I've maintained from the start that Alan Gross was grabbed and imprisoned for no reason other than to be used as a pawn in a future spy trade.

It is incomprehensible and indeed appalling to see the Department of State facilitating access to our nation for these enemies of the United States.

I am deeply disturbed to hear that the administration is even considering offering the regime in Tehran the ability to enrich domestically.

Allowing Iran to enrich on its own soil even with the appropriate safeguards would allow the regime to continue to stockpile low-enriched uranium

I am troubled by allegations of turf battles within the Department and disagreements on who should be in charge.

if this proposal actually becomes policy to force those subject to enforcement actions into admissions, there will be an explosion of litigation

The truth is that our firefighters are our first responders in all types of emergencies, including terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

I'm very pleased to welcome Chief Mitchell here today so we can hear more about his vision for the Administration.

I think it is really important for us to make sure that whomever is responding in whatever jurisdiction has the same capacities.

That there is more than tension and friction between CBP, IA, and DHS IOG.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of comments I want to make first. First of all, taxpayers are spending enormous amounts of money to try and make sure that safety is ensured in their travel.

This patchwork quilt of jurisdictions conflicting with each other, still is with us.

Unfortunately, there are some among them that use their position of public trust for their own personal gain.

There are over 220,000 Department of Homeland Security employees who work every day to secure our homeland from dangerous threats and natural disasters.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for holding today's hearing examining the ethical standards at the Department of Homeland Security.

I am therefore pleased that representatives from TSA, CBP, and ICE are testifying this morning and look forward to hearing from them regarding steps that are being taken to remedy this situation.

I plan on doing so after this hearing. It has been very informative and appreciate it.

I tend to agree with what Ms. Crump said, if you are talking about somebody's home, somebody's private conversations and where they are, these are very intimate matters and deserve all of our privacy protections.