Bennie Thompson

I am not opposed to biometric technology and recognize it can be valuable to Homeland Security in facilitation.

I want to be very clear: Democrats respect the free-speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment.

We want to understand how companies can strengthen their efforts to deal with this persistent problem.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families.

At a fundamental level, today's hearing is about transparency.

We have seen time and time again that social media platforms are vulnerable to being exploited by bad actors.

Democrats respect the free-speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment.

But after a white supremacist terrorist was able to exploit social media platforms in this way, we all have reason to doubt the effectiveness of the GIFCT and the companies' efforts more broadly.

The fact that this happened nearly 2 years after Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, and other major tech companies established the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, pronounced 'GIF-C-T,' is troubling to say the least.

Unfortunately, the sophistication of hackers is outpacing the speed at which State and local governments can implement IT modernization programs.

These bad actors range from unaffiliated cyber criminals to sophisticated state actors--including Iran--and their interest in breaching State and local networks is only growing.

Just last week, Riviera Beach--a small city in Florida--agreed to pay a $600,000 ransom demand after hackers crippled city computer systems.

For its part, Congress appropriated $380 million--a down payment--to fund grants to State and local election officials to replace unsecure election equipment.

Congress has a responsibility not only to track the progression of these emerging technological breakthroughs, but to understand how they affect our security.

We are witnessing a new technological age with Artificial Intelligence or 'AI.'

Technology such as Artificial Intelligence is one tool social media companies use to help identify, monitor, and remove such terrorist content.

In March, a white supremacist terrorist in Christchurch, New Zealand, exploited social media platforms to live-stream violent images across the world--millions of times over.

But our challenge is, do we set parameters of guidelines with the money so that at the end of the day we can measure how successful the goal has become?

I know recognize the Chairman of the full committee, Mr. Thompson, for 5 minutes.

As a former mayor myself, I understand the problems cities have, and mayors more specifically.

I want to thank Chairman Richmond for holding today's hearing on an especially timely topic, the cybersecurity challenges in the State and local governments.

It is time for the Federal Government to do more.

This begs the following question: Why has the Trump administration actively aggravated the challenges on our Southern Border?

I call metering a violation of U.S. asylum law; our laws do not place a limit on the number of people who can apply for asylum.

I don't think it's any secret that I disagree with many of the Trump administration's policies affecting the border.