thank you very much mr. chairman
chairman Schiff ranking member Nunez and
members of the committee good morning
I'd like to begin by thanking the
chairman and the committee for agreeing
to postpone this hearing for one week
this provided sufficient time to allow
the executive branch to successfully
complete its consultations regarding how
to accommodate the committee's request
mr. chairman I've told you this on
several occasions and I would like to
say this publicly I respect you I
respect this committee and I welcome and
take seriously the committee's oversight
role during my confirmation process to
be the director of the National
Counterterrorism Center I told the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
that congressional oversight of the
intelligence activities is critical and
essential to successful operations with
the intelligence community having served
as the director of the National
Counterterrorism Center for eight months
and as the Acting Director of National
Intelligence for the past six weeks I
continue to believe strongly that the
role of congressional oversight as I
pledged to the Senate I pledge to you
today that I will continue to work
closely with Congress while I'm serving
either in this capacity as Acting
Director of National Counterterrorism or
when I return to the National
Counterterrorism Center to ensure you
are fully and currently informed of
intelligence activities to facilitate
your ability to perform your oversight
of the intelligence community the
American people expect us to keep them
safe the intelligence community cannot
do that without this committee support
referred I turn to the matter of hand
there are a few things I would like to
say I am NOT partisan and I am NOT
political I believe in a life of service
and I'm honored to be a public servant I
served under eight presidents while I
was in uniform I have taken the oath to
the Constitution 11 times the first time
when I was sworn in to the United States
Navy in 1974 and nine times during
subsequent promotions in the United
States Navy most recently former
director Dan coats administered the oath
of office last December when I became
the director of the National
Counterterrorism Center I agree with you
the oath is sacred it's a foundation of
our Constitution the oath to me means
not only that I swear true faith and
allegiance to that sacred document but
more importantly I view it as a covenant
I have with my workforce that I lead and
every American that I will well and
faithfully discharge the duties of my
office I come from a long line of public
servants who has stepped forward even in
the most difficult times at austere
times to support and defend our country
when I took my uniform off in July of
2010 it was the first time in 70 years
that an immediate member of my family
was not wearing the cloth of the nation
as a Naval Special Warfare Officer I had
the honor of commanding at every level
in the seal community it was at times
very demanding but the rewards of
serving in America's Special Operations
community more than make up for the
demands after my retirement I was
fortunate to work for a great
private-sector firm I left the business
world after three years to lead a
non-profit charity some questioned why I
would leave a promising business career
to run a charity the answer was quite
simple it was another opportunity to
serve I led a foundation dedicated to
honoring the sacrifice of our fallen and
severely wounded special operators the
foundation I led enabled hundreds of
children of our fallen to attend college
it was extremely meaningful and
rewarding in the winter of 2018 I was
asked by former director Dan Coates to
return to government service to lead the
National Counterterrorism Center this
request was totally unexpected and was
not a position I saw but then again it
was another opportunity to serve my
country in particular I knew that many
of the young sailors and junior officers
that I had trained 20 years earlier
we're now senior comm
that veterans deploying and still
sacrificing I decided that they could
continue to serve returning to
government service with the very least I
could do
and now and I am sitting before you as
the Acting Director of National
Intelligence with last month's departure
of dan coates and sue gordon two
exceptional leaders and friends I was to
ask to step into their very big shoes
and leave the intelligence community
until the president nominates and the
Senate confirms the next Director of
National Intelligence I accepted this
responsibility because I love this
country I have a deep and profound
respect for the men and women of our
intelligence community and the mission
we execute every day on behalf of the
American people throughout my career I
have served and led through turbulent
times I have governed every action by
the following criteria it must be legal
it must be moral and it must be ethical
no one can take an individual's
integrity away it can only be given away
if every action meets those criteria you
will always be a person of integrity and
by nearly four decades of public service
my integrity has never been questioned
until now I'm here today to
unequivocally state that is acting DNI I
will continue the same faithful and
nonpartisan support and am added that
adheres to the Constitution and the laws
of this great country as long as I serve
in this position for whatever period of
time that may be I want to make it clear
that I have upheld my responsibility to
follow the law every step of the way in
the matter that is before us today I
want to also state my support for
whistleblower and rights and the laws
whistleblowing has a long history in our
country dating back to the Continental
Congress this is not surprising because
as a nation we desire for good
government therefore we must protect
those who demonstrate courage to report
alleged wrongdoing whether on the
battlefield or in the workplace
indeed at the start of ethics training
the executive branch each year we are
reminded
that public service is a public trust
and as public servants we have a solemn
responsibility to do what's right which
includes reporting concerns of waste
fraud and abuse and bringing such
matters to the attention of Congress
under the intelligence community
Whistleblower Protection Act I applaud
all employees who come forward under
this act I am committed to ensuring that
all whistleblower complaints are handled
appropriately and to protecting the
rights of whistleblowers in this case
the complainant raised a matter with the
intelligence community Inspector General
the Inspector General is properly
protecting the complainants identity and
will not permit the complainant to be
subject to any retaliation or adverse
consequences for communicating the
complaint to the Inspector General
upholding the integrity of the
intelligence community and the workforce
is my number one priority throughout my
career are relied on the men and women
of the intelligence community to do
their jobs so I could do mine and I
could personally attest that their
efforts saved lives I would now like to
turn to the complaint and provide a
general background on how we got to
where we are today on August 26th the
Inspector General forwarded to complain
to me from an employee in the
intelligence community the Inspector
General stated that the complaint raised
an urgent concern a legally defined term
under Whistleblower Protection Act that
has been discussed at length and our
letters to the committee on September 16
and 17 before I turn to the discussion
about whether the complaint means the
definition of urgent concern I first
want to talk about an even more
fundamental issue upon reviewing the
complaint we were immediately struck by
the fact that many of the allegations of
the complaint are based on a
conversation between the President and
another foreign leader such calls are
typically subject to executive privilege
as a result we consulted with the White
House counsel's office and we're advised
that much of the information the
complaint was in fact subject to
executive privilege a privilege that I
do not have the authority to waive
because
that we were unable to immediately share
the details of the complaint with this
committee but continue to consult with
the White House counsel's in an effort
to do so
yesterday the president released the
transcripts of the call in question and
therefore we are now able to disclose
the details of both complaint and the
Inspector General's letter transmitting
to us as a result I have provided the
House and Senate intelligence committees
with the full unredacted complaint as
well as the Inspector General's letter
let me also discuss the issue of urgent
concern when transmitting a complaint to
me the Inspector General took the legal
position that because the plant
complaint alleges matters of urgent
concern and because he found the
allegations to be credible I was
required unto the intelligence community
Whistleblower Protection Act to forward
the complaint to our oversight
committees within seven days of
receiving it as we have previously
explained in our letters urgent concern
is a statutorily defined term to be an
urgent concern the allegations must in
addition to being classified assert a
flagrant serious problem abuse or
violation of law and relate to the
funding administration or operation of
an intelligent activity within the
responsibility of the Director of
National Intelligence
however this complaint conduct this
complaint concerns conduct by someone
outside the intelligence community
unrelated to funding administration or
operation of an intelligence activity
under my supervision because the
allegation on the face did not appear to
fall in the statutory framework my
office consulted with the United States
Department Justice Office of Legal
Counsel and included we included the
Inspector General in those consultations
after reviewing the complaint and the
Inspector General's transmittal letter
the office of legal counsel determined
that the complaints allegations do not
meet the statutory requirement
definition concern legal urgent concern
and found that I was not legally
to transmit the material to our
Oversight Committee under The
Whistleblower Protection Act and that
classified version of that Office of
Legal Counsel memo was publicly released
as you know for those of us in the
executive branch office of legal counsel
opinions are binding on all of us in
particular the office of legal counsel
opinion states that the president is not
a member of the intelligence community
and the communication with the foreign
leader involved no intelligence
operation or activity aimed at
collecting or analyzing foreign
intelligence well as OLC opinion did not
require transmission of the complaint to
the committee's it did leave me with the
discretion to forward the complaint to
the committee however given the
executive privilege issues I discussed
neither the Inspector General nor I were
able to share the details of the
complaint at the time when the Inspector
General informed me that he still
intended to notify the Committees of the
existence of the complaint mr. Chairman
I supported that decision to ensure the
committee's were kept as informed as
possible of this process move forward I
want to raise a few other points about
the situation we find ourselves in first
I want to stress that I believe that the
whistleblower and the Inspector General
have acted in good faith throughout I
have every reason to believe that they
have done everything by the book and
followed the law respecting the
privileged nature of the information and
patiently waiting while the executive
privilege issues were resolved wherever
possible we have worked in partnership
with the Inspector General on this
matter
while we have different and for pinions
on the issue of whether or not is his
urgent concern I strongly believe in the
role of the inspector general I greatly
valued the independence he brings to and
his dedication and his role in keeping
me and the committee's informed of
matters within the Intelligence
Committee second although executive
privilege prevented us from sharing the
details of the complaint with the
committee's until recently this does not
mean that the complaint was ignored
the Inspector General and consultation
with my office referred this matter to
the Department of Justice for
investigation finally I appreciate that
in the past was a blower complaints may
have been provided to the Congress
regardless of whether they were deemed
credible or satisfied the urgent
recurrent urgent concern requirement
however I am not familiar with any prior
instances where a whistleblower
complaint touched on such complicated
and sensitive issues including executive
privilege I believe that this matter is
unprecedented I also believe that I
handle this matter in full compliance
with the law at all times and I am
committed to doing so sir I appreciate
the committee providing me this
opportunity to discuss this matter the
ongoing commitment to work with the
Congress on your important oversight
role thank you very much sir