WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.102 PRESIDENT CROW: Good afternoon everyone my name is Michael Crow, President here 2 00:00:03.102 --> 00:00:06.835 at Arizona State University and I have a great pleasure this afternoon to 3 00:00:06.835 --> 00:00:10.473 introduce our Secretary of Homeland Security. But before I do that, just 4 00:00:10.473 --> 00:00:14.267 for those of you that are visiting ASU, I just want to remind everyone that we 5 00:00:14.267 --> 00:00:18.133 are a highly differentiated public university. We are committed to the 6 00:00:18.133 --> 00:00:23.034 idea of inclusion versus exclusion and the success of our students. We are 7 00:00:23.034 --> 00:00:27.333 committed to the public impact of our research, rather than just the academic 8 00:00:27.333 --> 00:00:30.700 impact of our research. And we are committed and responsible for the 9 00:00:30.700 --> 00:00:35.500 outcomes in our communities, not just the outcomes inside the university. So 10 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:39.767 that's a fundamental departure from the standard model. And out here in the 11 00:00:39.767 --> 00:00:43.254 frontier land of Arizona, we're having a fantastic time building this 12 00:00:43.254 --> 00:00:46.833 institution and making it work. This school where we're sitting, the Walter 13 00:00:46.833 --> 00:00:50.560 Cronkite School of Journalism, which is named in honor of one of America's 14 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.434 greatest communicators and greatest journalists is an example of the way 15 00:00:54.434 --> 00:00:58.367 that we work. It's a hands-on teaching hospital kind of place, which is both a 16 00:00:58.367 --> 00:01:04.500 center for journalistic education as well as the production of news and 17 00:01:04.500 --> 00:01:08.867 insight and perspective. So we do all of those things at the same time. It's 18 00:01:08.867 --> 00:01:14.635 an honor this afternoon to be able to introduce Secretary Jeh Johnson, who is 19 00:01:14.635 --> 00:01:19.567 our national leader in homeland security. Secretary Johnson has a 20 00:01:19.567 --> 00:01:23.933 distinguished career of service protecting the rest of us. He went to 21 00:01:23.933 --> 00:01:27.133 Morehouse College as an undergraduate, graduated from Columbia University Law 22 00:01:27.133 --> 00:01:31.667 School, was in private practice, served as an Assistant United States Attorney 23 00:01:31.667 --> 00:01:37.200 in the really complex place called New York. He has served in various jobs in 24 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:40.100 the defense of our country as the General Counsel of the United States 25 00:01:40.100 --> 00:01:46.167 Air Force, as the leader of and the General Counsel for the U.S. Department 26 00:01:46.167 --> 00:01:49.734 of Defense. And now President Obama has asked him to take on one of the most 27 00:01:49.734 --> 00:01:53.767 complicated assignments that anyone could be given. The Department of 28 00:01:53.767 --> 00:01:58.633 Homeland Security has almost a quarter of a million employees from almost two 29 00:01:58.633 --> 00:02:02.467 dozen agencies that were amalgamated together in the response to the 30 00:02:02.467 --> 00:02:06.467 situation after 911. And the Secretary's bringing his decades of 31 00:02:06.467 --> 00:02:11.134 experience and insight and perspective in protecting the rest of us to now 32 00:02:11.134 --> 00:02:17.501 managing things as broadly scoped as the Coast Guard to the Border Patrol to 33 00:02:17.501 --> 00:02:21.533 the Secret Service to the Transportation and Safety 34 00:02:21.533 --> 00:02:26.034 Administration to all of the potential threats that we might face here in the 35 00:02:26.034 --> 00:02:29.801 homeland, from weapons of mass destruction and terrorist acts to 36 00:02:29.801 --> 00:02:33.217 everything that you can possibly imagine. And the Americans, by the way, 37 00:02:33.217 --> 00:02:36.847 in the United States, we've never had this kind of position before. It never 38 00:02:36.847 --> 00:02:42.001 existed. We always had our defense organizations outwardly focused rather 39 00:02:42.001 --> 00:02:45.600 than also focused on us here in the country. So the Secretary has been 40 00:02:45.600 --> 00:02:50.533 given a really complex set of organizational issues, political 41 00:02:50.533 --> 00:02:54.183 issues, the issues of the border, the issues related to immigration, the 42 00:02:54.183 --> 00:02:57.891 issues associated with protecting and defending the United States and our 43 00:02:57.891 --> 00:03:01.133 interests. And so, it really is an honor this afternoon to be able to 44 00:03:01.133 --> 00:03:04.533 introduce one of our national servants who's committed his life to the 45 00:03:04.533 --> 00:03:08.200 protection of the rest of us, Secretary Jeh Johnson. 46 00:03:08.200 --> 00:03:13.447 [APPLAUSE] 47 00:03:13.447 --> 00:03:15.834 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Thank you very much. 48 00:03:15.834 --> 00:03:19.900 I'm wearing a lot of wires and a lot of equipment, so I hope 49 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:24.233 everybody can hear me in this room and beyond. Because we're in a classroom 50 00:03:24.233 --> 00:03:29.133 setting, I thought I would take off my jacket, talk to you in shirtsleeves. It 51 00:03:29.133 --> 00:03:36.001 is a real honor. You can see I'm really wired here, literally. It's a real 52 00:03:36.001 --> 00:03:44.501 honor for me to talk at this school, the Walter Cronkite School. I was born 53 00:03:44.501 --> 00:03:53.734 in 1957. I came of age, had my political awakening in the 60s and 70s. 54 00:03:53.734 --> 00:04:03.000 So, I'm of that generation where it wasn't fact, it didn't really happen, 55 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:07.067 until I watched the CBS evening news and Walter Cronkite told me it 56 00:04:07.067 --> 00:04:13.100 happened. My family and I, we'd sit around the TV, Channel 2 in New York, 57 00:04:13.100 --> 00:04:19.300 at 6:30 or 7 o'clock. And if you'd heard during the course of the day, 58 00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:21.867 that something terrible had happened in the United States, it didn't really 59 00:04:21.867 --> 00:04:27.167 happen until Walter Cronkite explained it, and how he explained it. That's how 60 00:04:27.167 --> 00:04:35.967 much he meant in my household growing up. When I telephoned John McCain and I 61 00:04:35.967 --> 00:04:40.200 said I wanted to come to your state and I wanted to talk about border security, 62 00:04:40.200 --> 00:04:44.767 where should I go? The first thing he said was the Cronkite School at ASU. So 63 00:04:44.767 --> 00:04:52.567 here I am. I want to take the opportunity also to just kind of give a 64 00:04:52.567 --> 00:04:58.967 shout out to another great journalist from CBS who is here, Leslie Stall of 65 00:04:58.967 --> 00:05:02.441 60 Minutes. Everybody give her a hand, please. As a public servant, I don't 66 00:05:02.441 --> 00:05:05.915 [APPLAUSE] 67 00:05:05.915 --> 00:05:10.319 As a public servant, I don't know whether to be 68 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:14.600 overjoyed or scared to death that 60 Minutes is doing a 69 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:22.967 segment about me, so here we are. I went, I've gone in and out of public 70 00:05:22.967 --> 00:05:28.500 service now 4 times. I left as the general counsel of the Department of 71 00:05:28.500 --> 00:05:34.368 Defense at the end of 2012. I thought I was done. I was back in corporate law 72 00:05:34.368 --> 00:05:39.400 practice. Eight months later, the President asked me if I would take on 73 00:05:39.400 --> 00:05:47.667 this responsibility. I was stunned, a little overwhelmed. But I have to say, 74 00:05:47.667 --> 00:05:55.933 one of the things that I missed about public service most was the people, the 75 00:05:55.933 --> 00:06:00.233 quality of the people, the character of the people that you encounter in public 76 00:06:00.233 --> 00:06:06.533 service, particularly in the United States military. And, they're just such 77 00:06:06.533 --> 00:06:11.467 fascinating people that I work with in the joint staff and special ops and 78 00:06:11.467 --> 00:06:17.867 CENTCOM and Afghanistan, Iraq, other places in the Middle East. And I want 79 00:06:17.867 --> 00:06:22.033 to introduce you to two people who are with me here who work on my staff. 80 00:06:22.033 --> 00:06:29.633 Mario Flores and Frank Leon. These two gentlemen are United States Army, 81 00:06:29.633 --> 00:06:35.633 active duty. Frank, I don't think he'll mind me saying this, grew up in Los 82 00:06:35.633 --> 00:06:42.367 Angeles, in an immigrant family. Mario grew up in Chicago. These two 83 00:06:42.367 --> 00:06:45.833 gentlemen, stand up, these two gentlemen are United States Army. He's 84 00:06:45.833 --> 00:06:49.200 a lieutenant colonel. They've seen combat in Afghanistan. They are both bronze star 85 00:06:49.200 --> 00:06:53.560 recipients, and this man won the purple star also. Give them a hand. 86 00:06:53.560 --> 00:07:01.610 [APPLAUSE] 87 00:07:01.610 --> 00:07:08.700 It's terrific to have people like this working with me every day. Your 88 00:07:08.700 --> 00:07:11.467 university president told you a lot about my responsibilities and the 89 00:07:11.467 --> 00:07:17.067 breadth of our mission in the Department of Homeland Security. I want 90 00:07:17.067 --> 00:07:22.002 to tell one, I want to go off on one little tangent just for a second here. 91 00:07:22.002 --> 00:07:27.467 In addition to all those responsibilities, I am also a dad. I am 92 00:07:27.467 --> 00:07:35.267 a dad of two college-age kids. How many of the students here have heard of, 93 00:07:35.267 --> 00:07:41.401 maybe most of you, have heard of something called Yic Yac. Raise your 94 00:07:41.401 --> 00:07:46.601 hands please. All right. Most of you. Before September, I had never heard of 95 00:07:46.601 --> 00:07:53.433 Yik Yak, but I learned all about it. My kids both go to college in Southern 96 00:07:53.433 --> 00:07:58.567 California. My daughter is a freshman. My son is a sophomore. And they go to 97 00:07:58.567 --> 00:08:05.501 school about 30 miles apart. In September, I went to visit them. I went 98 00:08:05.501 --> 00:08:10.933 to visit my daughter and my son on a weekend in September. My daughter is 99 00:08:10.933 --> 00:08:17.400 19. My son is 20. And I am under orders from my kids, from my daughter in 100 00:08:17.400 --> 00:08:21.733 particular. When you're 19, it's all about "Don't embarrass me, Dad." And 101 00:08:21.733 --> 00:08:26.633 I'm under orders from my daughter "When you come to visit me on my campus, can 102 00:08:26.633 --> 00:08:31.767 you leave behind as much of the Secret Service and the California highway 103 00:08:31.767 --> 00:08:40.233 patrol as you can? Please don't embarrass me. I'm a freshman." So I did 104 00:08:40.233 --> 00:08:48.833 my best to comply when I went to see my daughter in September, but sure enough 105 00:08:48.833 --> 00:08:52.501 the Secret Service when they're on a college campus, they're kinda 106 00:08:52.501 --> 00:08:56.767 conspicuous, even if you skinny down the detail as much as I'm permitted to 107 00:08:56.767 --> 00:09:04.968 do that. And so, I walked onto campus and Yik Yak lit up. Immediately all 108 00:09:04.968 --> 00:09:11.433 this chatter "What's going on what's going on" and so first entry, "Hey, 109 00:09:11.433 --> 00:09:14.469 there are two Secret Service on campus. What up?" 110 00:09:14.469 --> 00:09:19.769 [LAUGHTER] Response "Obama is here." 111 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:29.967 Reply "No Obama's not here, he's on the East coast today. Calm down." Next 112 00:09:29.967 --> 00:09:34.567 entry "His daughters are looking at us for college. They're here." Reply "No 113 00:09:34.567 --> 00:09:40.533 they're not here, they're too young, calm down." And my son, my son can get 114 00:09:40.533 --> 00:09:44.267 Yik Yak also, he's looking at this chatter also going back and forth. My 115 00:09:44.267 --> 00:09:50.134 son cannot resist, he's gotta jump in anonymously. And he says "No, it's a 116 00:09:50.134 --> 00:09:56.533 Vin Diesel lookalike. He has armed bodyguards for some reason." 117 00:09:57.292 --> 00:10:03.601 Finally somebody figured it out and said "No it's the fake Obama. He runs Homeland 118 00:10:03.601 --> 00:10:08.167 Security. His daughter's a freshman here, don't you know that?" And then 119 00:10:08.167 --> 00:10:11.300 the whole conversation concluded when somebody said "Gee that's too bad. 120 00:10:11.300 --> 00:10:20.989 She'll never get a date in four years." [LAUGHTER] 121 00:10:20.989 --> 00:10:24.248 So the Department of Homeland Security 122 00:10:24.248 --> 00:10:29.267 is the third largest department of government. As you heard 240,000 123 00:10:29.267 --> 00:10:32.801 personnel. Three times the size of this university. Sixty billion dollar 124 00:10:32.801 --> 00:10:42.067 budget. 22 components. We were formed in 2003 in the wake of 9/11. And a lot 125 00:10:42.067 --> 00:10:45.867 of people ask, "Why did we have to do this large realignment of government?" 126 00:10:45.867 --> 00:10:49.500 One of those reasons is because all those 22 components were scattered all 127 00:10:49.500 --> 00:10:52.601 over the federal government in departments that did not have a 128 00:10:52.601 --> 00:10:57.200 homeland security mission as part of their core mission. And we put it all 129 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:02.800 together and it resembles in many ways, ministries of interior of a lot of 130 00:11:02.800 --> 00:11:05.733 European governments, a lot of governments in the Middle East. I meet 131 00:11:05.733 --> 00:11:09.168 with counterparts in the Middle East and Europe and they have almost the 132 00:11:09.168 --> 00:11:15.600 exact same mission set. And I think it is correct that for a long time we 133 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:21.300 thought we did not need a Department of Homeland Security, a Ministry of the 134 00:11:21.300 --> 00:11:25.135 Interior in this country because we have two oceans separating us from the 135 00:11:25.135 --> 00:11:30.934 rest of the world, the east and west. And that all changed on 9/11. I've 136 00:11:30.934 --> 00:11:34.700 already seen the efficiencies that can be brought about by having a 137 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:38.239 counterterrorism mission, by having at my conference table, the people 138 00:11:38.239 --> 00:11:43.967 responsible for land, sea, air, border security all in one place. And so, it's 139 00:11:43.967 --> 00:11:47.401 a good thing. We're growing as a bureaucracy. There are things we're 140 00:11:47.401 --> 00:11:51.067 working on to get better. We've only been in business for twelve years. We 141 00:11:51.067 --> 00:11:54.967 have the counterterrorism mission, which in my view remains the 142 00:11:54.967 --> 00:11:58.332 cornerstone of our Department's mission. We've got border security, the 143 00:11:58.332 --> 00:12:02.334 enforcement and administration of our immigration laws, cyber security, 144 00:12:02.334 --> 00:12:07.067 border security, aviation security, maritime security, protection of our 145 00:12:07.067 --> 00:12:10.633 national leaders, protection of critical infrastructure, protection 146 00:12:10.633 --> 00:12:15.633 against chem-bio threats, responses to natural disasters, if that's not enough 147 00:12:15.633 --> 00:12:23.034 - hurricanes, floods, mudslides, and I could go on and on. I was here this 148 00:12:23.034 --> 00:12:30.601 morning to inspect the security at the Super Bowl on Sunday. And I wanted to 149 00:12:30.601 --> 00:12:39.500 come here in particular to talk about this subject. Basically, I want to do 150 00:12:39.500 --> 00:12:46.167 two things. One, I want to try to, I've given this talk now several times, and 151 00:12:46.167 --> 00:12:54.500 I want to separate fact from fiction. And the basic message that I intend to 152 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:59.433 convey, that I want to convey in this, is that over the last fifteen years, 153 00:12:59.433 --> 00:13:02.467 we've done a lot for border security. We've invested a lot and we've seen a 154 00:13:02.467 --> 00:13:07.034 lot of good results, but there's a lot more we can do and we should do to get 155 00:13:07.034 --> 00:13:12.367 better at this. It's an evolving world, but there's a lot that we have done and 156 00:13:12.367 --> 00:13:16.967 we will do in the future. Now when I say fact from fiction, this is what I 157 00:13:16.967 --> 00:13:24.400 mean. The perception, I find this poll very interesting. This is a poll from 158 00:13:24.400 --> 00:13:28.233 June 2013 taken by Pew Research. Just your best guess, compared with ten 159 00:13:31.233 --> 00:13:35.400 years ago, do you think the numbers of immigrants entering the US illegally 160 00:13:35.400 --> 00:13:43.167 today is higher, lower, or about the same? In June 2013, 55% of those polled 161 00:13:43.167 --> 00:13:49.534 said "Higher." There are more coming in today than ten years ago, and only 15% 162 00:13:49.534 --> 00:13:56.600 said "Lower." 27% said about the same, and another 3% said "I don't know." 163 00:13:56.600 --> 00:13:59.700 That's actually a small percentage of people who say I don't know in response 164 00:13:59.700 --> 00:14:06.867 to a question. The reality is reflected here. This is going back to fiscal year 165 00:14:06.867 --> 00:14:13.134 2000. This is apprehensions on the Southwest border, which is the busiest 166 00:14:13.134 --> 00:14:20.067 border we have. Apprehensions are a large indicator of total attempts to 167 00:14:20.067 --> 00:14:26.967 cross the border illegally and you can see the high in apprehensions was in 168 00:14:26.967 --> 00:14:33.933 FY2000, over 1.6 million people were arrested crossing our Southwest border 169 00:14:33.933 --> 00:14:40.800 in the year 2000. And in recent years, 11, 12, 13, 14, you'll see the numbers 170 00:14:40.800 --> 00:14:46.267 are a lot lower. They're a fraction of what they were then. As I'll explain 171 00:14:46.267 --> 00:14:54.100 later on, this number here in FY14 of 479,000 was due largely to a spike in 172 00:14:54.100 --> 00:14:58.933 illegal migration that we saw in the Rio Grande valley in south Texas. 173 00:14:58.933 --> 00:15:02.467 Unaccompanied kids, which I'll get into in greater detail, but over half of 174 00:15:02.467 --> 00:15:08.000 this number is the RGV, is the Rio Grande Valley, right here. So this 175 00:15:08.333 --> 00:15:12.301 reflects a lot of good progress, it also reflects frankly, the economy in 176 00:15:12.301 --> 00:15:16.700 this country. The economy is a poll factor to illegal migration. So you 177 00:15:16.700 --> 00:15:20.533 look at the FY2000 number, everybody will remember what was happening in 178 00:15:20.533 --> 00:15:25.234 2000 before the internet bubble burst, and then what would happen in 2008, 179 00:15:25.234 --> 00:15:29.533 2009, you see the numbers actually getting lower. So the economy clearly 180 00:15:29.533 --> 00:15:35.900 also has a lot to do with it, but, these numbers in my view reflect a huge 181 00:15:35.900 --> 00:15:41.100 investment that this nation has made in the border patrol and border security, 182 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:45.534 and I want to talk about past, present, and future efforts to secure our 183 00:15:45.534 --> 00:15:52.900 border. Now, that is the ninth...that is the San Diego Point of Entry in 184 00:15:52.900 --> 00:15:57.067 1922. It looks rather quaint, not very busy. But this is what border security 185 00:15:57.067 --> 00:16:04.433 looked like in the 1920s, and in fact, our borders were completely open up 186 00:16:04.433 --> 00:16:13.833 until 1904. And in 1904 we began to make efforts to secure our border, by 187 00:16:13.833 --> 00:16:19.667 establishing a border patrol immigration service of basically 75 188 00:16:19.667 --> 00:16:25.834 guys on horseback, patrolling the entire 2300 mile southwest border. 189 00:16:25.834 --> 00:16:30.167 Seventy-five guys on horses, doing that. That was our border security 190 00:16:30.167 --> 00:16:38.133 beginning in 1904. In 1921, Congress passed something called the Emergency 191 00:16:38.133 --> 00:16:45.267 Quota Act, which was our first effort to actually regulate immigration by 192 00:16:45.267 --> 00:16:50.967 nationality. By limiting the percentages prior to that, the only 193 00:16:50.967 --> 00:16:55.567 time we ever excluded somebody from the country, was when they were deemed to 194 00:16:55.567 --> 00:16:59.567 be, quote unquote undesirables, which is a list of people too politically 195 00:16:59.567 --> 00:17:07.733 incorrect to stay here. But in 1921 we began to regulate immigration in much 196 00:17:07.733 --> 00:17:14.968 the same way we do today, by quotas according to nationality. And in 1924, 197 00:17:14.968 --> 00:17:23.667 we established what is known today as the US Border Patrol. Today, the Border 198 00:17:23.667 --> 00:17:29.067 Patrol is actually - which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security - 199 00:17:29.067 --> 00:17:34.533 the Border Patrol is part of Customs and Border Protection, which is part of 200 00:17:34.533 --> 00:17:40.100 DHS. But the Border Patrol itself is one of our largest federal agencies 201 00:17:40.100 --> 00:17:45.767 with a 3.5 billion dollar budget, 23,000 personnel, and over 20,000 202 00:17:45.767 --> 00:17:51.067 Border Patrol agents, lots of technology, lots of boats, helicopters, 203 00:17:51.067 --> 00:17:58.067 UAVs, fence, surveillance equipment, and a whole lot of other things. If you 204 00:17:58.067 --> 00:18:04.833 look at the comparison, just over the last 14 years, you will see that Border 205 00:18:04.833 --> 00:18:09.467 Patrol agents have grown considerably. We began making this huge investment in 206 00:18:09.467 --> 00:18:15.533 about 2000. In 2000 we had only 8,600 agents. That number today is somewhere 207 00:18:15.533 --> 00:18:22.567 over 18,000. Fence, a lot of people in Washington like to talk about building 208 00:18:22.567 --> 00:18:30.334 more fence, so we did that, beginning in FY2000. In FY2000, we had 57.9 miles 209 00:18:30.334 --> 00:18:37.033 of what's called primary fence. This is...primary fence is very tall. One of 210 00:18:37.033 --> 00:18:42.033 the things that -- and this is a kind of a lesson for you -- those of you who 211 00:18:42.033 --> 00:18:47.800 might be interested in public service one day. There's the...there's the 212 00:18:47.800 --> 00:18:53.367 macro view, and the micro view of how we should make policy. So, I'm giving 213 00:18:53.367 --> 00:18:57.767 you kind of a Washington perspective on all of this. Where we, you know ask our 214 00:18:57.767 --> 00:19:02.467 people add up the, the amount of fence we had 15 years ago compared today. Get 215 00:19:02.467 --> 00:19:07.567 me a nice visual to show this, and we...we make our case, either for more 216 00:19:07.567 --> 00:19:11.867 funding from Congress, or to show the public where we are, but we also have 217 00:19:11.867 --> 00:19:15.600 to remember in Washington that what we do has real impact on the lives of 218 00:19:15.600 --> 00:19:21.100 people directly affected by this kind of stuff. So yesterday, I had my second 219 00:19:21.100 --> 00:19:26.667 visit with ranchers, here in Arizona, who live on the border, who, you know 220 00:19:26.667 --> 00:19:33.667 frankly care less about this macro view, and are concerned about what's 221 00:19:33.667 --> 00:19:37.300 happening on the border where they live. And so it's important for, I 222 00:19:37.300 --> 00:19:43.100 believe public servants like myself to not only have this perspective, but to 223 00:19:43.100 --> 00:19:47.134 also hear from people who are directly affected by our policies, and what is 224 00:19:47.134 --> 00:19:52.534 happening on the ground every day and try to be influenced by both these 225 00:19:52.534 --> 00:19:57.634 levels of what's going on. So anyway, this is what's called a pedestrian 226 00:19:57.634 --> 00:20:01.800 fence. It's very hard to climb. The reason I say that is because one of the 227 00:20:01.800 --> 00:20:06.167 ranchers told me yesterday that somebody actually cut a hole in this -- 228 00:20:06.167 --> 00:20:08.900 this is steel, actually -- cut a hole in this and drove a vehicle right 229 00:20:08.900 --> 00:20:12.167 through it. It took them a while to do it, but they were able to do it and 230 00:20:12.167 --> 00:20:18.501 drive right onto his...his property. But this is...this is pedestrian fence, 231 00:20:18.501 --> 00:20:24.700 we now have 352 miles of this. We have more of this secondary fence, 10 miles, 232 00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:29.567 versus 36 miles. More of this vehicle fence, this is...some people call this 233 00:20:29.567 --> 00:20:35.667 Normandy fence, it looks like the beach at Normandy. This is for a more rugged, 234 00:20:35.667 --> 00:20:40.933 remote area of the southwest border, mountainous. We have this kind of 235 00:20:40.933 --> 00:20:46.800 fence. Total fence between now and 2000, 15 years ago we've built almost 236 00:20:46.800 --> 00:20:52.633 ten times more fence, from 77 miles to 700 miles of these various different 237 00:20:52.633 --> 00:20:59.300 types of fence. We've built all weather roads which access the border, from 17 238 00:20:59.300 --> 00:21:05.634 miles to 145 miles in the last 15 years. We've got more border lighting. 239 00:21:05.634 --> 00:21:09.667 You can probably see where all of this is going, more underground sensors, 240 00:21:09.667 --> 00:21:14.067 more equipment. We weren't even counting this in 2000 because of the 241 00:21:14.067 --> 00:21:17.767 technology wasn't that far along. We now have over 11,000 underground 242 00:21:17.767 --> 00:21:25.100 sensors. On the border we've got more aircraft by a factor of two to one. 243 00:21:25.100 --> 00:21:29.900 We've got more UAVs, we have 8 of these now that are devoted to the Customs 244 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:34.867 Border Protection mission. I'm sure somebody's going to ask me a question 245 00:21:34.867 --> 00:21:41.667 about UAVs. We have more vessels, we had 2 in 2000, we've got 84 of these. 246 00:21:41.667 --> 00:21:45.367 We've got more mobile surveillance systems, the Border Patrol really likes 247 00:21:45.367 --> 00:21:49.000 surveillance equipment. We've got more of these, we've got more of these, 248 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:59.667 we've got more of these towers, night vision goggles, 9,255. We've got 249 00:21:59.667 --> 00:22:03.167 thermal imaging capability, we weren't even counting this in 2000, I'm not 250 00:22:03.167 --> 00:22:07.600 sure it existed. We've got this now, we've got over 600 of these. The other 251 00:22:07.600 --> 00:22:14.267 thing I'll say is, I spent a lot of time with our Border Patrol agents. 252 00:22:14.267 --> 00:22:18.267 I've been to the southwest border now in my thirteen months in office more 253 00:22:18.267 --> 00:22:24.200 times than I can count, been in south Texas more times than I can count, and 254 00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:29.167 we have in my judgment a remarkably dedicated group of people in the Border 255 00:22:29.167 --> 00:22:33.800 Patrol today. The organization is becoming more transparent, the 256 00:22:33.800 --> 00:22:39.533 Commissioner of CBP, Gil Kerlikowske is making efforts to have his...his agency 257 00:22:39.533 --> 00:22:45.000 be more transparent when it comes to use of force policy and so forth. And 258 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.400 I've observed these people work overtime in circumstances that were 259 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:55.900 extraordinarily difficult, particularly last summer. So the results of this 260 00:22:55.900 --> 00:23:00.267 huge investment that our nation has made in border security over the last 261 00:23:00.267 --> 00:23:05.868 15 years looks like this. This is the chart that I showed you earlier. The 262 00:23:05.868 --> 00:23:11.500 numbers are down substantially, we've seen an uptick here, and we need to 263 00:23:11.500 --> 00:23:18.400 invest in border security further for the future, more technology and more 264 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:21.900 integrated strategy, which I'm going to talk to you about in a moment. This is 265 00:23:21.900 --> 00:23:25.967 Arizona, this is the two sectors in Arizona. The Tucson Sector and the Yuma 266 00:23:25.967 --> 00:23:31.033 Sector added together, you can see a comparable drop in the numbers of 267 00:23:31.033 --> 00:23:38.133 apprehensions along the Arizona border. Most of the 93,000 last year was in the 268 00:23:38.133 --> 00:23:45.000 Tucson Sector. This shows the relationship between our investment and 269 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.800 border security, and the apprehensions. As we've invested in more border 270 00:23:49.800 --> 00:23:56.133 security personnel, the numbers of apprehensions has...has declined, in 271 00:23:56.133 --> 00:24:04.400 almost very parallel terms. Now, Pew research also, it makes estimates at 272 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:09.267 the number of undocumented living in this country, and this too reflects 273 00:24:09.267 --> 00:24:13.500 something fascinating. Since the, this, since the first time...it's the first 274 00:24:13.500 --> 00:24:18.267 time since the 1980s that the population of undocumented, according 275 00:24:18.267 --> 00:24:24.767 to Pew, has stopped growing. See it peaked in around 2006 at 12.2 million, 276 00:24:24.767 --> 00:24:30.167 it dropped off a little bit, and it sits at around 11.2, 11.3. Somewhat 277 00:24:30.167 --> 00:24:37.800 difficult to poll, to assess, but this is Pew Research's best estimate of the 278 00:24:38.667 --> 00:24:42.801 population of undocumented. And the top line message here is that the 279 00:24:42.801 --> 00:24:47.934 population has stopped growing, of undocumented in this country. We also 280 00:24:47.934 --> 00:24:54.967 do a lot in terms of interdiction, this was a discovery of a tunnel in Arizona, 281 00:24:54.967 --> 00:25:00.234 underneath the border just the other day in Nogales, Arizona. We discover 282 00:25:00.234 --> 00:25:05.334 these tunnels, not infrequently, there are large seizures of weapons, 283 00:25:05.334 --> 00:25:10.000 narcotics and so forth. So there's clearly, there's an interdiction aspect 284 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:18.434 to our mission as well. Now, last summer, we had the spike in migration, 285 00:25:18.434 --> 00:25:23.134 illegal migration here in the RGV, the southwest border is divided into 286 00:25:23.934 --> 00:25:29.034 sectors, and this is the Rio Grande Valley Sector. Here you are up here in 287 00:25:29.034 --> 00:25:35.100 the, in the Tucson Sector, the El Paso Sector, and we've got the Rio Grande 288 00:25:35.100 --> 00:25:42.533 Valley Sector. And this sector got all the business, last summer. Migration 289 00:25:42.533 --> 00:25:46.634 patterns are very seasonal. They start to peak in January, they, they creep 290 00:25:46.634 --> 00:25:50.867 up, and they peak in early summer, and then it gets really hot, and they drop 291 00:25:50.867 --> 00:25:53.800 off, and they drop back down again. There's a pattern that occurs to that 292 00:25:53.800 --> 00:26:00.900 every year. In the RGV, what we've been seeing, lately, are illegal migrants 293 00:26:00.900 --> 00:26:05.700 coming from countries other than Mexico, from Central America, from 294 00:26:05.700 --> 00:26:11.235 other continents even, a detention facility in RGV will have, on any given 295 00:26:11.235 --> 00:26:16.933 day, 80 different nationalities. And so, the RGV lately has been getting a 296 00:26:16.933 --> 00:26:22.134 lot of attention and a lot of business. Last summer, we saw an unprecedented 297 00:26:22.134 --> 00:26:31.267 spike in spring, early summer in kids, kids and families, at numbers we had 298 00:26:31.267 --> 00:26:37.400 never seen before. This is me and my wife, this is literally Mother's Day, 299 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:43.634 Sunday, May 11th, we went out to visit our kids. I asked my wife, I'd like to 300 00:26:43.634 --> 00:26:49.167 go see a whole lot of other kids on Mother's Day at McAllen Station, Texas. 301 00:26:49.167 --> 00:26:53.233 We stopped, and the place was flooded. I'd been hearing about this, I wanted 302 00:26:53.233 --> 00:26:57.134 to see it myself, and the place was flooded with five year olds, seven 303 00:26:57.134 --> 00:27:04.267 years old, twelve, teenagers without parents. And so almost immediately 304 00:27:04.267 --> 00:27:10.733 after this, we put in place a number of things to deal with it, more personnel, 305 00:27:10.733 --> 00:27:18.167 more resources into south Texas. Under the law, when we identify somebody, 306 00:27:18.167 --> 00:27:25.700 like this young man, who is not accompanied by a parent the Department 307 00:27:25.700 --> 00:27:30.467 of Homeland Security, the Border Patrol is required to give the child over to 308 00:27:30.467 --> 00:27:34.867 the Department of Health and Human Services, and they under the law, place 309 00:27:34.867 --> 00:27:39.200 the child in a circumstance that is in the best interest of the child, which 310 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:44.867 very often is here in the United States with a parent or an aunt, or whatever. 311 00:27:44.867 --> 00:27:51.534 And so, we had to, in the face of this unprecedented spike, ramp up our 312 00:27:51.534 --> 00:27:56.167 personnel, our resources. HHS had to build more shelters across the 313 00:27:56.167 --> 00:28:01.233 southwest in order to handle the increase numbers. We put in more 314 00:28:01.233 --> 00:28:05.633 detention space for the adults, the adults bringing their kids. We reduced 315 00:28:05.633 --> 00:28:09.867 the repatriation time, the time that sends, that send people back. For the 316 00:28:09.867 --> 00:28:15.133 adults from something like 30 days down to 4 days. We went after the coyotes, 317 00:28:15.133 --> 00:28:20.467 the criminal smugglers, almost nobody coming into the RGV was freelancing, 318 00:28:20.467 --> 00:28:26.233 they were all the clients of criminal smuggling organizations that reach out 319 00:28:26.233 --> 00:28:31.667 to them in Central America. And it's amazing that families will pay 5, 6, 8 320 00:28:31.667 --> 00:28:37.067 thousand dollars a person to smuggle a child into south Texas. So we went 321 00:28:37.067 --> 00:28:41.900 after the coyote organizations. We engaged in a very aggressive public 322 00:28:41.900 --> 00:28:47.700 messaging campaign. We were hearing from migrants in interviews, and I 323 00:28:47.700 --> 00:28:52.867 heard this myself, I probably spoke to hundreds of kids myself, in the Rio 324 00:28:52.867 --> 00:28:56.433 Grande Valley in these processing centers. We were hearing, "I, my 325 00:28:56.433 --> 00:29:01.534 parents heard that if I got here there would be permisos", free passes to 326 00:29:01.534 --> 00:29:05.867 those who made it into the United States. And so we put out a very 327 00:29:05.867 --> 00:29:10.767 aggressive public messaging campaign beginning in June, around June 22nd, 328 00:29:10.767 --> 00:29:16.567 that it's dangerous to send your kids from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras 329 00:29:16.567 --> 00:29:21.867 on a long journey, up through Mexico into south Texas. A lot of them, you 330 00:29:21.867 --> 00:29:26.067 may have seen the images, were stowing away on the top of freight trains. 331 00:29:26.067 --> 00:29:29.534 After a while these criminal organizations became so sophisticated, 332 00:29:29.534 --> 00:29:33.933 they were chartering buses for these kids. But we put out a public messaging 333 00:29:33.933 --> 00:29:38.667 campaign to highlight the dangers and to correct the misimpression that the 334 00:29:38.667 --> 00:29:43.734 coyotes were putting out, about there not being free passes, and we pointed 335 00:29:43.734 --> 00:29:48.967 out that the program, the deferred action program for children, the 336 00:29:48.967 --> 00:29:53.067 Dreamers the Docket Program was for those who had been here for 5 years. 337 00:29:53.067 --> 00:29:56.467 And that those who came here today or tomorrow were not eligible for this 338 00:29:56.467 --> 00:30:04.300 program. We engaged Mexican Central American leaders and the numbers, these 339 00:30:04.300 --> 00:30:08.601 are unaccompanied children crossing into that one sector I pointed out, 340 00:30:08.601 --> 00:30:17.667 declined pretty sharply. The peak in both this number, and the family units 341 00:30:17.667 --> 00:30:24.500 we saw was literally June 10th, 2014. And it began to drop considerably in 342 00:30:24.500 --> 00:30:29.934 mid-June, late July, again much of this is seasonal, but I have to believe a 343 00:30:29.934 --> 00:30:37.567 lot of this was due to the efforts we put in place. Illegal migration is a 344 00:30:37.567 --> 00:30:42.933 very market sensitive thing, and it reacts to information in the market 345 00:30:42.933 --> 00:30:49.267 about what's going on the border. So the numbers dropped off, they've stayed 346 00:30:49.267 --> 00:30:52.567 low, even today, they're still low, they're lower than they were this time 347 00:30:52.567 --> 00:30:57.533 last January 2014, and I think in January they may be even lower than 348 00:30:57.533 --> 00:31:02.900 they were in January 2013. But, we have to be vigilant, in looking out for 349 00:31:02.900 --> 00:31:10.067 this. It really is dangerous for these children. So the future, in my view, is 350 00:31:10.067 --> 00:31:14.734 a risk based strategy to border security, and I'll explain what that is 351 00:31:14.734 --> 00:31:18.967 in a moment, better technology, more equipment, enhanced detention 352 00:31:18.967 --> 00:31:22.500 capability, and southern border campaign strategy, which I'll also 353 00:31:22.500 --> 00:31:29.633 explain in a moment. Now a risk based strategy means, who is a member of TSA 354 00:31:29.633 --> 00:31:36.333 pre-check at the airports. Alright, TSA pre-check is an example of a risk based 355 00:31:36.767 --> 00:31:42.067 strategy to Homeland Security, where rather than subjecting everybody to the 356 00:31:42.067 --> 00:31:47.333 same thing, we get a little information in advance from people who sign up to 357 00:31:47.333 --> 00:31:51.000 be members of TSA pre-check. Or we make assessments at the airport that this 358 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:55.500 person go through a shorter line, and it frees up resources to focus on 359 00:31:55.500 --> 00:32:01.700 people we know less about. On, in the border security context, it means 360 00:32:01.700 --> 00:32:06.400 focusing your resources on where your surveillance and your intelligence 361 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:12.100 tells you the risks exist. So, in that map I showed you, if you see a lot of 362 00:32:12.100 --> 00:32:18.567 activity in certain hot spots, and if we look at the RGV specifically, you 363 00:32:18.567 --> 00:32:22.700 could see a very concentrated area, where all those kids were going. You 364 00:32:22.700 --> 00:32:27.933 focus your resources on where you see the activity is going on through a lot 365 00:32:27.933 --> 00:32:32.467 of sophisticated surveillance capabilities, versus just simply 366 00:32:32.767 --> 00:32:38.068 building an entire wall across 2300 miles. First of all you cannot build a 367 00:32:38.068 --> 00:32:43.167 wall along the Rio Grande Valley, however long the Rio Grande, it's 368 00:32:43.167 --> 00:32:47.167 impossible. Second, you're talking about very remote areas, even ranchers 369 00:32:47.167 --> 00:32:53.633 will tell you building a fence, a wall along a lot of mountainous area is not 370 00:32:53.633 --> 00:32:58.534 the answer. More technology more resources. And as Janet Napolitano used 371 00:32:58.534 --> 00:33:03.267 to say, "If you build a 15 foot fence, somebody will build a 16 foot ladder", 372 00:33:03.267 --> 00:33:07.267 or build a tunnel like the one I showed you there. So risk, the risk based 373 00:33:07.267 --> 00:33:12.233 strategy approach is the answer, which involves more technology, more 374 00:33:12.233 --> 00:33:17.234 surveillance. We're seeking from Congress more aircraft, more of these, 375 00:33:17.234 --> 00:33:24.300 more of these, more of these towers, we're into surveillance 376 00:33:24.967 --> 00:33:31.434 equipment, radar, video, and the like, these things called aerostats, these 377 00:33:31.434 --> 00:33:34.900 huge blimps, they're very expensive, but the Border Patrol really likes 378 00:33:34.900 --> 00:33:39.834 these. This too is the wave of the future, they're expensive, they're also 379 00:33:39.834 --> 00:33:44.500 expensive to maintain, but we'd like to get a few more of these. We're building 380 00:33:44.500 --> 00:33:48.467 more detention capability, this was a facility we opened in a place called 381 00:33:48.467 --> 00:33:57.634 Dilley, Texas last month. And we have a southwest border campaign strategy. I 382 00:33:57.634 --> 00:34:03.200 said my Department's only been around for twelve years. And, up until 383 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:08.034 recently we've been very stole-piped, that's a Washington term, stole-piped, 384 00:34:08.401 --> 00:34:14.000 in how we do business. The, the Border Patrol, which is part of Customs and 385 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:18.971 Border Protection, has its strategy, its view of how much it needs in terms 386 00:34:18.971 --> 00:34:23.671 of personnel and resources. Citizenship and Immigration Services has its own 387 00:34:23.671 --> 00:34:29.639 view of these things. The Coast Guard has its own view of how many boats, how 388 00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:35.001 many helicopters it needs. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has its view of 389 00:34:35.001 --> 00:34:40.071 how many people it needs to do its mission. And they would submit up to 390 00:34:40.071 --> 00:34:44.700 the Secretary of Homeland Security their view of what they need, which 391 00:34:44.700 --> 00:34:48.681 very often involves a lot of overlap, and therefore a lot of inefficiency. 392 00:34:48.681 --> 00:34:54.500 And when I'd go to places like McAllen in south Texas, and I'd sit down with 393 00:34:54.500 --> 00:34:59.071 our Border Patrol people, our Immigration Enforcement people, our 394 00:34:59.071 --> 00:35:05.671 FEMA people, our CIS folks to talk about the problem, the only person they 395 00:35:05.671 --> 00:35:09.371 had in common was, in their chain of command was me, and I'm all the way up 396 00:35:09.371 --> 00:35:17.371 in Washington. So, what we decided to do is a more comprehensive strategic 397 00:35:17.371 --> 00:35:23.300 integrated approach, where we have a department wide strategy for border 398 00:35:23.300 --> 00:35:29.471 security in the southeast in the southwest, and we assigned tasks forces 399 00:35:29.471 --> 00:35:37.939 to pursue those missions in various parts of the country. This is the new 400 00:35:37.939 --> 00:35:41.371 chain of command we're putting in place, and this is what it would look 401 00:35:41.371 --> 00:35:46.531 like. So we've, we have a joint task force east, commanded by Coast Guard 402 00:35:46.531 --> 00:35:51.840 Admiral, three star, who is responsible for border security in the southeast, 403 00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:56.839 which is mostly water, Coast Guard, mostly water. And that commander is 404 00:35:56.839 --> 00:36:00.931 responsible for coordinating all of the assets of the Department of Homeland 405 00:36:01.100 --> 00:36:05.521 Security devoted to border security in the southeast. We have a Joint Task 406 00:36:06.067 --> 00:36:12.733 Force Director for the southwest, who is a Border Patrol Agent, three star, 407 00:36:12.733 --> 00:36:16.900 who's responsible for coordinating the assets of my department in the 408 00:36:16.900 --> 00:36:22.567 southwest. And then we have a Joint Task Force Investigations, which 409 00:36:22.567 --> 00:36:27.100 supports these two geographic tasks forces, which consist of these 410 00:36:27.100 --> 00:36:31.234 components. So this is the wave of the future, and needs to be the wave of the 411 00:36:31.234 --> 00:36:37.600 future as we've become more mature in the Department of Homeland Security. 412 00:36:37.600 --> 00:36:45.100 The last thing that I've been stressing to Congress is, I need their help. 413 00:36:45.400 --> 00:36:49.567 i cannot print money, I cannot appropriate money, as much as I would 414 00:36:49.567 --> 00:36:54.106 like to myself. I have to have a partner in Congress and I'm operating 415 00:36:54.106 --> 00:36:58.867 right now on a continuing resolution. Mr. President you never want to be on a 416 00:36:59.067 --> 00:37:03.867 continuing resolution operating this university, which means that I'm 417 00:37:03.867 --> 00:37:07.301 restricted, I don't have an appropriations bill for fiscal year 418 00:37:07.301 --> 00:37:13.500 2015, and therefore we're operating on what's called a continuing resolution 419 00:37:13.500 --> 00:37:19.767 which continues the spending at last year’s levels. And that is due to 420 00:37:19.767 --> 00:37:27.401 expire on February 27th, and so we need Congress, I need Congress to give us a 421 00:37:27.401 --> 00:37:31.234 full year'’s appropriations bill to fund all the things that I've just been 422 00:37:31.267 --> 00:37:35.967 talking about here. As long as I'm on a CR, we cannot engage in what are called 423 00:37:35.967 --> 00:37:40.167 new starts, new initiatives, new spending on the things we need to do to 424 00:37:40.167 --> 00:37:45.301 advance our border security mission, so I'm hoping Congress will help us out 425 00:37:45.301 --> 00:37:52.400 before the end of next month. So, that's my presentation. I know I have a 426 00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:57.834 lot of curious minds here, a lot of students. I'm happy to answer questions 427 00:37:57.834 --> 00:38:07.300 on any subject, in my lane. So, in Washington you learn how to stay in 428 00:38:07.300 --> 00:38:13.300 your lane, so please don't ask me anything about healthcare. Anyway, in 429 00:38:13.300 --> 00:38:16.967 all seriousness, yes Sir, right here. 430 00:38:16.967 --> 00:38:20.133 STUDENT: Thank you for speaking today, first off. 431 00:38:20.133 --> 00:38:24.367 I was born and raised in Yuma, actually. And so it seems when 432 00:38:24.367 --> 00:38:26.900 you talk to people who don't know the facts about what the numbers that are 433 00:38:26.900 --> 00:38:30.500 coming in. People in Yuma always have a fear that illegal immigration is going 434 00:38:30.500 --> 00:38:34.600 to run over their city. I guess what's the public messaging side that Homeland 435 00:38:34.600 --> 00:38:38.567 Security is trying to do as you mentioned, concern that you have for 436 00:38:38.567 --> 00:38:41.667 people who erroneously think that illegal immigration is increasing, and 437 00:38:41.667 --> 00:38:45.567 what are you doing to combat the, the lack of knowledge 438 00:38:45.567 --> 00:38:47.865 about that in America? 439 00:38:47.865 --> 00:38:51.067 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Well look, I mean it's, it's never that reassuring 440 00:38:51.067 --> 00:38:57.433 to somebody, who lives on the border who is everyday dealing with migrants 441 00:38:57.433 --> 00:39:03.033 crossing their property or whatever to know well fifteen years ago was much 442 00:39:03.033 --> 00:39:07.167 worse, doesn't that make you feel better. That's never reassuring. The 443 00:39:07.167 --> 00:39:14.234 purpose of this is to dispel the myth and to say that with the right 444 00:39:14.234 --> 00:39:19.433 investment and resources we actually can make progress. Now there's some, 445 00:39:19.433 --> 00:39:23.767 there's some in Congress who believe we ought to have operational control of 446 00:39:23.767 --> 00:39:27.401 the border. There's a bill floating around right now called "Secure the 447 00:39:27.401 --> 00:39:32.667 Border First Act of 2015", which requires that we have operational 448 00:39:32.667 --> 00:39:36.933 control of the border and the definition of operational control is no 449 00:39:36.933 --> 00:39:42.167 illegal crossings, none, that's it, perfection, which everybody knows you 450 00:39:42.167 --> 00:39:48.600 cannot achieve. A lot of those kids, they were not seeking to evade capture, 451 00:39:48.600 --> 00:39:51.667 they would cross the border and run to the first border patrol agent they 452 00:39:51.667 --> 00:39:57.367 could find. And so, I think the message has to be that, with the right 453 00:39:57.367 --> 00:40:00.534 investment of resources we can make a difference, we have made a difference, 454 00:40:00.534 --> 00:40:04.367 and we need to do better, and we're focused on this and we're going to 455 00:40:04.367 --> 00:40:07.933 continue to make progress, so. 456 00:40:07.933 --> 00:40:10.800 PRESIDENT CROW: Could people identify themselves when they ask a question? 457 00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:12.600 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Sure, yes sir. 458 00:40:12.600 --> 00:40:15.767 REPORTER: Secretary Johnson...Bob Ortega with The Arizona Republic. Could 459 00:40:15.767 --> 00:40:17.933 you...just, just to do a follow up on what you were talking about a minute 460 00:40:17.933 --> 00:40:22.700 ago. You're asking, saying Congress, we need to pass an Appropriations Bill. In 461 00:40:22.700 --> 00:40:27.200 recent days we've see the Chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and 462 00:40:27.200 --> 00:40:31.767 several members of a, of a Congressmen on the House side really express, 463 00:40:31.767 --> 00:40:35.201 they're not particularly concerned, they don't see a big deal with passing 464 00:40:35.203 --> 00:40:39.864 a continuing resolution, with funding meeting this February 27th deadline, 465 00:40:39.881 --> 00:40:43.227 saying, "Well, you know, a lot of the employees at Homeland 466 00:40:43.257 --> 00:40:48.637 Security will continue working anyway". Could you explain what specifically, 467 00:40:48.831 --> 00:40:56.167 what do you see the problems being if they don't act by February 27th? 468 00:40:56.967 --> 00:40:59.233 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Because, the, I cannot...I'll 469 00:40:59.233 --> 00:41:07.501 give you a couple of specific examples. I was at the Op Center today for the 470 00:41:07.501 --> 00:41:12.767 security for the Super Bowl. All, almost all of the equipment, the 471 00:41:12.767 --> 00:41:17.800 communications equipment, the technology in that room was funded 472 00:41:17.800 --> 00:41:23.033 through grants from the Department of Homeland Security, and as long as we're 473 00:41:23.033 --> 00:41:30.400 on a continuing resolution, which is what we're on right now, we cannot fund 474 00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:35.600 new grants for that kind of thing, which a lot of state and local law 475 00:41:35.600 --> 00:41:41.168 enforcement depends on from my department, for Homeland Security 476 00:41:41.168 --> 00:41:45.400 public safety missions. If we're in a government shutdown, which is what you 477 00:41:45.400 --> 00:41:49.833 were referring to, where I can only employ those regarded as essential, 478 00:41:49.833 --> 00:41:54.300 it's even worse, because there it's really the bare minimum of what I'm 479 00:41:54.300 --> 00:42:00.434 basically Constitutionally allowed to do in an emergency situation. The 480 00:42:00.434 --> 00:42:05.200 reason we need to get off of CR and a full year appropriations bill is 481 00:42:05.200 --> 00:42:09.633 because I've got to pay for all the things that people in Congress want me 482 00:42:09.633 --> 00:42:14.267 to do. So, last summer when we were dealing with this spike in migration in 483 00:42:14.267 --> 00:42:19.467 the RGV, everybody in Congress is saying, "Do something, do something, 484 00:42:19.467 --> 00:42:23.300 you gotta do something". Okay, we're doing things, we're surging resources, 485 00:42:23.300 --> 00:42:28.603 we're building more residential capability, we're putting people on the 486 00:42:28.603 --> 00:42:33.167 border. But, I can't print my own money, I can't appropriate money. And 487 00:42:33.167 --> 00:42:37.467 so we sent up a request for supplemental funding for 488 00:42:37.665 --> 00:42:43.634 fiscal year 2014, which they never passed. Which meant that I had to 489 00:42:43.834 --> 00:42:47.933 reprogram money, which is basically transferring money from one shell to 490 00:42:47.933 --> 00:42:51.867 the other. And I took several hundred million dollars out of the disaster 491 00:42:51.867 --> 00:42:59.500 relief fund, which is meant for disasters. Fortunately, we had a good 492 00:42:59.500 --> 00:43:05.401 weather year, last year, and so we did not have that many major events. I do 493 00:43:05.401 --> 00:43:10.500 not assume that we're going to be that lucky in 2015. So I still have a bill 494 00:43:12.533 --> 00:43:16.567 to pay from last summer, and there are a lot of these 495 00:43:16.567 --> 00:43:22.200 things that I want to keep in place for border security for the future, that I 496 00:43:23.333 --> 00:43:27.233 need Congress' help on, and I cannot do that if I'm functioning on a continuing 497 00:43:27.233 --> 00:43:32.134 resolution. I have to borrow from here to pay for that, at the existing 498 00:43:32.134 --> 00:43:37.434 funding levels. I cannot fund new grants, and our ability to pay overall 499 00:43:37.434 --> 00:43:42.400 for Homeland Security is severely restricted. We just had a thoughtful, 500 00:43:42.400 --> 00:43:47.701 astute report from an independent panel that looked at the Secret Service for 501 00:43:47.701 --> 00:43:55.467 example. And I cannot do the things that that panel is recommending unless 502 00:43:55.467 --> 00:44:00.467 we get funding from Congress to do that. So, there are just some discrete 503 00:44:00.467 --> 00:44:06.221 areas, so it's a, it is a far from desirable position. And everybody talks 504 00:44:06.221 --> 00:44:09.667 about we need Homeland Security, and we need Homeland Security in these 505 00:44:09.667 --> 00:44:13.900 challenging times, and we need help in the Executive Branch, from the 506 00:44:14.167 --> 00:44:17.933 Legislative Branch of government to do that. I can't appropriate my own money. 507 00:44:17.933 --> 00:44:22.081 Okay. Yes Sir. 508 00:44:22.101 --> 00:44:25.921 STUDENT: Secretary Johnson, what do you believe today is the... 509 00:44:25.921 --> 00:44:28.057 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Tell me who you are. 510 00:44:28.057 --> 00:44:30.760 STUDENT: Oh, Tyler Peterson, I'm a student at Cronkite. 511 00:44:30.760 --> 00:44:32.760 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Okay, do you want to be a journalist? 512 00:44:32.760 --> 00:44:34.310 STUDENT: I do want to be a journalist. 513 00:44:34.533 --> 00:44:38.700 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Okay, what is your interest, national security, law enforcement 514 00:44:38.701 --> 00:44:40.427 STUDENT: National security. 515 00:44:40.427 --> 00:44:42.701 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Politics? National security, Okay. 516 00:44:42.701 --> 00:44:45.400 STUDENT: What, today what do you see as the greatest and most likely 517 00:44:45.400 --> 00:44:48.667 threat to national security both domestically and abroad? 518 00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:52.333 SECRETARY JOHNSON: A lot of people ask me that question that way, 519 00:44:52.333 --> 00:44:55.000 it's usually asked you know, what keeps you up at night, 520 00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:58.900 what's the number one challenge to Homeland Security, and 521 00:44:58.900 --> 00:45:03.000 I hesitate to rank them. I'll answer it this way, 522 00:45:03.233 --> 00:45:10.734 let me talk about counterterrorism. I think that we are, we've evolved to a 523 00:45:10.734 --> 00:45:16.667 new phase in our counterterrorism efforts, and in the global terrorist 524 00:45:16.667 --> 00:45:24.633 threats that we face internationally, in that as recently as 9/11, you had 525 00:45:24.633 --> 00:45:30.134 core Al Qaeda, with a relatively conventional command and control 526 00:45:30.134 --> 00:45:37.267 structure that would train operatives, direct them to carry out a mission and 527 00:45:37.267 --> 00:45:42.967 dispatch them overseas to conduct some type of terrorist attack. Then we had 528 00:45:42.967 --> 00:45:48.767 the rise of affiliates, like Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and another 529 00:45:48.767 --> 00:45:52.667 example therefore that would be the attempted Christmas Day bombing, 530 00:45:52.667 --> 00:45:57.833 December 25, 2009, where an operative was dispatched to try to blow up an 531 00:45:57.833 --> 00:46:04.234 aircraft flying into Detroit, Michigan that day. Now, we see more affiliates, 532 00:46:04.234 --> 00:46:09.367 more adherents, we see groups that are, that are disassociating and disavowing 533 00:46:09.367 --> 00:46:15.100 themselves, we see ISIL, ISIL is the most prominent example of a, of the new 534 00:46:15.100 --> 00:46:19.400 terrorist organization. And they have a lot of fighters on the ground in Iraq 535 00:46:19.400 --> 00:46:25.767 and Syria, over 30 thousand by most estimates. But some of the new aspects 536 00:46:25.767 --> 00:46:31.200 of this terrorist threat are the foreign fighter phenomenon where people 537 00:46:31.200 --> 00:46:35.367 are leaving their home countries, they're going to the Middle East, 538 00:46:35.367 --> 00:46:38.167 they're linking up with extremists, and eventually, they try to come home. 539 00:46:38.733 --> 00:46:46.501 Either this country or another country. And the use of the internet, which is 540 00:46:46.501 --> 00:46:49.834 relatively new by terrorist organizations, and some of them are 541 00:46:49.834 --> 00:46:54.633 pretty slick at their use of the internet, the use of social media. If 542 00:46:54.633 --> 00:46:59.333 you look at some of their literature, some of their videos, it's westernized, 543 00:46:59.333 --> 00:47:04.700 it's English, it's very westernized. And that type of thing has the ability 544 00:47:04.700 --> 00:47:10.467 to reach into our homeland and inspire somebody who has never trained in one 545 00:47:10.467 --> 00:47:15.233 of the camps, who's never met another member of that organization, who may be 546 00:47:15.233 --> 00:47:20.200 inspired to commit an act of violence on his own, the so called lone wolf. 547 00:47:20.200 --> 00:47:25.767 And that type of threat is a little more difficult to detect, which is why 548 00:47:25.767 --> 00:47:30.400 I think it's important that we, in the federal government, my department, the 549 00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:35.133 Department of Justice, the FBI, work even more closely with state and local 550 00:47:35.133 --> 00:47:41.668 law enforcement. It's important I think to have public engagement. When you 551 00:47:41.668 --> 00:47:46.367 watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, you're going to see a, a new presentation of 552 00:47:46.367 --> 00:47:50.533 our "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign to recapture the 553 00:47:50.533 --> 00:47:57.400 public's attention on that. And I think it's important that we engage, 554 00:47:57.400 --> 00:48:02.767 community leaders who themselves have the ability to engage those who might 555 00:48:02.767 --> 00:48:07.167 be inclined to violence. So I spend a lot of time personally on what we refer 556 00:48:07.167 --> 00:48:12.400 to as our CVE engagement, countering violent extremism. I've been to 557 00:48:12.400 --> 00:48:21.333 Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and other cities, talking 558 00:48:21.333 --> 00:48:27.033 to community leaders, various cultural centers, about talking to people who 559 00:48:27.033 --> 00:48:32.501 may be inclined toward violence, about countering the narrative of these 560 00:48:32.501 --> 00:48:37.434 terrorist organizations. So, I think that given how the threat has evolved, 561 00:48:37.434 --> 00:48:41.900 we need to refocus our efforts in that direction. We haven't talked about 562 00:48:41.900 --> 00:48:50.167 cyber security here. We have daily, hourly cyber-attacks around the 563 00:48:50.167 --> 00:48:55.167 country, I suspect you see a lot of that, even in this university. We need 564 00:48:55.167 --> 00:49:00.633 legislation from Congress to bolster cyber security, to strengthen my 565 00:49:00.633 --> 00:49:08.033 department's role in our cyber security mission. And, there's always the 566 00:49:08.033 --> 00:49:11.634 natural disaster that could strike at any moment, the northeast has got a 567 00:49:11.634 --> 00:49:17.367 huge storm right now. So, there are a lot of things that keep me up at night. 568 00:49:17.367 --> 00:49:21.100 STUDENT: Secretary Johnson. SECRETARY JOHNSON: Yes sir. 569 00:49:21.130 --> 00:49:24.000 STUDENT: My name is Miguel Averolla, I'm a journalism student. 570 00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:27.267 Both you and President Obama talked about how the spike in 571 00:49:27.534 --> 00:49:31.467 immigration coming from Central America last summer was unprecedented. 572 00:49:31.467 --> 00:49:34.300 But the next summer is quickly coming, so are 573 00:49:34.300 --> 00:49:39.967 there any areas that you are expecting, well besides Mexico, surges in 574 00:49:39.967 --> 00:49:43.400 immigration or just new areas where people are coming in, that you haven't 575 00:49:43.400 --> 00:49:45.700 had to deal with before. 576 00:49:45.700 --> 00:49:49.134 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Central America is the challenge, I mean 577 00:49:49.134 --> 00:49:53.067 there's push factors and pull factors. The poverty and 578 00:49:53.067 --> 00:49:58.533 violence that existed in the three countries, we're talking about 579 00:49:58.533 --> 00:50:04.800 Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, the violence still exists. And I'd hear 580 00:50:05.667 --> 00:50:10.033 these really sad stories from kids, "My mom sent me here because she was 581 00:50:10.033 --> 00:50:16.933 convinced that I was going to be killed". And those, and so, one of the 582 00:50:16.933 --> 00:50:22.533 things we're setting up, I got some good advice last summer about how to 583 00:50:22.533 --> 00:50:29.267 deal with this crisis. And one of the very good pieces of advice that we got 584 00:50:29.267 --> 00:50:35.733 was from somebody from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, who 585 00:50:35.733 --> 00:50:40.000 said, "You cannot simply padlock the door, you have to offer people an 586 00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.967 alternative path. And so we've created with the State Department the 587 00:50:44.967 --> 00:50:51.167 opportunity for in-country processing. So if you are a parent here in the 588 00:50:51.167 --> 00:50:56.034 United States, you can petition to have your child sent here lawfully. They're 589 00:50:56.034 --> 00:51:00.367 interviewed in-country, and there's a process to do that. So we are offering 590 00:51:00.367 --> 00:51:05.067 people a lawful, safe path, an alternative path to do that, which I 591 00:51:05.067 --> 00:51:09.767 think is, I think is important. But the underlying conditions in those 592 00:51:09.767 --> 00:51:13.967 countries still exist and our government, collectively has got to 593 00:51:13.967 --> 00:51:19.000 make a concerted decision to support the efforts there to combat violence 594 00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:23.633 and to combat poverty. So. 595 00:51:23.633 --> 00:51:26.570 PRESIDENT CROW: So, Mr. Secretary, we want to thank you very much 596 00:51:26.570 --> 00:51:30.237 for being here today. If we could recognize the Secretary, thank you. 597 00:51:30.307 --> 00:51:37.513 [APPLAUSE] 598 00:51:37.513 --> 00:51:40.733 PRESIDENT CROW: And, we're going to ask that folks stay seated 599 00:51:40.733 --> 00:51:45.600 as the Secretary departs, and thank you for your service and for, a helping to 600 00:51:45.600 --> 00:51:48.667 protect all of us. Thank you. 601 00:51:48.667 --> 00:51:52.467 SECRETARY JOHNSON: Last thing I want to say is, I really appreciate 602 00:51:52.467 --> 00:52:00.800 the opportunity to talk to students, and if you're like me at your age, 603 00:52:00.800 --> 00:52:04.467 you thought about, I thought about a career in public service, 604 00:52:04.467 --> 00:52:07.467 a lot of young people think about public service. 605 00:52:07.467 --> 00:52:11.067 And I would say to you, cling to that ambition if you 606 00:52:11.067 --> 00:52:16.001 have it. You really can make a difference. It's amazing how huge an 607 00:52:16.001 --> 00:52:22.567 impact we can make in public service on the lives of people and affect and 608 00:52:22.567 --> 00:52:29.400 influence them in a positive way. And so I would encourage you all to think 609 00:52:29.400 --> 00:52:32.533 about a career in public service. Thank you. 610 00:52:32.533 --> 00:52:33.607 [APPLAUSE]