Nomination Hearing

Morning everyone. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will come to order. Today's hearing is in a hybrid format. The two witnesses are here in person in front of us with family members and feel free to introduce them when your time comes. Thank you for joining us all of you and members have the option to appear either in person or virtually or both if they choose. The committee meets today to consider the nominations of Ms. Ventra C. Gibson to be Director of the Mint and Mr. Paul Rosen to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security. Thank the nominees for appearing and extend you and your families a warm welcome. To the nominees, thank you. Both of you have served the public before in various capacities. Thank you for your willingness to serve our country. Ventra C. Gibson is the President's nominee to serve as Director of the Mint, the agency to which Ms. Gibson has been nominated as the world's largest coin manufacturer. Fiscal year 21 alone, the Mint shipped 14.7 billion circulating coins. The Mint operates six facilities, employs some 1,600 people. It's also the only major world Mint to maintain continuous production throughout the pandemic. Thanks to you and your workers for that. It's a testament to its dedicated workers who design, produce, and protect our national assets. For more than two centuries, the Mint's played an essential role in providing American people and businesses with secure privacy, respecting currency. It's the sole producer of circulating coins. If confirmed, Ms. Gibson would be the first African-American to lead the Mint. She represents yet another historic nomination by this administration. We voted out of this committee the first black woman to ever serve on the Federal Reserve. We know I had the honor of meeting Judge Jackson yesterday and knows her place in history and so much more. Ms. Ferguson and others that have come out of this committee. Ms. Gibson's devoted more than 40 years to public service, decades in top leadership positions throughout our government. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, she currently serves as the Acting Director of the Mint beginning in October, I believe. She served as Director of Human Resources for the District of Columbia. Prior to her time with the D.C. government, she served in high-level leadership positions at the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs. Thank you for nodding so that I have this right. I appreciate that. I'm glad you can be with us today, Ms. Gibson. Paul Rosens, the President's nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security. It's an important national security position that this committee helped create in 2018 for the passage of the bipartisan foreign investment risk review modernization act, another Washington acronym, FIRMA. If confirmed, Mr. Rosen would lead an office responsible for implementing the department's responsibilities as chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment, CFIUS, an interagency committee that reviews foreign and some foreign investments in U.S. businesses. Mr. Rosen previously held several senior leadership roles at the Department of Homeland Security, including as serving as Chief of Staff to then Secretary Jay Johnson. Prior to joining DHS, Mr. Rosen served as a federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, Counsel in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Staff Director to the Senate Caucus for International Narcotics Control. He's well respected, as we know, by the national security community. On Monday, a bipartisan group of 85 national security and law enforcement professionals, professionals spanning Democratic and Republican administrations, sent a letter urging swift consideration and confirmation of Mr. Rosen. They wrote, quote, Paul's the right person with the right skills to safeguard U.S. national security when it comes to direct foreign investment in the United States, unquote. The Fraternal Order of Police wrote to Ranking Member Toomey and to me expressing its strong support of Mr. Rosen's nomination. I ask the unanimous consent these letters be entered into the record without objection so entered. Thank you, Mr. Rosen, for your prior service to our country, your willingness to serve again. Thanks again for both of you being here. Senator Toomey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Rosen and Ms. Gibson, welcome to both of you. I commend you both for your long-standing commitment to public service. Mr. Rosen, you've been nominated, as the Chairman pointed out, for a very important role at the Treasury, leading the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS. CFIUS is an interagency body with the power to review and, in some cases, advise the President to block foreign direct investment into the United States, known as inbound FDI, on the grounds that certain investments may erode America's technological advantages that underpin our national security. Maintaining our defense while upholding our economic prosperity is a sensitive and challenging task. The broad free flow of capital is a fundamental part of our remarkably successful free market system. In particular, inbound FDI is a source of much-needed investment in American business. From 2016 through 2020, between 150 and 500 billion dollars in FDI has flowed into the U.S. each year. This inbound FDI can lower prices and increase the choices available to American consumers, strengthen the American workforce, increasing employment and wages, and fund research and development that contributes to technological innovation and economic growth. However, foreign governments and their agents know that investing in an innovative American firm can potentially give them access to valuable technology. Such investments, coupled with the tech transfers that may follow, have the potential to allow adversaries to make a technological jump that can be used against our national security, all without their having to spend the time and resources innovating themselves. There's no more problematic and systemic threat in this regard than China, as the U.S. intelligence community's latest annual threat assessment says, and I quote, Beijing uses a variety of tools from public investment to espionage to advance its technological capabilities, end quote. Protecting against the threat of adversaries using FDI to harm our national security is why we have CFIUS. But given the importance of inbound FDI to our economy, it's vital that CFIUS remains laser focused on screening for genuine national security threats, while at the same time not undermining the attractiveness of the United States as a place to invest and innovate. Mr. Rosen, if confirmed, you'd be only the second Treasury Assistant Secretary of Investment Security. Since this position was created in 2018, FIRMA made several notable changes to CFIUS. Before FIRMA, CFIUS only reviewed transactions when a foreign person gained control or majority ownership of a U.S. company. FIRMA expanded the scope of transactions that CFIUS can review to include non-controlling investments in certain U.S. businesses and certain real estate transactions near military bases and sensitive infrastructure sites. FIRMA also created a fast-track process that allows companies to potentially shorten the CFIUS review process through a mechanism called a declaration, as opposed to filing a traditional notification. That process seems to be working well. I'll be looking forward to your reflections on that. Now turning to the U.S. Mint, Ms. Gibson has been nominated to serve as the Director of the Mint, which was established in 1792 in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia. Founding fathers understood that in order for the United States to prosper, it needed its own monetary system. The Mint continues to play a vital role by manufacturing coins that Americans use every day. It also produces precious metals and collectible coins, and for the Mint to thrive, it must continue to innovate and release new products that resonate with the public. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senator Toomey. Would each of you rise and raise your right hand, please? Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? And do you agree to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee in the United States Senate? Thank you. Please be seated. And Ms. Gibson, you are recognized to begin your testimony. Thank you again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, and distinguished members of the committee for allowing me to appear here today. With me today are my children, my son, Alexander, and his wife, Catherine, my daughter, Heather, and my son, Charles. I am honored that the President nominated me to serve as the Director of the United States Mint, a responsibility that I do not take lightly, and I would like to thank Vice President Harris, Secretary Yellen, and Deputy Secretary Adeyemo for their support. My career in public service began more than 40 years ago when, following high school, I joined the United States Navy. My time as a Navy Air Traffic Controller in Tennessee, Sicily, and Cuba was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and proved to be the defining moments for me relevant to my values. After military service, I continued to serve my fellow veterans for 23 years at the Department of Veterans Affairs. At VA, I advanced from an entry-level professional to one of VA's most senior executives, Deputy Assistant Secretary. In those roles, I dedicated my life to our nation's veterans by further developing employment programs and changing the diversity landscape of the department. In January 1998, I led the development of the Office of Resolution Management at VA, where I was responsible for handling the department's unlawful discrimination complaints and its alternative dispute resolution cases. I was also responsible for the development, articulation, and delivery of the department-wide human resource policies, programs, plans for 260,000 employees. A highlight during my time at the VA was serving as one of the first volunteers during the opening and dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We were called upon to assist family members and friends in finding their loved ones' names on the wall. I can still see and feel the tears of those mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and fellow soldiers. For me, this moment crystallized our debt as a nation to those fallen heroes and how their loss of life preserved our freedom and defended our democracy. In 2003, the former administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration, Marion Blakey, asked me to join her team as FAA's most senior human resource executive. In that role, I stabilized a human resource environment in the middle of a transition to a centralized model without negatively affecting the agency's mission. Then, in 2011, I retired after 35 years of federal service. In 2014, I was pulled from retirement and appointed to the Department of Health and Human Services as the Assistant Deputy Assistant Secretary for HR. In that position, I worked with the Office of Personnel Management on several initiatives that led to flexible hiring programs and the future of the federal workforce. In 2015, Mayor Mariel Bowser appointed me to her cabinet as the city's top director of human resources, where I transformed the district's HR program into a high-performing, results-oriented organization, where I managed a billion-dollar health benefits program for 80 agencies and 37,000 employees. Last fall, I was honored to join the U.S. Mint as its deputy director. The Mint has a rich and meaningful history, and it is the largest and most respected Mint in the world. I would consider it a privilege and an honor and another defining moment in my life if confirmed to be the director. If confirmed, I am ready to lead a workforce dedicated to connecting America through coins. I will focus on people, as they are key to the Mint's success, on our programs, from commemorative medals to collectible coins to circulating coins, and on our performance, one that is highly valued and highly thought of. Thank you again for this opportunity to appear before the committee, and I welcome your questions. Thank you, Ms. Gibson. Mr. Rosen, welcome. Thank you. Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Toomey, distinguished members of the committee. It is an honor to sit here before you today as the President's nominee to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Investment Security for Treasury. My life's journey into public service has its roots in these very halls, going back nearly 50 years. In 1973, my parents met working in Congress. My father, from California, a legislative assistant, and my mother, originally from Southeast Washington, D.C., a legislative secretary, both working for Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, the first African-American congressman elected from California. My parents were drawn to Capitol Hill by a desire to serve, which was a value instilled by their parents, including my grandfather, who enlisted in the Army to fight as a corporal in World War II, and my grandmother, who spent 34 years working at the U.S. Census Bureau. My parents married and relocated to California, where they raised my brother and me, instilling in us the same values of service, integrity, and hard work. My mother went on to teach elementary school for 38 years, and my father practiced law with two friends, in addition continuing his own public service, volunteering on city commissions, arts, and education boards, and both continue to work to this day into their 70s. My brother also found his own calling in community service. After a long and difficult battle with addiction, he became a counselor at a rehabilitation facility that helps at-risk youth, speaking to schools and students and adolescents, trying to arm them with healthy tools to cope with the stresses of life. I'm extremely proud that this summer will mark his 18th year of sobriety. My own path, Senators, was greatly influenced by this history. After graduating college, I packed a suitcase and bought a one-way ticket to Washington, D.C., with the goal of working on Capitol Hill. My first opportunity was working as a volunteer intern for the late Senator Carl Levin, and later I worked as a staff assistant for Senator Joe Biden. After attending law school and clerking for a federal judge, I returned to the Senate to serve as counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and then for nearly another decade, working in various jobs at the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, working to protect public safety and national security. I was drawn to these roles, in part, from witnessing the scourge of illegal drugs and the impact they've had on so many victims, like my brother and others. And like my parents did a half century ago, I met my wife on this journey, and we're blessed to have a beautiful baby girl, and Casey is with me here today, while our daughter is home in California with her grandparents, watching the hearing. I can't thank them and our entire family enough for their love, support, and sacrifice. Senators, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, plays a vital role in protecting U.S. national security. As technology advances at warp speed, and the intentions and capabilities of our adversaries expand, CFIUS and the talented career professionals who support it are critical gatekeepers in protecting the United States from malign foreign investment, while continuing to promote an open investment environment. And there is perhaps no more consequential time in our history than now to make certain that working with this committee, CFIUS is successful in executing on its national security mission. My professional path, experiences, and values have prepared me well to fulfill the role of Assistant Secretary. My work as a prosecutor, senior government official, and national security lawyer uniquely positioned me to fully and faithfully execute Congress's statutory mandate in the landmark Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, a vitally important bipartisan tool that updated the framework, authorities, and functions of CFIUS. Senators, if confirmed, I would be honored to serve alongside the talented and dedicated career professionals in the Office of Investment Security and International Affairs to preserve an open investment environment that supports economic growth and innovation while protecting U.S. national security interests. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions. Thank you, Mr. Rosen. I'll start with you, Ms. Gibson. According to New York Times, an internal report commissioned last year by the Mint found the organization had, their words, a culture problem marked by implicit bias, unfair hiring practices, racial tension. This reporting is extremely troubling to us, and I assume to you. As someone with decades of experience engaging in executive oversight and workforce development, you laid your career out beautifully, I thought. Building inclusive teams within government agencies, you understand the importance of addressing culture issues directly. I know you're new to this agency. I know that report came out, and that report was from September. You joined the next month. What have you been doing in the months that you've been acting director in your current capacity to address these issues? What plans do you have to continue this work, if confirmed? Thank you, Chairman, for the question. Since I've joined the Mint in October of last year, and after having digested the report and using it as a pre-decisional document in action planning going forward, I've put in place what I call a blueprint for change, and this is based on my values of fairness, integrity, and trust, because that is so essential to leadership and the trust of the nearly 1,700 Mint employees. That being said, the blueprint for change is actually a guide to how we address these unlawful perceptions by employees of discrimination, marginalization, insensitivity, or in fact, in some cases, workplace harassment. I've ensured the development of an anti-harassment policy, and I've laid in place, again, that blueprint, which has a 10-point actual plan that I would be willing to sit down with you and the staff to go over in detail and provide an update on how we are accomplishing making sure we address it. Just two examples, I've created the Office of Chief Equity, the Chief Equity Office, that will look with an eye towards our lens towards equity, and I've hired a consultant to come in and help me make sure I affect change. Thank you. Mr. Roseland, I'll turn to you. The Assistant Secretary is charged with leading the Interagency Committee in reviewing certain foreign investments to identify and address national security concerns that those transactions may pose. You outlined well in your opening statement how your previous federal service will inform your work as Assistant Secretary, so my question is this. In FIRMA, Congress recognized the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. businesses that maintain or collect sensitive personal data. Your work at DHS and the private sector provided opportunities to understand how companies structure transactions and business involving personal data. How will you ensure that CFIUS is reviewing transactions involving sensitive personal data, and what will you consider when reviewing such transactions? Chairman, thank you for that question and for raising the important issue of sensitive personal data. As you and the Ranking Member know, this was an issue that was the authorities for which were enhanced in FIRMA, and sensitive personal data now is one of the triggers for reviewing a non-controlling investment, and as we know with technology and the advent of various technological advancements, sensitive personal data of Americans is everywhere, and it's an issue that FIRMA has rightly focused on. So one of the things that we would do is, of course, in assessing certain jurisdiction of non-controlling investments, look to the statute, look to the factors, and look to whether and to what extent U.S. sensitive personal data would be exposed, because there's a great concern that our adversaries could get a hold of sensitive personal data. They've done it before, and they're looking to do it to exploit that data on U.S. citizens, and so it's something that, Senator, if confirmed, we would take a very close look at and making sure that we're protecting that sensitive information. Thank you. Last question, another for you, Ms. Gibson. Since its founding, as the Ranking Member pointed out, in Philadelphia, the Mint has served the American people by manufacturing, distributing, circulating coins. It's been reported that the coronavirus pandemic caused disruptions to the normal circulation patterns for coins. As we return to normal, if you're confirmed, as we return to normal, businesses reopen to full capacity. Describe what the Mint is doing to promote circulation, and as you answer that, just tell us if you're still seeing those disruptions and how you're going to address it. As you can appreciate, Senator, thank you for the question, sir. The U.S. Mint is an operational arm of the currency that we produce in the United States, and at the Federal Reserve's request, we deliver, and we have delivered all coins requested by the Federal Reserve for distribution to the banks. That being said, we also have looked at what flowback is. We participated in the U.S. Coin Task Force that made recommendations on how we can get coins back flowing from the nearly 128 million homes that during the pandemic have kind of kept coins without negotiating them through our economy. And we also are looking at, we have a program called Get Coins Moving. I did a press release last year, last week, to just out there to as many of the media as possible, saying, hey, bring the coins, let's get them back into the economy. Thank you. Senator Toomey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Rosen, as you know, when FIRRMA was passed, it dramatically expanded the scope of transactions that would be subject to CFIUS review, and CFIUS seems to have stepped up and significantly increased the volume of transaction that it has looked at, evaluated, many under the declaration process, which is the faster process of getting to an approval. But certainly CFIUS has its hands full with this volume of transactions. I am concerned that we should not, certainly anytime soon, add to the burden or create distractions or meddle with CFIUS's core mission because it's a big job and it's a very important job. I guess I'd like to get your perspective on how you think about the specific national security threats that arise from China in particular when it comes to acquiring American technology. So briefly, your assessment of the nature of this threat, how serious is it, and how do you view how CFIUS is currently managing that? Senator, thank you for that question and for raising this critical issue. The threat from China, frankly, is significant. It's a strategic economic competitor. It's engaged in conduct that is adversarial against our national security interests. They're engaged in acts of stealing intellectual property, technology, and the like. You cited the Intel assessment. It's a threat that I think we need to be very, very focused on, Senator, and it's one that I take very seriously. In terms of how the committee would approach that threat, frankly, Senator, I think you and others in FIRMA provided significant tools to examine and go after that threat, and they're tools that I would intend to use. For example, the non-notified transaction process, very important. Monitoring and compliance issues, very important. The jurisdictional issue of being able to look at transactions intended to evade CFIUS jurisdiction, very important because I think we need to be focused on the threat in front of us, but also the threat of tomorrow. So in my opening remarks, I mentioned how important inbound FDI is to the American economy. I assume you agree that that is an important asset for our economy. Yes, Senator. So my question is, given the importance of FDI and given that CFIUS can review and intervene and even block FDI, how do you both safeguard critical U.S. technology, but at the same time avoid becoming a cumbersome obstacle to legitimate FDI? And sort of a related question, how do you make sure that CFIUS does not become a tool for just protectionism? Senator, thank you for raising that and for the question. On the first, it is a balance. We need to make sure, and if confirmed I would engage in this, make sure that we are efficiently and effectively moving transactions. Moving benign investment through the process is a very important piece of the CFIUS review. Predictability and certainty in the business community, very important, all while focusing on national security are things that I think the balance needs to be struck. You've raised those two pieces. I think moving forward from a CFIUS operational perspective, I think those are the things that if confirmed I would be looking to work with this committee on in striking that balance. Thank you. Ms. Gibson, as I mentioned in my opening statement, the Mint needs to continue to innovate and release new products that resonate with the public. That includes collectibles. Two examples I want to ask you about, the Morgan and Peace silver dollars. My understanding is that in 2021 the Mint released the popular new versions of each of these coins and they sold out within minutes. But in 2022, I understand the lack of availability of silver has caused a suspension of the production of these coins. I've been approached by stakeholders who are very concerned that if we skip a year's production in 2022 and wait until 2023 to resume production, that that will have an adverse negative impact on the attractiveness of this series, the value of these coins. So I'm wondering, is it possible to actually produce these coins in 2022 rather than just waiting until 2023? Thank you, sir, for the question. The Morgan and Peace program was highly popular. As you mentioned, it sold out in minutes. And we also received a number of complaints from customers that were not able to obtain the Morgan and Peace. For 2022, we thought about how can we go about ensuring that we will have enough coinage Morgan and Peace specifically for the customers, especially since we sold out in 2021 and could not meet that customer demand. I pulled together a team of experts from manufacturing, sales and marketing, legal and the chief financial fiscal officer to make sure that going forward, we could produce the Morgan and Peace in 2022, given the fact that we have to also balance our silver supply chain with our bullion program, which is congressionally mandated. Thus, we made the decision that we would bypass 2022 and in 2023 make the Morgan and Peace coin and that way make enough sufficient to satisfy customer demand. So my time is out, but I've just my understanding is it would be possible to make some coins in 2022, probably not sufficient to meet the full demand. But a number of constituents have suggested that it's better to at least meet some demand and have the continuity of production rather than wait till 2023 when maybe you'd be able to meet the full demand then. So I would just ask you respectfully to consider that possibility. Thank you, sir. And I surely will. Thanks, sir. To me, Senator Warren from Massachusetts is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Biden administration has rallied the world to impose historic sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions include seizing yachts, mansions, financial holdings that Vladimir Putin and his oligarch buddies have stashed abroad. But to enforce these sanctions, we need to know who owns what. So, Mr. Rosen, if confirmed, you would play a leading role on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Now, CVS doesn't enforce sanctions, but they do review foreign investments in the United States to make sure that they don't pose a risk to our national security. That means that they know a lot about the importance of finding out who is behind an investment. So, Mr. Rosen, let me ask you, when a shell company tries to buy a U.S. semiconductor company or real estate right next to a military base, CVS does a tremendous amount of work to find out who is behind the shell company, often the entity known as the beneficial owner. So, why is it so important to national security that we know the actual identity of who's investing in the United States? Senator Warren, thank you for that question. Certainly, understanding where money is coming from, who is controlling the money, what does that flow look like are key considerations in any national security risk assessment? But CVS only reviews a few hundred transactions a year, and it focuses on investments that lead to foreign control of important U.S. businesses. That's its special niche. That prevents foreign adversaries from buying the companies that, for example, run our power grid. But it doesn't stop criminals, terrorists, and sanctioned oligarchs from making other kinds of investments in the U.S., including stashing a lot of money here. We do have other safeguards. Know your customer requirements. Require the financial institutions to ask basic questions about potential clients before helping them hide buckets of cash in our financial markets. Now, these rules apply to most American financial institutions like banks and mutual funds and even casinos. Catherine Cortez-Masto thought you might want to remember that. They're all paying attention under know your customer. But there is a huge loophole for the $11 trillion private investment industry. Mr. Rosen, if a Russian oligarch uses a shell company to invest his billions with a U.S. private equity firm, is that private equity firm required to find out who's actually behind that shell company? Senator, I do not believe so. That's right. The answer is no. And that creates a huge loophole for oligarchs to be able to evade sanctions and to continue to carry on business right here in the United States. This loophole also poses a threat to the stability of our financial system because we don't know what parts of the financial system have been infiltrated by Russian money. And that means we don't know what impact sanctions could have. And it's hard to be confident that private funds are actually complying with sanctions as required by current law. So, Mr. Rosen, do you agree that it is a threat to both national security and financial stability to allow private investment companies to blindly accept cash of Russian oligarchs, not to mention money from human traffickers, drug lords and terrorists? Senator, I certainly believe that beneficial ownership inquiry analysis is a key national security consideration, particularly when it comes to CFIUS. Good. You know, last year, the Biden administration committed to fixing this loophole. But Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made it clear we don't have any time to waste here. With every day that passes, Russian oligarchs and government officials continue to profit from illegal investments in the United States. That's why I sent a letter last week to the Treasury Department and the SEC asking them to immediately close the know-your-customer loophole for the private investment industry. The United States has led the world in imposing strong sanctions against Russia, and we must use every tool possible to enforce those sanctions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Cortez Masto from Nevada, where there was one cement in Carson City and now a museum, right? That's absolutely right. I was going to lead with that. I'm sorry. I'm just going to lead with that. So first of all, congratulations to the nominees. Welcome. Congratulations. Welcome to your family members. And so, Ms. Gibson, I was going to start with that. Because the mint, and the U.S. mint, and because of the Comstock load, as you well know, we had a mint in Carson City for a period of time. It is now part of our state history, Nevada History Museum. We are very proud of it. I was just there, actually. They were actually minting some coins. So let me talk to you a little bit about this, because I was pleased to see President Biden sign into law a bill that I worked with, with Representative Barbara Lee, Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020. And I was fortunate enough to lead this with Senator Fischer. We had 24 co-sponsors, including Senators Toomey, Daines, Moran, and Smith. And what we did in that piece of legislation was to recognize important women in our nation's history. And I was particularly pleased that Maya Angelou was chosen for the inaugural quarter, as you well know, about her legacy, and her, which really helped to fuel greater fairness and understanding across our nation around activism and her writing. I am looking forward to collecting the next quarter honoring astronaut Sally Ride. But my question to you is, if confirmed, how would you ensure that the U.S. mint increases awareness of these quarters honoring prominent American women, particularly among children and young people? And how do you think this type of recognition helps with the work that ultimately you do is minting coins and making sure that they're out there in circulation amongst the American public? Thank you, Senator, for that question. And thank you for your leadership of the American Women's Coins Program. We, as you know, we still this year have three remaining, and that's Wilma Mankiller, Nina Otero-Warren, and Anna Mae Wong. And we've announced the five women for 2023, which are Bessie Coleman, Jovita Idar, Edith Kananoko'oli, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Maria Talchi. And the program will continue through 2024 with five additional women, with your input as well, and through 2025, five additional women. The reason why this is so critical that we capture women on coins, because women help contribute and build this great nation. And the contributions of these trailblazers, and those that have gone through the suffrage movement, and those that have gone through voting rights, and those that have really made a difference in how we as a country operate. We have women on the front lines in our military every single day. It is my desire, if I am confirmed at the privilege of being confirmed for this position, to make sure that going forward, women are just a natural part of the coin process, and that we don't have to have a special program to recognize them, that they have an equal voice and an equal presence in our coinage. Thank you. I want to jump to Mr. Rosen, because I only have so much time here, but I appreciate the work that you're going to do around not only this, but the work that is so crucial for the U.S. Mint, and your background clearly shows you have the experience to lead the helm there. Mr. Rosen, another area I want to highlight some of the glowing letters of support that I have received in support of your nomination as well. One of those is from the National Fraternal Order of Police. They spoke to your ability as a reliable partner of law enforcement. You are described as a thorough prosecutor of crimes such as drug trafficking, violent crime, and financial crimes, and your work at Homeland Security serving under Secretary Johnson to combat threats to the homeland such as ISIS and cybersecurity. Talk, if you would, about your experience in cybersecurity and counterterrorism and how that will inform your work at CFIUS. Thank you very much, Senator, for the question and the reference to that letter. My experience in national security law enforcement will critically inform how I approach the role of assistant secretary. When I was chief of staff of the third largest cabin agency, we were responsible for addressing threats to the homeland from a variety of sources, and as you point out, those were counterterrorism threats that were ISIS-inspired actors and, critically, cybersecurity threats to our critical infrastructure and commercial partners. We work to harden that infrastructure, both commercially and on the government side, and we work to counter the threats coming from overseas, particularly from China and elsewhere. Senator, if confirmed, it's something that I will be focused on. Thank you. I appreciate your comments because going back to what Senator Toomey talked to you about with respect to the with the Chinese Communist Party, I do think your background lends itself to prepare to handle issues such as the CCP-backed venture capitalist investors targeting emerging technology firms. I am hopeful that, based on your background and what you've just already talked today about the balance and finding that balance, that you are going to be just as effective in what we need here, and that you will also come back to us and tell us what additional tools you might need as we address and look at the concerns happening abroad. So, I am done. Thank you so much. Congratulations to both of you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks, Senator Cortez Masto. Senator Hagerty is recognized from the state of Tennessee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and congratulations to our two nominees. Mr. Rosen, I'd like to turn to you first and talk about a topic that's near and dear to my heart, which is SIPIUS. Senator Cortez Masto, I'm certainly just talking with you about that as well, and I want to initially ask for your commitment to work with this committee, and in particular the National Security Subcommittee, which I'm the ranking member, to continue to refine the improvements in our investment screening regime that are enabled in FIRMA and as enabled through the regulations that are developed and published over the past few years. You certainly have my commitment, Senator. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rosen. As FIRMA noted, investment screening is more effective if our like-minded allies are operating similar systems, screening out similar nefarious investments. And to that end, the previous administration established an office within Treasury to work with allied nations to establish and coordinate investment screening. In fact, when I served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan, I had teams come over to work with our partners there to try to share our knowledge, to share our best practices, to make certain that our allies are working in the same direction that we are. I think we're all much better off when we have coordinated screening in that manner. We've seen a lot of positive movement in that direction, and we've got more than a dozen countries now strengthening or expanding their systems. So I'd like, Mr. Rosen, if you just talk for a few minutes, if you would, about your priorities for engaging with our allies to further synchronize our systems. Senator, thank you for that question and raising this issue of international engagement, which is critical, as this committee saw when it enacted FIRMA, frankly. As we get stronger through the implementation of FIRMA and our systems do a better and more thorough job of screening foreign direct investment, we do need to be increasingly cognizant that those malign actors are going to go to our partners and try to get at that critical technology, that critical infrastructure, that know-how, as you point out, through other mechanisms. And so working with our allies, it will be a priority of mine to help them build up their capabilities like we built ours up in FIRMA. And my experience engaging with foreign partners in doing so, I will sort of leverage that experience, Senator, to work to enhance that, because FIRMA also talked about accepted foreign states, right, and giving an incentive for countries to do that. So you have my commitment that will be a focus of mine. I appreciate that. My observation working with our teams in the past was that we have very talented people, but we have a dearth of talent as well. It's a tough process. It's one that requires certain expertise. And I'd love to hear your comments on the manpower aspect of this and what your plans might be to recruit and enhance that. Certainly, Senator, and thank you for that. I'm not in the building, so I haven't been able to assess firsthand. My understanding is that with FIRMA, the resources through filing fees and otherwise have grown. The manpower has grown in a very positive way. And so I'm looking forward to getting in and assessing that. And you certainly have my commitment that if I identify gaps, I will come back to this committee. But in terms of the focus, I think that from what I've seen on the outside, the office is doing a good job in working to implement and build those resources and devote the resources, as you point out, to the priorities of FIRMA. Well, back to your initial commitment of working with us and, again, my subcommittee, I very much appreciate that, because I want to make America the most attractive place to invest capital. We've got great partners. We can deepen our economic alliance, and our economic security begets national security. So I want to make certain that we have a process that facilitates the proper sort of investment, the proper sort of partnerships, but at the same time protects intellectual property and makes certain that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. So I look forward to working with you closely on that. I'd like to come to another aspect of CFIUS, if I might, and that has to do with the parties who are required to file with Treasury for covered transactions. Over the years, the government has discovered that many transactions are finalized that weren't disclosed. They call them non-notified transactions. And those transactions, once they're discovered, then require CFIUS review. And once we determine that some of those transactions might actually impose risk to our national security, they have to be unwound. Given your experience as an attorney, I think you know how complicated that can be, how disruptive that can be. It takes a lot of our manpower, and it really leads to many, many challenges. So I'd like to understand a little bit more how you plan to encourage the parties that file covered transactions to do so properly, and how to make certain that we don't have these non-notified transactions. Are there areas where you see opportunity there? Yes, thank you, Senator. And I agree with you that we do want to encourage companies to come in the front door. And there is an informal engagement process with CFIUS that's in place to allow companies to engage, to ask questions, and the like. Through FIRRMA, there was also a declaration process put into place for, to your point about encouraging foreign direct investments, speedy, swift resolutions to the inquiry. And so, Senator, if confirmed, I'm going to be focused on this issue. I'm going to be looking at resources because I do want to make sure that benign investment flows efficiently and effectively through the system, while staying laser focused on national security. I'll look forward to working with you on that, too, because I think a good communication program, particularly with our U.S. side, private equity, venture capital investors, to let them know what the consequences are, what the difficulty would be of having to unwind these transactions could be very effective. Thank you very much for your time. Ms. Gimson, congratulations. I'm going to submit my questions for you for the record. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senator Hagerty. Thank you to the nominees today for being here and providing testimony. I hope we work together as a committee to move forward quickly on the nominations of both these two qualified nominees. For senators who wish to submit questions for the hearing record, as Senator Hagerty said he plans to, those questions are due close of business on Monday, April 11th at 5 p.m. For the nominees, we'd like you to have your responses back to us by Monday, April 18th at noon. Thank you again for your testimony, and the committee is adjourned.