Chairman Lankford (00:00):
Around the world for the Los Angeles Olympics, for World Cup, for the 250th birthday of the United States. We have a lot that's coming up in the next several years for us. Under the Trump administration, President Trump took an active role in bidding for and winning the chance to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 LA Olympics. The United States is also hosting the 2025 FIFA World Cup which begins later on this week, and it's looking like the US could also host the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup. The 2028 LA Olympics will also be holding two events in Oklahoma City as they wisely chose Oklahoma for softball, and for canoeing and kayaking slalom. The federal government has promised to provide significant investment in security, visa processing, and multiple other aspects that go into these large global events. The FIFA World Cup will also coincide with America's 250th birthday with a match being played on July the 4th, 2026, in Philadelphia.
(01:02)
Our government must be on the ball and will be ready to be able to secure the nation and ensure seamless travel for all of our welcomed guests from around the world. However, when this committee spoke with DHS last year, I was very concerned the administration had not fully prepared for these events yet, and the format was not laid out sufficiently to make that a seamless event. For example, visa wait times for Colombian nationals are at 18 months. That means Colombian nationals who want to come and support their team at the World Cup next year will have already needed to have applied for their visa or they will not get to come and watch their team. If a Colombian national applied today, they would receive their visa after the World Cup has concluded. If Costa Rica or Ecuador qualifies, their nationals are in a similar boat, the next available visa appointment in Costa Rica will occur during the 2026 World Cup. And the visa processing time for Ecuadorian nationals means that an applicant today will receive their visa after the World Cup ends. That's clearly a problem for their fans.
(02:07)
Customs and Border Protection, the State Department, Federal Protective Service, Secret Service, DHS headquarters, and many other elements in the federal government have told my staff that they're aware of the visibility and prominence of these events on the world stage, but they hold grave concerns about what it will take to also process the visas and to secure these events. In 1996, we saw the bombing at the Atlanta Olympics. In 2013, we saw a bombing at the Boston Marathon. Just last year, French authorities thwarted three attempted terrorist attacks during the Paris Olympic Games. These events are highly visible, they're symbolic targets for those who want to do our nation harm, and we have to be prepared to stop attacks before they happen.
(02:50)
In addition to what we would think of as more traditional terrorist threats, we're also now seeing the proliferation of drones and elicited drone flights around major sporting events, including the NBA finals happening in Oklahoma City just this last weekend. Last year, a Baltimore Ravens game was disrupted by an illicit drone flight. In the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and in Mexico, drones are increasingly carrying explosive devices and other payloads that could cause significant harm to athletes and spectators during these events. The last time our country hosted events of this magnitude occurred in Salt Lake City in 2002, before the US Department of Homeland Security even existed.
(03:33)
So while I'm confident there has been a lot of preparation for this task and for all these guests coming from the world, I'm concerned that we are getting a late start. Happy to see that President Trump has announced a World Cup task force that's being led by the Department of Homeland Security. This effort takes these events even more seriously and will focus on what it takes to be able to bring benefits to our country. Our witnesses are here today, they've been specifically invited to be able to talk about some of the things and the concerns that they have, and also things that we just need to be able to pay attention to in the days ahead. And I look forward to their testimony in introducing them in a moment. With that, I want to welcome Ranking Member Senator Fetterman for an opening statement.
Senator Fetterman (04:15):
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I could not agree more with what you've just said. And thank you for all the witnesses, thank you for joining us here today. And I'm pleased to be the ranking member of this subcommittee. And I am absolutely looking forward with Chairman Lankford to solve these issues that we're facing in the United States. It's a great, great honor for the United States to host premier international sporting events like the FIFA World Cup in 2028, the Olympics in Los Angeles, not to mention celebrating America's The Big 250 Birthday, and hosting the MLB All-Star game in Philly next summer. It's an incredible opportunity to showcase the best of America to our international visitors and to create a shared national pride among all Americans. I know my wife and the kids are going to be absolutely there cheering for Team Brazil in Philadelphia at the World Cup.
(05:17)
The events of this scale do not happen overnight. They take years of planning, resources and coordination between organizers and state and local governments, private industry and security partners. The federal government plays an important role in ensuring the safety of these events, providing financial resources, threat intelligence, and security personnel. What I am interested in hearing from our panel today is what security threats these events face, and how we can be… Needs to get done to make the decade of sports space and more successful. Mr. Chairman, I have statements from the American federal government employees and the National Treasury Employees Union discussing challenges that the TSA and the CBP workforce will face during the decade of sports I request to be entered into the record.
Chairman Lankford (06:14):
Without objection. I would also ask unanimous consent to add into the record of the United States Travel Commission Report on Seamless and Secure Travel. Without objection, we'll also add that in. Let me introduce our three witnesses so we can begin to get the testimony here. Dr. Gina Ligon is the founder and director of the National Counterterrorism Innovation Technology and Education Center, which is the DHS Center of Excellence for Counterterrorism Research. Pleased to be able to have her here. Dr. Ligon has served on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Panels for the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. She briefs the National Counterterrorism Center, Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and other federal organizations on terrorist leadership, organizational structure and capacity for malevolent innovation. Most importantly, she's a native Oklahoman. She received her PhD and a Master of Science in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Statistics from the University of Oklahoma, Boomer Sooner, and her BS in Psychology from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. So grateful that you're here. Everyone else has to live up to the standard of being an OU graduate here on the panel.
(07:26)
General Hoover is the CEO of the LA28 Olympics. That's a big task. That is the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. He oversees the planning, delivery, and execution of the games, and was appointed to the role in June of 2024. General Hoover's held various senior civilian roles in the US federal government, leadership positions in the United States military in addition to being a three-star lieutenant general. He's led the United States to the most complex logistics operations, was awarded the highest non-combat award in the defense department, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, which is almost as good as OU, holds a master's degree in management at Birmingham Southern College, and strategic studies in the US Army War College. So thank you for your leadership. Look forward to getting your insight on this.
(08:17)
Mr. Shawn Kinder is a global corporate development and strategy director at Ferrovial Airports. In this role, he leads the airport division in growth to promote sustainable, efficient and safe facilitation of air travel. Prior to this role, Mr. Kinder has been helping to build the aviation financial advisory practice at Solomon Partners. Previously spent 19 years working on several of the world's largest infrastructure development and business planning efforts at airports such as Chicago O'Hare, Abu Dhabi, Manchester, and Nairobi just to name a few. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Purdue University and Northwestern University. Thank you to all three of you for the preparation. We've received your written testimony already. That will be a part of the permanent record. And we're looking forward to getting your oral testimony as well. We do appreciate the preparation you've already put into this and the questions we're going to ask you. Dr. Ligon, we'll begin with you first to receive your oral testimony.
Dr. Ligon (09:24):
Thank you. [inaudible 00:09:25]. Protecting major sporting events in the United States. Thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony. On January 1st, 2025, Americans woke up to the news of a terrible act of violence in an iconic city, 14 people killed, dozens more injured in a brazen attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It's a place known for crowds, joy, and major sporting events such as the Sugar Bowl and the Super Bowl that would take place within a mile of where that attack happened. Beyond what the news reported about that terrorist, what I viewed as most important were the AI-powered glasses he wore to survey the location, the decentralized car-rental app he exploited for the truck that rammed the crowd, and the three types of weapons he planned to use for maximum lethality.
(10:10)
My name is Gina Ligon. Based on my role as a director of insight, which is the DHS Center for Counterterrorism Research, as well as my personal history of growing up in Oklahoma and being a military wife, I have dedicated my career to the study of preventing both domestic and international terrorism in the United States. Today, I present three considerations for a safe, secure, and successful FIFA World Cup in 2026, and Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. First, I urge you to not only examine the conventional ways that terrorists have attacked global sporting events, but also how technology might change their tactics. The majority of inside work is to illuminate what we have named malevolent innovation. There are two of these relevant for today, improvised explosive devices or IEDs, and unmanned aerial systems or drones. We have a project examining ideologically motivated IED plots that have been disrupted right here in the United States. From this, we've learned that the bomb construction and delivery are changing in notable ways, but these innovations are seldom shared publicly. For example, in 2011, an American extremist placed an IED along the root of a Martin Luther King Day parade in Spokane, Washington. That bomb had shrapnel dipped in rat poison, which would've prevented victims' wounds from coagulating had the bomb not been found before the parade began.
(11:35)
Insights also identified ways that terrorists used drones as delivery and surveillance tools. For example, just last month, an ISIS-inspired former member of the Michigan National Guard was arrested after planning to conduct a mass shooting at the US Army's Detroit Arsenal, he used a commercial drone to identify high-traffic buildings and train his partners to find their entrances. In addition to preparing for increasingly innovative tactics, a second consideration for this committee is that terrorists who are drawn to the upcoming sporting events differ in both motivation and capability, from jihadist violent extremists to nihilistic online networks, the diversity of credible threat actors makes preparing for them particularly difficult. But despite this fragmented terrorist threat, my final conclusion is that DHS is poised to lead the federal effort in protecting us at these events if it prioritizes two often overlooked parts of the workforce.
(12:36)
First, the Science and Technology Directorate has an established national network of experts called University Centers of Excellence like mine, and we are ready to support these upcoming events. For example, at Northeastern and Rutgers, SENTRY, which is the Soft Target Protection Center, develops technology such as the digital dog nose to protect soft targets associated with crowded public spaces and public mass transit surrounding them. And at the University of Nebraska to Omaha, our insight center is working to illuminate how terrorists interact with artificial intelligence to increase lethality. Second, the DHS intelligence and analysis capabilities are essential in disruption of potential terrorist attacks at these upcoming events specifically. Joint threat assessments for all national security special events are led by INA, and its Master Trainer Network could translate those assessments via their long-term partnerships that they've already established with behavioral-threat assessment teams in each US host city. Resourcing S&T and INA must be a priority for these events. In closing, I began my testimony with a reminder of what happened in New Orleans, because that attack represents so much of what I detailed today, a known terrorism threat, inspiring an American to use tactics both old and new to attack a crowded public space for all the world to see. I am grateful for this committee's leadership to make sure this does not happen at the upcoming World Cup in Olympic Games. Thank you.
Chairman Lankford (14:12):
General Hoover.
LTG Reynold H Hoover (14:15):
Good morning. Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Fetterman, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning. My name is Reynold Hoover, and I'm the CEO of the LA28, the nonprofit independent organization responsible for organizing the 2028 Olympics and Paralympic Games. Prior to that, I served for over 35 years in the army and the Army National Guard, retiring after my last assignment as the deputy commander of US Northern Command as a lieutenant general. In the summer of 2028, the United States will host the world's most elite as it welcomes Paralympians and Olympians to compete on the highest stage in sports. While LA28 is responsible for organizing the games, it is the role of the federal, state and local governments to provide game security. Thank you for allowing me to discuss this critical role with the committee this morning.
(15:12)
And before I begin, I would be remiss if I didn't address what we've seen in Los Angeles over the past several days. And let me just be clear, security and safety are our top priorities leading to and during the games' time as we are committed to working with security agencies from local, state, and federal levels to ensure a safe and secure games. In just 1,129 days from today, as it did in 1932, and again in 1984, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, along with the stadium in Inglewood, will welcome the World to America with the opening ceremonies. These games will be the biggest games in Olympic history with 36 Olympic sports and 23 Paralympic sports across 49 competition venues. And to just put that into some perspective, the LA Olympics will be equal to hosting seven Super Bowls a day for nearly 30 days straight.
(16:18)
Within that 30 days competition, the games will bring to the LA region and Oklahoma City, nearly 15 million spectators from around the world, over 11,000 Olympic athletes and more than 44,400 Paralympic athletes. The combination of venues in Oklahoma City, the multiple preliminary soccer cities, and our 50-state torch relay route will dramatically broaden our national footprint, and this will require a whole of government approach in security planning and operations. In that context, the 2028 games were designated a national special security event in January of 2024, which is a critical first step in the overall coordination and synchronization of security operations across all levels of government. As the lead federal agency for this NSSE event, the Secret Service is leading the interagency integrated planning and process, which began in earnest in June of last year. For the 2028 games. We are seeking a commitment by the federal government to fund a 100% cost reimbursement for public safety, staffing and material costs associated with state and local law enforcement, fire and emergency services personnel, and including but not limited to the National Guard.
(17:42)
To be clear, this is not funding to LA28. Rather, it is reimbursement directly to those public who are providing critical security functions in support of the Olympics and Paralympic Games. President Trump continues to demonstrate his strong support to the games, preparing the United States to raise the Olympic torch for a truly American Games. The president included security funding in his initial budget submission to Congress, and I'm sure, as you all know, the House of Representatives included a billion dollars of funding for security, planning and other costs related to the 2028 games as part of their 2025 budget reconciliation legislation. This is certainly welcomed news, and LA28 strongly supports the inclusion of this funding in any final budget package that the Senate considers. With three years to go before we welcome the world, the LA28 team is working tirelessly with our federal, state, and local and private-sector partners. It is truly an example of how government and the private sector can and should work together at every level to showcase the strength of our nation, the power of sports competition at the highest levels of athleticism, and
LTG Reynold H Hoover (19:00):
Our collective resolve to deliver a safe and secure games. Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Fetterman, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for asking me to testify today on behalf of LA 28, and I look forward to your questions.
Chairman Lankford (19:14):
Thank you, General Hoover. Mr. Kinder.
Shawn Kinder (19:19):
Good morning. Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Fetterman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Shawn Kinder and I'm the Global Corporate Development and Strategy Director at Ferrovial Airports. Ferrovial Airports is a global leader in airport development and operations. With over 25 years of experience managing more than 30 airports, including the under-construction new Terminal One at JFK. With a strong presence in North America, Ferrovial has developed critical infrastructure like toll roads in Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina. As the largest listed infrastructure company in North America, Ferrovial focuses on long-term partnerships to enhance sustainability, innovation, and passenger experience.
(20:05)
Travel is a major US economic driver, contributing nearly 3 trillion annually and supporting 15 million jobs. In 2024, international visitors added 181 billion to the economy, boosting tax revenue and enhancing America's global standing. Over the past year, I served on the US travel association's Commission on Seamless and Secure Travel, working with Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Patrol, TSA, and stakeholders to modernize the travel system. Our report outlines strategies to adopt advanced technologies, streamline processes, and improves visitor vetting. Ensuring the US remains a global leader in travel while maintaining high security standards.
(20:54)
Major events like the 2025 Club World Cup, 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the 2028 Olympics could generate a hundred billion dollars in economic activity and attract 40 million international visit travelers. With these events fast approaching, we face an urgent need to modernize infrastructure to ensure safety, security, and travel efficiency. The creation of the White House Task Force on the 2026 World Cup is vital for coordinating resources and driving the necessary investments to meet these challenges swiftly. Our report offers a comprehensive blueprint for the future of American travel, focusing on transforming the travel experience to ensure a seamless and secure process.
(21:40)
We urge Congress and the administration to adopt a sustainable model that prioritizes travel policy and drives long-term progress. The full report and executive summary can be found at showcaseamericantravel.org. I would like to highlight key recommendations requiring immediate implementation to meet approaching deadlines. Biometrics. Accelerating biometric technology adoption is essential to meet growing travel demands, particularly with the World Cup approaching. Federal agencies must fast track deployment and eliminate delays to streamline passenger processing and reduce wait times.
(22:19)
By integrating biometric solutions across key touch points, we can create a more seamless, efficient, and secure travel ecosystem that meets the needs of both travelers and security agencies. Artificial intelligence. AI is crucial to handling the growing demands of travel and its adoption must be accelerated to keep pace with increasing volumes necessitating the need for accelerated development and procurement cycles. AI-driven systems for baggage screening can enhance security and speed, reducing delays and improving passenger flow, while allowing officers to focus on high-risk areas.
(22:58)
Public-private partnerships modernize US airports by combining private sector capital, expertise, and innovation to meet growing travel demand with limited public resources. These partnerships speed up infrastructure upgrades, improve traveler experiences, and introduce new technologies all while maintaining public oversight. The new Terminal One at JFK, first phase opening next year, exemplifies this approach supporting global events like the World Cup and the Olympics. Success relies on continued collaboration with regulators, airlines, and stakeholders to support future global travel growth.
(23:38)
I would like to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to the teams at CBP and TSA for their exceptional collaboration and support in the development of new Terminal One. Their commitment to innovation and excellence has been a driving force behind the success of this project. Ensuring that we deliver a state-of-the-art facility that enhances both security and the passenger experience. We deeply appreciate their partnership and look forward to continuing our work together. I would also like to thank US Travel Association for their leadership across all of these areas.
(24:09)
In conclusion, I thank Chairman Lankford, Ranking Members Fetterman and the Subcommittee for the opportunity to testify.
Chairman Lankford (24:16):
Mr. Kinder, thank you. Thank you to all three of the witnesses. I typically would swear you in before you do oral testimony, but I'm going to swear you in before you actually take our questions, I guess. Just to reaffirm that all your questions are going to be correct, but it actually sounds better than it is. I actually forgot to swear you in before you did your oral testimony. So just count that as the initial rookie mistake of getting started this time. Would you please rise, raise your right hand?
(24:41)
Do you swear that the testimony you will give before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Shawn Kinder (24:47):
Yes, sir.
Chairman Lankford (24:47):
Thank you. You may be seated. I'm going to choose to defer my questions to the end to allow more time for the other members of the panel to be able to ask theirs and then I'll ask my questions at the end. Senator Fetterman, are you going to ask your questions now or defer to the end?
Senator Fetterman (25:01):
[inaudible 00:25:04].
Chairman Lankford (25:03):
You're going to do your questions now. Senator Fetterman, you're recognized.
Senator Fetterman (25:10):
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr., thank you so much for reminding for me and maybe for others about what happened in New Orleans. I mean, I think some people even forgot about that and I did. And my recollection, the weapon was a truck, right? So my first question is directed to you for that and that since you are an expert, what are some of the threats that face the US and these sporting events that your team has identified of? What keeps you up at night? What is the number one thing that the federal government has to do to mitigate these kinds of threats?
Dr. Ligon (25:47):
Thank you for asking that and reminding us all about New Orleans. I think for me, we've identified five threats that we are most credible because of their ideology and past use of wanting to attack these kinds of spaces. They range from international actors, state-sponsored actors, all the way to domestic actors. What keeps me up at night is the idea that because we sometimes get fixated on what's happened in the past and international actors, we might not fully embrace the heterogeneity of the threat that's coming. And so for us to be able to support with expertise of people who think about this all the time and because the people who are planning these events have so many things to do right now. And so I think for you all to be able to support these public-private partnerships where universities can be part of this, you have professors like myself and students like myself who are thinking about each of these actors very deeply in a way that someone who's planning an event may not be able to. Thank you.
Senator Fetterman (27:02):
Would like to open up that question to other members as well. I mean, you have a big job as well. What keeps you up at night?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (27:14):
Senator, I'll just start by saying I spend nearly 15 years as a bomb technician in the Army, so there's not a whole lot that gets me nervous, but I think the asymmetric threats that were just talked about is a concern, but from my perspective as the OCOG leading the organization. When I think about the magnitude of bringing 15 million people into Southern California, Oklahoma City, and across the nation as we hit all 50 states in our torch relay and the logistics that goes with that and the security planning and the security apparatus that is behind. Those are things that really I think are top of mind for me that I will say keep me up at night. It is really thinking about and trying to orchestrate and coordinate the magnitude of the undertaking.
Shawn Kinder (28:09):
Senator, if I could just add in addition to actually making it safe and secure, it's important that the travelers perceive its safe and secure and they can trust and rely on that and want to come to this country.
Senator Fetterman (28:24):
Actually I see you. Back to the chair.
Chairman Lankford (28:28):
Can do. Senator Moody.
Senator Moody (28:30):
Thank you Chair, Ranking Member, an incredibly important hearing. Thank you for taking the time to lead this hearing this morning. From the state of Florida, you can imagine this is of great interest to us. We host numerous international and national sporting events. I think during my time as Attorney General in Florida, we hosted back-to-back Super Bowls. Security of our large events, sporting events in particular is of utmost importance to us, especially since we are also a state committed to law and order and consistently striving to be the example of how you can maintain a safe community and state for the citizens that we've pledged to do and as a government.
(29:25)
General, thank you for your service to our nation. I was just at West Point watching the graduation a couple of weeks ago. The oldest boy in our family just graduated from there. And I'm always mindful of the greatness of this nation rests on the backs of so many that served us and we are grateful to you. There have been traditional security threats associated with these large-scale events from checkpoints, human trafficking even. We would often in preparation as Attorney General would host large-scale human trafficking trainings for law enforcement, but not just law enforcement, our other stakeholders, the hospitality industry. All of these things are necessary.
(30:06)
I think what is unique now, and we're watching it on TV right as we speak, is the necessity of having strong leadership both state and local and cooperation with federal authorities to maintain law and order. And I'm hoping in the future that international and national events take into consideration what kind of leadership is offered at the state level because you can see when you have weak leadership in terms of safety and security and law and order, you often see civil unrest that could have been avoided. And you're going to have your work cut out for you in LA. I mean that's just a fact and we're watching it play out right now.
(30:52)
In fact, in we have strong concerns because in 2024 we had security breaches at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida and that's going to be where eight FIFA Club World Cup matches, including the opening match and seven FIFA World Cup matches, including the bronze final match will be played. We saw spectators able to get around gates and hop fences and climb through ventilation systems to avoid security personnel. And all of that takes the cooperation of not just federal authorities and on-site, but leading up to the events, local authorities working and providing intel to make sure these kind of things don't happen. So I'm watching what's playing out right now in LA. We talked about what keeps you up at night.
(31:38)
What keeps me up at night is this is happening in our country and I fear in LA specifically that you're going to have your work cut out for you and have to bring to bear all of the talents and experiences you used in the military, but all of your relationships working with state and locals and hopefully they'll come around to their census by then and work with the federal government to ensure security. And I wish you well with that. That is a challenge that I can't believe we're having to address in our nation right now. Dr. Ligon, I wanted to talk to you about developing technologies. Drones are presenting very unique risks right now to large-scale sporting events. We're seeing a lot of drone activity over military bases right now.
(32:22)
I've introduced a bill to combat taking video using drones because one of our laws has a loophole that allows for that to happen. It's illegal to take pictures using drones of military installations but not video. So we're trying to update our laws, close loopholes. I'm very concerned with drones and how they might be used to undermine security and safety of patrons attending sporting events. Families Against Fentanyl has been warning for a long time about the fentanyl coming into this country that's being stockpiled. In 2021 just in that one year, it was enough to kill the entire US population multiple times over and they have a study that just horrified me. That drones could be used to release fentanyl.
(33:08)
I know that you have thought through this. We are now as senators and one of my other committees at determining how we might be able to better use state and locals to help with some of the threats from drones. Do you have any suggestions where the federal government might provide better laws or resources to the state and federal, excuse me, state and local law enforcement to help combat those threats?
Dr. Ligon (33:33):
Thank you so much for that question. Drones are something that keep me up at night because you see them in other theaters. One of the problems with that though is that most of our research has been done about drones that are in the Middle East or in Mexico. We don't have any comprehensive studies in the United States looking at how they work in our operating environment. So even with this legislation, we don't know how it's going to deter or even have any ramifications because there's no framework in the United States about how to integrate all of this information.
(34:07)
So one of the things that I would recommend is for us to get a better handle on what's happening with all of the downed drones in the United States because we do have them in areas of war. We know that Iranian-sponsored groups are using them much more over there and we are able to use technology to understand them, but we don't have them here in the US. And so I think what you're talking about is a really important question, but we just don't have the answers right now because we don't have any kind of systematic way to evaluate them. Thank you.
Senator Moody (34:40):
And if there were studies out there that people had conducted on their own or groups very interested in the security of our large-scale events, those would be of interest to you certainly, I know. But if you do come across those, we're trying to collect as many as we can, please forward those to us. So we may consider them for future legislation.
Dr. Ligon (34:59):
That would be great. We have a large-scale study right now funded by Science and Technology Directorate where we're trying to codify what they're used for and what the supply chain was to create them. And that's why I've learned that there's nothing out there like it.
Chairman Lankford (35:13):
Senator Hassan.
Senator Hassan (35:14):
Thank you Mr. Chair and Ranking Member Fetterman for having this hearing. Thank you to the witnesses not only for being here today, but for sharing your expertise and all the work you do. And I actually want to start with a question to General Hoover that follows up on Senator Moody's line. The federal government has taken some important steps to improve its ability to counter drones in prohibited airspace such as sporting events. However, as Senator Moody points out, there are still capability gaps as well as issues with legal authorities that can prevent many state and local law enforcement agencies from mitigating drone threats without federal assistance.
(35:55)
So General, how are the 2028 Olympics approaching the drone threat and is there adequate cooperation and resource allocation between federal and local law enforcement to effectively protect the games from this threat?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (36:08):
Senator, thank you for that question. I think the drone threat is just one of the many threat vectors that I think are top of mind for us as we work with the Secret Service. As the lead federal agency for the NSSC, we've been at it since June of last year at a coordinated effort, both at the federal level, at the state level, and the local level to think about all of the threats. Drones being one of them. And that continues to be a top of mind for us. I think in terms of resourcing the efforts that the Secret Service has been doing over the last year to really get us to a good spot on security planning is helping.
(36:54)
I think there are certainly gaps that have been pointed out already in terms of counter drone. I think we can detect drones and critical infrastructure owners and operators and large sporting events and locations can certainly detect drones. And I think Congress and the administration is working hard to close the gap to then identify counter drone, like what do we do once we find it? And that is, I think, the greater challenge.
Senator Hassan (37:20):
And who is the authority and what's the coordination like? And to broaden the question a little bit, in your written testimony, you discussed the need for coordination across local jurisdictions, state agencies, and federal agencies. You've just talked about that now as we prepare for the 2028 Olympics. And as you noted, these games will draw crowds to venues across multiple locations, jurisdictions, and state. A previous edition of this subcommittee held a hearing in 2023 about lessons learned from the Boston Marathon bombing. I was governor of New Hampshire at that time. The New England states coordinated very closely
Senator Hassan (38:00):
… mostly in the response to that. And one of the things that our witnesses in that hearing really talked about, and this was the former chief of police in Boston, federal agent in charge and others, was the fact that because the Marathon's a yearly event, our state, local, and federal law enforcement entities had a real history at that point of working together really closely. And they had a level of trust. They knew each other, but they spent time on developing those relationships and building that trust. So can you please discuss the importance of consistent intelligence sharing and cooperation between and among all levels of government when it comes to providing security for large-scale events like this? And how important trust is to facilitating these types of relationships?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (38:52):
Senator, I think trust, relationships, and information sharing of the coins of the realm when it comes to security planning. And I can tell you that since June, this is my one-year anniversary actually today, so I'm no longer in my plebe year from West Point, but I can tell you the first meeting that they let me go to when I came on the job was to the kickoff of the NSSC Executive Steering Committee with the Secret Service in town in LA. And at the state, at the federal, and the local level, the relationship among the law enforcement community and all of the emergency services in and around, not only Los Angeles, but the state of California is tremendous.
(39:34)
And what I saw… So I was at the Salt Lake City games in 2002, I coordinated the military's EOD support to the games, the bomb squad support, and that was right after 9/11 and we all came together. And to your point, the marathons happen all the time. Olympics don't happen all the time, and certainly the world's biggest Olympic events that we will host hasn't happened. And so that relationship building and the trust is really critical and I can tell you it is very strong from my perspective.
Senator Hassan (40:06):
Well, I'm glad to hear that. And with a little indulgence, Mr. Chair, I have one more question for Dr. Ligon, and I just want to also just note that when we are talking about resource allocation and staffing levels, it takes time to coordinate and build trust and build these relationships. And so I think it's important that we not skinny management just on the notion that the people on the front lines who are incredibly important, we want plenty of them too, but we have to make sure that the management folks have the time to really emphasize coordination and information sharing.
(40:44)
My question to Dr. Ligon is that in your written testimony, you discussed how Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps networks are waging war against high-value targets in the West, and you also noted that these Iranian networks have encouraged terrorist plots and criminal activities in the US. In fact, Iran has turned to criminals in an attempt to assassinate the president and to target a critic of the Iranian regime who was exercising their free speech rights here in the United States. So can you please discuss the threat posed by foreign nations who direct terrorism and acts of violence in the United States? And I also will just note for the committee that Senator Ernst and I have a bipartisan bill called the Deterrence Act, which would strengthen penalties for criminals who commit violence in the US on behalf of foreign governments. So can you just, I'm way over time, but briefly comment on that threat.
Dr. Ligon (41:39):
Senator, thank you for that question and thank you for your work on this issue. Honestly, the reason we put this in there was because we have a host of state and federal charges where Iran has indeed sponsored US persons to be able to carry out these attacks. They want to embarrass us. They want retribution for the death of Soleimani, one of their commanders. They have been actively trying to do this for years since that has occurred. The Olympics offers and the World Cup offer this world stage to embarrass the United States, and so it is just intoxicating to them to think about doing it on that venue.
(42:16)
The second piece though I'd want to bring up are the tremendous cyber capabilities of Iran. So if you saw what happened before the Paris Olympics, specifically, almost 200 unattributed cyber attacks were happening on the day of, the days leading up to. And so when I think about the coordination of a cyber attack combined with a physical attack, the most likely actor is going to be that state sponsor of Iran and the amount of chaos that would sow and distrust that would sow in our government. So we have to prepare for that and plan for that because that actor is coming. Thank you.
Senator Hassan (42:51):
Thank you very much.
Chairman Lankford (42:53):
Thank you. Mr. Kinder, let me ask you about CBP and TSA and trying to be able to dial up. I'd mentioned before, loosely in my opening statement, we're at 500 days wait time right now for a Visa interview from many countries. So if you're planning to be able to come as a spectator for the World Cup, you better have already applied or have an appointment for that or you're not going to be able to get in. So obviously that's an issue. What other issues would TSA and CBP face that you would see for our world guests that are coming?
Shawn Kinder (43:25):
Yeah, I think Senator, thank you for that question. In addition to those wait times, when you look at the traditional time to hire new officers, being 18 months, getting new staffing on board and starting that process, expeditedly is really critical. I think what we've seen with our relationships with both CBP and TSA at the New Terminal One project is the existing staff are ready to be innovative, they're ready to deploy these new technologies and it just takes an ability to expedite that, if you look-
Chairman Lankford (43:55):
Yes.
Shawn Kinder (43:55):
Yeah.
Chairman Lankford (43:56):
So walk me through some of the new technologies, because you mentioned that in your opening statement as well. What are the new technologies that need to be implemented that have not been? Or that are piloted somewhere that need to be multiplied?
Shawn Kinder (44:06):
Yeah. If you take the example of EPP, which is a technology welcoming US citizens through, without an application, without an application fee, it's deployed in eight airports over the last few weeks. It is dramatically increasing processing time for US citizens, which then allows the officers to focus on non-US citizens and process them more quickly. This is a technology that can be easily deployed, relatively low cost and is seemingly an opportunity to make it safe, secure, and quicker.
Chairman Lankford (44:39):
Okay. You'd mentioned as well about AI and the usage of that, you mentioned baggage screening in particular. Are there other areas that you see that AI could be implemented that's not currently being implemented?
Shawn Kinder (44:50):
Baggage screening is the important one, Senator, and one of the enablers for deploying AI technology on baggage screening is the deployment of CT machines. Under this current plan, all US airports will have CT machines by I believe, 2042. This can be expedited, much more quickly. If you look at what we… We've been the largest shareholder in London, Heathrow for more than 18 years, we've been able to deploy almost 150 lanes of CT machines there. New Terminal One will open with CT machines. It's a proven technology that just needs to be expedited.
Chairman Lankford (45:28):
Okay. When DHS was first created, one of the mandates was entry-exit verification.
Shawn Kinder (45:31):
Yeah.
Chairman Lankford (45:33):
That if someone comes in, they are evaluated, that they're in, they have a visa for X amount of time depending on the visa, and that if they don't leave, we know they haven't left. That was one of the mandates from DHS creation. We're now 20-plus years later, we still can't do that. What technology is needed to be able to make sure that we can actually do verification if someone comes in, they actually come out? And we've seen as recent as the past few months or weeks, someone who overstayed a visa that carried out an attack here in the United States.
Shawn Kinder (46:05):
Yeah. This is the power of biometrics that we now have the technology to do that more efficiently at all of our stations. And so again, if we can deploy those biometric technologies that are proven that are in use, they're just not widely in use.
Chairman Lankford (46:20):
So you're saying it's not a cost issue, what's the issue to be able to hold us back from that? Or maybe it is a cost issue. Why are we not already doing that now?
Shawn Kinder (46:29):
Well, if you take CT machines as one example, the plan is to deploy those over all of the airports just over a long period of time. Doing it sooner, saves money and enjoys the benefits of quicker processing and the economic benefits that come with that.
Chairman Lankford (46:46):
Okay. Any changes in our airports with so many global visitors that are coming in the next few years that need to be done, that you would anticipate that should occur? Whether that be at LAX or whether that be in the true hub of global, international travel, Oklahoma City, whatever it may be. When you identify international travelers and areas for both speed and safety and security there, what do you see are the issues we need to implement?
Shawn Kinder (47:13):
As part of the US Travel Association's Commission, one of the opportunities we had was to visit LAX and speak directly with the CBP agents there. And again, they're ready to deploy these things, not only to make it safe and secure, but in a welcoming fashion. And it was impressive just last year to see them already thinking about the LA Olympics, and so the plans there if we can enable these great employees of CBP and TSA to do to those activities.
Chairman Lankford (47:41):
Okay. I'm going to go ahead and hold some additional questions. I'm going to go to the ranking member. I know you hadn't had the opportunity to finish some of your questions. And then when we're done, Senator Hassan, do you have additional questions? Okay, we will do that then. And then we'll go to Senator Hassan and then it'll come right back to me, I'll have some additional questions.
Senator Fetterman (47:59):
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Lieutenant General Hoover, the DHS designated the LA 28 Olympics as a National Security special event, which means the Secret Service coordinates security for the event. What has it been like to coordinate security for something as big as the Olympics? Do you feel supported by the federal government? What more could we do for that?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (48:27):
Well, thank you, Senator. I think, as I mentioned at the outset, the Secret Service, especially in LA and at their headquarters level, has been an active participant since the NSSC was designated for the Olympics. The partnership has been incredible. They have a lead special agent in charge of coordinating the overall event. We have 12 separate subcommittees that are working, and those subcommittees are composed with law enforcement representatives from the local, state, and federal level so that the coordination is there. I think one area that we are genuinely concerned about is to make sure that our local and state partners and federal organizations that are involved in security receive 100% reimbursement for their services. It is not something unique to the LA games, it was done in Atlanta in 96, it was done in 2002 at Salt Lake City. And there is a mechanism to do that on the books, there is a 2013 NSSC grant that was put in place in 2013. I think the enabling grant is still there, but it hasn't been funded and the program hasn't been activated.
(49:45)
And I think that's an area that the Senate could look at and the Congress can look at is to think about reactivating that grant program. It is a concern I think of all of our constituents and partners that are working on security is to ensure that reimbursement comes through
Senator Fetterman (50:06):
And Mr. Kinder. I have, really, a quick question for you. I have heard that the World Cup will be likely described as the day before Thanksgiving for three months straight. I've done that once and I don't ever want to do that again. So do you feel like that's an effective description? And do you feel that we have enough TSA and CP officers? Are there anything that we can do anything better? What kind of concerns do you have for that?
Shawn Kinder (50:36):
Thank you, Senator for that question. Certainly more officers is important, and I mentioned earlier that it takes roughly 18 months to deploy these officers. And so trying to do that as soon as possible is really important, but that's where technology to enable those officers to act more efficiently comes on board. So some of the things I mentioned like biometric screening and enhanced baggage processing makes the whole system work much more quickly. So Congress can support these efforts by allocating funding for the staffing increases, but also expediting some of those technology upgrades.
Senator Fetterman (51:09):
Okay. I see the back.
Chairman Lankford (51:11):
Senator Hassan.
Senator Hassan (51:13):
Thanks again and thanks for the opportunity to have additional rounds. Dr. Ligon, my last question to you was about the threat in particular that Iran posed and other foreign actors, but we also have to support the intelligence and law enforcement work that prevents domestic terrorism. A domestic terrorist, as we all remember, was behind the attack in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. So can you discuss the threat that domestic terrorism poses? And how the US can both counter this threat? And also how we can work to prevent individuals from starting down that road to radicalization?
Dr. Ligon (51:54):
Senator, thank you for this question. This was part of the diverse threat that I wanted to make sure got on the record because the importance of the Department of Homeland Security intelligence and analysis branch is critical because while there are important intelligence functions at CBP and TSA and at Secret Service, what INA is doing is scanning the whole threat picture. And so when you look at their joint threat assessments, you really get to see that the threat of these people who are already here not traveling into the country, but are already here, is also paramount. And so I'm glad that you brought up the Atlanta Bomber, he was someone who we would call a lone actor acting on grievances. So he was anti-globalist, anti-abortion, and he saw this particular venue as a way to get that grievance, some publicity for it.
(52:52)
I also want to bring your attention to a new group that the FBI's talked about called Nihilistic Violent Extremists. There's an investigation in every state right now, 250 of them, 250 open investigations right now. And this was the group 764 that actually had the plot disrupted at the Lady Gaga concert in Brazil a couple of months ago where that would've had two million people. And they have really made their brand on gamifying gore and extremism. And so videoing themselves doing something at these events, the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics, would be incredibly important for them to be able to get their message out. And so these people are in the United States right now, and being able to make sure that we are empowering intelligence and analysis to be able to do those kinds of assessments to get in the hand of all state and local officials is incredibly important. Because right now I think a lot of them don't even know about those kinds of threats, and when you have INA scanning, you have that particular area taken care of for you. Thank you for asking that.
Senator Hassan (54:01):
Well, I appreciate that. And our office will follow up with you too because the other piece of the work is how do we prevent the radicalization in the first place, and I'd love to learn more about what we're learning about these new extremists. Thank you.
Chairman Lankford (54:17):
Thank you. Senator Moreno is on his way as well, so you may look at me and think, okay, this is going to be the last round. Oh no, there's more that's coming on it, so don't get anxious yet to be able to get up. But I do have multiple questions I want to be able to drill down on. Dr. Ligon. You had mentioned the use of the meta glasses in the attack in New Orleans. That was a new wrinkle there. As we look at the technology that's used and that's available locally, domestically for planning or executing a terrorist attack or for one of those folks wanting to video themselves while they're carrying out a terrorist attack, what else do we need to be aware of technology wise that is amping this up? We go back to the Boston Marathon. That was a pressure cooker locally available, obviously. It's becoming easier to be able to get instruments to be able to carry out attacks or to be able to video yourself.
Dr. Ligon (55:15):
Yeah. One of the luxuries of being at a university is we get to play with all this equipment and see how it might be used for both good and bad purposes. And so that is a constraint that the federal government has, is that they're not able to bring these open source tools into the building. We did a large scale exercise a couple of years ago with the AI glasses that were very similar to the ones used in New Orleans with members of the Office of Director of National Intelligence to try to urge them to rethink how we have developed the suspicious activity indicators. They were developed after 9/11, and so there's nothing on there that talks about using this sort of frontier technology to be able to plan an operation. It's all about watching someone take a picture with a camera taking aviation lessons.
(56:07)
And so being able to overlay how this new technology might be used for these suspicious activities and then giving the tools and equipment to state and locals who are best in the position to observe them, I think is incredibly important. Because right now the technology is developing so fast and our indicators are not keeping up.
Chairman Lankford (56:30):
I'm going to drill down on a couple of things. General Hoover, the Olympics, FIFA events, other things bring in a different dynamic for law enforcement as well, because you also have diplomatic security from all over the world and international partners. When our athletes and our diplomats travel, they travel with diplomatic security or Secret Service traveling with them. It is so for other countries as well, you've got to coordinate all of those, not just local law enforcement, federal law enforcement, but international law enforcement
Chairman Lankford (57:00):
… and security as well. How is that conversation going for LA 2028, and then what do you see as a need right now in that coordination that's not already happening?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (57:11):
Well, Senator, I think the coordination is happening. We expect somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 or more foreign heads of state to come to LA and Oklahoma City for the games.
Chairman Lankford (57:24):
Mostly Oklahoma City?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (57:26):
Mostly Oklahoma City for softball and canoe slalom for sure. And we're, as I mentioned earlier, very fortunate the Secret Service has taken the lead on that.
(57:38)
We also work very closely with the State Department, especially on the visa issues, to make sure that we have a process in place for that. But diplomatic security is another aspect of just the overall training planning that we're doing now, so it's in the bucket now.
Chairman Lankford (58:02):
You are currently getting the coordination you need from the federal government though, and CBP and such?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (58:05):
Yes, sir.
Chairman Lankford (58:06):
Okay. That's helpful to know. I hope you had the opportunity to be able to travel to Paris and to be able to watch the Paris Olympics. I assume you did.
(58:13)
Are there lessons that you learned from there that you see were implemented there both for security and facilitation, coordination with the French authorities, that you're not seeing with us, or that you see hasn't started to the level it needs to, you think, in the planning at this point? This not criticism. This is highlighting, "Hey, there's some areas that we need to get busy on."
LTG Reynold H Hoover (58:34):
Sure. I think, Senator, it's not what we're not doing, it's what we are doing. And back to Senator Hassan's point about relationships. And Paris was successful because of the relationships they had across the board in security planning and logistics planning and operational planning.
(58:54)
And I would say that LA '28 is successful because of those relationships that we've developed with our state partners, with our local partners, with our federal partners, and even the private sector as we think about operationalizing what will be the biggest games ever.
Chairman Lankford (59:11):
Yeah. Dr. Ligon, one of the challenges that they faced in Paris was obviously an attack on some of the infrastructure, rail electrical infrastructure. What you have described, what you're able to do in the academic setting, is to be able to think ahead. What could be possible, where are the pinch points where we're most vulnerable on this?
(59:31)
As you look at what happened in the Paris Olympics and where we are now in our preparation for these different global events, whether this be FIFA or whether it be our 250th anniversary celebrations coming up, or the Olympics, what do you see as some of those pinch points now that we're facing that need to be addressed sooner rather than later?
Dr. Ligon (59:54):
Thank you for asking. We have the luxury of thinking about the future in academia. We're not under the 72-hour limit that our operators are.
(01:00:04)
I look at some of the research that comes out of SENTRY, one of our sister academic centers for excellence out of Northeastern and Rutgers, and they're using discrete math to model which of the nodes of the New Jersey transit would be most impactful if it were attacked. And that is directly using data from the bombings that happened at the Paris Olympics.
(01:00:27)
And enabling those kinds of researchers to be able to think about the different permutations, if this node were attacked, that maybe is less populated, what would be the implications? And to have them to help with these exercises and to be able to get these state and locals thinking about not what is the most probable, but also what would be the most consequential because of cascading effects? I think that's something that you can really rely on academia to do because we do get to think about the third-order effects of different decisions that we make from crowd management and how the evacuation might happen.
(01:01:03)
And I would want to just follow up on a lesson learned from Paris and that specific piece, was this goes back to the Bataclan attacks that happened in Paris that was outside of another soccer event. One of the decisions that the stadium officials made was not to evacuate that stadium even though the attacks were happening on the outside because they didn't want to cause widespread panic.
(01:01:27)
I think us planning what are we going to do if an attack happens is incredibly important because that is something that the federal government can resource right now, is that if an attack happens in this area, what is our plan for being able to evacuate that would cause the least amount of trampling and chaos? Because to me, that is what keeps me up at night about if an attack does get through, are the secondary effects.
(01:01:53)
Because what we saw in Paris was they could have evacuated that stadium, and I don't know what would've happened, but I know that there are some modelers that do. And so being able to have them be able to use different big data, large-language models to be able to process some of these images and prepare for that, I think is incredibly important for this committee.
Chairman Lankford (01:02:14):
Okay. All right. That's very helpful. We had talked briefly about drones and their use before. I had mentioned in my opening statement as well that around the NBA finals that are happening in Oklahoma City right now, there were quite a few drones that were launched just around the Paycom Center, and it became a concern to local law enforcement to say, "We can see them. What can we do about them?"
(01:02:37)
Several of you have mentioned that as an issue. What I'd like to be able to highlight is what are the authorities that need to be in place so we don't just see a drone, but we have authority to actually stop a drone from coming at spectators or in a public venue that may not even be a spectator, just near one of the venues?
Dr. Ligon (01:02:56):
Yeah. So one of the things that happened at the Qatar World Cup that I thought was incredibly insightful was they did a large-scale exercise right before with the authorities that were in place to see how they would've handled it. And I think not only thinking right now about what authorities need to change, but also to do some exercises right before with our international partners to see.
(01:03:20)
Because our operating environment is so different than how it was in Qatar, the different legal authorities that we would have. And so being able to exercise that, depending on what changes happen with these five bills that are in Congress right now, I think are really important for real-time decision-making for those people.
Chairman Lankford (01:03:38):
Okay, that's helpful. General Hoover, thoughts on what authorities are lacking and are needed for local law enforcement or federal law enforcement at one of these events?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (01:03:46):
Well, Senator, I think the drone issue is one that's an important issue to take on because there is that gap of we have the ability to detect. What we don't have is the authorities at the state and local level for critical owners and operators of critical facilities across the country for large sporting events to actually engage, and that's the gap that needs to be closed. And I think to the extent we exercise those things, it is an area, I think, that is of concern.
Chairman Lankford (01:04:20):
Okay. Mr. Kinder, obviously drones are pretty essential to be able to keep away from airspace for a multitude of reasons. What authorities are missing from our current authorities dealing with drones?
Shawn Kinder (01:04:34):
Yeah. Thank you for the question, Senator. In addition to the safety and security concerns with these drones, there are operational concerns, and we saw this a few years ago in London, particularly at London Gatwick, where on multi-day events, the operational performance of the airport is dramatically impacted. And when we think about trying to get all these people into our major airports, particularly operational impacts are very much real as well.
Chairman Lankford (01:05:00):
Okay. Thank you. Senator Moreno, you're recognized.
Senator Moreno (01:05:04):
First, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. I think it's extremely timely. Obviously, we're all seeing the same thing on the news every night for the last three or four nights.
(01:05:14)
It looks like law and order's completely gone downhill in Los Angeles and throughout California. You have a governor that refuses to follow the law, you have a mayor who doesn't see a problem with looting. They both blame it on issues around deportations, which obviously have nothing to do with why you would go in and pillage a store or rob places.
(01:05:38)
I just got to ask you the obvious question, Mr. Hoover, and I appreciate, by the way, your service to this country. The obvious question I think on the minds of most Americans is given that these two big events coming up in '26 and '28 are going to see basically the same political leadership in California and in LA, don't we just make a decision now to say they're incapable of handling two big high-profile events like this?
(01:06:04)
And aren't we better off as a nation just to make an acknowledgement of that and move it to some place that actually will have law and order, that will have the proper amount of protections for American citizens and the tens of millions of visitors that are going to come to both of those events? Why fight the upward battle of what is clearly an administration both locally and at the state level that's just unwilling to follow basic civil protections?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (01:06:36):
Senator, I think there's no place in the world like LA to host the world's largest Olympics ever. And I think my experience has been in the year that I've been here, that both at the local level, at the state level, and at the federal level, the security coordination and the coordination and cooperation between all levels of government have been extraordinary. And I am confident that come July 14th of 2028 when we do the opening ceremonies in the Coliseum and the stadium in Inglewood, the world will be watching and see America at its best.
Senator Moreno (01:07:09):
I share your optimism for America, but look, we also see the TV screens on today. And unlike previous big events like this, you didn't usually have elected leaders that just refused to follow the law. I mean, basic elements: people on freeways, people breaking stones on the ground to throw them at police officers, bricks being delivered, canisters being thrown. This is total and complete chaos and we don't even have any kind of event like this going on.
(01:07:40)
The country's a big place. We have a huge, diverse geography. We have places all over America that would be better-equipped to handle this, and I just don't see why we don't just acknowledge the obvious, which is, by the way, going to be an enormous cost to the federal government. When you don't have local officials who will do the bare minimum to protect their own citizens, how are they going to protect people coming in to visit?
(01:08:06)
On top of when you look at the threats that exist. You have drug cartels that are being squeezed by this administration that were made into billion-dollar entities by the Biden administration that have resources to wreak incredible amounts of havoc. You have the terrorists in the Middle East calling for the death of American politicians, including the President and Vice President of the United States. This presents an enormous challenge in normal situations.
(01:08:32)
But when you have completely incompetent leaders, again, not just at the local level but at the state level who feel that the administration is doing too much to protect their citizens. I have to repeat that. You have the governor and the mayor saying the President of the United States is doing too much to protect businesses and to protect their own civilians, how are we not heading towards a complete and utter disaster?
LTG Reynold H Hoover (01:09:00):
Let me just, I think, answer your question this way, Senator. On the 2nd of July, 1979, I took an oath on the plane at West Point to dedicate my life to public service. And I went looking for a job. They found me. This is my one-year anniversary, as I mentioned earlier, this is the end of my plebe year, but I came out of retirement to do this to unite the world around sport, and unite LA, and unite the nation. Our 50-state relay will hit all 50 states. It's never been done before. That is the thread that will bind the nation to LA and the games.
(01:09:35)
The world will be watching. I think we have a great opportunity and I'm very confident in where we are now in our state of planning, both from a security perspective and an operational perspective to deliver the world's greatest games and the largest games ever, and I'm confident that we will get there.
Senator Moreno (01:09:54):
Well, just to be clear, because I want to make this clear for the record, I have total and complete faith in you and your abilities, that's not the question I have in mind, but you're not able to do this and execute without the help of local officials. It's just not possible.
(01:10:10)
Look, if it were you planning it, and you could put those two in the basement somewhere and have them give you your authority to do what their job is supposed to do, I would be totally happy and ready to rock and roll to make this happen. But I have grave concerns unless we see movement. And Mr. Chairman, I think what we should do is ask those two people, the mayor of Los Angeles and the governor of California, to come in and explain how their behavior is going to be different in '26 and '28 to assure the American people that we are able to put on an event that is worthy of this country.
(01:10:49)
So like I said, Mr. Hoover, I'm totally 100% and confident in your abilities and have zero faith in the abilities because of the incompetence that both of them have already shown. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield my time.
Chairman Lankford (01:11:05):
So let me do a quick wrap-up on some things. I do appreciate so much all of you being here and the preparation and the work that you do. There are significant events that are coming, and the preparation and the work that you have done, local leaders have done, has been significant in all of these areas.
(01:11:21)
President Trump was the one who actually fought for and was one of the folks engaging to try to get the Olympics to LA during his first term. The same thing on FIFA World Cup and multiple other issues on this.
(01:11:35)
We have a 250th birthday of America coming, which we will invite the world to also come to that, and we will literally have people from all around the world that want to be here. We're going to continue to be able to welcome the world to the United States, and we want to make this the most secure, and demonstrate the freedom that happens here in the United States, and literally invite the world to come enjoy that freedom with us and to hopefully be able to export that freedom as well in the days ahead.
(01:12:01)
So that's the value that we're going to have, and it's important that we actually do the planning and the preparation because there are people that mean to do us harm. It has been mentioned multiple times. We have threats from folks around the world that mean to do us harm, as they mean to do any free nation harm because it doesn't share their values. So we're grateful for the ongoing work that happened for this.
(01:12:24)
So I want to say, the record of this hearing will remain open for the next 15 days until Wednesday, June the 25th, 2025 at 5:00 PM for the submission of statements and questions for the record. With that, thank you very much to all of our guests, and this hearing is adjourned.
