[Senate Hearing 117-545]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]










                                                        S. Hrg. 117-545

         LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022

=======================================================================

                                HEARINGS

                                before a

                          SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE

            COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                                   on

                               H.R. 4346

AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH FOR THE FISCAL 
         YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2022, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

                               __________

                        Architect of the Capitol
                      Congressional Budget Office
                     Congressional Research Service
                    Government Accountability Office
                          Library of Congress
                      United States Capitol Police
                     United States Copyright Office
          United States Senate Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper

                               __________

         Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations


[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]



       Available via the World Wide Web: https://www.govinfo.gov
                             _________
                              
                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                 
44-184 PDF               WASHINGTON : 2023
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                      COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

                    PATRICK LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman

PATTY MURRAY, Washington             RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama, Vice 
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California             Chairman
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois          MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
JACK REED, Rhode Island              SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
JON TESTER, Montana                  LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire        LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon                 ROY BLUNT, Missouri
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware       JERRY MORAN, Kansas
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii                 JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut      SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West 
JOE MANCHIN, III, West Virginia          Virginia
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland           JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico          CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
                                     MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
                                     BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
                                     MARCO RUBIO, Florida

                   Charles E. Kieffer, Staff Director
           Shannon Hutcherson Hines, Minority Staff Director

                                 ------                                

                 Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch

                   JACK REED, Rhode Island, Chairman

CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut      MIKE BRAUN, Indiana, Ranking 
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico              Member
PATRICK LEAHY, Vermont, (ex-         RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama
    officio)                         MARCO RUBIO, Florida

                           Professional Staff

                             Jessica Berry
                             Hannah Chauvin

                     Margaret Pritchard (Minority)
                        Lucy Gardner (Minority)   
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                                hearings

                       Wednesday, April 21, 2021

                                                                   Page

Architect of the Capitol.........................................     1
    Hon. J. Brett Blanton, Architect of the Capitol:
        Prepared Statement of....................................    11
        Statement of.............................................     9

United States Capitol Police.....................................     1
    Chief Yogananda D. Pittman, Acting Chief, United States 
      Capitol Police:
        Prepared Statement of....................................     6
        Statement of.............................................     5

United States Senate Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper.............     1
    Hon. Karen H. Gibson, Sergeant At Arms and Doorkeeper of the 
      Senate:
        Prepared Statement of....................................    15
        Statement of.............................................    13

                       Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Congressional Budget Office......................................    51
    Hon. Dr. Phillip L. Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget 
      Office:
        Prepared Statement of....................................   136
        Statement of.............................................   134

Congressional Research Service, Mary B. Mazanec, Director, 
  Prepared Statement of..........................................    63

Government Accountability Office.................................    51
    Hon. Gene L. Dodaro, U.S. Comptroller General, Government 
      Accountability Office:
        Prepared Statement of....................................    69
        Statement of.............................................    66

Librarian of Congress............................................    51
    Hon. Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress:
        Prepared Statement of....................................    55
        Statement of.............................................    54

United States Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, Register of 
  Copyrights and Director, Prepared Statement of.................    58
                              ----------                              

                              back matter

List of Witnesses, Communications, and Prepared Statements.......   161

Subject Index:
    Architect of the Capitol.....................................   163
    Congressional:
        Budget Office............................................   163
        Research Service.........................................   164
    Government Accountability Office.............................   164
    Library of Congress..........................................   165
    United States:
        Capitol Police...........................................   166
        Copyright Office.........................................   166
        Senate Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper...................   166  
        
 
       LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022

                              ----------                              


                       WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.

    The subcommittee met at 2:02 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jack Reed (Chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Reed, Leahy, Heinrich, and Braun.

   ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL, SERGEANT AT ARMS, AND THE UNITED STATES 
                             CAPITOL POLICE


                 opening statement of senator jack reed


    Senator Reed. Good afternoon. This subcommittee will come 
to order.
    I would like to welcome everyone to the first of our fiscal 
year 2022 budget hearing for the Legislative Branch 
Appropriations Subcommittee.
    It is also my first hearing as Chairman of the 
subcommittee, and I look forward to working with my new Ranking 
Member, Senator Braun, and distinguished Members of the 
subcommittee in crafting responsible funding legislation that 
supports the Legislative Branch.
    We also anticipate that we will be joined by Chairman of 
the Appropriations Committee, Senator Leahy, which highlights 
the importance of the issues we are discussing today.
    Today we have with us the Architect of the Capitol, Brett 
Blanton; the Sergeant at Arms, General Karen Gibson; and the 
Acting Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman.
    This is the first appearance of each of these agency 
leaders before this subcommittee. And I thank you for joining 
us today to testify.
    Let me first begin by thanking the women and men of your 
agencies. Over the last year they have endured threats to their 
health and their physical safety in order to serve this 
institution. Some indeed have lost their lives. They deserve 
our gratitude and much, much more. And please communicate that 
message to your dedicated colleagues.
    As leaders, Members of Congress owe it to them, not only to 
provide the resources they need to do the job, but also to 
temper the inflammatory rhetoric that can put them in harm's 
way. In short, we need to be exemplar to the civility, both 
privately and publicly.
    And this is a difficult time for your agencies and 
Congress. Like the rest of the United States and the world, we 
have grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic for over a year, 
because the Senate and the House continue to meet, many of your 
employees have had to show up and push in person for work. They 
have provided the Capitol Campus with enhanced cleaning, PPE, 
food services, IT enhancements for remote work, and of course 
security.
    Hundreds of your employees have tested positive for COVID 
since the pandemic began, you have had to send millions of 
dollars in regular appropriations beyond what we provided last 
year in the CARES Act.
    I hope we can soon deliver on our promise to make you whole 
with an emergency supplemental. Meanwhile, I want to know how 
those unanticipated costs have impacted our missions.
    In the midst of the pandemic we experienced the January 6 
Capitol attack. Like all of my colleagues, I am grateful to all 
the brave men and women of the Capitol Police for their service 
on that day.
    It is not an exaggeration to say that they defended 
democracy. I want to thank the Architect of the Capitol's 
employees for working into the night and morning to clean the 
wreckage.
    And thank you to the Sergeant of Arms employees for their 
efforts to make sure the Senate could meet again that day to 
finish its business and certify the election.
    Last Friday marked 100 days since the horrible attack which 
led to the death of three police officers, 140 officers were 
injured that day, thousands of National Guards were deployed 
and remain on duty here. Sixty-eight million dollars in damages 
have been accounted for, so far, and 419 individuals have been 
arrested to date.
    We know that officers and other Capitol committee employees 
continue to suffer trauma. Serious questions have been raised 
about the leadership of your organizations and the actions 
taken or not taken, in, on and before January 6, and this 
includes scrutiny of the Capitol Police Board upon which you 
all sit.
    Regrettably, a second attack on the Capitol occurred just 
weeks ago, taking the life of Officer Billy Evans, and injuring 
another officer. This latest attack highlights the challenges 
of securing the Capitol and maintaining an open campus 
environment so that all people can visit and share this special 
place.
    The tough decision we will make on reforms, submission, and 
operational structure, and the physical security measures, will 
directly affect your agencies and the Capitol Campus. We want 
to make sure we find the right solutions. It will be up to this 
subcommittee to provide you with the tools you need to 
implement those changes and to hold you accountable for 
implementing them successfully.
    Your agencies are charged with ensuring that our physical 
space here on the Capitol Campus is safe, not just for the 
Members of Congress and staff, but also for also for the 
millions of visitors who come here every year, and we hope will 
return soon.
    They are also responsible for our virtual security, our 
cyberspace and IT infrastructure which we have relied upon 
heavily during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    On this subcommittee we want to make sure the Capitol 
Police, the Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol 
have the tools needed to continue keeping us safe, and to keep 
up with known and emerging threats. While the inclination for 
Congress has set itself to be am example of frugality, we 
should not skimp on these investments. Yet, we will have to 
balance the needs of all the legislative agencies against our 
resources.
    That includes fully supporting your agencies, but also 
making sure other priorities are protected in our bill. And we 
need to be cognizant that there will be a top line budget cap 
that we must abide by. While we do not yet have a broader 
budget agreement for fiscal year 2022, we do know the 
Legislative Branch is not insulated from that debate.
    I know Chairman Leahy, who has just joined us, will be 
working hard to provide every subcommittee with the resources 
it needs, but his presence today shows how important the bill 
is.
    And now let me turn to my Ranking Member, Senator Braun. 
Thank you, Mike.


                opening statement of senator mike braun


    Senator Braun. Thank you, Chairman Reed.
    Thank you, Mr. Blanton, Acting Chief Pittman, and 
Lieutenant General Gibson for being here today.
    This is my first hearing as Ranking Member of this 
subcommittee. I look forward to working closely with Chairman 
Reed in crafting a fiscally-responsible funding bill that 
supports the important activities of the Legislative Branch.
    The past 3 years have been an unprecedented period for the 
Congress. From the longest government shutdown in American 
history shortly after I got here, to two impeachment trials, to 
the events of January 6, to the vehicle attack at the North 
Capitol Barricade earlier this month.
    I'm especially grateful for the service of the brave men 
and women of the Capitol Police, and the sacrifices they have 
made to protect the Congress.
    The deaths of Officer Evans, Officer Sicknick, and Officer 
Liebengood, have been devastating losses, and my sincere 
condolences go out to the families and friends of those 
officers.
    The courage and resiliency of our Capitol Police Officers 
is demonstrated every day in their unwavering commitment to 
protecting the rule of law and this institution.
    Today we will be discussing the requested budgets for each 
agency in light of these recent events. Through this process we 
can ensure that the funding appropriated through fiscal year 
2022 is targeted but sufficient to ensure the security of the 
Capitol Complex.
    There are several assessments underway to examine the 
failures that occurred on January 6. As those assessments are 
conducted, it is critical that we examine all aspects of campus 
security, including both physical security and the 
decisionmaking processes that ensure the Capitol Police have 
the resources to complete their mission safely.
    In this regard, we must make informed, holistic funding 
decisions to ensure we solve and correct the problems, and 
invest to address threats of the future, oftentimes the hardest 
thing to do.
    However, as we begin crafting the fiscal year 2022 
Legislative Branch bill, we must do so in light of the 
unprecedented fiscal situation in which we find ourselves. In 
the short time since I have been here, through the challenge of 
COVID, the structural trillion-dollar deficits that we contend 
with every year that are soon to become $1.5 trillion have to 
be kept in perspective.
    Unsustainable debt levels, interest payments, and spending 
habits have negative effects across the entire Federal 
Government. They crowd out critical investments in priority 
areas for all Members. Coming from a school board, a State 
government, but mostly running a business for 37 years, we have 
got to start keeping in mind for future generations, that just 
because this is a Federal Government and we do not have a 
balanced budget amendment, that we have got to be a better 
steward of our country's resources, because it would be 
derelict not to do so for future generations.
    As appropriators, we have the duty to make fiscally-
responsible investments that take all of those considerations 
into account.
    I am confident Chairman Reed and I will continue to work 
together in the long-standing, tradition of bipartisanship of 
this subcommittee, and that we will enact the fiscal year 2022 
funding bill in regular order.
    Thank you, again, to our witnesses for being here. I look 
forward to your testimony.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator Braun. And I look forward 
to working with you to get this task accomplished. Thank you 
very much.
    Chairman Leahy, would you like to make some comments?


               opening statement of senator patrick leahy


    Senator Leahy. Well, I know we are short on time, so well, 
other than to say that one, I appreciate you and Senator Braun 
doing this and, of course, you and I worked together to 
transfer $10 million to have an assessment made for Capitol 
campus physical security, and I was required to do that. But I 
really feel strongly we have got to have an overall assessment 
of what we need, what went right, what went wrong, in case we 
have something like this again, and I want to see that before I 
sign off on more money.
    We are fortunate to have a wonderful police force and 
leaders, but we also know we have got some gaps, and we want to 
have an open Capitol, but we want a secured Capitol.
    So, I will work with the two of you. And thank you very 
much for doing this.
    Senator Reed. Well, thank you very much, Chairman Leahy.
    And now I will ask our witnesses beginning with Chief 
Pittman, to give a brief opening statement of approximately 5 
minutes. The written testimony of each witness will be printed 
at full in the record.
    Let me advise everyone. There is a vote scheduled for 2:20, 
but it is my intention to get through all the witness 
testimony, and then we will make a decision whether we will 
recess briefly or we continue the hearing.
    Chief Pittman, please.
STATEMENT OF CHIEF YOGANANDA D. PITTMAN, ACTING CHIEF, 
            UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE
    Acting Chief Pittman. Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, 
and Members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity 
to present the United States Capitol Police budget request for 
fiscal year 2022.
    The Department appreciates the subcommittee's continued 
support ensuring that we have the resources that we need.
    Joining me here today are some members of the department's 
executive team, Acting Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher, Chief 
Administrative Officer Richard Braddock, and our Deputy Chief 
Administrative Officer Dominic Storelli.
    The USCP has a unique role in policing. We are the only law 
enforcement agency responsible for protecting Congress, and the 
U.S. Capitol Complex. We detect, investigate and prevent 
threats made against Congressmen and Congresswomen in 
Washington DC, and across the country.
    Our personnel are highly trained and deeply committed to 
our critical mission. And our mission, however, has become more 
difficult. In the first 4 months of this year, we have had a 65 
percent increase in threats against Members compared to 2020. 
From 2017 to 2020, there was 119 percent increase in the total 
threats and directions of interest against Members, with the 
majority of the suspects residing outside of the National 
Capitol Region (NCR).
    As the Nation well knows, the Capitol Complex is also a 
target. Shortly after the attack on January 6 that resulted in 
the deaths of Officer Sicknick, Officer Liebengood, and the 
lone assailant that struck and killed Officer Evans and injured 
another at the Capitol's North Barricade, it would be right for 
me to say that this is a difficult time for the department, and 
that is probably an understatement.
    Our officers are still resilient. They are strong, and this 
department will come out of this stronger. The USCP is 
steadfast in ensuring that an incident of this nature will 
never occur again, especially with the realization that the 
possibility of a similar incident occurring in the current 
environment is a very real and present danger.
    The events of January 6 demonstrate that the department 
must build its capabilities to adapt quickly and it must plan 
for the unknown. This will require a significant investment in 
staffing, training tools and information-gathering resources 
needed to meet the dynamic and ever-changing security 
challenges, including the rising threat of domestic terrorism.
    A large portion of the budget is a request and an 
investment in our employees, which are our most important 
asset. Most of the request--covers mandatory salary and benefit 
requirements, cost of living adjustments and overtime for 
critical training. It also includes funding for 212 new sworn 
officers for mission-critical requirements, guaranteed funding 
for our student loan repayment program, which we have not 
always funded, but is a critical component for recruitment and 
retention.
    The fiscal year 2022 request also includes general expense 
funding to secure additional capabilities to equip our officers 
with the tools, equipment, technologies, as well as wellness 
initiatives to maintain the highest levels of readiness, both 
on the complex and throughout the region.
    This includes items such as protective travel, training, 
hiring, outfitting, providing uniforms, weapons and ammunition, 
as well as expanding access to the Employee Assistance Program 
and other health and wellness programs.
    I want to again reiterate that our officers who are on the 
job 24 hours a day, 365 days a year are our greatest assets in 
helping to prevent and respond to threats. On January 6, the 
insurrectionists attempted to stop Congress from certifying the 
Electoral College. Due to the heroic actions of USCP officers, 
with the assistance of our law enforcement partners, the 
rioters were prevented from accomplishing their goal.
    To ensure that the USCP is always at the ready to keep 
Congress safe, it is important that we make these crucial 
investments. The 1983 Senate bombing, the 1998 shooting, 9/11, 
and the anthrax attacks, have all been historic, pivotal 
moments that have forced the department to evolve rapidly. 
January 6 will no doubt be another.
    Again, I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the 
department's fiscal year 2022 budget request. I also want to 
acknowledge your staff, who I know are in constant 
communications with the department's team, working to 
understand our needs to ensure that they are met.
    I would be pleased to answer your questions that you may 
have at this time. And thank you.

    [The statement follows:]
  Prepared Statement of Yogananda D. Pittman, Acting Chief of Police, 
                      United States Capitol Police
    Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the 
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present the United 
States Capitol Police (USCP) budget request for fiscal year 2022. The 
Department greatly appreciates the subcommittee's continued support of 
the women and men of the Department as well as Congress' generosity in 
providing the resources needed to support our crucial mission to 
protect the Congress and the U.S. Capitol.
    Joining me today is the Department's Executive Team--Assistant 
Chief Chad Thomas, Acting Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher, Chief 
Administrative Officer Richard Braddock, and General Counsel Thomas 
DiBiase--as well as members of the USCP Executive Management Team.
    Throughout its history, the USCP has held a unique role in 
policing. We are the only law enforcement agency responsible for 
protecting the Congress in DC and abroad and the U.S. Capitol Complex. 
We detect, investigate, and prevent threats made against Members of 
Congress and the U.S. Capitol. We provide a steady, watchful presence 
throughout the Capitol Complex, and we are responsible for protecting 
elected officials to ensure the continuity of government.
    The type of policing that we engage in is highly specialized to 
focus on the unique requirements of protecting our Nation's legislative 
process as well as ensure that citizens may participate in lawful First 
Amendment activities on the Capitol Grounds. All the while, the 
Department is expected to maintain the security of an open campus so 
that visitors may witness representative democracy in action.
    The USCP is a full-service agency. We conduct investigations with 
our law enforcement partners both in Washington, D.C. and across the 
country, to include working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Park Police, Metropolitan Police Department, 
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and many others.
    The Department's personnel are resilient, highly trained in 
specialized fields, and deeply committed to our critical mission to 
protect and secure the U.S. Capitol and the Congress. Under my 
leadership, I intend to focus on four key elements to further 
strengthen and support the USCP workforce: Senator and Member 
protection; health and wellness programs; training; and obtaining the 
equipment and facilities to meet the needs of the workforce of the 
future.
    In the Department's efforts to address new and emerging threats, we 
work closely with the Senate and House Sergeants at Arms to augment and 
strengthen off-campus security and Senator and Member protection. We 
routinely collaborate to assess Senators' State office and Members' 
district office security, and we provide recommendations on ways to 
improve and enhance security measures and practices inside and outside 
of the National Capital Region (NCR). We also work closely with the 
Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to address the physical security of the 
Capitol Complex, in addition to facility and support needs for the USCP 
workforce.
    In the first 4 months of 2021, there has been a 64.62 percent 
increase in threats to Members compared to the same period in 2020. And 
from 2017 to 2020, there has been a 118.66 percent increase in total 
threats and directions of interests, with the overwhelming majority of 
suspects residing outside of the NCR.
    Therefore, a significant focus of the Department in fiscal year 
2022 is centered on Member security outside of the NCR. The direct 
impact to the Department not only includes our current protective 
services' increased posture around the country, but includes increasing 
the resources available for our Protective and Intelligence Operations 
through the expansion of the USCP's protective, intelligence and 
investigatory capabilities both on the Capitol Complex and throughout 
the United States. While we have complemented our increased posture 
with the leveraging of Federal, State and local law enforcement 
partnerships with the collective goal of protecting the Congress away 
from the Capitol Grounds, the number of agents required to provide an 
appropriate level of analysis, protection and enforcement necessitates 
a significant increase in personnel based on the threats trends year-
over-year.
    On the Capitol Complex, the level of existential threats to the 
U.S. Capitol and Grounds are increasing as well. Most recently, on 
April 2, 2021 a lone assailant struck two officers with a vehicle at 
the North Barricade, resulting in one line-of-duty death and one 
critical injury. Further, on January 6, 2021 insurrectionists attempted 
to prevent the Congress from certifying the 2020 Electoral College 
results by storming the U.S. Capitol. Due to the heroic actions of USCP 
officers, with the assistance of the Metropolitan Police Department, 
the National Guard, and many other of our law enforcement partners, the 
violent rioters were prevented from accomplishing their goal.
    The USCP is steadfast in ensuring that an incident of this nature 
will never occur again, especially with the realization that the 
possibility of a similar incident occurring in the current environment 
is a very real and present danger. The events of January 6, 2021, 
demonstrate that the USCP must continue to quickly assess, adjust, and 
utilize the tactics and methods necessary to successfully carry out our 
mission in any scenario. This will require a significant investment in 
the necessary training, tools, and information gathering resources 
needed to meet the dynamic and ever-changing security challenges, 
including the rising threat of domestic terrorism. Most importantly, it 
will require the Department having a dedicated standby ready force of 
two platoons (80 officers) at all times, thereby removing the 
Department's full reliance on partner agencies for mission support when 
faced with an immediate threat event.
    In the wake of the insurrection attempt and immediately following 
the April 2nd event, the Department invested additional resources, with 
the generous support of the Congress, to ensure that our officers have 
the support services they need as they continue to process what 
occurred. This has included 24/7 access to onsite trauma informed 
professional counselors through the collaborative partnership with the 
House Office of Employee Assistance (OEA), the enhanced services of 
OEA, peer counseling sessions with law enforcement officers from 
neighboring law enforcement agencies, and counseling services for 
officers' family members. The Department also provided over 19,600 
nights in hotel room stays for its personnel, served over 89,000 daily 
hot meals and 172,900 cups of hot beverages, and reopened the USCP gyms 
24/7 taking into account all safety protocols to ensure COVID-19 
transmission is neutralized.
    I am committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of our 
workforce, both mentally and physically, and it is my intent to ensure 
the Department will continue to identify new resources that may be of 
assistance to both our sworn and civilian employees so that they may be 
at their very best. To this end, on February 4, 2021, I was pleased to 
announce to our workforce that, thanks to the efforts of congressional 
leaders and the administration, enough doses of the COVID-19 vaccines 
were secured to vaccinate all USCP personnel who want to be vaccinated. 
Working closely with the Office of Attending Physician, they were able 
to begin administering the doses to our employees quickly and safely. 
To date, over 67 percent of the Department has received vaccines. By 
the beginning of May 2021, all USCP employees wanting the COVID vaccine 
are expected to have received their second dose of the vaccine.
    The USCP's employees are our greatest assets. Accordingly, the 
Department's fiscal year 2022 budget request is an investment in our 
employees, and focuses on meeting mandatory salary requirements, 
overtime for critical training, and securing additional capabilities 
within the USCP's General Expenses to increase the resources available 
to our personnel.
    The fiscal year 2022 USCP budget request includes the budgetary 
authority and resources to fund 2,112 sworn and 453 civilians. This 
includes funding for 212 new sworn officers for mission critical 
requirements, such as a standby quick response force, threat assessment 
agents, and dignitary protection agents.
    The request for the Salaries appropriation is $481.75 Million which 
is an increase of $57.35 Million over the fiscal year 2021 enacted 
levels. The main drivers of the cost increases are increases in fiscal 
year 2020 and fiscal year 2021 benefit rates (FERS, FEHB) not reflected 
in the fiscal year 2021 enacted levels, as well as overtime for core 
mission, cost-of-living adjustments, and within grade increases. The 
USCP is also requesting $2.5 Million for its student loan repayment 
program, as this program is a critical component of employee retention 
and an additional incentive for recruiting the additional personnel 
needed to carry out the Department's evolving mission.
    Countering evolving domestic and international threats requires 
constantly sharing intelligence information throughout the entire 
Department from analysts to officials to the officers on post, as well 
as gathering intelligence and working with partner law enforcement 
agencies. In response to one of the lessons learned on January 6, the 
Department revised its internal communications policies and processes, 
and has included emerging technologies and tools in this budget request 
to assist with effecting the ideal communications state for the 
Department to meet its mission. Further, the events of that day 
highlighted critical areas that require new or modified training 
throughout the Operational elements of the Department in order to 
maintain the highest levels of readiness. It is my intent to begin such 
trainings and exercises as soon as practicable, and our fiscal year 
2022 budget request highlights all such training as a priority.
    Additionally, as a result of January 6, the Operational elements of 
the Department have identified the need for new officer safety 
equipment based on the evolving threats and physical security 
requirements for the Capitol Complex. In the weeks and months ahead, I 
will be working with the AOC to jointly produce recommendations for the 
physical hardening of the Capitol Complex as well as identify USCP 
facility needs to ensure appropriate space is obtained by the AOC for 
the growing USCP workforce as well as the storage space for the new 
equipment needed to appropriately execute our mission.
    As a result of the aforementioned priorities, the fiscal year 2022 
General Expenses portion of this budget request was developed with an 
emphasis on providing specialized training for our employees as well as 
investing in the tools and technologies we need to maintain the highest 
level of readiness. This includes items such as protective travel; 
mandatory training; hiring, outfitting, and training new sworn 
personnel; upgrading and maintaining security equipment; updating and 
maintaining the motor vehicle fleet; providing uniforms, weapons, and 
ammunition for all sworn personnel; access to the employee assistance 
program; and other non-personnel needs.
    The General Expenses request is $137.47 Million, which is an 
increase of $49.96 Million. For Salaries and General Expenses together, 
the total budget request for the fiscal year 2022 annual budget 
appropriation is $619.22 Million, which is an increase of 20.96 percent 
over fiscal year 2021 enacted levels.
    I want to again reiterate that our officers who are on the job 24 
hours a day, 365 days a year, are our greatest assets in helping to 
prevent and respond to threats. To ensure that the USCP is always at 
the ready to keep the Capitol Complex safe and secure, it is important 
that we make these crucial investments at this time. While our fiscal 
year 2022 budget request was reformulated in the aftermath of the 
January 6 events, it was developed as a result of a deep analysis 
within the Operational elements of the Department for what is necessary 
to meet the mission. I believe that all of the new operational 
requirements, and necessary support components to support Operations, 
requested in this budget will do just that--allow us to continue to 
meet our mission now and into the future.
    Prior to January 6, the Department had prepared an fiscal year 2022 
budget justification that represented a $36 million increase over the 
fiscal year 2021 enacted level. The events of January 6 caused the 
Department to reevaluate its budget justification, specifically around 
the emergency needs to meet the emerging threats and risk. The revised 
fiscal year 2022 budget justification representing a $107 million 
increase includes many of these emergency needs that are reoccurring. 
While long-term funding for these needs will be necessary in our base 
funding going forward, the Department could certainly benefit if the 
funds could be provided sooner through other means.
    And lastly, the USCP has a professional working relationship with 
the Capitol Police Board, its oversight Committees, the USCP Inspector 
General and the USCP labor unions to review options for efficiencies 
where possible. It is my intention to not only continue engagement, but 
to improve these relationships so that together the Department becomes 
holistically stronger. In the coming months, it is anticipated that 
there will likely be a significant number of formal recommendations 
that result in the need for substantial additional human and budgetary 
resources based on the January 6, 2021 review by the USCP Inspector 
General, third-party assessments being conducted, and other potential 
congressional reviews. The Department is committed to working with the 
subcommittee to seek any such resources to address these potential 
recommendations via future budget requests, amendments to the current 
budget justification, or other vehicles as appropriate.
    We realize that these requests for funding, as well as those 
resulting from the other reviews and recommendations, will present 
challenges to the Congress as it considers the appropriate funding 
levels for the Legislative Branch. The Department is prepared to work 
closely with the subcommittee to provide a clear understanding of the 
Department's requirements and to prioritize these items as necessary.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you again for the opportunity to discuss the 
United States Capitol Police's fiscal year 2022 budget request and our 
priorities for this coming year. We will continue to work closely with 
you and the subcommittee to ensure that we meet the needs of our 
officers and the Department as well as the expectations of this 
Committee and the Congress.
    I would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have at 
this time.

    Senator Reed. Thank you, Chief.
    Mr. Blanton, please.
STATEMENT OF HON. J. BRETT BLANTON, ARCHITECT OF THE 
            CAPITOL
    Mr. Blanton. Thank you, Chairman Reed, Ranking Member 
Braun.
    On behalf of all my employees, I want to thank you for the 
kind opening remarks, mentioning my employees. I am truly proud 
of them.
    Chairman Leahy, and Members of the subcommittee, I 
appreciate the opportunity to present the Architect of the 
Capitol's fiscal year 2022 budget.
    It has been a whirlwind year since I began my tenure as the 
12th Architect of the Capitol. In that time, I have been amazed 
by the level of commitment and professionalism displayed by our 
staff. We have been in pandemic operations for over a year. We 
supported four lying in state, or honor ceremonies, we survived 
the breach on January 6, and we successfully prepared and 
supported a presidential inauguration.
    This request introduces several new initiatives that will 
address many of the most critical needs of the Architect of the 
Capitol, and the Capitol community, including committing 
ourselves to long-term planning, and developing strategies that 
will prepare facilities and grounds under our care for the next 
century.

                            AOC INITIATIVES

    One of these strategies is development of an Enterprise 
Asset Management system, also known as EAM, to aid in 
decisionmaking regarding operating, maintaining, renewing 
facilities and infrastructure assets, such as buildings, 
equipment, and machinery in a manner that achieves industry 
standards and best business practices.
    Coupled with the commitment to better ensure our request is 
aligned with the expected service levels we will use Enterprise 
Asset Management (EAM) to proactively administer maintenance-
based strategies, reduce deferred maintenance, backlog, restore 
reliability, reduce long-term costs, and provide a system to 
forecast resource requirements, to ensure assets meet the 
expectations of the congressional community. Numerous studies 
have shown that the ISO 55000 EAM system that we will implement 
has a return on investment in under 5 years.
    This budget also reinforces my commitment to AOC's 
employees by developing a human capital strategy that will 
bolster our efforts to acquire, develop, train, retrain a 
talented, diverse, and highly-skilled workforce that is 
prepared for the future. We aim to transform AOCs, the human 
capital landscape by ensuring workforce readiness, closing 
skills gaps, and maximizing employees' talents skills, and 
competencies.

                      DEFERRED MAINTENANCE BACKLOG

    Now the campus has a deferred maintenance backlog of $1.8 
billion. The fiscal year 2022 Capitol budget seeks to address 
over $78 million in deferred maintenance needs, and also invest 
almost $90 million in projects that were new or improve aging 
infrastructure, such as fire alarms, Campus intrusion, ADA 
compliance, environmental systems, and electrical distribution.
    In total, over 80 percent of the construction dollars 
requested addressed our backlog. The AOC's risk-based project 
prioritization process identified $171.5 million for Capitol 
projects, of this $92.7 or 54 percent are projects that did not 
receive funding in fiscal year 2021. This includes projects to 
address identified fire and life safety deficiencies stemming 
from the lack of a building-wide sprinkler system in the U.S. 
Capitol building, which would bring it to code compliance. If 
not funded, the building remains at risk of flame spread in the 
event of a fire.
    In addition, the lack of funding for a full sprinkler 
protection system leaves the Capitol building reliant on fire 
departments to suppress all but the smallest fires, 
jeopardizing life safety, as well as the historic assets.
    The agency also requests funding for critical--critical 
utility distribution projects at the Capitol Power Plant an 
offsite facility.
    Funding is required for Phase 5 of the Refrigeration Plant 
Revitalization program, which will remove 40-year-old piping 
and provide additions to the older West Refrigeration Plant 
equipment to bring it up to date.
    Earlier this year, chilled water pipe broke and spilled 
over 200,000 gallons of water a day, it impacted servers and 
congressional recording studio spaces. Phase 5 of the 
Refrigeration Plant Revitalization is imperative to prevent a 
complete shutdown of various congressional operations if 
another pipe breaks. Off campus, we need to replace aging 
refrigeration units with dual-use, energy-efficient units 
within the data centers to reduce the risk of interruption to 
daily operations, reduce energy consumption and reduce our 
carbon footprint.

                     FUTURE FACILITY SECURITY NEEDS

    Finally, as we continue to address the Capitol's future 
facilities' needs in the aftermath of January 6 breach, I would 
like to take a moment to thank the subcommittee for your 
support of a campus-wide facility assessment. This assessment 
will coordinate and collaborate with campus partners, including 
the two sitting next to me, to identify necessary security 
upgrades to facilities and infrastructure on the Capitol.
    It will evaluate options and the engineering requirements 
necessary to accomplish those options and provide the 
subcommittee with budget-level details needed to make decisions 
on potential project resource needs.
    I look forward to continuing working with you and with my 
colleagues joining me on this panel today, as we assess the 
physical security needs. This physical assessment is underway, 
and I expect to have initial information with you in the coming 
weeks.
    During my selection and confirmation process, I promise to 
transform the AOC. This budget request is the first step of 
that transformation.
    Additionally, last year I promised to emphasize deferred 
maintenance and emergent needs for our facilities. I am 
confident this request coupled with the changes we are actively 
incorporating throughout our agency, represent a major step 
forward in the beginning of the future of AOC.
    I appreciate your thoughtful consideration for our budget 
request. Thank you for your time. I am happy to answer your 
questions.

    [The statement follows:]
 Prepared Statement of Hon. J. Brett Blanton, Architect of the Capitol
    Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun and Members of the 
subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to present the Architect of 
the Capitol's (AOC) fiscal year 2022 budget request of $865 million.
    It has been a whirlwind year since I began my tenure as the 12th 
Architect of the Capitol. In that time, I have been amazed by the level 
of commitment and professionalism displayed by our staff. We have been 
in pandemic operations for nearly a year, we supported four lying in 
state or honor ceremonies, we survived a building breach on January 6 
and we successfully prepared and supported the presidential 
inauguration.
    As a part of the agency's fiscal year 2021 budget request, I 
committed to conducting a top-down assessment of the agency to identify 
the most urgent needs and address the critical issues. The agency's 
fiscal year 2022 budget request is the result of that review and serves 
as the beginning of the transformation of the AOC into a world-class 
service agency. Additionally, this budget request serves as the 
foundation for the future of the Capitol campus.
    This request introduces several new initiatives that will address 
many of the most critical needs of the AOC and the Capitol community, 
including committing ourselves to long-term planning and developing 
strategies that will prepare the campus for the next century and begin 
to address the agency's $1.8 billion backlog in strategic and 
systematic manner.
    One of these strategies is the development of an Enterprise Asset 
Management (EAM) system to aid decisionmaking regarding operating, 
maintaining and renewing facilities and infrastructure assets such as 
buildings, plants, machinery, vehicles and construction equipment in a 
manner that achieves industry standards and best business practices. 
Coupled with a commitment to better ensure our request is aligned with 
expected service levels, we will use EAM to proactively administer 
maintenance-based strategies and reduce the deferred maintenance 
backlog, which includes more than $220 million in work in the Senate 
buildings under our care. In addition, EAM will allow us to mitigate 
obsolescence, restore reliability, reduce long-term costs and provide a 
system to forecast resource needs requirements to ensure assets are 
secured, maintained and meet industry standards for viability. Numerous 
studies have shown that the ISO 55000 certified EAM system we will 
implement has a return on investment of approximately 5 years.
    This budget also reinforces my commitment to the AOC's employees by 
developing a human capital strategy that will bolster our efforts to 
acquire, develop, train and retain a talented, diverse and highly 
skilled workforce that is prepared for the future. We aim to transform 
the AOC's human capital landscape by ensuring workforce readiness, 
closing skills gaps and maximizing employees' talents, skill sets and 
competencies.
    In addition, we will strengthen access to skills training by 
establishing a new AOC University, which will ensure people have the 
skills to perform their jobs well and can improve their skills to 
better position themselves for advancement. It will also transform the 
organization and culture of the AOC by investing in employee outreach 
and training programs that focus on skill-building activities designed 
to improve employee and stakeholder experiences, teach conflict 
resolution skills and improve teamwork and customer service.
    As I have said since my first day with the agency, the overall 
success of the AOC begins with our staff. The ability of our central 
services to support our front-line operations is critical to the 
organization's success. Included in this budget request is an 
aggressive plan to on-board needed staff who are essential toward 
supporting the needs and services of Congress.
    The safety of Members and staff on the Capitol campus is my highest 
priority. As such, code compliance, including the Americans with 
Disabilities Act (ADA), is another area where we are seeking 
transformative change. Under the proposed Building Official Program, 
dedicated experts will ensure stakeholders follow the same set of 
established building codes and request approval of their work through a 
permit process. The agency will track all construction and 
infrastructure work in a centralized data, management and oversight 
system. This proposal allows for independent verification that 
infrastructure and construction work performed at AOC-managed 
facilities and grounds consistently meets established building codes 
and enterprise facility standards. This is similar to the model used by 
many at State and local governments and will ensure safe and code-
compliant work on the Capitol campus.
    Additional staffing is also required to meet the emerging 
requirements to ensure the cleanliness of the Capitol campus as we 
transition to a new normal after the COVID threat. This budget request 
introduces the concept of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for 
janitorial services. These SLAs transparently outline specific levels 
of cleanliness and the associated cost for these services. In future 
budgets, we will expand these SLAs to all products and services the AOC 
delivers so there are measurable standards of service on the Capitol 
campus.
    Regarding our continued COVID-19 response, our commitment toward 
ensuring that adequate measures are taken to mitigate the threat of 
COVID-19 across the Capitol campus has not been met with the required 
financial support. Other than our initial installment of funding, which 
is fully obligated, the AOC has been forced to use our critical 
infrastructure and security project funding to support Congress at a 
service level required for enhanced cleaning and acquire necessary 
personal protective equipment (PPE).
    Maintaining vigilant and strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols, 
the AOC has successfully continued facility operations and delivered 
quality projects to Congress and our legislative and judicial branch 
partners. Several ongoing projects remain on-schedule, including the 
multi-year, multi-phase exterior stone restoration projects at the U.S. 
Capitol and Russell Senate Office Building. Also, as of the end of 
April, we have completed over 70 percent of the Senate moves, with 16 
of the 22 offices selected in the 117th Congress moved into their 
renovated spaces. This effort represents the renovation of over 61,000 
square feet of office space in the Russell, Dirksen and Hart Senate 
Office Buildings.
    With the committee's encouragement, we launched the Urban 
Agriculture Resilience Program last spring to support food-growing 
programs at public gardens affected by COVID-19 and to address emerging 
food insecurities due to the global pandemic. We assisted 19 States and 
Washington, D.C. in the growing and distribution of produce to 
communities with food access challenges. This model was a success, and 
now with lessons learned and an experienced team in partnership 
agreements on board at the U.S. Botanic Garden, we believe this 
community support can be successfully expanded to encourage more COVID 
gardens.
    In addition to this critical work, I am proud to announce that the 
AOC received its 16th consecutive unmodified clean audit opinion of its 
financial statement. We also received our ninth consecutive Certificate 
of Excellence in Accountability Reporting award from the Association of 
Government Accountants. These recognitions are evidence of our 
excellence in financial management and provide transparency of our 
stewardship of the public's funds.
    The agency's fiscal year 2022 capital budget request seeks to 
continue this progress by addressing over $78 million in deferred 
maintenance needs across campus to begin our process of reducing the 
backlog. It also invests almost $90 million in projects that renew or 
improve aging infrastructure such as fire alarms, campus intrusion, 
environmental systems and electrical distribution.
    The AOC's risk-based project prioritization process identified 
$171.5 million for capital projects. Of this, $92.7 million, or 54 
percent, is for projects that did not receive funding in fiscal year 
2021. This includes the project to address identified fire and life 
safety deficiencies stemming from the lack of a building-wide sprinkler 
system to bring the U.S. Capitol into code compliance. If not funded, 
the building remains at increased risk of flame spread in the event of 
a fire. In addition, the lack of full sprinkler protection leaves the 
U.S. Capitol building reliant on the fire department to suppress all 
but the smallest fires, jeopardizing life safety as well as historic 
assets and features.
    The agency is also requesting funding for critical utility 
distribution projects at the Capitol Power Plant and offsite 
facilities. Funding is required for Phase 5 of the Refrigeration Plant 
Revitalization program, which will remove 40-year-old piping and 
includes various replacements and additions to bring the older West 
Refrigeration Plant equipment up to date. Earlier this year, chilled 
water piping broke and spilled over 200,000 gallons of water a day, 
impacting servers and congressional recording studio spaces. Phase 5 of 
the Refrigeration Plant Revitalization is imperative to prevent a 
complete shutdown of various congressional operations if another pipe 
breaks. Off-campus, we need to replace aging units with dual-use, 
energy-efficient units within the data centers to reduce the risk of 
interruption to daily operations, reduce energy consumption and reduce 
our carbon footprint.
    As I mentioned earlier, code compliance is an important element in 
this request. We are seeking to address critical upgrades to life 
safety systems across campus. Fire alarm and sprinkler system upgrades 
at the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Botanic Garden and the James Madison Memorial 
Building will address code deficiencies, reduce the risk of system 
failure and improve facility safety for building occupants.
    I would also like to mention the continued need to address a 
growing backlog of work at the aging Library of Congress facilities. 
Stained-glass window and roof repairs at the Thomas Jefferson Building 
are long overdue, and the failure to properly address water 
infiltration stemming from the James Madison Memorial Building's sixth 
floor terrace poses a threat to the historical collections housed in 
this facility.
    Finally, as we continue to assess the Capitol's future facility 
needs in the aftermath of the January sixth breach, I would also like 
to take a moment to thank the subcommittee for your support of a 
campus-wide facility assessment. This assessment will identify 
necessary security upgrades to the facilities and infrastructure on 
Capitol Hill through coordination and collaboration with campus 
partners. It will evaluate options, and the engineering requirements 
necessary to accomplish those options, to provide the committee with 
budget-level details needed to make decisions on potential project and 
resource needs. This assessment is underway and I expect to have 
initial information to you in the coming weeks.
    During my selection and confirmation process, I promised to 
transform the AOC. This budget request is the first step in that 
transformation. Additionally, last year, I promised to emphasize 
deferred maintenance and emergent needs required for our facilities. I 
am confident that this request, coupled with the changes we are 
actively incorporating throughout the agency, represents a major step 
forward and the beginning of the future for the AOC.
    I appreciate your thoughtful consideration of our fiscal year 2022 
budget request.
    Thank you for your time. I'm happy to answer your questions.

    Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Mr. Blanton.
    General Gibson, please.
STATEMENT OF HON. KAREN H. GIBSON, SERGEANT AT ARMS AND 
            DOORKEEPER OF THE SENATE
    General Gibson. Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, 
Members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to 
discuss the Sergeant at Arms fiscal year 2022 budget request.
    I have served as the 42nd Sergeant at Arms for 30 days. I 
did not seek this position, but I am grateful for the 
opportunity, and gladly accept my responsibilities.
    Like so many Americans I was aghast, appalled and deeply 
angered to watch the violence that unfolded at the Capitol on 
January 6. I volunteered my services to the House Security 
Review Task Force because I wanted to do all that I could to 
ensure such an assault never happens again.
    As a member of that security review team, Task Force 1-6, I 
gained valuable insights into many of the operational and 
institutional challenges associated with securing the Capitol. 
Now that I am at work in the Senate, I continue to learn about 
processes that need improvement or additional resources. My top 
priority is to develop, with my partners, a comprehensive plan 
to keep the Capitol and its occupants safe.
    As the Sergeant at Arms identifies and refines requirements 
for improvement or enhancement, we will work closely with and 
rely on the Architect of the Capitol for design and 
construction expertise, and the United States Capitol Police to 
provide operational capabilities. We are guided throughout by 
the desire to maintain a secure open campus that balances 
access and security.
    I believe the Congress will likely need supplemental 
appropriations beyond this baseline budget request to 
strengthen our physical security infrastructure and improve 
operational readiness.
    I look forward to working in partnership with the 
subcommittee as we make responsible decisions on topics such as 
fencing, technology and building access points. Together, we 
will make informed decisions when allocating appropriated 
funds.
    For fiscal year 2022 the Sergeant at Arms requests an 
increase of $53.7 million and 30 additional personnel to 
support the Senate. Fully funding our request would provide the 
Sergeant at Arms with $281.7 million and 957 employees to 
directly support the Senators, staff and constituents we serve.
    The majority of this requested increase will support the 
Senate's business continuity and disaster recovery needs. For 
instance, when the COVID pandemic hit last spring, the Sergeant 
at Arms incurred $2 million in unanticipated costs to support 
Senate operations during the ensuing quarantine period 
expanding IT bandwidth and buying needed equipment to quickly 
transition to virtual hearings and a remote work environment. 
Nor had the Sergeant at Arms forecast requirements associated 
with Hurricane Laura, which destroyed two State offices last 
summer. Establishing a $25 million dollar business continuity 
and disaster recovery fund will position the Sergeant at Arms 
to quickly respond to the requirements that often develop 
immediately in the wake of an unplanned event or natural 
disaster. We would treat any expenditures from this fund as 
reprogramming requests, requiring your express approval as part 
of our commitment to transparency.
    Of the 30 additional FTEs requested, 14 respond to the 
increased level of threats against Senators' physical security, 
as mentioned by Chief Pittman. These new hires will coordinate 
with the Capitol Police, as well as local, State and Federal 
law enforcement, the House Sergeant at Arms, and Executive 
Branch partners to improve our threat intelligence and 
information-sharing capacity. Their coordinated efforts will 
help us plan against and better prepare to respond to known or 
anticipated threats.
    That said, the Senate's most persistent threats are in the 
cyber domain with daily intrusion attempts by increasingly 
sophisticated and aggressive cyber adversaries. This budget 
supports year four of the Sergeant at Arms' proactive work to 
detect, react to, and when needed, recover the Senate network 
from advanced cybersecurity threats.
    Eleven new hires will support the Chief Information 
Officer, strengthening the resiliency of our IT systems, 
improving the quality of applications developed for Senate 
users, and expanding capacity to respond to Help Desk requests 
and equipment needs.
    Five new hires will provide additional services for the 
Senate community. I appreciate the subcommittee's support of 
the FTE we were able to forward hire this fiscal year for the 
Employee Assistance program, as well as a second FTE requested.
    Two licensed counselors joined the EAP this month, 
responding to increased demand for their services. Thanks to 
your support, the EAP remains a free and confidential resource 
to the Senate as we collectively navigate our way through 
challenging circumstances.
    Finally, three additional FTE will improve the quality of 
our acquisition packages, support Senate staff in utilizing new 
technology, and implement a customer-focused parking management 
system.
    I mentioned the Sergeant at Arms work to transition to a 
remote hearing posture as part of the pandemic response. By the 
end of the week the Senate recording studio will have produced 
390 remote or hybrid remote hearings.
    Given the importance of technology to conducting our 
legislative business, the Sergeant at Arms is coordinating with 
the Architect of the Capitol and the Committee on Rules and 
Administration to replace the audio visual equipment and 
systems in Senate hearing rooms that is near to, or past, the 
end of its serviceable life. We will replace critical equipment 
in three hearing rooms this fiscal year, including Hart 216, 
which repeatedly lost audio during the confirmation hearing for 
Justice Barrett. We request $5 million for the next phase of 
this long-term effort.
    I will close by saying that as I began my second month in 
this job, and familiarize myself with our diverse Sergeant at 
Arms operations, I am impressed daily by the professionalism 
and commitment of the women and men who work behind the scenes. 
We are committed to honoring the Senate's traditions while 
embracing innovation to better secure and support the Senate's 
operations.
    I am ready to answer your questions. And thank you for your 
support.

    [The statement follows:]
   Prepared Statement of Hon. Karen H. Gibson, Sergeant at Arms and 
                        Doorkeeper of the Senate
    The Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA) respectfully 
requests $281.774M in appropriations for fiscal year 2022, a 23.5 
percent increase from the fiscal year 2021 enacted level. The increase 
will better position the SAA to strengthen the security of the Capitol 
Complex and the Members, staff and their constituents we serve, support 
the business continuity and disaster recovery needs of the Senate, and 
harden our cybersecurity while modernizing the Senate's information 
technology (IT) systems. We need 30 additional staff in support of 
these priorities, which would bring our total end strength to 957 full-
time equivalents (FTE).
    The events of January 6 and April 2 require the SAA, in 
coordination with the House Sergeant at Arms (HSAA), Architect of the 
Capitol (AOC), and United States Capitol Police (USCP) to assess our 
physical security infrastructure and staffing posture. This 
collaborative review and commitment to strengthening our operational 
readiness has identified a number of near-term improvements. We 
anticipate additional requirements as we continue our collective 
assessment. We remain mindful of the desire for a more accessible 
campus, both in the near-term and following the pandemic.
    As we define these critical requirements and implement solutions, 
the SAA will rely on the AOC for its design and construction expertise, 
as well as the USCP for its operational requirements. Together, we will 
make informed decisions as responsible stewards of appropriated funds.
    The following narrative provides additional information on the 
SAA's fiscal year 2022 request and management of previously 
appropriated dollars in support of the Senate.
              physical security and emergency preparedness
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
    $25 million in no-year funds is requested to allow the Senate to 
quickly meet unanticipated needs, whether a natural disaster, pandemic, 
or events such as those of January 6, 2021. The Business Continuity and 
Disaster Recovery fund will ensure Senate essential services continue 
without interruption. This includes IT disaster recovery planning and 
operations, business continuity planning and operations, emergency 
communications, and general contingency capabilities, positioning the 
Senate to operate under any environment.
    Emerging requirements often develop quickly, post event. This 
became apparent after the pandemic, where we executed over $2 million 
in support of IT software, hardware, increased Internet bandwidth, 
conferencing services, applications, and burst increase for the Virtual 
Private Network (VPN). January 6th identified the need for new 
technologies and applications that provide better situational 
awareness, encryption, and enhanced communications capabilities.
Contingency Programs
    Level funding is requested to develop, maintain, and exercise our 
continuity plans. In fiscal year 2022, the SAA will continue testing 
and exercising Senate capabilities with its partners, including the 
Secretary of the Senate. One week-long mobility and relocation exercise 
will task the Senate continuity community with deploying vehicles, 
equipment, and staff to an offsite location; setting up functioning 
offices; and performing essential functions as if the Senate had 
relocated to a continuity site. We expect exercise results to 
contribute to the refinement of plans, reinforce training, identify 
capability gaps, and inform future investments.
Emergency Preparedness
    An increase of $1,237,000 and one additional FTE is requested for 
emergency preparedness. The SAA continues to educate, train, and 
exercise emergency plans and procedures to ensure Members and staff are 
equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and tools to prepare 
for, respond to, and recover from a variety of emergencies.
    We updated 157 Emergency Action Plans in 2020, and plan to update a 
similar number in both 2021 and 2022. These plans provide information 
such as detailed evacuation routes, elevator locations for the 
mobility-impaired, and office specific procedures for evacuation, 
shelter in place, relocation/internal relocation, and escape hood use. 
A custom office emergency reference card staff can adhere to their 
badges is also produced upon Emergency Action Plan finalization. For 
fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2023, we plan to streamline the 
Emergency Action Plan process by moving it to an online application, 
which will make it easier for Office Emergency Coordinators to review, 
update, and finalize plans.
    We assisted 52 Member offices and committees with completing their 
Continuity of Operations plans and trained 28 Member office and 
committee staff on continuity planning, strengthening the Senate's 
ability to continue performing its essential functions during and after 
disruptive events. We updated the Member office and committee COOP plan 
templates with lessons learned from the Russell Senate Office Building 
fire incident and the pandemic. We also moved all Member office COOP 
plans to the online Accountability and Emergency Roster System 
(ALERTS), making it easier for COOP Action Officers to review, update, 
and finalize documentation.
    In the past year we developed virtual training for remote staff on 
topics such as Escape Hood and Emergency Preparedness, Office Emergency 
Coordinator, ALERTS, Remote Check In, Emergency Action Planning, and 
Personal Preparedness. Approximately 900 Senate staff took advantage of 
this opportunity. The Member Emergency Preparedness training was 
provided virtually to seven new Senators.
    In addition to trainings, our office distributed guides informing 
staff on how to respond to threatening situations, protestors, and 
other emergencies. Our office created and released a new customizable 
Personal Preparedness Plan for the Senate community.
    We supplied and maintained emergency supply kits, annunciators, 
victim rescue units, and escape hoods (including baby escape hoods) for 
Senate offices. The fiscal year 2022 budget request includes an 
increase of $117,000 to support the replacement and replenishment of 
victim rescue units and $995,000 for escape hoods that have reached the 
end of their useful life.
    The Emergency Preparedness office worked with the CIO to 
restructure USCP alert messages in ALERTS by separating them into life 
safety alerts and administrative alerts. All DC staff now receive life 
safety alerts whenever a protective action is required on Capitol Hill. 
Administrative alerts for routine events such as road closures, 
suspicious packages, demonstrations, and door closures continue to be 
optional for Senate staff. For fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2023, 
we will update the Remote Check-In application to better capture 
accountability data from the Senate community pertaining to life safety 
events.
    Our fiscal year 2022 initiative to bring the Personnel 
Accountability System (PAS) under joint Senate and House of 
Representatives management will improve the Senate's ability to conduct 
Member and staff boarding and manifesting during emergencies, as well 
as ensure accurate accountability rosters at various locations.
    We are expanding our Call Center and Family Assistance Center 
planning efforts by engaging with the District of Columbia should this 
service be needed during a mass casualty event affecting Capitol Hill.
    We appreciate the Committee's support to provide funds needed to 
replace the legacy annunciator system with the Joint Audible Warning 
System (JAWS). The new system will provide an encrypted, remotely-
manageable audible warning system with coverage in required areas of 
the Capitol complex. The project has been divided into two phases: the 
first phase consists of in-building design and radio frequency 
collection and study work to lead to a final proposal; the second 
optional phase includes equipment purchase and installation. The 
project is currently in phase one and detailed building walkthroughs of 
the entire Capitol complex are complete. The vendor and the project 
team are now working on detailed analyses of each building to properly 
scope and design the system. As of February 2021, the following items 
remained to be completed in phase one: AOC to complete a cable path 
design in the Cannon House Office Building; vendor to recommend and the 
team to determine feasibility of additional transmission sites; and 
additional technology design work for in-building Distributed Antenna 
System to provide coverage in limited areas where rooftop transmitters 
cannot reach. The latter requires coordination with the SAA program 
manager to validate the concept and ensure it does not impact the 
reception coverage needed in the Capitol complex. This plan will be 
briefed to Leadership and the Committee regarding any changes in design 
or cost before phase two initiation, once the vendor submits a final 
proposal expected in April 2021. This budget submission includes an 
increase of $125,000 to ensure radios and other equipment can be 
replaced at the end of their expected lifecycle.
    In fiscal year 2019/2020 we completed a year-long pilot program 
with the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to install an alert 
beacon in their hearing room for silent visual notification to the 
Chief Clerk, who can then determine a response to the emergency 
message. Although expansion was paused due to pandemic restrictions, we 
look forward to expanding this feature to other committees in the 
upcoming year.
    We are collaborating with the House, USCP, AOC, and Library of 
Congress to update, manage, and exercise joint communications plans and 
procedures for various communications devices. We are working with the 
Executive Branch and other partners to expand priority and preemption 
cellular services to select Senate users, as well as provide access to 
secure communications devices as needed during highly congested events.
Intelligence and Protective Services
    $2,125,000 and an additional nine FTE are requested for the Office 
of Intelligence and Protective Services. We expect an increase in 
Member-specific requests throughout fiscal year 2022 similar to the 
significant increase in perimeter and personal security requests during 
Inauguration, following the events of January 6. Four Intelligence and 
Critical Infrastructure Security Analysts are needed to engage with the 
intelligence community and obtain information needed to make 
operational decisions. These analysts will participate in offsite task 
force assignments focusing on trends regarding domestic and 
international incidents, as well as threat and cybersecurity 
vulnerabilities affecting Members and the Capitol. Three Open Source 
Analysts and two Threat Management Analysts are needed to prevent 
reporting gaps to investigative authorities and to ensure timely work 
products as threat activity volume increases, particularly threat 
activity directed towards Members and their families. These analysts 
will monitor and inform Members, their staff, and SAA leadership of 
known criminal threat cases by actively engaging with the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation, USCP, and other intelligence agencies to 
receive and share data while following open source information and 
threat assessment reports.
    We proactively research and analyze such material and engage with 
community partners and subject matter experts to maintain security-
related situational awareness and identify threat data against Members, 
their families, and staff. In the first half of fiscal year 2021, we 
discovered over 456 comments of concern, which we referred to USCP, 
resulting in more than 190 criminal threat violations, an already 102 
percent increase over fiscal year 2020. We anticipate an increased use 
of social media, as well as encrypted messaging, to intensify 
disinformation and extremist ideologies, ultimately leading to 
exponentially more threat discoveries in fiscal year 2022.
    SAA collaborates with USCP and other law enforcement agencies to 
ensure appropriate notification and communication with specifically 
targeted Members and staff while continuously monitoring, evaluating, 
and conducting vulnerability, risk, and threat assessments to determine 
and apply suitable security measures and protective operations 
coverage. For the first half of fiscal year 2021, we tracked, 
monitored, and updated Members and staff on over 292 active criminal 
threat cases, already more than a 24 percent increase from fiscal year 
2020.
Member Outreach and Security Coordination
    An additional four FTE are requested for the SAA Office of Member 
Outreach and Security Coordination (MOSC), which provides security 
support to Senators and staff in DC and State offices. Support includes 
security assessments and law enforcement coordination for public and 
private events; law enforcement notifications for identified rest 
overnight locations; escort coordination at airports, train stations, 
and other mass transit locations; enhanced residence patrols; 
assessment and law enforcement coordination for security assistance at 
public events; overseas travel assessments and coordination; tools for 
off campus safety and reporting procedures; SAA security training 
initiatives; and overall security posture enhancements.
    MOSC has engaged in active outreach and discussions regarding 
active threat and criminal cases directed at Members and staff, as well 
as weekly reinforcement messages to Chiefs of Staff, Administrative 
Managers, State Directors, Chief Clerks, and Schedulers regarding 
campus safety initiatives. Additionally, MOSC participates in security 
awareness briefings for Senate office staff alongside USCP 
counterparts.
    Each effort is undertaken to ensure Members and their staff receive 
the necessary guidance, tools, and support when planning and attending 
national public events. We provide offices with a final product 
highlighting the overall threat level, specific areas of concern, and 
local law enforcement contact information. Through this extensive 
outreach initiative, MOSC has completed approximately 139 law 
enforcement coordination and assessment requests, 509 law enforcement 
escort requests, 151 travel notifications, and 39 rest overnight 
notifications and enhanced patrols during the first half of fiscal year 
2021. This represent a 320 percent increase over the same timeframe 
last year. We are on track to nearly triple the approximately 437 total 
requests completed in fiscal year 2020.
Security Planning and Police Operations
    Level funding is requested to coordinate law enforcement support 
for the Senate community in collaboration with the USCP. fiscal year 
2020/2021 efforts include coordinating 520 Senate campus access 
requests; working with the Committee on Rules and Administration and 
USCP to identify and publish numerous door and barricade restrictions 
during recess periods, special events, and holidays. The SAA 
coordinated security coverage for 314 committee hearings and 15 Member-
specific security requests. We partnered with USCP to support 
residential security assessments for Members. We reinstituted Security 
Awareness Briefings for Senate staff, and have held more than 50 
sessions to provide information covering a variety of security-related 
topics thus far in 2021.
    Our office provides real-time situational awareness through USCP 
Command Center support. Our staff are on duty all hours the Senate is 
in session, and throughout normal business hours during periods of 
recess, to allow for regular contact between our office, USCP, and the 
Senate community throughout routine operations, special events, and 
emergencies. We monitored approximately 421 security events through 
this program in 2020.
    The overall Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness 
information technology infrastructure consists of at least 10 
interconnected and stand-alone systems that provide alert notification 
and accountability support to offices, incident management, parking 
operations, badge production, campus access, fleet management, and 
secure communications for the Senate. There are two complex legacy 
systems that need focused effort to modernize, specifically the Parking 
Management System that manages parking operations for SAA parking lots, 
and the Identification System that produces Senate IDs. These systems 
require an additional, dedicated FTE who can manage development and 
maintenance in coordination with the CIO.
                    information systems and security
Cybersecurity
    The SAA endured a number of cyber events, to include the recent 
Solar Winds hack that impacted a number of executive branch and 
commercial organizations. The Senate remained unaffected. To remain 
ahead of potential cyber threats, we request an increase of $1,850,000 
to: replace a legacy ticketing system with modern technology that also 
manages cyber incident response tickets; procure the next generation 
firewall and cloud-based filtering technology to better defend cloud 
services; acquire an application that will actively identify 
vulnerabilities on Senate devices; secure the ability to predict and 
adapt to intelligence feeds from malign actors in social media; and 
mature the method by which Senate users connect to the Senate network.
    During fiscal year 2022, we will focus on our five main lines of 
effort: Cybersecurity Resilience Assessment Methodology (CRAM), Office 
CRAM, Insider Threat, Awareness, and Cloud.
    We completed the development of the CRAM methodology, and are 
finalizing the testing of the standardized methodology to ensure it is 
effective and efficient. Next, we will conduct advanced cybersecurity 
resiliency assessments for Senate offices and committees that include 
coordinated penetration tests, vulnerability assessments, and advanced 
phishing assessments, among other actions. These advanced assessments 
will also evaluate the effectiveness of the Cyber Security Operations 
Center, as well as information technology systems supporting the Senate 
network. We will concentrate on mitigating risk associated with the 
potential insider threat, through education and technical means. We 
will mature our cybersecurity awareness campaign in collaboration with 
other agencies. Finally, we will evaluate gaps in cyber and privacy 
security as it relates to cloud-based services and other technologies, 
and will work to develop and post relevant cybersecurity policies to 
the Senate community. Through the standup of a contracting review 
board, we review all awarded contracts for legal, cybersecurity, and 
privacy risks.
End User Technology Innovation
    Our ability to innovate for the end user lags, due to day-to-day 
operational requirements. Building applications and applying 
configuration standards to secure computing platforms, while 
maintaining maximum convenience and flexibility from the end user's 
point of view, will help to ensure successful deployment, increased use 
and greater end user productivity. To support this effort, the fiscal 
year 2022 budget includes a request for two additional FTE. An IT 
Manager is needed to supervise existing personnel responsible for the 
innovation and evaluation of solutions that are delivered directly to 
end users. This includes the assessment of new desktops, laptops, 
printing and scanning solutions, smartphones and tablets and how we 
provision, deploy, and update them. A Principal Quality Assurance 
Analyst is needed to strengthen the quality of custom applications 
before they are released to production.
Secure and Mobile Communications
    $988,000 and two additional FTE are requested to oversee the 
engineering, implementation, and operations for the Senate's IT 
Continuity and Disaster Recovery Programs. This includes management of 
the Senate's radio infrastructure, communication security (COMSEC), 
mobile command vehicles, satellite communications, voice and data 
connections to continuity sites, as well as datacenter resiliency and 
continuity.
    The requested funding and additional staff will enhance the 
Senate's continuity resiliency and further protect our Continuity of 
Operations assets. This includes the acquisition of radio management 
software to allow for remote configuration and management of both 
mobile and portable radios; the protected storage for a mobile 
communication vehicle and satellite communication assets; and 
additional hardware (laptops and radio infrastructure) to facilitate a 
more robust continuity response.
Security Enhancements
    We work closely with offices on multi-factor authentication (MFA) 
to enhance the security of the Senate IT infrastructure. In fiscal year 
2021, we further secured access to critical Senate services and data 
with the implementation of Duo Trusted Endpoints (DTE). DTE prevents 
unauthorized device access to Senate services protected by MFA. 
Throughout fiscal year 2022, we will enhance integration of MFA with 
more Senate applications and additional developments in secure 
password-less authentication.
    To address the ongoing need for increased security of highly 
privileged accounts, we expanded enrollment into Privileged Access 
Management (PAM) to include accounts used by office System 
Administrators. PAM significantly increases the security posture of the 
Senate information systems, protecting the most sensitive data by 
limiting exposure of privileged credentials and protecting access to 
those credentials with MFA.
    The Identity and Access Management (IAM) program remains 
strategically important as it ensures users of IT resources have the 
right access to the right systems and data from initial onboarding 
through their tenure at the Senate. IAM ensures access to all systems 
and data terminates once a staff member is no longer an employee of the 
Senate. SAA CIO plans to deploy IAM in a pilot program late in 2021. 
With the increased adoption of cloud services across the IT and mobile 
device landscape, it is essential that a user's access to the proper 
systems and data can be managed efficiently and securely. Additionally, 
cloud products rely on user licenses to access these services, and the 
ability to correctly license and delicense users is essential to 
control costs. Our fiscal year 2022 budget request identifies a need 
for an additional FTE to configure and support the IAM system.
Enterprise and Network Services
    $1,648,000 is requested in fiscal year 2022 for the data centers 
and related network operations. An additional $750,000 is requested to 
cover the expenses associated with the joint encrypted communications 
study and related implementation.
    In fiscal year 2020, we refined the data center modernization 
strategy to include a transition to two geographically-separated Tier 3 
colocation facilities, enhanced resiliency of critical IT services, and 
improved physical security. During fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 
2021, we completed network infrastructure and extended critical IT 
services to the first colocation data center facility. Efforts to 
extend additional services to the facility will be completed in fiscal 
year 2021. As part of the refined data center strategy, we identified 
and contracted a regional data center location to establish another 
facility with enhanced physical security, power, cooling, and network 
redundancy. We will relocate the Site A data center to the new facility 
in fiscal year 2021. Remaining implementation and migration activities 
for the two colocation facilities will be completed in fiscal year 
2022.
    Ultimately, some services will run out of the new data centers 
while other services will run from cloud providers. We are undertaking 
additional analysis to ensure we provide the right mix of cost 
effective and modern services between a mix of data centers and the 
cloud.
Help Desk Support
    One additional FTE is requested to implement a new IT service 
management platform, which will improve customer service when staff 
utilize the Help Desk for IT service requests.
IT Support Communications
    The SAA continues with the expansion of the digital signage system 
to approximately 63 locations within the Hart, Dirksen, and Russell 
buildings. Seven locations currently have digital signage, with a plan 
to add 56 new locations over the next 5 years. The expanded digital 
signage system will display graphical wayfinding information and 
emergency notifications, in addition to existing directory information 
and hearing schedules. The new digital signs will connect to the Joint 
Emergency Mass Notification System.
    The multi-year effort to upgrade and modernize the State office 
telephony infrastructure for all 460-plus State offices is underway 
and, to date, we have completed 273. Due to the pandemic, we have 
experienced delays in migration and are unable to complete as initially 
planned. The funding for this contract is in place and must be 
obligated. However, as a result, there is a need to fund support of the 
legacy systems that were not replaced during fiscal year 2022. The 
pandemic has also required additional work orders for services such as 
call forwarding to be placed on these same legacy lines. The legacy 
features are at a cost and therefore require additional funding as 
well. As a result, we require a one-time increase of $5,775,000 for 
support of the legacy system and a permanent increase of $1,879,000 to 
support the continued migration and monthly usage and maintenance of 
the new system.
    Further we require two additional FTE to support the Telecom 
Assistance Center. These new hires will support the additional work 
resulting from the increase in supported technologies. The 
responsibilities of the TAC have expanded significantly due to virtual 
conferencing, the updating and expansion of in-building wireless, and a 
need to have more rigorous program management to keep this project on 
track.
    The funds received in the fiscal year 2021 enacted budget in 
support of the Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) platform 
have allowed us to complete Phase I: Discovery and Requirements 
Gathering, Phase II: Analysis and Research, and Phase III: Procurement 
Planning. In fiscal year 2021, we began Phase IV: Implementation and 
Migration. The UCC Implementation and Migration phase of the project 
will continue in fiscal year 2022. This will create a mobile, 
collaborative, and unified environment that is easy to use and 
intuitive for the end-user. The SAA, along with a leading UCC 
integrator, will design a system that support communication and 
collaboration anytime, anywhere, and on any connected device. This 
includes voice messaging, voice-to-text transcription, Microsoft Teams 
integration, conferencing, common directory, Contact Center, mass 
notification, and enhanced 9-1-1 (E911). The UCC implementation will 
focus on five key priorities: security and privacy, systems 
integration, collaboration, mobility, and user interface and self-
service.
    To support Senate offices, our request includes $550,000 for year 
three of a 5-year plan to ensure adequate funds are available to 
support the Senate IT needs through the Economic Allocation Fund. The 
fiscal year 2022 budget request also includes $412,000 and one 
additional FTE for the wireless services and equipment to meet demand.
Program Management
    Two additional FTE are requested to support the coordination of all 
IT projects and equipment orders.
                            support services
Acquisition
    An increase of $38,000 and one additional FTE is requested to 
support the Senate's procurement needs, including continued development 
of quality procurement packages. SAA acquisition personnel are working 
to obtain their Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-
C) to professionalize the SAA Acquisition workforce consistent with 
other legislative entities and Federal agencies. To date, one-third of 
SAA Acquisition personnel have obtained FAC-C Level 1 certification or 
higher. Funding will allow for acquisition personnel to obtain the 
appropriate FAC-C certification level based on their position and 
complete required continuous learning of 80 hours every 2 years to 
maintain certification.
Appointment Desk
    Level funding is requested to support the network of Appointment 
Desks located on the first floor of the Capitol, in the basements of 
the Russell and Hart buildings, and in the Capitol Visitor Center 
(CVC). During fiscal year 2019, the Appointment Desk processed 
approximately 205,000 visitors. Of these, more than 120,000 visitors 
were in the Capitol complex for official business or for a meeting with 
a Member, a Member's office, or a committee. The remaining 85,000 
visitors consisted of staff-led tours that were processed through the 
Russell Appointment Desk. In addition, nearly 30,000 international 
visitors relied on the CVC Appointment Desk for Senate Gallery Passes 
and information. Although the pandemic required a significant 
curtailment in operations beginning March 2020, required support will 
steadily increase in fiscal year 2021 and into fiscal year 2022 as 
Members and staff return to normal operations. In fiscal year 2021, 
Appointment Desk staff provided auxiliary staff support to the New 
Member Suites post-election and the Impeachment trial.
Capitol Facilities
    Level funding is requested in fiscal year 2022 to provide a clean, 
professional environment in the Capitol. The Environmental Services 
Division cleans Capitol offices, hallways, and restrooms; moves 
furniture for offices; and provides special event setups for 15 meeting 
rooms in the Capitol and the Senate expansion space in the Capitol 
Visitor Center. During the pandemic, in addition to the standard 
nightly cleaning services, the Environmental Services Division procured 
and utilized advanced equipment and chemicals to disinfect offices, 
restrooms, and hallways. Supplies, including masks, disinfecting wipes 
and hand sanitizers, were provided to Capitol offices in partnership 
with the AOC.
    In fiscal year 2021, the Furnishings Division completed the 
refurbishment of the third floor corridors surrounding the Senate 
Chamber and seating in the Senate Galleries, providing furnishings 
consistent with the significance of the Senate. The Furnishings 
Division created custom furniture for the winter 2021 impeachment trial 
to facilitate accessibility and egress.
Doorkeepers
    Level funding is requested for the Senate Doorkeepers, who provide 
access to those with Senate floor privileges; enforce the rules of the 
Senate floor; and facilitate the needs of Senators, Senate floor staff, 
and Senate Pages, including emergency preparedness.
Employee Assistance Program
    Level funding and two additional FTE are requested in fiscal year 
2022 for the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which offers a variety 
of emotional, behavioral, and work-related support resources and 
services to staff, their family members, Senate Pages, and interns. The 
overarching mission of the EAP is enhancing resilience and preparedness 
across the Senate community, and this past year has demonstrated the 
effectiveness of our strategies.
    In 2020, the EAP met the increased demand for services as a result 
of the COVID-19 pandemic by immediately standing up telehealth support 
services, providing customized trainings to requesting Senate offices, 
contracting an additional counselor, and distributing regular 
communications to Senate staff. During this time, more than 40 percent 
of Senate staff accessed EAP services across nearly 95 percent of 
Senate offices. Additionally, 312 employees took an online mental 
health screening; 2,087 employees attended an EAP training activity; 
and 1,923 employees accessed resources for personalized information and 
referrals addressing childcare, parenting, adult care, aging, 
education, legal concerns, and/or financial issues.
    As of March 2021, the demand for services has increased 
significantly and will exceed the 2020 statistics by the end of 2021. 
It is worth noting that the EAP has already reached 25 percent of our 
clinical service numbers and 42 percent of training outreach within the 
first 2 months of 2021, compared with all of 2020. In response to 
January 6, 2021, and April 2, 2021, the EAP continued to meet or exceed 
service levels, including providing trauma support to entities outside 
of the normal programmatic purview.
Fleet Operations
    Level funding is requested to procure, manage, and maintain Senate 
vehicles; operate the Senate Daily Shuttle service; and provide the 
Senate with emergency transportation and logistics support. The SAA 
fleet includes trucks, vans, buses, SUVs, electric vehicles, 
handicapped-accessible vehicles, and Segways. SAA staff transported 
more than 22,000 passengers through the SAA Shuttle Service in fiscal 
year 2019. We expect these levels to return as Members and staff are 
vaccinated and return onsite. In addition to staff regularly sanitizing 
vehicles, the SAA is procuring anti-bacterial air filters for passenger 
buses. We plan is to exchange several obsolete vehicles that can 
instead be leased, for a cost savings to the Senate.
Human Resources
    An increase of $43,000 is requested to support the SAA Human 
Resources office, which provides personnel services and advice to SAA 
managers and employees, administers the internship program, executes 
personnel and payroll administration, oversees the SAA safety office, 
coordinates workers compensation, manages the SAA transit subsidy 
program, and oversees the Placement Office. The Placement Office 
assists Senators and committees with filling entry level through 
professional staff vacancies by providing resumes of qualified 
candidates. During fiscal year 2020, the Senate Placement Office 
received 562 requests for recruitment assistance from Senate offices 
and processed 16,980 resumes from applicants seeking Senate employment.
ID Office
    Level funding is requested to support the Senate ID Office. The SAA 
has assisted 6,100 customers in 2021, including Senate staff, support 
personnel and credentialed media. Almost 18,000 new and updated 
Congressional and Press identification badges were issued in fiscal 
year 2020. We anticipate our fiscal year 2022 volume to increase in 
support of greater security measures at the Capitol complex and State 
offices. The ID office is working to support various capabilities, as 
outlined in the Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12, 
including email encryption and two-factor secure remote network access 
in fiscal year 2021.
    The SAA has upgraded badge production hardware, printers, and 
cameras to best support the growing demand for SmartCards and 
proximity-based IDs, as well as replace end of life production 
equipment. SmartCards used for digital signatures in the Senate 
financial management system have been offered to all Member, committee, 
and support offices, increasing by 30 percent each Congress dating back 
to the 114th Congress. As the FMIS system expands its functionality and 
user population, we expect this number to grow throughout fiscal year 
2021 and fiscal year 2022. We are actively researching additional uses 
for SmartCards, such as point of entry, as this badge becomes more 
prevalent across the Capitol complex.
Media Galleries
    Level funding is requested in fiscal year 2022 to support the 
Senate's four media galleries: Daily Press, Periodical Press, Press 
Photographers, and Radio/TV. The media galleries serve as liaisons 
between members of the media and the Senate community. Each gallery 
reviews applications and issues credential to its respective news 
photographers and reporters, then facilitates their interactions with 
Senators. Gallery staff also coordinate press coverage of hearings, 
news conferences, stakeouts, and other media events in the Capitol and 
Senate office buildings. The Senate Radio/TV gallery maintains the 
studio and technical infrastructure Senators use for news conferences. 
Outside of the ongoing pandemic, during which press pooled their 
reporting to limit the number of individuals in the Capitol and Senate 
office buildings, media presence on Capitol Hill has increased over the 
past few years.
Page Program
    The Senate Page Program, which provides an opportunity for high 
school students across the Nation to become immersed in the legislative 
process and the workings of the Senate. In March fiscal year 2020, in 
consultation with the Office of Attending Physician, we swiftly 
returned pages to their homes at the beginning of the pandemic. We have 
focused our attention and resources on needed improvements to Daniel J. 
Webster Residence Hall in partnership with the AOC. An increase of 
$7,000 is needed to cover licensing costs for a software system that 
supports the health and safety of pages.
Parking Operations
    An increase of $100,000 and one additional FTE is requested to 
provide a customer-focused, secure parking management system for the 
Senate. The SAA purchased new permit printers and tablets to enhance 
onsite customer service in fiscal year 2021. An increase in fiscal year 
2022 is needed to purchase additional handheld devices. Software for 
these devices is being developed to instantly identify vehicles and any 
associated issues by scanning permit barcodes or license plates, 
capturing photos, and print and document parking violations and other 
issues that need to be addressed by permit holders.
Photographic Services
    Level funding is requested in fiscal year 2022 to provide photo-
imaging services for Senate offices and committees. The SAA 
Photographic Services team manages and maintains a unified digital 
photo browser application that provides Senate offices a secure, 
accessible archive of all photos accumulated during a Senator's term in 
office. Currently, the photo browser contains more than 1.4 million 
photo image files. Following a survey of Senate offices, Photographic 
Services will replace its photo browser with a more modern and 
customer-friendly version. This will give the Senate community access 
to a unified repository of photographs with the ability to order a 
preexisting or uploaded image. In fiscal year 2020, our staff 
photographed nearly 51,000 images, produced more than 22,000 photo 
prints, and coordinated scanning for end of term archiving of more than 
17,000 photo images for Senators leaving office. We are providing the 
same level of service in fiscal year 2021 with consistent funding.
Post Office
    Level funding is requested to support the Senate Post Office. Post 
Office staff test and deliver mail and packages to more than 180 
locations within the Capitol complex, while providing a messenger 
service to multiple locations throughout the Washington metropolitan 
area. In fiscal year 2020, the Post Office safely processed and 
delivered more than 6.17 million incoming mail items, while 
intercepting five suspicious mailings that required an immediate 
response by the USCP. We prevented delivery of an additional 7,961 
mailings bearing characteristics with the intent to disrupt Senate 
business and requiring further scrutiny by USCP.
    During the pandemic, we established a temporary free forwarding 
service for State offices so their mail could be sent to the Capitol. 
For 15 participating offices, we delivered this mail to PGDM so that it 
could be scanned and sent electronically. To assist with the timely 
delivery of checks and invoices, we have been notifying both Senate and 
SAA offices via email with a digital scan to confirm receipt. This not 
only assisted in the safety of staff during the pandemic, but also 
allowed staff to quickly obtain constituent mail and promptly respond.
    Providing mail safety and security training for both DC and State 
offices remains vital to ensure all Senate staff know how to respond to 
potentially dangerous situations. We continue to offer training through 
the web (static video), VTC, and webinars and accomplish it in 
coordination with the State Office Operations team.
Printing, Graphics and Direct Mail
    Level funding is requested for Printing, Graphics and Direct Mail 
(PGDM), which provides support to the Senate community through graphic 
design, printing, photocopying, mailing, document preservation, 
logistics, and secure offsite transfer of Senate material. During 
fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021, PGDM replaced its color digital 
press and digital ink jet production press.
    PGDM is providing digital publications for various offices, while 
ensuring that items, such as 508 compliance, are applied. Those digital 
solutions have generated additional printed material that requires 
enhanced printing technology, which has been implemented in fiscal year 
2021. As a result of the pandemic, we successfully reconfigured our 
processes, and are able to scan Senators' mail and forward this mail 
electronically so staff members can quickly respond to constituents.
    PGDM is offering remote services, to include ordering and 
processing flag requests online in partnership with the Secretary of 
the Senate. As of March 2021, 82 offices have participated in remote 
flag processing and 30 offices have used the PGDM Custom Flag 
Certificate. Through software updates and enhanced training, we have 
streamlined our remote ordering processes with sophisticated web-to-
print software and a new storefront for customers. The platform will 
give the Senate community the ability to access pre-approved templates 
and allow users to customize, order, and produce proofs. The storefront 
will also generate additional printed materials that require enhanced 
printing technology such as an Inkjet Press, which will also be 
implemented in fiscal year 2021 and into fiscal year 2022. PGDM seeks 
and provides training through various methods and resources to ensure 
its staff meet or exceed industry standards.
Recording Studio
    The fiscal year 2022 budget includes a request for $5 million in 
no-year funding to enable the SAA to replace audiovisual equipment and 
systems in Senate Hearing Rooms that is at, or near, the end of its 
serviceable life. This project will be coordinated the Committee on 
Rules and Administration and the Architect of the Capitol (AOC). During 
fiscal year 2019, the Senate Recording Studio (SRS) fully renovated two 
hearing rooms, replacing audiovisual equipment that had exceeded its 
useful life. During fiscal year 2020, our plan to complete Dirksen 106 
was delayed due to the pandemic. During fiscal year 2021, we plan to 
make targeted replacements of at-risk systems in three hearing rooms: 
SH-216, SR-332, and SD-215.
    In fiscal year 2020, the SRS provided 964 hours of gavel-to-gavel 
coverage of Senate floor proceedings, including 6,189 livestreamed page 
views to 624 unique visitors on the Senate's website www.senate.gov, as 
well as archiving of the proceedings. We supported 402 committee 
hearings, of which 216 were hybrid or remote. The Senate has come to 
rely upon this capability for reasons that transcend the pandemic, and 
it is unlikely that demand will decrease after the pandemic.
    The SRS enables Senators working in DC to communicate with their 
constituents and news outlets back home. In calendar year 2020, the 
studio produced 606 television productions and 836 radio productions.
State Office Operations
    We appreciate the Committee's support in fiscal year 2021 to 
adequately fund the State office rent program, reimbursement to the 
General Services Administration for Federal occupancy agreements, and 
increases in Federal Protective Service security costs for Senate 
offices housed in Federal buildings. The fiscal year 2022 budget 
includes the GSA rent inflation factor from GSA exhibit 54.
    The SAA works closely with commercial landlords, the GSA, and the 
FPS to ensure Members' operational and security preparedness needs are 
met in their State offices. As of March 2021, we support 458 State 
offices for rental payments; renovations; installation, maintenance and 
monitoring of physical security measures; and emergency supplies and 
security preparedness planning and training.
    In 2020, the SAA completed 88 unique State office projects, 
coordinating construction, security, furniture, equipment, and delivery 
of IT services. In 2021, we anticipate completing nearly 200 State 
office openings, relocations, renovations, and security projects as we 
support the transitions associated with the 117th Congress, and make up 
for postponements due to COVID-19 related restrictions across the 
country. Our success in managing the State Office Operations portfolio 
hinges on our close and collaborative working relationship with Senate 
staff, commercial landlords, and our Federal partners.
    We remain committed to ensuring the safety of Members and staff, 
and continue to provide customized security systems, monitoring 
services, and enhanced office security construction designs to State 
offices without affecting Member office budgets. Currently, over 98 
percent of State offices have adopted some level of recommended 
security enhancements. In fiscal year 2020, we provided initial 
physical security enhancements for 32 State offices and enhanced 
existing security for 20 others. We believe that emergency preparedness 
training and familiarity with security equipment equates to higher 
levels of compliance and readiness. The State Office Operations team 
offered twice monthly emergency preparedness webinars and worked 
closely with USCP on State office Security Awareness Briefings (SABs), 
transitioning to a virtual platform due to COVID-19 related travel 
restrictions. Since the deployment of these new virtual SABs earlier 
this year, 88 Senate State staff have participated in training and 
detailed security reviews. Our focus on State office readiness will 
continue into fiscal year 2022 and, to ensure our physical security 
enhancement program continues to be state-of-the-art, we are requesting 
a small one-time budget increase of $250,000 to undertake a detailed 
independent review of the program.
    A major challenge and area of focus is support to the Senate State 
offices contending with operational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
In fiscal year 2021, State Office Operations is working closely with 
State offices around the country, ensuring they have the resources 
needed to continue operations and serve their constituents. In the 
early stages of the public health emergency, a significant outreach 
effort was undertaken, including a new streamlined COOP planning 
template that helped offices quickly shift to remote work posture. 
Recognizing the need for State staff to get accurate information about 
COVID-19 when considering operational status or staffing level changes, 
we developed a briefing based on current Office of Attending Physician 
guidance and available SAA services and supplies. Each briefing was 
customized, including office floor plans (to support social distance 
planning) and lists of local resources and public health authorities in 
each State. To date, 92 senior staff representing 41 Member offices 
have participated in these briefings. Our team also worked closely with 
commercial landlords and our GSA partners to coordinate 152 enhanced 
cleanings of State offices (many as a result of confirmed or suspected 
COVID-19 exposures). We focused on efforts to make facilities safer by 
helping offices assess floor plans to better plan for staggered 
staffing. We funded and coordinated furniture relocation and the 
procurement and placement of 68 plexiglass partitions to support social 
distancing. State Office Operations reorganized its existing supply 
program to include an expanded inventory of COVID-19 supplies in 
partnership with the AOC. To date, we have provided 87,700 face 
coverings and distributed thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer, as 
well as sanitizing wipes, disinfectant spray, and nitrile gloves to 
State staff. In addition, we coordinated the order and delivery of 307 
COVID-19 guidance posters and 160 social distancing floor stickers. Our 
COVID-19 support to State offices is expected to continue in fiscal 
year 2022.
Training and Development
    Level funding and one additional FTE is requested for the Joint 
Office of Training & Development, which provides training, coaching, 
and professional development to Senate staff. During fiscal year 2020, 
Training & Development was able to provide all of its services 
remotely. The office provided more than 300 online classes and more 
than 200 facilitated conversations, one-on-one coaching, and 
consultations. The office interacted with 5,000 Senate staff through 
these services. In fiscal year 2020, the office provided virtual 
roundtables for State staff, which provided the benefits of networking 
and learning from each other, without any travel. Outside of the 
classroom, Training & Development staff have assisted over 500 staff in 
informal learning encounters. The additional FTE will respond to the 
increased need for technical documentation and training on Senate-
supported applications and software utilized by Senate offices.
    The mandated Health Promotion section provides activities and 
events for the Senate community that promote healthy living. Each year, 
this section coordinates and hosts the 2-day Wellness Fair, which 
averages nearly 3,000 participants. The fair offers health promotion 
activities, such as screening for glucose, cholesterol, and blood 
pressure; exercise demonstrations; and seminars on topics including 
healthy eating and cancer prevention. Although the Senate Wellness Fair 
was cancelled in fiscal year 2020, we are investigating options to 
provide online sessions to Senate staff in fiscal year 2021. Health 
Promotion continues to coordinate with the American College of Surgeons 
(ACS) and the Stop the Bleed Coalition to provide bleeding control 
training for DC Senate staff. ACS cancelled the in-person training 2020 
and will offer a virtual training in May for Senate staff. The Health 
Promotion section will work with ACS to schedule hands-on training, 
starting in June.
                               conclusion
    Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the SAA's fiscal year 2022 
budget request. As I familiarize with the SAA's diverse operations, I 
am deeply impressed by the professionalism and pride of the SAA team. 
Together, we will ensure the traditions of the Senate are upheld and 
respected while embracing innovation.

    Senator Reed. Thank you, General Gibson.
    Let me begin with a question for all of you, and I will 
start with Chief Pittman. But all of the agencies are 
responsible for protection and security of the Capitol, that 
means anticipating threats and preparing for those threats, but 
each agency plays a different role, but you must coordinate to 
effectively protect the Capitol.
    So, this is a foundational question for my benefit, if not 
for my colleagues. Can you each clarify what your agency is 
responsible for, and how do you coordinate with the other 
agency?

                    CAPITOL POLICE RESPONSIBILITIES

    Chief Pittman.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Absolutely. So, for U.S. Capitol 
Police, our primary responsibility is to secure the entire 
Capitol Complex. We also provide nationwide protective services 
for Members of the congressional leadership, as well as 
investigation of threats against Members of Congress and their 
immediate families.
    I work very closely with the Capitol Police Board to the 
right of me, if there are any security questions as they have 
oversight of the U.S. Capitol Police, and are a mediary between 
the U.S. Capitol Police and the Members of Congress. For the 
operational security plans on the Campus, the chief does have a 
bit of autonomy, but I do make my counterparts aware of the 
security and operational planning for the campus.
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Chief.
    Mr. Blanton, please.
    Mr. Blanton. Yes. As the Architect of the Capitol, I am in 
charge of the maintenance, care and upkeep of the entire 
Capitol Complex, including the Capitol building, the House and 
Senate office buildings, the Supreme Court, Library of Congress 
and the Botanic Gardens, and some other buildings, as well.
    As it relates to the Capitol Police Board, my primary role 
is to advise the Board on the physical implications of security 
decisions on infrastructure, and to plan, design and construct 
security infrastructure projects that are appropriated by 
Congress.
    Senator Reed. Thank you.
    And General Gibson, could you indicate your 
responsibilities and coordination?
    General Gibson. Certainly, Senator. I am solely responsible 
for cybersecurity of the Senate IT infrastructure, and I am 
responsible, I believe, for securing Senators, the staff on the 
Capitol Complex, and the home offices.
    I do not command or direct the operations of the Capitol 
Police or others who perform the physical security and 
protection of those Members, staffs and officers. Rather, I 
exercise oversight and provide guidance to the Capitol Police 
through my authorities as a member of the Capitol Police Board. 
I coordinate and communicate Senate security priorities to the 
Capitol Police and to the Architect. I coordinate, as 
necessary, with external agencies like the Federal Air 
Marshals.
    I fund, install, manage and monitor safety and security 
programs at the home offices. I provide training to staff and 
Members on emergency response, preparedness and continuity or 
contingency response.

                    TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

    Senator Reed. Well, let me follow that question up, and 
start with General Gibson. Have the events of January 6 caused 
you, and I think it has, to rethink your responsibilities and 
the coordination mechanism? All roads, based on your testimony, 
seem to lead back to the Capitol Police Board, and your 
experience, General, which is just, and also I think Mr. 
Blanton and the Chief said: in a crisis committees do not 
function very well, and we have to prepare for crises.
    So, could you comment on what changes you think should be 
enacted in responsibilities and coordination?
    General Gibson. Certainly. I definitely think you need the 
Capitol Police Board, and largely as it is currently 
constituted. There are some improvements that could be made in 
terms of responsiveness and transparency.
    That said, I do think there need to be mechanisms by which 
the Capitol Police Chief can seek additional assistance in an 
emergency without having to get the permission of the Capitol 
Police Board. In fact, the counsels from all of our offices are 
working together to draft language to that effect, whether that 
might result in a regulation that is issued by the Capitol 
Police Board or legislation, that would permit the Capitol 
Police Chief, in exigent circumstances, to request the 
emergency assistance that is required.
    Senator Reed. Mr. Blanton, your comments.
    Mr. Blanton. Thank you. I do agree as well that there needs 
to be much more transparency and accountability in the Capitol 
Police Board. I also concur that as currently constituted, it 
can be an effective board with some changes that are made.
    When it comes to the role of physical infrastructure, one 
of the key outcomes to me is that we need to look across the 
entire Campus, comprehensively, at our physical infrastructure, 
and in doing so that includes other entities that we support, 
as the Architect of the Capitol, that are on the Capitol 
Complex, that are not necessarily under the purview of 
Congress, such as the Supreme Court.
    Senator Reed. Yes.
    Mr. Blanton. So that is why we requested that the transfer 
of authority for the funds to do the comprehensive security 
assessment, to look at the entire campus so we do not have weak 
spots in some locations and harder spots in the other locations 
on the Capitol Complex.
    Senator Reed. Thank you.

           IMPACT OF JANUARY 6 EVENT ON THE SECURITY POSTURE

    And Chief Pittman, please.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Yes, certainly. The mission for the 
U.S. Capitol Police has not changed, it has expanded, and I do 
agree with General Gibson in her assessment that the U.S. 
Capitol Police Chief should have the autonomy to bypass the 
Board in a crisis situation. The events of January 6, will have 
an impact on our workforce and will also change our security 
posture on the campus.
    We know that in a crisis situation time is not always on or 
believed to be on our side, and it is my belief, along with 
leadership at the U.S. Capitol Police, that in those situations 
we are fighting for everything. Everything we say and do is to 
make sure we put our workforce, our officers in the best 
position to defend the U.S. Capitol, so they can, essentially, 
protect the Members of Congress.
    With that said, we have been working closely with the 
members of the Capitol Police Board, to come up with some of 
the language so that the Chief of Police can have the right or 
autonomy to at least solicit the help of the DC National Guard 
in a time of crisis.
    So, with the Board Chair we will work through those 
challenges, to grant the police chief that authority, and I 
believe that through the partnership with myself and the Board, 
we will be able to come to a helpful resolution so that we can 
provide the maximum support for the workforce as well as for 
the Congress.

                            PERIMETER FENCE

    Senator Reed. Thank you, Chief.
    I am going to recognize Senator Braun. I will also ask him 
to run the show while I run to the vote. I will be back very 
quickly. So, thank you.

               OUTER PERIMETER FENCING AROUND THE CAPITOL

    Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    This will be for Chief Pittman and General Gibson. It is my 
understanding that this week the Capitol Police Board made a 
determination to put the outer perimeter fence back up in 
expectation of potential activity around the Capitol grounds. 
While the decision was later reversed, this would have been the 
first time the outer fence I think was redeployed, and I think 
it would be helpful to understand the decisionmaking process.
    Chief Pittman, and General Gibson, can you let me know, or 
let this committee know what informed the decisionmaking 
process? And then also address why oversight committees were 
not consulted in advance of either decision.
    Acting Chief Pittman. I do not mind starting, General, if 
that is okay with you.
    General Gibson. Neither do I. Go ahead.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Okay.
    Thank you, sir, for the question. So naturally since 
January 6, the U.S. Capitol Police's hearts have been extremely 
heavy. As you know, sir, we have lost three officers in a 3-
month period of time.
    I have gone around to roll calls and talking to my officers 
who are traumatized, since the events of January 6, and I have 
always shared with them that I believe that law enforcement is 
a calling, and like any calling one must be prepared.
    However, there is nothing that prepares you, as a Chief or 
as a member of the workforce, for losing three members of your 
police family in such a horrific manner, back-to-back as we 
have experienced.
    The Capitol Police has based our security posture on three 
primary things: threats to the community, the limitations of 
the infrastructure on the campus, as well as the limitations to 
the USCP.
    So, I think one point of clarification is that the 
department, along with the Capitol Police Board had extensive 
discussions about deploying an additional layer of fencing to 
the outer perimeter based on those three primary things.
    We know that there are still limitations, repairs that need 
to be made to the infrastructure. We know that U.S. Capitol 
Police does have the support of its law enforcement partners, 
but there are still some limitations there, and there was a 
concern--at that time--of violence, and threats to the 
community.

                      SECURING THE CAPITOL CAMPUS

    The Capitol Police Board had a conversation, or several 
conversations, about the best options to securing the campus. 
The decision, I do not think, General Gibson, you can correct 
me if I am wrong, was a final decision to actually deploy the 
fencing, but we were preparing if the fencing needed to be 
deployed, along with the Architect of the Capitol, to ensure 
that we would have the tools and resources that we needed in 
place to keep the workforce safe.
    As the target would have been law enforcement, it was 
imperative to me that I provide the support needed for those 
officers who have already been traumatized and, in turn, they 
would not be able to keep the Capitol Complex safe.
    Senator Braun. With the oversight committees?
    General Gibson. I informed the senior staff of the 
oversight committees within 5 minutes of my conversation with 
leadership staff of both the Majority and Minority. That was, 
as shortly as practicable following our conversations. That was 
my interaction with the oversight committees for which I felt 
responsible.
     I would like to, if I could, Senator, expand on, the 
Chief's comments regarding the decision that was made. It was 
made considering the domestic environment of increasing 
interactions with police and activation of National Guard 
across the Nation, to include a shooting of a National 
Guardsman in Minnesota.
    The lack of backup for our Capitol Police here, or for the 
Metropolitan Police Department, due to the demands on National 
Guard and others, was discussed with the MPD, the U.S. Park 
Police, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Federal Protective 
Service. Our actions were entirely consistent with the 
additional measures that the Executive Branch was taking to 
protect facilities in the city.
    There had been vandalism associated with these protests at 
Columbus Circle, which is very close to our Senate office 
buildings, as you know.
    It was not our intent to erect the fence that existed in 
January, February, and March, but to put up selective portions 
of the fence without razor wire, leaving all avenues open for 
pedestrian access, for motorists, and for city residents. It 
would represent no impediment to people who worked on the 
Capitol Complex.
    We discussed what had been done last summer, which was--as 
I understand--police officers with bicycle racks and felt that 
a more effective and efficient way to secure the Capitol in 
terms of manpower would be to extend the current stand-off 
distance from the building for any protestors that might come.
    Finally, I would say I did not feel that we reversed our 
decision, but suspended it. We wanted to see how the city would 
respond. Last night we suspended implementation and it was a 
calm night. In fact, our deputies met again today to discuss 
what the final disposition might be.
    Senator Braun. Thank you.

                    REDEPLOYMENT COST OF OUTER FENCE

    Mr. Blanton, what was the anticipated cost for redeploying 
the outer fence? And what was the AOC's plan for absorbing that 
cost, along with the continued costs of the inner perimeter 
fencing remaining up? What was the cost had it gone through?
    Mr. Blanton. Yes, Senator. It would all depend on how long 
that fence was up. If it was a notional week, it would be 
around a million dollars a week. For funding of that fence, we 
have money that was transferred earlier this year from one of 
my construction projects at the Library of Congress for fencing 
on the Capitol. It would have come out of the remainder of 
those funds. Then it would have effectively taken the same 
amount of time we could have had the inner fence up, we reduced 
that time because we would have run out of money sooner.
    Senator Braun. One quick follow-up question.
    Senator Leahy. The Board has been going along for 16 
minutes.
    Senator Braun. For 16 minutes, okay. Do you want to refer--
--
    Senator Leahy. No. I am going to ask questions before I go 
vote.
    Senator Braun. Go ahead, Senator Leahy.

               LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE JANUARY 6 EVENTS

    Senator Leahy. I do not in any way minimize the tasks you 
have ahead of you. I have been here for 47 years. I never 
thought I would see anything as horrific as we saw in January. 
It is a long way from, as a teenager coming, walking through 
unguarded halls, open halls with my parents, to what we saw 
there.
    So, I do not question anyway, that you have a difficult 
time ahead of you. And as I knew, the three officers who died I 
knew quite well. And I feel that, and for their families.
    But in February I asked the former Chief in Sergeant at 
Arms that the Appropriations Committee, and ultimately the 
Congress, had met their requests for salaries and operating 
expenses in every fiscal year.
    The response was a firm, ``yes''. So it leads me to believe 
that the failures we saw in January 6 were the results of a 
failure of leadership, to either deploy officers, or equip them 
properly, or to provide them with needed intelligence that a 
mob was on its way to the Capitol, not a lack of resources.
    Since then, of course, you have had a chance to do a lot of 
retrospective review. What have you learned about your agency's 
needs in terms of new and merging operations, training, 
intelligence, physical security capabilities, and your fiscal 
year 2022 budget request for emergency supplementals reflect 
those changes?
    Chief I will start with you.

                  AGENCY NEEDS AND MERGING OPERATIONS

    Acting Chief Pittman. Yes, sir. We have learned a number of 
things. We welcome the assessments that have been provided, not 
only by the Office of Inspector General, but General Gibson 
also participated on General Honore's 1-6 Task Force that did 
an overall assessment of the department. We also have the GAO 
who is providing an assessment, as to what went wrong, and 
lessons that should be learned from January 6.
    From the very beginning the leadership team here has 
welcomed those assessments. We have had a chance to review at 
least the IG's first flash report, and we have already done a 
number of things to improve.

  ENSURING THE FISCAL YEAR 2022 BUDGET ADDRESSES EMERGING REQUIREMENTS

    Senator Leahy. But--do your budget requests--sorry to cut 
you off.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Okay.
    Senator Leahy. This vote is underway. Did your budget 
request reflect what you have seen as the needs?
    Acting Chief Pittman. Absolutely. The budget requests 
reflect the needs for our most valuable asset, which is our 
officers.
    Senator Leahy. Yes.
    Acting Chief Pittman. The budget is requesting 212 new-
sworn officers, as well as 47 new civilian positions that would 
fill some of those things that you mentioned, in terms of 
intelligence gaps, technology capabilities, expanding those 
roles. There are a number of items primarily related around 
staffing, and then there are some residual costs that will 
result from increasing those staffing. We can provide that 
information to the subcommittee.
    Senator Leahy. Yes, I would note, Chief, that the security 
detail provided to the president pro tempore, as one who served 
in law enforcement, I can say they are among the most qualified 
and expert people I have seen.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Thank you.
    Senator Leahy. Mr. Blanton, does your budget request 
emergency supplemental meet the requirements you have?
    Mr. Blanton. My fiscal year 2022 budget request does not 
meet the requirements of the Capitol community.
    Senator Leahy. With the supplemental?
    Mr. Blanton. Yes, with the supplemental, yes, it would. For 
the known threats that are identified currently.
    Senator Leahy. Okay. Thank you. You will let us know if 
that changes?
    Mr. Blanton. It will be informed by the comprehensive 
security assessment that we are doing, and then we will notify 
Congress--as we get additional information.
    Senator Leahy. Thank you very much.
    General.
    General Gibson. My answer would be much the same as the 
Architect's. If our fiscal year 2022 budget, in and of itself, 
is not sufficient, a supplemental that will include some of the 
things we have identified with the Architect in terms of garage 
doors, tunnel doors, repairing windows and doors, as well as 
the potential to possibly expand secure workspace that is 
available to the Senate community, would be sufficient. And 
certainly we would let you know if it were not.
    Senator Leahy. As I mentioned before, we approved a 
transfer of $10 million to the AOC for what they need to do for 
a physical security assessment of the Capitol campus.
    I wanted to submit my other questions, Chairman, for the 
record. Just so that you all know, I believe in a Capitol as 
open as we can, safely. We are the symbol of democracy. I hear 
from people not only all of our country, but all over the 
world, how much it has meant to them when they walk through, 
look at the history, paintings, talk to people, having Members 
of Congress and staff, everybody has been able to stop and talk 
to them as they go through.
    I have also been in countries where they do not have that 
freedom. There is a marked difference, I want us to have the 
freedom, I want the security, but I want the freedom. We are 
relying on you folks to do that.
    Thank you for, Mr. Chairman.

         USCP COORDINATING WITH OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

    Senator Reed. Thank you, Chairman Leahy. Thank you for your 
very thoughtful and eloquent remarks, very much.
    Let me return again to ask questions regarding the 
ramifications of the January 6. It exposed sort of the lack of 
coordination, not only internally, but externally too, with 
particularly police departments and other law enforcement 
agencies.

                     COMMUNICATION BETWEEN AGENCIES

    Chief, have you adjusted your coordination, and your day-
to-day relationships with other law enforcement agencies, 
Federal, local, et cetera? Are we still waiting,--I think you 
suggested before--waiting on a decision about giving you 
emergency powers, or giving you powers in an emergency, is that 
still pending?
    Acting Chief Pittman. Yes, sir. That is still pending. We 
are still working, the General Counsel for the U.S. Capitol 
Police as well as the General Counsels for the Capitol Police 
Board are working together closely. I believe that we will be 
able to strike that balance relatively quickly, so that the 
Police Chief can have some autonomy to call at least the DC 
National Guard during an emergency or a crisis. There is some 
additional details within those parameters that we still have 
to work out.
    As it relates to the relationships that the U.S. Capitol 
Police has with its partners, I am proud to say that we work 
closely with State, Federal, as well as local authorities.
    I talk to a Chief of Police, Robert Contee of the 
Metropolitan Police Department almost daily. I have had 
conversations, routinely, with the U.S. Secret Service, Police 
Chief, as well as U.S. Park Police. We have been working 
closely with the FBI on a task force after January 6.
    At this point we have arrested, with their assistance, over 
350 participants in that insurrection. We have identified 
hundreds of individuals, and we are working daily to make sure 
that everyone that came here on January 6 and violated various 
aspects of the law are being held accountable.

                 IMPROVEMENTS IN INTER-AGENCY TRAINING

    Senator Reed. Do you anticipate with this new authority 
that you will on a regular basis, train with and exercise with 
these other law enforcement or National Guard units?

                                TRAINING

    Acting Chief Pittman. Yes. The Capitol Police has already 
expanded its training capabilities. Right now, we are training 
our workforce along with the National Guard. We recognize that 
that was a training gap in vulnerability. The DC National Guard 
has allowed us the use of their facilities. We have also 
conducted several trainings--in addition to what we do at the 
DC Armory, we have conducted several trainings on the campus, 
and we are scheduled to train with several of our Federal 
partners.
    We meet every Friday with the DOD to establish a National 
Capitol Region response plan to any type of crisis to 
Washington DC. So, we are currently working on those 
initiatives.
    Senator Reed. Thank you.
    And, General.
    General Gibson. Yes.
    Senator Reed. This seems to be a question that you should 
be able to field very well, which is, January 6 representative 
an intelligence failure, not estimating what would happen and 
not being prepared for contingencies. My presumption is that 
you do not have a direct role in intelligence. From your 
observations, have we done enough to improve on a systematic 
basis, the intelligence available to Capitol Police, and to 
everyone else, even to Members?
    General Gibson. Thank you, Senator, that is an excellent 
question.
    First, I would like to say there were some significant 
intelligence failures leading up to January 6. I am personally 
reluctant to use that expression because it tends to let the 
rest of the community off the hook. Sometimes we cease our 
introspection into the other areas where we failed, whether 
that was leadership, coordination, training, et cetera.
    But you are correct, there were some significant gaps, not 
only at the Capitol, but across the Washington DC area, and 
with some of our Federal partners for failing to recognize that 
this was not only a possible scenario, but perhaps quite 
likely.
    I have seen since my participation in the task force on the 
House side, improvements in information sharing, collaboration, 
and cooperation, within the intelligence functions that are 
performed by the Capitol Police.
    Senator Reed. Yes.
    General Gibson. Yesterday they hosted us for an excellent 
classified discussion of some of the threats to the region. I 
believe those will be regular occurrences.
    There is still room for improvement. Task Force 1-6 
recommended a modest increase in the number of trained 
intelligence professionals in the Capitol Police. This is work 
that should probably be done by intelligence analysts, as 
opposed to sworn officers or others who might be employed 
elsewhere.
    For some of our FTEs that the Sergeant at Arms is 
requesting, we need to look at hiring intelligence 
professionals to perform these tasks, not necessarily people 
who formerly worked in security fields at the campus. I am 
heartened by the improvements that I have seen, but there is 
still work to be done.

                  CAPITOL POLICE BOARD ACCOUNTABILITY

    Senator Reed. Thank you. All roads seem to lead back to the 
Police Board, I will just ask another fundamental question.

                          CAPITOL POLICE BOARD

    In your view, I will start with Mr. Blanton just to vary 
that okay, who does the Police Board report to? In a realistic 
sense, who are they accountable to?
    Mr. Blanton. The Police Board itself, and I have to limit 
this more towards my functions on the Police Board.
    Senator Reed. Yes.
    Mr. Blanton. What I serve on a Police Board and the 
functions I preserve, it is oversight for CHA and rules on the 
Senate; and then for the projects itself that we implement it 
is a notification of, or an approval of appropriations to 
execute those projects.
    Senator Reed. Chief Pittman, what is your sense of the 
overarching responsible agency for the Police Board?
    Acting Chief Pittman. I am sorry, sir. Is your question, 
who do they report to?
    Senator Reed. Well, no.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Okay.
    Senator Reed. Do they report to anyone? You know, who 
ultimately is accountable--or who are they accountable to on a 
regular basis? I know annually they have to request, or you 
request on their behalf, funds, but who are they accountable to 
on a daily basis?
    Acting Chief Pittman. It is my understanding that they 
would be accountable to the congressional leadership, but they 
do serve as more of a liaison for the Capitol Police, it is my 
understanding that they would report to the leaderships there.
    Senator Reed. And your comments, General.
    General Gibson. Yes, Senator, I believe we are responsible 
both to leadership and to the Committee on Rules and 
Administration and this Appropriations Subcommittee.
    Senator Reed. One of the issues that has confronted--and 
you have mentioned it, has been the traumatic experiences 
witnessed by so many people here, and many of your colleagues. 
Every one of you, I think, is requesting resources to deal on a 
regular basis with counseling and trauma.
    Is that correct?
    Acting Chief Pittman. That is correct.
    Senator Reed. That is correct. Okay.

                             CYBERSECURITY

    Just one final question, General, it is that, you know, 
cybersecurity, every day, it reveals a new challenge, and you 
are solely responsible for the cybersecurity of the Senate. You 
have your counterpart in the House responsible. Does it make 
sense to even have those types of, you know, competing, or at 
least different? Then I presume also you would be responsible 
for the cybersecurity and the electronic operations of the 
Capitol Police?
    General Gibson. I am not responsible for the cybersecurity 
of the Capitol Police networks.

                           USCP CYBERSECURITY

    Senator Reed. Who is responsible for Capitol, 
cybersecurity, Chief?
    Acting Chief Pittman. Yes, so we have our own office of 
information systems. There is a cyber component there, and then 
we have a task force agent that is embedded with the FBI cyber 
task force.
    Senator Reed. Well, again, just a suggestion, I think this 
is an area that we have to look at, particularly in cyber. I am 
glad you mentioned the FBI, Chief, because it would make sense, 
I think to coordinate, and that is a polite word, with the 
House at least.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Yes.
    Senator Reed. And probably the Supreme Court. I do not know 
who controls their cybersecurity, but certainly the FBI and the 
Department of Homeland Security because, again, the threats are 
communicated so quickly on cyber.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Yes.
    Senator Reed. And just the, you know, quick knowledge of 
deficiencies is absolutely essential. So I think that is, 
again, something that you might consider and present to us in a 
coherent way.
    With that, let me represent--excuse me--let me recognize, 
Senator Braun.

              USCP STAFFING LEVELS AND HIRING DIFFICULTIES

    Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    This question is for Chief Pittman. In 2019 and 2020, the 
Capitol Police staffing level had been below the requested 
level by hundreds of officers, even though the requests have 
been fully funded by the Appropriations Committee. What has 
prevented the department from hiring the requested and 
subsequently enacted number of officers?
    Acting Chief Pittman. Yes, sir. Primarily, during the 2020 
COVID-19 pandemic there were significant challenges for U.S. 
Capitol Police to fulfill its staffing request that was 
requested in previous years.
    The U.S. Capitol Police trains its police officers at the 
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. At 
the time of the pandemic, FLETC Georgia, as well as FLETC in 
Cheltenham, Maryland, where we have our training facilities, 
were closed.
    U.S. Capitol Police had to mitigate being closed, we had to 
suspend several classes that pushed us behind. In addition to 
that, we had to transition to training our officers in an all-
virtual platform.
    Senator Braun. That makes sense for 2020, but weren't you 
struggling back in 2019 as well?
    Acting Chief Pittman. If I may pause, because I was not in 
this role at that time, and turn to one of my counterparts.
    Mr. Braddock is the CAO, chief administrative officer for 
the department, and in 2019, there were challenges of competing 
with other departments as well as what was going on at FLETC 
for 2020.
    Senator Braun. And that is a--I think a more significant 
issue because it begs the question, how you would ever staff a 
much larger Capitol police force as well. It is also indicative 
of how hard it is to get many jobs filled across the country 
that require particular training, and the time it takes to lead 
up to that.
    So just something that besets, I think, not only hiring law 
enforcement, but many other sectors of the economy, career 
technical education, workforce development.
    Acting Chief Pittman. So, if I could follow up with that?
    Senator Braun. Yes.
    Acting Chief Pittman. Since becoming Acting on January 8, I 
have worked very closely with Mr. Braddock. I have taken in the 
recommendations of the various task force and assessments. I 
also have listened to the Fraternal Order of Police President 
that has also made a request that the congressional leadership 
help U.S. Capitol Police out, not only in terms of the 
supplemental bill, but with our staffing challenges.
    Right now, the department has 1,843 officers. We were 
approved up to 2,072, and in fiscal year 2022 we are requesting 
an additional 212 officers.
    It lends to what you were saying, Senator. How will we 
supply the bandwidth? Do we even have the bandwidth to bring on 
that many officers in such a short period of time? I have 
directed that we have a command official at the inspector level 
to implement a massive recruitment program for Capitol Police.
    We are also working closely with the Board Members 
specifically the Architect of the Capitol, because there are 
residual concerns when you are bringing on that many officers. 
How will we find spacing for them? Will FLETC in Georgia and in 
Cheltenham have enough spaces, because we are at their mercy 
for the number of classes that they are allowing Capitol Police 
to have seats in. How will we provide them lockers, parking, et 
cetera?
    We have developed a task force to handle the recruitment 
for the officers. We have realized the strain that we have had 
on our workforce that is on the campus since January 6. They 
have been working a tremendous amount of overtime, leave has 
been limited, and the impacts to not only them but their 
families have been our primary concern. We are working 
extremely close with our partners to make sure that we can 
facilitate. And from my team, they have assured me that we can 
bring on those 212 officers within the year.
    Senator Braun. Thank you.
    Do I have time for one more, a quick question?
    Senator Reed. Sure.
    Senator Braun. Okay. Thank you.

                         DISASTER RELIEF FUNDS

    This is for General Gibson. I know in the 2022 budget 
request it includes $25 million to establish a business 
continuity disaster relief fund. We had one back in Indiana 
called the Rainy Day Fund. That is just something that is ready 
to go for the unforeseen. How would things, you think, have 
been different? Would that have been enough to deal with the 
immensity of what occurred on a situation like January 6, and 
then what you had to do following that?
    General Gibson. Thank you, Senator. I appreciate the 
opportunity to talk about this fund. I cited two examples in my 
opening remarks, one regarding our response to the pandemic, 
and a need to move to virtual hearings and remote work 
environment. The second, rebuilding the State offices that were 
destroyed by Hurricane Laura.
    The Sergeant at Arms did not incur significant additional 
costs as a result of January 6. Most of the costs, I think, 
that have been incurred are the Architect's bills for the 
physical damage.
    We do believe that this money would help with many of our 
potential IT requirements for backup data centers as part of a 
reliable and resilient infrastructure. It would help us 
maintain readiness of fixed and mobile contingency sites. Had 
there been a need to relocate away from Capitol Hill, the 
Sergeant at Arms, at that point, may have incurred some costs.
    Senator Braun. Could the Architect of the Capitol draw out 
of that as well, or would you have to have your own emergency 
fund?
    Mr. Blanton. We would have to work out some sort of 
agreement on that.
    General Gibson. Yes.
    Mr. Blanton. Because it is a transfer of appropriations at 
that point.
    General Gibson. Yes. We had envisioned it largely for 
unexpected IT and communication kinds of requirements. I am not 
sure $25 million goes as far for the Architect as it does for 
me, but certainly it is something for which we would work with 
the Committee.
    Senator Braun. Thank you.
    Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Senator Braun.
    And this concludes the Legislative Branch Appropriations 
subcommittee hearing regarding the fiscal year 2022 funding for 
the Architect of the Capitol, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, and 
U.S. Capitol Police.
    I want to thank Mr. Blanton, General Gibson, and Chief 
Pittman for testifying today. Thank you very much.
    And again, convey our thanks, and appreciation, and respect 
for your colleagues who have done so much to protect us.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    The hearing record will remain open for 7 days, allowing 
Members to submit statements and/or questions for the record, 
which should be sent to the subcommittee by close of business 
on Wednesday, April 28th, 2021.
    [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but 
were submitted to the Agencies for response subsequent to the 
hearing:]
   Questions Submitted to Chief Yogananda Pittman, USCP Acting Chief
                Questions Submitted by Senator Jack Reed
                       capitol police oig report
    Question. On March 31, the Capitol Police Office of Inspector 
General released its second independent review of the elements of the 
Department that played a role in the planning for and response to the 
events of January 6. This review focused on the Civil Disturbance Unit 
(CDU) and intelligence. The Inspector General is calling for a 
``cultural change'' toward anticipating and preventing future attacks, 
recommending that the force must move away from the ``traditional 
posture of a police department'' and start acting instead like ``a 
protection agency'' focused not on responding to disturbances but on 
preventing events like the January 6 riot.

  --How is the Department responding to the OIG report?

    Answer. The United States Capitol Police (USCP) Office of Inspector 
General (OIG) Flash Report B on the Department's Civil Disturbance Unit 
(CDU) and Intelligence (Investigative Number 2021-I-0003-B) included 26 
recommendations specific to the Department's CDU and Intelligence 
operations. Of the 26 recommendations, 17 were specific to CDU 
operations and touched multiple aspects, including the development of 
policies and procedures to formalize CDU mission, objectives, roles and 
responsibilities, increasing the training on and deployment of less 
lethal munitions, incentivizing greater participation, and improving 
controls on equipment inventories. Nine (9) of the 26 OIG 
recommendations in Flash Report B pertain to Intelligence operations, 
including recommendations to improve the collection, processing and 
dissemination of intelligence as well as to codify and document 
specific training requirements. Flash Report B also recommends the 
Department reorganize its intelligence resources into a Bureau-level 
entity.
    The Department appreciates and generally agrees with the 
recommendations made in Flash Report B. It has long emphasized its 
mission is like no other in that its capabilities include those of 
typical law enforcement as well as protective services and national 
security agencies. The Department also believes that, like the `83 
Senate bombing, the `98 shooting, 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, January 
6 was a pivotal event that will spur needed evolution of its 
capabilities. With the support of Congressional stakeholders, the 
Department looks forward to the transformative years ahead as it 
implements the many OIG recommendations as well as its own proactive 
initiatives, like regionalization, and those recommended by subsequent 
reviews and assessments.

    Question. The report includes recommendations to improve the 
following deficiencies seen on Jan. 6: (1) a dedicated, full-time CDU 
(or several individual units) with specific training and strict 
standards and internal controls for CDU equipment; (2) continuous 
training; (3) establishing a full-time, 24/7 intelligence bureau; and 
(4) recruitment of experienced officers and hiring and retention 
incentives.
    Is the Department considering any of these recommendations and how 
do you intend to implement them? Would funding in your fiscal year 2022 
request cover such operational and staffing changes?

    Answer. As mentioned, the Department generally agrees with the 
recommendations in the OIG's Flash Report B and it is actively working 
on implementing them and/or obtaining the authorizations and resources 
necessary for implementation.
    To the Department's knowledge, the OIG did not recommend that CDU 
have officers dedicated to its mission 100 percent of the time and that 
it be a standalone entity within the Department.
    However, that concept has been considered by the Department. In 
fact, the Department's fiscal year 2022 request included funding for an 
additional 212 sworn officers. If approved and funded, the Department 
would dedicate 80 of those officers to a standby quick response force 
(CDU). Provided the Department does not have a 24/7 365 need for CDU 
capabilities, creating such an entity within the Department could 
provide a rotating opportunity to train officers on CDU tactics as well 
as provide other critical training while officers are not on campus in 
a CDU capacity.
    The Department is in the process of developing a reorganization 
plan for consideration by the Capitol Police Board and Congressional 
Oversight committees that will include the establishment of an 
Intelligence Bureau that, once established, will maintain 24/7 
operations.
    The Department has requested consideration of funding in the 
Security Supplemental to support the hiring of intelligence analysts 
for both USCP headquarters and regional locations; significant 
technology enhancements to enhance intelligence and open source 
analysis; and training related to threats management, tactical 
intelligence and intelligence analysis. Should the Security 
Supplemental not be enacted, the Department has discussed with the 
committees of jurisdiction the need to support funding for these items 
in the fiscal year 2022 appropriation. Further, funding must be added 
to the fiscal year 2022 appropriation and in out-years to support any 
personnel included in the Security Supplemental should it pass.
    As for CDU functions, the Department has requested in the Security 
Supplemental critical life-safety equipment that specifically enables 
all sworn employees to be prepared for civil disturbance response(s). 
Further funding was requested to provide for the reimbursement of 
redirected fiscal year 2021 funds used to replenish less-than-lethal 
items used following the events of January 6. The supplemental request 
also includes funding for vehicles, equipment and training to support 
the overall CDU function across the Department. Again, should the 
Security Supplemental not be enacted, the Department has discussed with 
the committees of jurisdiction the need to support funding for these 
items in the fiscal year 2022 appropriation.
    Lastly, in order for the Department to backfill current sworn 
attrition, meet Department identified new mission sets and those raised 
in the various reports since the events of January 6, the Department 
would need to hire at its full capacity for nearly eight (8) years. 
This assumes that the Department can obtain the maximum of 288 training 
slots from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) and that 
the Department can recruit and hire 288 recruit officer candidates per 
year who meet the established employment suitability standards. 
Currently, the Department must process approximately 18 applicants in 
order to find 1 applicant who meets these standards for becoming a USCP 
Officer. Recruiting and hiring at this level will maximize the 
Department's capacity to conduct the USCP Academy at the FLETC-
Cheltenham facility. The USCP has limited space at this location, which 
must be used for not only recruit officer training, but also in-
service, Dignitary Protection and specialty unit training. Staffing for 
this facility will also need to be increased in order to run two 
training shifts per day to meet these increased training requirements.
                  staff hiring and retention obstacles
    Question. Chief Pittman, the Department's budget requests $22 
million to hire up to 212 sworn officers, in addition to the additional 
192 officers provided in fiscal year 2021. I understand it takes some 
time to recruit, select, and fully train new officers. In a normal 
year, you would be right in the middle of seeing new recruits at the 
doors as well as training in progress. COVID has affected your ability 
to do that. I am also concerned that the January 6 attacks, coupled 
with upcoming mandatory and voluntary retirement factors, will hurt the 
Department's hiring and retention efforts.

  --If you are having trouble meeting your hiring goals, what factors 
        are keeping you from meeting them?

    Answer. The Department experiences between 90 and 120 sworn 
attritions per fiscal year due to mandatory, voluntary and disability 
retirements, as well as resignations for various reasons. To backfill 
this attrition, the Department must recruit, hire, train and deploy new 
sworn officers. The Department is constantly recruiting potential 
applicants for our sworn hiring process. In addition, this effort 
focuses on recruiting under-represented populations in order to better 
diversify the Department. Currently, the Department must process 
approximately 18 applicants in order to find one applicant who meets 
the Department's Employment Suitability Standards (ESS).
    The Department established ESS to ensure that persons selected to 
serve as both sworn and civilian employees of the Department meet 
established standards. Since the events of January 6, the Department 
has seen an uptick in applicants for sworn positions who have indicated 
during testing issues related to intercultural awareness, which is 
inconsistent with the ESS.
    Additionally, the public debate on police reform and efforts to 
defund police entities have created public discord regarding law 
enforcement. This public debate has impacted the decision of applicants 
who have withdrawn from the Department's selection process based on a 
perceived lack of public trust and support for law enforcement. This 
not only affects current applicants, but also influences potential 
applicants as they decide on participation in the process.
    Finally, the Department was unable to hire backfill sworn personnel 
because of COVID-19. The Department's hiring process had to be 
converted to a virtual platform and all law enforcement training at the 
Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers was canceled on multiple 
occasions during most of 2020 due to the pandemic. When training was 
restarted, the Department was provided with limited training slots due 
to continued pandemic-related restrictions, which further limited our 
ability to narrow our attrition gap.
    All of these factors have impacted the Department's ability to meet 
its hiring projections. This has an impact on overtime utilization, 
workforce agility and future hiring efforts.

  --How do you intend to accommodate the large influx of new staff--
        both new sworn officers and the additional 47 new civilian 
        personnel requested? What are the challenges and how are you 
        managing them?

    Answer. In fiscal year 2022, the Department is seeking new sworn 
officers for new mission requirements. This new mission includes 
additional Dignitary Protection Agents, Threat Assessment Agents and a 
stand-by Civil Disturbance Unit. Further, it is seeking 47 new civilian 
positions to serve in the areas of criminal research, victim witness 
coordination, intelligence analysis, event planning specialists, 
dignitary protection travel coordination, information technology and 
cyber-security support, property and asset management, vehicle 
maintenance, records management, and wellness and resiliency.
    Beyond the challenges associated with recruiting and hiring highly 
qualified applicants who meet the Department's Employment Suitability 
Standards, the Department must also equip, train and provide facilities 
and logistics support for these new employees.
    For sworn, the Department must obtain the maximum of 288 training 
slots from FLETC and must recruit and hire 288 recruit officer 
candidates who meet the established employment suitability standards. 
Currently, the Department must process approximately 18 applicants in 
order to find 1 applicant who meets these standards for becoming a USCP 
Officer. Recruiting and hiring at this level will maximize the 
Department's capacity to conduct the USCP Academy at the FLETC-
Cheltenham facility. The USCP has limited space at this location, which 
must be used for not only recruit officer training, but also in-
service, Dignitary Protection and specialty unit training. Staffing for 
this facility will also need to be increased in order to run two 
training shifts per day to meet these increased training requirements.
    For both sworn and civilian positions, the Department must provide 
lockers, roll call and meeting space, and office space. Further, the 
Department must have increased training and warehouse space to support 
expanded services. Additionally, the Department must provide equipment 
and support infrastructure to support not only the new positions, but 
also the inherent support functions needed to support the overall 
workforce.

    Question. On retention, can you highlight for us some of the 
options you are exploring so that officers and staff want to stay on 
the job? Your budget request includes $2.5 million for Student Loan 
Repayment. What else are you looking at in terms of incentives?

    Answer. The Department has requested funding consideration for 
student loan repayment and retention bonuses in the Security 
Supplemental. Should the Security Supplemental not be enacted, the 
Department has discussed with the committees of jurisdiction the need 
to support funding for these items in the fiscal year 2022 
appropriation and in out-years going forward.
    Further, the Department has established a Wellness and Resiliency 
Program for its workforce. This program is intended to consist of self-
care techniques, physical fitness, nutritional fitness, financial 
wellness, employee assistance programs, and peer support. Funding was 
requested within the Security Supplemental to support these efforts. 
Should the Security Supplemental not be enacted, the Department has 
discussed with the committees of jurisdiction the need to support 
funding for these items in the fiscal year 2022 appropriation.
    Additionally, the Department is reviewing pay and benefits concepts 
for consideration to retool its sworn pay schedule, as well as 
retirement calculation formulation. Once these concepts are further 
developed, the Department will vet those options considered to be 
viable with the Capitol Police Board for further review and 
consideration.
    Finally, the Department is working to review ways to better manage 
the impacts of the mission requirements on the workforce, ways to 
enhance administration of leave within the operational divisions, 
training opportunities and broadening access to additional equipment 
for its workforce. Many of these efforts are dependent on receiving 
additional funding either through the Security Supplemental or the 
fiscal year 2022 appropriation process.
                                 ______
                                 
   Questions Submitted to Chief Yogananda Pittman, USCP Acting Chief
               Questions Submitted by Senator Mike Braun
    Question. Chief Pittman, during a hearing before the Committee on 
House Administration last week, Inspector General Bolton testified 
about his findings and recommendations related to failures of Capitol 
Police Civil Disturbance Unit and Intelligence operations on January 6. 
Two recommendations he cited as important were establishing a 
standalone Civil Disturbance Unit and establishing a separate, 
comprehensive Intelligence Bureau.

    1.  Does the Department plan to implement these two recommendations 
made by the Inspector General report?

    Answer. The United States Capitol Police (USCP) Office of Inspector 
General (OIG) Flash Report B on the Department's Civil Disturbance Unit 
(CDU) and Intelligence (Investigative Number 2021-I-0003-B) included 26 
recommendations specific to the Department's CDU and Intelligence 
operations. Of the 26 recommendations, 17 were specific to CDU 
operations and touched multiple aspects, including the development of 
policies and procedures to formalize CDU mission, objectives, roles and 
responsibilities, increasing the training on and deployment of less 
lethal munitions, incentivizing greater participation, and improving 
controls on equipment inventories. To the Department's knowledge, the 
OIG did not recommend that CDU have officers dedicated to its mission 
100 percent of the time and that it be a standalone entity within the 
Department.
    However, that concept has been considered by the Department. In 
fact, the Department's fiscal year 2022 request included funding for an 
additional 212 sworn officers. If approved and funded, the Department 
would dedicate 80 of those officers to a standby quick response force 
(CDU). Provided the Department does not have a 24/7 365 need for CDU 
capabilities, creating such an entity within the Department could 
provide a rotating opportunity to train officers on CDU tactics as well 
as provide other critical training while officers are not on campus in 
a CDU capacity.
    Nine (9) of the 26 OIG recommendations in Flash Report B pertain to 
Intelligence operations and include the recommendation to elevate and 
reorganize the Department's intelligence resources into a Bureau-level 
entity. The Department has also considered this concept and concurs 
with the recommendation. The Department is in the process of developing 
a reorganization plan for consideration of the Capitol Police Board and 
Congressional Oversight committees that will include the establishment 
of an Intelligence Bureau.

    Question.

    2.  Are these Inspector General recommendations reflected at all in 
the fiscal year 2022 budget request? What additional resources would 
the Department need to implement these recommendations?

    Answer. The Department has requested consideration of funding in 
the Security Supplemental to support the hiring of intelligence 
analysts for both USCP headquarters and regional locations; significant 
technology enhancements to enhance intelligence and open source 
analysis; and training related to threats management, tactical 
intelligence and intelligence analysis. Should the Security 
Supplemental not be enacted, the Department has discussed with the 
committees of jurisdiction the need to support funding for these items 
in the fiscal year 2022 appropriation. Further, funding must be added 
to fiscal year 2022 and in out-years to support any personnel included 
in the Security Supplemental should it pass.
    As for CDU functions, the Department has requested in the Security 
Supplemental critical life-safety equipment that specifically enables 
all sworn employees to be prepared for civil disturbance response(s). 
Further funding was requested to provide for the reimbursement of 
redirected fiscal year 2021 and No-Year funds used to replenish less-
than-lethal items used in response to the events of January 6. The 
supplemental request also includes funding for vehicles, equipment and 
training to support the overall CDU function across the Department. 
Again, should the Security Supplemental not be enacted, the Department 
has discussed with the committees of jurisdiction the need to support 
funding for these items in the fiscal year 2022 appropriation.

    Question. Chief Pittman, in fiscal year 2019 and fiscal year 2020, 
the Capitol Police staffing level has been below the requested level by 
hundreds of officers even though the requests have been fully funded by 
the Appropriations Committees. I also understand the Capitol Police 
often uses a significant amount of overtime with its staff.

    3.  Does the agency have estimates about how increasing staffing to 
the appropriated level, and thus decreasing the use of overtime, could 
help save the USCP personnel funds?

    Answer. In order to reduce overtime, the Department must recruit, 
hire, train and deploy the nearly 250 officers it is currently down 
from its funded strength and no additional mission can be added to the 
workload of the Department. Even when operating at its fully funded 
levels, the Department has mission requirements that exceed those 
onboard sworn staffing levels by nearly 250 sworn officers. That said, 
the Department would not advocate eliminating all overtime, as it 
provides mission flexibility, which creates efficiencies in fiscal 
expenditures and human capital utilization.
    In fiscal year 2022, the Department is seeking new sworn officers 
for new mission requirements. This new mission includes additional 
Dignitary Protection Agents, Threat Assessment Agents and a stand-by 
Civil Disturbance Unit. Because these are identified new mission 
requirements resulting from increased threats to Members and the 
Legislative Branch, as well as enhanced response capacity resulting 
from the events of January 6, these new sworn officers will not reduce 
overtime. Again, the current overtime levels are based on pre-pandemic 
and pre-January 6 requirements.
    Our fiscal year 2021 overtime threshold of $50 million was 
projected based on a sworn strength of 2,072 and with a specific 
mission set. Since the events of January 6, the Department's mission 
set has increased. While the Department has been actively recruiting 
and hiring new sworn officers in 2021, it has been challenged to find 
applicants who meet the established employment suitability standards.
    It should be noted that in 2020, the Department was unable to hire 
backfill sworn personnel because of COVID-19. The Department's hiring 
process had to be converted to a virtual platform and all law 
enforcement training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers 
was canceled on multiple occasions during most of 2020 due to the 
pandemic. When training was restarted, the Department was provided with 
limited training slots due to continued pandemic-related restrictions, 
which further limited our ability to narrow our attrition gap.
    Until the Department's post-January 6 mission set is evaluated and 
codified; and, sworn recruiting, hiring, training and deployment of 
attrition is met, new estimates regarding overtime utilization and ways 
to decrease that usage cannot be provided or considered. The Department 
will continue to work with the committees of jurisdiction as these 
evaluations are conducted.

    Question.

    4.  The Task Force 1-6 report led by General Honore recommended 
over 800 new personnel authorizations. Could you speak to the 
Department's ability to implement this recommendation assuming it was 
funded? How long would it take to the Department to hire that many 
officers under normal hiring procedures?

    Answer. In order for the Department to backfill current sworn 
attrition, meet Department identified new mission sets and those raised 
in the Task Force 1-6 report, it would take the Department nearly eight 
(8) years to meet this hiring goal. This assumes that the Department 
can obtain the maximum of 288 training slots from the Federal Law 
Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) and that the Department can recruit 
and hire 288 recruit officer candidates per year who meet the 
established employment suitability standards. Currently, the Department 
must process approximately 18 applicants in order to find 1 applicant 
who meets these standards for becoming a USCP Officer. Recruiting and 
hiring at this level will maximize the Department's capacity to conduct 
the USCP Academy at the FLETC-Cheltenham facility. The USCP has limited 
space at this location, which must be used for not only recruit officer 
training, but also in-service, Dignitary Protection and specialty unit 
training. Staffing for this facility will also need to be increased in 
order to run two training shifts per day to meet these increased 
training requirements.

    Question. Chief Pittman, in his report released March 31, Inspector 
General Bolton stated that on January 6 the Capitol Police Civil 
Disturbance Unit did not use all available less-lethal weapons, and 
that heavier less-lethal weapons, such as sting balls, were not used 
because of orders from leadership.

    5.  Who in leadership provided the order not to use heavier less-
lethal weapons and why was that order given?

    Answer. In addition to the use of lethal force on January 6, 2021, 
USCP officers used oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray, batons, and physical 
force, including defensive blows, to combat insurrectionists. USCP CDU 
platoons and SWAT teams also deployed various mass munition deployment 
systems, including FN303 weapon systems, MK-9 and MK-6 OC Spray 
Systems, and flash bang grenades.
    There were multiple less lethal munition systems that the 
Department did not deploy on January 6. However, the decision not to 
use them was a carryover from the Department's response to the June 1 
incident in Lafayette Square where Federal law enforcement used tear 
gas on protestors. After that incident, the Department reviewed its 
less lethal munitions and determined that it lacked the policy and 
training necessary to safely deploy certain less lethal munitions 
within its arsenal. Additionally, one system was not deployed because 
it was deemed obsolete. Decisions to not use these weapons were not 
related to January 6. Further, it is worth noting that some of the 
munitions the USCP did not deploy on January 6 were deployed by 
Metropolitan Police Officers in efforts to stop insurrectionists.

    Question.

    6.  Does the fiscal year 2022 budget request include funds to 
update any dated heavier less-lethal equipment and provide training to 
officers on how to properly use those weapons?

    Answer. Following the events of January 6, the Department 
redirected fiscal year 21 funds to support the immediate replenishment 
of critical less-than-lethal equipment. The Department also immediately 
began to train new sworn officers who were awaiting CDU training. In 
the Security Supplemental request, the Department has asked for 
consideration for funds to replenish the redirected funding and to 
provide funding for supervisor training related to CDU functions. The 
Department has also requested in the Security Supplemental critical 
life-safety equipment that specifically enables all sworn employees to 
be prepared for civil disturbance response(s). Further funding was 
requested to provide for the reimbursement of redirected fiscal year 
2021 and No-Year funds used to replenish less-than-lethal items used in 
response to the events of January 6. The supplemental request also 
includes funding for vehicles, equipment and training to support the 
overall CDU function across the Department. Again, should the Security 
Supplemental not be enacted, the Department has discussed with the 
committees of jurisdiction the need to support funding for these items 
in the fiscal year 2022 appropriation.

    Question. Chief Pittman, events of national significance are often 
designated a National Security Special Event. Under this designation, 
the Secret Service takes the lead on coordinating and implementing the 
security of the events.

    7.  How many events per year does the Capitol Police typically 
participate in that are designated as a National Security Special 
Event?

    Answer. The number of National Security Special Events (NSSE) that 
USCP participates in annually varies depending on the year. The most 
common re-occurring NSSEs that include USCP are State of the Union, 
Democratic and Republican national conventions, Inauguration and 
summits that include Congressional participants. For the events hosted 
on Capitol Grounds, USCP participates as a member of the NSSE Executive 
Steering Committee for the purpose of planning and coordination.

    Question.

    8.  In light of January 6, would the Capitol Police now advise the 
Capitol Police Board to seek a National Security Special Event 
designation in a greater number of instances for events at the Capitol?

    Answer. Currently, once an event is designated as an NSSE, the 
security of that event is coordinated and, in large part, governed, by 
the Executive Branch, specifically the Department of Homeland Security. 
Though the NSSE process spurs needed coordination and support from 
multiple participating law enforcement entities, all authorities 
including final decision authority for NSSEs are derived exclusively 
from an Executive Order.
    As a Legislative Branch entity charged with protecting the Congress 
and often Congress-specific events, the Department would like to work 
with the Capitol Police Board and Congressional Oversight Committees to 
implement a similar process that spurs the same level of coordination 
led by the Legislative Branch.
                                 ______
                                 
 Questions Submitted to Hon. J. Brett Blanton, Architect of the Capitol
                Questions Submitted by Senator Jack Reed
                  capitol security physical assessment
    Question: Mr. Blanton, we recently approved a transfer of $10 
million so that the AOC can contract for a physical assessment of the 
security of Capitol facilities, on and off campus. This is one of the 
last reviews needed for us to get a full understanding of what went 
wrong on January 6 and what the Capitol campus lacks in physical 
security.

  --Please detail for us what the assessment will look at, and how long 
        that will take. Have you awarded the contract yet? Who is the 
        contractor and why did you select this contractor?

    Answer. The purpose of the effort is to obtain an accurate threat 
assessment for the Capitol Complex and associated off-site facilities, 
an assessment of physical security measures that currently exist, an 
assessment of planned projects, identification of measures that are 
recommended to alleviate gaps or weaknesses in physical security within 
the next 60 to 90 days after award, and measures that are recommended 
to enhance long-term security. The assessment will consider physical 
security and antiterrorism for historical and monumental buildings and 
grounds, options to secure entry points, improve standoff, establish 
compartmentalized security options for the key facilities, improve 
safety lighting and assess measures for security postings. Each 
recommendation shall include an estimated cost break out and schedule 
to implement as well as total ownership costs (TOC). We expect the 
assessment to be completed by the end of the year.
    The assessment was awarded to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and 
includes personnel from the Protective Design Center, which is the 
preeminent governmental authority regarding the two primary concerns of 
physical security: prevention and protection.
                       aoc institutional reforms
    Question. You have been the Architect for just over a year. In 
addition to the unanticipated demands of dealing with pandemic 
operations and the attacks on the Capitol, you also came to an AOC in 
need of transformation. In your opening statement, you mention that you 
committed to conducting a top-down assessment of the agency to identify 
the most urgent needs and address the critical issues. The AOC's fiscal 
year 2022 budget request reflects that with several new initiatives, 
but these cost money.

  --Can you highlight for us why these initiatives are important to the 
        AOC and what would happen if we can't implement them? Where 
        would that leave the Architect of the Capitol as an 
        organization, as well as the Capitol community?

    Answer. One of the reasons I was selected as the Architect of the 
Capitol was my relevant background in and commitment to modernizing the 
agency, improving use of Federal resources and increasing support to 
our tenants. I pledged to be a transformational leader who will build 
upon our successes and usher in a new era. The solutions included in 
the agency's budget request are strategic, cost effective and far-
reaching in their intended goals and outcomes. Specifically, I have 
included in the fiscal year 2022 budget request $3 million to begin our 
organizational and cultural behavior transformation initiatives 
designed to ensure we deliver a high-quality customer experience. These 
initiatives will provide our employees with personal development 
including workplace respect, accountability, and diversity inclusion 
skills.
    Additionally, the agency has not had dedicated funding for capital 
project planning. As a result, construction budgets for projects have 
often been incorrect and required reprogramming of funds to complete 
the project. This request provides for a dedicated planning budget to 
provide better estimates for projects in future budgets.
    Other initiatives such as Enterprise Asset Management have been 
shown to shown to have a documented Return on Investment (ROI) of under 
5 years when implemented. This initiative will also significantly 
address deferred maintenance by enabling the agency to prioritize 
projects that produce the greatest impact in reducing deferred 
maintenance.
    My understanding is that Congress expects more out of the agency 
and these changes will result in a higher level of service, 
transparency and accountability to meet your expectations. Unfunded, no 
transformation will proceed.
                                 ______
                                 
 Questions Submitted to Hon. J. Brett Blanton, Architect of the Capitol
               Questions Submitted by Senator Mike Braun
    Question 1. Mr. Blanton, as the Architect of the Capitol, your 
agency handles physical security infrastructure for the Capitol 
complex. Following January 6, there has been significant discussion of 
physical security systems on the Capitol campus. The AOC recently 
transferred funds to begin a campus wide security assessment which will 
produce recommendations for enhancing short and long term security.
    When do you expect this assessment to be complete? And do you plan 
on making any investments in physical security prior to this assessment 
being completed?

    Answer. We expect the assessment to be completed by the end of the 
year. The AOC is not in the position to develop or implement any 
security upgrade projects in response to January 6 without the 
assessment's recommendations and estimated costs and schedules. In-kind 
repairs are being made.

    Question 2. Once the assessment provides recommendations, 
congressional stakeholder engagement will be important so that there is 
broad buy-in on potential physical infrastructure changes to the 
Capitol and the surrounding campus. Will you commit to seeking full 
stakeholder involvement before moving ahead with any recommendation 
from the assessment?

    Answer. Yes, stakeholder engagement is a priority. The AOC is 
conducting this assessment for the benefit of campus stakeholders, so 
that you are able to make fully-informed decisions about the future 
physical security posture. There will be ample opportunity for all 
stakeholders to weigh in. Additionally, Congress will be responsible 
for providing the agency with proper resources as the agency does not 
have the funding or personnel that will be required to implement many 
decisions made.

    Question 3. In your view, does operational security, such as 
Capitol Police presence or structure, influence decisions about 
physical security?

    Answer. The physical security assessment team includes 
representatives from the United States Capitol Police (USCP). The USCP 
will inform the assessment team of the impact of recommendations on 
operational security and will also use the physical security 
recommendations to inform their on-going operational security 
assessments.
                                 ______
                                 
   Questions Submitted to Hon. Karen H. Gibson, Sergeant at Arms and 
                        Doorkeeper of the Senate
                Questions Submitted by Senator Jack Reed
    Question. The Senate SAA fiscal Year 2022 budget requests $25 
million to establish a Business Continuity Disaster Recovery revolving 
fund, which you mention in your opening statement.

  --General Gibson. Why does the Senate SAA need such a fund? Can you 
        provide examples for us on what the SAA would use such a fund 
        or that you currently cannot do? Are there things during COVID 
        or post-January 6 that such a fund would have been useful in 
        response efforts?

    Answer. The Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA) needs a no-year Business 
Continuity Disaster Recovery (BCDR) fund to allow the Senate to develop 
and maintain continuity capabilities and to quickly meet unanticipated 
needs. The BCDR fund could cover the cost of Information Technology 
(IT) disaster recovery planning and operations, business continuity 
planning and operations, emergency communications, and general 
contingency planning.

    Tangible examples include the following:

  --Technology for Senators to ensure robust communications during 
        emergencies, including when Senators are located away from 
        Capitol grounds;
  --Establishing a joint Senate Operations Center;
  --Backup data centers and related infrastructure;
  --Lifecycle replacement (IT hardware and software used to support 
        continuity/disaster recovery on Capitol grounds and at 
        alternate locations);
  --Information security (Secure IT equipment and testing/training/
        exercises);
  --Emergency Communications(Telecommunications, Synchronous Optical 
        Networking (SONET) ring), hardware and software maintenance, 
        cellular on wheels, mobile broadcast vehicles, IT equipment, 
        Senators and staff accountability tools;
  --Alternate Chamber Locations (Maintain readiness of fixed and mobile 
        contingency sites);
  --Continuity Planning (Planning and related exercises).

    Emerging requirements often develop quickly following an event. For 
example, due to COVID, in March 2020, the SAA executed more than $2M in 
support of IT software, hardware, increased internet bandwidth, 
conferencing services, and Virtual Private Network (VPN) upgrades. 
Additionally, with Rules' direction/approval, the SAA is now authorized 
to provide additional state facilities, services, equipment, and office 
space in connection with a federally declared disaster. In 2020, two of 
our state offices were destroyed by Hurricane Laura. This BCDR fund 
ensures that the SAA can move quickly to re-establish state operations 
for Senators whose offices have been impacted. Further, the events of 
January 6 identified a need for better situational awareness, 
information sharing, encryption, and better communications 
capabilities, providing another potential use of BCDR funds. While some 
solutions have been identified, others will take time to ascertain. The 
appropriations cycle does not always align with stakeholder 
requirements identification and decision-making following an 
unanticipated event, making this fund critical to providing 
capabilities to the Senate in a timely manner.

    Question. Can you provide us with assurance that any obligation 
from the fund is to be treated as a reprogramming request to this 
committee, and not just a notification that you intend to obligate 
these funds? I ask because we want to ensure tight control, 
accountability and oversight of a large, new pool of funding.

    Answer. We would treat any obligation of funds from this account 
similar to how we treat procurements over $100K and reprogramming 
actions. Contracts are not awarded and reprogramming actions are not 
executed without written approval from either the Rules or 
Appropriations Committee.

    Question. General Gibson, you have been on the job for roughly 3 
weeks. You come to SAA after a long career in the Army in intelligence 
and cybersecurity, as well as serving on the Honore task force review 
of Capitol security. You bring a set of fresh eyes to the Senate.

  --What are some of the things you were surprised at that the Senate 
        does or doesn't do in terms of how it operates? What are some 
        of the ways we can modernize how the Senate functions?

    Answer. Some of the things I was surprised to learn is how each of 
the Senate offices operates differently, and while some offices are 
more IT independent, others are in need of better IT support. 
Additionally, the distributed nature of the offices presents a number 
of challenges to include cybersecurity and modernization, as offices 
comfort level at adopting new and modern technologies is different. 
However, COVID did propel the Senate to more quickly adopt Cloud-based 
technologies toward the path of modernizing. For example, the rapid 
adoption of modern, secure, and reliable video and audio-conferencing 
technologies during the pandemic (Webex, Teams, and ZOOM) paved the way 
for supporting large-scale remote work, as well as remote and hybrid 
Committee Hearings. Additionally, major improvements were made to the 
Senate network and data center posture to support large scale telework 
operations, which included reconfiguration of network equipment, 
increasing internet bandwidth, and refreshing IT equipment.
    Moving forward, we will modernize and replace our existing 
telephone system and legacy video/audio conference solution (Skype) 
through our Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) effort, 
which will upgrade the legacy Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) 
telephones, core switch, and associated subsystems, which are nearing 
end of life. This includes: voicemail, instant messaging, contact 
center, integrated voice response systems, audio/video conferencing, 
and other collaboration tools that support Senate offices. We will 
continue to follow a cloud-smart approach guided by our Hybrid Cloud 
Strategy and look for opportunities to use cloud services to meet 
customer needs. This includes modernizing and securing Senate public 
facing websites; implementing modern and top tier customer ticketing 
systems; modernizing the Constituent Services Systems; and better 
posturing the Senate network through our data center modernization 
effort which includes geographically disbursed data centers, as well as 
increased use of Cloud services.
    The Cloud has a number of benefits to include: delivering secure 
and modem services more quickly; scaling services up and down based on 
customer demand which allows the SAA to be more agile based on 
fluctuating needs and to only pay for what is consumed, rather than 
having to make a large, upfront capital investment; improved 
reliability and availability of data and services; and future 
innovation at reduced costs. With the recent passing of the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021, which included language 
that protects Senate data when using cloud or electronic communications 
services, it now opens the door to greatly expand the use of these 
secure and robust Cloud technologies to modernize the Senate.

    Question. With cybersecurity playing such a huge role in the SAA's 
responsibilities, what do you plan to do to protect the Senate's 
computer networks? Does this include an examination of current 
procedures/operations?

    Answer. There are several areas that can help to better protect the 
Senate network, and most of them involve changes to current procedures 
and operations, and less on new technologies. The following 4 areas are 
key:

1. Policy Development and Enforcement
    In July 2020, the SAA began to roll out Cybersecurity policies and 
is in the process of developing the full suite of Cybersecurity 
policies by the end of CY21. To date, these first few policies have had 
a major impact on reducing the cyber risk across the Senate. For 
example, the Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy signed in July 
2020 helped to drive the Senate from less than 20 offices to now 122 
offices and Committees that are using a secure tool to protect the 
offices most privileged accounts, a huge reduction in risk. If these 
privileged accounts were compromised--it is much more damaging than a 
regular user account--because these are the accounts that can create, 
delete, and perform privileged actions on other accounts. Similarly, 
the Trusted Device Policy has laid the foundation to enable digital 
certificates to be pushed to all Senate devices (mobile and computers) 
that restricts access to the Senate network for only Senate issued 
devices--greatly reducing risk from rogue and untrusted devices. We 
plan to complete this effort by summer 2021. Future policies will focus 
on some of the key areas identified in the House Task Force report, 
like restricting the forwarding of official email to unsecure email 
platforms, and potentially blocking thumb drives.
2. Auditing for Compliance to Policy
    Conducting technical and policy audits to ensure that cybersecurity 
policies are being followed is key to enhanced cybersecurity. The 
Cybersecurity Department has developed a methodology to not only 
evaluate the network for risk, but also a reporting strategy to advise 
offices and committees on a biannual basis of their compliance to 
policy and to the associated level of risk they are accepting from a 
cybersecurity perspective.
3. Expanded Penetration/Vulnerability Testing
    To date, the SAA conducts penetration testing (to see who can get 
into our systems) against all of our high-value SAA Enterprise systems, 
including Exchange (email), Active Directory, and others. The 
Cybersecurity Department will be expanding the penetration testing to 
the Committees and offices to better identify and mitigate issues on a 
reoccurring annual basis.
4. Maturing the Risk Assessment Process and Reducing of Shadow IT
    The SAA will continue to improve and mature the Cybersecurity Risk 
Assessment process, and will be soon publishing a policy on this 
effort. The policy will require all technologies used on the Senate 
network to have a risk assessment conducted. If the technologies are 
rated as a high risk--they will not be used on the Senate network, 
moderate and low can be used with the proper mitigation controls. This 
will greatly reduce the risk to the Senate network and data, and will 
help to reduce the amount of unapproved and risky technologies that are 
currently in use.

    Question. To the extent you can speak publically, how do you intend 
to improve protection of Senators? What are you doing to ensure that 
SAA and the Capitol Police are more proactive on communicating about 
Member events and travel? And what are you doing to make sure Senate 
Offices participate in the assessment process?

    Answer. Over the past 12 months we have had scheduled calls with 
the Chief of Staff (COS) from each office to proactively reach out and 
offer our services when it comes to member events and travel, security 
awareness briefs and security tips to staff when planning, scheduling 
and advancing events for their Senator's.
    Our goal with asking for 4 new Member Outreach and Security 
Coordination Analysts is to better provide coverage for time zones west 
of the District of Columbia (DC), with more use of the Law Enforcement 
Coordination (LECOR) program and airport escorts from States further 
west. These additional Full Time Equivalents (FTE) will allow for more 
office coverage and more timely responses to requests.
    Every Monday we send a notice out to COS's, clerks, schedulers and 
Admin Directors reminding them of the LECOR program we have in place in 
coordination with United States Capitol Police (USCP).
    One additional time in the week (depending on the Senate schedule) 
we send another notice to the same group asking for their travel 
itinerary in order to provide airport escorts both in the National 
Capitol Region (NCR) and wherever their travels may take them. This 
information allows the staff to have a Security Point of Contact (POC) 
at the airports even if they just wish to notify us of their travel and 
are not asking for an escort. This information flows through the newly 
formed USCP Dignitary Protection Division (DPD) Air Ops group.
    The State Office Operations Group meets regularly with Federal 
Protective Services (FPS) to share information/best practices and 
explore options for providing additional support/security to Members in 
State offices.
    We have commissioned an independent study of our existing suite of 
physical security enhancements offered for State offices to ensure they 
still meet or exceed Federal and industry standards and address the 
evolving threat posture of our Members.
    While 98.5 percent of State offices have adopted some level of SAA-
recommended security enhancements, we are conducting more aggressive 
outreach and offering virtual Security Awareness Briefings (SABs) to 
State staff to ensure higher levels of fluency in emergency 
preparedness issues and more frequent/consistent use of security 
enhancements.
                                 ______
                                 
   Questions Submitted to Hon. Karen H. Gibson, Sergeant at Arms and 
                        Doorkeeper of the Senate
               Questions Submitted by Senator Mike Braun
    Question 1. General Gibson, in his report of March 31st, USCP 
Inspector General Bolton recommended reorganizing intelligence 
operations into a single intelligence bureau within the Department, and 
made several other recommendations related to training and guidance for 
intelligence processes. You come from a background in intelligence and 
as a member of the Capitol Police Board will play a role in any reforms 
made to the Capitol Police.
    What is your view on the recommendation to establish a separate 
intelligence bureau within the Capitol Police?

    Answer. I agree with the United States Capitol Police (USCP) 
Inspector General (IG) on the need to ensure USCP's intelligence 
function is structured in a way that supports effective dissemination 
of intelligence throughout the department. USCP sworn and civilian 
personnel supporting the intelligence function must be properly trained 
and supported through continuous learning. The establishment of a 
separate Intelligence Bureau within the U.S. Capitol Police 
organizational structure is something that should be carefully 
considered. I am encouraged by the immediate actions that the Capitol 
Police are focused on to improve their current intelligence capability. 
These action include providing additional human resources to the 
current Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division (IICD) and 
developing stronger and more formal working relationships with other 
law enforcement organizations both inside and outside the National 
Capital Region. In addition, the Capitol Police are also working to 
identify and employ the most current technology tools used in the law 
enforcement intelligence field. Beyond improving the intelligence 
function, the Capitol Police are focused on ensuring that their 
organization's intelligence capability is closely linked to the right 
police leadership at all levels so that the right operational decisions 
can be made in a timely manner. Intelligence informs operational 
decisions and the two have to be closely linked in organizational 
structure, standard operating procedures and most importantly everyday 
practice.

    Question 2. The Senate Sergeant at Arms also has an intelligence 
component that the budget request seeks funding to expand. It is 
critically important moving forward that the Legislative Branch improve 
its intelligence practices. How will you improve the Senate Sergeant at 
Arm's intelligence function and ensure that it works in better 
coordination with Capitol Police?

    Answer. I am looking at everything we do in my office as it relates 
to improving our intelligence function. To be specific, we are focusing 
on improving our internal ability to identify threats to the U.S. 
Senate. This includes threats to individual Senators, our facilities 
here in Washington, D.C., the Senate State offices and our cyber 
systems and platforms. We intend to reinforce a proactive approach by 
expanding our team dedicated to these functions, and ensuring we are 
equipped to meet those challenges as threat activity volumes increase 
and evolve. Our main focus remains better resourcing our current threat 
identification capability and leveraging formal relationships with 
other intelligence organizations. These relationships include but are 
not limited to the USCP, State Intel Fusion Centers, the U.S. Secret 
Service, the U.S. Marshal Service, the U.S. State Department's 
Diplomatic Security Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 
other organizations with the shared interest of protecting people and 
critical infrastructure. At the same time, we are expanding our threat 
identification capability, improving our ability to ensure these 
threats are coordinated with the right organization and executing 
continuous follow up until the threat is reduced. Finally, in an effort 
to be a leader in the ever-changing environment of open source 
protective intelligence and threat discovery, we will focus on 
researching and applying agency best practices and industry standards 
while leveraging the available technologies to meet these ends.

    Question 3. General Gibson, we've discussed at length physical 
security of the campus but equally important is the cybersecurity of 
the Legislative Branch. Across government we've seen increasing cyber-
attacks from hostile governments and other bad actors. The SAA's budget 
request calls for significant and continued investment in cybersecurity 
capacity.
    How would you describe the cyber threat level the Senate faces and 
our readiness to meet sophisticated cyber-attacks?

    Answer. The cybersecurity threat continues to remain high, 
especially with the recent reporting of the SolarWinds, FireEye, 
Microsoft and Colonial Pipeline breaches. The Cybersecurity Department 
continues to implement a state of the art approach to defending the 
network and continued investments will support maintaining and 
enhancing this capability to keep pace with the evolving cybersecurity 
threat. Here are some examples to describe our readiness to 
sophisticated cyber-attacks:

          Awareness.--We have developed a multi-dimensional approach to 
        advise the user community of cybersecurity threats. We do this 
        by publishing cybersecurity advisories, briefing Senate offices 
        and bringing guest speakers from the commercial sector, as well 
        as, academia, to brief the user community on real-world 
        threats.
          Evaluation of Risk.--We have developed a methodology, using 
        international and Federal standards, to evaluate the level of 
        risk being accepted when procuring information technology (IT) 
        products. These assessment reports are published to the offices 
        procuring the technology so they are aware of the risks 
        associated with the product or service.
          Cloud-based Services.--As many products and services move to 
        the cloud, the cybersecurity adversary is moving to the cloud 
        as well and as a result, cybersecurity defenses must address 
        this too. The SAA Cybersecurity Department continues to 
        implement cloud based defenses to secure the Senate's use of 
        the cloud. The cloud brings robust and modern capabilities to 
        the Senate quickly, which increases business productivity and 
        customer satisfaction.

    Question 4. What initiatives are included in the request to further 
improve the Senate's cybersecurity readiness?

    Answer. There are six initiatives being executed to improve the 
Senate's cybersecurity readiness. These include the following:

          Modern Event Ticketing System.--The SAA Cybersecurity 
        Department is currently migrating from an antiquated ticketing 
        system to a modern system designed to effectively track and 
        manage cyber-related customer requests, in order to triage and 
        communicate timely information to resolve cyber incidents. 
        Additionally, this same system will also be used to replace the 
        legacy Help Desk ticketing system, and will provide a common 
        ticketing system for the entire CIO organization.
          Next Generation Firewall.--This state of the art cloud-based 
        capability will provide several benefits to include the 
        replacement of the legacy on premise platform to filter web 
        traffic for malicious activity, and will improve the 
        performance and user experience for staff working remotely or 
        in State offices, as the tool is made to support a remote 
        workforce and cloud services more efficiently.

    Another new technology being introduced is the cloud access 
security broker (CASB). The CASB is a critical element in the SAA 
Cybersecurity Department's ability to defend Senate users and data 
while accessing cloud based systems. This system will ensure that only 
authorized users and authorized Senate devices will access Senate data 
in the cloud and will alert Cybersecurity staff if there is a breach.
    To ensure the readiness of the Senate endpoints (laptops and 
desktops), the Cybersecurity Department is upgrading its current 
antivirus to latest cloud enabled version. Through this upgrade, remote 
and State office users will be better protected even if they are not 
connected to the Senate virtual private network (VPN), and 
cybersecurity defenders will have real-time visibility to attacks (such 
as ransomware) against these devices 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 
days a year.
    The use of social media continues to be on the rise, not only by 
users, but also by the attacker. The Cybersecurity Department is 
implementing a technology to improve its ability to detect impersonated 
social media accounts and advise offices and committees of these 
violations.
    Lastly, as referenced above, due to a large number of users being 
remote, identifying vulnerabilities on endpoints is a challenge. The 
Cybersecurity Department is procuring an updated version of the 
existing vulnerability scanner to install on all endpoints. With this 
procurement, the Cybersecurity Department will have real-time analysis 
of vulnerabilities and be able to immediately notify offices of any 
issues, and to quickly remediate and prevent cybersecurity attacks such 
as ransomware or data exfiltration.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    The next hearing of the subcommittee will be held on 
Wednesday, April 28th, at 2:00 p.m., in Dirksen 192, when we 
will hear testimony from the Librarian of Congress, the 
Comptroller of the Government Accountability Office, and the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office regarding the 
fiscal year 2022 budget requests.
    Until then, the committee stands the adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 3:11 p.m., Wednesday, April 21, the 
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of 
the Chair.]



         LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022

                              ----------                              


                       WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.

    The subcommittee met at 2:00 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jack Reed (Chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Reed, Murphy, Heinrich, Braun, Shelby, 
and Rubio.

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, AND THE 
                         LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS

                 OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JACK REED

    Senator Reed. Good afternoon. The subcommittee will come to 
order. I'd like to welcome everyone to the second of our fiscal 
year 2022 budget hearings for the Legislative Branch 
Appropriations Subcommittee. And I'm joined by my Ranking 
Member, Senator Braun and Senator Heinrich, and we're delighted 
to welcome our witnesses. Today, we have with us the Librarian 
of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden; the Comptroller General of the 
US Government Accountability Office, Gene Dodaro; and the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Dr. Phillip 
Swagel.
    Welcome, and thank you all for joining us here today to 
testify. The roles that the Library, CBO, and GAO all play are 
critically important to making sure that Congress can serve the 
American people well. Your agencies help Congress, supporting 
us on our basic responsibilities to be informed and educated on 
behalf of our constituents.
    Let me begin by thanking the women and men of your 
agencies. The past year has been difficult from the COVID-19 
pandemic to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. You have had 
to spend regular appropriations beyond what we provided last 
year on the CAREs Act on unanticipated IT enhancements, PPE, 
cleaning, and security course. Because the Senate and the House 
continue to meet, the already heavy workloads of CRS, GAO, and 
the CBO have increased to meet congressional requests for 
reports, analysis, and orders to inform legislative responding 
to the pandemic.
    The Library, for example, has delayed the construction of a 
needed storage module at Fort Meade so we could use the $40 
million to cover Emergency Capitol Campus Security and COVID-19 
course. And as I mentioned the support to Congress, I'd like to 
think the GAO for letting Elizabeth Field come and testify 
before the Armed Service Committee on Tuesday, another example 
of your contribution to our efforts.
    But as I said, these challenges didn't stop the Library, 
the CBO, and GAO from delivering for Congress and the American 
people. CBO has turned out reports. GAO is auditing the 
trillions of dollars provided by Congress for the Government 
Live Response to COVID-19 and continues its important oversight 
role to make sure those funds are spent responsibly.
    CRS increased its science and technology, analytical 
capacity to repair and update more than 1,000 new products on 
COVID-19 related issues. And the Library ramped up its public 
outreach, to include a variety of virtual events, webinars, and 
workshops so that researchers, teachers, parents, and 
especially our children could still access and learn from its 
rich and diverse collections.
    As our Nation gradually opens and your agencies responsibly 
resume in-person operations, we owe it to your employees not 
only to provide the resources they need to do the job, but also 
to meeting any new demands or innovations identified in the 
pandemic. I hope we can soon deliver on our promise to make you 
whole with an emergency supplemental. Meanwhile, I want to know 
how those unanticipated course have impacted your missions.
    Our public libraries serve the common good and are 
destinations and catalysts for advancement. So, Dr. Hayden, 
we'll want to hear from you on the progress of the Library's 
Visitor Experience Project. This is an exciting public/private 
partnership that will make the Library's treasures more 
accessible to students, researchers, and visitors to the 
Nation's Capitol for generations to come. The Library's fiscal 
year 2022 requests also include critical investments to cover 
gaps in security and communications that came to light on 
January 6.
    Finally, it continues a common thread across all Library 
components: IT, modernization, and cyber security. We need to 
make sure the Library can provide access to its collections in 
order to better serve the public; but also, able to protect 
sensitive information from CRS, the Copyright Office, and the 
Law Library; and guard against cyber criminals using Library 
assets as a gateway to hack the Congress.
    Comptroller General Dodaro, GAO serves as Congress' 
independent and non-partisan watchdog. We provided $107 million 
for GAO to conduct oversight of the trillions of dollars 
provided by the Federal Government beginning more than a year 
ago for Coronavirus Response and Recovery efforts. You spent 
roughly a third of that funding on dozens of pandemic-focused 
engagements already. I'm interested in learning more about 
GAO's current and future work, evaluating how we can improve 
decisions in our national response to ongoing pandemic 
challenges. It's good to know that GAO can and will continue to 
provide an eye on the ground for us. We owe it to the American 
people to get recovery funds out the door quickly and ensure 
that they are spent effectively and efficiently. Your COVID-19 
oversight duties are on top of GAO's ongoing efforts to improve 
Government efficiency and effectiveness, and root out waste, 
fraud, and abuse.
    Director Swagel, Congress relies on CBO to offer expert and 
non-partisan analysis to inform budget decisions and economic 
deliberations essential to the legislative process. CBO's 
budget request seeks to make CBO's work even more transparent 
and responsive to Congress. The bills you analyze only grow in 
complexity and demands for your cost and this estimates have 
increased. Your budget continues to reflect your priority to 
get it right and to quickly and effectively inform Congress of 
your findings. For fiscal year 2022, CBO request adding four 
new staff to respond more quickly to questions related to your 
models and during times of high demand, particularly with an 
eye toward more analysis of infrastructure, energy, and climate 
change issues.
    In this subcommittee, we want to make sure the Library, 
CBO, and GAO can help keep Congress informed and educated so we 
can make good decisions on behalf of the American people. We 
should not skimp on these investments, because in the end, they 
help us better serve our constituents, yet, we will have to 
balance the needs of all of the legislative agencies against 
our resources. That includes supporting your agencies while 
also making sure other priorities are protected in our bill.
    Now, I want to thank you all, again, for coming; and I look 
forward to our discussion today. Now, let me turn it over to 
Ranking Member, Braun.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MIKE BRAUN

    Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Hayden, Mr. 
Dodaro, and Dr. Swagel, welcome. Thanks for being here. Each of 
your agencies plays an important role in supporting the work of 
Congress.
    Dr. Hayden, we spoke earlier this month about the Library 
of Congress' valuable service; both in support of legislative 
function and in making the congressional process more 
transparent for the American people. The Library provides 
information and expert research on a wide range of topics both 
to members and staff, and to the public at large, and it 
delivers an incredible resource as you preserve our national 
history.
    The GAO and the Congressional Budget Office both serve 
critical roles in ensuring Congress can make informed 
decisions, particularly with respect to evaluating the 
budgetary impact of new laws.
    I am particularly concerned by Congress' seeming inability 
to address the slow-moving national debt crisis. In CBO's most 
recent long-term budget outlook, the agency writes that 
persistently rising debt as a percentage of the GDP poses 
significant risks to the Nation's fiscal and economic outlook. 
CBO further notes that Congress' inability to balance its 
budget weakens the American economy by crowding out private 
investment and increasing the risk of a financial crisis. GAO 
has made similar warnings, writing in its fiscal year 2020 
Financial Audit that Congress should consider including fiscal 
rules and targets, such as debt-to-GDP targets as part of a 
long-term fiscal plan. I know we've talked about that a lot. 
I've only been here a little over 2 years; and I know it's been 
discussed long before that. It seems to be a subject few are 
interested in. I support this approach, and have introduced 
bicameral legislation called The MAPP Act, which would attach 
spending targets to GDP. Even though the Legislative Branch 
Appropriations bill is only a small part of Federal spending, 
our debt crisis threatens every congressional priority.
    We must remain diligent to ensure that every taxpayer 
dollar advances the interests of the Nation. Each day we wait, 
the economic consequences increase, making the problem harder 
to solve, pushing it on to our kids and our grandkids; and to 
run a place like this, and borrow 23 percent of our annual 
budget, let alone the debt we've added on here recently to me 
is cause for concern.
    Thank you, again, to our witnesses for being here. I look 
forward to your testimony.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator Braun. Are any of my other 
colleagues wishing to make a statement? Thank you. At this 
time, I'll recognize, beginning with Dr. Hayden, all of our 
witnesses, to give brief opening statements, approximately 5 
minutes. Dr. Hayden, you can begin, and then we'll go to Mr. 
Dodaro.
STATEMENT OF HON. DR. CARLA HAYDEN, LIBRARIAN OF 
            CONGRESS
    Dr. Hayden. Thank you, Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, 
and Members of the subcommittee for this opportunity to testify 
in support of the Library's fiscal 2022 budget.
    And a little over a year ago, we had to close the Library's 
doors to everyone as the pandemic began. We opened other 
avenues that allowed us to serve Congress and the American 
people in new and innovative ways. And thanks to your support 
and investments in the Library's IT infrastructure, the network 
was able to handle an 800 percent increase in the remote 
workforce and essential services, including the CRS and the 
Copyright Office were able to operate largely as normal. We 
transformed the Library's public outreach by moving events 
online. We created new digital programs, and we even reimagined 
others, developing new audiences for the Library beyond those 
who couldn't visit us in person. And with congressional support 
and private philanthropy, we are on schedule to unveil the 
Visitor Experience in phases, beginning in late calendar 2022.
    Worthy of special note during this time is the National 
Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, NLS, with its network 
of State and local library circulated more than 20 million 
copies of braille, audio, and large print items. And I'd like 
to take this opportunity to recognize NLS director, Karen 
Kininger, who joined the Library in 2012, and will retire at 
the end of May. Her priorities were to leverage advancing 
technology and expand content for all print disabled person. 
She accomplished these goals and so much more for the NLS.
    I'd also like to express my gratitude for your support in 
the fiscal year 2021 funding bill for high-priority needs, such 
as cyber security enhancements, state of the art shelving for 
the Law Library, and enhanced science and technology capacity 
for CRS. And thank you, as well, for your support for the 
Library's new preservation strategy and collection storaging 
modules at Fort Meade as part of the Architect of the Capitol's 
budget.
    I would like to note that the funding from the AOC's budget 
designated for Storage Module 7 was reprogrammed for the 
fencing surrounding the Capitol Campus after January 6; and we 
would ask that this vital funding be restored to the AOC's 
budget as part of any Security Supplemental Bill that the 
committee may consider.
    I come before you today to discuss the Library of Congress' 
fiscal year 2022 appropriations request for approximately 846 
million, a 5.5 percent increase over the Library's fiscal year 
2021 enacted appropriation. This request includes 24.2 million 
in mandatory pay and price level increases. The balance of the 
increase represents critical program investments necessary to 
fulfill the Library's role, continue modernization efforts, and 
ensure the safety and security of the Library's collections and 
work force.
    The budget request seeks to replace the Legacy Integrated 
Library System that was installed in 1999 in preparation for 
Y2K with a modern Library Collections Access Platform that will 
be the heart of the Library's collection management, physical 
and digital, for the next generation.
    We're requesting funding to continue to modernize and 
optimize our financial management and planning by establishing 
a new Enterprise Planning and Management Program, and the 
budget seeks to modernize the Library's nearly 20-year-old 
Integrated Electronic Security System that's used both by the 
Library and the U.S. Capitol Police for physical security 
monitoring of Library facilities and collections.
    We're asking for funding to replace the Library's End of 
Life 3G Cellular System that provides connectivity for only 
about 50 percent of the Library's facilities.
    And I'd like to note that these two requests were very 
important, and continue to be important, for life, safety, and 
security, and would be good candidates for any Supplemental 
Security Bills as well.
    We also want to have funding to implement the same level of 
IT security across both the Library's data centers and the 
cloud-hosting environments. And then, in addition to supporting 
Library employees with advanced, virtual collaboration tools 
that were highlighted this year, we are requesting funding to 
expedite the transition from Microsoft Office to Microsoft 365.
    So finally, I'd like to acknowledge our new Register of 
Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, and this budget request funds the 
implementation of the Copyright Alternative and Small Claims 
Act, or the CASE Act, with the creation of a small claims 
court.
    So, in closing, the Library's 2022 congressional budget 
continues a sequence of strategically planned modernization 
efforts across the Library, supports the security of our vast 
collections, and enhances the safety of our workforce and 
visitors.

    [Statements of Dr. Carla Hayden, Shira Perlmutter, and Mary 
B. Mazanec follows:]
              Prepared Statement of Hon. Dr. Carla Hayden
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the subcommittee:

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of 
the Library's fiscal 2022 budget.
    The Library of Congress has built one of the largest collection of 
human knowledge ever assembled in support of its mission to engage, 
inspire, and inform Congress and the American people with a universal 
and enduring source of information and creativity. We are an 
authoritative source of knowledge to be used for a purpose. My top 
priority as Librarian of Congress remains expanded user access to the 
Library's resources and services. We constantly strive to find ways to 
share our extraordinary riches more broadly and deeply.
    When the pandemic struck a little over a year ago, the Library 
needed to move rapidly to adopt new approaches to carrying out its 
mission of serving the Congress and the American people while at the 
same time ensuring that employees and contractors were able to work in 
safety. Thanks to congressional support for investments in IT 
infrastructure over the past several years, the Library's network was 
able to handle an 800 percent increase in the remote workforce. 
Essential services including CRS and the United States Copyright Office 
were able to operate largely as normal. The Library continued to 
provide public access by creating new programs, reimagining others, and 
offering them online. The 20th National Book Festival was hosted 
entirely online. When many schools closed, the Library created teacher 
webinars, virtual student workshops, and a loc.gov/engage page with 
information about resources, activities and programs. Planned digital 
initiatives, such as the LC Collections mobile app and innovator-in-
residence projects, moved forward quickly to provide new ways for 
Congress and the public to engage with the Library. We just launched a 
new initiative to assemble and preserve a well-balanced collection of 
archived pandemic-related web content that will fully tell the story of 
COVID-19 for researchers of tomorrow. In addition, with congressional 
support and private philanthropy, we remained on schedule to open the 
Visitor Experience in phases beginning in late calendar 2022. Although 
planning is ongoing for a phased return to in-person operations and 
reopening to visitors and onsite researchers as conditions allow, it is 
clear that the Library needs to ensure that digital innovations can be 
sustained and even accelerated to meet evolving expectations.
    This was certainly a challenging year and I am pleased to report 
that we continued to make progress in sharing more of the Library's 
collections, programming, and staff expertise. Today, the Library holds 
more than 171 million items, including special collections consisting 
of audio materials, maps, moving images, sheet music and much more. 
Over 6.8 million preservation actions were performed on the physical 
collections. The Library responded to 802,676 reference requests from 
Congress, the public, and other Federal agencies, including direct use 
of CRS reports. The Copyright Office issued over 443,911 copyright 
registrations and recorded 7,098 documents containing 233,694 titles. 
In fiscal 2020, Library web properties experienced the largest volume 
of traffic in Library history. Those properties (excluding congress.gov 
and copyright.gov) recorded more than 117 million visits and 647 
million page views--increases of 39 percent and 58 percent, 
respectively. Mobile visits made up 46 percent of those visits, an 
increase of nine percentage points over the previous fiscal year. And 
before the mid-March closing to the public, the Library welcomed 
565,388 in-person visitors.
    The Library also continued direct services to the public with the 
Veterans History Project and Teaching with Primary Sources, a program 
that allows teachers in the local districts to create curricula and 
develop apps using the Library's digitized primary sources.
    Of special note is the National Library Service for the Blind and 
Print Disabled (NLS) and its network of State and local libraries, 
which circulated more than 20.3 million copies of braille, audio and 
large print items to patrons. I would like to recognize NLS Director 
Karen Keninger, who joined the Library in 2012 after serving as 
director of the Iowa Department for the Blind and as regional librarian 
for the Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Ms. 
Keninger's priorities for NLS at the outset were to leverage advancing 
technology and expand content for all print-disabled persons. Under her 
leadership, NLS embraced innovative technology, in just one example, by 
providing braille digitally with new refreshable braille technology. 
Working with the communities, Ms. Keninger expanded eligibility for NLS 
programs and advocated for a name change to highlight service to the 
print disabled. She made a special commitment to working with veterans' 
groups. She also developed partnerships with major audiobook producers 
that doubled the output of new talking books and implemented 
international partnerships to enable the cross-border exchange of 
materials. Karen Keninger will retire at the end of May.
    I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the outstanding 
support that this committee and the entire Congress give to the 
Library. In particular, I appreciate the funding you have provided for 
our fiscal 2021 requests to meet high-priority needs such as 
cybersecurity enhancements to protect sensitive information from CRS, 
the Law Library, the Copyright Office, and other high-value assets. 
Modernization efforts funded in fiscal 2021 also supported state-of-the 
art shelving for Law Library collections in Quad B and enhanced science 
and technology research capacity in CRS.
    I also thank you for your continued support for the collections 
storage modules at Fort Meade as part of the Architect of the Capitol's 
budget. Construction is underway for Storage Module 6, the first 
double-wide unit. Although initial designs for Storage Module 7 are now 
complete, following the attack on January 6, $30 million from the AOC's 
budget designated for Storage Module 7 was diverted to pay for the 
fencing surrounding the campus. We understood the necessity to cover 
this immediate security need of the campus, and ask that this vital 
funding for Ft. Meade Storage Module 7 be restored to the AOC's budget 
as part of any security supplemental spending bill.
    I come before you today to discuss the Library's fiscal 2022 
appropriations request. The funding request aligns with the strategic 
goals set forth in the Library's Strategic Plan: expand access, enhance 
services, optimize resources, and measure impact.
    The Library of Congress fiscal 2022 budget request is for 
approximately $845.982 million, which represents a 5.5 percent increase 
over the Library's fiscal 2021 enacted appropriation. This request 
includes $24.28 million in mandatory pay and price level increases. The 
balance of the increase represents critical program investments 
necessary to fulfill the Library's role and to continue to modernize 
our operations and technology, ensure the safety and security of 
Library collections and our workforce, and adjust to rapidly changing 
needs.
    The budget seeks to modernize the legacy Integrated Library System 
(ILS) and several related systems that provide access to the Library's 
collections. The existing ILS is 25-year-old technology that the 
Library put into place in 1999 in preparation for Y2K. The ILS is at 
the end of its life, with systems that cannot interface, and is likely 
to fail within the next few years. The replacement, a modern Library 
Collections Access Platform (L-CAP), used in major academic libraries, 
will be the heart of Library collections management, physical and 
digital, for the next generation. Designed to be closely integrated 
with a wide range of Library systems, L-CAP will employ the latest 
technology to manage the acquisition, description and inventory of 
Library collections and facilitate access for Library employees, 
Congress and the public. The Library is ready for the L-CAP now because 
substantial IT infrastructure improvements are in place and we have 
gained experience with other major IT modernization efforts. We will 
use continuous integration and continuous delivery development 
practices to sustain the system to allow L-CAP to meet the Library's 
evolving needs, including management of exponentially growing digital 
collections and advancements in technology.
    In another move toward modernization, in this case to take the next 
step in beginning to optimize and modernize financial management and 
planning in the Financial Services Directorate and across the Library, 
we are requesting funding to establish a new Enterprise Planning & 
Management (EPM) program. Financial modernization is an iterative 
process that must continue to stabilize current accounting activities 
and at the same time move forward to introduce new capabilities and 
principles. To meet audit findings concerning cost estimating and cost 
accounting, this initial EPM funding request will build a base of 
expertise in the Library in cost management as well as data science and 
data architecture, and develop processes necessary to optimize cost 
management practices and lay the foundation necessary for the 
implementation of more advanced financial planning capabilities and 
technology. Ultimately, the EPM program will use the Library's 
financial management and planning data to drive decisionmaking to 
improve performance in programs, projects, and activities surrounding 
the Library's investments.
    Pandemic operations, as well as heightened physical security 
threats for U.S. Government agencies, particularly legislative branch 
agencies, have focused attention on necessary enhancements to ensure 
the safety and security of the Library's workforce and its collections. 
The Library is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) and 
the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to ensure that safety and security 
measures are appropriately implemented. The most recent security 
incident on April 2nd reminded us that we will have to remain more 
vigilant for the foreseeable future.
    The budget request includes a funding request to modernize the 
Library's nearly 20-year-old Integrated Electronic Security System 
(IESS), which is used by both the Library and the USCP for physical 
security monitoring of Library facilities and access from the Library 
to the broader Capitol Complex. The system is at the center of a 
complex network of more than 10,000 cameras, motion sensors, electronic 
door locks, and other controls that regulate access to Library 
facilities and safeguard staff, visitors, collections, and high-value 
assets. The outdated analog video camera components lack the high-
resolution necessary to fully monitor and investigate pedestrian and 
vehicle traffic in and around our buildings. The request will allow the 
Library to completely overhaul the security system components with a 
sustainable life-cycle management program, and modernize the IESS IT 
network infrastructure, bringing it into compliance with Library IT 
security standards.
    Funding is also requested to allow the Library to replace its 
outdated and inadequate 3G Cellular Distributed Antenna System. The 
current 3G system, installed in 2004, covers only about 50 percent of 
Library facilities. It is at the end of its service life and is 
incompatible with advanced 5G connectivity. On January 6, USCP and AOC 
employees reported multiple dropped cellular connections and the 
inability to initiate calls out of Library facilities, delaying time-
critical communications and coordination. The request will allow the 
Library to implement a modern cellular solution that will ensure 
connectivity, and by extension, improve safety for the USCP, AOC and 
Library staff, and congressional and Library visitors.
    The budget requests increased funding to allow the Library to 
implement the same advanced level of IT security across both its on-
premises data centers and Cloud hosting environments. This will ensure 
that Library data, including congressional and copyright information, 
are secured at all times, leveraging artificial intelligence to 
identify anomalous and malicious behavior.
    Remote work during the pandemic highlighted the need to better 
support Library employees with work-anywhere-anytime functionality and 
advanced virtual collaboration tools. The budget requests funding to 
expedite the transition of the Library from legacy Microsoft Office 
tools to the Microsoft 365 Government productivity platform for all 
staff. The request aligns the Library with congressional adoption of 
Microsoft 365 and ensures a smooth transition away from the Office 
suite, which Microsoft has announced will no longer be supported after 
2025.
    Finally, this budget requests the funding required to fully 
implement the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) 
Act with the creation of a ``small claims court'' within the Copyright 
Office. The Copyright Claims Board (CCB) will work to resolve civil 
copyright claims, counterclaims, and defenses in the CCB as an 
efficient and inexpensive alternative to using the Federal courts. The 
request will support the necessary staffing for the CCB and the 
implementation of an electronic filing and case management system with 
electronic acceptance of claims filings, fees, and litigation 
pleadings.
    In closing, the 2022 Congressional Budget Justification continues a 
sequence of strategically planned modernization efforts of all types 
across the enterprise. The Library's budget request also seeks to 
support the security of the collections and the safety of our workforce 
and visitors, and to help the Library meet quickly changing needs. 
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the subcommittee, 
thank you again for supporting the Library of Congress and for your 
consideration of our fiscal 2022 request.
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights and 
                    Director, U.S. Copyright Office
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the subcommittee:

    Thank you for the opportunity to submit the United States Copyright 
Office's fiscal 2022 budget request.
    As the principal Federal entity charged with administering the 
Copyright Act, the Copyright Office has many responsibilities, 
including overseeing the national copyright registration and 
recordation systems, advising Congress on copyright policy and 
legislation, working with the Department of Justice and other Federal 
agencies on copyright litigation, conducting administrative and 
regulatory activity with respect to statutory copyright licenses, and 
educating the public about copyright law. We do all of this with a lean 
staff of less than 450 employees who pursue copyright's Constitutional 
mission of ``promot[ing] the progress of science and useful arts.'' \1\ 
Since I joined the Copyright Office in late October, I have been 
privileged to oversee the impressive work performed by the Office's 
dedicated staff.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ U.S. Const. art. I, Sec. 8, cl. 8.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       summary of this past year
    This past year, the Office has achieved many noteworthy successes 
while addressing significant operational challenges, including those 
posed by limits on onsite operations as a result of the global 
pandemic. When the Library shut down the Madison building on March 13, 
2020, the Office quickly transitioned most staff to telework. Some of 
our work, however, involves physical materials (including paper-based 
recordation documents, paper-based registration claims, and physical 
copyright deposits). Office staff was unable to process these materials 
until June 2020, when limited in-office work resumed, as discussed 
below.
    We have accomplished a lot this past year in administering the 
national registration and recordation systems. In fiscal 2020, the 
Office registered 443,911 claims to copyright involving millions of 
works. Ninety-eight percent of registration applications closed were 
received electronically and 2 percent by mail. Even with the pandemic, 
we made significant strides in improving processing time: the average 
overall processing time for examining all copyright claims dropped from 
4.0 months in the second half of fiscal 2019 to 2.6 months in the 
second half of fiscal 2020, representing a 35 percent decrease. The 
average processing times for fully electronic claims that did not 
require correspondence (74 percent of all electronic claims) dropped 
from 3.0 months to 1.6 months, and those that did require 
correspondence (26 percent) dropped from 6.0 months to 3.6 months. 
Despite the overall reduction, however, the pandemic did negatively 
impact processing times for electronic applications that required the 
submission of physical deposits, as well as paper applications, which 
make up less than 3 percent of all registration applications the Office 
receives, as registration staff was not on-site for many months.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Registration processing times are posted on our website at 
https://copyright.gov/registration/docs/processing-times-faqs.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    With respect to recordation work in fiscal 2020, the Office 
recorded 7,098 documents, on paper and through the new electronic 
pilot, containing titles of 233,694 works. The average time from 
submission to generation of the public record for electronic pilot 
submissions was within weeks of receipt for most submissions. The 
average processing time for paper submissions was approximately 11.5 
months; this was an increase of 3.5 months from the average fiscal 2019 
processing times and again reflects the impact of the pandemic on 
physical operations.\3\ Recordation staff were unable to retrieve 
submissions from March 2020 until some on-site work resumed in June 
2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Recordation processing times are posted on our website at 
https://copyright.gov/
recordation/. We are currently processing September 2019 basic 
recordation filings and April 2020 notices of termination. Also due to 
COVID-19, the Copyright Office mail unit is now processing mail 
submitted in August 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Limited on-site operations also impacted the Office's acquisition 
of physical materials for Library collections in the third and fourth 
quarters of fiscal 2020. The Office was able, however, to maintain an 
effective e-deposit program throughout the fiscal year. E-serial and, 
in particular, e-book acquisitions made up a significant portion of the 
Office's contributions to the Library's collections. For fiscal 2020, 
the value of deposits, $40.03 million, was just shy of the previous 
year's total. The value of the access that special relief relationships 
with major e-serial and e-book publishers provided for Library staff 
and patrons increased from $69.87 million in fiscal 2019 to $75.26 
million in fiscal 2020.
    The Office was able to continue our longstanding role of providing 
expert legal and policy advice without interruption. This included 
promulgating regulations to implement various provisions of the Music 
Modernization Act (MMA),\4\ as well as to update rules to facilitate 
new practices for group registrations, deposit of electronic books for 
the Library's collections, and improved administration with respect to 
recordation of notices of termination. The Office has also commenced 
regulatory activities to implement the Copyright Alternative in Small-
Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act), as discussed further below. On the 
policy front, the Office issued a comprehensive study on section 512 of 
the Copyright Act last May, and continues work on three other studies 
(unclaimed music royalties, sovereign immunity, and the market impact 
of termination of certain section 119 licenses), to be completed later 
in 2021. The Office also continued to provide legal advice and 
assistance across the government regarding complex and emerging areas 
of copyright law and policy, including Supreme Court and appellate 
litigation and work with executive branch agencies on international 
matters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Orrin G. Hatch--Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, Public 
Law No. 115-264, 132 Stat. 3676 (2018).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Office has engaged in numerous outreach activities to provide 
accurate and unbiased information on copyright law. We continued to 
produce events to educate the public and stakeholders about copyright, 
including specifically to reach music and songwriter communities around 
the world with information about the MMA. In fiscal 2020, the Office 
answered some 170,000 public inquiries regarding copyright, helping 
people understand copyright and the Office's services. We also 
continued our effective stewardship of the over $1.4 billion in 
statutory licensing revenues; for the third consecutive year, the 
Office received an unmodified or ``clean'' audit opinion of the 
statutory licensing fiduciary asset financial statements.
    Regarding information technology (IT), fiscal 2019 marked the first 
year Congress appropriated funds specifically for IT modernization (for 
5 years, recurring). This allowed the Office and the Library of 
Congress's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to continue 
making progress on a modernized Office IT system. The Office worked 
closely with OCIO to provide the business information needed for OCIO 
to undertake the development work. In fiscal 2020, we met our 
objectives on three major IT modernization work streams: the April 2020 
launch of an electronic recordation pilot; the September 2020 release 
of an internal version and a December 2020 public version of a new 
interface for the Copyright Public Records System; and the year-end 
internal release of a clickable prototype of the planned new 
registration system. More details on our plans for fiscal 2022 follow 
below.
    To be sure, modernization involves more than just IT; it also 
involves updates to Office processes, organization, and culture. The 
Office has made significant progress in business process reengineering 
efforts--last summer we completed work with a consultant on 66 distinct 
processes for improvement. We are now reviewing those results and 
moving forward to identify processes that can benefit from IT support 
as well as those that can be implemented without it. In addition, the 
Office continues to work with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) 
on organizational issues. After a review of the Office's organization 
and structural needs for modernization, OPM is now assisting us in 
devising competency models for two of our most populated occupation 
series in order to improve succession planning and talent management. 
Finally, last summer the Office completed work with a consultant on an 
organizational change initiative, which involves the development of key 
change management processes and documents, staff training, and 
strategic coaching on structuring and leading business transformation. 
The Office is pivoting to apply these skills internally, and we have 
created a community of practice to spread and better integrate them 
within our workforce.
Adapting Operations to the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    While fiscal 2020 brought unexpected and unprecedented adversities 
for the Office, our staff rose to the challenges. The Office 
implemented a pandemic response plan in March 2020, successfully 
transitioning 98 percent of the staff to full or partial telework 
within just a few weeks. More staff gradually returned on-site 
throughout the summer and fall, in accordance with the Library's plan 
for restored on-site operations. We currently have about 27 percent of 
our staff on-site, either full-time or on rotating schedules; the rest 
are teleworking.
    As noted above, the bulk of the Office's operations have been 
largely unaffected by the transition to telework operations, including 
all legal and policy work, registration processing of fully electronic 
claims, and ongoing modernization activities. Although processing of 
physical materials was suspended for several months after the Madison 
building was closed in March 2020, the Office issued a new rule that 
allows us to offer an electronic option for some services that 
previously required paper submission. We also adjusted practices to 
receive certain additional applications and submissions via email 
during pandemic operations.
    To further relieve the impact of constraints imposed by the 
pandemic on users of Office services, the Acting Register had 
exercised, and I am now exercising, the authority granted by Congress 
in the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES 
Act). So far, we have issued notices that temporarily adjust certain 
timing provisions and I continue to review conditions to determine 
whether further extensions are needed. The Office is also monitoring 
the impact of COVID-19 on our fee receipts. While there has not yet 
been a significant shortfall, the Office appreciates the Committee's 
support going forward if funding flexibility is needed to adjust to 
disruptions in operations or to address increased workloads when normal 
operations and backlog processing resume.
    In sum, the Office is proud to have accomplished so much during 
this challenging year, and to have continued to serve the country and 
the copyright system well. Our budget request would enable this 
important work to continue in fiscal 2022.
             funding and overall fiscal 2022 budget request
    The recurring financial support for the Office's modernization 
efforts, initially funded as part of the fiscal 2019 budget, continues 
for fiscal 2022, and the Office is pleased to provide an update on a 
number of initiatives that are now fully underway. In addition to 
ongoing modernization, the Office and the Copyright Royalty Judges 
(CRJ) are fully engaged in addressing new responsibilities under the 
MMA. Congress provided an additional $1.6 million in fiscal 2021, 
primarily for Office and CRJ staffing. To support implementation of the 
CASE Act, enacted as part of the fiscal 2021 omnibus appropriations 
legislation on December 27, 2020, the Office is requesting $3.2 million 
in additional funding for fiscal 2022 as described further below.
    The Copyright Office's overall budget is composed of three separate 
budgets or program areas:

    (1)  Basic Budget, which funds most of the Office's core 
operations, including the majority of payroll-related expenses. 
Historically the basic budget has been composed of a combination of 
appropriated dollars and authority to spend fee revenue, with fees 
constituting a majority of this funding (generally in the range of 50 
percent to 67 percent);
    (2)  Licensing Budget, which is derived completely from licensing 
royalty collections otherwise payable to copyright owners and filing 
fees paid by cable and satellite licensees pursuant to statutory 
licenses administered by the Office; and
    (3)  Copyright Royalty Judges Budget. Although the CRJ program is 
not a part of the Office, the Office provides it with budget 
formulation and execution support on behalf of the Library of Congress.

    For fiscal 2022, the Office requests a combined total of $98.0 
million in funding and 472 FTEs, of which $45.0 million would be funded 
through offsetting collections of fees collected in fiscal 2022 and in 
prior years.

    The Office's fiscal 2022 requests are:

  --Basic Budget: $88.7 million and 439 FTEs. $38.0 million in 
        offsetting fee collections (43 percent) and $50.7 million (57 
        percent) in appropriated dollars. The request includes 
        mandatory pay-related and price level increases of $1.209 
        million and a program increase of $3.2 million for staffing, 
        facilities, computer and audiovisual technology, and services 
        to implement the CASE Act. Of this latter amount, $1.0 million 
        is one-time funding for IT system development, audiovisual 
        system acquisition, and facilities expenses, and $2.2 million 
        is permanent funding for staff, operations and maintenance, and 
        services.
  --Licensing Division Budget: $6.4 million and 26 FTEs, all of which 
        are to be funded via filing and royalty fees. The requested 
        increase includes mandatory pay-related and price level 
        increases of $0.2 million.
  --Copyright Royalty Judges Budget: $2.9 million and 7 FTEs, with $0.1 
        million to support mandatory pay-related and price level 
        increases. Of the total, royalties and participation fees 
        offset $0.5 million (for non-personnel-related expenses). The 
        remainder, $2.4 million in appropriated dollars, is to cover 
        the personnel and other related expenses of the judges and 
        their staff.
                  our focus for fiscal 2022 activities
    The Copyright Office's fiscal 2022 funding request seeks resources 
necessary to continue the progress already underway towards 
accomplishment of the Office's strategic goals, which include focus 
areas such as providing expert law and policy advice, modernizing 
information technology, as well as to fulfilling the additional 
responsibilities entrusted to the Office by Congress as part of the MMA 
and CASE Act. To advance these goals, the Office is seeking specific 
funding: (1) implementing the CASE Act by standing up the Copyright 
Claims Board (CCB); (2) meeting the mandates of the MMA; (3) 
modernizing the Office's IT systems and applications, including the 
Office's historical records initiative. Our modernization webpage \5\ 
reflects ongoing work for both IT and non-IT initiatives.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ See https://www.copyright.gov/copyright-modernization/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CASE Act
    The CASE Act established the new CCB in the Copyright Office to 
serve as an ``alternative forum in which parties may voluntarily seek 
to resolve certain copyright claims regarding any category of 
copyrighted work.'' \6\ The Copyright Office is undertaking a number of 
work streams in support of standing up the CCB over the next several 
quarters. Last month, the Office published an educational webpage with 
FAQs about the CCB that will be regularly updated to keep the public 
informed of its progress. The Library and the Office has publicized job 
postings to recruit the three Copyright Claims Officers. The Office 
also has issued a notice of inquiry to solicit public comment regarding 
all aspects of regulatory implementation. The Office, OCIO, and other 
Library units are collaborating to identify and ready the IT 
technology, office space, and other needs for the CCB within the 
statutorily required timeframe.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ Copyright Alternatives in Small Claims Act, 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1502 
(2020).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In support of these activities, the Office's fiscal 2022 budget 
includes a program increase request of $3.2 million and 8 FTEs. This 
amount includes $1.0 million in one-time costs for office construction 
and furniture, audiovisual system acquisition, and development of an 
online case management system; and $2.2 million in recurring costs for 
the 8 FTEs ($1.7 for salary, benefits, and related costs and $500 
thousand for systems operation and maintenance, printing, and other 
services).
MMA
    The enactment of the MMA assigned new responsibilities to both the 
Copyright Office and the CRJ. The MMA requires the Register of 
Copyrights to ``engage in public outreach and educational activities'' 
regarding the amendments made to section 115 of title 17, in addition 
to a number of rulemakings.\7\ Specifically, the Register must engage 
in public education and other outreach activities to inform interested 
members of the public and songwriters about the process by which a 
copyright owner may claim ownership of musical works through the 
mechanical licensing collective (MLC), which will administer a blanket 
licensing system for digital music providers to make and distribute 
digital phonorecord deliveries (e.g., permanent downloads, interactive 
streams). The Office has produced several dozen outreach events over 
the past year to inform the public about the requirements of the MMA, 
and in fiscal 2021 the Office requested and Congress provided a program 
increase that included three additional FTEs to ensure these efforts 
are fully resourced.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ Orrin G. Hatch--Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, Public 
Law No. 115-264, Sec. 102(e), 132 Stat. 3676, 3722 (2018).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The MMA also assigned additional responsibilities to the CRJ, 
requiring it to ascertain the reasonableness of the MLC's operating 
budget and the allocation of contributions to that budget by the 
various licensees or licensee representative groups.\8\ Previously, 
under section 802(b) of the Copyright Act, the number of support staff 
authorized to support the CRJ was capped at three. A proviso in the 
fiscal 2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act permanently removed 
the staffing cap, allowing for the new hires requested in fiscal 
2021.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ Id. Sec. 102(c).
    \9\ Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Public Law No. 
116-94, Sec. 1405, 133 Stat. 2534, 3208 (2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright IT Modernization
    The Office has a number of accomplishments to report in the third 
year of the congressionally-appropriated 5-year funding for 
modernization. OCIO is working alongside the Office on software 
development activities, which are progressing across multiple 
programmatic areas--including registration, recordation, statutory 
licensing, and access to public records. Building on our agile software 
foundation, this year the Office implemented the Scaled Agile Framework 
(SAFe) to improve collaboration across all of our projects and to 
improve our program-level view of the IT modernization work.
    We are pleased to report that we met our target of a spring launch 
for the public pilot of the new electronic recordation system, which 
went live on April 27, 2020. The pilot was initially available to a 
limited number of public users, enabling them to record documents 
related to copyright ownership that fall under section 205 of title 17. 
We are now incorporating user feedback from this pilot into iterative 
improvements, with four point releases behind us. In this continuous 
development phase, additional functionality and additional waves of 
users will be added, with this year's focus turning to recordation of 
notices of termination.
    The pilot for the new Copyright Public Records System, an endeavor 
that will eventually replace the existing Copyright Office Online 
Public Catalog, also launched this past year. The initial public 
release in late 2020 has already been supplemented by our first point 
release incorporating bug fixes and user feedback, and the process of 
point releases is expected to continue into the coming year.
    In addition, moderated user testing has begun on a limited 
prototype for the copyright registration standard application, from 
which we will gather public feedback and commence with improvements and 
a second round of user testing. Iterative development of internal 
workflows has also begun, and a second development team is expected to 
join the team working on this functionality over the summer.
    User Experience Design for licensing components begun earlier this 
year, with development against these requirements expected to begin 
later in the spring.
    As part of our historical records project and commitment to the 
preservation of and access to records, a comprehensive effort is 
underway to digitize print and microfilm records and make them 
available online; this includes the card catalog, record books, and the 
Catalogs of Copyright Entries (CCE). The Office is currently working 
with the Library's experts in digital collections management to ensure 
that the digitization of the Office's more than 26,000 physical 
copyright record books incorporates best practices and the resulting 
records can be made available for public, online viewing. These record 
books contain well over 20 million pages of records from between 1870 
and 1977, covering works as diverse as books, photographs, musical 
compositions, sound recordings, motion pictures, and more. A contract 
for the digitization of these record books has been awarded. Another 
contract is underway to perfect the metadata and improve access to the 
more than 40 million registration application and index cards that are 
already publicly viewable using the Office's Virtual Card Catalog 
(VCC). The Office also has a contract to create a data-mapping schedule 
for the historical record collections to use in the development of the 
Copyright Public Records System. These efforts will enhance the 
public's user experience by providing more accurate online search 
capability.
    As directed by the Committee, the Office has developed an 
integrated master schedule (IMS) for IT modernization activities. The 
Office brought in expert consulting services to assist in developing a 
program for IMS management that allows for continuous improvement and 
refinement of the IMS and its estimates. The consultant services were 
procured in early calendar 2020 as the first task order under the 
Library's contract for Library-wide performance planning and 
measurement services. After a slight COVID-19-related delay in the 
start of these services, the work commenced and was completed in 
February of this year.
Consolidation of Copyright Office Storage Facilities
    The Copyright Office has made great progress in the planned 
consolidation of copyright materials from several geographically 
dispersed storage facilities into a single, modern facility. The 
collaborative warehouse construction project between the Library, the 
Office, and Architect of the Capitol was completed ahead of schedule, 
and the Copyright Office moved into the new facility in November 2020. 
This facility will allow the Office to provide faster location 
services, better tracking, and improved security of the significant 
inventory of copyright deposits. The Office is now working to bring 
copyright materials stored in other locations to Cabin Branch in order 
to fully consolidate our materials.
                      more flexible fee authority
    The Copyright Office's operations would benefit significantly from 
greater flexibility in the use of our fee collections, specifically the 
authority to use existing fee balances to provide services to the 
public in the event of a lapse in appropriations. As we have noted 
before, flexibility in management of fee balances across budget cycles 
also would provide for more efficient and cost-effective administration 
of large, non-recurring projects related to modernization and other 
capital expenditures. To that end, once authorized, the Office 
anticipates including in a future budget request two changes in 
appropriations language: (1) to make 20 percent of the balance of fees 
collected in prior years available each year, in addition to 
appropriated amounts, for obligation without fiscal year limitation, 
and (2) to allow the Office to access existing fee balances to continue 
operations during a lapse in appropriations.

                                 * * *

    The Copyright Office appreciates the subcommittee's and Committee's 
continued support of the Office's efforts to modernize both our 
technology and services, and of the work involved in the operation of 
the copyright system overall.
                                 ______
                                 
Prepared Statement of Mary B. Mazanec, Director, Congressional Research 
                                Service
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the subcommittee,

    Thank you for the opportunity to present the fiscal year 2022 
budget request for the Congressional Research Service (CRS). At the 
outset, I would like to express my appreciation for the Committee's 
support of our fiscal year 2021 request. CRS has already begun efforts 
to recruit the expertise needed to strengthen CRS's science and 
technology-related analytical capacity. We also continue to work with 
the Library's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to 
modernize CRS's IT systems.
    Fiscal year 2020 was a year like no other. The emergence and spread 
of COVID-19 exacted a toll on human life and the national economy that 
was unprecedented. And yet, despite the enormous disruption caused by 
the global pandemic, I am pleased to report that CRS continued to 
successfully carry out its mission to provide Congress with ``the 
highest quality of research, analysis, information, and confidential 
consultation, to support the exercise of its legislative, 
representational, and oversight duties.'' This would not have been 
possible but-for the resilience and dedication of CRS staff and I would 
like to thank my colleagues for their hard work in fulfilling this 
important responsibility.
    In addition to outlining CRS's budget requirements for the coming 
year, my testimony today will highlight a selection of noteworthy 
support the Service provided to Congress during fiscal year 2020. I 
will also bring you up to date on developments related to a number of 
our strategic initiatives.
               fiscal 2022 budget request and priorities
    The CRS budget request for fiscal year 2022 is $129.6 million 
dollars, an increase of 4.1 million dollars (or 3.1 percent) from the 
amount appropriated for fiscal year 2021. As in previous years, 
approximately 90 percent of the requested amount would be dedicated to 
staff pay and benefits. CRS is requesting no additional funding beyond 
that which is necessary to cover mandatory pay and price level cost 
increases.
    During this time of national crisis, CRS's top priority is to 
ensure sufficient capacity to continue the delivery of its core 
services to meet Congress's research and analytical needs. In fiscal 
year 2022, CRS will continue to bolster analytical capacity, especially 
in the area of science and technology policy. This additional expertise 
will better enable CRS to support Congress in areas of increasing 
complexity and importance. In addition, the Service will continue to 
work closely with OCIO to meet the next milestones in modernizing its 
IT infrastructure. Moreover, CRS will build on its efforts to recruit, 
retain, and develop a diverse, professional workforce, with the skills 
and expertise necessary to provide Congress with exceptional service.
                          service to congress
    In March of 2020, as news of the impending pandemic grew 
increasingly dire, CRS worked quickly to execute the CRS pandemic plan 
to ensure that it would continue to support Congress's needs during any 
prolonged pandemic event. Within 24 hours, the Service transitioned its 
entire operation, expanding existing workplace flexibilities to enable 
staff to work remotely full-time. As a result, CRS was well positioned 
to provide Congress with timely analysis, information, and consultative 
support as it considered the plethora of issues presented by this 
public health crisis. From March through September 2020, CRS prepared 
and regularly updated over 1000 new products on COVID-19-related 
issues. To enable expedited access to these products, a COVID-19 
resource page was developed on the CRS.gov and Congress.gov websites, 
organizing CRS prepared material under 26 issue areas, covering topics 
ranging from the temporary moratorium on evictions provided under the 
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to 
frequently asked questions regarding testing for COVID-19. Several of 
these products incorporated custom CRS graphics. In addition, CRS 
experts responded to over 8200 COVID-related inquiries and conducted 
over 80 briefings for congressional staff on COVID-related subjects. 
CRS continues to support Congress as the issues presented by the 
pandemic evolve.
    In addition to COVID-19 related issues, CRS assisted Congress in 
its consideration of many other policy and legal questions. CRS experts 
provided extensive research and analytical support as Congress explored 
the market power of large Internet based companies; environmental 
justice; Medicare and Medicaid program authorizations; asylum 
processing at the U.S. border; tax law and policy; veterans issues; and 
law enforcement reform, among others. The Service worked closely with 
lawmakers as they considered legislation to reauthorize the Older 
Americans Act, the Higher Education Act and the Family Violence 
Prevention and Services Act. In addition, analysts and attorneys 
advised Members and congressional staff on the legal and procedural 
questions associated with impeachment proceedings and supported the 
Senate's consideration of various judicial nominations, including that 
of a Supreme Court Justice.
    The Service supported Congress's examination of various foreign 
affairs, defense, and trade related matters, such as developments in 
the Middle East region, the use of delegated trade authorities, the 
national security implications of foreign investment in U.S. 
corporations and renegotiation of the North American Free Trade 
Agreement, and emerging technology in advanced weapons systems. CRS 
experts also provided guidance on the legislative process, 
congressional oversight, and the annual appropriations bills. In 
addition, CRS continued its offering of seminars and programs for 
congressional staff, including sessions on the Global Implications and 
Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic; Fiscal Year 2021 Federal Research and 
Development (R&D) Funding; and the perennially popular Federal Law 
Update series. Due to the pandemic, many of CRS's programs were 
presented virtually during the fiscal year, and the Service quickly 
transitioned its in-person institutes to webinar format.
    In total, during fiscal year 2020, CRS experts responded to over 
75,000 congressional requests; prepared over 1300 new products; updated 
over 2500 existing products; and conducted live and virtual seminars 
that were attended by approximately 8500 congressional staff. As in 
previous years, the Service provided support to almost every Member and 
committee office through the provision of its products and services.
                         strategic initiatives
    CRS remains engaged in accomplishing the goals and objectives 
identified in its 2019-2023 Directional Plan. The following is a 
summary of the Service's progress during fiscal year 2020 in advancing 
some of the key initiatives undertaken to achieve these goals.
Gallup, Inc. Survey and Addressing the Full Range of Congressional 
        Information Needs
    In fiscal year 2020, CRS contracted with Gallup, Inc., to conduct a 
survey of congressional staff designed to gauge the value and utility 
of various research products and consultative services offered by CRS, 
as well as to gather information about how such products and services 
are used by Congress. Gallup contacted over 13,700 congressional staff 
from early February through mid-March 2020 and received survey 
responses from over 1300 district, State, and DC-based staff members. 
CRS continues to evaluate and consider the results as it develops and 
delivers research products and services to Congress.
IT Modernization/Integrated Research and Information Systems (IRIS)
    CRS continues to work with the Library's Office of the Chief 
Information Officer (OCIO) to modernize its IT infrastructure with the 
deployment of new tools and software to enhance support to 
congressional stakeholders. The Integrated Research and Information 
System (IRIS) initiative is a multi-year effort to update the Service's 
mission-specific information technology to provide CRS staff with the 
best resources to create and deliver products and services to Congress. 
CRS and OCIO are currently implementing several major work streams. 
These efforts include updating the client relationship management and 
workforce information management systems, improving the text analysis 
program to provide greater ease of conducting legislative analysis and 
comparisons, streamlining the content management system, and enhancing 
the taxonomy tool for better search results. These improvements are in 
varying stages of development and implementation.
Congress.gov
    In fiscal year 2020, CRS and the Library continued efforts to 
enhance Congress.gov and improve congressional user support with a 
number of developments, such as offering weekly alerts of future 
committee meetings and increasing access to legislative amendments, 
committee prints, and committee hearing transcripts. CRS also conducted 
live onsite and webinar training for congressional staff from 54 Senate 
Member offices and committees, as well as supporting more than 12,000 
requests for assistance. In addition to ongoing enhancements, CRS 
partnered with OCIO and the Law Library to focus on multiple projects 
to retire legacy backend systems that, once replaced, will improve the 
functionality of Congress.gov. Other projects accomplished in fiscal 
year 2020 include modernizing the Member and committee data interchange 
between the Office of the Secretary of the Senate and the Library; 
developing tools and data standards for curating legislative data; 
exploring opportunities for efficient collaboration on bill text 
analysis; and sustaining and streamlining the CRS Bill Summary 
analysis, authoring, and publishing processes. CRS and its Library 
colleagues are appreciative of the ongoing high-performing partnership 
with Office of the Secretary of the Senate as legislative data 
workflows, tools, and standards are modernized.
Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and 
        Interpretation (CONAN) Modernization
    Known officially as the ``Constitution of the United States of 
America: Analysis and Interpretation,'' CONAN serves as the official 
record of the U.S. Constitution for Congress. In 2019, CRS collaborated 
with OCIO and the Law Library to introduce a new website for CONAN: 
constitution.congress.gov. The new site features hundreds of pages of 
updated constitutional analysis and content. In fiscal year 2020, CRS 
legislative attorneys have continued to provide comprehensive analysis 
of the Supreme Court's jurisprudence as it relates to every provision 
of the U.S. Constitution, including the implications of recently 
decided cases. Since the launch of the public website in 2019, CONAN 
has received over three million unique visitors to the site and its 
pages have been viewed over seven million times.
Improving Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse and Productive 
        Workforce
    CRS continued its efforts to recruit, retain, and professionally 
develop a highly skilled staff. For example, in fiscal year 2020, the 
Service provided training on core presentation skills for virtual 
briefings, as well as encouraged participation learning sessions on 
diversity and inclusion. In addition, the CRS Diversity and Inclusion 
Working Group continued to meet throughout fiscal year 2020, and 
discussed, among other things, outreach strategies for improving the 
diversity of applicant pools for CRS positions and fostering an 
inclusive workplace.
                               conclusion
    Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Braun and Members of the subcommittee, 
CRS is honored to serve as a trusted and reliable resource for Congress 
during this difficult period in our Nation's history. The 
accomplishments outlined above are a testament to CRS's commitment to 
support Congress with timely, authoritative research, analysis and 
information, undeterred by the challenges that we now face. On behalf 
of my colleagues at CRS, I would like to express my appreciation to the 
Committee for your continued support and for your consideration of our 
fiscal year 2022 request.

    Senator Reed. Thank you, Madam Librarian. And now let me 
recognize Comptroller Dodaro.
STATEMENT OF HON. GENE L. DODARO, U.S. COMPTROLLER 
            GENERAL, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
    Mr. Dodaro. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon to you 
Ranking Member Senator Braun, Senator Heinrich. I'm pleased to 
be able to be here today to discuss GAO's budget request for 
fiscal year 2022.
    First, I want to thank the Committee very much for its 
support that's enabled us to meet our new responsibilities 
under the Pandemic Relief Legislation; and also, to continue to 
have a strong performance across the full spectrum of GAO's 
responsibilities.

                   GAO'S FISCAL YEAR 2021 PERFORMANCE

    Last year, we were able to have GAO recommendations 
implemented that resulted in financial benefits to the 
government for over $77 billion. That's $114 returned for every 
dollar invested in GAO. We also had over 1,300 other 
recommendations implemented that improve services to the 
public, improve public health and security and safety, and also 
led to a wide range of program and operational improvements 
across the full breadth of the Federal Government's 
responsibilities.

                        GAO'S PANDEMIC RESPONSE

    With regard to the Pandemic Relief Legislation, we were 
charged with looking at the use of all the funds to determine 
the impact on public health and the economy, and the impact on 
private and public sector institutions. We were required, which 
we have done, to provide monthly briefings to a set of 
congressional committees, and also bi-monthly reports to the 
Congress and the public, starting in June 2020. Since then, 
we've issued six government-wide status reports covering the 
entire Federal Government.
    We've made over 70 recommendations. Last September, for 
example, we urged the administration to put a vaccine 
distribution and communication plan in place. We urged that 
there be a strategy to address gaps in the medical supply 
chain. We made recommendations for a national testing strategy. 
A lot of the testing information wasn't complete and 
consistent. It was hard to target results. Also, we made 
recommendations to collect better data on the disparate impact 
of the pandemic on certain segments of our population, 
including racial minorities and others. We made similar 
recommendations on the vaccine strategy, to collect information 
on who's being vaccinated and whether vaccines are reaching the 
people most vulnerable to COVID-19. So, we've also had a number 
of recommendations on Program Integrity issues, and 
transparency and accountability.
    As apropos to the emergency, a lot of emphasis was placed 
on quickly distributing the money, and as a result, there were 
a lot of trade-off decisions made that resulted in the 
transparency and accountability goals and expectations that 
were not met in many cases. There was a lot of fraud in the 
Unemployment Insurance area, the Paycheck Protection Program, 
and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. We made 
recommendations that there be stronger oversight over those 
programs and activities; and gradually those recommendations 
are being addressed. But I don't think they were addressed as 
fast as we would have liked, or the Congress would have 
expected. So, there is a ways to go.
    Most of our 70-some recommendations are still being 
implemented, and they haven't been fully implemented yet; so, 
we're going to keep working with the new administration to get 
them implemented over time.
    We've issued a lot of individual, specific reports: for 
example, one we used our new science and technology team to 
look at vaccine development and ensure the public that vaccine 
development goals were being met in a lot of cases.

                           GAO HIGH RISK LIST

    We also updated our high-risk list this year, which we 
provide to the Congress. We added not only the Emergency Loan 
Programs under SBA, but also the Federal efforts to prepare 
for, respond to, and recover from drug misuse. From 2002 to 
2019, 800,000 Americans died from an overdose. From May 2019 to 
May 2020, 80,000 people died. It was the highest annual figure; 
and that rate just picked up as the pandemic began. There's not 
strong Federal leadership in this area. It needs better 
coordination among Federal agencies as well as with the State 
and local sectors.

           SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, AND ANALYTICS TEAM

    We've done a lot of work to build our capacity, including 
in the science and technology area. I'll be happy to talk more 
about questions about this going forward.
    I appreciate your careful consideration of our request so 
we can continue this important work for the Congress. Thank 
you.

    [The statement follows:]   
    
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Comptroller. Now let me recognize 
the Director, Dr. Swagel.
STATEMENT OF HON. DR. PHILLIP L. SWAGEL, DIRECTOR, 
            CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
    Dr. Swagel. Thank you, Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, 
and Members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity 
to present the CBO's budget request. It's a privilege to lead 
the Congressional Budget Office, and to work with my hard-
working and talented colleagues as we work to serve and support 
the Congress.
    The CBO is requesting an appropriation of $61 million for 
2022; and that's an increase of $3.7 million, or 6.4 percent 
from the amount provided in fiscal year 2021.
    The proposed increase would support our goal to be even 
more responsive to the Congress. Since 2019, since before I was 
Director, the Congress has increased CBO's budget to bolster 
our capacity, to make our work more responsive, and more 
transparent; and we've been working hard to accomplish those 
objectives. We've been expanding staffing in high-demand areas 
such as health care. We've been organizing our staff to work on 
broader, shared portfolios; and we've been doing more to 
document and to explain our work.
    Now, about half of the requested increase for next year 
would be for added staffing. So, this would cover a full year's 
salaries and benefits for the seven staff members hired in 
2021; and then allow us to hire four more staff members to 
support our work next year. And those people will focus on the 
areas of high interest in the Congress. This would be 
infrastructure, energy, and climate. So, the areas in which 
we--you know, we know legislation is coming at us.
    And like GAO, CBO is also working to improve our capability 
to analyze the affects of legislation on people in different 
demographic groups and different income groups.
    The remainder of the increase in our budget request would 
largely cover increases in costs for the existing personnel, 
and to a lesser extent, IT enhancements as well.
    Let me just very briefly highlight CBO's work over the last 
year and connect that to our budget request. As you can 
imagine, we've worked intensively over the past year on 
legislation related to the pandemic. We provided frequent 
updates of budget projections, of economic projections, and 
provided technical assistance and cost estimates on COVID 
Relief Packages, on the annual appropriations, and on other 
legislation. We've also produced reports on a wide range of 
issues; expansions of health insurance coverage, a variety of 
defense-related issues, you know, such as the potential cost of 
the New START Treaty had been allowed to expire. Student Loans, 
veteran incomes, immigration, climate, and so on. We had a 
report on the connection between climate and the budget, the 
ways in which climate change affects the budget that came out 
just yesterday, so just an example.
    So, looking ahead, the requested funding would allow us to 
do the following for the Congress:
    So, continue to produce the budget and economic projections 
over the coming decade as usual. We do a long-term budget 
projections, looking at 30 years. We do some analysis over 
longer terms; for Social Security, for example, 75 years and 
beyond.
    We produce about 700 formal cost estimates, most of which 
are for the authorizing committees after Bills are reported.
    And we fulfill thousands of requests for technical 
assistance from committees and from members on the potential 
budgetary impact of proposals as members are developing 
legislation. And we produce about 100 score-keeping reports and 
estimates, including account-level estimates for individual 
appropriation bills.
    And then, we do summary tables as well, showing the status 
of the discretionary appropriations and running totals on a 
year-to-date basis.
    And then, we do about 70 or so analytic reports and papers 
each year. These are generally either required by law, such as 
some of our budget outlooks, or prepared in response to 
requests from, you know, generally the Chairs or Ranking 
Members of key committees of jurisdiction.
    And then we produce a wide variety of other products.
    So, in summary, to achieve our goal to be as responsive as 
possible, CBO requests an increase of $3.7 million. With your 
support, we look forward to continuing to provide timely and 
high-quality analysis to the Congress. Thank you very much.

    [The statement follows:]

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
               LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--VISITOR'S EXPERIENCE

    Senator Reed. Well, thank you very much, Director. And let 
me first address the question to the Librarian of Congress.
    We both mentioned the Visitor Experience. This would be the 
fourth year of a request for $10 million for a total of $40 
million, which would be matched by $20 million from private 
donations. So that's a public/private partnership; and it would 
be an extraordinary way to showcase all the Library's true 
treasures. You mentioned your target date. Can you just give us 
an update on the status, Madam Librarian?
    Dr. Hayden. Visitor Experience will greatly expand access 
to the Library's collections and services, primarily in the 
iconic Thomas Jefferson Building. The three components are all 
on schedule. The first component is the Orientation Center, and 
that should open in December of 2024. First time ever 
Treasure's Gallery, the second component, on schedule to open 
in December of 2022. And the Youth Center, on schedule to open 
in the summer of 2024.
    It has been really heartening to work on this project 
during this past year because there was quite a bit of input 
from design firms. And the public/private partnership, the $20 
million that was part of the private philanthropy effort to 
match Congress' investment of $40; this year would be the last 
of the $40 million for the public part.
    To date, we have total, in pledges and commitments, firm 
commitments, of the $20, $12.5 million. And we anticipate and 
would have loved to have been able to say it exactly today, but 
within the next 6 months, we will complete the $20 million for 
the private component. And so, we are very pleased that with 
the release of last year's funding, there will be a contract 
for the Treasure's Gallery, audiovisual interactives, and the 
exhibit fabrication, meaning the exhibits will be made. And, 
we'll be able to transfer funds to the Architect of the Capitol 
for staircase and egress construction.
    So, the Architect of the Capitol, I want to take this 
opportunity to say that they have been partners from the very 
beginning, and been very, very helpful with the entire project. 
Also, the Capitol Police, in terms of safety issues with the 
new ways of the public coming in.
    And then the funding for this year, the final public 
funding, would allow the AOC to start construction of the 
Orientation Gallery and the Welcome area. And so, we're very 
excited, and we hope to have designs and plans to show this 
Committee very shortly. We look forward to that.
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Madam. Comptroller, you indicated 
that one of the major challenges of the last year for you is at 
our request, looking at the spending of the Pandemic Programs. 
There were multiple programs. You've mentioned some suggestions 
you made, but could you identify some of the key areas that you 
discovered that needed significant improvements in these 
programs?

             KEY GAO FINDINGS RELATED TO PANDEMIC RESPONSE

    Mr. Dodaro. Yes. First, in the public health area, we 
thought there should have been a vaccine communication and 
distribution plan much earlier in the process that would have 
set better expectations. We recommended this last September, 
and it was based upon our experience looking at H1N1 vaccine 
issues. There was a problem with communication back then that 
resulted in vaccine hesitancy because the Government didn't 
deliver on time.
    And, sure enough, because there wasn't a plan, there was a 
difficult start to the COVID-19 vaccine distribution. 
Fortunately, it's picked up now that supplies are in place, and 
things are moving. I thought they should have had a vaccine 
distribution plan in place even before the Emergency Use 
Authorizations to set expectations and allow the State and 
local governments to prepare.
    The same thing happened with the medical supply chain. The 
agencies did a lot, and I don't want to detract from that. I 
think Operation Warp Speed was the biggest success story coming 
out of this whole endeavor in the vaccine area. Agencies worked 
hard on the supply chain, but there were still critical gaps, 
particularly with nitrile gloves, syringes, and other things.
    We surveyed hospitals and others, and there was a 
reluctance to get a plan in place to deal with these gaps as 
the pandemic unfolded. The government needed a plan for the 
remaining challenges of the pandemic. We raised this issue 
again with the initial vaccine distribution plans, because 
there was a lot of concern about not having enough syringes. As 
far as the National Testing Strategy, we still don't really 
have that in place.
    GAO also uncovered the painful reality of the fragility of 
the Nation's public health system and its surveillance 
capabilities. There really is not a very robust system in place 
to be able to track what's going on, to be able to target the 
Federal response, and to be able to monitor progress.
    Regarding communicating clearly to the public, there was a 
lot of confusion about wearing a mask, and when to not wear a 
mask. There was confusion about who should be tested. What 
about asymptomatic people? Guidance changed. A lot of Emergency 
Use Authorizations were granted, but we thought there could 
have been better explanations of the scientific underpinnings 
behind those authorizations to give more confidence to the 
public.
    GAO also made many recommendations in the Program Integrity 
area. For instance, SBA should have done a fraud assessment and 
a risk analysis upfront. There was too much reliance on self-
certification. There should have been some minimum checks in 
place. But even if they didn't do that initially, I wanted them 
to quickly have an oversight plan because those loans would be 
forgiven if they are used properly and they're legitimate. It 
has not been until relatively recently that SBA has responded 
to those recommendations. I think they were too slow to act in 
that regard.
    And we have many others in the----
    Senator Reed. Just a minute. Let me ask a quick question, 
finally, before I recognize Senator Braun; and I'll, on the 
second round, get to the Director.
    Typically, these types of investigations of this scope take 
several years. Do you anticipate that you'll have work with 
respect to these issues going forward for several years and 
require additional funding?

                  OUTLOOK FOR FUTURE GAO PANDEMIC WORK

    Mr. Dodaro. Probably. Yes. Actually, I'd point out we're 
still auditing the remnants of the TARP Program back from 2008 
because the housing part of that is still in place.
    We're still auditing the Federal response to the 2017-2018 
hurricanes and issues with Puerto Rico and others. This will 
continue on for a while. We're planning at least for the next 2 
years. We've got about 100 audits underway right now. We're 
going to move the quarterly Government-wide status reports, but 
we'll issue probably another 80 reports on specific areas of 
the pandemic.
    Of course, there's new programs now under the American 
Rescue Plan. There's a lot more money going to the State and 
local level. I want to have a real-time effort to observe 
what's going on there, because a lot of money is going directly 
to localities as well as to the States.
    I'm anxious to see what Treasury is going to do with their 
reporting requirements to get some idea upfront where the money 
is going to go. I talked yesterday to Secretary Yellen and her 
team. I've been meeting with all of the Cabinet officials and 
giving them my advice on how to handle these things. That's 
part of what I normally do, anyway.
    Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Comptroller. Senator 
Braun.
    Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've got a question 
for each witness, and I want to get them in on the first round, 
so about a minute and a half on the first two.

                        CBO TRANSPARENCY EFFORTS

    Dr. Swagel, over the last few years, there's been money put 
into your agency for transparency. I think it's so important to 
be able to be clear about what you're doing. How many 
individuals have worked specifically on transparency? Just 
explain briefly what you've been able to accomplish with that 
extra funding.
    Dr. Swagel. Okay. No. Absolutely. So, there's a couple of 
people who are specifically working on transparency: one on 
data, one in cost estimates, and then there's some others in 
our management system. And then, across the agency, 
transparency is now--you know, it's something we're working on 
across the agency, and it comes up in a variety of ways.
    So, with cost estimates, for example, we have much more 
information on the basis for the cost estimate and the sources 
of uncertainty for the cost estimate. In our budget projections 
and our economic projections, again, we have much more 
information than CBO has done in the past on the uncertainty, 
you know, both qualitatively and quantitively.
    We put data on our website. We put computer programs on our 
website. You know, with complicated subjects like, you know, 
our work on drug prices and the innovation effects of changes 
in drug prices, we've put out working papers to explain the 
technical basis for what we've done. So, there's some of the 
ways in which we've tried to answer the call for transparency.
    Senator Braun. Thank you. Comptroller, we have recently 
spent in the neighborhood of $4 to $5 trillion last year, 
particularly devoted to COVID issues. And when you look at 
what's on the table currently, $1.9 trillion I think in the 
Rescue Act; in the American Jobs Act, $2.5 trillion; and I 
think $1.5 trillion for the American Family Plan. That is a lot 
of additional spending. What in total may be $10 to $11 billion 
or trillion over the span of 2 years? Do you have the ability--
I see there is a request for a budget increase. How can you 
possibly absorb the oversight portion when you've got that much 
spending dumped into the system?

                     GAO ABSORBING ADDITIONAL WORK

    Mr. Dodaro. Yes. We've been coordinating our work with the 
Inspector Generals. There was additional resources given to the 
Inspector General community and to the Pandemic Response 
Accountability Committee, which coordinates them and leverages 
their responsibilities. We've been doing a risk-based planning 
effort in GAO, particularly where there are new programs that 
have no prior history.
    We'll need additional resources if additional legislative 
packages are put in place regarding infrastructure, or other 
issues down the road. Our budget request was based upon what we 
knew was on the horizon last year, but a lot of developments 
have occurred. If we need more resources, I won't be shy about 
asking for them.
    Senator Braun. Well, that's good. And what is the 
capability of the agencies to actually spend this money in a 
way that would be done in a manner that it's going where it 
needs to go and is being done efficiently?

   GOVERNMENT AGENCY CAPABILITIES TO EFFICIENTLY USE PANDEMIC FUNDING

    Mr. Dodaro. There are capabilities there, but I think 
Congress has to be careful. I think SBA, quite frankly, is 
overwhelmed with their new responsibilities, plus they're 
getting two additional programs now with shuttered venues and 
the restaurant programs. And they were unable to pass an audit 
this past year, an independent financial audit, because they 
couldn't support the figures for their loan programs and other 
issues. So now, other agencies are better positioned to be able 
to do this.
    A lot depends on how funding gets distributed, whether it 
goes through the State and local governments, through 
contracting, or other means. There are a lot of well-
established programs at the State and local level that could 
handle it without a big effort, if you will, to set up new 
systems. But it will be a challenge to be able to do it 
effectively and efficiently. But if properly planned, it can be 
executed.
    Senator Braun. I only raise that, and you don't need to 
comment further on it, but my observation is on any entity, 
well oiled, with the rigor of maybe the marketplace making you 
maybe a little more efficient than what this place might be. 
When you increase anything in categories of 5, 10 percent, or 
15 percent, which this is a lot more than that, it stretches 
and strains any organization to do things efficiently.

               LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--MASS DEACIDIFICATION

    Last question, Dr. Hayden, I found it interesting that I 
think a year ago there was actually a request from your office 
to end funding for mass deacidification, which is a method, I 
guess, to preserve documents. You said you did not need it. You 
were given that money anyway. I think there's a company that's 
been supplying that service for a long time from Pennsylvania. 
A couple of House Cardinals were interested in seeing it 
maintained. Ended up, I think it was about $2.5 million instead 
of $5.5. You again, I think, have said that you do not need it. 
Do you think you'll be successful this time around when you get 
the forces of a place like this that ended up basically making 
you take the money when you didn't want it a year ago? What are 
your chances this year of having your request honored?
    Dr. Hayden. I want to thank the subcommittee for supporting 
the Library and rebalancing the way we care for our physical, 
and now growingly, our digital collections, and that 
rebalancing is underway and going very well.
    The deacidification process that you correctly said that it 
had been for a number of years, and it started almost 20 years 
ago, and most of the materials that require that type of 
response have been taken care of. And the rebalancing is to 
give the Library an opportunity to continue to preserve and 
conserve materials that do not require that method, and to 
focus on what is increasingly becoming something that the 
Library and most Libraries are having to plan for; and that's 
ingesting and storing digital content.
    Most of the materials, especially periodicals, and 
journals, and things are coming in. So, we were able to, in 
fact, use the contracting authority from the CAREs Act to work 
with that particular company to make sure that they were able 
to continue working at different points when there weren't many 
on-site opportunities for anyone at the Library. And we are 
using the additional funding to start with the Digital 
Conservation Program as well as to make sure that we continue 
to preserve and conserve other materials.
    Senator Braun. Thank you. And my office will be watching 
closely to see how that rebalancing act is going on, and that, 
in fact, that it is rebalanced, and not the same old thing 
occurring again because lobbyist and House Cardinals may want 
it to be. Thank you.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator Braun. Senator Heinrich, 
please.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Chairman. Mr. Dodaro, 
approximately 1.6 million people live in border communities 
referred to as colonias, which are settlements along the U.S. 
side of the U.S./Mexico border, often characterized by 
inadequate housing, a lack of basic infrastructure, including 
water, electricity, and broadband in many cases. And while the 
GAO mentions colonias in a few reports on rural housing, the 
last time the GAO reported specifically on colonias was in 
1990. I believe these communities deserve more attention than 
that, and I'll be submitting a request to GAO to provide us 
with a report, and with recommendations on how to address the 
infrastructure shortfalls. Moving forward, how can we ensure 
that these communities are accounted for in GAO's reports?

                          GAO REQUEST PROTOCOL

    Mr. Dodaro. We do our work in response to three different 
types of congressional requests, Senator. The first way is 
through a provision law, a statutory requirement or a mention 
in conference or committee reports. So that's important.
    Second, we respond to requests from Chairs and Ranking 
Members of Committees of jurisdiction. We're a non-partisan 
organization. We treat both the same.
    That accounts for 95 percent of all of our work. And then I 
reserve about 5 percent of GAO work to identify areas that I 
think warrant more attention. The Comptroller General has broad 
authority to initiate work involving Federal funds or a Federal 
nexus that is of broad interest. GAO develops a long-range 
strategic plan for serving the Congress. We're updating the 
plan right now.

                     GAO'S RECENT INDIAN TRIBE WORK

    We're happy to look at this issue that you mentioned and 
identified. For example, we've done more work recently on 
Indian Tribes. In fact, we identified Indian Federal programs 
that support Indians as a high-risk area a few years ago, both 
in the education and health care area and in a lack of support 
for developing their own energy resources.

       GAO WILLINGNESS TO LOOK AT U.S./MEXICO BORDER SETTLEMENTS

    I'm happy to take a look at this issue, but we have a 
challenge at our current resource levels responding to all 
requests from Congress, in particular requests from individual 
Members. Requests from Chairs and Ranking Members, as I 
mentioned are our primary means of focusing our work.

LETTER REQUESTING GAO RECOMMENDATIONS ON FEDERAL FIREFIGHTING WORKFORCE

    Senator Heinrich. Thank you. I'll be sure to follow up on 
that. Yesterday, several of my colleagues sent you a letter 
asking the GAO to make recommendations additionally on how 
Federal Land Management agencies can improve the Federal 
Firefighting Workforce.
    Western States are bracing for a historic wildfire season. 
Unfortunately, that season has already started in New Mexico 
with the Three Rivers Fire. And the seasons are getting longer 
on both ends each year.
    So, I just want to highlight this letter for you today and 
hope that GAO will review and report on recommendations to 
improve hiring and retention for Federal Firefighters. And I 
would ask unanimous consent to insert a copy of the letter into 
the record.
    Senator Reed. Without objection.

    [The letter follows:]

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    
               LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--SURPLUS BOOKS PROGRAM

    Senator Heinrich. Dr. Hayden, recently a very ambitious and 
dedicated group of interns in my office led policy workshops 
with local university students. And each of those groups 
focused on issues that were important to the community that 
they were in. One group proposed an expansion of the Federal 
definition of the word ``Library'' to include mobile libraries 
and even community centers with rooms that are devoted to 
housing library materials. First, I wanted to just take a 
moment to recognize the work that these interns did and that 
all of the students that actually participated in those policy 
workshops did, but second, I wanted to ask you, do you have 
thoughts on how can Congress work with the Library of Congress 
to get more materials out to rural communities, to expand the 
reach, in particular, of your Surplus Books Program?
    Dr. Hayden. Thank you for that, because the Surplus Books 
Program is a very effective way to provide brand new books and 
materials that are selected by congressional offices to send 
to, in particular, libraries, schools, and other entities that 
provide literacy services in cases of emergencies, especially 
hurricanes. And we've been doing that for a number of 
hurricanes, and fires, and things like that, when the 
collections in a local community are either destroyed or 
they're not available.
    And so, being able--and we've been working with 
congressional offices to make sure, even during this time, that 
we make it easier for staff members to work with communities 
and specify what types of books, what types of materials they 
could use. And we see that, as a program, we've been able to 
talk about that during virtual Town Halls this past year with 
members. And we mentioned the Surplus Books Program.
    And just, if I may, libraries in general consider their 
mobile services as extensions, and that's part of it. So, thank 
you for mentioning that.

             CBO PROJECTIONS CONSIDERING DEMOGRAPHIC MAKEUP

    Senator Heinrich. Thank you for your focus on that. Dr. 
Swagel, in your testimony, you mentioned that CBO is working to 
improve its capability to analyze the effects of proposed 
legislation on people in different demographic and income 
groups.
    New Mexico's population is currently 49 percent Hispanic, 
11 percent Native American. Ensuring that CBO projections are 
considering demographic makeup is incredibly important to 
States like mine. Can you expand on your efforts to analyze the 
effects on people in different demographic and income groups?
    Dr. Swagel. Yes, Senator. You know, we realize it's a 
crucial topic for our analysis. We do some. So, we have long-
standing work on income distribution and looking at the 
progressivity of the tax system that doesn't get broken down by 
racial or ethnic group. And so, we've been working hard on the 
data to be able to address that. And some of the challenge is 
that the data sources don't always include the racial or ethnic 
information we need. Our healthcare work, for example, relies 
heavily on data from the IRS. And that doesn't have race or 
ethnicity. So, we've been working to--essentially infer that, 
you know, to do our best in statistical ways to figure out how 
to analyze policies by different racial groups in addition to 
ethnic groups.
    We do a lot of work on immigration as well. The effect of 
immigration legislation, the role, and the contributions of 
immigrants to our society and our economy, so we do some of it, 
but we're working to do more.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

               CBO POLICY ON EXAMINING PREVIOUS ANALYSES

    Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator Heinrich. Dr. Swagel, as 
you pointed out in your testimony, CBO aspires to, and must 
maintain a non-partisan, independent, and reliable record on 
the Hill. One way to sort of validate or check that is go back 
and look at your work. Do you have, as a policy, returning to 
previous analyses, examining those, see if they're off and why 
they're off, and with a feedback process of improving your 
analysis? Is that something you do regularly?
    Dr. Swagel. It is. It's something we do both on our 
economic projections and in our fiscal projections of spending 
and revenue. We do it some on our cost estimates. There it's 
harder, it seems, to figure out why a cost estimate is right or 
wrong, but we try to do that as well.
    Senator Reed. And when you--are those lessons shared 
externally as well as internally within CBO?
    Dr. Swagel. Yes. They are. So, we do an annual--two annual 
reports: one on the economic side; one on the fiscal side. And 
then we engage with outsiders with--we have two panels of 
outside advisors. And then every report, we go out and ask 
outside experts to review reports and then engage with them 
afterward.

         CBO CYBERSECURITY AND COORDINATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES

    Senator Reed. Thank you. And I have got a question for the 
whole panel. I'll start with Dr. Swagel, to be fair. And no 
surprise, cyber security is the issue de jure and will be, I 
think, for the rest of our lives, but how would you rate--two 
questions, starting with Dr. Swagel: How would you rate your 
cybersecurity in CBO today? And also, how is your relate or 
rate, rather--your coordination with other congressional 
agencies?
    Dr. Swagel. Okay. So, I think we're doing pretty well. And 
obviously, you know, I say that with some trepidation since 
none of us know what we don't know.
    Senator Reed. Right.
    Dr. Swagel. You know we have put a lot of effort into our 
cyber security, starting with the move to the cloud. So, you 
know, across the agency, our email servers have been long in 
the cloud, so we were instance protected from some of the, you 
know, the recent hacks based there. And other things. We have 
tax data that we work with the IRS and the Joint Committee on 
Taxation to make sure that that's secure as well. So, I think 
we're in good shape. You know, I say that cautiously.
    On coordination, so I'll highlight just very briefly two 
avenues of coordination: One is what I just hinted at with the 
IRS and JCT. You know, they have authority over particular 
data, and we work closely with them to secure it. There is also 
coordination across the Legislative Branch agencies. There is 
several councils that our Chief Information Officer 
participates in to share best practices, to share threats. And 
there's one across the government that we participate in to 
share, essentially, again information and best practices.
    Senator Reed. Thank you. Comptroller Dodaro.

                       GAO'S CYBER SECURITY FOCUS

    Mr. Dodaro. This has been an issue of mine for a long time. 
GAO first designated cyber security as a high-risk area across 
the entire Federal Government in 1997. That was the first time 
we ever said anything was government high risk. I added 
critical infrastructure protection in 2003: electricity grid, 
financial markets, telecommunications, et cetera. So, this has 
always been on my mind, and we manage GAO accordingly.
    We've had outside experts come in and take a look at our 
system. I think we're in pretty good shape, as good as anybody 
could be. I mean you're not going to be at zero risk, but we've 
been very fortunate. It's always a top priority for us.
    Part of our budget request will be to continue to update 
GAO's cyber security capacity. We have to keep working on it. 
Threats evolve and change. I still don't believe the Federal 
Government's operating at a pace commensurate with the evolving 
grave threats.
    This issue will get more complicated with artificial 
intelligence, quantum computing, et cetera. And that's what we 
have our new Science and Technology Group focused on too, 
looking at this in the future aspects of this issue.
    We also have a responsibility to look at cyber and 
electronic threats to the Congress, and to report to a number 
of committees, so we do that. From time to time, we're brought 
in to look at Congress' own operations with regard to cyber 
security to provide technical advice. We've got a great group 
of experts in cyber security.
    GAO is doing more and more work on this area. It's 
intertwined, as you say, with almost everything. People want to 
know about it. And we participate, as Phil mentioned, with the 
Legislative Branch Councils. GAO's Chief Information Officer 
and our Chief Information Security Officer participate in those 
events. We've looked at this issue in the past, at the Library, 
Copyright Office, and the Office of Congressional Workplace 
Relations, and have made some recommendations there.
    And I would add that the Library has been, particularly 
under Carla's leadership, very responsive to our 
recommendations.
    Senator Reed. But you will take this on as an important--as 
you said, you have 5 percent of sort of the responsibility--
ability to assign. This will be at the top of your list, I 
presume?
    Mr. Dodaro. Absolutely. But I don't have to anymore. I used 
to. We built a computer lab facility in the 1990s to 
demonstrate to agencies how easy it was to hack their systems. 
At the time nobody seemed concerned. Nobody was paying 
attention to it. I said, ``Well, that's a problem.'' You could 
see this coming as we were becoming more and more reliant on 
computer networks. Nobody was building in computer security 
upfront in those days, and we're still not doing it. For 
example, we just did work, not that long ago, at the Defense 
Department showing they weren't focused enough on developing 
new weapons systems with cyber security protections. This is 
also an issue with satellites and a wide range of other issues. 
It's not just information systems.
    We're moving to an air traffic control system that's going 
to be satellite based, not radar based, which was a pretty 
self-contained system. So, there is increased risk there.
    The Internet of things also introduces risk. Anything that 
touches the Internet has the potential to become a problem.
    Senator Reed. Thank you----
    Mr. Dodaro. You're welcome.

                   LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--CYBERSECURITY

    Senator Reed [continuing]. Very much. And Madam Librarian--
--
    Dr. Hayden. Yes. And IT----
    Senator Reed [continuing]. Your comments?
    Dr. Hayden. Yes. And IT security is very serious at the 
Library, not just for our data, but also our interactions with 
other legislative branch agencies; and we have two divisions: 
The Congressional Research Service, and the Copyright, where we 
are very concerned, and need to make sure that our cyber 
security is more than sufficient.
    And we have implemented all of the GAO recommendations 
under IT security; and we are adhering to the NIST Security 
Standards. We are part--and I'd like to say we're a very active 
part of the Legislative Branch Cyber Security Working Group. 
And we work closely, too, with the Senate Sergeant of Arms and 
all of the other technology offices as well.
    So, we definitely know that that is a major part of what we 
have to be concerned about as we modernize and work on our IT 
structures.

                    CLOSING STATEMENT--CHAIRMAN REED

    Senator Reed. Thank you very much. Senator Braun, I believe 
you have no questions? Thank you very much. Well, this will 
conclude the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee 
hearing regarding fiscal year 2022 funding for the Library of 
Congress, the Government Accountability Office, and the 
Congressional Budget Office.
    I want to thank Dr. Hayden, Comptroller Dodaro, and Dr. 
Swagel for your testimony today. I appreciate it very much.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    The hearing record will remain open for 7 days, allowing 
Members to submit statements and/or questions for the records, 
which should be sent to the subcommittee by close of business 
on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.
    [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but 
were submitted to the agencies for response subsequent to the 
hearing:]
              Questions Submitted to Hon. Dr. Carla Hayden
                Questions Submitted by Senator Jack Reed
       national library service for the blind and print disabled
    Question. Since 1931, the National Library Service for the Blind 
and Print Disabled (NLS) has utilized a national network of libraries 
to provide books and magazines, among other printed texts, in braille 
and recorded formats to blind and print disabled individuals in the 
United States, and to Americans living abroad. The unique services NLS 
provides helps hundreds of thousands of readers--people who may not be 
able to hold a book in their hands, or veterans who have difficulty 
reading standard print--enjoy the freedom to read in their own way.

  --Can you give an update on NLS' modernization efforts, including the 
        roll-out of braille eReaders and the Braille and Audio Reading 
        Download (BARD) Infrastructure Modernization?

    Answer. Now celebrating its ninetieth anniversary, the Library of 
Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled 
(NLS) continues to innovate and adapt to meet the reading needs of 
blind and print disabled Americans across the Nation and oversees. 
Given that it's institutional history traverses phonographic records, 
cassette players and tapes, digital talking book machines and flash 
memory cartridges, and the Internet, all the while continuing to supply 
hard copy braille materials, it should be no surprise that NLS again 
sits at the precipice of an exciting modernized future.
    In the last few years, NLS has updated its name, amended its laws 
and regulations, gone through an agency-wide reorganization, created a 
Modernization Program Office (MPO), and centralized and integrated its 
IT designs, resources, and business plans into a new, proactive, 
productive, and collaborative partnership with the Library's Office of 
the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), all important facets of its 
forward-thinking modernization efforts.
    Related to the eReader initiative specifically (and thanks to the 
annually requested (fiscal year 2020-fiscal year 2024) $2.375M included 
in NLS's fiscal year 2021 appropriation), NLS is particularly pleased 
with the progress it is making to provide braille content in a 
modernized format (i.e., affordable, refreshable braille devices, or 
braille eReaders) to NLS's braille patrons and in furtherance of 
implementing a digital braille program.
    In fiscal year 2021, NLS began a pilot to study all aspects of 
distribution implementation and the functionality of two prototype 
eBraille devices before a full-scale Nation-wide network distribution, 
collection of feedback from pilot patrons, and validation of 
distribution processes at network libraries, can commence. The pilot 
program with seven total libraries began in August. NLS procured 3,000 
additional eReader devices for this pilot program and instructed pilot 
libraries on the enrollment of patrons, the assistance of pilot 
participants, the execution of patron surveys for data collection and 
analysis, and the distribution of devices. NLS also continues to 
provide technical training and quality assurance support, monitor two 
active listservs for regular feedback from patrons and library staff, 
and evaluate how much training, support, and maintenance will be 
necessary to deploy devices to the network in the future.
    The initial pilot feedback has been very promising. In comparing 
braille downloads from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2020, non-pilot 
libraries had a 20 percent increase while pilot libraries had a 126 
percent increase. In the first 2 months of fiscal year 2021, pilot 
libraries saw a 515 percent increase in braille downloads over fiscal 
year 2020. This distribution, evaluation and assessment work will 
continue through fiscal year 2024. In addition, as also included in 
this NEPR programming, NLS procured 460 Stop-Gap Talking Book Players 
needed to maintain necessary patron-based inventory. This particular 
commercial interim device contains additional features NLS will test as 
it moves toward some form of digital delivery.
    NLS is also pleased with the progress it is making on its Braille 
and Audio Download (BARD) infrastructure modernization. Building on 
several years' work, NLS and OCIO successfully moved BARD to the cloud 
in January 2021, more than tripling its capacity for NLS users while 
making it both faster and more stable. Work is now underway on what 
OCIO and NLS are calling BARD 2.0, which is a complete redesign of the 
system to ensure it can meet the needs of NLS's growing patron base and 
serve as the focal point for future methods of content delivery. The 
new BARD will ultimately be able to support 10 times as many people 
with a more user-friendly interface and increased IT security. Whether 
it be a refreshable braille device, smart speakers, smart phones, or a 
talking book machine that can utilize traditional cartridges but also 
connect to the Internet and allow voice user interface, a fully 
operational BARD 2.0 will be the key mechanism and centerpiece in 
getting NLS content into patrons' hands.
    At the same time, OCIO and NLS are exploring options for the next-
generation NLS device, including testing voice navigation, cellular 
delivery, and other advanced options for user interface and content 
management. They have also jointly developed a multi-year NLS 
Technology Roadmap, setting a path forward for the replacement of out-
of-date legacy NLS systems that manage the full array of NLS's 
functionality for its network, its patrons, its staff, and its 
connections to the rest of the Library--from content delivery services, 
to content production services, to better communications and marketing, 
to enhanced customer service, to state-of-the-art enablers to allow for 
secure and efficient use of NLS' systems.
    Finally, NLS has instituted the aforementioned Modernization 
Program Office (MPO) to assist NLS in better exhibiting modern project 
management best practices as it relates to these modernization projects 
and initiatives. The MPO will be working closely with the OCIO Project 
Management Office (PMO) on adopting the Library's Project Management 
Life Cycle (PMLC) and Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) within NLS 
to ensure full compliance with industry best practices (e.g., Project 
Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), GAO's Cost Estimating Guide, 
GAO's Schedule Assessment Guide) while executing the new eReader 
projects. In addition, the MPO is collaborating with the OCIO to ensure 
the agile Technology Roadmap is helping to lead and guide the asset and 
resource management, procurement, and strategic timing of key 
modernization initiatives.
    In their efforts to continue to elevate digital experiences and to 
strategically enhance Library services, from digital braille 
implementation, to new modern IT systems and business practices, to new 
digital means of talking book delivery, NLS and its OCIO partners in 
the Library are continuing to move NLS into a modern, integrated, 
resource-wise and properly aligned mission That All May Read.

    Question. Can you tell us about the Marrakesh Treaty ratification 
and the role of NLS in that treaty? What impact will that have on NLS 
and the United States?

    Answer. The Library of Congress and its National Library Service 
for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) continue to be very excited 
about the Marrakesh Treaty and its implementation.
    The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for 
Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled 
concluded at Marrakesh, Morocco in June, 2013, and the United States 
signed the Treaty in October of that year. In June, 2018, the U.S. 
Senate ratified the Treaty and also passed the Marrakesh Treaty 
Implementation Act to amend U.S. law in accordance with the Treaty. The 
House passed the Act that September and it was signed into law in 
October 2018.
    The Treaty entered into force in the U.S. in May 2019. In addition, 
the Library of Congress Technical Corrections Act was included as part 
of the fiscal year 2020 omnibus bill passed and signed into law in 
December of 2019. That legislation incorporated the terminology of the 
Treaty into NLS's authorizing statute. It also statutorily allowed NLS 
to participate in the international exchange of digital content whereas 
NLS's services were previously restricted to U.S. citizens and 
residents. Currently, there are now 79 contracting parties to the 
Treaty, including the European Union.
    As you know, the Marrakesh Treaty seeks to increase access to 
printed materials for those who are blind, visually impaired, or 
otherwise print disabled by allowing cross-border exchange of 
accessible texts either directly or through authorized entities (AEs) 
such as libraries for the blind. Through the Treaty and the vital work 
of NLS, visually impaired Americans are gaining access to the world's 
languages, literature, and knowledge in accessible formats, primarily 
digital file exchange. On behalf of its patrons, NLS is acquiring, at 
minimal cost, thousands of titles in English and other languages from 
its counterparts around the world. Likewise, via Marrakesh, NLS, the 
Library, and the United States can contribute to substantially reducing 
the global ``book famine,'' as less than 7 percent of all the books 
published each year are available in an accessible format. This famine 
is exacerbated by the fact that 90 percent of the world's 285 million 
people who are blind or visually impaired have low incomes and live in 
developing countries. Given that NLS has one of the largest accessible 
collections in the world, sharing it with other countries can make a 
tremendous difference.
    Because of the Treaty, NLS is adding a rich array of accessible 
versions of books in foreign languages and English more inexpensively 
and more quickly than previously possible. NLS is able to immediately 
access materials in foreign languages that expand beyond our 
traditional collection to better match current demographics. NLS 
currently holds titles in at least 36 different foreign languages, but 
the majority of our foreign language collection is in Spanish. This 
makes sense given that about 70 percent of potential patrons who speak 
a language other than English speak Spanish. But we know from census 
data that they also speak French, Tagalog, German, Russian and Arabic, 
among many others. And now, NLS can work to better meet their needs.
    To these ends, NLS is developing partnerships with international 
AEs to exchange collections. Current partners include the World 
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and their Accessible Book 
Consortium (ABC), Canada's Center for Equitable Library Access (CELA), 
the UK's Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the Fundacion 
Chile Musica y Braille, and Germany's Deutsches Zentrum fur 
barrierefreies Lesen (DZB Lesen). As well, NLS will continue to refine 
its internal collections, conversion, and cataloging processes and 
workflows to convert and import this content into our Braille and Audio 
Download (BARD) system.
    The Library and NLS remain strongly committed to Marrakesh. Our 
efforts are already visible, impactful, and bearing important fruit for 
our patrons and blind and print disabled individuals worldwide!
    More information about NLS's implementation of the treaty can be 
found at www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/laws-regulations/marrakesh-
treaty, www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/laws-regulations/marrakesh-
treaty/marrakesh-treaty-
implementation, and www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/standards-
guidelines/
collection-building-policy.
    Further information about ABC can be found at www.accessiblebooks
consortium.org/portal/en/index.html and 
www.accessiblebooksconsortium.org/global
books/en.
    Finally, a very informative Marrakesh update from the U.S. Register 
of Copyrights earlier this year can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/
copyright/2021/02/the-marrakesh-treaty-in-action-exciting-progress-in-
access-to-published-works-for-the-blind-and-print-disabled-communities.
                  library collections access platform
    Question. The Library is requesting $6.5 million and nine FTE to 
replace its legacy Integrated Library System (ILS) that was implemented 
in 1999. I understand that the new system, the Library Collections 
Access Platform (L-CAP) will integrate multiple standalone systems. 
This is one of your top priorities in the Library's fiscal year 2022 
budget request.

  --How will this new system integrate and streamline disparate Library 
        processes, and how will it positively impact the user 
        experience?

    Answer. L-CAP is intended to consolidate the functions of several 
decades old systems into one modern IT system that is specifically 
designed to be both user friendly and adaptable for future technology 
advances. The transition to L-CAP can best be thought of as an 
evolutionary jump in the way the Library will be able to support the 
management, discovery and access to the millions of items in the 
Library's collections. The impact on user experience will be 
significant across a range of areas, including:

  --Consolidated Search across Library Collections

       L-CAP will provide Library users, including Congress and 
American citizens and their schools and libraries, with a consolidated 
user interface that will enable them to search across the Library's 
vast collections without specialized knowledge of the type of content 
they are searching. Today, the Library has two separate catalogs; the 
LC Catalog (catalog.loc.gov), which enables search of the Library's 
physical and some born-digital content; and the E-Resources Online 
Catalog (eresources.loc.gov), which enables access to the Library's 
licensed electronic resources. There is no universal search that will 
allow users to search all Library items in one place. L-CAP will enable 
users to search both types of content together in a single search 
interface.

  --Centralized Management of Descriptive Metadata & Support for New 
        Format

       L-CAP will enable the Library to manage its descriptive metadata 
in a single system that will support multiple metadata formats. Today, 
the Library manages its collections metadata in the LC Catalog, the E-
Resources Online Catalog and the Data Management Tool (DMT). The LC 
Catalog and E-Resources Catalog only support the aging MARC metadata 
format. The Library manages approximately 500,000 metadata records for 
born-digital items in DMT in a non-MARC format that is better suited to 
digital content. Consolidation of the Library's descriptive metadata in 
L-CAP will enable Library staff to work in a single system to acquire 
and catalog content of all types in the metadata formats that best 
support access to the Library's collections. L-CAP will also support 
the new Bibliographic Framework (BIBFRAME) metadata format that the 
Library is developing, which none of the legacy systems can 
incorporate.

  --Single Knowledgebase to Undergird Access to Electronic Resources

       The Library currently relies on three separate very large 
databases to track information about electronic resources, such as 
electronic journals and e-books and their availability and 
accessibility:

      1.  The Library's OpenURL resolver, branded as FindIt!, 
determines if an item such as a journal article or book is available 
electronically and what the appropriate copy for a user is.
      2.  A web-scale discovery product that searches across articles 
in the Library's licensed electronic resources.
      3.  A third-party metadata service that delivers bibliographic 
records and coverage data with customized links to the Library licensed 
electronic resources.

       Having that data in separate databases limits how the 
information can be leveraged and shared across systems. Under the new 
system all of that data will be managed within a single knowledgebase 
that will allow the above functionality to be combined seamlessly 
within L-CAP.

  --Full Support for Languages and Scripts

       The Library's legacy systems do not support the diverse range of 
languages and scripts represented in the Library's collections. Library 
users expect to be able to search in the languages and scripts they 
know. L-CAP will enable creation of the bibliographic and other data in 
non-Roman scripts to facilitate the user's ability to find collections 
materials by searching in those languages and scripts.

  --Integrate with Internal Digital Content Management Systems

       The Library's legacy systems are not able to incorporate new 
technological developments that are now available in the vendor 
marketplace, nor can they take advantage of technology modernization 
advances OCIO has implemented in the Library's IT infrastructure. As 
the Library modernizes its digital library services and storage, L-CAP 
will enable further integration across those services, and allow the 
Library to more easily adapt to innovative new technologies that become 
available.

    Question. What is the Library doing to ensure that no essential 
services are negatively impacted by the implementation of this new 
platform?

    Answer. The Library has been carefully planning for the next 
generation Library Collections Access Platform (L-CAP) for several 
years, with in-depth reviews of current Library systems, available 
technical solutions, and modern best practices. The effort will be 
jointly managed by the Library's Office of the Chief Information 
Officer and Library Services Service Units, bringing together deep 
technical and subject matter expertise to ensure that requirements and 
dependencies are fully understood and that the implementation of the 
new system will integrate smoothly with essential services.
    As an extra precaution, the Library intends to maintain and upgrade 
existing systems and essential services while implementing L-CAP. The 
Principal Deputy Librarian and Associate Deputy Librarian for Library 
Services have ensured that the Library will maintain 3 years of vendor 
maintenance support for the LC Integrated Library System (ILS) and 
Electronic Resource Management System (ERMS) while developing L-CAP. To 
prolong the operational life of essential systems, the Library is 
planning to upgrade ERMS in fiscal year 2021 and ILS in fiscal year 22. 
These upgrades will ensure the Library can maintain both key legacy 
systems in production until they can be safely retired. However, both 
systems are over 20 years old, cannot be expanded to incorporate modern 
technology, and present growing risks to their sustainability as the 
years go by.
    The request for additional staffing will enable the Library to 
operate and maintain its essential services while implementing L-CAP 
and ensure the time for a careful and coordinated transition. The 
actual migration to the new system will be carefully planned to 
transition from legacy platforms to L-CAP. For example, collections 
acquisition activities will close at the end of a fiscal year in the 
legacy ILS and start in the next fiscal year in the new L-CAP. This 
will ensure a full closeout and audit trail for the preceding fiscal 
year in the legacy system and population of subscription orders in the 
new system in the next fiscal year. Similarly, the Library will migrate 
patron data from the legacy ILS to the new L-CAP to ensure a seamless 
transition for our borrowers.
    The additional base funding requested as part of the L-CAP effort 
will also enable continuous development of the system and ensure 
adequate resources to support new functionality and meet users' 
evolving expectations.
                                 ______
                                 
              Questions Submitted to Hon. Dr. Carla Hayden
               Questions Submitted by Senator Mike Braun
                                security
    Question. Dr. Hayden, the Library included in its fiscal year 2022 
budget request significant increases for security related projects. 
Ensuring the security of the Library's staff and public visitors, 
priceless collections, and cyber infrastructure are all important 
goals.

  --Can you describe the importance of the security enhancements 
        included in your budget request? Particularly the needs that 
        were identified before the events of January 6?

    Answer. We take the safety and security of the Library, both our 
employees and visitors and our collections and data, very seriously. 
Even before the events of January 6, we had identified three 
significant projects that are critical to continue safeguarding our 
workforce, our national treasures, and the information entrusted to us 
by Congress and the copyright community.
    The overhaul and modernization of the Library's nearly 20-year-old 
Integrated Electronic Security System (IESS) is critical to supporting 
the security missions of the Library of Congress and U.S. Capitol 
Police (USCP). The USCP relies on the IESS as a force multiplier, as it 
enables a robust platform for a networked electronic access control 
system, intrusion detection sensor monitoring, and campus-wide closed 
circuit camera coverage. The IESS is essential for the detection and 
prevention of criminal activity, providing critical security monitoring 
for the protection of both life and property at all Library facilities 
both on Capitol Hill and in outlying locations. The system safeguards 
the staff, public visitors, priceless collections, and high-value 
assets. Additionally, the IESS provides important security support and 
situational awareness for the Library and the entire Capitol Complex 
perimeter. The events of January 6, 2021, further underscore the 
importance of the IESS and the need to modernize the system.
    Over the last few decades, emergency services have also become 
increasingly reliant on the availability of reliable cellular 
connectivity for both internal command and control functions and to 
quickly and effectively communicate with the public and other external 
parties. Unfortunately, the Library's architecture precludes strong 
cellular connectivity without an internal antenna system, and the 
Library's cellular system is both outdated and inadequate to meet 
modern demands. The current legacy 3G system was installed in 2004 and 
is now at the end of its service life. The system is also incompatible 
with advanced 5G connectivity. The Library's Security and Emergency 
Preparedness Directorate, the USCP, and the Architect of the Capitol 
have all requested that the Library upgrade its cellular system to 
support safety and security operations. Our budget request will allow 
us to implement a modern cellular solution that will ensure 
connectivity for USCP, AOC, and Library staff, as well as congressional 
and other Library visitors. The timing for this project has become 
critical, because the major cellular providers are ending their support 
for 3G service. T-Mobile has announced plans to end 3G service on 
January 1, 2022. The other major carriers are expected to follow. If we 
do not move forward with a new cellular system quickly, we risk losing 
cellular service inside Library buildings.
    On the cybersecurity front, the threat to the Library and 
legislative branch data has escalated steadily over the last decade, 
with increasingly complex attacks regularly identified and prevented. 
The Library's IT security is constantly tested, with nearly 200,000 
attempted cyberattacks a year. We have implemented a very strong IT 
security program for the Library. However, over the last few years, 
Cloud technology has advanced rapidly, and it is now a critical part of 
our IT modernization efforts. As we mature our Cloud hosting, we also 
need to mature our IT security posture for the Cloud. To stay ahead of 
the growing sophistication of the most advanced and persistent threats, 
the Library must be able to maintain and consistently mature a 
comprehensive suite of cybersecurity tools and training. Our fiscal 
2022 request will let us expand the robust IT security protections 
we've implemented for our traditional IT operations to our Cloud hosted 
IT systems. We will be using the best tools available and leveraging 
artificial intelligence to make sure we can stay ahead of the growing 
threats coming out of places like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
    Following the events of January 6, the Library has identified a 
number of additional smaller projects that would enhance our ability to 
respond to emergencies. The projects range from reinforcing collection 
storage facilities and internal door improvements to replacing the 
Library's emergency public address system and securing exposed 
infrastructure cabling. We are also working with the Architect of the 
Capitol to prioritize a number of significant projects, such as the 
modernization of the Madison building's over 40-year-old fire alarm 
system and the hardening of external doors and windows to prevent 
perimeter breaches.

    Question. For security generally and post-January 6, how are you 
coordinating with other Legislative Branch entities on security?

    Answer. The Library maintains close and continuous coordination 
with the U.S. Capitol Police Operations and Command and Control 
Bureaus, Physical Security Division, and the Legislative Branch 
Emergency Management Task Force. The Library's physical security is 
coordinated through the Capitol Police, with the Library's Security and 
Emergency Preparedness Directorate an active partner.
    The Library is also a very active participant in the Legislative 
Branch Cybersecurity Working Group and the Legislative Branch Chief 
Information Security Officer Council. We coordinate closely with the 
House and Senate Sergeant at Arms, as well as all of the legislative 
branch technology offices to ensure everyone is on the same page in 
regards to the threats we are seeing. Our IT security operations center 
is tied into the Senate cybersecurity threat intelligence platform, and 
routinely talks with the House, Senate, and the U.S. Capitol Police.

                         CONCLUSION OF HEARINGS

    Senator Reed. With that, the Committee will stand 
adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 28, the hearings 
were concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene 
subject to the call of the Chair.]


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