During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) asked Acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the Bureau of Counterterrorism Gregory LoGerfo about layoffs at the bureau.
00:00Thank you, Representative Kenna. I now recognize Representative Schneider for five minutes.
00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. LaGerfa. Let me just start by thanking you for your service. How
00:11long have you been with the State Department? 25 years, sir. So it's long time and I'm just
00:17looking at the the long list of awards you've received and you and so many others who have
00:22committed their careers to protecting our country, advancing our interests, and keeping Americans
00:28safe around the world. We all owe a great debt to you and everyone else who has
00:32worked in in in that department. In the last 25 years, which is really the 21st
00:38century, we're a quarter of the way through, the threat risk getting worse,
00:43getting better, staying the same, how would you overall rate it? Congressman, thank you
00:48for your kind words and with respect to the threats today, I would say just
00:55different. The threats that we faced on September 11, 2001, obviously a day that
01:03changed the course of American world history. The threats that we're looking at
01:07today, there is still of course the global jihadi network, but there's other
01:14threats. There's a rise of anti-Semitism, for example. There's also just in the way
01:19that attacks are carried out, if you look at what happened in New Orleans, it's not
01:24as if always there's a command and control element to someone who's carried
01:30out an attack, but there's inspiration. That inspiration often comes from the
01:35internet, often comes from some kind of a chat room, and understanding that while we
01:41also are of course mindful of freedom of speech and freedom of expression and not
01:45losing our values there, making sure we can get at that. I apologize, I'm gonna
01:50retake my time just because we have so much to talk about, but I think you're
01:54right. It was a dangerous world when you started, it's a dangerous world today, the
02:00threats are constantly changing. The Bureau of Counterterrorism exists because we
02:04learn the hard way what happens when we leave coordination chance. We created the
02:09structure to ensure that someone, somewhere, had the clear mandate to prevent the
02:13next attack before it happens. The mission is not theoretical, it's very real. It's
02:19not regional, it's global, and it's not optional. It is essential. I find it
02:25alarming and frankly revealing that the Trump administration is moving with such
02:28speed to dismantle the Bureau's independence, gut its capacity, and fold its
02:33responsibilities into regional desks that are already overstretched. In the name of
02:38reform and modernization, the administration is dismantling
02:41capabilities and shirking responsibilities. There's no real vision, no real
02:46strategy, and as I see it, there is no real plan for success. Your Bureau provides the
02:51connective tissues across our national security agencies, between the State
02:55Department, the IC, DHS, Treasury, and our partners around the world. When a terrorist
03:00plot emerges in West Africa, but the funding traces back to the Gulf or Central
03:05Asia, and the online radicalization was happening in Europe, who and how do we
03:10connect those dots? Who and how do we coordinate the U.S. response across the
03:15region's tools and timelines? A big part of that is INR, but the Bureau, your Bureau, also
03:22has a central role to play. I want to say this as bluntly as I can. This
03:26administration is not behaving like it takes the threat of terrorism seriously.
03:30Dismantling our counterterrorism architecture during a moment of
03:34resurgent radicalization and clear threats to the homeland, around the world, and as you
03:39noted, including at home, is an act of strategic negligence. Mr. Lajerfo, I don't
03:44doubt your commitment. I am grateful for your service, but leadership in a moment
03:48like this requires more than presence. It requires pushback. It requires telling the
03:52truth up the chain, even when it's inconvenient. So I want to hear not just
03:57how you'll implement whatever structure you're given. I want to hear whether you
04:01believe that structure serves the mission and whether you're willing to fight for it.
04:04We cannot let institutional memory be erased. We cannot allow the strategic
04:08capacity of the United States government to be hollowed, hollowed out behind closed
04:13doors when we pretend everything is just proceeding like normal. So Mr. Lajerfo, I
04:17threw a lot at you, but I would love to hear your thoughts and response.
04:21Thank you, Congressman. I am fully confident that the restructure, we went from a height of 14 offices in the Bureau of Counterterrorism,
04:33counterterrorism. We've restructured to make things move more quickly, to move at the
04:38speed of relevance, and also, again, as a matter of tactical response, we are going
04:43to be in a position working alongside our regional bureaus, absolutely, and working
04:48within the T family, the Undersecretariat for Security Policy, to respond quickly and
04:54also to fulfill our coordinating role as provided in statute within the interagency,
04:59within our partner, with our diplomatic partners, to keep America safe and secure.
05:04I'm out of time, but I will follow up with written questions because I want to understand examples, specific examples, how we've strengthened capacities rather than reduced or eliminated capacities and capabilities.
05:14Mr. Sherman talked about a perfect example, losing the ability to communicate in-country where the message is all going to be from bad regimes like Iran.
05:23We've lost our voice and ability to counter. As they develop young people who are going to be the terrorists of tomorrow, we need to be working and fighting hard every single day to develop those who are going to be the leaders of tomorrow that bring countries like Iran into the family of nations and create a more peaceful and prosperous future for us all.
