Kirstjen Nielsen on threats to the homeland, election security and the emergency on the southern border

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Kirstjen Nielsen on threats to the homeland, election security and the emergency on the southern border

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen joins Bret Baier on 'Special Report.'

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," March 19, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Let's bring in Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Madam Secretary -- thanks for being here.

KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: My pleasure. Good to see you.

BAIER: First I want to talk about your speech today about the state of homeland security and then deal with the issues of the day including the border and other issues.

You say in this speech today that the threats we face are graver than at any time since 9/11.

NIELSEN: Yes.

BAIER: Why?

NIELSEN: First of all they are so widespread. Secondly, they affect everyone. Everyday Americans are affected by cyber warfare, affected by national disasters, affected by potential for chemical and biological weapons.

And mainly -- and this is what does keep me up at night -- emerging threats are evolving so quickly. We've got to get the arms of government to swing faster to be able to give us the authorities and tools we need.

BAIER: You put a particular onus on cyber and that nation states like China, Iran, North Korea are active pretty much every day.

NIELSEN: Absolutely. Every minute. Every minute. I mean they are probing our systems. They are trying to get into our systems. And they do it for a whole variety of reasons, not just sabotage. They do it to steal our intellectual property. North Korea does it to steal money as we know.

And unfortunately, increasingly all three countries -- China, Russia, and Iran are doing it to influence the way that Americans think and the way that our very democracy works.

BAIER: Have you done enough to this point? You know, you've talked before -- we have talked before about election security.

NIELSEN: Yes.

BAIER: Has enough been done?

NIELSEN: We always have more to do. You know, I will never say we are finished.

BAIER: Yes.

NIELSEN: No, it was election -- the good news is we have very strong partnerships with all 50 states going into the next election cycle. We have asked for auditability by 2020 meaning that whatever system you have, we want to be able to roll it back and ensure that every vote is counted and counted correctly.

So we are doing everything from penetration testing upon request to anything else state and locals might need. We are meeting them where they are and their preparedness to ensure that we're all prepared for 2020.

BAIER: There are critics up on Capitol Hill. Here's Congresswoman Jackie Speier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JACKIE SPEIER, D-CALIF.: Our president is a national security terrorist. The fact that China was able to hack into 27 universities just last week and get the RND on maritime projects per DOD -- they were underway in those various universities -- is a cyber war act. It is an act of cyber warfare. What does our president say or do?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: First of all, is that true?

NIELSEN: It is not true that the president doesn't care about cyber war if that was the inference --

BAIER: In 27 universities and the DOD.

NIELSEN: There is active hacking. So where we're looking, as you know attribution is very, very difficult. But we continue to do that because an important part of what this president has said is that we are replacing complacency with consequences. So if you hack us we will identify you and we will impose sanctions. And we've done that.

BAIER: So at what point is a hack an act of war?

NIELSEN: Well, it's a good question. It is probably one academics will continue to debate. I can tell you from DHS, we want to prevent the hack. We want to make sure the systems are secure and that if anything goes awry we mitigate the consequences, that we firewall the consequences so that they don't cascade to other systems.

BAIER: I want to ask you about the critics who are saying or tying the President somehow to this white nationalist movement that spurred the shooter in New Zealand. Obviously the White House has pushed back hard.

The President was asked about an increase in white nationalism. Does he see that across the board. He said no.

But the FBI said that hate crimes are up 17 percent, 2017 and that 90 percent of those were targeting minorities. What do you say to the critics who make this tie that the President talking about an invasion on the southern border somehow affects the environment.

NIELSEN: It would not tie the two together. The humanitarian crisis -- security crisis we are seeing on the southern border to me has nothing to do with radical ideologies that call for violence. I can tell you at DHS, hate is hate, violence is violence whether it's white supremacist, whether it's ecoterrorist or whether it's Islamist terrorist.

We have a plan to work with communities to combat it all. In fact, we've just announced that we are doing the first ever summit to move forward with our whole of society approach that we can bring all components of society together to fight this together.

But look, anyone who espouses a violent ideology has no place in America. That's the bottom line. And the Department of Homeland Security will do everything we can to ensure that Americans are safe and that they can go and worship. I mean what an abhorrent, abhorrent event that happened in New Zealand.

BAIER: You talked about that today in your speech. Do you think the President is going to talk about this on a broad level?

NIELSEN: To him -- yes. I mean terrorism, he is very concerned about. He's very concerned about violence. You've heard him speak on that before. What we are doing is again, we are expanding under his administration under his direction. All of the tools of government that we have to work with the president, to work with communities, to work with schools, start with every day Americans to ensure that this type of violence is not able to take root in the United States.

BAIER: You had 12 Republican senators vote against this emergency declaration, essentially trying to overturn it.

NIELSEN: Yes.

BAIER: What do you say to them about the situation on the border and how you characterize it specifically? Numbers wise and from your vantage point.

NIELSEN: So two things. One I think this is boiled down to a pretty simple calculus. Did the President have authority to issue the emergency? He did. It's statutory -- Congress gave it to him.

Was there an emergency? This is where I come in. I can un-categorically tell you there is absolutely a disaster and emergency at the southern border and it's becoming more and more heart-wrenching every single day.

We truly are in system meltdown. The system was not built for this type of flow, for these numbers and for what we are seeing -- whether it's drugs, whether it's traffickers, whether it's child exploiters. Whether it is all the families and children who are coming across very sick and very in need.

BAIER: HHS is holding on to a lot of kids down there at the border. Do we have a number?

NIELSEN: I don't have a current number. Last year we had 60,000 that were in HHS care. The problem is unaccompanied children that are sent to the United States without a parent or adult, is that under our laws, if they are not Mexican child, we cannot send them home. So every time I go to the Northern Triangle countries say please send our kids back. We want them here to be back with their families, back with their communities and to help those countries. But under our laws we cannot do that.

BAIER: Is there a prospect of changing those laws? I mean --

NIELSEN: I'm always optimistic, you know, but now it is vital. I mean we've moved beyond all blinking lights. Congress must act. The president has made this a priority and he continues to make it a priority in every way he possibly can exercise his authority.

But look, this is Congress, courts and criminals. That's who we have to fix. We've got to address the criminals who are taking advantage of system. We have to work with the courts who clearly misunderstand the authorities and operational facts. And we have to get Congress to do its job just as the patriots at DHS are doing theirs.
 
BAIER: Secretary Nielsen, we appreciate your time.

NIELSEN: My pleasure. Thank you so much.

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