them by going directly to the web. so right now i met to 249 minute ifs. >> how many are there total? >> according to the historical document, we have a total of 400. but in addition to this specific collection, there is a mother said that deals with the wpa which is the workers progress administration, so that collection is specifically from the state of louisiana and right now we have about 28 of those as well, so that would be a separate collection from what we are looking at right now. >> going through these what are some of the interesting things you can across? >> the interesting thing about that is the punishment. for instance how the slaves are actually treated. and i remember one american in particular can't remember the slaves name but he was tied to the tree with chains and he was

whipped until the blood ran down his back and then they took all this and encircled them around his body while the blood was dripping from his back and there were other cases where the slaves were beaten until they had blisters and while they were opened the took salt and poured salt directly into the wound so you just imagine the kind of treatment that they dealt with pity it was very horrendous in that time. ..

>> a pulitzer prize is winning reporter. [applause] >> thank you. [laughter] >> we're here to talk about her book "top secret america" just published last month. i have been reading her book for the past week. i have to say as a

reporter, one of the things i wondered about right off the bat was what it's like to negotiate that is basically a man's world as a female reporter. it as cents, dana priest is like a female cops reporter and that means it plays out in different ways. how did you get to into this particular specialty as a journalist? >> first of the things you for inviting me because it is one of the last official official trips i have on my book to work it could not be better whether i love austan so i'm glad to wrap up this way. thank you. [applause] >> she brought her cowboy boots. >> i am wearing them. so i will come back.

but to answer the question is when i first target in the military did not dawn on me that it was the all male world until the first day. [laughter] when i was surrounded by a been in uniform. it was of little awkward. so i started to dress and has close to what they were dressing like so they wore uniforms i started to wear my own uniform which was navy blue, and no jewelry, and no open toeshoes, one funny story is i went on a trip like this with a general and indonesia. i discovered sitting in is a good method for a reporter because you defend your source is but also by

respecting the culture which is what i was trying to do but you cannot -- you can go too far. the intelligence chief of the embassy where we were visiting the country, the u.s. ambassador set up for me to go talk to him about this intelligence matter i was reporting on are trying to get your permission and what by god's into the embassy he started to take me through the offices then all of the vaults giving me the combination to get into. he finally said when we sat down high was wearing a press badge he said you're not really with the media, are you? i just looked at him. you're with the defense department? i really thought he was joking. but then he unrolled some highly classified maps of a

certain thing we were working on. i got very nervous because it is obvious it was highly sensitive i took notes very quickly. [laughter] right before i left the country, i called him back in said i just want you to know that i was introduced to buy an ambassador from "the washington post" and that it is what i am and he said "oh, shit." [laughter] so you can fit in anywhere so one way i try to fit in anywhere is to respect the culture. it is not that hard. >> is the microphone off?

"top secret america" begins with an odyssey with dana in a car driving all over the greater washington d.c. metropolitan area looking for buildings without addresses come offices without floors, acronyms without explanation, special this and that, each drive yielded more addresses another obscure company that another government office that had never heard of so it sounded like all of the others. it begins like a detective story. how did you get into the search for what turns out to

be top-secret america? >> i had covered the military and cia and as a reporter i had seen things grow up around me i was not sure what they were. people had disappeared into worlds that did not exist before or titles for agencies i had never heard of then you say what is going on? there is so many more people with counterterrorism. so about eight years later high said let's step back to look it will be built as a country. my colleague did the same thing but in his own way. self-described obsessive compulsive which is great if you want somebody to do to

create a data base that has the most exclusive research keeping track of detailed at the same time we had skills so we want to say to their readers this is how big the world of counterterrorism has grown after 9/11. but how do we show you if it is secret? we decided we would try to count all the secret federal agencies that did work in this area. so we started at that level and there were some things classified secrets we could never d tell them. even though it is one step it is a huge step. it is supposed to be the nation's most sensitive secrets.

and after two years of work work, there were 1200 federal agencies working on counterterrorism and intelligence of the federal level. this does not count the state's or the company's there were another private corporate may gain corporations who worked at the top-secret level and i could talk about how we counted them but those are the raw figures that we determined to nearly 1 million people with top-secret clearance. when we amass all of this we thought of it as the genome project. the dna of what we called "top secret america." we decided to geo locate everything. we put them on a map of the united states.

and then they started appearing as a different kind of united states were geography since we began to think about as an alternative to a record three of the united states. actually 50 miles north near fort meade which is the national security agency agency, and the electronic eavesdroppers from others around the world and in the united states are located. and has doubled after 9/11. when it did start to grow this of agencies started to grow as well and then a contractors started to grow

and wanted to be close to the agency said you had a clustering effect that was the toughest part the whole eastern seaboard and in another place is like colorado outside of denver it is the largest federal top-secret agency's center in the country outside of the east coast or outside of denver. this is what we called "top secret america." then besides the numbers which are large and 1/3 was created after 9/11, we can talk about that also, we wanted to say it is big and

expensive, where it is some of the problems? of course, people who i had known many years in the military and intelligence world were talking to me about these problems even before it started to doing this work. this is one of the main reasons people who consider themselves loyal, patriotic americans who wanted to keep the nation say from another terrorist attack were very worried at what they saw around them in the secret world. too much on regulation. they were tripping over each other during the same job. law the idea of sharing more information was one of the idea but the whole apparatus had gotten so much bigger

than it was nearly impossible to share everything with other agencies. so they spun off to do their own thing and that became very difficult. that is what we call top-secret america. >> one of the things that is striking in the book is a picture painted of this clandestine nine, extensive nine, extensive, murderous operations not carry out in a recognizable feet of government but in serbia. pizza hut or office park or a strip mall or executive in. the point* is made over and

over. what is there that is particularly creepy of the operations taking place in the anonymous of urban environments? >> is a sensation to realize the have been in washing tin 25 years and i thought i knew the area pretty well. but i drive everyday past office buildings but now i never think of them the same way because now we can pinpoint secret offices all around the washing tin area hidden in plain sight. after 9/11 when we were panicked there could be another attack the government began to write blank checks, not actually above $40 billion was the first cut.

it went from congress to the executive agency at the request of the administration but the members of congress were worried we did not know who al qaeda was all our how strong they were. so spend as much as need be. after the first 40 billion came then another 40 billion. money was spent on anything and anyone who had an idea that could be called counterterrorism except neither the white house nor congress wanted to grow government but don't hire more employees because people will like that. we will hire contractors.

some say this is cheaper big issue have federal employee benefits but it has not turned out that way at all. they're not many contractors who have been fired but on the contrary, these companies not only tried to do the job there given but what they could be done and not paying the same salary but 23 times as much so they could pocket some of the money in overhead. the screw to be very expensive proposition is. the other by product was the federal government who was working long hours to get hammered on to stop 9/11 the

sr. most intelligence official would leave government about to retire anyway then go to work for the contractors and come back to the very see their in before only making two or three times as much. ferry suit and the information pipeline said why work in government for less work and less responsibility? is started the brain drain into the middle managers. who said who could put up with this? i cannot say the number of conversations i had with intelligence officials who have been out in the field for many years of their lives who had no intention to make a lot of money off of this tragedy but who would say are you crazy?

i could make three times as much as i ever have and started to the contractors themselves. the started the spiral effect of spending which to this day this huge there are 16 intelligence agencies by the way every single one is dependent on outside contractors to get the job done. not just the regular job administrators, pencil pushers, in 80 blackheart of what the government does. my favorite symbol of that is the picture of the stone carver carving us start into a white marble wall that is located in to the headquarters of the cia the stars represent people who died in a line of duty. there are 22 star's carved

since 9/11. of those, eight to our contractors meaning eight people were involved in covert action which is the most sensitive thing the government does. so to say they are an integral part of everything we do including the most sensitive. >> from 8x military and axe general's into the top-secret america world. not just axed general's but michael chertoff and tom ridge former homeland security chief comment now they are deeply involved in

these government activities. can you tell us about that? >> it is known as the revolving door in washington and has been there at as long as i can remember but you parlay your government service into a lobbying position, the intelligence world, and not so much. before 9/11 they would lourdes become teachers who are working on wall street devising companies or something like that. but the money is good today. i had a colleague who did research on the top managers and 90 of them have gone into the moneymaking end of

the post 9/11 world. michael chertoff was with the justice department then came number to a homeland security. the only gave the chief of staff but from what is then and is still now alvarion and inexperienced department and went into private practice to consult with companies that wanted to invest those sitter being bought in the same secret world. we're all familiar with you cannot get into the circle of people unless you have security clearance then you have the trust you are in it

for life unless you screw something out. it is not like the fighter planes were we could hear that debate. all of this is classified. you have contractors you are now letting those outside the government one of those who call the self like being a ice cream call. [laughter] -- ice cream count. [laughter] >> one of the things that you mentioned was the plethora of information generated every day by the apparatus and how difficult it is. it is one thing for borders but for those two it is their job it is difficult if not impossible even for them.

even a general who was scrolling down on his computer the in box is overflowing who sounds angry. >> both. more than angry and was not shy about telling me that. one of the chapters begins my ventures into the pentagon with the help of some sources who knew what i was doing about what i was trying to do do and trying to show the people who did not know the world and arranged for me to go in four a computer that had special of information and he wanted me to see the volume of intelligence reports that he was supposed to read every day and it went on and on. he was so frustrated because one of the unregulated

irvine manage parts of "top secret america" is the use of an analyst. they have as many as a budget can hold. that is the key to finding out what is happening. those dots make no sense unless you put them in front of a good analyst but if you put them in friend of a bad analyst or inexperienced, it means nothing special. so many of these reports are written no unique information with the unique headers on the top of it that he felt obligated to read these and of course, he could not. but then to be described in more depth, i was told every year the analytic community of people in this world

produce 50,000 intelligence reports every year. those two national intelligence. no way in the world anybody could help but it if you remember the christmas day bomber, one of the reasons all of the clues that were floating around the world literally were not put together not because it was not a good analyst but the world who was managing this had become so large that as was testified, we were in sure who had the old responsibility who ran these clues into the ground. even though they have

national counterterrorism center, housed in a building 500,000 square feet equaled five wal-mart's stacked on top of each other, they still did not have the ultimate authority for all of these clues and nobody did it. that is a specific case not just from my sources but the director of national intelligence when he was called to do explain as the man with explosives was allowed to get on to the airplane. >> host: you describe walking down hallways with old drug top secret security. with the reaganesque and did you have yours? >> not willing late -- we

did not get inside many buildings but it was a trick to find out where they were or how many there were. i became a obsessed with actual buildings. at one point*, they are an enormous edifice and they are built to stay. that is important about building the location to describe the size because they represent what we are constructing that is supposed to last for a long time. so we said we have to count all of the big one's. we found 33 skyscrapers. if you put them all together square footage why is the usually have out there on

there website that equals more than three pentagon's of just the biggest building this. one agency in itself is the enormous which is the department of homeland security and agency entirely new after 9/11 that still gets low marks for the contribution to keep us safe. but it the building in a part of washington that most people don't go to but it is building a complex for the hard -- headquarters that is larger than the pentagon would finished housing over 88,000 and right now more than half of those are contractors. this thing that we tried to describe this year to stay. >> has spent 10 years since

9/11 but you could argue the money has kept a safer. are we safer? this gigantic a we created is said handful of organizations that has grout -- grown, figure out how to find out kite and like-minded organizations to capture or kill with various methods and has become quite good at doing that. just to name a couple, who found and killed bin laden? the cia analyst was there 10

years. the most expert at al qaeda and a close associates with a very focused mission. not the thousands of analysts' trying to get into counterterrorism so how -- somehow to report its that are not helpful and the counterterrorism agents, if you look at all the plots that happen -- unbend but the campaign to report doing something suspicious they did not come from a paid dragnet approach but a group of people who were highly trained and very experienced

but that has been to foiled the potential plots then overseas i would say the ilec british troops the joint special operations command, they have been more effected if they in the cia to capture and kill more targeted terrorists not only in afghanistan and iraq but also countries we're not at war, somalia , yemen, somewhat ethiopia. they are so successful bid few hundred are left on the planet. most are hiding in pakistan. and the al qaeda of the

arabian peninsula, those groups are under intense scrutiny by the is relatively small highly focused units that i am talking about. that is not the vast majority of the same as i have created. so we need to step back after bin laden is dead how excited doesn't have much of a leader. put those organizations are more unknown and al qaeda was an to say what are we building to defeat the rest of them and what works and what does it? until that happens no politician will feel safe to

stand up to say we need to trim here because i as you can listen to the rhetoric in washington, if you do that you're on the beat up the matter what party you are a member. >> host: one more question for our you mention in your buck the american people have agreed two this trade-off because they keep supporting political people and officials in elected officials who support these programs. what do you think the trade-off has been? >> guest: the american people, odni given a lot of information. the description of the threat has never been detailed. now a is the time we need to

know what is left maurer of what the thread actually is. in terms of dollars, it is obvious not only a certain amount of money but a certain amount of brainpower in so much has been focused on this same called counter terrorism ever cry had a discussion today from the intel community but the southern command based in miami has the biggest has blocked analytic team in the whole entire government. but the place in latin america where there is some fund-raising four hezbollah

but that is it. they can get that because there the military and four-star command because they ask and have the credibility not because there is an actual threat. so i think we need to ask more information about how safe we are. it is a success story. but they are unwilling at the moment to share with you. it is of classify that means if they did come and that means the national security of the united states could be harmed. thank zero -- thank you. [applause] >> i did a little bit of intelligence work in the navy. that was cold war but how does the intelligence work

compared to the cold war soviet union are anti-terrorism efforts? also how do these people keep from spilling the beans? >> they don't. between the cold war and now, you are talking about state actors recruited by hours by is. we knew where to send the electronic surveillance. and then to infiltrate the tribal based group of al qaeda. it is very centralized or decentralized and without

this date there are state sponsors obviously. but they are not driven and managed by states. said has made it harder. that has required the intelligence world be many more place since then it was before. the electronic capability with so many different hanus has termed -- changed dramatically. it has become so big unfortunately that there is no way in the world that is back him up around the heavens will ever be analyzed nobody will say that is enough it is not

politically risk free to say this is enough. >> talk about the build-up since 9/11, do you believe much of what happened has not been revealed to the american people? >> i do not. i do think they have been repealed. i know people believe in a more conspiracy theory. but my colleagues have looked at that. i am sure, no. i do not believe 9/11 was a conspiracy. >> of a top-secret contacting companies, do we

know they pay taxes in the u.s. or send an offshore? [applause] >> guest: that is a great question. i hate to say this, but i don't know. i will change a question slightly. i don't know the answer. but what i can say about the contractors, the vast majority, 80% in this round is done by defense contractors whose names you have recognized. lockheed martin, bowling martin, bowling, the really big defense contractors who saw in 9/11 how the world would change from steel and hardware to conquered the

enemy to information and how you move information how it could win the day. they be fasten themselves quickly to serve the purpose. dade -- they did that so effectively they were far ahead of the government to get into the realm at haft killed hundreds of suspected terrorists around the world including countries we're not at war with. those drones could not fly without contractors. built, maintained, operated built, maintained, operated, the information they give is transmitted back all in the hands of contractors. most of them said in the united states the military

calls the sanctuary that means it is not on the front lines of the battlefield. the only thing they don't do yet push on the joystick to launch the missile baidu predicts that they will someday because air force pilots would rather be flying the planes. >> ms. rainn success but what kind of precedent does that sets? betamax thank you for the question. interesting. when i talk about the success of defeating al qaeda i try not to talk about so look at the killing of the al qaeda members.

cents guantanamo has become a political albatross come when either obama or the end of the bush administration wanted to put anybody else in guantanamo so the result is they kill people rather than capture because they didn't have the place to put them. that is one byproduct of not having a system not complete leave palatable. been highly effective for is more lourdes to get killed by accident they drowns have been responsible. i have a quote from stanley mcchrystal new-line is the general in charge and until

he resigned some remarks he made to "rolling stone", a he is the brains behind the military force that could kill more upside a terrorist around the world and the cia. and those that have been counterproductive every time you destroy a home or a building it will live on through generations. war is not antiseptic and they make mistakes. on the other hand, they have diminished their ranks of al qaeda. now there are some who argue

they extend the battlefield back to the united states. because the drones are operated from the united states. sell it could be a legitimate target if you go after an enemy to strike after launching missiles. i am just plain that out -- out there as an idea. the toothpaste is out of the two. we had 20 jones before 9/11 now there are 6,000. every military service once to get in on this but for grew reason not to put people in harm's way so the ingenuity the we have seen is being applied to the drones. wine is as big as a

butterfly and a dragonfly. stealth wants they cannot be detected by a radar, some that fly over the mexican-american border that are not armed for the moment. and in fact, there are so many flown over the united states for training purposes that the northern command one of the may missions is to make sure the aerospace is not conflicted and safe for aircraft in the midst of all the drones. you know, they will not diminish a number bruno may grow. you could go to trade shows around the role private companies are selling drones

to bahrain or usd and israel makes million types so allies and an emmaus are probably thinking how they could use those like we have done. >> could you talk about wikileaks? do you think the next generation of analyst will have the purpose due to speak out to investigative reporters that something bad happening? what is your opinion of investigative reporting? >> guest: i will start with wikileaks. wikileaks, a few divorce it from giuliana's jonge, i can more easily talk about it.

he is very anti-american and a loose cannon so let's put that aside. but the information has come out from wikileaks has been very interesting that it is the birth of highly illuminating articles about our government. we don't know yet to but the biggest criticism is favored not care fall in the beginning to black out the names of people who were in the documents. that is what caused one of the things that a government heartburn that their sources would be killed or kidnapped and have to go into hiding and although that is true, we don't know about that yet but to me, i wikileaks talks about something more broad

something we see to go on in the future. it is a parallel universe. the government including the obama administration classifieds more and more affirmation that allow you to know what is going on in the war on terrorism our counterterrorism. the record of classification breaks its own record every year. at the same time technology that has nothing to do with the government, a social media, use of technology streams along and is creating a flood of leaks of classified information. i visited a company for the conclusion of the book has big corporations and law

firms and medical companies who believe their proprietary information is on the web. maybe somebody brought were calm so they're hired to go look for it and retrieve that. they have stumbled upon reams and reams of classified information including the blueprint for the helicopter that the president flies in. when they find the dolphin in the tuna that they tell them because your sons and daughters have downloaded file sharing software which means they can share music with their friends. that is like opening the front door to your house that means anybody can come into any file and take and

there are people with nothing better to do the span the entire day looking around computers -- computers for sensitive information and it is astonishing. the government knows this and knows that they cannot plug leaks. it is generational. those in charge of agencies are of the generation of they could learn how to use the new technology but they don't feel it in their bones like the younger people do. that is why wikileaks happened. the state department was not doing a simple thing. it did not see who could pilaf stuff of their sir. i think they're really didn't understand our worked.

so the march technology undermines the government's efforts to keep secrets for you could say a balance is out but not really. the government still access if it king keep secrets to undermine its own efforts to keep us safe so wished heads the hands of those who should not have it. >> to cover this please let me know. >> where were you? [laughter] >> it is a secret. [laughter] you make of a compelling case for government waste. that can you imagine with the iger vermette bureaucracy is self perpetuating that could you imagine when there is a national conversation on this issue? for those of the

intelligence community who may be against a with a policy is emerging that could you manage -- imagine when you look at the policy to see it as a more effective means to accomplish the mission? >> yes. that is one reason i wrote the buck because you just turn your back to let it keep going? the budget crisis will be one of the moments where potentially we will have that conversation. although i do think it does have to start with a detail of the threat. win a day is laid out there is the time when people can have the sense of what is right in the right way to respond and will would be safe to cut back?

also it will inevitably point* back to ourselves to say will we hold their government 20 tolerance? will they be responsible for every netball that has an explosive? people have dagen crazy things. we don't do that now for drug czar traffic accidents. but for some reason on terrorism we're not addis sophisticated yet. including the media we make a big deal out of everything. and honest conversation house to include our own understanding of what the government can and cannot do. i would say right team this book was my first effort to try to get that out there.

the budget crisis probably pushed that a long as well. >> you have more questions or want to continue this conversation, she will be in a tent signing books. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

[applause] >> good evening. looks like a lot of people are happy to be here. i am very excited. do you hear the musical theater critic? [laughter] you think i am joking? one thing you will learn to night ladies and gentlemen,

is the guy you are here to see named mark steyn is said is a future of false notions. you think you're right here to hear a critic, author, a commentator. let the begin by reviewing his life. one of the need sion of mark steyn he is the sum in the eye to conventional wisdom and the things that you thought you knew. mark steyn is from toronto. like any wise person he got out as quick as he could. 16. he made the mistake of going east instead of south so he wound up in london back and forth. can you imagine leaving home

as a teenager going back and forth with a great british empire. what will you do with yourself? he becomes lots of different things. rock and roll dj, a classical music the j. musical theater critic. see? he makes documentary's. he writes about opera. opera. he lives in the woods in new hampshire. he is a culture critic. i like opera. i put it in the carbonate take the kids campaign so it gives them culture as we about to go kill fish. this is about how cultured and varied a background mark steyn had. you will hear from him. people will tell

you, especially people who don't like mark steyn, he is the conservative critic and they dismiss him as if to say that is something people should not aspire to be as if that is demeaning. but if he just criticizes people and sure, he is an author, best-selling author. by the way those of you who were here holding copies of his latest book is interested to know it is just announced it will debut number five but the hard-cover nonfiction list. [applause] pretty good for a conservative critic. once mark steyn did hi