Lawmakers were left baffled during a hearing Wednesday when a senior DHS official was unable to answer basic questions about the Visa Waiver Program.  In an unbelievable exchange with Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH), Assistant Screening Coordination Secretary Kelli Ann Burriesci repeatedly claimed ignorance about data relating to the program.

One example from the exchange:

Rep. Jordan: “How many Syrian refugees have entered the United States in the last year?”

Burriesci: “Sir I didn’t bring any of the refugee numbers with me because I was prepared to talk about Visa Waiver,”

Fair enough, so Rep. Jordan switched gears to ask about the program, once again hitting a brick wall:

Rep. Jordan: “How many visa waiver overstays are there in the United States?”

Burriesci: “Sir I didn’t bring that number with me”

This went on for several minutes, until an exasperated Jordan had had enough:

“Ms. Burriesci, I’ve asked you the number of Americans that have traveled to Syria, you don’t know; the number of Americans that may have traveled and returned, you don’t know; the number of Syrian refugees who have entered the country, you don’t know; the number of visa waiver program overstays, you don’t know; the number of Visa waiver overstays who may have been to Syria before they came here, you don’t know; and the number of American citizens on the no-fly list, you don’t know.”

“…you can’t give us one single number to, I think, some pretty basic questions?”

It seemed she couldn’t, going on to claim that the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t keep those numbers, but that she would work with her “inter-agency partners” to provide them.  The incredulity over this answer seemed bipartisan, with National Security Subcommittee member Stephen Lynch also noting the lack of available information

“She said she didn’t have her numbers with her but that’s exactly the type of information we would be looking for,” said Lynch.

The full exchange from the hearing is below: