WASHINGTON—Cyber and border security, immigration, refugees, military readiness, and capabilities headlined the second annual Capitol Hill National Security Forum on June 21.
Hosted by Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), and Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), lawmakers huddled with other government officials and leaders to shed light on the most pressing of security issues.
In the opening panel, McCaul and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristjen Nielsen discussed the need for cooperation between Republicans and Democrats on issues such as immigration and defense, as well as the evolution of terror from a physical to a cyber presence.
“[W]hat we don’t need to do as Americans is pit the enforcement of law against our humanitarian ideas,” Nielsen said, noting that President Donald Trump is not the one to come up with a lasting solution to the immigration problem. “I want to be very clear on this; Congress has the authority and responsibility to make the law of the land and to fix the immigration system.”
McCaul noted the two immigration reform bills before the House. Later that day, the House rejected a bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Goodlatte (R-Va.)—considered the more conservative bill—in a 231-193 vote. A vote on a more moderate “compromise” bill sponsored by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was postponed.
Nielsen also illustrated the depth of the border challenges related to children, noting the influx of unaccompanied children across the border.
“I want to be very clear here, of the 12,000 [unaccompanied children] that are currently housed within [Health and Human Services] facilities … 10,000 of those kids were sent here without a parent, without a legal guardian, in the hands of smugglers, in the hands of traffickers,” she said. “Some of them are raped, they’re abused; many of them come, they’re already recruited into a gang, because that was the only way they could survive the travel.”
Nielsen and McCaul also discussed steps that the United States was taking to help Mexico secure the border it shares with Guatemala and Belize. The U.S. stations Border Patrol agents there, along with other measures to cut down on drug smuggling and human trafficking, among other crimes.
“We need all the countries involved to sign up to principles, programs, information sharing, because this is a regional problem,” Nielsen said. “Nobody wants smugglers; they’re not humanitarians; they are criminals, pure and simple.” She also noted a broken asylum system with a case backlog of 600,000.
In addition to discussing immigration, McCaul drew a line to the terror threat regarding the border as well, noting that Osama Bin Laden had suggested penetrating the southwest border of the United States using Mexican-obtained visas.
“We know that ISIS, in their publication, talked about the ease with which they could deliver a weapon of mass destruction across the border,” he said. “It’s pretty frightening stuff.”
McCaul also mentioned a report that said the United States was stopping an average of 10 to 15 potential terrorists from entering the country per day.
“Last year … we prevented over 3,700 known or suspected terrorists from traveling to the United States,” Nielsen added.
Nielsen said the United States is working with other countries to collect biometrics data on suspected terrorists in their travels from country to country, to identify them if they attempt to enter the United States. She also explained the difference between today’s threats and those faced in the recent past.
“The good news … is that their physical sanctuary has been eliminated,” Nielsen said. “What we see them doing more and more though, is going and trying to find sanctuary online.”
McCaul pointed out that terrorists don’t have to physically band together to commit acts of terror anymore. ISIS, he said, was defeated physically, but terrorist threats have evolved since then.
In addition, Nielsen described efforts the U.S. government undertakes to stop cyberterrorism, including the blocking of terrorist propaganda. Part of that is working with U.S. counterparts in the United Kingdom.
“What we’re trying to do … is first of all, raise awareness,” Nielsen said. “The good news is the companies are now responding; they have increased dramatically their ability to not only identify [terrorism-related activity], but to then hash it and have a database, so that any time it’s uploaded on any platform for anybody who’s joined the initiative, they can pull it down very quickly.”
Though it’s easier to identify terror-related content online, it’s still difficult to catch them online.
“It used to be very difficult for terrorists to create a physical ‘safe haven,’ from one place to another, and I think we’ve ensured that is the case, but on the internet, they can just switch platforms in a matter of seconds,” Nielsen said. “There’s no boundaries; now they’re crowdsourcing terror, if you will, over the internet, and they can plot against the United States from anywhere in the world with a smartphone.”
Other aspects of terror remain the same, McCaul said. They both agreed that terrorists are still seeking to use aircraft as weapons in potential attacks.
In addition, they said individuals are not the only ones seeking to attack the United States online. There is a rash of ongoing cyberattacks originating in Russia, North Korea, and China as well.
“The way that we are hyperconnected today unfortunately means that we can no longer look at this issue as a protection of particular assets and systems,” Nielsen said. “It really requires collective defense, which means we have to raise the awareness among all entities; we have to prioritize, but we have to empower everybody that basically has an internet connection, to really understand where the threat is.”
She alluded to China’s and North Korea’s dangerous cyber activities on the Web and said that the most important thing consumers can do to protect themselves is to avoid scams and suspicious links or sites and change passwords from time to time.
Even still, there is no way to prevent all cyberattacks, Nielsen said.
“We’re way past the ability to prevent all attacks, or to protect against them,” Nielsen said. “It’s no longer a question of if or when, but how long and how often can you withstand an attack?”
McCaul said China had swiped about “20 million security clearances, including ours” and asked what response the U.S. was planning. Nielsen said the United States is looking at everything including military efforts and sanctions. She also said NATO would figure prominently in any effort, as NATO itself has also been a cyberattack target.
“[I]t’s taken us over a year to attribute in some cases, then we attribute, and nothing happens,” Nielsen said. “So this is one of those areas where deterrence has to be clear: We will no longer stand by while nation-states attack the government or our private sector entities.”
McCaul agreed.
“I do worry about China … and their infiltration of our companies and networks, and espionage,” he said. “Quite frankly, their goal in 2025 is to completely dominate us both with their military and economically.”
Speaking later in the day, Rubio also offered further input on China.
“They have made it very clear that their central ambition is to displace the United States as the world’s most powerful nation,” Rubio said.
If it were simply a matter of out-competing the United States, he added, the United States could simply up its game, but the means by which China is achieving their ambition is decidedly more sinister, according to Rubio.
It involves “[300 to 600] billion dollars a year of intellectual property theft,” Rubio said, “of closing off their own markets to American companies, of forcing technology transfers for American companies that are allowed in, and meanwhile, expecting to have unfettered access to our own markets.”
Rubio is introducing a bill to counter Chinese espionage and information theft. It would ban Chinese communications companies from doing business in the United States.
“These are instruments that China uses in order to not just steal intellectual property, but have access to both military and commercial secrets of other countries,” Rubio said. “Under China’s own intelligence laws that they passed in 2017, every person in China, and every company and organization in China is compelled by law to cooperate with their intelligence agencies.”
For instance, American companies like Apple, Rubio said, can refuse to give the FBI information about cell phone users or even block such access with special software. This is illegal in China.
“Every company that does business in China and is from China has no choice but to cooperate with Chinese intelligence,” Rubio said.
This cooperation includes spying on both Chinese citizens and other people and companies around the world. Any business that refuses is shut down. He noted Chinese telecommunications companies that he sees as a direct threats to U.S. national security, he added.
“[T]his is the fact that every single person in Congress who has carefully read what we are being told about the threat that ZTE and for that matter Hwawei and other pose have all reached the same conclusion, and that is, that this is not a political issue, this isn’t even a trade issue,” Rubio said. “This is a national security issue, and must be viewed through that lens.”
Rubio described China’s attacks on other nations’ infrastructures and economies, and billions of dollars in intellectual property theft, including in the United States. He said China controls companies within and even outside its borders, forcing them to use spyware and hacking against other companies and individuals. He said that since China has grown economically, the Chinese government has become even more oppressive and aggressive both inside China and on the world stage.
“The Chinese Communist Party has pulled off the greatest illegitimate transfer of wealth in the history of mankind, through the theft of American innovation and ingenuity.” Rubio added.
The Chinese steal an average of up to $600 billion worth every year of American technology and ideas, he said. Because the Chinese copy American electronics, they can figure out how to hack into them as well.
Rubio also talked about apps that allow people to spy on others through their phones. Phone manufacturers can build software into a phone to spy on people, he said. These companies can also use the same kind of technology to attack systems like dams or electric networks. In addition, they can steal military and nuclear secrets and use them to further attack the United States and other countries.
The annual forum was an all-day event that covered various aspects of national security. See additional Homeland411 coverage of the event here. You may view the entire event here.
Rachel Schultz is a staff writer for Homeland411.
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