and i will always strive in my actions and in my words to make south carolina a place where all of our children, regardless of race or gender, know that unlimited opportunities for happiness and success await them. today, our state and our nation face difficult times. far too many of our fellow citizens are without a job. our economy is not growing as it

should. our state budget has its largest shortfall ever. but when i survey this troubled landscape, i am not discouraged. we have faced tougher times before and come through them. we know that tough times can produce some of the best decisions. and it is our duty to make this time of challenge into the opportunity it can be to turn our state around. it is indeed a new day, and on this new day, we must commit ourselves to the proposition that failure is not an option. when i think on our present economic challenges, i am reminded of the words of margaret thatcher, who said, once we concede that public spending and taxation are more than a necessary evil, we have lost sight of the core values of freedom. nearly two years ago, the federal government in washington decided to transfer its irresponsible fiscal practices to the states. and our state, like every other, accepted it. when we produce this year's budget, we will see the heavy price we pay for having done so. in our coming actions, we must

recognize that we will not produce the jobs our people deserve by placing higher tax burdens on our workers and our small businesses. and we will not reach prosperity by increasing state government's share of our economy. be assured, however, that i have every confidence we will achieve a much more prosperous place. and we will do so by going back to that spirit of independence that fueled south carolina's leading role in defeating the strongest nation on earth two centuries ago. when we embark on this new journey toward growth and prosperity, we must do so together, with one vision. a vision that is focused on the success of our families and businesses is a vision that is not impaired by partisanship, personalities, or distractions. we don't have time for that, and i won't stand for it. many times over the last

eighteen months i asked south carolinians to join a movement. that movement was never about one person or one election. our state constitution requires the governor and the general assembly to work together to serve south carolina well. and work together we will. but the energy that drives our cooperation does not come from within this beautiful capitol building behind me. the energy comes from the sound of the people's voices. the success of the movement i asked you to join will be realized when elected officials are accountable for their votes, when citizen participation in government reaches new heights, and when the voice heard loudest is neither mine nor any other elected officials', but is that of the taxpayers of this state. [applause] in the days, weeks, and months ahead, we have the opportunity to reduce state spending and make it more efficient.

we have the opportunity to improve education and allow our children to be successful regardless of where they are born. we have the opportunity to strengthen our small businesses to help them create the jobs our people need. we have the opportunity to restructure our state government to make it more transparent, more accountable, and more respectful of the people of south carolina. we must seize these inspiring opportunities. if we do, we will have a state where good jobs are in constant supply, where south carolina becomes the envy of the nation, and where we are so free of political distractions that the media is forced to report on good news. [laughter] [applause] just imagine that. that is my south carolina. it's the south carolina i want for my children and for every family in our great state. so, with faith in god, who knows what is right, and faith in our

own ability to use the skills and judgment he gives us to do what is right, we can make this vision a reality. thank you. may god bless south carolina. and may he continue to bless the united states of america. [applause] >> god bless america will now be performed.

♪ god bless america, land that i love ♪ ♪ stand beside her and guide her ♪ ♪ through the night with a light from above ♪ ♪ from the mountains, to the prairies ♪ ♪ to the oceans white with foam ♪

♪ god bless america ♪ my home sweet home ♪ god bless america, land that i love ♪ ♪ stand beside her and guide her ♪ ♪ through the night with a light from above ♪ ♪ from the mountains, to the prairies ♪ ♪ to the oceans white with foam ♪ ♪ god bless america ♪ my home sweet home

♪ god bless america ♪ my home sweet home >> latest please remain standing for the benediction to be delivered by the reverend charles jackson of brooklyn baptist church. >> let us receive the benediction. eternal god our father, as we conclude the inaugural program

for the state of south carolina on this historic day, we ask that you will continue to sustain us with your guidance and protection. and the words of holy scripture, empower us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with the. and now, may the lord bless you and keep you, may the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. may the lord lift up his confidence upon you and give you peace and prosperity, now and always, amen. >> ladies and gentlemen, you may be seated.

the inaugural recession will now begin led by her excellency the governor of south carolina, along with mr. haley and their family. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

>> yesterday was the anniversary of the eart >> yesterday was the anniversary of the earthquake in haiti. next, an update on relief efforts from gail mcgovern, president and ceo of the american red cross. it's estimated the earthquake killed 230,000 people, injured in 300,000, and left 2 million homeless. from the national press club in washington, this is an hour. >> good afternoon and welcome to the national press club. my name is then one. i'm a reporter for bloomberg news and president of the national press club. we are the world's leading professional organization for journalists and committed to our professions future through our programming and by fostering a free press worldwide. for more information about the national press club, please

visit our website at www.press.org. to donate please visit www.press.org/library. i would like to welcome our speaker and attendee's today's events which include guest of our speaker as well as working journalists. i would also like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. after the speech concludes i'll ask as many audience questions as time permits. first i would like to introduce our head table guests. from your right, executive strategy advisor for humanity first, u.s.a. loose skin or a reporter for investment news and a new member of the national press club. geraldine, international news manager for world vision. sam worthington, president and ceo of an action and a guest of the speaker. david, senior vice president of the international services for the american red cross and a

guest of our speaker. melissa, the speakers committee chair and an organizer of this event. skipping over our speaker for the moment, susie to france's chief public affairs officer for the american red cross american red cross, and a guest of our speaker. rachael ray, of the london daily telegraph. edward donahue, reporter for "the associated press." april ryan, white house correspondent and washington bureau chief of the american urban radio network. and, finally, brooke stoddard, freelance journalist. [applause] >> today is the one year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated haiti, claiming more than 200,000 lives and destroy more than a quarter million homes, leaving more than 1 million people homeless. many haitian families one year later still need food, shelter,

and sanitation. survivors are living in tent camps marked by disturbing reports of violence. debris clogs the capital of port-au-prince. haitis conditions have sparked calls and critics are tougher government about donated funds are spent. today's guest has been central to haitian relief efforts. as president and ceo of the american red cross, gail mcgovern has the nation's largest disaster relief organization, one that raised nearly a half billion dollars per patient assistance. last week the red cross announced that so far it has been or signed agreements to spin $245 million on haiti recovery efforts, more than half of what it has collected. haiti is a test for the american red cross as well. when she took a job in 2008, she was the seventh of ceo in seven years, hired to restore the red cross is tarnished reputation and bottom line. twice named among "fortune"

magazine's most powerful women in corporate america the marketing and fundraising experts lashed spending, working to regain the trust of donors who were wary from reports of red cross and to avert 9/11 funds to other purposes. then on january 12, 2010, which is also her birthday, the deadly haiti earthquake struck. the day after the quake she was diagnosed with breast cancer. as she began fighting her personal battle as well as the battle for haiti, mcgovern watch the red cross campaign to provide resources and assistance to haiti's suffering quake victims. she is here today to discuss how the red cross is spending what it has raised to haiti, to give an update and to lay out the challenges that lie ahead. please welcome to the national press club american red cross president and ceo gail mcgovern. [applause]

>> thank you very much, alan. and i am really pleased to be back at the national press club. it's really quite an honor, and i'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to report out to you and also to the public about our operations in haiti on this one year anniversary. i plan to talk about how the american red cross is putting her donated dollars to work, and i will also talk about some the challenges that we are dealing with and how we plan to move forward haiti and its people recover. but for someone to point out that even though haiti is by far the largest operation that we have worked on in 2010, it certainly isn't the only disaster that we have responded to, and it isn't the only thing we have been focused on this year. the fact is that one in five people in the united states has

been touched by the american red cross, but it is actually unusual for me to meet anyone that knows everything that we do. we respond to 70,000 disasters every single year, and we do this with volunteers who wear pagers 24/7. this pasture we go with major disasters in the u.s. as well, like the floods in tennessee or the tornadoes that hit the south and midwest the midwest, or the wildfires in colorado. we are also there to respond to tens of thousands of single-family house fires that happen each and every year and probably don't even make the evening news. the seemingly quote unquote small disasters may seem small, but if your family is impacted, they are of epic proportions, and we're always there. we're there to provide shelter. we're there to provide food. we are there to provide comfort and hope.

in addition to disaster response, we provide nearly half of the nation's blood supply, and every single one of those 10 million units were donated by a generous and selfless person who really wanted to save lives. we also work with members of the military, veterans, and their families by providing support and 500,000 in emergency communications every single year. and that could range from delivering the news of a tragedy at home, or to the video connection that we set up for a soldier who is deployed so he could teach his teenage son how to shave for the very first time. we also teach lifesaving skills to about 10 million people every year, and its unusual for a month or two to go by when we are not honoring somebody who, an ordinary person who has done an extraordinary act.

recently, we honor to 17 year-old young man who saved his three year-old brother from choking because of his red cross training. the depth and breath of all we do still continues to amaze even me, and it truly is a privilege to be part of it. one last thing before i start talking about haiti. 18 months ago i spoke at the national press club about the challenges of navigating and nonprofit through turbulent economic waters. and at that time i talked about how the red cross is trying to eliminate a $209 million operating deficit over a two-year period. and i'm very pleased to let you know that after a great deal of cost cutting, consolidation and streamlining, that we closed our fiscal year this past june, and we did so with a modest surplus. none of these cost-cutting initiatives impacted our ability to fulfill our mission, and we

are continually seeking ways to be efficient in order to be outstanding stewards of our donors dollars. now for haiti. as we all know, a year ago today haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake, 7.0 of magnitude, they killed an estimated 230,000 people, and left an additional 123 million people homeless. it flattened homes, it destroyed much of the capital city, it damaged government operations, including the death of many civil servants. matt mayer, a 36 year-old tom wilkes-barre pennsylvania, was ahead of the american red cross operations in port-au-prince when the earth quake struck. he and his coworkers dove under their desks when the earthquake started, and when it was over they saw like. and they realized that the walls of the building had collapsed

around them. matt crawled out from the wreckage, and he looked across the hillside to see thousands of homes that were pancake. and he knew in an instant that many, many people had died. despite the trauma that he himself and his team experienced, met any other spent all night bandaging and cleaning wounds. they sent out teams to provide first aid to people that were in hard to reach locations, and they didn't have stretches so they dug through the rubble to find doors to carry the injured to vehicles to get into one of the few remaining operating hospitals. my first trip to haiti was just a few days after the earthquake. the deceased were not buried and they were still in the streets. i saw people walking around the streets of port-au-prince with nothing more than just a shock and grief on their faces. the extent of the devastation,

the number of injuries, and the smell of death were just indescribable. the city was usually quiet, no one smiled, no one laughed, no one spoke, no one even cried. people were living in makeshift tents that they made from pieces of sheet under little sticks that they pitch. and if you want to talk to the residents in his makeshift camps, you literally have to crawl around on your hands and feet to be able to see them. these images are still very, very vivid to me today, and i suspect they will be for years to come. the experience, fundamentally changed my life. -the combination of heartbreak, but also steely determination to do whatever we possibly could to help the people of haiti recover, no matter what. i had pictures of children that

i took during this first trip and i have been on my refrigerator, and i look at them every day. they helped remind me of our mission and why we need to be sure that every single dollar that we spent is spent wisely. but also strengthens my resolve is the incredible outpouring of generosity from the american public. the tremendous needs of the haitian people brought out the tremendous heart of the people of our country. so many americans reached into their hearts, they reached into the wallet, and he even reached their cell phones to be able to give. and they did so in such tough economic times. i want each and every one of them to know that we are truly grateful for those donations, and they are making a difference for the people of haiti. over all, the american red cross has raised or hundred $79 million for earthquake relief and recovery efforts. and his came in from millions of

donors in various ways and in various sizes, like the $1 million gift from a fortune 500 company, $400 that was raised by fourth grade class in massachusetts, or the crumpled up dollar bill that came with a note that was sent to me that said, this is from the tooth fairy, can you give to people of haiti? more than 32 million came from text messaging at just $10 a pop. and this is truly a game changer in the world of fundraising. it shattered all previous records for mobile giving, and i like to think that it introduced a whole new generation to that delicious feeling of giving back, probably for the very first time. with this outpouring of support comes the responsibility for accountability, and for transparency. and this new generation of donors wants to know how the red

cross is spending their money. and i learned that firsthand when i did a skype interview with a fourth grade class that i talk about that raise $400. i expected the conversation to be pretty simplistic. i mean, these were nine year old kids, but i knew we had entered into a new era of transparency when these kids asked me some really tough questions about exactly how their $400 was going to be spent. i provided them with a lot of detail, and as i told the class the red cross is committed to wisely spending the money that our donors have entrusted to us, and whenever i make decisions i try to imagine that our donors are sitting right there at the table with me. and i asked, would they be happy with the way we are spending the money? would they approve? and will it help the people of haiti? personally i welcome this new level of transparency and i am

proud to share decisions with our donors. i'm often asked whether or not we spent the donors dollars fast enough and 80. three months after the earthquake, we told the press and we told our donors that we estimate that we had spent all of contracts to spend $200 billion in the first year following the earthquake. the fact is to date we provide even more relieved than we originally projected. i'm proud to report that the american red cross has been contracted to spend or we have spent $245 million in the first 12 months. and that is more than half of the $479 million that we collected, and if you do some quick math, it's a spending rate of about two-thirds of a million dollars every day. that rate is possible because our large disaster response capacity, and we can also very swiftly identify partners in haiti who can also deliver massive amounts of assistance to

complement our own capabilities. so for the next few minutes i'm going to describe the emergency relief that we provide in the first year since the earthquake, and these are the kinds of services and activities that are urgently needed after a disaster. and in haiti, they have literally kept people alive. and that's a point worth reemphasizing. while conditions in haiti are still extremely difficult, these relief efforts made possible by your donations have saved the lives that otherwise would have been lost. after i described our relief efforts, i'll talk about the challenges that we faced, they need to be flexible, and i will also talk about our plans going forward. i will be using some of the facts and figures that can be found in our one year a day report, it's on a website, red cross.org. i would also be talking about

what the red cross, the american red cross has done but i've also referred to what we have done as a network with the other red cross societies around the world. our emergency relief efforts include six different categories your food, water and sanitation, emergency shelter, livelihoods, health services, and disaster preparedness. and i give you a few details on each, and i will start with food. after the earthquake the american red cross provides the world food program, that's part of the u.n., with $30 million in funding and an additional $40 million in ready to eat meals. that was enough to feed 1 million people during the height of the earthquake response. this assistance was vital in a country where even prior to the earthquake 1.9 million people either went to bed hungry or were completely reliant on aid for substance.

in early spring, the haitian government asked aid organizations to stop distributing food. they felt that they would harm the local economy, particularly local farmers. so are funds were redirected to provide school meals, food for work programs, and nutritional supplements for children who were under five years old, or pregnant women or nursing women. next is the area of water and sanitation. since the earthquake the global red cross network has been providing clean, drinkable water to hundreds and thousands of people throughout port-au-prince each and every day. we've also funded latrines to serve 265,000 people who are living in camps, and it's important to note that before the earthquake only one in three people have access to clean potable drinking water, and less than 20% had access to latrines or two toilets. the american red cross also is

working to improve drainage around the camps. just imagine living in a homer every time there's a heavy rain you are knee-deep in water and you can't lay down and your children get laid and. you have to stay up all night. these drainage projects keep residents a dryer, they reduce the threat of waterborne disease, and to help put people to work. the third area is in the area of emergency relief, is emergency shelters. ..

>> to get back on their feet through jump-starting livelihoods. we've been working with the microfinancing partner in haiti, we've helped about 220,000 people do cash grants and business loans. many of these families have received grants led by women, and that is a particularly vulnerable group economically, as you know. also, because hundreds of thousands of displaced haitians left the capital to seek refuge with friends and family in other regions, we're providing support to about 70,000 support who are living with host families. these grants and loans made a real difference for haitians like the owner of a small to do shop, odette. she lost most of her inventory during the earthquake, and

thanks to the red cross she reopened her shop, her business is growing again, and once again she can provide support for her tamly. and there's signs more and more haitians are getting back on their feet. the u.n. tracks the pop haitian in the camps, and they have -- population in the camps, and they have determined the network of residents has declined by more than half a million people since the earthquake. the fifth area includes several different initiatives that we're working in the area of health. the american red cross helped fund a u.n. vaccination program. we advantage is si mated close to a million men, women and children against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles and rue bella. nearly 21,000 people -- 217,000 people have been treated at red cross facilities since the earthquake. we've also provided funds to keep the doors open of the largest public hospital in port-au-prince as well as the only critical care and trauma

center in all of hay -- haiti. the earthquake left thousands of haitian survivors with crushed limbs, so the american red cross is helping to fund the reconstruction of a prosthetics and rehabilitation facility that's run by the healing hands for haiti. and be you can just imagine the joy that a child would experience with an artificial limb. it brings them back to normalcy, whether it's being able to walk or kick a soccer ball again. our final set of projects in the emergency response phase is in the area of disaster preparedness for haiti. haiti is, obviously, a disaster-prone country, and in order to be ready for the rainy seasons and the hurricanes seasons we're working to build a culture of preparedness. the red cross prepositioned enough emergency supplies -- tarps, tents, blankets and cots -- for 125,000 people, and can they're scattered around haiti.

haitian volunteers trained by the red cross have gone into the camps to provide residents with basic disaster preparedness and response be tools. they've worked with community residents to put sandbags up on the hillsides and to create evacuation routes, and this included setting up emergency communications using bull horns or cell phone calling chains and the like. these efforts also reinforced by the innovative use of of text messaging and broadcast media. so, for example, when hurricane tomas was approaching haiti in the fall, we worked with a wireless provider in haiti, and we sent millions of text messages throughout the country telling people the steps that they should take to prepare for the storm. and these prep eights have kept -- preparations have kept the loss of life to a minimum went tomas struck in november. so, hopefully, that gives you a sense of our relief activities. and as i said, more details are

available on our web site. at the american red cross, we know that it is very important to have a plan during disaster response, but it's also very important to be flexible. and the cholera outbreak is an example of a think and unexpected crisis -- new and unexpected crisis that we had to respond to. as soon as the cholera outbreak started, the red cross sprang into action. within days of the outbreak, cargo planes filled with relief supplies that were paid for by the american red cross were landing this port-au-prince. the red cross network opened three cholera treatment centers, and we're also providing funds to other centers as well. we're providing safe, chlorinated water every day to more than 300,000 people in port-au-prince. the red cross donated 10 million aqua tabs, tablets that purify

water, and we donated those to the haitian water authority. text messaging has also been part of our cholera response as well. the red cross response team has sent 3.7 million text messages with prevention techniques and information across the country. we've also purchased and transported hundreds of thousands of prevention and treatment items like soap, like oral hydration tablets and iv solutions, etc. we've shipped thousands of cots from our own warehouses here in the u.s. for use in the cholera treatment facilities and hundreds of american red cross-trained hygiene promoters are going tent to tent in the camps in port-au-prince to explain how to stop the spread of cholera. and this is really not an easy feat because this is a country where the ill literacy rate is

so high, you can't just drop off a brochure and ask people to read it. i had the privilege of following a group of these volunteers around the tents, and they used ingenious techniques from having a storyboard with illustrations to, literally, demonstrating how you wash your hands with cholera soap. and when they were done, they would teach the kids in the camp the cholera song which has catchy tune to it, and the lyrics are all about how to prevent the spread of cholera. a second example where we had to be flexible had to do with an extensive initiative that we were planning as part of our relief work. however, this project, unfortunately, is going to have to go into the column of challenges that we faced, and it shows the need to adapt to new developments and to new directions. i'm speaking about our cash transfer program which you may recall from our previous report.

we had successfully piloted a program where we were going to distribute $40 million to help people living in the camps, and our feeling was that this would empower them to provide for their own needs rather than waiting in line for aid distribution. however, the government of haiti asked us to stand down on this program in late october, and the rationale was that the provision of cash would have more people moving into the tented communities and would incent people not to leave. we were disappointed, frankly. i understand the point of view, but we have to abide by their decision. and so since that time the american red cross has been work withing to reallocate that money into financial assistant initiatives that would be more targeted. and these would include cash for work, relocation grants, school

vouchers to offset tuition payments for k-12 students -- almost every student has to pay a tee to go to school in -- fee to go to school in haiti because 90% of the school system is private schools. our goal remains to get cash into the hands of families which will not only improve their lives, but also stimulate the haitian economy. another challenge that all of you have read about is finding land to get people out of the camps and into transitional homes. and this effort has not moved as quickly as any of us would have hoped for for a number of reasons. first, it's been very difficult for the haitian government to determine exactly who owns the land and, obviously, groups like the american red cross can't just charge in there, steal land, start building. it's not our land, and it's not our country. much of the available land is covered with tons of rubble that has to be removed, and there isn't enough heavy equipment in haiti to do so.

even if there were, the roads are so narrow that heavy equipment wouldn't be able to have access to remove the rubble. but despite these challenges, the american red cross is moving ahead in our efforts to provide more permanent shelters for haitians that are currently living under tarps and tents. we're spending $48 million as part of the red cross network's overall goal to build transitional homes for 150,000 people. and our partners have already completed a number of these homes in 16 different communities. the homes that they've completed will be able to house 15,000 people. and these are brightly-colored homes, they're a vivid sign of progress and a sign of hope. and i like the fact that in many instances they're being built by the haitians that live right this that community as part of a cash for work program that's being funded by the american red cross. so looking ahead, the red cross

is planning to spend the remainder of our funds on longer-term recovery, and we plan to be in haiti until the very last dollar is spent. and our hope is to leave a lasting impact. so the bull of the remaining -- bulk of the remaining funds will be spent on permanent housing. our plan is to provide permanent homes using two different approaches. the first is to rehabilitate existing communities inside of port-au-prince. homes in the city the have been marked with green if they're able to be has been it bl, yellow the they need repair and red if the they have to be demolished. so our program would include repairing homes that are damaged and replacing those, demolishing and replacing those that are unsound. this, obviously, is a street by street approach, and it allows people to return to their neighborhoods and stay close to family, friends and jobs. the second approach is a

greenfield effort where we develop brand new l communities outside of port-au-prince. and we're very excited to be able to tell you about two brand new initiatives. first, the american red cross is working closely with the united states government, the state department, through its implementing arm, usaid. we're working on a planned partnership to build permanent housing for that people that wee left homeless. usaid would identify and prepare at least two locations in haiti for permanent homes that would include roads, drainage and other infrastructure. the plan is that the american red cross would build these homes, including water ask sanitation, and we anticipate spending as much as $30 million in this planned partnership with usaid. second, the american red cross is also working on a separate housing project with the inter-american development bank or idb.

we anticipate that we'll spend as much as $15 million to construct homes on land that's being identified by the haitian government. the lands would include roads, san-- sanitary systems, electrical services and other infrastructure. these projects are part of the $100 million that we plan to invest to provide tens of thousands of people with permanent homes, and they will unfold over the next few years. so before i take your questions, i do want to offer a personal perspective. my experience in haiti is like nothing i have ever experienced. i've made several trips since the earthquake, and each time i experience every single possible emotion. deep sadness and despair, but also pride, joy and hope. and unlike all americans, i really wish the pace of progress could be faster in haiti. i'd like to see all haitians

living in permanent homes with robust livelihoods and have vibrant communities. and instead about 800,000 people are still living under tarps and tents while the haitian government works to sort out land openship issues. -- ownership issues. and this is not easy in a country where title documents often didn't ever exist and where the government work force was decimated during the earthquake. while much has been done in haiti, the conditions still are very tough for the people there. i keep reminding myself that haiti was with a very poor country before this devastating earthquake. more than 70% of haitians were living on $2 a day or less. only one in three haitians had access to safe drinking water. less than half of the people in haiti have electricity, and the ill literacy rate is 45%. in many cases aid groups aren't just rebuilding haiti, we are

building some of the infrastructure for the very first time. and, of course, the recent events over the past few months like the cholera outbreak, hurricane tomas, the civil unrest after the announcement of the election results, these have only compounded the misery of the earthquake survivors. but amid the destruction and hardship there's also hope and progress. the resiliency, the determination, the spirituality and the positive attitude of the people that i have met in haiti are absolutely inspirational. and i'm also inspired with by our red cross workers on the ground who endure many of these same hardships in order to be there every single day helping others. under incredibly challenging circumstances, they have really accomplished so much. and can i'm deeply moved by all of you who entrusted us to spend

your dollars wisely in ways that best help the people of haiti. and that is exactly what we're doing. i'm personally committed to spend it in a way that will make our donors proud. thank you very much. [applause] >> and thank you very much for taking some time on your birthday to speak with us today. it's, of course, an important anniversary. first question from are the audience and, please, do not hesitate to send up your questions. how is the current political atmosphere in haiti affecting relief efforts? >> well, i mentioned the civil unrest and that, unfortunately, was a reality, and as a result, a lot of the aid operations had to stand down temporarily. be but the prime minister -- but the prime minister and president bill clinton are working on the

interim haitian recovery commission, and they are still meeting, they're still approving projects. the ones that i described in here were put in front of the commission, and it is still moving. it's moving slowly. >> this audience member asks, how much has the haitian government helped or hindered your work there? >> so as i said, their job is not easy. people were living in homes that had no titles. and if you've visited haiti and you see the rubble, it is incredible what they have to do. the good news is they completed the work to label the yellow, green and red houses. the projects that i described, for example, are starting to move forward. i'm seeing transitional shelters spring up all over the place. we're building about 20-30 every single day, seven days a week. so there is progress, but the haitian government has a lot of

hard work to do with the decimated work force. >> from the haitian government to the u.s. government, understanding that the red cross is a donor agency, what is your reaction to discussions that you hear this new congress of cuts to the foreign aid budget, questions about accountability with relief efforts and just the general atmosphere of budget cutting and deficit cutting you see in congress? >> well, as the ceo of the american red cross, one of our seven tenets is neutrality, and i want to be neutral on all things political. having said that, we're working very closely with the state department, usaid, and they're helping us forge ahead over there in haiti. >> you mentioned near the end of your address that you had seen examples of hope and inspiration that have kept you going with your work. what is a specific example of success you've seen in the past year that gives you hope? >> there are signs of hope all over haiti.

you can walk around haiti and hear hammering as transitional shelters to up, you can see kids with artificial limbs that are walking for the first time since the earthquake. people look healthier this haiti. when i was there the first time, there were so many injured people, and now you can see that people, the health care system was nonexistent before haiti. only one in 10,000 people had access to health care. so, and there's also progress that you don't see like the fact that a million people are now vaccinated against diseases that were widespread or that water-borne illnesses were minimized in close quarters in port-au-prince because of revex, clean water -- prevention, clean water distribution, etc. and every time i go i am so delighted to see how much commerce is happening in the streets. it seems like there isn't an

empty spot on the curb where someone hasn't set up some sort of shop and is selling something. i've seen people using our red cross tarps and tents to, i saw a restaurant that had a table for two, and it was fully booked. [laughter] i saw a manicurist, i saw a barbershop. these are beautiful signs of progress and a testimony to the resiliency and the determination of the haitian people. >> so following up on your examples of health care such as the vaccination programs, how do you take what is a relief of effort and translate that into the foundation of a sustainable health care system once you're gone? >> that is an excellent question. and we are, literally, helping to keep the doors open of the two hospitals that i described. the haitian government has started paying the salaries in the university hospital which we think is a great sign.

but in order for the health care to be sustainable it has to be a government of-run institution. the aid will eventually run out. we have $479 million. that sounds like a lot, but it certainly isn't enough to keep hospitals going forever. so the haitian government has begun to engage, and we're working with them to transition the salaries over to the government. >> so when a disaster occurs, there's the initial burst of aid to keel with the cry -- deal with the crisis, and there's always a question as far as where you put be resource to another. you said as the example of food be where there was an immediate rush of food and then a desire because of it damage on the agricultural economy to push it away. when do you make those judgments that this a certain area you have left the crisis phase and are now in the longer-term phase, and to what extent in

haiti right now are we still in one phase and not yet into another in the different areas? >> so that decision varies in each and every disaster. they're all a little bit different. as humanitarian, i never want to stop distributing relief. i mean, it -- you want to keep continuing it. but i know that if we were to do that at the end, the money would run out, and we would leave, and there would be nothing to show for the incredible outpouring of generosity from the american public. so as people are leaving the tented communities which is a sign that people are getting back on their feet, we have started to divert funds to recovery as i describe with the permanent housing and also the transitional homes as well. and it's important to do this because it's a sign of progress, it's a permanent p, indelible, lasting impression on the

country, and at the same time we are constantly prepared for unexpected disaster like the cholera outbreak or hurricane tomas. we, we work closely with the government of haiti, the people on the ground, our sister society, the haitian red cross to get a sense for when it's right to start doing recovery efforts and in the case of haiti we feel that it's time to start breaking ground and start building permanent homes. >> one of the issues you've heard discussed with haiti is how much of the population has been concentrated in port-au-prince, and you made reference to new greenfield initiatives to basically disperse that population into what could be new population centers. you talked about building homes, you talked about infrastructures, water, drainage, etc. how do you go about creating an economy for these towns? >> so your observation is exactly correct. port-au-prince before the

earthquake had a population of 2.5 million people, and they say that it was a city built to accommodate 900,000. so even before the earthquake struck it was overpopulated, and when you look at the blueprints that the interim commission has worked on to figure out long-term recovery, it includes flattening port-au-prince a bit and dispersing the residents outside of the community. and there has to be an effort to provide livelihoods, jobs, etc. so part of our recovery is to continue to support livelihoods, but this is something that the haitian government is working with as well. and you may have noticed that yesterday there was an announcement where two korean textile manufacturers are going to be setting up operations in haiti, and that is going to be creating 20,000 jobs.

infrastructure, utilities, livelihoods, schools, community centers, all of these things are required to make haiti a vibrant community. it isn't just homes which is why in these greenfield earths we're -- efforts we're coordinating with partners to make sure those types of things are available before we start digging. and we're also making sure that our initial projects are close to port-au-prince where there are job centers and possibilities for employment. >> on the topic of pace of recovery funding, you'll often hear when an effort is initially put forth that the money's being spent spirally too quickly, the -- entirely too quickly, it's not being spent efficiently. people who don't say that will often tend to say you're not spending the money fast enough because it's being spent inefficiently because your organization, clearly, can't disperse this aid. these are contradictory concepts

that you'll often hear at the same time. how does one manage the pressure and know that you have been spending money at the proper pace? >> that's an excellent question, and it's a true observation. if we don't spend it at a really rapid ace, people say -- pace, people say why aren't you spending it fast enough? if we had blown through the $479 million in the first year, i'm quite confident people would have said what the heck did you do with that money? we with attempt, you used in the question, you know, how do you deal with that pressure? the way i wake up in the morning, and i can look myself in the mirror by saying i want to spend the money through a lens of two factors. one, would it make our donors or proud and, two, will it help the people of of haiti? and we have resisted the urge to just dump money because you want to make sure it's spent wisely. and in a number of the initiatives that i talked about we're working with partners, and

we make sure that we put out requests for applications that they will spend the money wisely, that we have the ability to audit where the funds are going. we want to make sure at the end of the day we can account for every single dime and that we don't succumb to pressure, that we really just do the right thing. >> related to that question, according to one report donations in the wake of hurricane katrina were spent much more quickly in the first year than they have been spent in haiti. what is different about haiti's position that has humanitarian organizations spending on reconstruction more slowly? >> in the u.s. during hurricane katrina -- and i ought to preface this by saying katrina was about four years before my time when i started at the american red cross -- but included in our work in katrina was an enormous financial aid package where we were supplementing the work that fema had done.

we took the outpouring of donations and gave money to the victims that were impacted. and we did it with debit cards, and we were able to transfer the donations directly to the people there. so that was one effort. the other thing is this is, katrina happened in the u.s. people could get on buses, they could leave the city. i read somewhere that only 60% of people returned to new orleans. they could get on buses, they could move in with relatives, they could get jobs. so in a lot of ways it was easier to get relief done quickly because there wasn't that same long recovery effort. you just walk around haiti, and you see that recovery has to be a huge part of our donations. or else there'll be nothing to show for it. so here we're or planning recovery operations, and as i

said in my speech, this isn't to rebuild haiti, this is to build parts of haiti up for the very first time. >> before this address i was speaking with a person in the reception remarking how the attention span for disasters can often be very short and, regrettably, the fact that even one year later people are still talking about haiti, it can be kind of unusual by the standards of humanitarian disasters. of course, you have nearby access to u.s. media and a lot of things that help such things along, but while this is happening there are other humanitarian disasters, and this person questions has haiti taken the oxygen out of the room? is it harder to raise dollars for other needs because of ongoing interests, and what areas other than haiti need more assistance but may be suffering from a lack of attention? >> so first of all, has haiti taken the oxygen out of the room? i think that this disaster

struck a cord with the american -- chord with the american public like no other. the visuals on tv were horrific and much more vivid, and for whatever reason the media went deeper into showing some really graphic images that will stay with all of us for a long time. so i think that's part of the reason why the attention has taken so long. the other thing is just the sheer number of donors. not the amount necessarily, but the number of donors. i've walked through the airport with my red cross pin on, and a kid will come up to me and say, i gave you $10. what are you doing with it? there's so many people that feel a vested interest now and a connection to haiti. the question is, has it diverted our attention? no. as i said, we responded to 70,000 disasters last year. we still delivered half the nation's blood supply. we still trained 10 million people on life-saving skills,

and we still supported military families to the tune of 500,000 connectionings every year -- connections every year. could we use donations for that? absolutely. absolutely. there's a bit of donor fatigue because of haiti, and there are a lot of things going on in our country that the red cross is providing, and we are, we exist because of the generosity of the american public. so any donations in any area are greatly appreciated. >> about those cell phone messages, this person asks when a donor sends money via cell phone or text, does the phone company get a cut? >> they didn't during haiti. they were very generous, and they did not take their fees which is pretty amazing. another question i get on the cell phones is, oh, my gosh, did my kid get on there and text hundreds and hundreds of dollars? [laughter] i'm here to assure you that the answer to that is no because you

could only text twice. so that $32 million were either $10 or $20 donations and not the same people texting. and we love this medium. we are constantly sending texts back to the people that donated with little status reports telling them how their money is working and what we're doing, and it's a great way to send messages to keep people feeling connected to the people of haiti and to the american red cross. >> are you able to harvest that for your mailing list? [laughter] >> there's an interesting question. so we actually sent a text that invited people to opt in by texting us their e-mail addresses, and i think we got between 5-10% opt-in, so we do communicate with people, now, via e-mail. i love texting, i love this medium, but it's kind of hard to send a stewardship report like the one i just gave you in a text message. so we're delighted for anyone to

get on our web site, give us their e-mail address was we really want to keep them informed. and the more we can tell our donors about what we're doing not only in this haiti, but throughout the american red cross, the more connected they feel, and the level of transparency, as i said in my speech, is something that we welcome at the red cross. >> calling up on an earlier question, could you, please, talk more about the role of the haitian ex-pat community in the u.s. and response and expertise on the disaster. >> we work with the diaspora very closely. we solicit their opinions, we get their advice, we ask them to volunteer. when the earthquake first struck, we asked creole-speaking people to help staff a ship that was used for critical care. we, we rely on them to help guide us as to what is the right

thing. we have dedicated staff at the red cross who interact with the haitian diaspora because we feel that they're so important. and we do outreach in cities where there is a big population. and they're vital to keeping us informed. they all have relatives back in haiti, so they canal help keep the fipg -- can also help keep the finger on the pulse of what's going on, and they are voc. they demand -- vocal. they demand transparency, and as i said, that's something that we welcome, and we keep them informed and have quite an outreach to make sure that we have a give and take dialogue. >> on transparency, you've spoke several times about your efforts with accountability. do you see other organizations working as hard on that topic as the american red cross, and overall, what are the greatest transparency challenges you see overall in this effort? >> so i think that donors are

demanding transparency. so if there are organizations that are not providing it, i can assure you eventually they will. we made a commitment that we want to lead the effort in transparency, and for the most part we share anything we have. probably the biggest decision that we have is when is too much too much? sometimes the facts and figures and detail get a bit substitutefying. we could provide down to the jerry can what we gave out during relief, but there's a point in time where transparency becomes so overwhelming that people don't really grasp it. but we are happy to share the way we're spending our dollars, the way our budget looks. a lot of this is in our one-year report, but if there's press out there that has questions, we welcome it. and i think this is good for not

only the nonprofits because it keeps us on our toes and it forces us to continually do the right thing, but i think it's good for philanthropy. i think there are more people that will want to donate when they truly understand where their dollars are going and the difference that they're making. >> realistically, when do you expect haiti to be a functional society with permanent homes, no the tents and a developed civil society? is. >> that is a tough question. i think that i would have to have a degree in urban planning to give a realistic answer. i can tell you that in japan after the earthquake in kobi that it took seven years to get kobi back to where it was before the earthquake, and that was one city in this a country extraordinary -- in a country with extraordinary true and resources. as i said, haiti was such a poor

country to begin with that there are actually people that are living in the tented communities that have told us that they're better off now than they were before the earthquake. so i guess i could give the answer it's going to take a long time. some of these projects are going to take a long time. construction takes a hong time. and it's -- long time. and it's going to require a coordinated effort. it's going to require utilities, infrastructure, water, sanitation. i will not give up hope that we can get there, and the reason i have the hope is that when you ask the people in the tented communities what do you need, they don't say water, they don't say water, they don't say shelter, they don't say clothing, they say i these a job. they say i need a job. and with a society that is so eager to work, it seems to me that there's tremendous hope for haiti in the future and that as people discover how industrious

the society is i like to think that we'll see job opportunities, offshore manufacturing and the like that will help bring haiti back at a faster pace. >> what has been your most moving or powerful memory over the past year? >> oh, my goodness. there are so many images that just flew in my taste when you asked that question -- face when you asked that question. when i went to haiti the very first time, nobody smiled. nobody smiled. i mean, i, i came home, and i couldn't smile. it was almost like my smile muscles had gotten frozen. and when i got home, i stood in my shower, and i thought, oh, my gosh, the stuff that we take for granted. the fact that i can stand here

and have drinking water just pouring down the drain without giving it a moment's thought was so amazing to me. and on my next trip to haiti i came back, and people were smiling. and i have emblazon ped in my memory what those smiles look like. i saw kids that had taken pieces of sheets and cloth that they were using for those makeshift tents that i talked about? they were now under tarps and tents, and they had taken the cloth, and they were using them as kites. and they were flying against the backdrop of an unbelievably blue sky, and they were squeal withing and giggling -- squealing and giggling and were just joy on their faces was a memory that i will keep with me for a very, very long time. >> and we are almost out of time. but before asking the last question we have a couple

important matters to take care of. first of all, to remind our members and guests of future speakers. tomorrow, the honorable tim pawlenty, the recent former governor of the state of minnesota, will be launching his book tour here at the national press club for his memoir, "courage to stand. "on january 26th -- this isn't a luncheon, but just to let you know, the national press club is going to be holding a height of solidarity with haitian journalists. hosted by a haitian press advocacy group will raise much-needed funds for journalists and their families. then on february 3, 2011, we have a members-only luncheon with ben bernanke, chairman of the federal reserve. the topic is to be determined, but i think we have some guess withs. second, to present our guest the always-waited for national press club mug. >> thank you, alan. [applause] and for our final question,

simply, you've spoken here before, and you are speaking here today on the one-year anniversary. what will you be able to tell the national press club on the second anniversary? >> oh, my goodness. first of all, before i answer that question, you have no idea how much i covet this cup. it's hard to get one of these, and now i have two, and i am working on getting a set, so i will be back as long as you invite me. i hope that in a year from now i can report that our financials are stable, that the american public is still reaching into their hearts and supporting the american red cross, that we continue to be there for people in need, and i'm almost 100% sure that i will also report that i have the best job this entire world. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, gail mcgovern. this meeting of the national press club is adjourned. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> several live events to tell you about this morning here on c-span2. the council on foreign relations hosts a discussion on u.s./russian nuclear cooperation. that's at 8:30 ian. just after that at 9 a.m. on c-span3 a cato institute forum

on president eisenhower's speech on the military industrial complex and what it means today. on c-span at 10 eastern, a look at the final report on the gulf oil spill and the future of offshore oil and natural gas development. this discussion is hosted by the center for strategic and can -- and international studies. >> live later today tavis smiley leads a discussion on the war, the economy, education, jobs and america's future with arianna huffington, cornel west, maria bartiromo, david fromm and dana mill bank beginning at 6 p.m. eastern on c-span. middle and high school students, it's time to upload your videos for c-span's video documentary competition. this year's topic, washington, d.c. through my lens, get your video to c-span by january 20th for your chance to win the grand rise of $5,000. there's $50,000 in total prizes. c-span's student cram video --

cam video documentary competition is open to students in grades 6-12. go online to student cam.org. >> now, scott walker's;w9s inauguration as wisconsin's 45th governor. from the state capitol reton da in -- rotunda in madison, this is a little less than a half) hour. [cheers and applause] >> please, raise your right hand and repeat after me: i and state your name. >> i, scott walker -- >> do solemnly wear -- >> do solemnly swear -- >> that i will support -- >> that i will support -- >> the constitution of the united states -- >> the constitution of the united states -- >> and the constitution of the state of wisconsin -- >> and the constitution of the state of wisconsin -- >> and that i will faithfully -- >> and that i will faithfully -- >> and impartially --

>> and impartially -- >> discharge the duties -- >> discharge the duties of the office of governor -- >> to the best of my ability -- >> to the best of my ability -- god. applause] i ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] >> good afternoon. i'm matt walker -- >> and i'm alex walker. >> and our dad has worked hard to become the governor of wisconsin, and he's going to work even harder to get the

state working again. >> he's been with us through all of our schooling, our sports and church events. he's been with us to all the packer games, badger games, brewers' games and bucks games too. >> whether it was riding on the back of his harley or in a brown bag bus, we traveled all over the state of wisconsin with our dad. he and our mom have taken us to the state fair every year, and we've camped in all kinds of campgrounds. we've learned to love wisconsin through our father, and now we get to share him with the rest of the state. >> so, ladies and gentlemen, it is our/to introduce to you the 45th governor of the great state of wisconsin, scott kevin walker. [cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. in chief justice abramson, members of the supreme court, the first lady for your incredible support during this transition and for your service to our great state. [applause] governor. >> liker, governor earl, governor thompson, governor

maccallum, senator cole, senator-elect johnson -- [cheers and applause] representatives sensenbrenner or, moore and representative-elect duffy -- [applause] lieutenant governor clayfish -- [cheers and applause] attorney general van hollen -- shuller -- [applause] superintendent evers -- [applause]

tribal leaders, general dunbar and be other members of the armed forces both those who are serving today as well as those the past -- reverend, clergy, state employees, family and friends and, most importantly, fellow citizens of wisconsin -- [applause] it is with great honor that i stand before you today. i am your servant. i want to thank god for the privilege of living in such a remarkable country and for growing up in the greatest state in the entire nation. [cheers and applause]

i also want to thank my family, tonette, my rock, my support, my love. she's going to be a great firsté lady. [cheers and applause] our two sons -- i can't say boys anymore -- our two sons, matt and alex. you i guys, i just marvel how they've grown up in front of our very eyes. they're outstanding young men, and it's an honor to have them introduce me to the rest of the state. thank you, guys. [applause] to my parents, lou and pat walker, who always set a powerful example for me and my brother of how to serve others, i love ya. [applause] my brother david, my

beautiful nieces, isabella and ava, i love you guys so much. thank you so much for being here. [applause] my father-in-law, tony, and to all my family there all across wisconsin and many all across this country, thank you to all of you for your amazing love and devotion not only today, but in the days up until now and the many more days in the future. thank you, i love ya. [applause] thanks, also, to all the participants in today's ceremony, but i particularly am grateful to the members of the 13 2nd army band, my band now. thank you so much for your performance. [applause] national guard not only for their services today, but for their ongoing support of the men and women who are deployed all

you. you're in our prayers each and every day until you get back home safely. we love you. let's give them a round of applause. [applause] most importantly, i want to thank the people of wisconsin. so many of you have offered your support and your prayers during the last couple weeks leading up to today and in the years even before that. tonette and i want to thank you. we really appreciate that. i stand before you not as the governor of one political party or another, not as the governor of one part of the state or another.9d today i stand before you as the governor of all of the people of the great state of wisconsin. [applause] as your governor, i make this pledge: wisconsin is open for business. [cheers and applause]mgmg

we will work tirelessly tomgig restore economic growth andigmg vibrancy to our state.igie my top priorities are simple: jobs, jobs and more jobs.; we will right-size state government by insuring that; government is providing only the essential services our citizens need and our taxpayers can afford. [applause] ask my fellow state workers, i invite you to partner with me in this necessary work. we will also focus on the long term, creatively improving our education system so that our children can compete in a global marketplace. we will protect our vital natural resources, and we will honor and respect the foundational role of the family in our society. you, a pledge if for a new -- for a new and a better

wisconsin that we build our constitution which rests right here. and for the people. when the citizens of the wisconsin territory approved our constitution in the 1848, they envisioned a brighter future for themselves and their children. it was a constitution bornover together to form a pioneering vision to drive our state forward. liberties. we, the people of wisconsin, its blessings, form a more perfect government, insure domestic tranquility and promote the

general welfare do establish this constitution. powerful word. our rights as free people are given by our creator, not the government. among these rights is the right to nurture our freedom and vitality through limited government. these rights were articulated in our original constitution. they were never amended, nor revised. and these rights are evident and expressed in our cherished freedoms. among them, freedom of press, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. article i, section 22 of the state constitution reads so eloquently, but blessings of a free government can only be maintained by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue. and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. today in this inauguration we affirm these values and fundamental principles.

it is through frugality and moderation in government that we see freedom and prosperity for our people. [applause] the past shot to lay levels of economic prosperity. a first step is to rebuild wisconsin's economy. open wisconsin -- we open wisconsin for business. nearly two years ago i met a couple who ran a metal fabricating company. all their other

still, like the spirit that fills so many others in this state, they wanted to get their business going again and of renewal. the dream born gives me hope for the future of our great state. it is upon their dream and the dreams of millions of our fellow citizens that we build a plan for renewal. [applause] and it starts today. to begin our transformation, we will work with our legislative partners in both political parties to pass a series of bold reforms that send a clear message, wisconsin, indeed, is open for business. we have an ambitious goal, 250,000 new i jobs by 2015. i know we can do it because we

did it a generation ago. in january of 19 87 governor tommy thompson declare inside this rotunda our greatest priority will be jobs. more jobs, better jobs, and most importantly, secure jobs for wisconsin's workers by the end created 258,000 jobs. plan, i will today. [cheers and applause] here is the official call that i will present to our new leaders of the state assembly and state senate.gbgc we will present a bold set offcc

reforms, aimed add helping -- aimed at helping businesses create jobs. weds have work withed with lawmakers and leaders from all across the state to develop a and spur job-creating economic growth. today i ask my friends in the legislature to unite and pass these reforms into law to unleash the power of economic freedom. to create more jobs for our citizens. our message is simple: act swiftly, act decisively, and pass our jobs plan by the end of february. let i get wisconsin -- us get wisconsin working again. [cheers and applause] our job plan, our jobs plan provides relief from taxation, regulation and be litigation costs for employers. and it makes it easier for

workers and farmers to afford health care. we will transform the department of commerce into a public/private partnership that will effectively promote commerce throughout wisconsin. we need more commerce. our citizens are hurting. let i come together and -- let us come together and work for passage of these needed reforms. we have businesses in the state that are in a position to hire new workers in the short term, yet time and time again employer s tell me they're uneasy about the future, and most are concerned about what the government might do to them next. the changes that we promote as part of our special session on jobs will send a clear message to job creators: now is the time to invest. to the business owners of the state, i say simply this: stay here, grow here, invest here. and to businesses all across the world i say, bring your jobs here. we have the most talented work

force in the world. men and can women who work tirelessly and deliver quality. [cheers and applause] creating a more vibrant economy, returning to our fundamental constitutional principles. [applause] soon we will lay out our plans for the next state budget, and we will successfully tackle the $3 billion deficit. we will do it without raids on segregated funds or excessive borrowing. but let me be clear about one thing, increasing taxes is off the table as it will counter our efforts to provide economic growth. [cheers and applause]

instead, we will make tough, tough but compassionate decisions to balance the next state budget in a way that will get wisconsin working again. under our administration state government will do only what is necessary, no more, no less. we have, we will fight any action that keeps our employers from creating more jobs, but we will not abandon our fundamental responsibilities to protect our vulnerable mopgst us and to enhance the quality of life for all of our citizens here in wisconsin. a high quality of life, however, is not the result of a bigger, ever-expanding government. as president ronald reagan said this his farewell address, there's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and

predictable as a law of physics. as government expands, liberty con at thes. contracts. [cheers and applause] >> just a couple minutes left in this address. we'll leave it at this point as the russian parliament is debating the s.t.a.r.t. treaty this week. the u.s. senate approved the treaty in december with support from 13 republicans. the treaty would reduce u.s. and russian nuclear arsenals by about a third. the chief u.s. negotiator of the treaty, assistant secretary of state rose gottemoeller. this is live coverage here on c-span2. >> a nuclear security and stability. steven piper next. steve is senior fellow at the brookings center on the united states and europe. and directer of the brookings arms control initiative. he focuses on russia and ukraine and arms control more broadly.

steve, retired foreign service officer, has more than 25 years with the state department focused on u.s. relations with russia and eurasia as well as on arms control and security issues. and, finally, micah is fellow for prevention at the council on foreign relations. previously, he worked at harvard university's kennedy school of government of in a number of research positions, capacities and in washington at brookings, the congressional research service and policy planning office at the state department. let me, then, begin our discussion, and let me begin with you, rose. what, in your view, are the lessons of new s.t.a.r.t. for the future of u.s./russian arms control negotiations? and i have really two an ts -- angles in mind here.

what insights could you offer from what you've experienced on russian views on key issues and, secondly, what lessons does new s.t.a.r.t. offer on how any, any u.s. administration should handle the congress on an arms control treaty? >> excellent, excellent questions, cliff. and can by the way, may i just say how impressed i am that there are so many people interested in nuclear arms control at this hour of the morning. [laughter] i think it's absolutely terrific. but that was actually the first point, and i'd like to turn to your congressional point to begin with, actually, because the significant lesson of the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty both negotiation and ratification process, in my view, for the congressional rich is that -- relationship is that it brought this issue front and center again in our relationship with the u.s. congress and particularly with the senate. i was very impressed as the negotiator, i must say sometimes pressed as the negotiator because the senate was very, very interested through the course of the negotiations.

we briefed them repeatedly, five times we briefed the national security working group starting back in the spring of 2009 as the negotiations were barely getting started and proceeding, then, through the summer and the rest of 2009-2010. shot only briefing -- not only briefing the national security working group which is chaired by at that time senator kyl, senator kyl and senator byrd, but also then chairing, the chairman of the foreign relations committee and the ranking member, senator kerry, senator lugar, of course, we were very involved with them throughout, but the armed services committee and the intelligence committees as well. so we had this kind of regular dialogue going on. and then the ratification process came, and you all know what the ratification process was like. it was a very, very lively debate, lively discussion. but the core conclusion that i take away from it is that nuclear arms control is back as an issue of interest on the hill

and one where a number of senators -- not all by any means, but a number of senators are willing and ready to engage. so as far as the future is concerned, i would just say, you know, continue what we've been doing which is to try to stay in very, very close contact as we proceed in new directions. but also to, to be aware that the interest level is going to be very high. and ined too, i yo -- indeed, you saw that. the you look closely at ratification, it calls for briefings, consultations, let's get in there and talk to them before, after and in the middle of nuclear arms controls issues. i think that's healthy, and i, frankly, welcome the fact there is such a big interest on capitol hill. but it is a big lesson for the future that we also need to continue that and make sure that that due diligence is done. now as to the lessons we learned working with the russians, i would say, frankly, there were two lessons for me. first, the first lesson is that

the cold war is, indeed, over. there were many cold war issues that we continue to grapple with, i'll get to that in a home, but the way -- moment, but the way the negotiations were conducted was, it was much different from when i was last at the negotiating table in geneva in 1990 and 1991 working on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. at that point we still had a very kind of, you know, set-piece way of of interacting with the russians. in the intervening period, 15 years of implementation of the s.t.a.r.t. treaty made a huge difference in how we interact with the russians on these issues, and particularly the fact that we had a great cadre of experienced inspectors and weapons systems operators who came and participated in our delegation in geneva. and the russians did the same. that meant we had this very experienced team on both sides of the negotiating table who were used to interacting with each other at bases of strategic operating bases in the

inspection process. it just made for a much more, i would say, rich dialogue and prepared dialogue. we really, i think, knew what we needed to do in the course of these negotiations to get through them and get a treaty that suited the present, the present stage. so that was the first lesson i'd like to underscore, the cold war really is over, and we've had a lot of experience, now, particularly on on-site inspection that's made a big different in how i we interact with the russians -- in how we interact with the russians on these issues. but the second point is, i would say, a realistic point but perhaps one that, you know, is a little more negative and that is that there are some cold war issues that continue to return to the front of the agenda. and missile defenses and how we interact on missile defenses is, i would say, at the top of that list. it was a very important part of the ratification debate on capitol hill, but it's a longstanding issue. and it's an issue that we are

now going to try to work very hard with cooperation with the russians not only in our bilateral context, but also in the nato/russia cop text. context. and that was such an enormous, enormous success of the lisbon summit back before the holidays that in those two contexts -- the bilateral and nato/russia complex -- we agreed on missile defense. ronald reagan back in 1983 when he launched the star wores initiative spoke about negotiation with the soviets, but now we really want to get off the dime on this, and i think it's going to be very, very important to scoping the future. so -- >> thank you. sort of next tens in the order. steve pifer, what are the prospects for talks on tactical nuclear weapons in and in your view what might an agreement look like? >> okay.

well, first of all, with the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty taking each side down to 15150 strategic warheads, i think we really are at the point where it's hard to envisage further without talking about these numbers that are not constrained. but if we get into another round of negotiations with the russians on tactical weapons, there are going to be some difficult issues. there's a large disparity between the numbers in the u.s. arsenal and the russian arsenal. the russians have anywhere from three to eight times as many tactical l nuclear weapons, and when you have that kind of numerical disparity, it makes the negotiation more dliflt. a second issue is over the last 10 to 15 years the russians have come to place hutch more weight on tactical nuclear forces because they see it as necessary to offset what they regard as conventional disadvantages vis-a-vis nato and perhaps more

importantly, china. and this is nothing new. they've taken this page from they toe's book for most of the cold war when nato chose not to match the soviet union tank for tank but instead relied on tactical nuclear weapons. and the third issue which is going to make this complicated is verification. when you're talking about limits on and verification of limits on tactical weapons, you probably will not be talking about the delivery systems. because i don't think the american air force or the russian air force is going to want to limit f-16s and their counterparts whose primary missions are conventional. so you're talking about limiting actual warheads and, perhaps, even designing schemes where inspectors might have to go into storage bunkers and count weapons. that's shot an insurmountable program, but it's going to pose a set of verification challenges that the united states and russia have not had to grapple with previously. so there's some difficult questions. i don't think they're insurmountable and, you know, one way to approach this is the

question is going to be is given this large russian advantage, how do you persuade them, basically, to negotiate away all or part of that? and i think here the way to do this will be the united states under the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty will end up with a numerical advantage in nondeployed strategic warheads. under the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty, the russians are going to reach their reductions primarily by retiring and can taking out of service missiles, but most of the remaining missiles are going to have full warhead sets. the united states is going to take a different approach and would have the ability in the event that the treaty broke down to put a lot of those warheads back on the missiles. and the russians won't have any kind of matching capability. so perhaps we've designed an approach that allowed you to trade an american willingness to accept p limits on nondeployed strategic warheads for russians might give rose or whoever is out there some negotiating

leverage. and it may be actually, now, i think the time in terms of the next round really to move to an approach that talks about a limit on all nuclear weapons that would cover strategic, nonstrategic, tactical, deployed and nondeployed. and if you put them all into a single limit, that might allow some of these trade-offs, and you could have that kind of approach that would apply to deployed strategic warheads of the 1550 limit in the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty. >> before we move to bmd, would anyone else like to cover -- [inaudible] okay. micah, turning to ballistic missile defense then, i mean, several issues. this interview, you know, one of the main issues that separate russia and the u.s./nato on bmd given that the u.s. is very unlikely to accept formal limits on ballistic missile defense and if anything came screaming out of the senate -- >> yeah. >> no formal limits.

what types of understandings might moscow accept, and as an overall judgment in your view how likely is missile defense to disrupt u.s./russian nuclear cooperation? >> well, let me take the last one first. i mean, there are a buffet of further steps in u.s./russian nuclear and conventional force reductions and agreements that could be reached in 2011, 2012 and after the presidential elections in both countries. but if there's not a formal agreement or understanding on the future way forward on missile defense, none of these will likely happen. medvedev said recently either we come to an agreement on missile defense, or there will be a resumption of the arms race, and it's a very threat ping position, but this is a primary concern for a lot of russian official and strategic thinkers that comes up over and over again. the primary russian concern is not the system which currently protects the united states from limited numbers of ballistic missile launches. the united states has roughly 24 interceptors in this alaska, six in california, these are

intended to cover the entirety of the continental united states from a rogue launch from north korea, say, or an unauthorized launch from russia. but in the summer or the fall of 2009, the obama administration introduced what's called the european-phased adaptive approach policy which is a policy to create a missile defense shield over all of of europe in four stages, 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2020. there are some russians who with perceive that that system will put at risk its icbm force so could not have a reliable second strike against the united states. the administration, to be fair, has done a lot, a very good job through the presidential bilateral working group and the nato/russia council to explain that these systems will not threaten russia's icbm force. technical experts in russia get this, but whether the policymakers get and receive it, that's another question. there's still more the united states can do internally to

provide some transparency about what the out phases, specifically the 2018 and to 020 stages of this missile defense for europe will look like. we don't know what this looks like yet. the missile that will be in place in 2018 and 2020 is still in the design stages. even the earlier missiles which will be based upon ships in the mediterranean, that has not been tested yet. so we're still at the early stages for this, and the perception that this could threaten its force in the future scares russia. and then the final issue is, as rose hinted at, to quote secretary gates or to paraphrase him in june, the russians hate missile defense. they hate it. they've hated it since the late '60s, and as is secretary said, there can be no meeting of the minds on missile defense. i don't think that's the case. in light of the nato/russia council meetings in the november, president medvedev came out with an early proposal for what joint missile defense could look like which i would call sincere but not serious.

the, they, it has these three principles, one is russia wants to be a full-fledged partner in missile defense, second, they want to have shared early warning data, not shared -- shared early warning data, shared radar, shared sensors with two buttons, a two-button principle. one would be covering russia, one would be covering nato. and the third is what they call sector-based defense, assigning zones of responsibility for protection against ballistic missile defense. you talk to military planners in the united states, this is not going to fly. the poles did not come into nato to be protected from ballistic missiles from the persian gulf on behalf of russians. russia does not have a missile defense system presently covering its territory. there is a new air defense system called the x-500 which they claim will be operational for missile defense by 2020, but i think there can be an agreement, and this is being worked in these groups, the

working groups and the nato/russia council about joint threat assessments, what does the threat look like, and that's being done right now. there can also with a shared early warning of all ballistic missile launches. there was, for people in history, remember the jedc which was this joint data exchange center in moscow which was gown to be a place where russians and u.s. officials watched ballistic missile launches from various parts of the world, and they could both agree they came from these countries and not from each other. so i think there can be cooperation on shared early warning, threat assessments and potentially-shared radars which includes integrating russian capabilities in the u.s. adaptive approach missile defense system for europe. >> i'd like to add on this missile defense cooperation point, some of you may have seen the minister of foreign affairs gave a press conference in moscow today, a very extensive

press conference, and he commented that the pace at which we're getting off the ground on our discussions in the working groups, the presidential commission working group that deals with cooperation on nuclear security/missile defense matters chaired by my boss, undersecretary tauscher, and also some military to military discussions as well. so there's a very, very fast pace of activity, and i do think that both moscow and washington are really intent, as are our nato allies, in getting off the ground quickly and completing these joint threat assessments and moving on to looking at joint concepts and really trying to figure out how to put all these pieces together. >> >> i think that's actually really good news because i think if you look at the next negotiation can, if russians are insis tent on something on missile defense and we've seen the senate reaction to limitations on missile defense, there's something of a trap

there, and cooperation may be the way to get out of that box which otherwise could be a major obstacle in the next round of offensive arms reductions. >> rose, let me turn to a different type of issue. we now have the one, two, three agreement, the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement. what, in your view s in it for both sides, and how can the u.s. government and the u.s. private sector best pursue avenues opened by this new and really rather major agreement. >> uh-huh. yes, a lot of people have been focused on the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty and the missile defense cooperation, those aspects. but there was really a major, major step forward in moscow this week when am bad door buyerly exchanged the paperwork to wring in the so-called one, two, three agreement, the agreement for nuclear cooperation. this happened on tuesday the 13th, day before -- 11th day before yesterday. when i was an assistant

secretary of energy back in the late 1990s, we were working on a one, two, three agreement and trying to, you know, move that forward. so it's really been a longstanding initiative, one that both sides have been very intent on bringing to force, and it has finally happened. and there are really, i think, three areas of enormous benefit for both countries. first of all, the area i am most familiar with is the non-proliferation cooperation, having in place an agreement for nuclear cooperation of this kind really helps us to advance our nuclear non-proliferation cooperation. it helps for our technical cooperation when our scientists get together and work on very detailed, technical projects, for example, on new sensor systems and that type of thing. there's been a history of very, very successful u.s./russian cooperation. but a one, two, three agreement will facilitate and ease that cooperation in the future. also will help with some very, very nitty-gritty counternuclear terrorism issues like nuclear

forensics. when we have, you know, some fissile material that is acquired and we're concerned about it, you know, being part of a possible terrorist not or something like that, the nuclear forensic process will be facilitated through the one, two, three agreement. so it's very, very significant. second area is civil nuclear cooperation. again, that's on a government of-to-government basis where our two countries are working together and cooperating, and deputy secretary of energy is the chairman of the commission, bilateral commission with the head on the other side. there's a bilateral commission looking at ways to advance civil nuclear cooperation, that means advanced reactors, advanced fuel cycles, a number of arenas of that kind. so that's very, very important. and then the third area is on the commercial front. it will facilitate cooperation between u.s. companies and russian companies that are engaged in nuclear energy

projects. again, for the development of new reactors, new fuel cycles, new fuels and, overall, does address the issue of consent rights. that is, when the united states has a deal with another country for, for nuclear fuel purchase, the united states has consent rights over the final disposition of that fuel. so having a one, two, three agreement in place addresses that issue and facilitates commercial cooperation as well. so three very, very important areas where this one, two, three agreement will make a big difference and, really, i think, will allow us to advance nuclear energy cooperation on the u.s./russian front overall. but i welcome it, as i said, because of the advantages i see forthcoming in our non-proliferation cooperation. you know, i wanted to underscore for this audience i didn't really know it, i was looking back through dan's recent

materials from his trip to moscow this year. the united states and russia have worked to repatriate 760 kilograms of highly-enriched uranium back to the russian federation to be disposed of. that's quite a few nuclear bomb withs' worth of highly-enriched uranium. and that, again, has not required the one, two, three agreement. that's pursuant to this international partnership that president obama launched last april at the nuclear securities summit here in washington to get highly-enriched uranium, blew i tone yum, fissile materials that could be used in nuclear weapons into programs to dissuppose of them or to better protect them. so russia's been a great partner in this regard, and i think it's really, really worthwhile underscoring the way this partnership can now be enhanced and further developed because of the one, two, three agreement being in place. >> with one final question from

me for micah. as -- it's a political/economic one, sort of moving the space a little bit. russia faces presidential elections in 2012 and a worrisomely tightening fiscal landscape involving large deficits. how could these political/economic factors effect russian policy on the nuclear front? >> well, the -- if you want -- a very interesting perspective on russian policy making, look at the president's speech to the nation, the state of the union address that the russian president gives november 30th of last year. and he goes through the litany of problems russia faces, familial, societal, government and the environment, and there's just a long, long list of problems that russia faces, and the solution to all of them are greater political tension and money. you throw money at these problems, the final issue president medvedev discusses is foreign affairs, defense/national security. and he lays out this agenda to over the next ten years spend

$700 billion on improving defense systems including conventional weapons, missile defense, nuclear weapons, and it ain't all going to happen. they just don't have the money to do it. you know, if oil stays around $100 a barrel, they get closer, but they still don't have the capability to do the modernization that they want. so based upon both the need to restructure its conventional weapons forces, to bring some sort of rationalization, some -- for example, russia recently created what the unite' version of daughter 35 pa is which is how to do better research. they consolidate their air defense and and missile defense into one sort of strategic command. they're trying to rationalize the process while also sort of of making incremental improvements on nod earnization. so -- modernization. so based upon the need to come down to the levels that steve mentioned just by retiring old systems and not building nuclear weapons, russia wants for power purposes and the respect that

nuclear weapons have garnered them over the last 50-60 years, they want an additional agreement that provides transparency and predictability on u.s. and russian nuclear weapons at lower levels for both those reasons. >> thanks to all of you. we now invite audience members to join in on the discussion. and, again, a few procedural comments. please, wait for the microphone, speak directly into it. please stand, state your name and affiliation, and, please, maybe most importantly, keep questions and and comments really on point and concise so allow as many be members as possible to speak. so the floor is now open. yes, sir, please. >> i'm hank gaffney from cna, and i worked 13 years on nato nuclear weapons. and i carefully read all the russian statements of doctrine as they've been coming out. i never see the word "tactical."

this notion that they're relying on tactical, they're relying on strategic which is what nato relied on. i think a lot of you really know that the sigh op was involved in nato responses very early on after two days of conventional battle, but that's a concept of deterrence they're advancing, not a war-fighting. and it includes strategic weapons, and we shouldn't forget that. and i just wondered, does anybody up there know of their statements where they use the word "tactical"? >> hank, that's a good point. i would just note two things. first of all, we've tried to be very careful and precise and, indeed, if you look at the resolution of ratification that came out of the senate, it refers to nonstrategic nuclear weapon withs. and i think it's a