The issues to be covered by this hearing have been a priority for many of us on this Committee for some time as we sought to develop legislative policy and the responses to counter Iran’s increasing activities in the Western Hemisphere, the threat of Islamic extremists in the region, and the threat posed by the narco-trafficking networks and related violence, in themselves, but also, as ready-made networks to facilitate and support other terrorist activities throughout the Hemisphere, including right here in the United States as we saw in that plot.