how these could affect the political process. and i think as we look at what has been happening in the last year and the years before the crisis, we have to be re-examining exactly the same question. post, and this book makes a contribution to it as it lays out the keys and gives very good ideas on the role of government what we need to do going forward. thank you area much for your time in this discussion. >> guest: thank you. ..

>> several months ago i was coming back from chicago and china and getting unaddressed for the security people i put down my staff and a ladies' said where did you get those screw top bottles? mine the i got them at the container store and they said oh my god it is you. i am from bosnia and in view and if not for you there would not be a bosnia. can i have my picture taken with you? i say sure then i go back to get my stuff and the lady says what exactly happened? i said i used to be secretary of state and she said of bosnia?

[laughter] so i am very happy to be here to have a chance to talk about my new book and this book would not have existed have not been for sadam hussain because what happened, i did go to the united nations at the end of the goal for the duration 1993. the various parts of the cease-fire translated into security council resolution and they kept coming due and we had to make sure they were renewed. my were restart -- instructions as ambassador were to is a perfectly terrible things about sadam hussain that constantly which she deserved because he invaded another country. a few weeks later a poem appeared in the baghdad press comparing me too many

different things and among them at the unparalleled a serpent so i happen to have a snake been so i decided to where it when we talked about iraq. i think you have all seen pictures when the ambassador's command of the security council meeting and there is press. one of the cameras said why are you wearing the snake been? i said because of his aide called me the unparalleled the serpent. i said this is fun so i bought a lot of costume jewelry that i thought would reflect the mood of the things i thought we would do so on good-- i were farmers and butterflies and on bad days i were spiders and carnivorous animals. but i never had a spider it was not halloween and life was bad. [laughter] then people would say what are we going to do today? then i picked up from the first president bush to said read my lips i said read my pins.

i did send a copy to the president and he said i love the title. [laughter] i have decided my niche and writing about foreign policy and books generally is to make it interesting and understandable to non experts. the pins allow me to tell the story is. they all have a foreign policy story. i did use them all lot in order to send messages. ultimately, the people on the other end understood. i had a theory that had to do with the russians. believe it or not after the end of the cold war, the russians decided to plant a listening device into one of the conference rooms nearby office of secretary of state. there is a guide asset outside and listened while we talked. we discovered the bug and

complained officially to moscow but the next time i saw the russian foreign minister i a or a huge bug and he really got it. [laughter] in the last few days, united states has completed a strategic arms control agreement with the russians. we tried to renegotiate the anti-ballistic missile treaty. i had a pin that is actually an arrow but i had on and the russian foreign minister said it is that the missile interceptor? i said yes. we make in very small and it decided to negotiate. [laughter] we have a lot of fun. sometimes i got into trouble and went too far. this time i did if you look in the book there is a real cute picture a former secretary of defense and by sitting on a sofa looking

like the three monkeys. what happened is this was after a nato 50th anniversary ceremony and talking about something and clinton was the first one to put his hand over his mouth than bill put his over his ears and i put mine over my eyes and that is a funny picture out there so i bought the three monkeys. when we went to russia for a nato summit in the summer of 2000, i decided to wear the monkeys because i so objected to what the russians were doing in chechnya and denying everything saying nothing was going on. president putin actually sent to president clinton we notice what secretary albright weirs in her pins. why are you wearing the three monkeys? i said because of your chechnya policy. he got mad and he said you should not be talking to

them. i said i have not and he said yes you did. but it made me realize i had gone up a little too far with the president of the russian federation. i thought i was able to go back and look at history of jewelry. i am not the first person that fastened close with a pin. people used to do that when they were hunting for lunch. it is an old way people kept their clothes on. [laughter] but then what happened is it was fined to look at different ways jewelry was used. i nicknamed anthony and cleopatra the first power couple. they made the best that she could not serve in the real expensive meal. so apparently they had an ordinary meal and he said this is not much and she ordered up a goblet of

vinegar than dropped one of her perfect pearls into the vinegar and it disintegrated and so she will on the back. but basically the jewelry has been warned throughout history showing people's rank usually and their importance and mostly men wore jewelry. of course, there's the whole issue of crown jewels. there are people who believe a lot of what ultimately be they've -- believe with came with colonialism was monarch's wanting to get rare jewels either from asia or africa. if you look at the crown jewels they are quite fantastic. my pins are mostly costume jewelry. i have a few fancy was the most of them are costume. there is one that is more expensive my secretary of

state eagle. i never believed i would ever believe secretary of state. not that i lacked ambition but i had never seen a female secretary of state. my name was on the short list and i was in a jewelry store and they showed me a beautiful ego and said you have to buy it. i said i will not do that than i said if by some miracle i become secretary of state i would buy it. so i did go back and get it. what happened is that if you look at the picture, i am standing there with one hand on the bible and the other two look and it is not fastened properly i am not sure i swore properly because i was so sure to follow the bible and it would be a mess you cannot see that but it is on the

cover of my madame secretary. i do think this is an important time to understand foreign policy. there are a lot of things going on president obama has an agenda to the which of the likes i have never seen. i wrote a memo to the president i gave it to president-elect at the time and a roach it would be audacity to hope this book might be useful. i laid out the agenda which was difficult at the time and unfortunately i think most of that time are things he has to do with. we have to figure out how to fight terrorism without creating more terrace. i said at the time i disagreed with the term more on terrorism because it made people who were mortar at -- mergers seem like warriors within their own society so we have to do with them as murderers, not to elevate them. i do not think war on terror was a good term and it has

been dropped but second, a spread of nuclear non-proliferation systems that are broken and we have to be careful the worst weapons do not get into the hands of the worst people. the third big issue that i talked about is the growing gap between the rich and the poor. it is true in this country and certainly true abroad. there are fewer poor people but the gap is greater and while there is no direct line between poverty and terrorism it does not take a great imagination to figure out people that are alienated from societies and have no jobs are born likely to be regrettable by those people. then there is the hope to do with energy, environment come with food security, and bandit next. then i wrote about the fact we want to see the

restoration of the good name of democracy. i believe in democracy and not a bad reputation because we cannot impose democracy. i did not talk about the financial crisis which is an additional big umbrella issue that some way or other all the other issues and clearly have been a major problem and question for president obama to do with. so peace talks that are not working for north korea or people dying in africa in various conflicts there and ethnic conflicts and a rise of populist authoritarian demagogues in latin america. it is a huge foreign policy agenda and in addition there are a lot of domestic issues. there is always lots to talk about and i would be happy to answer questions about

pins or foreign policy or the weather or better for you would like. [laughter] >> yes man. i would have the privilege to be an employee but what would you consider your greatest accomplishment as a diplomat? >> this is not a set up? [laughter] >> the most important for me as an accomplishment was in a combination of diplomacy and using foreign policy, i have to look down my a teaching assistant is right here and i teach a course of georgetown i say foreign policy is trying to get countries to do what you want. what are the tools? i teach a course called the national security toolbox. there is not a lot of tools bilateral, multilateral

diplomacy, economic incentives or disincentives the threats of the use of force, intelligence comment that is it. not a lot. the matter how powerful you are that is all you have. i was faced with the problem that was going on in terms of ethnic cleansing i hop was ambassador to the wind during bosnia and i frankly felt it took us too long to do something about bosnia and i thought now why was secretary of state, i felt very strongly we had to stop the ethnic cleansing. we did try diplomacy with milosevich to tell him to back off and get out and let the people have a way of life that reflected their history, culture, and religion and he would not back off. alternately we decided to use force. and i think it was not an

easy choice because we wanted to go under the offices of united nations but after discussions with the russians it is clear they would veto whatever operation there was. so then to operate through nato so during the diplomacy i invented something that should not have been brain surgery talking to the major foreign ministers of the country's part of a doubt in order to make sure we were all on the same wave length. it was very hard. who is very hard bureaucratically and internally secretary of state can decide to use force. it is a matter of working with the defense department and getting support. big job internally.

and extra money. i am very glad we did it. truly of course, kosovo was the independent country but there is a lot of little girls whose first name is madeleine and i feel good about that. [laughter] >> in the 2008 campaign that becoming a campaign issue for the president-elect would assure input? you are an expert in this field? >> they do. i loved wearing a the american flag. even the american flag a christmas trees. i decided that i were then in a different times and probably the biggest american flag day ever for when i went to north korea obviously on purpose because i knew that if i met kim

il -- kim jong-il, and they had said in fact, that we are a terrible evil country there be a pitcher with me with the evil leader so why should have on a picture of me with the american flag. i wear that by choice. in north korea come all of the people have to wear pins with the deer leaders picture on and check and a half used to do that so when you are forced to wear something like that i disapprove. i think what was during the campaign was wrong. political people should be allowed to wear what they want to wear and it is not a sign of patriotism with the where an american flag or not. i believe 512 bair one you should be able to and if you don't come you don't. it is only in authoritarian

countries you are forced to wear an emblem of who you are. >> what do you think of all bosses policies of the predator drones and pakistan and afghanistan? >> is a very difficult issue because the question often is if you are trying to do what we're trying to do to get rid of terrorist what is the best method of doing it? and it goes back to my initial point* did you have to be careful not to create more terrorist to get rid of the ones that we applied to. there is a question that has to do with the cause of the issue, to the morality of using only air power. and kosovo we all used air

power and people thought that was the wrong thing to do because you drop bombs from tens of thousands of feet and you yourself are not endangered. i happen to think for me, that is not a logical argument. but that is one of the issues. with the predator, it is a similar issue. i personally think fact if done properly, is one way to deal with the terrorists. if in fact, it is done so there are not a lot more civilians killed and we know what we're doing. but we have a terrible problem going on in afghanistan and pakistan and one in which i think obviously is consuming an incredible amount of time for the president. he spent a lot of time making a very careful decision. i fully agree with the

decision-making process and i know the combination of deciding to use some creditors under various rules that i don't know because i am not inside or also using ground forces in order to secure territories of the people can have some security in order to begin how to have a normal life and also some of the afghans can run their own country and also have the pakistani cfius helpful as they can offer should be in the northwest territories to get rid of cockeyed it and the taliban up there. it is a combination of using all those different tools but there are those questions in terms of is the right and if you don't suffer any casualties in that particular way. but i believe the mix is a per pripet within

constraints the legal system is set up. >> given the previous of ministration frequent disregard for international opinion it was made very obvious. what option do see with regard to enforcing un resolutions on large and powerful countries? >> i happen to like the un and then right here in colorado i got started. first of all, i don't know if any of you know, this but my father was jess's of rocky and that came to teach at the university of denver which was the international relations part and now the school is named in his honor so i am thrilled about that. but he does not only a tough professor but also a tough

father and my sister is here so we were the perfect daughters. [laughter] but to be the better not by a did win when i was a sophomore in high school the united nations contest for the rocky mountain empire. the reason i did it is i could name the 51 countries the members in alphabetical order. i could not do that with 192. i believed in the u.n.. i believe what happened oblong is that a group to elephantine proportions during the cold war and became really bound by bureaucracy program of being ambassador there because we're looking at to throughways to use the un and other peacekeeping operations could really work but you have to work the land and the last administration was perfectly dreadful.

it ignored completely or criticized for our use to make jokes about it, but i would say that there are people that are afraid the u.n. has black helicopters that the route in the middle of the night and is to your launcher furniture and then they think it is full of foreigners which frankly cannot be helped. [laughter] the win can be very useful. it does need reforming but how you reform the security council which is a rubrics cuba and this happened to me, there are 50 members of the security council five permanent and 10 and nine per minute and out of that number of any given time, a five europeans. i would say i need your vote ambassador and he would say i cannot help you because the e.u. does not have a position. two days later i went to the

same people and they say i cannot help you because we do have a solution. we thought germany and japan should be given their powers and the first country to object was italy to say this is terrible we lost the war also which is a strange campaign model. [laughter] the hard part is they have learned how to pass setian revolution -- resolution and we're about to see this and about to move to an arena where the initial sanctions on iran and whether those would be enforced or economic sanctions which would require multinational action and agreement. then there are those with military mandates with a peacekeeping operation. wrote think the un should have a standing army but i do think there should be from contingents there that

are prepared to go because the secretary general custer gore around with a tin cup before every peacekeeping operation to try to pull it together. there is an article today that said would have been copenhagen was a failure of the win system. whether they did not run the conference in the wrong way to get 192 countries to consent. it needs a lot of work. we have a fabulous ambassador there now. and dr. rice said she sees a different feeling about the u.s. because we are listening instead of lecturing, john bolton was a disaster as far as the u.n. is concerned. it is so nice not to be secretary of state anymore

because i can say all of these things. [laughter] >> i am not on assignment so i can say certain things but it attracted my attention in your book, the message, about:prowl who i met personally saying it is not a matter of survival but to leadership. i don't know what's your opinion is, but don't you think as far as the u.n., which used to be the strongest come and now missing leadership with other countries like syria and saying it does not scare us any more? >> where are you from? >> i do have a french background.

but the leadership is not strong anymore. but diplomacy and talk and talk and sing shin instead of action. >> first of all, the me say -- let me say i believe the united states is the most powerful country in the world and we can use our power and force for good. i believe we are an exceptional country and that for any number of reasons. to have come here as an immigrant and ended up press secretary of state does not happen in a lot of other places. but we ask exceptions be made for us in terms of the rule of law and and raise the behavior took place within the international system. rethink it undercut our were leadership in many different ways. i do believe in american

leadership but the issues i put on the table the next president has to do with, all of those issues require partnership. the united states can be the strongest country in the world you cannot do with global warming alone as three just found out. or we should never call it climate change because it is snowing everywhere and it is hard to persuade people in this climate change or nuclear proliferation or environment, energy, food, it is not a lessening of american power to cooperate with other countries and to recognize and a raise of course, a multiplier if the u.s. does work with other countries to solve problems. people want american leadership, they have just found it wanting. were the reasons president

obama got the nobel peace prize by the way he did not nominate himself. [laughter] in fact,, there is a desire for a return of america that could provide the kind of moral leadership, and not moralistic and a way to show that we could work with other countries. i actually do think we can make people afraid of us but i don't think that is the best way to carry policy. there is a resurgence of american leadership and the problem is very hard and what is interesting is people do one to leadership. but the hard part for america it is not easy because you are diem did you do or diem if you don't. if we get involved someplace and cannot solve it right away or people don't like

the private dirt -- creditors zero redoing, then we are criticized or if we don't like rwanda the rear blamed for that. but i do believe in american leadership we have different adjectives and managing partner but the important is the noun. that is what how america needs to lead and that pragmatically is the best result. hour about all of the way back there? >> my question the way you think of serbia ascension and there is a lot of that lately. >> first of all, i do think it is important to

reintegrate a variety of countries into the system. life is very strange per cryer was born in czechoslovakia and my father was ambassador to yugoslavia. of all the places to get involved, if it had to do with what was happening and some of it because i believe i interest of what was hopper going on. the serbs should not be punished for ever for what their leaders directed in terms of the ethnic cleansing. yugoslavia as the country was quite economically advanced in a number of ways. i think it is important to reintegrate the countries that were yugoslavia into the e.u.. the use system itself is something they have to figure out how to work. the application of serbia is

appropriate to have to figure out whether serviette is a member -- is ready to be a member and make sure their economic system works and political system works. it is an important move because some of the other countries in the balkans are already members. croatia is on our path. it is very important. i have a new assignment i was just given that the 60th anniversary of nato. the heads of state got together in strasbourg in april and decided they needed a new strategic concept. this one come to read did in

1989 did not include the new country and happened before 9/11. would have been each country that is in nato , now 28, named a person would be it on the experts group and i was named by the u.s.. the new secretary general only chose 12 out of 28 to be on the experts group irritating 16 countries and asked me to cheer its. just came from brussels where we try to do is figure out how nato and the work together and those are two huge primarily organizations and what the magnetic effect to bring in new members because in some ways it provides the average for countries to adapt their behavior so to get your point* i think it is a good

thing for serbia to go into that direction. >> i really enjoy your frank testimony but we see secretary clinton and her job so far what do you think should be heard top agenda item? >> first of all, i had never been in a position where i was a former secretary of state and a democratic administration or with my best friend is secretary of state. [laughter] i think she is doing a great job in a very difficult or prenup. first of all, f you look at the issues i will not go over them again but not only in dade necessity for cooperation internationally but requires a very complicated decision making

process internally. the senior member of the cabinet but as do disk-- to study decision-making you can see more and more departments get involved with national security. and national-security council was set up you have secretary of defense and secretary of state now they have secretary of treasury and energy invited, homeland security, there are a lot more players in the decision-making box. but she is the senior member. part of the issues go on we are in two wars of the defense department has a lot of things they are in charge of. and wiggling her way through those very well and has appointed senior on voice to do with the immediate issues with the capability of traveling and looking at

longer-term issues. i talked to her cory frequently and she is moving ahead very well. but we have a remarkable national security team and watching how that was done on afghanistan, it was very interesting in "the new york times" at it is a detail decision how it was made and how we use sitting class. it is very interesting to see how the players work together. i talked abroad how the pins got me into trouble. it has got to me out of trouble. i will conclude with this. i developed the art of diplomatic kissing you cannot envision henry kissinger or jim baker. [laughter] but some kiss on the right cheek some kiss on the left and i could never keep

track. there were a lot of bond and noses then the french to kiss on both cheeks and good dutch to kiss three times and then yasser arafat and it just the thought. right? [laughter] >> i would arrive somewhere and there'd be a big embrace. so i got to south korea and i had a great treaty with the foreign minister i came home and then i get a phone call and the brass says a south korean foreign minister will be asked to resign over what he said. he was with a journalist and said of the bill was secretary albright comes. you're about the same age. i am a tired old man and she is full of zuma and vigor and when i hugged with hershey has threefold brass.

were you saying to back? i said no. i have to put something to put those pins on. [laughter] thank you very much.

the. [applause] >> thank you for coming and we're here to talk that a splendid to book by david walker, come back america. i will say it more in a moment but first i want to declare a bias. i will make no bones about it, i major but the span of david and has been four years. i find it difficult to disagree with much of what he says but i gave up on that when i started to read

the book. some of the descent might have to come from new. the way to organize this, we have been talking the past half an hour and will leave plenty of time for questions and interventions from the audience. by the course of the discussion if you think why hard to ask you this? hall that is your job. with that i will promise to say a word of welcome to the c-span2 viewers to our tuning in and good to have them with us as well. a former comptroller general of the united states, former head of the gao and currently the president and ceo of the foundation which has a variety of things with them the most important to evade the country back to a

greater sense of fiscal responsibility. this book, come back america is about that issue. david explains in the book the country's fiscal position is unsustainable and he explains why. and sets the agenda for putting the problem right. right at the outset, i will say that although this book is about the school system's ability it is extremely entertaining. don't let the subject put you off. one of the best things is the voice he has written in a formal and extremely engaging style so i seriously urge you to read the book. but to begin, we're right hear the morning after the "state of the union" speech many of the topics in the book relates very closely to the speech.

so right off the bat i asked what they made a bit this rudbeckias aire particulate speaker on the economic issues he reinforce something i talk about in the book. there is a fundamental difference between the structural deficits and short-term deficits. those were largely inherited by barack obama and we need to recognize some level of short-term deficit is understandable because we're in a recession, the two undeclared wars in the number of bailouts. and unemployment is very high. we made it clear he wants to take steps to get the economy growing on a consistent basis and bring down unemployment. he will propose a number of tax cuts as well as spending increases to try to do that that may exacerbate the first time -- and the deficit short-term but then

to talk about the structural deficit. it is not the ice above the water buffalo the water. not deduct on the balance sheet but they off balance sheets are represents the future. he talked about freezing a portion of discretionary spending, less than 20% of the federal budget for three years. three years are better than one, but frankly, it is a modest first step especially since discretionary spending has increased 20% over the last two years and support the pay go rule which the senate may be voting on write now. there's a lot of holes big enough to drive a truck through but on the other hand, it does provide some constraints that otherwise would not be there soy think it is a lot -- modest step forward but coming of for a fiscal future commission to set thbl