▶ 0:24:27Chair Risch: Senate foreign relations committee will come to order. We'll have a business to do today. As usual, we welcome everyone in our audience to watch. This is not interactive. There will be no participation from the audience. And I think those of you who are contemplating, know what's going to happen if you do. We look forward to doing the government's business uninterrupted, and again, we appreciate people's attendance.
▶ 0:24:55Chair Risch: We have today five nominations to consider. We have a good panel, an interesting panel. And we're going to proceed. I'm going to give an opening statement, a few opening remarks. I'm going to yield to senator shaheen to do likewise. Then we will hear from the nominees, and then we will proceed to a round of five-minute questions from all of the members of the committee.
▶ 0:25:29Chair Risch: Who wish to ask questions. Before we do that, we have a couple of introductions. Snore lee, I believe you have something for the good of the order.
▶ 0:25:40Sen. Lee: I do. Thank you so much, Mr. chairman. It's an honor and a great privilege for me to be here today to introduce my friend, kari lake. She's been nominated to be the next united states ambassador to jamaica. Ms. lake is a true champion of truth, of accountability, of the U.S. constitution, and of the freedoms that we all enjoy as americans.
▶ 0:26:06Sen. Lee: President trump has a clear-eyed vision for the western hemisphere, ensuring that american prestige and security remain strong and remain strong in particular in this hemisphere. The key to our property period of time doesn't always -- prosperity doesn't always lie on the other side of the world. It is often best defended close to home, in our own hemisphere.
▶ 0:26:32Sen. Lee: And that certainly includes the caribbean and jamaica, the country where she's been asked to serve as ambassador. We need somebody now more than ever who knows how to advance our interests and articulate our values. And kari lake is that person, exactly that person. If you tried to design a person better suited to be the U.S. ambassador to jamaica, you could not do a better job than someone than kari lake. As a leader for the U.S.
▶ 0:26:59Sen. Lee: Agency for global media, she's looked out for american interests all over the world, to make sure that the U.S. government's international broadcasting efforts actually advance our interests. She's fought for that every day, and her work in uncovering security threats at an agency as well as rampant waste, fraud and abuse demonstrate how unwavering her patriotism is and her commitment to good government.
▶ 0:27:28Sen. Lee: She's also spent nearly 30 years in the media industry as a television news journalist and anchor. And in that capacity, she's become very effective communicator. She knows how to get a point across succinctly, clearly, and with the appropriate emphasis that the occasion happens to require. Throughout her entire career, she's received awards for her work.
▶ 0:27:58Sen. Lee: While she was at fox 10 news in arizona, she conducted several high-level one-on-one interviews with then-president barack obama in 2016 and with president trump in 2020. She stepped down from her position at fox back in 2021, where she was one of the longest serving and top-rated news anchors and dedicated her life and her career to public service and to media accountability.
▶ 0:28:28Sen. Lee: In addition to her success as a journalist and advocate for our country, she's also a wife to jeff halpren and their children, ruby and leo, who are with us today. I have no doubt that upon her confirmation, Ms. lake will hit the ground running, and she's going to build on our relationship with jamaica and do so in a way that advances american interests, meaningfully and consistently, unwaveringly.
▶ 0:29:01Sen. Lee: Kari, you have my unqualified, enthusiastic support. I know you're ready for this position. You were born for this position. And I look forward to working with you and my colleagues. I strongly encourage you to support her nomination. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:29:13Chair Risch: Thank you, senator lee. Senator hagerty.
▶ 0:29:16Sen. Hagerty: Thank you, chairman risch and ranking member shaheen. It's my distinct honor to also introduce kari lake, president trump's nominee to be ambassador to jake ma a. I've served as ambassador to japan and I know firsthand what it takes to succeed as an ambassador, in particular I know how essential it is for an ambassador to have the president's trust. Kari lake has that trust.
▶ 0:29:46Sen. Hagerty: She's earned it through her courage, her dedication to the american people, her ability as a great communicator and her willingness to fight for the principles that make our country great. In fact, kari's story is a remarkable example of the american dream. She grew up in iowa as the youngest of nine children, the daughter of a history teacher in a family where nothing was handed to her and where she was taught the importance to earn and value what you have.
▶ 0:30:12Sen. Hagerty: In a large household, kari learned early how to speak up and hold her own, yet also listen carefully and to nurture relationships with those closest to you. She under her degree at the university of iowa and subsequently spent three decades as the top-rated news anchor in arizona. What's apparent is that kari has the heart of a public servant.
▶ 0:30:35Sen. Hagerty: She can easily chose to remain in the private sector, where she built a successful and 'em sea award-winning career in news media. Kari felt a genuine calling to public service. She's acted on that calling, because she believed there were critical issues facing our country that demanded new leadership and a fresh voice. After running for public office, she subsequently served as a political appointee in the trump administration at the U.S. agency for global media.
▶ 0:31:03Sen. Hagerty: Kari has helped return the agency to its statutory mission. The agency was supposed to be providing news that is "consistently reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive." before her arrival, however, the agency had drifted far from that charge, with the state department inspector general identifying major information security and grant oversight failure that is increased the risk of waste, fraud and abuse at the agency.
▶ 0:31:30Sen. Hagerty: Through much needed reforms, kari has helped restore accountability and put the agency back on the side of the american taxpayer. As the president's nominee to be ambassador to jamaica, kari brings a genuine love for the island, its people and its culture. She's familiar with jamaica, having visited the island over 40 times, and she understands the tremendous promise of the deeper strategic partnership between the united states and jamaica. Of importance, jamaica is host government will know if she's confirmed as U.S.
▶ 0:31:59Sen. Hagerty: Ambassador, she will be a chief of mission who has a clear line of communication with the president. Kari will bring a uniquely american story, a proven ability to communicate, a deep trust and connection to the president, and the strength required to represent our nation with utmost confidence. I believe she has what it takes to be an excellent ambassador, and I therefore urge this committee to move quickly in considering kari lake's nomination so she can begin her important work as our next ambassador of jamaica.
▶ 0:32:30Sen. Hagerty: Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:32:32Chair Risch: Thank you. First of all, let me say thank you to the panel for all of you willing to step forward and take on these positions, and just as importantly, thank you to your families. We all know the families play a huge role in these kinds of jobs, and their support is absolutely necessary, and they will certainly assist with that. So let's get down to business. I'm going to start, Mr. vance, with you.
▶ 0:33:00Chair Risch: In the bureau, you would manage a smaller than some of its intelligence counterparts, the assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research, or I.&r, and its staff punch well above their weight in competition with the other 17 intelligence agencies that america has.
▶ 0:33:19Chair Risch: I&r has a history of analytic independence and was famously the only intelligence agency to get it right on what was going to happen when putin got into ukraine. Every other agency gave us estimates of somewhere the war was going to last between three days and three weeks, and the agency you're taking over said I'm not sure of that.
▶ 0:33:45Chair Risch: They were the only one, at that time there were only 17, but they were the only one of the 17 agencies that got that right. Today I hope to hear how you will continue this tradition and advance the administration's security priorities. Mr. hanrahan, as you know, the U.S. and europe share the world's largest economic relationship and account for 1/3 of global trade.
▶ 0:34:08Chair Risch: Our security alliances and institutions, most of all nato, which is the most successful political military alliance in the history of the world, have underpinned an unprecedented period of growth and prosperity on this planet. But the threat posed grows clearer by the day, and we need our european allies on our side to confront them.
▶ 0:34:39Chair Risch: As assistant secretary you'll be on the front lines of defending americans from these threats. I'm eager to hear how you will implement policy that strengthens and modernizes our relationships in europe, particularly our security and economic relationships. Those of us on this committee deal regularly with our european allies, and you will find some interesting conversations as you go forward with our allies. It's important we maintain a good relationship with them. Ms.
▶ 0:35:06Chair Risch: Lake, the united states and jamaica maintain a robust relationship based on shared demographic values and our economic and security interests. I was glad that jamaica decided to end its participation in cuba's medical professionals labor trafficking and joined the administration's shield of the americas initiative. I hope that as ambassador you would work with this positive inertia and advance U.S. interests in jamaica and the caribbean more broadly.
▶ 0:35:37Chair Risch: Mr. significanter a, the -- Mr. segura, the united states has an interest in a prosperous democratic and stable western hemisphere as clearly outlined in the national security and national defense strategies. I believe the most substantial threats to U.S. interests in our hemisphere are china and violent trance national criminal organizations. I deeply appreciate president trump's actions to curb both threats in the panama canal, mexico, and in venezuela.
▶ 0:36:08Chair Risch: Mr. segura, I hope to hear from you on how you would build on this work as assistant secretary to the western hemisphere and ensure the united states can strengthen regional cooperation to advance our national interests. And finally, Mr. bauer, as you know, the U.S. remains belize's top trading partner and largest foreign direct investor, underscoring our long-standing bilateral relationship.
▶ 0:36:31Chair Risch: I appreciate we he'll's continued support for taiwan and I look forward to hearing from you on efforts to deepen that partnership and our partnership with this key caribbean neighbor. Thank you again to all our nominees, and with that, I would like to turn it over to ranking member senator shaheen.
▶ 0:36:48Sen. Shaheen: Welcome to all of our nominees, to your family and supporters here with you. Thank you all for being willing to be considered for these positions. I think one of the real benefits that the united states has enjoyed has been its credibility. Distrust of U.S. statements really matters.
▶ 0:37:15Sen. Shaheen: Iran, russia, and china understand that. Last year, tehran increased funding for its state broadcaster by 50%. At that very moment, our adversaries were investing in the information battlefield. The united states was retreating from it. Dismantling programs designed to deliver independence, fact-based news to people living under authoritarian regimes. Ms. lake, the administration put you in charge of that effort.
▶ 0:37:44Sen. Shaheen: I have a different view than senator hagerty about your work on that effort. You placed hundreds of employees at the U.S. agency for global media and voice of america on administrative leave. You attempted to cut off funding for radio free europe and radio free asia until a court intervened. Usagm and voice of america survived, but our adversaries exploited that chaos.
▶ 0:38:12Sen. Shaheen: Iran's lego video campaign mocking and humiliating the president reached more than a billion views in just 30 days. Its purpose was not to strengthen iran. It was to weaken confidence in the united states. Ms. lake, this is the information environment you may soon have to navigate as ambassador to jamaica.
▶ 0:38:34Sen. Shaheen: If confirmed, I hope you will push back, not only by advancing the administration's message, but by contesting the narratives our adversaries are spreading throughout the region. Beijing and moscow are investing heavily in shaping perceptions of the united states across the global south. Mr. segura, am I proceed monsing your name correctly? You have been nominated to serve as assistant secretary of state for the western hemisphere. Mr.
▶ 0:39:04Sen. Shaheen: Bauer, you have been nominated to be ambassador to belize. Russia has trained more than a thousand latin american influencers to spread pro-kremlin propaganda messaging across latin america. That network didn't stop operating when maduro fell. If confirmed, I hope each of you will take these efforts seriously. Mr. hanrahan, you've been nominated to serve as assistant secretary for europe.
▶ 0:39:33Sen. Shaheen: But I think we have to ask a threshold question here, and that is what is the portfolio that you're going to have? Ukraine peace talks are being run by special envoy witkoff. Another initiative is led by the policy planning staff. Bosnian policy appears to have been outsourced to the white house. The threats in this region are not waiting for washington to sort itself out.
▶ 0:39:59Sen. Shaheen: Vladimir putin has spent years investing in far-right parties across europe, parties that oppose ukraine aid and want to dismantle european institutions. They have not stopped putin from exploiting our political divisions. If confirmed, I hope you will be a strong voice against russian influence and for those governments that have stood with us and with ukraine. And finally, Mr.
▶ 0:40:28Sen. Shaheen: Vance, you've been nominated to lead the department's bureau of intelligence and research. As the chairman said, I&r occupies a unique role within the intelligence community. It's independent of other intelligence agencies, and it's charged with providing objective, fact-based analysis to the secretary of state. I have concerns given your unwillingness to affirm the basic fact that president biden won the 2020 election.
▶ 0:40:59Sen. Shaheen: I have concerns about your commitment to that fact-based mission. You've also written that western europe is summoning to what you call soft authoritarianism and have compared it, some european practices, to the soviet union. If confirmed, I hope you will put aside prior views and provide secretary rubio with the unvarnished intelligence that he needs to operate. Again, thank you all.
▶ 0:41:28Chair Risch: Thank you, senator shaheen. Appreciate that. We're now going to hear from each of you. We're going to start with Mr. segura. What I ask you do is please keep your remarks to five minutes or thereabouts. If you have anything you want to add, we got lots of room in the record, so you can submit whatever you'd like for the record. But in the meantime, to give everybody a chance at questions, keep to five minutes. Mr. segura, the floor is yours.
▶ 0:42:00Mr. Segura: Thank you, Mr. chairman. Chairman risch, ranking member shaheen, and distinguished members of the committee, it is an honor to appear before you today as the president's nominee to serve as the next assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs. I'm grateful for the confidence president trump and secretary rubio have placed in me at this watershed moment in our engagement with the hemisphere. I'd also like to thank my family, who in part are here today.
▶ 0:42:30Mr. Segura: They truly are the bedrock of my life. To my wife and partner, cecilia, I love you, and thank you for everything you do every day. I would be nothing without your support and belief. To my parents, enrique and alejandra, thank you for always challenging me and for setting a beautiful example of faith, hard work, and great sacrifice. It is truly through the eyes of my parents, who came to this great country with nothing more than 40 years ago, that I first came to understand the why of the united states of america.
▶ 0:43:02Mr. Segura: From as young as I can remember, three words would ring true at the segura kitchen table -- never give up. Whether it was in sports, in school, or in building companies, where there was a will, there was a way. As I reflect on my own story of building a healthcare company to be one of the largest maternal monitoring companies in the world, to leading economic growth in international trade for the great commonwealth of virginia, a state that has a g.d.p.
▶ 0:43:29Mr. Segura: Of more than $620 billion a year, never giving up is how we overcame seemingly impossible obstacles. I believe this administration will never give up on the hope for america and its people and how america works with and partners with the americas. President trump's national security strategy underscores the critical importance of the western hemisphere.
▶ 0:43:55Mr. Segura: The trump administration has set an ambitious agenda that includes securing our border, defeating narcoterrorist groups, securing critical infrastructure, and expanding economic opportunities for americans. The national security strategy also outlines that the united states will reassert the monroe doctrine to restore american preeminence in the western hemisphere and push back on the influence of global adversaries and malign actors in the region.
▶ 0:44:22Mr. Segura: The trump administration is aggressively implementing this strategy with regional partners, expanding cooperation bilaterally, as well as enlisting partners in new initiatives, including the shields of the america, the americas counter cartel coalition, and a critical ministerial to build secure and resilient supply chains. As a former virginia secretary of commerce, I am particularly enthusiastic about the trump administration's prioritization of commercial diplomacy in the western hemisphere.
▶ 0:44:50Mr. Segura: If confirmed, I look forward to employing all available tools to ensure american companies are well positioned to help our regional partners build their economies. As the national security strategy notes, an economically stronger western hemisphere is not only a more attractive market for american companies and investment, but increased commercial linkages will benefit both sides and reduce the space and influence of nonhemisphere actors.
▶ 0:45:19Mr. Segura: This will require closer coordination with the american private sector, and this coordination is a role I'm eager to embrace, drawing on my professional background as a former entrepreneur and investor. If confirmed, I look forward to leading the bureau of western hemisphere affairs to enlist the cooperation of our regional allies, the private sector, and congress to advance the trump administration's ambitious agenda for the americas. Thank you for your consideration. I welcome your questions.
▶ 0:45:51Chair Risch: Thank you very much. Let's move to Mr. hanrahan.
▶ 0:45:58Mr. Hanrahan: Chairman risch, ranking member shaheen, distinguished members of the committee, I am honored to join you as the nominee for the position of assistant secretary of state for europe and eurasian affairs. I appreciate the trust president trump and secretary rubio have placed in me by nominating me. If confirmed, I commit to working closely with you and members of your staff as I work to implement our foreign policy.
▶ 0:46:21Mr. Hanrahan: I want to start by thanking the many teachers, mentors and colleagues that have shaped the educational and professional experiences that I will bring to this role. In particular, teachers and coaches in boston who fund metally instilled in me the call to public service. My foremost thanks I extend to my family for their love and support. It's my grandparents, who have led through the example of public service in our military, and who have exemplified humility and hard work.
▶ 0:46:48Mr. Hanrahan: To my three siblings, who have been my foundational support throughout my life. To my parents, doctors lynn and john hanrahan, who have given me my faith in god and taught me the imperative of personal integrity and service to others. And finally my greatest thanks and love to my wife lauren, who's with me here today, and our newborn son, james. I would not be here without their support.
▶ 0:47:14Mr. Hanrahan: The united states stands at a critical moment in our relationship with our oldest and strongest continent of allies. I think it is important to underscore the framing of our relationship to europe. It is an alliance forged in a shared history and a civilizational heritage. As secretary rubio stated in his munich speech earlier this year, we want europe to be strong, and we want a strong relationship with europe.
▶ 0:47:39Mr. Hanrahan: A safer, stronger, more prosperous united states in the 21st century requires a reinvigorated relationship with europe that can better advance our shared prosperity. Leading this work requires a seriousness of purpose and candid diplomacy. Should I be confirmed, I will bring both to our efforts. In practical terms, I will focus on four guiding objectives. First, keeping american citizens safe by working closely with our ambassadors in missions abroad.
▶ 0:48:07Mr. Hanrahan: This is our highest and most essential goal. Second, rebalancing our relationship with europe to better advance our core interests, security and prosperity of american citizens. In the domain of security, this means advocating for transferring primary responsibility for conventional european defense to our allies, while simultaneously expanding the U.S. defense industrial base and co-production opportunities with nato partners.
▶ 0:48:31Mr. Hanrahan: We must press our allies to fulfill the commitments that they made at the hague last year. Rebalancing also means enforcing trade and regulatory environments, especially with the european union, one that permits a level playing field for american businesses and workers. Third, if confirmed, I will focus on promoting a peaceful, stable europe that unlocks economic potential of the region. I will support president trump's efforts to secure a durable peace in the russia-ukraine war.
▶ 0:49:01Mr. Hanrahan: I will work to solidify the significant gains from president trump's historic peace deal between armenia and azerbaijan. And I will work to de-escalate other regional tensions by empowering local actors to forge local solutions. One of the key tools to advancing this peace and stability is commercial, ensuring europe countries partner with the united states for their technology and energy. The united states has already supplanted russia as the l.n.g.
▶ 0:49:28Mr. Hanrahan: Supplier of choice and by pushing for large-scale energy infrastructure projects to support, transport U.S. gas across the continent, you can further secure europe's energy sector and support the american worker. Fourth and finally, if confirmed, I will work with european counterparts to guard against emerging and future threats to U.S. interests.
▶ 0:49:48Mr. Hanrahan: This will bill is enhancing law enforcement cooperation to combat terrorist networks, organized crime, and other bad actors that have exploited unfettered mass migration to the detriment of europe and the united states. It will also require protecting supply chains by mitigating our collective dependence on adversaries and rivals. If confirmed, I will focus on countering china's abuse of the global trading system by advocating for commercial partnerships between trusted U.S.
▶ 0:50:14Mr. Hanrahan: And european firms to reinforce a secure U.S.-europe economic partnership. I thank the chairman, ranking member and committee for your time and the opportunity to appear before you today. I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:50:27Chair Risch: Thank you. Appreciate that. Mr. bauer, good to be with you again. Floor is yours.
▶ 0:50:34Mr. Bauer: Ranking member, distinguished members of the senate foreign relations committee, thank you for the opportunity and privilege to appear before you today as the president's nominee to serve as united states ambassador to belize. I'm honored by the confidence president trump has placed in me through his nomination. I'd like to begin by thanking god for his many blessings and the opportunities that brought me here today. I'd like to thank my wife meredith, who's here with me.
▶ 0:51:02Mr. Bauer: I'm grateful to have all four of my children here, whose presence in my life has been a continual source of joy and perspective, as well as purpose. Additionally, I'm grateful to my parents for the sacrifices they made and the values they instilled in me. Throughout my life, I served in a variety of roles as a substitute teacher, entrepreneur, and as a businessman.
▶ 0:51:30Mr. Bauer: In south carolina, I served in the house of representatives, south carolina senate, and two terms as lieutenant governor. In each of these roles, I worked collaboratively with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address concerns of constituents, improve government services, and bring attention to issues that it too often had been overlooked. In the united states and belize, there's a strong bilateral relationship.
▶ 0:51:56Mr. Bauer: The united states is belize's largest source of tourism, with more than a million americans visiting annually. Additionally, more than 85,000 belize residents living in the united states, further strengthening the close ties between our two nations. Tourism remains a vital driver of belize's economy, supporting jobs and economic opportunity throughout the country.
▶ 0:52:19Mr. Bauer: If confirmed, I look forward to working alongside belize leaders to strengthen economic ties between our nations to support continued tourism and trade and expand avenues of cooperation and investment. Having spent much of my career in the private sector, I understand the power of U.S. business and investment. If confirmed, I'll work to strengthen commercial ties between our two countries, creating a stable investment climate where U.S.
▶ 0:52:45Mr. Bauer: Businesses can grow and invest and also flourish is essential to expanding opportunities for both of our countries. Bees he'll and the united states enjoy a -- belize and the united states enjoy a strong partnership. Belize works closely with the united states to combat counter narcotics, trafficking, and human trafficking, as well as trans national criminal activity.
▶ 0:53:11Mr. Bauer: The united states continues to support belize through programs focused on counter narcotics, border security, and criminal deer terence. If confirmed, I'll work diligently to continue supporting to promote security, stability, and safer communities for belize residents and for american citizens. I will also work to ensure that belize remains a reliable partner in countering risks posed by the chinese communist party to hemispheric security and prosperity.
▶ 0:53:41Mr. Bauer: Protecting the safety and interest of the united states abroad will remain my highest priority. As we work together to address shared challenges, we must also continue to advance areas of mutual opportunity. Belize presents growing opportunities for american investment in areas including tourism and economic development that can benefit both our nations. If confirmed, I'll serve with the same work ethic, determination, and commitment that have guided me through my life and my career.
▶ 0:54:11Mr. Bauer: I'll work to advance the interests and values of the united states while strengthening our partnership with belize and its people. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. It would be my honor of a lifetime to serve as the united states ambassador to belize. I thank you and I look forward to all of your questions.
▶ 0:54:29Chair Risch: Thank you very much. Ms. lake?
▶ 0:54:33Ms. Lake: Thank you, and I'd like to start really quickly with thanking senators lee and hagerty for the wonderful introduction. I really appreciate that. Chairman risch, ranking member shaheen, and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you as president trump's nominee to serve as ambassador of the united states to jamaica. I am deeply honored that the president has put his trust in me for this position, and I'm mindful of the responsibility this role carries. I thank the president for his continued friendship and support.
▶ 0:55:03Ms. Lake: I also want to thank my family, I'm from a big family. I'd like to thank my siblings, who are watching today thank you for shaping me into the person I am today and my parents in heaven. I'm joined by my husband of 28 years, jeff, who has given me unconditional love and is my rock. Also here, my daughter ruby and son leo. Aside from a few moments in the teen years, they have brought me nothing but joy.
▶ 0:55:35Ms. Lake: My favorite claim to fame is telling people that I raised you. Also here today, my future daughter-in-law, who's celebrating a birthday, and my son-in-law is watching back home in arizona. I spent three decades as a top-rated television journalist and news anchor, communicating complex issues on national, international issues with clarity and purpose. That experience combined with my work leading the modernization and accountability efforts at the U.S.
▶ 0:56:00Ms. Lake: Agency for global media, has prepared me to represent american interests abroad with transparency, discipline, and results-driven leadership. Over the past 35 years, I've traveled to jamaica too many times to count. Jeff and I honeymooned in jamaica. From the time our kids were very little, until now, we spent family vacations, birthdays, anniversaries and holidays in jamaica. Yes, of course, jamaica has beautiful beaches and mountains and water falls. That's a given.
▶ 0:56:29Ms. Lake: But it's the incredible jamaican people whose warmth, friendliness and deep pride in their country keeps us going back. When jamaicans put their hearts into something, they succeed, from earning olympic gold medals to creating entire musical genres like regular a, to creating businesses, nothing can keep a jamaican down. It's evident that god is a source of strength guiding jamaica through challenges and shaping the nation's character. There are more churches per square mile in jamaica than anywhere in the world.
▶ 0:56:59Ms. Lake: And as a woman of faith, I really admire that. We have a shared belief that through god all things are possible. Jamaica is one of our largest trading partners in the caribbean with bilateral trade in goods exceeding $3 billion in 2025. Americans account for more than 70% of the tourists visiting the island.
▶ 0:57:23Ms. Lake: And we're in and we're these deep economic security and personal ties are the foundation of the strong and enduring relationship. Under the trump administration, we are renewing our focus on strengthening partnerships in the western hemisphere, recognizing that our neighbors are vital partners in creating mutual security and prosperity. If confirmed, I will focus on four priorities. First, keeping americans safe, protecting the tens of thousands of U.S.
▶ 0:57:51Ms. Lake: Citizens living in jamaica, along with the roughly two million to visit each other is a core responsibility. With hurricane season now underway, and after two devastating storms in the path two years, it's especially important that this role is filled soon and actively engaged to work with the jamaican government to strengthen preparedness, improve coordination, and respond effectively to future disasters.
▶ 0:58:16Ms. Lake: The united states and the american people stood firmly with jamaica during its recovery from the catastrophic hurricane melissa and acted with compassion and generosity. If confirmed, I will build on that commitment and ensure this critical work continues. Second, strengthening security cooperation, I will work closely with the jamaican government to dismantle trans national criminal organizations, disrupt drug trafficking, and combat financial scams targeted at vulnerable americans.
▶ 0:58:43Ms. Lake: And third, advancing american economic interests, I will advocate for U.S. businesses, work to address trade barriers, such as jamaica's long-standing restrictions on U.S. pork exports, and promote american investment, especially as jamaica continues to rebuild. I will work to ensure american companies can compete and succeed as we deepen or economic partnerships with jamaica. Fourth, we must counter the growing economic influence.
▶ 0:59:11Ms. Lake: Less than 500 miles from our shore. They've made strategic investment as cross the caribbean in ports, infrastructure, and critical sectors that carry long-term security implications. In a region this close to the united states, those efforts are not just economic, they are strategic. I will work to ensure that jamaica continues to choose transparency, sovereignty, and partnership with the united states over dependence on actors whose interests do not align with our shared values.
▶ 0:59:42Ms. Lake: Jamaica is a democratic strait&resourceful and strong citizens make it an indispensable partner in the caribbean. If confirmed, I will bring my work ethic, clear communication, and commitment to accountability to this role, and I will ensure that the united states embassy proudly represents the american people with professionalism and purpose. I thank you for your consideration today. I look forward to your questions.
▶ 1:00:07Chair Risch: Thank you, Ms. lake. We'll hear from Mr. vance.
▶ 1:00:13Mr. Vance: Chairman risch, ranking member shaheen, and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am honored to be considered for the position of assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research. I have too many people to thank to give everyone the credit they deserve for getting me to this point. I do want to express my gratitude to the president for his confidence and to the secretary of state for the trust he has placed in me.
▶ 1:00:38Mr. Vance: I would also like to thank my wife for her patience and loving support over the course of my career. She is with me here today, along with my four children. I also want to thank my parents for the example they have set for me in life. My mother, a retired schoolteacher, taught me the value of education. My father, a former coal miner turned small business owner, taught me about hard work and dedication to family.
▶ 1:01:07Mr. Vance: I know they are watching today from home. Finally, I would like to thank the many colleagues from across the intelligence community, the state department and the white house, who have offered encouragement throughout the nomination process. If confirmed, it would be a tremendous privilege to lead the bureau of intelligence and research. It's an organization with a proud tradition of analytic rig or, independence, and service to U.S. foreign policy. I&r praise a unique role within the intelligence community.
▶ 1:01:37Mr. Vance: Its officers provide objective, policy-relevant analysis and support rooted in deep expertise and an understanding of diplomacy. Ensuring policy candid timely and free from political influence. At a time of increasing global competition, persistent conflict, and rapidly evolving technological challenges, the demand for high quality intelligence has never been greater.
▶ 1:02:03Mr. Vance: If confirmed, my foremost priority would be to safeguard the integrity and independence of I&r's analysis. While ensuring it continues to meet the needs of the secretary, the department, and congress. I also recognize the critical importance of partnership within the department and the intelligence community and with our friends and allies overseas.
▶ 1:02:25Mr. Vance: I&r's value is magnified when it understands the department and its needs, clap rates across agencies, and intergrates diplomatic insight with intelligence collection and analysis. If confirmed, I would work to strengthen those relationships. Equally important is our responsibility to congress. I am committed to transparency, timely engagement, and forth right communication. Robust oversight strengthens our intelligence institutions and I view my relationship with congress as essential to the bureau of success.
▶ 1:02:56Mr. Vance: Finally, I would be deeply mindful of our obligation to the dedicated public servants of I&r, their expertise, professionalism, and quiet dedication underpin the bureau's reputation for excellence. If confirmed, I would prioritize supporting and developing this workforce, ensuring they have the tools, leadership and trust necessary to carry out their mission. Thank you again for considering my nomination. I look forward to your questions and to the opportunity to serve our country.
▶ 1:03:26Chair Risch: Thank you very much. We'll now proceed to a round of five-minute questions by the members on the basis of first come, first serve. So with that, I was here first, I guess, so I will go first. Even if I wasn't, I'm still going to go first. I was. Ms. lake, you spent time at the U.S.
▶ 1:03:53Chair Risch: Agency for global media, and there's been a lot of discussion about the uagm amongst members for some time. I'd like you, if you could, to talk about your work while you were there, please.
▶ 1:04:09Ms. Lake: Mr. chairman, thank you so much for that question. I appreciate it. And thank you for asking me about the work that I've done at U.S. agency for global media. I'm very proud of the work we have done there. And I am currently still in the role as deputy c.e.o. At the agency. The agency runs voice of america, the agency runs office of cuban broadcasting. We have several grantees.
▶ 1:04:32Ms. Lake: And if you ask people who work at the agency right now, they will say we're doing the best news product that we've ever done. I'm really honored today to have in the crowd the person who runs our office of cuba broadcasting. He's been there 28 years, started as a reporter.
▶ 1:04:48Ms. Lake: Even though the media reports have tried to disparage the work we've done, alvaro would tell you that every single thing they've askedder for in the effort to get news into the island of cuba, that I have provided or given him or made access to so that they could be incredible journalists covering what's happening in cuba, so that the cuban people can hear it. The same goes for iran as well. We are putting in an exceptional product into iran, even during outages when the internet was down, we were on the air 24/7.
▶ 1:05:21Ms. Lake: I have people that run the newsroom who say we're doing the best coverage we've ever done. Unfortunately, the media hasn't been fair in their coverage of what we're doing. We have been modernizing the agency, and we have been making it more efficient and rooting out some of the waste. Every single media outlet across the globe has been modernized and had efficiency measures taken, except for, unfortunately, some of our government-run media.
▶ 1:05:50Ms. Lake: So I had the tall task that president trump assigned me to with an executive order to bring the agency to where it should be stat early to, and we are proud to say that we are operating right now with an incredible team of journalists who are proud of the work they're doing. We're no longer pushing anti-american sentiment, no longer pushing pro-c.c.p., pro-regime sentiment.
▶ 1:06:16Ms. Lake: We are putting out america's story and how it allianz in our foreign policy and our national security strategy.
▶ 1:06:23Chair Risch: Thank you. Appreciate that. Mr. hanrahan, you're going to find a challenge dealing with our european counterparts. The ranking member and I and other members of this committee frequently deal with our european allies. I have to say that it's very, very amused.
▶ 1:06:48Chair Risch: You get some wringing their hands and talking about how bad the relationship has deteriorated, and others that have a recognition that it's time for them to step up and be much more of an equal partner than what they've been. It's a rough patch with some people, but you're going to have to navigate that.
▶ 1:07:09Chair Risch: I've said over and over again that europe and nato and our european allies are natural partners, are natural allies, as we go through the century and confront what is going to be a real challenge from china. Even if you put our two populations together, we're still only about half of what china is.
▶ 1:07:37Chair Risch: But we are much more like our european cousins than china, and it's important that we stand together, because it's going take that really to stand up to china as they become more and more sophisticated in their challenge to us. And they're the most likely, they're the most natural allies we have in that regard. Our values are the same. We're democracies. We're capitalists.
▶ 1:08:05Chair Risch: We have a rule of law, a strong view and respect for human rights. China is 180 from that. So it's a lot easier to work with europe. Are we always going to agree? Of course not. That's never going to happen. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the relationship and your management of that.
▶ 1:08:27Mr. Hanrahan: Mr. chairman, thank you very much for that question, and thank you also to all your team's time as I went through this process. I really appreciate it. I agree with your assess am completely. I think as I noted, the intention, objective of our relationship with europe is one of an alliance that can counter shared threats, and those come from both russia and increasingly in the 21th century those will come from china.
▶ 1:08:53Mr. Hanrahan: I think one of the key focuses for president trump's administration is to bring that message and to be direct to our european partners that they need to step up. Inevitably in some of the conversations, that directness creates some bumps in the road, but I think how I, if confirmed, would take that message forward is calmly and candidly to them. I do think we're starting to see some good progress in that domain.
▶ 1:09:19Mr. Hanrahan: I think in particular, in china, there's really two components that we can work on. One is increasely awareness of the threats. Some of our european partners there, others still have a ways to go to show them what the challenges can be.
▶ 1:09:33Mr. Hanrahan: I think once we get past that, the second component is really bringing the experiences we have to think about how to calibrate export controls, how to think about putting in the right level of investment screening legislation that can create better security for the vendors, and their economies.
▶ 1:09:54Chair Risch: Thank you. It sounds like you have a good handle on the landscape there, and I we are you well as you go forward -- I wish you well as you go forward. If you can bring those things to fruition, it will be in the best interest of the united states. With that, senator shaheen.
▶ 1:10:10Sen. Shaheen: Thank you. Ms. lake, I want to begin with you, because as you heard in my opening statement, I have real concerns about how you operated at usagn. You destroyed the farsi language broadcasting ahead of president trump's war in iran. You cut the spanish language services ahead of the administration's action in venezuela. You put over 2,000 employees on leave, paying them not to do anything for months.
▶ 1:10:36Sen. Shaheen: And when my staff asked how much that costs taxpayers, you had no idea. Well, we know that keeping those personnel out of office and on administrative leave has cost american taxpayers $139.7 million. An independent audit found that your interpretation of the so-called statutory minimum standard on staffing caused the agency to violate the law.
▶ 1:11:01Sen. Shaheen: And when my staff asked questions about these actions and invited you to meet with them, you refused to meet and you subsequently directed your team to stop all communications with my staff on this committee. So help me understand how we're going to be able to trust you to respond to congress' concerns if you're confirmed as ambassador to jamaica, if what you've done to date is to stone wall questions that I have on behalf of this committee.
▶ 1:11:33Ms. Lake: Thank you, ranking member shaheen, for the question. I appreciate your concern for the agency. As I said to the chairman, I'm really proud of the work that we are doing there. We have made ourselves available to your team. I was really happy to be able to immediate with your team. I see some of them behind you right now. They were incredibly kind and had a lot of questions about usagm.
▶ 1:12:01Ms. Lake: It's a difficult task to bring an agency to statutory minimum. I leaned heavily on career civil servants who were at the agency to help figure out what that meant. And we're actually operating at a higher level than what they suggested. I think that we needed more people to do the job, and we're working really hard to make sure we continue to be efficient. If we have not been forthcoming with our time with your committee, I will apologize for that.
▶ 1:12:31Ms. Lake: I know that many members of our team have met with your staff, and I can think of three or four times that we've met with them already. And if that wasn't enough, then we can work to continue our open dialogue. I know that we have reached out recently and said where can we find some common ground on what you need so we're providing it in a timely fashion. We haven't heard back.
▶ 1:12:56Ms. Lake: I did say I would make myself available to meet with you and never got a response from your team that that was open in your schedule. Sen. shaheen why, if you didn't hear back from us, I'm sorry that that happened. I hope you will commit to provide this committee any information that's requested if you're confirmed.
▶ 1:13:15Ms. Lake: Yes, I will commit to working through the state department and their legislative affairs folks to make sure we have an open line of communication and what has he ever is needed we can provide you.
▶ 1:13:26Sen. Shaheen: Thank you. Mr. hanrahan, as I said in my opening statement, I am concerned about some of the decisions that are being made in other places throughout the administration. One of those areas in particular is our policy toward bosnia-herzegovina. The changes have been done without consultation with this committee.
▶ 1:13:52Sen. Shaheen: In our efforts to raise concerns about decisions that have been made, we have had really unacceptable responses to substantive requests. And so I'd like to submit for the record the response that I received from the department in response to my march letter, which called on the administration to impose the sanctions that are required by the fy26 ndaa on those responsible for undermining peace and stability in the
▶ 1:14:23Sen. Shaheen: Western balkans. And let me be clear, I believe it's unacceptable under any administration to not abide by the law. So if confirmed, when the chairman comes back we'll ask him to submit that response for the record, but if confirmed, do you commit to work within the co work within the administration to follow the law?
▶ 1:14:51Mr. Hanrahan: Thank you, ranking member. Specifically on the component of the 2026 ndaa related to the western balkan sanctions, yes, we will commit to following the law as outlined in if confirmed we will work with our office of the legal advisor inside the state department to work through that and be in communication with this committee as it relates to those requirements.
▶ 1:15:15Sen. Shaheen: Thank you. I'm sure you are aware that despite the economy it is spending millions of dollars in lobbyists and consultants to undermine the records. One lobbying firm stated.
▶ 1:15:38Sen. Shaheen: Plainly that its objective was to secure the support of the united states and obtain independence from bosnia and herzegovina for the republic of srpska, they were saying. And that obviously would be in violation of the dayton peace accords. Can you commit to upholding the dayton peace agreement?
▶ 1:16:00Mr. Hanrahan: Senator, thank you for the question. As it relates to this specific contract you are describing I can say unequivocally it is the department and administration's position that there should be no succession in bosnia and we support the piece of the -- that the dayton peace accords have brought. I think we are clear on that.
▶ 1:16:25Sen. Shaheen: I hope you will be clear with the lobbyists. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:16:35Chair Risch: Thank you to the chairman in the ranking member for holding this meeting and thank you to your families for being willing to serve and put yourself out there. This lake, it is great to see you today. Thank you for meeting me earlier this week. As the father of six spirited daughters I can appreciate how your eight siblings helped leave the groundwork for your role in conflict resolution. You are well-schooled.
▶ 1:17:02Chair Risch: There are some misconceptions regarding your candidacy in the 2022 elections. In the 2024 elections, where you and I were on the ballot. I would like to give you a minute to step back and give you the opportunity to speak in case there is anything you would like to address as it relates to your 2022 and 2024 elections.
▶ 1:17:21Mr. Lake: Can I have more than five minutes?
▶ 1:17:24Sen. Mccormick: No. [laughter]
▶ 1:17:27Mr. Lake: Thank you so much, senator mccormick, for opening your schedule to me. Yes, in a family of nine, girls, I did learn diplomacy, because you have to at the end of the day we did not have a lot of means. We were poor, although nobody ever told us that. He had to hop in bed and sleep with our sisters.
▶ 1:17:52Mr. Lake: You didn't want to take that fighter disagreement all that way to the next day, so I'm so honored to have grown up in a big family. Thank you very much. I felt that iran incredible campaigns with the grassroots of arizona firmly behind me and I am very proud of the way that I conducted myself and the way we ran those campaigns.
▶ 1:18:14Mr. Lake: As a newcomer to politics I thought that this country was set up where an outsider could step into politics, but then I realized political class doesn't want the outsiders. I fought for fair and free elections in the courts for the people of arizona and I'm glad the president is going to continue fighting for fair and free elections. I'm looking to the future of what I want to do is to own my skills.
▶ 1:18:41Mr. Lake: I want to take everything I have learned thus far and work at being the best diplomat and ambassador the U.S. has ever sent to jamaica and I'm looking forward to that.
▶ 1:18:50Sen. Mccormick: In your opening statement you mentioned working with the jamaican government to combat lottery scams that target vulnerable american victims to the tune of the hundred million dollars annually. Jamaica struggled for years to prosecute these networks to mystically. If confirmed, what practical resources or support would you pursue to encourage more effective cooperation between our law enforcement agencies to stop these scams?
▶ 1:19:18Mr. Lake: Thank you for asking that question, senator. People think, how can you get scammed out of your life savings? But there are some bad actors and in jamaica who have really honed the skill of bilking people out of their money with these lottery scams and financial scams. We will work closely with jamaican law enforcement officials. We already have a great relationship.
▶ 1:19:45Mr. Lake: We will work with our counterparts at the state department and work with local law enforcement here in the united states to make sure that you're doing everything we can to alert people to this problem. A lot of people unsuspecting lead to not realize they are obviously being caught up in a scam, and then prosecute people to the fullest extent of the law. I will put pressure on the jamaican government if I'm confirmed, to really prosecute and take seriously these types of crimes.
▶ 1:20:11Sen. Mccormick: Very good. Mr. segura, the administration has prioritized going after the cartels and in the western hemisphere and pursuing a whole of government approach to dismantling the narco terrorist organizations. Key to this is enlisting our allies and partners in the western hemisphere to control migration, stop drug flows and strengthen interdiction capabilities.
▶ 1:20:40Sen. Mccormick: I saw this firsthand a couple of weeks ago in columbia, where there is remarkable cooperation. How do you intend to use the bureau's diplomatic tools to build sustained operational cooperation with partners that translates into real success in disrupting those narco terrorist networks?
▶ 1:21:00Mr. Segura: Thank you for the question, senator. This is a priority for the department. It is one of my largest priorities. What has been very encouraging, especially through the president's leadership is creating this space to be able to work with our partners in the region to combat these narco terrorist organizations.
▶ 1:21:25Mr. Segura: That is going to be a huge priority of mine and also working across the department with our different bureaus that unleash funding, different tools and resources. So that we can address this scourge.
▶ 1:21:42Sen. Mccormick: Very good. Senator murphy, I think you're next.
▶ 1:21:47Sen. Murphy: Ms. lake, I heard you in response to earlier questions take credit for the programming going into iran right now. That was a little curious, given the fact that one of the early actions you took was to effectively dismantle our programming in iran.
▶ 1:22:08Sen. Murphy: You cut off funding for varsity-language radio fardi, you put the persian staff on leave such that when the bombing campaign began last summer we had really no ability to be able to send any message into iran in fact, you were able to broadcast 75 minutes of content in a 72 hour period.
▶ 1:22:37Sen. Murphy: At the very moment where it would be important for the united states to be able to broadcast a message there. So, I heard you take credit for the current amount of programming in iran. Was it your decision to dismantle radio farsi and the persian staff a mistake? >> thank you so much for that question, senator murphy.
▶ 1:23:09Sen. Murphy: Our rfp is who runs radio 40. It is very much alive and well. We had great coverage. We went into surgery mode when the attack happened, and we immediately brought in a huge team of folks to cover it during we actually covered the president's speech live with live translation.
▶ 1:23:32Sen. Murphy: I'm not asking you to tell me what is happening now. I'm asking you, why did you fire or put on leave all of the voa persia staff. Why are we in a position where we had to reconstitute all of that? Do you can see that was a mistake?
▶ 1:23:50Mr. Lake: I don't think it was a mistake. We were bringing things to statutory minimum, just what the executive order mandated for us to do and we had a small staff, the minute this happened we immediately surged and brought more people in. They call it breaking news mode and anyone who works in journalism understands you have a homeostasis level and when news breaks you jump in.
▶ 1:24:15Mr. Lake: Sen. murphy: when this crisis passes you will bring that staff back down to statutory minimums?
▶ 1:24:21Mr. Lake: We are always reassessing. I listen to the folks in voa. I don't run voa. I work at the agency level and listen to the professionals. I know there are people here in this room who work at voa who would tell you that every single thing they have asked for we have provided.
▶ 1:24:43Sen. Murphy: That is absolutely not true. Staff protested the devastating cuts. It was a mistake to dismantle our information operations in iran and your inability to conceive that was a mistake suggests that we have not learned lessons and perhaps when this crisis is gone we will once again reduce staff there. There was this very specific issue where staff were requesting access to U.S.
▶ 1:25:15Sen. Murphy: Transmitters in kuwait. That were necessary in order to broadcast into iran. And you denied them access to use those transmitters, finally giving them access to one frequency when they needed multiple frequencies. You said it was because the transmitters were down, that they were in operable. That doesn't seem to be true.
▶ 1:25:37Sen. Murphy: It seems from all reports those transmitters were available and you were simply making a decision to limit the amount of capacity we had to broadcast into iran. You seem to have walked back your contentions that those transmitters were down. It seems like you were not telling the truth.
▶ 1:25:58Sen. Murphy: Can you tell us now either those transmitters were actually inoperable or whether you are actively denying the ability for our staff who do this work to transmit information into iran? >> think you very much for that question. We have given all funding to radio free-europe, radio free-asia. Radio free-europe is the one that operates radio farda.
▶ 1:26:28Sen. Murphy: We have given them every single --
▶ 1:26:29Sen. Murphy: This is a very specific issue where there was a major problem because we were not able to broadcast into iran because you had denied access to these transmitters. You said it was because they were inoperable. They were not, correct?
▶ 1:26:45Mr. Lake: We have had repairs done on them, so it could have been at a time when repairs were done.
▶ 1:26:53Sen. Murphy: He said this was not a decision to deny them access. That they were in operable. This committee can find the answer to this question pretty easily. You are always doing repairs on transmitters. Those were not an operable, correct?
▶ 1:27:07Mr. Lake: I will have to look into that.
▶ 1:27:10Sen. Murphy: You stated on the record they were inoperable, whereas your staff contended you were denying them access to the transmitters in order to limit the amount of information in iran.
▶ 1:27:24Mr. Lake: Radio far to -- farda was doing a product and we were putting voa, which is a government-owned entity, on the fairways in iran. And, you know, we have only 24 hours in the day. Unfortunately. Sometimes I wish we had more. We chose to put voa --
▶ 1:27:48Sen. Murphy: I'm well over my time. Your limitation of our ability to transmit information into iran is egregious. It is made more -- more egregious in that you were not working behind the scenes to limit our ability to tell an american story in iran and I will follow-up for the record on this question of whether you were telling the truth about those transmitters being inoperable.
▶ 1:28:12Mr. Lake: Happy to answer any additional questions.
▶ 1:28:20Chair Risch: Senator hagerty, you're next.
▶ 1:28:24Sen. Hagerty: Ms. lake, I would like to stay with you for some clarification. The first time I was charged with running a government agency I eliminated over 40% of the positions in the department. I did it right away. Basically eliminated over 40% of the positions. I did that in the face of a great deal of criticism. That created a lot of discomfort.
▶ 1:28:54Sen. Hagerty: But what happened was we took a department that was delivering a state that was performing in the bottom half of every economic metric to one that moved quickly to performing at the apex of that. Those sorts of transitions take time. But what you can see at the end is a much higher-performing entity. I want to applaud you for where you took the agency and acknowledge the fact that sometimes that movement requires disruption.
▶ 1:29:27Sen. Hagerty: It is not always a seamless effort, but it is something that can result in what I think can be a much better product for the american taxpayer. If I think about what you must've encountered when you took over the U.S. agency for global media I have some specific examples of what -- this is not what you found, this is what investigators found. Hundreds of thousands of dollars at voice of america were being spent to sponsor a cricket team in afghanistan.
▶ 1:29:55Sen. Hagerty: They hired journalists who previously worked for companies that were tied to the kremlin. In fact, one of the people that the agency hired as a freelancer was arrested by one of our allies on suspicion of spying for russia. These are people that american taxpayer dollars were being used the higher. One of the american employees was convicted of making threatening calls to republican members of congress.
▶ 1:30:20Sen. Hagerty: Last year the voice of america's broadcast in spanish ran a story with the president of the united states' image and a swastika impressed on his forehead. That sounds like an agency that is desperately in need of reform and I want to thank you for leaning in and stopping the waste, to making certain that american taxpayer dollars are being delivered and used effectively in getting us back on the right track.
▶ 1:30:48Sen. Hagerty: Let me get back onto the topic of this -- the other topics that concern me. Mr. secura, if I think about your job, your challenges in the western hemisphere, they are great. I think about what has happened with our southern border, countering the narco terrorist networks there. A big challenge. If it think about the statistic, the cdc has explained that in 2024 we had over 80,000 deaths due to drug overdoses in america.
▶ 1:31:18Sen. Hagerty: Over 48,000 of those from fentanyl. I think about the number of people killed by fentanyl in a single year. It exceeds the sum total of all americans that died in vietnam in active duty. This is a real crisis and I think the challenge is significant. And I want to think the administration for stepping up our activities and border security stepping up activities. Trying to disrupt these cartels.
▶ 1:31:43Sen. Hagerty: But I also want to ask you, weaving forward, what is the most important role the euro can play to continue to undertake this battle? What do you need and what do you intend to do? >> thank you, senator for the question. As a fellow I understand you are a secretary of commerce in tennessee at one point so I appreciate the work you did there as well.
▶ 1:32:08Sen. Hagerty: As it relates to stopping the flow of fentanyl, this administration has categorically changed the game in a positive way when it comes to stopping the flow of illegal narcotics into this country. We have applied pressure. We have rebalanced relationships. For example, with mexico. We have held them to account.
▶ 1:32:31Sen. Hagerty: For example, on the southern border they are now enlisting more than 10,000 national guardsmen on their side of the border to stop the flow of illegal immigration. That is a huge component to this fentanyl fight. But there are other tools. We have to secure ports of entry all over the hemisphere because that is how a lot of these substances, especially on the precursors side, or feeding into the hemisphere and eventually getting into our country.
▶ 1:32:56Sen. Hagerty: These are areas that have been focused on a prioritized and I look forward to working with the national and --
▶ 1:33:04Sen. Hagerty: I applaud that. We want to see the successful. We all do on every side of this. This lake, I want to come back to you on a related topic here. Beyond your normal role as ambassador you're going to be responsible for an interagency effort to deal with U.S.-jamaica counter narcotics efforts. It is going to require leading a team that has personal in the state department side and in law enforcement.
▶ 1:33:32Sen. Hagerty: Can you illuminate us in terms of how you plan to approach that challenge?
▶ 1:33:40Mr. Lake: Thank you so much for the question, and I want to commend the people who are on the ground in jamaica. From what I understand they are doing incredible work working with the jamaican authorities. You're taking the incredible knowledge we have in law enforcement here. Also in investigations and we are hoping to train additional forces in jamaica and we will be working with the department of war. I understand they are hot on bringing down these narco terrorists. Posted the drugs are coming from columbia.
▶ 1:34:08Mr. Lake: About 40% of the drugs coming from columbia, and they stop at jamaica and they go out to other areas. Some of them are making their way into the united states. One death from fentanyl or overdose from drugs, in my opinion, is one death too many. I'm glad we have a president that is taking this issue seriously. Fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction and I think the people of jamaica deserve the safety of their government is now working to help provide.
▶ 1:34:36Mr. Lake: They have brought down the murder rates by 43% from what I understand in the country. They are making huge progress in making jamaica a safer country and I think the people of jamaica deserve that and the people of america deserve that as well. When I was serving as U.S. ambassador to japan we found out china was using japan as a transshipment point as well. I think everyone of our investors needs to be extremely diligent, looking for the type of challenge you're going to be addressing.
▶ 1:35:04Mr. Lake: If my offices can be of any help in that regard I am opening the door to you to utilize that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. chairman. Senator kaine.
▶ 1:35:15Sen. Kaine: This like, in response to a question you said you were proud of the way you ran your campaigns in 20 and 2024. In september 2020 four you gave a tv interview about your opponent, then house member senator gallego, in which you said he is "controlled by the cartels. His own father was a colombian drug trafficker, and so he has links to the cartel.
▶ 1:35:44Sen. Kaine: A political act article on october 3 a few days later rated that pants on fire. And the title of the article -- and I would like to submit it for the record, Mr. chair -- is an arizona senator -- senate race kari lake fabricates link between senator gallego's and cartels. This is pretty undiplomatic behavior. Just for my colleagues, I hope you might read this story.
▶ 1:36:15Sen. Kaine: Ruben, r. Kelly, has written a memoir about his troubled up ringing in the fact that he was abandoned by his father. Who then did get into criminal trouble. He was abandoned by his father. He had to be raised by his mother. He was so furious at his father that he changed his last name to his mother's maiden name.
▶ 1:36:35Sen. Kaine: He talks about graduating from boot camp as a marine and after years of abandonment his dad tried to show up and take credit for his own graduation from marine boot camp and he writes about how furious that made him and still make some. He writes about how ashamed he is of his father, how angry he is at his father. Abandonment by a father is one of the most seminal tragedies of life.
▶ 1:37:02Sen. Kaine: We can go back to the biblical phrase -- "my god, my god, why has thou forsaken me?" this is not something to fool around with. Ms. lake accused one of our sitting colleagues of being controlled by the cartels. You have no evidence then, would you have any evidence now that our colleague senator gallego is controlled by cartels, do you, miss light?
▶ 1:37:25Mr. Lake: Well, we provided the receipts. The father was a high level drug trafficker, trafficking hundreds of thousands --
▶ 1:37:34Sen. Kaine: You said that ruben gallego was controlled by the cartels. Provided no evidence. This was rated pants on fire. A lie. You had no evidence then and you have no evidence now that ruben gallego is controlled by cartels. Isn't that right?
▶ 1:37:53Mr. Lake: Thank you for the question, senator kaine. I do appreciate it. I don't know and I'm not here to do reputational control --
▶ 1:38:02Sen. Kaine: How about an apology for our college? If you made that claim he is controlled by cartels -- and now you're saying you don't know what the facts are -- then you are all edging your charge was wrong. How about apologizing?
▶ 1:38:14Mr. Lake: I don't believe my charge was wrong. Ben gallegos' father was a high level --
▶ 1:38:21Sen. Kaine: That's not the question I ask you. You asserted he was controlled by cartels. Had no evidence then, you have no evidence now you are unwilling to admit it. And here is something that is even worse, Mr. chair. That was during the heat of a campaign. Sometimes we see angst during campaigns. She has continued to repeat this as a sitting member of the trump administration.
▶ 1:38:45Sen. Kaine: A couple months ago ruben gallego's put out a tweet against the invasion of venezuela. He did not mention Ms. lake, he just said he was against it. And she at 2:35 in the morning the following day responded, you are a member of a mexican cartel family. You are also a fraud. No one is surprised by your take. She is continuing to repeat a lie.
▶ 1:39:10Sen. Kaine: She just told the committee she has no idea whether it is true or false, but she was glad to see it and she won't retract it now. It should be disqualifying. Mr. secretary, I have a question for you. Your role is not only to be the assistant secretary, for which you are nominated, but also to be key on the inter-american foundation. It is a congressionally-established foundation. It has sustained, robust bipartisan support.
▶ 1:39:38Sen. Kaine: Will you abide by the law that states the foundation shall have perpetual succession unless sooner dissolved by congress and commit to us not to take any action to dismantle or imperil the work of the foundation unless dissolved by congress? Quick senator, think you for the question. Want to commend the work you did as a missionary. I also was a missionary in latin america. It is a beautiful thing to do.
▶ 1:40:09Sen. Kaine: As it relates to your question I will follow all laws, senator.
▶ 1:40:12Sen. Kaine: So, that particular law that the foundation will have perpetual succession unless dissolved by congress is one you will follow?
▶ 1:40:21Mr. Segura: Like I mentioned earlier, I will follow all laws.
▶ 1:40:25Sen. Kaine: I yield back. >> thanks, Mr. chairman. Ms. lake, what can you tell us about your take on the best way to help jamaica? As investor do you intend to focus more on aid or lifting trade burdens? On increasing economic opportunities for the island?
▶ 1:40:48Mr. Lake: Thank you, senator lee, for that question. If confirmed we are going to look at everything. We are going to hit the ground running and look at ways to expand american business opportunities and try to level the playing field because right now when we are competing with -- for a contract with the ccp or ccp-controlled company often times they will under-bid the united states.
▶ 1:41:14Mr. Lake: We want to make sure we are working with jamaica to make sure that there is a level playing field so that american businesses have a real shot to do great work. We will provide better quality work. We hire jamaicans and we are assisting and also allowing for american companies to expand. I think big companies that could help right now, there is a huge need after this category five which devastated, especially the southern and western part of the island.
▶ 1:41:44Mr. Lake: If we don't take an active approach to getting companies in to bid and get some of these big purchases and jobs we are going to see the vacuum filled by more chinese influence in that country and that is concerning to me. I think it is concerning to both sides of the aisle when it comes to what china has done and their influence so close to home.
▶ 1:42:05Senator Lee: We have seen that all over this hemisphere. Many parts of central and south america. China getting footholds, putting a base in argentina, for example. A lot of increased ties with brazil, with the current government in columbia just to name a few.
▶ 1:42:23Senator Lee: I would imagine that adding jamaica to the list, securing significant foothold in jamaica would be a huge feather in the cap for ccp four coup really want a massive inroad at the doorstep of continental united states of america. When you think is the best antidote to that and how would you work with the jamaican government to discourage that from happening?
▶ 1:42:51Senator Lee: Right now the chinese have a massive steak in one of the key ports in kingston. I think they have 49% control over it. That puts us at risk. We need to rebalance things and work with the jamaican government on that. Not just big businesses. There are small businesses as well. We all know that jamaica has incredible athletes. They dominate in track and field and gold medals. The fastest man in the world, usain bolt, we watched as he wiled the world.
▶ 1:43:19Senator Lee: But there are tropical climates that also has a winter olympic team. Bobsled. -- senator lee: bobsled.
▶ 1:43:27Mr. Lake: The company in utah does the outfitting for that team, the jamaican bobsled team, which I think is cool. We definitely want big projects, but we want to encourage all kinds of american businesses to invest in jamaica and jamaicans to invest in america as well. You can buy a lot of things in jamaica. You can chew up and not have swim trunks and purchase those. You can purchase beach towels. Whatever you need. But you cannot purchase winter park because in jamaica.
▶ 1:43:58Senator Lee: I would imagine it would have limited utility.
▶ 1:44:02Mr. Lake: It would. You just don't need it. There is a real opportunity to work as with our partners, our neighbors, jamaica, an incredible country and I'm looking forward to it.
▶ 1:44:14Senator Lee: There is a growing sense that gang violence is becoming more of a problem throughout the caribbean and growing concern that some of this is a spillover effect from haiti, which has been really at a big problem with gang violence. Any thoughts on how best the united states can work with jamaica in order to bring that problem under control?
▶ 1:44:39Mr. Lake: Thank you for the question and thank you for mentioning 80. Not only is the united states taking an active role, but jamaica is as well. Jamaica has some very talented individuals that are on the ground. I think the second in command, from what I understand in this gang suppression activity happening and the work to stabilize haiti, is jamaican.
▶ 1:45:04Mr. Lake: So, it is in jamaica's interest, it is really in the caribbean interest to make sure we can solve some of the serious problems in haiti and we will be focusing on that if confirmed.
▶ 1:45:17Senator Lee: Remind me again. You and I have talked about this in the past. You have had this ongoing relationship with jamaica. I have not met many ambassadorial nominees who have been to that country nearly as many times as you have. Tell me how that came about and remind me why you feel so strongly about this country.
▶ 1:45:38Mr. Lake: Growing up in iowa I never had the opportunity to do a vacation in a big family. If we did vacation it was summer with a short drive or going to visit grandparents.
▶ 1:45:48Senator Lee: As note -- as one of seven children I know that.
▶ 1:45:52Mr. Lake: Car trips were an experience. Especially with carsick kids. The first time I got to see the ocean I saved money and flew to jamaica. Was the first ocean I ever saw. That is a great ocean to see, the caribbean ocean. We just kept going back. The beaches are great. My family and I, our kids are big swimmers. We like to swim in the ocean. We like to cliff jump and there is some great cliff jumping in west moreland parish.
▶ 1:46:22Mr. Lake: Mostly, we love the people. There is a feeling you get in jamaica. The spirit of the people. They love their country. It reminds me of the patriotic pride I carry in my heart for this great country, america, where opportunities are so great and I'm glad to see that things are looking up. I know that as they continue to rebuild after this catastrophic hurricane I think they are going to pull themselves out of this and bright days are ahead for jamaica.
▶ 1:46:48Senator Lee: They are, indeed. Especially after we get you confirmed. Thank you. >> thank you, chairman. Thank each of you for your willingness to serve. Congratulations on your nominations and I look forward to when you will get through this process. Mr. segura, latin america is a big deal for florida, right?
▶ 1:47:16Senator Lee: If we want to unlock venezuela's economic potential and attract foreign investment that cannot happen on the back of a entrenched, corrupt regime. Any serious stabilization has to be accompanied by the full release of political prisoners. A genuine restoration of the rule of law and independent courts, credible elections that allows venezuela to choose leaders freely.
▶ 1:47:41Senator Lee: Without those foundations the country's future will always be held back by the same corrupt able and structures that brought venezuela to the state it is in now. After all, one who abuse the venezuelan people for decades stole the property of U.S. citizens and kidnapped to them is still in power. I know the administration and I have talked to the president. I've talked to secretary rubio. They clearly understand the difficulty of moving to democracy.
▶ 1:48:08Senator Lee: Can you talk about how you think about this and how we are going to get to free and fair elections and a complete change in trajectory for venezuelans?
▶ 1:48:17Mr. Segura: Thank you, senator, for the question, and spending time with me. I really enjoyed our meeting. As it relates to venezuela the secretary -- and I agree with his strategy and approach -- has been very clear that we have to get to democratically-held elections. There is a process. There is a three-step process we are going through. Stabilization, recovery, and reconciliation and then transition.
▶ 1:48:44Mr. Segura: I have been very encouraged to see that in this second stage that the secretary has mentioned we are in we are seeing the release of political prisoners in venezuela. We have to continue to pressure the interim government to kind of release all political prisoners, not just some. And to obviously get to the point where they can have that last step of transition in elections.
▶ 1:49:09Senator Scott: Mr. hanrahan russia's invasion of ukraine has now lasted longer than world war I. This is one of the greatest political foreign policy blunders of recent memory. Hundreds of thousands of russian soldiers have been killed for minute -- for minimal territorial gains.
▶ 1:49:26Senator Scott: This year's victory day parade in moscow scaled-back and overshadowed by a record ukrainian drone attacks underscores just how ukraine is now bringing the war to russian territory through its drone technology and expanding any fracturing capacity. I think this year they're going to build 5 million drones.
▶ 1:49:46Senator Scott: As the assistant secretary for european and eurasian affairs how will you ensure that the united is absorbing the key lessons of this conflict about sanctions, economic pressure and long-term deterrence?
▶ 1:50:00Mr. Hanrahan: Senator, thank you for that question. I would state at the outset that ending the war in ukraine through and negotiated settlement remains one of the key focuses for president trump in europe and if confirmed I will engage in that vigorously.
▶ 1:50:17Mr. Hanrahan: To the specific question on the evolution of warfare and the lessons learned from that, certainly, as you note, drone technology and the production of ukraine in that those technologies has evolved rapidly, as I have been briefed the pentagon is currently in discussions pursuing the drone deal to indigenous some of the technologies that they have developed in ukraine, which I think can greatly fit the united states prosecution of future warfare.
▶ 1:50:48Mr. Hanrahan: And communal, is well-suited to the support we have provided ukraine. I think one of the other good evolutions president trump has led in this war is evolving the way that we support the ukrainians specifically by getting europe to pay their fair share. Specifically through the perl program. Nato allies are stepping up. They are paying for U.S.
▶ 1:51:09Mr. Hanrahan: Weapons and munitions to be delivered to ukraine and look forward to continuing that program which I think has been a good benefit and evolution of the way we support that conflict.
▶ 1:51:21Senator Scott: Mr. vance, americans are safer because of the intelligence we share with our allies. Through five eyes and through deep partnerships with countries like israel that give us real time insight into terrorism, cyber threats, and hostile activity. Any talk about how important these relationships are to what you will be doing in this role?
▶ 1:51:43Mr. Vance: Senator, thank you very much for the question. I started in 2002 at the national security agency, where we worked extremely closely with our second party and third party partners. Throughout my career I've seen the value, the way our allies can be forced-magnifiers for us. Sometimes just the geography. Staying in position to facilitate can be externally powerful. But also the unique regional insights.
▶ 1:52:11Mr. Vance: For example, our australian partners provide us insight into southeast asia. Should be confirmed I would bring that appreciation for how this partnerships can magnify our capabilities in the collection space as well as the analysis space.
▶ 1:52:25Senator Scott: I think each of you for your willingness to serve. Thank you, chairman. >> thank you. It is great to be with all of you today and, Ms. lake, as you know I have enjoyed getting to know you better. If I'm honest I knew you from your persona and you and I had never met and I'm trying to get to know the real kari lake.
▶ 1:52:50Senator Scott: And I'm grateful for the visit you made to my office and for the chance we have had to talk about a number of issues. So, I'm somewhat satisfied on those questions and would like to turn my attention today to jamaica and particularly china. And we have heard today about drugs, about gangs, but also equally concerning to me is china. And their relationship in jamaica.
▶ 1:53:17Senator Scott: The chinese ambassador in jamaica said in may that president xi jinping sized jamaica is a strategic partner of china. What is your assessment of china's strategic objectives in jamaica and what are the true motives there?
▶ 1:53:31Mr. Lake: Thank you, senator curtis, and thank you for the time you afforded me in your office. I enjoyed getting to know you as well. I had never met you before and I sometimes have to prove to people I don't have horns growing out of my head because the media has done a number on me, so thank you for giving me the chance.
▶ 1:53:48Senator Curtis: I mentioned as a utah and, sometimes we have that same problem.
▶ 1:53:52Mr. Lake: The media's tough there too.
▶ 1:53:54Senator Curtis: People thinking we have horns.
▶ 1:53:57Mr. Lake: We love utah. We have a lot of good friends who live there as well. So, thank you so much. I'm learning a lot more about it. I don't know as much as you and I appreciate your service on the western hemisphere committee as the chairman.
▶ 1:54:13Mr. Lake: He talked a little bit about it, but there is nasa not just from -- there is a strategy of taking a huge section of the ports, but also when you look at the 5g and telecom with huawei expanding it is very concerning what could happen. No, there is always strings attached with china, and the question is, do you want all of the information going through huawei, where you all of a sudden would have that information being trickled back to the ccp and china?
▶ 1:54:44Mr. Lake: There are massive concerns, and as this need right now to rebuild has created a lot of opportunity for companies to come in, I would really -- rather say, and I know you and everybody here, american companies to come in to assist.
▶ 1:55:00Senator Curtis: Speaking of that, did you know the chinese firm won a major contract for the kingston port expansion in 2020 five? What questions should the U.S. be asking about data access, port resilience, logistics, and you use risks? -- dual use risks?
▶ 1:55:20Mr. Lake: You know, from what I have been briefed on some of the concerns are when they are controlling and seeing everything that is coming in it puts at a great risk for american -- for our security when they have access and control over everything coming into the country there are huge risks and I think department of war is probably looking closely at that. I'm looking forward to getting more briefings on this. As you know, everything I have been briefed on is what is publicly available.
▶ 1:55:50Mr. Lake: As I learn more I would be happy to meet with you or if you want to share concerns I would be happy to listen in.
▶ 1:55:55Senator Curtis: You have a unique background in communications. How can you use that background to work with jamaica and help them see exactly what comes with a chinese relationship versus the U.S. relationship?
▶ 1:56:08Mr. Lake: You know, a lot of -- if you are not putting out your story somebody else is. And americans have done such great work with our partners in jamaica. They are our neighbors. They have a great relationship. We are culturally or similar and we need to tell the people what we are doing. On the ground in massive numbers after the hurricane the U.S.
▶ 1:56:34Mr. Lake: Military put out 133 flights in the hours after the hurricane struck and we brought in almost 500 -- I think 400 80-something humanitarian relief workers. We brought in search-and-rescue cruise. Heavy equipment to move debris off of roads. Entire communities that were cut off and, sadly, many deaths. 45 deaths and many others were hurt. A quarter of a million people were displaced and needed housing. America was there.
▶ 1:57:04Mr. Lake: We need to tell that story. We will continue to be there but we cannot continue to watch as china makes huge moves right here in our front yard.
▶ 1:57:13Senator Curtis: If you are confirmed I would love to see you use that expertise and talent to get that story out and help the united states get the credit and make sure the blinders are off on china. I am out of time and I yield my time.
▶ 1:57:28Mr. Lake: Thank. >> senator cruz.
▶ 1:57:35Sen. Cruz: Congratulations to each of the nominees. Thank you for your service. Mr. segura, I want to talk about a foreign policy issue that is critical to my home state of texas. In 1944 the united states and mexico signed a treaty governing shared water resources. Under that agreement mexico is required to deliver 1.7 5 million acre-feet of water every five years, which works out of -- -- five years.
▶ 1:58:04Sen. Cruz: For the entirety of the biden administration mexico has failed to meet those obligations. That has exacerbated the water crisis in texas and put farmers and ranchers and communities in south texas at serious risk. I repeatedly pressed mexico to deliver the water it owes under the treaty and have authored legislation to hold mexico accountable for failing to do so.
▶ 1:58:28Sen. Cruz: Fortunately, the inaction from the state department that we saw hunter biden changed dramatically with president's being elected. I worked hand-in-hand with president trump to ensure that south texas it's the water mexico owes it. As a result of leadership texas has received more water than it has already under the previous administration. However, mexico still owes us over 600,000 acre-feet of water from prior commitments.
▶ 1:58:59Sen. Cruz: It's most recent delivery of 200 came weeks after the march 31 deadline. If confirmed are you prepared to take whatever steps are necessary against mexico to ensure that sicko stays current on its deliveries and pays back the water they owe to texas?
▶ 1:59:24Mr. Segura: Thank you for the question, senator, and also making your staff available to me.
▶ 1:59:40Sen. Cruz: That is some dam fine ass-kissery too.
▶ 1:59:50Mr. Segura: If confirmed I would love to come visit your state. Hopefully with you, to see the real impacts of the mexican deficit. As you mentioned, the last year we have gotten more water to texan farmers than the last four years under the previous administration. I know the state department is making progress, but we have to hold mexico accountable and I am I count -- -- committed to doing that.
▶ 2:00:19Sen. Cruz: You can see the real consequences with the drought in south texas. We have farmers that are taking half of their land out of production because they don't have water. They are laying off workers. In 2024 the only sugar mill in texas closed because there was not enough water to produce the crop. In mexico is diverting that water to northern mexico and the farms in northern mexico are lush and verdant and wash with water.
▶ 2:00:47Sen. Cruz: So, I am grateful for the state department's assistance and the president directly. He is engaged directly on this issue multiple times, which is what produced action from mexico finally honoring its treaty commitments. I look forward to working closely with you. Let's shift to another topic. While we are on the topic of mexico want to talk about the threat posed by mexican drug cartels. Texans are on the front line suffering the consequences of runaway policies in mexico city.
▶ 2:01:21Sen. Cruz: Vicious cartels run rampant in mexico, further fueling american deaths. These cartels are sophisticated transnational criminal organizations that control territory, that move the lens of dollars in illicit revenue and operate with capabilities that rival those of some state actors. They should be treated as the threat they are.
▶ 2:01:41Sen. Cruz: Last summer when I traveled down to mexico I pressed mexican officials on this issue and shared president trump's message that all options are on the table against these cartels. Do you share president trump's commitment to eliminating these organizations, and does that commitment include potential using military force if necessary?
▶ 2:02:05Mr. Segura: Thank you for the question, senator. Under this president's leadership the dynamic has changed. We have done things that folks have been trying to do for a long time. Example, designating the cartels as ftos. That gives us a lot more tools to go after these organizations. 100% we have to use every tool available to us to go after the cartels and if confirmed I look forward to working with you, the committee to do that.
▶ 2:02:42Mr. Segura: >> thank you, Mr. chairman. Mr. segura, if confirmed would you agree that part of the goal of someone in your position would be to encourage other countries in the western hemisphere to respect human rights and political rights?
▶ 2:03:03Mr. Segura: Thank you for the question, senator. Yes, to your question.
▶ 2:03:07Sen. Van Hollen: I want to raise el salvador. Because over four years ago president bukele initiated a 30-day state of exception. This was a state of emergency where they suspended certain constitutional rights, like the right of free assembly, like the rights of due process, like the access to legal counsel. For a good purpose, which was to crack down on gang violence. But here is the thing.
▶ 2:03:38Sen. Van Hollen: He said it was going to be 30 days. It is now over four years and by many credible reports the prisons are filled with people who are not gang members, but people who were swept up in this state of exception. And they have used the state of exception to silence sent, detaining political opponents, anti-corruption advocates, human rights defenders.
▶ 2:04:06Sen. Van Hollen: There was a very credible report in march of this year by a salvadoran human rights organization that said more than 500 people had died in state custody under the so-called state of exception. And so, my question to you is pretty straightforward. Will you work with us, if confirmed, to address some of these human rights abuses in el salvador?
▶ 2:04:29Mr. Segura: Thank you, senator, for the question. We have a bilateral relationship with the el salvador in spirit and very productive one and countering cartels, narco traffickers, the security situation. I can commit to working with the committee on a whole host of issues with el salvador, including certain allegations or other information, and I can commit to that.
▶ 2:04:54Sen. Van Hollen: I didn't really hear clear answer to working -- to whether you commit to working with this committee to ensure better compliance with the government of el salvador, with respect to human rights.
▶ 2:05:10Sen. Van Hollen: You mentioned the bilateral relationship, and of course that bilateral relationship includes the fact that the government of el salvador colluded with this administration to take and hold people in violation of their constitutional rights. In fact, the government of el salvador has been very open that we paid them money and they took these individuals without looking any deeper into the allegations against them.
▶ 2:05:40Sen. Van Hollen: So, yes, we have a bilateral relationship. We have bilateral relations with lots of countries. My question to you is more specific, which is, will you work with us to encourage the government of el salvador to respect human rights and political rights?
▶ 2:05:57Mr. Segura: Senator, like and mentioned, this is a big priority of mine. I will work with the committee.
▶ 2:06:06Sen. Van Hollen: There are some U.S. citizens that have been swept up apparently and our goal is to make sure they have a fair hearing and opportunity with respect to due process. Would you agree that the state department has no higher priority than protecting the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad?
▶ 2:06:27Mr. Segura: Of course, that is a very important priority, senator.
▶ 2:06:31Sen. Van Hollen: Can you work with us to ensure that these U.S. citizens who are detained see the due process that we would expect the government to provide?
▶ 2:06:42Mr. Segura: So, I'm not in the bureau right now, so I don't have facts, circumstances, and I believe that there is current litigation in a lot of these cases and the department does not comment on those, so I can follow up with the committee once in the seat. I look for to doing that.
▶ 2:07:05Sen. Van Hollen: Let me raise one last case. It is ruth lopez. She is an anticorruption lawyer. I met with her before. I recently met with her husband because she has been detained without -- you know, by the government on -- we don't even know exactly what the charges are but they are fairly political charges. She is clearly a political prisoner.
▶ 2:07:29Sen. Van Hollen: Would you work with us to seek to secure the release of political prisoners in el salvador?
▶ 2:07:36Mr. Segura: Senator, I can commit to working with the committee. I have not been briefed. Ms. lopez, was it? I have not committed or been briefed on this issue. The facts, the circumstances, but this is a big role of mine. If confirmed is to come in front of this committee and work with the committee. I can definitely do that.
▶ 2:07:58Sen. Van Hollen: Thank you, Mr. chair.
▶ 2:08:00Chair Risch: Senator shaheen.
▶ 2:08:03Sen. Shaheen: I have a question I would like to ask you, Mr. segura, because one of the things that I am concerned about , and actually I should back up, because I was quite pleased to hear almost all of you talk about your concerns with respect to china. And the inroads that china is making, particularly in latin america.
▶ 2:08:28Sen. Shaheen: One of the things that this -- the minority members of this committee produced a year ago and have in the last month put out a second version of it an analysis of what is happening with china post-the elimination of usaid and many of the programs we have had that have been helpful in operating in
▶ 2:08:59Sen. Shaheen: Latin america. And what the report is called is the price of retreat. America cedes global leadership to china. And it points out that in our hemisphere countries are rapidly looking to diversify their trade relationships with the united states. They are deepening their engagement with china. We have right now 16 of 26 ambassadorial posts in the western hemisphere that are still vacant.
▶ 2:09:31Sen. Shaheen: Now hopefully if numbers of this panel get confirmed that will reduce that number by a couple. But it still indicates that we have challenges there. So, given that much of what we have used in the past the many of the incentives, many of the options we have used work with countries are no longer available, how do you see closing that gap with china and addressing the challenges we have throughout the western
▶ 2:10:04Sen. Shaheen: Hemisphere?
▶ 2:10:06Mr. Segura: Thank you for that question, senator. To your point, the chinese have infiltrated the western hemisphere. They have either controlling interests or a large minority interest in a lot of critical infrastructure. They practice predatory lending to the point where communal, challenges at times, the sovereignty of our partners in the hemisphere. It is definitely one of the top areas that if confirmed I plan to work on.
▶ 2:10:36Mr. Segura: A lot of the challenges that I have come from conversations I have had an things I have read a lot of the challenges that seem to happen is, american companies, there was a time where american companies were not showing up, and so a big part of the restructure under the secretary's leadership that I commend is that we are leading with commercial diplomacy. Her posts in these different countries are identifying tenders.
▶ 2:11:04Mr. Segura: They are working with counterparts in these countries and identifying opportunities where america can bid on projects, can be a partner on projects. That is deafly going to be a huge part of what I hope to focus on if confirmed.
▶ 2:11:19Sen. Shaheen: I appreciate that. It is easier to do that when we have ambassadors in place in those countries, and we also have commercial at cachet's there who can address e-commerce aspect of it. Those are some of the positions that right now are vacant that we just don't have the ability to compete. I hope you will focus on that and share with the committee, if you are confirmed, what you are seeing in latin america.
▶ 2:11:50Sen. Shaheen: Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 2:11:51Chair Risch: Thank you, senator shane. Thank you to our panel and all of you for willing to serve and for your families to assist in that regard. And as we close the hearing I'm going to order that any letters of support or otherwise the committee has received will be included in the record. I will also note for the information of members that the record will be open until the close of business monday, june 22, including for members to submit questions for the record. If you get one of those I hope you will answer quickly.
▶ 2:12:23Chair Risch: It will help you as much as us and with that, thanks to the committee and the committee is adjourned.