Joni Ernst Asks Intel Nom About 'Weaponizing' Government After Tulsi Gabbard Declassifies Files On Obama

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During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) spoke about Tulsi Gabbard declassifying files on the Obama administration.

Transcript

00:00Senator Ernst. Yes, thank you Mr. Chair and congratulations to our nominees for

00:06being here today and for your willingness to serve and we thank your

00:09families as well. Mr. Planky, I'm going to start with you. We have behind me a

00:15chart and it's quite lovely here, but it is something symbolic but it is

00:21important. The blue outer ring and the inner red ring represent the unity with

00:27DHS and the commitment to cut through government red tape. However, federal

00:32agencies have been tied up in knots with outdated technology and many many

00:39bureaucratic hurdles. Currently the federal government maintains over 10,000 unique

00:45forms and processes approximately 125 billion forms annually. That volume isn't

00:54just a paperwork problem. It's a symptom of deeply antiquated systems that are

01:01ranging anywhere from 8 to 50 years old and unfortunately modernization efforts so

01:08often become boondoggles. Take the Bureau of Land Management's attempt to modernize

01:13its oil and gas activity tracking which ballooned to three times the projected

01:19cost. It was four years late and it added 565,000 labor hours resulting in 19 million

01:29dollars of productivity losses. Outdated technology also leaves the federal

01:36government dangerously exposed. So Mr. Planky, as CISA successfully assists state and local

01:44critical infrastructure to meet current cyber security protections, what will you do to

01:49ensure the federal government isn't falling behind while helping others catch up?

01:55Thank you for that question, Senator. I was nervous you were going to ask me about the

02:00logo. We could change that if you want. We might have to work on that. Roger that. After

02:06we fix these problems. Yes ma'am. So Senator, one of the ways I like to attack the problem is

02:12somebody who has worked in private industry from startups to Fortune 10 companies. I think too

02:19often we love to focus on how we fix a problem and basically when you're fixing something in the

02:29private sector business, you're stopping the bleeding, right? You stop the decremental decrease

02:35of the of the of the what you're trying to process. The problem is you really actually need to grow

02:42or change the service, right? You need to make a shift in what you do and change the way that you approach

02:49the problem set to deliver something better, in this case for the taxpayer. And when you focus on fix,

02:56all you're doing is is stopping the bleeding. And so what I'd like to focus on and what I've done in my

03:03technical experience is

03:07wholesale changes. So instead of investing more in bad processes and policies or or making small adjustment micro changes

03:16in a process that is outdated to begin with, we will invest in

03:21in wholesale changes and moves forward to deliver better outcomes for the American taxpayer.

03:26That's outstanding. I appreciate that. Let's stop doubling down spending additional money

03:33where we don't have to. It's just throwing money out the window. I'm going to move on to Mr. Fox.

03:40Your job ensures whistleblowers can trust the system they're reporting into. And as you know,

03:46last Friday, the director of national intelligence declassified documents exposing what she called

03:52a treasonous conspiracy carried out by some of the highest ranking officials in our nation to weaponize

03:59the intelligence community against the incoming president of the United States, framing him as

04:06being the agent of a foreign government. And we know today that it was all a made up lie.

04:14This carried real costs. The House of Representatives impeached the president in part over accusations built

04:22on fiction. Taxpayers were stuck with a $32 million bill for Mueller's witch hunt. Trust in our intelligence

04:33apparatus was undermined and despite all of this, the American people saw through the lies and reelected

04:40President Trump last November. So let me be clear. Weaponizing government against political opponents

04:46is un-American. So Mr. Fox, will you commit to turning over every rock regardless of how uncomfortable

04:55or embarrassing the truth may be for the intelligence community?

04:59Thank you for addressing this, Senator. And absolutely. That is what I've been asked to do.

05:04And do you agree that the intelligence community should be impartial, apolitical, and never weaponized

05:11against U.S. citizens or the leaders they choose? Absolutely, Senator. Thank you very much for

05:16your straightforward answers. Thank you all very much and congratulations on your nominations.

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