Devin Nunes

Mr. NUNES

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 2596, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would urge my colleague, the ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, that we shouldn't always believe what is in the newspaper. There have been lots of different reports about lots of different things. I would say that Mr. Schiff and I worked in a bipartisan manner to look at all programs across the spectrum of the 17 agencies. And we would be glad to spend some time with the gentleman from New York down in the committee spaces to raise the concerns that he brought up about a newspaper article. As I said, I think there are a lot of things that we read in the newspaper. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank the ranking member for his continued cooperation to work in a bipartisan fashion. As I think most Americans know, the threats continue to add up every day, and it is up to the men and women in the intelligence community to help keep us safe. I know the ranking member and I are committed to doing just that. With that, I look forward to debate on the amendments and passage of the final underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, although I do not intend to oppose the amendment.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to support the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, although I do not intend to oppose the amendment.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, over the last several years, cyber attacks have become a pressing concern for the United States. The recent breach of the Office of Personnel Management has put the personal information of millions of current and former Federal employees, including many of the men and women of our intelligence community, at risk. Every day, cyber thieves attack private companies, stealing credit card numbers, accessing medical records, leaking proprietary information, and publishing confidential emails, affecting tens of millions of Americans. The intelligence community has worked to improve our cyber defenses by improving information sharing between the private sector and the Federal Government through the support of H.R. 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act. While the Senate has yet to act on this bill, the legislation we consider today will help improve the Federal Government's ability to detect and defeat cyber attacks by creating the new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center. This thoughtful amendment by Mr. Israel and Mr. Hanna will require that the Center produce a report on cyber threat trends and coordination on cyber threats between different government agencies. I thank the gentlemen from New York for their work on this issue and urge my colleagues to support this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, although I do not intend to oppose the amendment.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, I thank Mr. Crowley, Mr. Serrano, and Mr. Curbelo for offering this amendment to include Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the grant program to improve recruitment efforts for the intelligence community. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Curbelo).

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I support the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, although I appreciate the ranking member's concerns about these provisions, I do remain concerned that further releases from Guantanamo will threaten our national security. Press reports now indicate that the administration intends to transfer up to 10 additional detainees this month. As the committee learned through its many briefings and hearings, the five detainees released to Qatar last May have participated in activities that threaten the United States and its allies and are counter to U.S. national security interests, not unlike their activities before they were detained. No intelligence community element should enable any future transfers that endanger national security. Furthermore, I would note that these provisions are substantively identical to the provisions passed by the House Armed Services Committee as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. Mr. Chairman, 26 of the 27 Democrats on that committee voted to advance an NDAA that contained similar restrictions. The provisions in our bill will complement those restrictions, as well as the restrictions put forward in the defense appropriations bills for several years running and this committee's previous intelligence authorization bills. The ranking member may have forgotten, but in 2012, there were provisions similar to this one that were included in the legislation. In sum, these provisions represent a strong and enduring consensus in Congress that Guantanamo should remain open and that detainees should not be transferred to the U.S. for any reason. As everyone here is aware, several detainees who have been released from Guantanamo have gone back to the fight and killed and wounded Americans. Putting detainees in U.S. prisons, as the administration originally proposed, would be disruptive and potentially disastrous. The threat is real, and Guantanamo is already equipped to handle the detention and military trial of these individuals, as appropriate. For those reasons, I would urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I know that the gentleman believes every word that he is saying. We have had robust debate in the Intelligence Committee behind closed doors, and we have had robust debate out in open session, and it is a debate I think that will always continue. However, the concern remains from the majority Members of Congress that they would prefer to keep Guantanamo open because no one wants to bring those terrorists to the United States, to their backyard, to try them in their State or their county or their community. So I respect the gentleman's concerns, and we will continue to debate those, but I will continue to oppose closing Guantanamo or having our intelligence community participate in the removal of detainees from Guantanamo. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, we are prepared to accept the amendment.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, the Intelligence Committee, I think, in a bipartisan manner, has the same concerns as the gentleman. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. NUNES. I really appreciate the gentleman. He is one of the most involved Members of Congress with NATO, so I know that his concerns are valid. I, too, share those concerns and would urge my colleagues to support the amendment.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to accept the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, although I do not intend to oppose the amendment.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, at this time, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chair, we are prepared to support the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NUNES. Mr. Chairman, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger).