not ready. >> would you have stuck with a coupon program? >> i think program has been good because we have heard from our physics to the field that $140 is decision and they wouldn't be in a situation to upgrade if they didn't have the coupon available. in fact for some of the box cost $50 that additional $10 is a problem so we have been encouraging 40-dollar box is so there is no co-pay if you will. >> lake from the fcc, the dtv coordinator. this will happen on june 12th and next week on "the communicators" we will get an update. ..

>> how is c-span funded? >> private donations. >> taxpayers? >> i don't really know. >> from public television? >> donations. >> i don't know where the money comes from. >> contributions from donors. >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span is a

public service, a private business initiatives, no government mandate, no government money. >> last week general motors filed for bankruptcy. now select federal assistance to the auto industry. this is just over 30 minutes. >> host: dave mccurdy is the president and ceo of the alliance for automobile manufacturers. the story this morning are about the chrysler bankruptcy, the detroit free press says chrysler's sales has one last hurdle and what can you tell us about what these dealers are trying to do? they appeal to the supreme court, correct? >> guest: chrysler is the bondholder or the pension funds in indiana that have gone to the supreme court. that is coming out of bankruptcy, the decision. the dealers and general motors that had-- there was a hearing last week in the senate that dealt with some of the closure restructuring of the dealer network, so that is-- they are

two separate issues and i assume you are talking about the senate approach? >> guest: yes, right. >> guest: the hearing there, obviously dealers are very vital and important part of the industry and part of the family, the auto family, and it is really difficult to make some of these choices, particularly chrysler and gm are having to make in their restructuring to the bankruptcy process. but i think at the end of the -day the networks will be stronger and i think both companies will be stronger. >> host: how you think gm and chrysler have responded to the concerns of the deal-- of the dealers who? their concerns over inventories were being left with machinery etc. that they are responsible for, tools, machinery, etc.. >> guest: it is clear in both restructurings that the manufacturer had to make tough

decisions. call stakeholders i think are participating in that plan. it is what they negotiated with the administration and i think that is what they went into bankruptcy protection for to be able to come out of there. as far as their individual relationships, i think that is something the companies have to manage. it is clear though that in many respects toyota has become somewhat the model and the standard for a number of things and i think their dealer network is one that both gm and ford and also chrysler and other companies are looking at as to the kind of service that they want to provide. host: you have an organization that has with that all the major automobile manufacturers, domestic and foreign. when you look down the road to the future, what automobile sales look like, not only models but with the sea as a head for the american car buying public? >> guest: a lot of great choices actually. this is the most competitive

industry in the country. one out of ten jobs in america. what we see today that is a historic low. with the credit crunch in the financial crisis that occurred in this recession, it hit the auto sector particularly hard. when you have home prices did valued as much as they have over the last two years, that had an impact on the auto sector because that is the second largest purchase of an american makes. sales dropped from an historic high of 17 or 60 million units a year to 9.5 right now so i think we have seen the bottom and i think it is bouncing back and they think when restructuring companies and all the companies have gone through this-- they are all looking at reinventing the automobile, providing lots of new technology so you are going to see a technology revolution occur. is not just the question of electrification and hybrids. you see it in advance diesel and

other kinds of technology in the engines themselves. >> host: what sort of data does your organization have in terms of what customers might be looking for once they are able to, once the economy bounces back and how much pent-up demand is there for automobiles that is not being satisfied now or not able to be satisfied because of the economy? >> recovering from the recession, and i think there's going to be pent-up demand that we need private public bid and i think congress is looking out to provide incentives for consumers. there is a bill that is going to be taken up in the house today or later tonight on gum called fleet modernization. more widely known as cash for clunkers. that is a nearly $4 billion in incentive program that passed the committee with wide margins. >> host: what would it do? >> guest: it would provide an incentive up to $4,500 for the vouchers for turning in the

older, less fuel-efficient vehicles, let's clean vehicles that are less than 18 miles per gallon for newer vehicles that are certainly safer, cleaner and more fuel-efficient. those doctors i think would be a big incentive for consumers to come back in the marketplace. >> host: that is 45 vendor dollars from the government on top of anything? >> guest: >> host: on top of a trade in? >> guest: on the clunkers park, if it is an older vehicle the value of that older vehicle would be turned in, so but there are also other incentives that manufacturers are providing for new buyers and again, the choices are incredible right now. >> host: david purdie-- mccurdy. mark on our democrat line, go ahead. >> caller: how are you doing? thanks for taking my call. i have two questions for

mr. mccurdy. with all of the closings of all of the factories and plants, are the price is going to come from let's say china down to the united states at a cheaper price? >> guest: i did not hear that. let's go with the plant closings here are the cars coming from china at a cheaper price? will they come from china at a cheaper price? >> guest: the chinese are obviously trying to enter the market with a restructuring of the industry. i think you are going to see wider options and had different models. general motors is going to focus on four core brands. ford has introduced a new taurus and others. all the international brands are providing an incredible value for their vehicles. the chinese have yet to officially enter the market. ulmer that was sold by general motors is going to, if approved, to the chinese firm but that is

not where most people see the value in the long term. >> host: what do you know about this chinese firm that bought hall? >> guest: it is in the shoots one province. it is a heavy manufacturer, so they are entering the market as opposed to those that are coming from smaller vehicles. there will be out placement of some new vehicles. chrysler is trying to marry up with fiat, that will provide smaller fuel-efficient vehicles from the europeans platforms so i think you will see a lot of different small fuel-efficient vehicles in the market but they are going to make them in the u.s. as well. >> host: at eeyore katsas about three-- hummer. hummer's are used by the military. >> guest: a.m. general manufactures the bomber and when i was in the armed services committee we have dealt with

those issues but that is separate. gm had their rights to the hummer brand. and h1, which was the original variation is even discontinued so these are smaller different versions. >> host: round rock, texas, good morning for david mccurdy. >> caller: good morning mr. mccurdy. i have a question. i am a self-employed. i tried to deal with chrysler finance to get them to go down on my payments, just to adjust them a little bit so i could afford to make my payments. they don't even want to listen to me. why should i want to give money to chrysler, chevrolet or anybody else when everything they are doing seems to be-- chrysler is going up on their cars. you have to have more money to put a downpayment on the cars. i am for u.s. cars that why should i want to help them when they don't want to help me? people are-- people should call in and let you know just how

chrysler and other car companies are treating people that are being laid off. >> host: how much are you paying for your car and what kind of card you have? >> caller: i have a 2006 rangel. >> host: thanks for the call. >> guest: the domestic companies, chrysler and gm were white-- finance with the chrysler arm but now they have funds, gmac controls both of those and that is something that consumers have to deal with. with those finance arms. >> host: he talked about chrysler and the companies in the market section of the "financial times" talks about the chrysler investors try to foil the fiat deal. what is your take on the deal for chrysler? what dissent mean for them? >> guest: it is an interesting partnership. fiat is popular in europe and has a number of models there that are on the smaller fuel-efficient end. they also have some cars that used to be in the u.s. market.

they have been in the market for a while but it looks like the question is how long it takes for them to bring those vehicles into the u.s. market, what kinds of platforms that will be introducing but i think there is technology there that chrysler believes it can benefit from. >> host: to chicago we go, dean of our independent line. welcome. >> caller: i would like to say americans need to learn much more about international automobiles. most every country in europe is presently building diesel cars that get over 80 miles per gallon and most americans are brainwashed about diesel engines. they know practically nothing about them. even here in america when clinton was the president, the united states government together with the american auto companies had a special program where they all develops diesel electric cars that got over 80 to 90 miles a gallon and as soon as bush got in the whole thing was shoved under the rug.

>> host: thanks for the copper co you talk the little bit about the zille few moments ago. >> guest: actually i am a fan of these zero. the caller is correct. diesel is widely popular in europe. over 55% of the vehicles are the soul, partly because of the technology but also government policy. diesel in europe is taxed a 1 dollar less and there's a large gas tax of nearly $4 a gallon, so when diesel has in a price differential, you have seen consumers respond to that. that is a very fundamental point. >> host: is there an emissions issue? >> guest: we have a 50 state diesel vehicle in the united states. a ticket was to meet california standards which is another issue we have recently been addressing. biodiesel is being introduced. i think there was a perception in the '80s of american diesel which is not what diesel is today. it is a completely different

engine and both emissions are good but the performance in tort is there, combined with in a hybrid variation you can see tremendous improvements in efficiency. >> host: on the issue of fuel standards, the president recently announced their ramping up both the mileage and the timetable for this. what is your organization's few on the policy changes? >> we actually welcome it. wheelan to the administration and incurred them to develop an obama approach here. utt the time we had three different voices on standards. >> we are leaving this recorded program to go for live coverage. national intelligence director dennis blair is the keynote speaker at tonight's dinner of the intelligence and national security alliance. he is expected to talk about his priorities for the intelligence community as well as his recent trip to asia. in included stops in afghanistan, pakistan and singapore. you are watching live coverage

on c-span2. >> decore becoming a director of national intelligence admiral blair spent 34 years in the united states navy. is less job in the military was as commander in chief of the pacific command the highest ranking officer over u.s. forces in the asia-pacific region. previously was the director of the joint staff and served in a budget-- for idf policy positions on several navy staffs and the national security council. he was also the first associate director of the central intelligence-- director of central intelligence for military support. after returning from the navy in 2002, admiral blair l.t. national security studies at the national bureau of asian research and the general of the army omar n. bradley strategic leadership at dickinson college and of the army war college. he was also the president of the institute for defense analysis, a federally funded development corporation focused on national

security and serve as deputy executive director of the project and national security reform. i can't say anything more admiral blair, you have done it all. we became the third director of national intelligence on january 29, 2009. directors blair has been gracious enough to share his priorities for the intelligence community and if we are lucky we will give insights from his recent trip which included stops in afghanistan pakistan and singapore. i hope you'll join me tonight in welcoming the director national intelligence, director dennis blair. [applause] >> thank you ellen. eight is good to be here this evening. their way to many friends in the audience for me to tell my usual stories. you have either heard them before or know that they are

wrong, so i will have to make it up here as i go along. but, it is a pleasure to be here with all of you who have been friends of longstanding and come together as a group to support u.s. intelligence. let me start by thanking for the truly and press the devitt alliance of movers and shakers in the intelligence and national security communities. there's certainly no form quite like it, government come industry, academia to share this commitment to meeting the challenges of our times. it was an honor for me to be seated with some of the founders of this organization at the table here earlier this evening. so i would like to talk about three subject tonight. first, i will update you on some of the areas of concern we are following closer and the intelligence community. i will ellen tell you a little bit about the trip that i was on in pakistan and afghanistan, and then i will finish by talking

about the priorities for the intelligence community that i have the privilege of bleeding, so let me start by talking about a few of these areas that are of concern to us in the intelligence world. one that is perhaps and usually at the head of the list now are the national security implications of the worldwide economic recession, which we are now enduring. it is one thing to look at it as a financial and economic problem, and i will leave it to others to predict how long the current recession is going to go on and when we are going to come out of it, but we tried to view it with regard to the events coming out of it that might help or harm american security interests and the effects, cut both ways. venezuela, russia and iran have less oil revenue. that can be a good thing if it means reduced funding for actions which are against u.s. interests.

the overall slowdown has put general pressure on military budgets throughout the world and that is a pretty good thing if these are military budgets that are against our interests but it is not such a good thing if they are the military budgets of our partners and allies with defense budgets and overseas assistance budgets. we have been getting less help around the world for the things we need to do together. and then of course we are concerned about the effects of this recession on the stability of countries. it has been the stability and weaknesses of countries since the second world war have seemed to have triggered american overseas involvement. if you look at it since 1990 or so we have had more problems caused by countries that are too weak and ones that are too strong. somalia, haiti, bosnia, east timor. afghanistan is the latest example of a country that is said to struggle to remain

cohesive with american peace operations coming as a result. so we look quite closely to see if there are countries that are fragile states, that could require an american security response. so far there has been no major government that is toppled the to the recession. there have been peaceful changes of government. there have been reactions, strong reactions within countries to economic events. durbin policy changes within countries but we really haven't seen anything yet for example like the fall of this the part of government in the late 90's which was caused by the asian financial crisis. nonetheless, the recession continues, it's the worldwide gdp goes down the way it is predicted to next year and a trade continues to decline, protectionism raises barriers we can already see pressure countries coming under greater pressure that might result in internal instability and be subject to meddling from outside. that is the kind of thing that

could trigger an american response or a coalition response that we might be a part of, so we are watching these sorts of dfcs pretty keenly. when you analyze which countries it is that are affected by economic problems, the ones that are well-established democracies seemed to be able to handle it. dave odell dealed government in the next election, bring in the new one and give them a try for a while. in other words some of that syndrome happened in our own country recently. on the other hand countries that have really strong, authoritarian regimes handle it by turning down the screws on the claims. if things get works economically it does not matter because the police and armed forces are so powerful and certainly north korea is in that category. although, north korea seems to be staying fairly busy these days mapping out the sea bed in the pacific with missile probst so they seem to have other

things going on. but, it is the countries that have a combination of some of their-- authoritarian features and at least populist not democratic that seemed the most susceptible to change and loss of stability due to tough economic conditions. the new democracies of central and eastern europe are examples. ukraine in particular is under a great deal of political pressure due to difficult economic conditions. except for and yet many questions of south asia are similarly under pressure. virtually all the ander developed countries, especially africa, under the under greater siege because of the economic assistance drop, the further deterioration of their own economic situations and other factors that are important such as tribal or ethnic conflict and violence nearby. the intelligence community analysis and modeling shows that really the duration of the recession is the key factor in

the strength of its effect. while the current recession is the worst since the 1930's so far does not have the political impact of the great depression which had the longer time run, however another year or two might bring a different and worse story. so, this area of the economic, the effects of the economic recession is one that we are watching in a new way. if there is a geographic region of the world that we are looking at most closely it is the area from turki down to the eastern border of pakistan. that seems to be were the most american and western security concerns like. as this administration has undertaken its initial round of policy refuse the interconnected issues of iraq and afghanistan and pakistan, israel, palestine at commanded most of the attention. transnational isu's extremism, the proliferation of nuclear

weapons, and trying to sort out the reality on the ground of all of these intersecting both national and transnational and multinational effects, identifying trends, trying to predict their effects. those have been a steady challenge for the intelligence community. as ellen mentioned i just returned from a trip to pakistan and afghanistan so let me report on some of the developments that are going on there. in pakistan, the primary security event is this offensive in the swat valley that is being pursued by the pakistan army. we have seen these operations in recent years, but i think there is some interesting and important changes to what is going on this year. in the first place, for the first time, the pakistan army operations in that part of the world have support of the government and of the public.

there was a parliamentary solution, which occurs. defences takes place. there been statements of support by the government, and more public support and this is really different from the past when the army went up and there was little backing from the public come a little backing from the government. as we all know who served in the armed forces, when you are up there making sacrifices and nobody back, seems to be caring or supporting you, it is not something that you push hard. it is not something that maintains that intensity. another difference now is that, and this is something the leaders of pakistan talked about when i was there, is realizing that the key to stability is not so much military operations but

the security and governance and economic matters after the fighting ends. we can see in the measures that pakistan with the help of the international community is taking to support the internally displaced persons, the plans they are making for taking them back, and providing basic security and governance when they are there is important, and i think different and new in this period. i think partly in tribute to the effectiveness of what is now going on, we are seeing this wave of retaliatory bombings by the pakistan-- by the taliban and they settled and urban parts of pakistan, and it is quite savage. there were bombs began bashar and locore when i was there, when i was there last week, and i think these are having the effect of driving home to

pakistani public the seriousness of the threat coming from that part of the country insofar is solidifying his support for the operations that are taking place there. overall, i think there are new possibilities opening for pakistan-american cooperation in this common fight against the common enemy, but it is true that there is a long legacy of distrust between pakistan and the united states that we have to overcome as we have moved forward, and i think that it can be done. those i talked to were optimistic about their ability to handle the situation. they seem willing to work with the united states in ways that had not been previously possible, so i think there are signs there that point us in a positive direction. in afghanistan, it is no secret

that the trends have been going in the wrong direction recently in terms of government loss of control of provinces, in terms of the insurgents strength and now we are into the new fighting season, and when i was there last week there are an average of 25 some auto a run the country every -day, with a number of deaths resulting from them. as a result of the decisions made by president obama, a very strong u.s. effort is coming in to help afghanistan and there is international support on a lesser scale but certainly welcome and important. it is also the right thing. military forces are coming into areas that were previously basically ceded to the insurgents. a great deal of emphasis on the provincial reconstruction teams and other economic assistance. heavy emphasis on training of

the afghani security forces, both the army and especially the police. so i think the elements of a strong support to afghanistan are coming and certainly are recognized by the development there. when i talked to those who have been in and out of pakistan over the years, despite the violence that is going on now, they pointed to two areas of progress. up in the jalalabad area, roads are open. a certain amount of commerce is bringing to light and there are signs of vibrancy in that part of the world. in march, there was a raid into helmand province, the home of the poppy crop, the opm, the heroine section of afghanistan. it was really t