Chairman Peters' Questions: 'The FY25 DHS Budget'

secretary mycus U I am uh focused uh on ensuring that the DHS and uh doj have the authorities needed uh to counter the evolving threat posed by unmanned aerial systems or drones operated uh by Bad actors your Department's current uas authorities are set to lapse on May 11th of 2024 leaving uh upcoming major events like the nd500 and the New York City Fire fir works on July 4th unprotected unprotected from this growing drone threat so my question for you sir is what what would losing this authority mean to our combined efforts uh to protect the Homeland Mr chairman the the loss of our authority to uh counter unman aerial systems um would leave us less secure and less safe um the proliferation of unmanned aerial systems for adverse uses uh has only grown the capability of those systems has only increased with respect to uh speed distance uh covered uh payload carried and we need that system um quite quite compellingly secretary fentanyl uh continues to as you're well aware to be a Scourge on our communities all around the country far too many families including in my home state of Michigan are losing loved ones to this epidemic and we certainly must increase our efforts to combat it and uh and while I appreciate the dhs's operation such as Blue Lotus and operation Apollo I believe they've resulted in seizures of over 5,500 lbs of elicit fentanyl uh in the first two months of FY 24 alone uh clearly more needs to be done so my question for you secretary looking at dhs's uh fy2 budget request I'm concerned that the department uh is relying on Congress to pass a supplemental appropriation to advance the fight against Fentanyl and synthetic opioids so my question is how will you ensure that DHS has the resources it needs to address this challenge if Congress fails to take action as it unfortunately has in the past Mr chairman um uh we do the most with what we have uh we um engage in strategic operations we maximize the use of non-intrusive inspection technology uh we deploy forward operating Labs we use our transnational criminal organizations to work uh with International Partners uh the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security do so much with the limited resources they have but uh let me uh assure you Mr chairman that these Senate bipartisan legislation would have provided us with vitally needed additional resources to combat fentanyl uh a Scourge like no other that I have seen even throughout my 12 years as a federal prosecutor Prosecuting narcotics trafficking organizations and drugs ranging from cocaine to PL toar heroin sir secretary last year uh I released a report on watch listing and screening practices of individuals at our nation's airports and ports of Entry uh this report included uh concrete recommendations that DHS should Implement to enhance our national security while also upholding Travelers dignity uh and rights uh it recommended DHS reform the redress process track screening activities in a in a holistic uh manner to assess their impact and establish a watch listing and screening uh advisory Council uh my question for you secretary is what actions has DHS taken so far to begin to address uh these three recommendations in the report Mr chairman we very much appreciate uh the report that was published uh and we are certainly acting upon it it is our highest purpose to ensure the safety and security of the American public and to do so while complying with civil rights civil liberties and privacy rights uh we in the Department of Homeland Security are looking internally at our own practices uh CBP TSA and the other agencies is involved with the offices of civil rights civil liberties and privacy and we're are also working with other departments and agencies with respect to the recommendations and the important recommendations that the report issued