows how to live it to the state and local director reflect that in addition to providing a written response to my letter secretary and apollo tonally also sent representatives to breed both majority and minority staff on april twenty third two thousand and nine on a standard department also provided written to a number of committees we appreciate the frankness all the briefers who presented to the committee they provided a clear description of what happened what didn't happen and what will happen to make things right additionally let the record also reflect that all may eighth two thousand and nine and the department provided the committee will source material used by i n a to develop the extremism assessment when th surfaces a lot to answer for in my view the secretary has provided those answers and has been extremely forthcoming more broadly i look forward to continuing to work with the secretary  a leadership team to help the struggling director turn into a vital information sharing partner with state local and tribal law enforcement without objection i submit for the record the reference correspondence between the secretary and the committee regarding the report a table of contents of material received by the committee on may eighth and a letter from this o ses in a law enforcement intelligence unit and the major stated chiefs association address on the steps taken by the secretary to release the report i now recognize the ranking member of the committee and sponsor the resolution the gentleman from new york mr king to been withdrawn so all the members are reminded that on the committee rules they may submit opening statements for the record and now called up house resolution for the measure was circulated in advance and printed information we need to determine just what went wrong at the department and its production of the so called right wing extremism report i was greatly disturbed by the department of homeland security that returning military veterans are potentially terrorist recruits and that people who are pro life support the second amendment and oppose illegal immigration may be more likely than others to commit that certainly describes me and many other members of congress and of course many of our constituents the deployment most aggressively pursue all appropriate to stop terrorism here at home requires of what political ideological beliefs individuals may hold but federal homeland security officials should focus on specific verifiable and actionable intelligence to stop potential terrorist threats to our country instead of engaging in political and ideological profiling as a ranking member of the management investigations and oversight subcommittee i'm especially troubled since we have learned that this report was produced and approved over the objections of its office of civil rights and civil liberties we then discovered that the office of intelligence and analysis another report the domestic extremism  for selves how and why breakdowns occurred and whether the secretary's new protocols are sufficient our committee much oversight authority over the department to get for accounting of the facts surrounding this matter to determine how it happened stop it from beginning happening again and ensure that future intelligence assessments of this nature are providing state and local law enforcement with the best and most accurate want to defend america and we certainly a few days before memorial day and we should be doing this every day honor our veterans put their lives on the line for the greatest country in the world but this is a process lack of government action on illegal immigration has potential to incite individuals and small groups towards violence would lack of government not punishing these people could motivate i mean this is office of intelligence analysis and also the civil rights office but no request whether anything came from above apartment any comments about drafting it do we have anything requesting that the secretar am convinced that if you read lines one not only through four but then nine and continuing on to the second page it's pretty comprehensive you to consider all documents within the department and that those lines nine seventeen are going on the second page those specifically that we're aware of where you say including but it would not be just that it would be absolute so that it is your intention as it is our intention to make sure we get all written documents emails or otherwise that pertain to this decision to come up with this report  california is correct i am as interested in getting all of the fact that went into this report i appreciate that mr chairman and i want to say i appreciate the bipartisan spirit with which you have responded to this request the specific inquiry in sixteen years i have never seen a chair of a committee respond in this way to a minority asking for this kind of an inquiry i appreciate that very much i believe you have put on the record but i also believe that the words in here make it very clear we want an inclusive an all inclusive response to that that means including each and every written document including anything that could be under the definition of all source materials that came into the drafting of this having said that mr  if i could just say if there's nothing wrong with this report i would ask wait a second homeland security took it back it is obvious that she found some concerns with it if you look at the nature of this report this is an intelligence report that presumably would go to law enforcement around the country at all levels what that does is direct their attention because they have limited resources to certain areas of concern in other words it helps them establish their priorities it gives emphases and the question that many of us i think goes to the judgment utilized by those who came up with this report to suggest those indicated individuals are especially to be considered potential terrorists and that does direct towards military veterans does directed towards those who happen to believe the second amendment stands for something that does direct us to those who believe that we're spending too much that does direct us to those who frankly think that we're taxing too much and that that is the concern here let me put it in another perspective we have strained appropriately to assure the muslim community in the united states that as we respond to the threat of radical jihad that we are not in fact singling out the muslim community that we are not trying to say that they are so i even though it is in fact true that we were attacked on september eleventh by those who are radical jihad it seems to me we ought to have that same concern about assuring people in the united states who happen to believe in gun rights who happen to believe in lower taxation who happen to have certain religious beliefs that we're not necessarily targeting them and i think that's the point and i think this committee has a responsibility to ensure the american public that we're going to be as fair handed as we are with people who have opinions that we may not share and may even have unpopular opinions or disfavored opinions any particular time because of that we are not going to have some intelligence strategy that singles them out for emphasis and i think that's what we're all concerned about here and i think it's very appropriate for us to respond in this way and once again i have  and part of it is a civil rights civil liberties section of the agency which is pretty much mandated to review every document so that some of the points you bring out  thank you very much chairman i wanted to just want a technical point i'm not sure if the gentleman from california pointed out as we were going through how inclusive this language was  chairman's amendment does indicate any other written information on the internal controls or clearance so it's a catch all and it looks as if you went down the line seventeen but nineteen further  reinforces the fact that we are not trying to hide the ball and i do want to thank the chairman of for him and in the nature of a substitute but i'd also like to add to the comments that i've heard all of us  particularly in this week as we approach memorial day are reminded of the sacrifice that our soldiers make in fact i was in a discussion yesterday on the tragedy of post traumatic stress disorder knowing what families go through and soldiers go through we're looking for every aspect of trying to salute them and support them i think it's important to note that i saw the chagrin of the secretary of homeland security and i thought frankly and i will these are my words not hers that she frankly took responsibility and and in essence apologize i think we can be very comfortable as secretary neapolitan will be f m will be forceful and effective and if you will correcting what we've seen is an injustice however let me just try and in some way to say that we have to overcome these things in  many of you will remember that america has an imperfect history for this kind of reach if you will impacted the civil rights movement and so it's not unusual to have some missteps and i'm glad to hear the response but having gone through things like cointelpro that dr martin luther king was subjected to this is something that comes up that we should try to correct over a period of time so it never happens again i don't know how many voices were raised as the civil rights movement was targeted for being communist so i'm hoping that as we set this market down we will be vigilant going forward on all people but we will likewise recognize that there are individuals that can in essence and so we must be radicalism gets interpreted by different ministrations and all of us have been under that tent and so i hope that this we never had a homeland security committee back in the one nine hundred sixty s when dr king was trying to reach beyond the discrimination here in america and others but because it wasn't looked in that direction but i hope that we can set the market down that we don't label what we do is we look out for those who have intentions to do us very well be published reports are true a bush appointee mr american who we worked with and off the drug control within was transferred over this department and he may indeed have been trying to impress his superiors that what i want to make sure is that we don't have f actually find the truth you claim my time let me say that without having called any past administration i will just suggest to you that it weaves in and out of the history of america and i hope now that maybe we are correcting it in the context of national