STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD
WILLIAM R. EVANINA FOR CONFIRMATION HEARING BEFORE
THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE
TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE
NATIONAL COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY CENTER
(15 May 2018)
216 Hart Senate Office Building

Chairman Burr, Vice Chairman Warner, and Members of the
Committee.
It’s an honor to appear before you today as you consider my
nomination to be the first Senate confirmed Director of the National
Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC). I am grateful that the
Congress has considered the position I currently hold to be sufficiently
important to require Senate confirmation—an acknowledgment of the
significant, and growing, challenges being addressed by NCSC to enhance
our nation’s security.
In my capacity as Director of NCSC over the last several years, I’ve
often appeared before this, and other Congressional committees. I have great
respect for the importance of Congress’ oversight role, and I have prided
myself in keeping Congress fully and currently informed about developments
within my cognizance in the counterintelligence and security field. If
confirmed, I will continue this important information sharing commitment to
Congress.
I am also honored and grateful that the President and the Director of
National Intelligence have the trust and confidence in my ability to continue
to serve our nation’s counterintelligence and security enterprise.
I would first like to express my gratitude to my family; my mother
Barbara, father John, brother Stephen, and sister Tanya – and particularly my
wife JulieAnne, and my sons Dominic and Will, who are present with me
today. Their love and support means everything to me.

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I also want to thank the men and women of NCSC and ODNI, who lead
and support both the counterintelligence and security mission as we have
made NCSC the global leader in both mission areas.
I was born and raised in Peckville, Pennsylvania. There—through my
family and neighbors—I learned the value of integrity, hard work, duty, pride
in country, and service to others. One of those neighbors—who lived just a
few blocks from my family’s house—had a particularly strong influence on
me.
Gino Merli was a Private First Class in the U.S. Army during World
War II. He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, and later fought in the Battle
of the Bulge. Mr. Merli was awarded the Medal of Honor for blocking a
German advance at a U.S. Army outpost in Belgium.
When I was growing up, he advised my friends and me about the
importance of character, citizenship, and service. I also learned from Mr.
Merli that we should never take our freedom for granted.
Mr. Chairman, I am proud to be a career public servant. I believe that
my past service has been solid preparation for the position I hold today, and
for which I’m being considered for confirmation.
I’ve been in the federal service for over twenty-nine years—twenty-two
of which were spent as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). And as I’ve described in the Committee’s questionnaire,
I’ve held a wide spectrum of leadership roles at the FBI in the law
enforcement and national security fields. I have also been the Chief of the
CIA’s Counterespionage Group, so I have served in the lead domestic and
international CI agencies.
Mr. Chairman, I have led the organization that is now known as the
National Counterintelligence and Security Center since June, 2014. If
confirmed, I will continue to lead NCSC and serve as the head of
counterintelligence for the U.S. Government, and as the principal
counterintelligence and security advisor to the Director of National
Intelligence.
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The foreign intelligence threat is one of the most significant threats to
our country. On February 13, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats
appeared before this Committee to provide the Intelligence Community’s
annual threat assessment.
I agree with DNI Coats’ assessment that the United States faces a
complex global foreign intelligence threat. The most prominent state
intelligence threats to U.S. interests will continue to be Russia and China,
based on their services’ capabilities, intent, and broad operational scope.
As a nation we were not prepared for Russia’s intent and action to
interfere in U.S. democratic processes and institutions. I believe that the
Russian intelligence services will continue their efforts to encourage antiU.S. political views, create wedges that reduce trust and confidence in
democratic processes, weaken U.S. partnerships with European allies, and
undermine Western sanctions.
Until fairly recently, China’s use of its intelligence services to advance
its national development (thereby undermining the economic security of the
U.S.) did not receive adequate attention. The U.S. must continue to respond
to China’s systematic theft of U.S. technology across broad swaths of the
U.S. economy, which represents a critical national security threat. Our
economic security IS our national security.
The most critical CI threats cut across these threat actors: influence
operations, critical infrastructure, supply chain, and traditional as well as
economic espionage. Regional actors such as Iran and North Korea, and nonstate actors such as terrorist groups, transnational criminal organizations, and
hackers/hacktivists are growing in intent and capability.
Advanced technology previously available mainly to leading nationstates is now increasingly available to a wide range of nation-state and nonstate actors as well. For example, a growing set of threat actors are now
capable of using cyber operations to remotely access traditional intelligence
targets, as well as a broader set of U.S. targets including critical infrastructure
and supply chain, often without attribution.
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Insider threats – sometimes with the encouragement of external actors –
are a pernicious intelligence threat to maintaining our secrets and our national
security. Unauthorized disclosures also have a devastating impact on the
men and women who serve every day to protect our secrets, our data, our
systems, and our personnel.
If confirmed, I commit to the continual leadership of the Intelligence
Community and the U.S. Government efforts to address these significant, and
increasingly complex, global intelligence threats to the United States.
As the Director of NCSC, and as prescribed in your legislation which
created my role, I am responsible for leading and supporting the
counterintelligence and security activities of the U.S. Intelligence
Community, the U.S. Government, and U.S. private sector entities at risk
from intelligence collection by foreign adversaries.
And I would like to emphasize that NCSC safeguards privacy and civil
liberties, and practices appropriate transparency in all counterintelligence and
security programs to ensure accountability to Congress and the American
people.
Mr. Chairman, as you, the Vice Chairman, and all Members of this
Committee are keenly aware, our government’s security clearance process is
outdated and inefficient, and requires a comprehensive overhaul. Currently,
there are 4 million Americans deployed around the globe – in over 100
agencies and departments – who possess a security clearance. We must
develop and implement a business process that results in the expeditious
onboarding of highly qualified citizens – both in the U.S. government and
cleared industry – with agility and complete reciprocity. At the same time,
we must not reduce the quality of the investigations to ensure we are hiring a
highly trusted workforce that will protect our nation’s secrets. If confirmed,
as the executor of the DNI’s role as the Security Executive Agent, I am
committed to leading this important government-wide effort. In partnership
with Office of Personnel Management, Office of Management and Budget,
and the Department of Defense I commit to provide this committee by the
end of the year a comprehensive plan for vetting a trusted workforce in a
modernized manner employing a robust Continuous Evaluation program and
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maximizing technology. I also commit to working with your committee to
develop metrics which will effectively evaluate progress and provide a
baseline to hold agencies and departments accountable.
Additionally, within 30 days of this hearing the DNI will issue
guidance to departments and agencies clarifying, aligning, and modifying the
2012 federal investigative standards.
Mr. Chairman, I’d like to conclude my remarks by sharing a story that
illustrates the commitment to public service that I, along with my colleagues
at the National Counterintelligence and Security Center share.
One year ago, NCSC staff traveled to the National Archives to renew
our Oath of Office as federal employees. We assembled in the National
Archives’ Exhibit Hall where our nation’s foundational documents—the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence—are on
display. To me, these are sacred documents, and this was the most fitting
place to renew our Oath and commitment to the laws of this great nation.
As federal civil servants, we pledge our loyalty to the Constitution and
the rule of law. Our service to the American people is defined by scrupulous
adherence to the law and the ideas and ideals embodied in these important
documents.
I am honored to lead the NCSC workforce. I am also humbled that, if
confirmed, I would become the first Senate confirmed Director to specifically
represent the men and women of that organization who have toiled behind the
scenes in the global counterintelligence and security arenas for decades
protecting our nation. Our success in protecting our nation’s security is based
on teamwork in a hard-working, respectful, collaborative, and professional
work environment with our partners throughout the government and private
sector.
Public service is a tremendous honor as well as an enormous public
trust. And as intelligence professionals, we are custodians of our nation’s
secrets. We have a special responsibility to our fellow citizens. All of us are
firmly committed to serving the American people and abiding by the
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Constitution and the rule of law. If confirmed, I will remain committed to
these essential goals.
Chairman Burr, Vice Chairman Warner, and Members of the
Committee, thank you for your consideration of my nomination. I look
forward to your questions.

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