international community and international stakeholders who also have key supply chain roles and responsibilities. like the aviation system, our physical borders both land and sea serve only as a crucial line of defense when it comes to the security but also as a critical intersection of international commerce. the obama administration has undertaken the most serious and sustained actions to sustain our borders and our nation's history. and it is clear from every measure we currently have at this approach is working. on the southwest border, illegal immigration attempt as measured by the border patrol apprehensions have decreased 53% in the past three years and are less than 20% for the work of the peak. while the seizures of the illegal drugs, currency and weapons are all up. the increased the number of board approach allegiance to

more than 21,000, more than double the size of the border patrol in 2004. as we were to combat the crossings, violent crimes and the u.s. border communities has remained flat or fall than in the past decade. the vehicles and the real surveillance and the cameras and sensors along the land borders. these technologies combined with increased manpower and infrastructure to the work awareness to the border of so the camera quickly act to resolve potential threats or illegal activity we've invested heavily in infrastructure improvements at the ports of entry including over four rendered million dollars on the recovery act funds to modernize the older facilities along the northern borders to make post 9/11 security standards. we've expanded or busiest ports along the southwest border, parts liked the dallas and we are working with our partners

across the border. last year we stepped up the coordination of canada to the beyond the border action plan to speed the section of goods by the car parts so the factory is on both sides of the border can operate more efficiently. we continue to work closely with our mexican counterparts to protect the shared critical infrastructure and expanded trusted traveler programs as part of a declaration signed jointly by president obama and president calderon. these efforts are not only as being legitimate trade, they are also stopping the illegal goods from entering the country. goods that can undermine domestic businesses that get played by the rules. in fiscal year 2011 we interdicted goods and representing more than $1.1 billion in a retail value. further, the value of consumer safety seizures including things like pharmaceuticals totaled more than $60 million representing a 41% increase over fiscal year 2010.

now when it comes to the movement of people and our efforts are not just focused on promoting tourists and business travelers to the united states. we also enforcing our immigration law and smart effective ways designed to protect communities while to the greatest extent possible under the current law flustering legitimate employment and foreign investment. the bottom line is that our nation's current immigration lotteries are sorely outdated and in need of revision. president obama joost such a revision as a matter of fairness and as an economic necessity. and while we continue to urge congress to cut immigration reform, be back on nuclear and common sense priorities when it comes to immigration enforcement under the existing wall. we've reduced bureaucratic inefficiencies in the programs streamlining the path for entrepreneurs who wished to bring their business to america. we've improved an automated process for identifying individuals applying for or in

possession of a visas who may cause a national security or public safety risk. we are ending practices that break up american families by shortening how long this houses and children of american citizens must wait abroad for a u.s. visa that we know they are going to obtain. for the first time we've actually privatize our enforcement resources so we can concentrate first on those individuals who are in our country illegally and who are also committing other crimes. we'll also focusing on the removal of the replete immigration by the leaders and the crossers before they enter our country's interior. this year we began reviewing the hundreds of thousands of immigration cases wind pushing of the immigration court dhaka at to speed the removal of the criminal aliens while administrative foreclosing the cases of those with no criminal records who pose no risk. such as the students who are brought here through no fault of their own or members of the

military. it's also focused on employers who hire your e illegal labour and by doing so unfairly compete with employers complete by the rules. none of these actions substitute the statutory reform, but we can, we have coming and we will seek to enforce the law in a way that best meets our needs and our ideals. this commercial environment must also focus beyond just the physical movement of goods and people across the borders. that is why in the area of cybersecurity we are moving to create a secure environment for the flow of sight or commerce and helping supporters secure marketplace for the exchange of goods and ideas. we are deploying the latest tools across the federal government to protect critical systems while assuring timely and optional security information with public and private sector partners to help them protect their own operations. and the beyond protecting the computer networks of the civilian side of our government we are leading the effort to

protect our nation's critical information infrastructure to read the systems, the networks that support the financial services industry, the electric power industry and the telecommunications industry to name just a few. we now have a dedicated representatives from these and other key economic sectors working at the dhs alongside our own cybersecurity experts to prevent identify and address cyber incidents. we continue to work with the private sector, over government national security law enforcement agencies and the international community's to mitigate the risks and reduce the potential for malicious actors to be successful. last year our computer emergency readiness team responded to more than 100,000 incident reports and released more than 5,000 actionable cybersecurity alerts to the federal, state and private sector partners. and we are working with our international law enforcement partners to share expertise and

resources to combat electronic crimes such as identity and intellectual property theft, network intrusions and a range of financial crimes. in these efforts show results. in the last year alone the secret service prevented $5.6 billion in the potential losses to the financial crime investigations and $1.5 billion to the cybercrime investigations. at the same time, i.c.e. desert the or dismantled the transnational criminal organizations capable of wandering over a billion dollars in illegal proceeds and illegally exporting 50,000 pieces of control technology. no one understands the need for security more than the business community. one break in the supply chain can put an entire company at risk. in today's world, it is not just big business that fails to impact the global security network. small businesses are inextricably linked to the larger commercial world and in

the medication serving as the engine of security innovation. we want to encourage innovation. in fiscal year 2011, the dhs award of almost 30% of our total contracting dollars to the smaller business resulting in more than $4.2 billion in a prime business contracts. our investment in the businesses of all sizes is taking off in the development of new securities tools. for example, our new commercial first approached liturgists the innovation and development done by industry to support the department's nuclear and radiological detection equipment needs. the initiative among the industry stakeholders and researchers to develop the technology that is better and more cost-effective. businesses are also central to rebuilding the community after the disaster or other tragedies strike. it's why led by fema we change how we work with businesses

before, during and after a an event. we have seen the the more that we do to make sure we are prepared for a disaster faster we will rebound coming and that has immense economic consequences. last year we supported 99 major disaster declarations. these included the response to hurricane irene that impacted 14 states, a record five years in the southwest, flooding across the central united states and devastating tornadoes that hit the midwest and the south. in all of these instances we have shown we are dedicated to helping communities rebuild after disasters strike and one of the new ways we do this is by awarding the contracts to local small businesses and adhering to this principle. how your locals, by local and help communities get back on their feet. last year had the honor of attending the opening of the new memorial in new york city. that memorial like the one of

the pentagon and in the field outside of schenck still stands as a reminder of those that we lost and will never forget. but the memorials must serve another purpose. they must stand as reminders of our need for vigilance in a dangerous world and as a symbol of our resilience as a nation. a nation that is proven time and again that we will always come back stronger from tragedy and adversity. we've come a long way over the past year and over the past ten years since 9/11. we have learned a great deal about how to better secure our country, but we remain aware of how a successful terrorist attack or natural disaster can inflict damage far beyond its human toll. threats against a nation where bioterrorism or otherwise continue to exist in the gulf. and dhs must continue to evolves as well. and while we resolve to remain ever vigilant against the other

9/11 at tak, we also commit ourselves to be pouring security measures that promote the movement of goods and people and the build on our national resilience. today we are bringing new strategies to this effort not only to confront and every evolving set of threats, but to protect and support the economic engine that makes our nation great. we will do even more in 2012 and beyond yes so i want to thank you for your interest today and you're continued engagement. think you very much. [applause] 64. what you consider to be the most pressing threat america faces today? you know, i don't rank them in that way. it's not like the top ten basketball teams. i think we have to constantly be vigilant against a range of

threats. terrorism didn't begin with bin laden, it's not over with his death. there are other al qaeda related groups and we have the growth of home grown extremism or so working on the extremism is important for us. will whole range of intrusions that can interfere with the movement of people and goods as i just explained over in cyberspace citing cyberspace is an increasingly busy area for all of us. you never know what mother nature is going to do, and that's why we have to work across the country now. but national capacity building, what that means is when you have a lot of disasters happening simultaneously like we did this year, communities already have the ability to handle the response, and we can come in as a part of the team. they are not just waiting for us to show up. >> like every federal agency will undoubtedly be asked to do more with less, and given the

budget environment, does your department have all of tools and resources it needs to keep america safe? >> well, look -- [laughter] anyone can come up here and say i can always use more and that's true, but i think the key thing is do we have and will we have what we need to maximize our ability to protect the american people? and i think by finding new efficiencies, buy leveraging resources, by realizing that we are not the only ones involved in security there or other partners out there they bring their own resources to the table, consolidating and coordinating those better. i think we can do the job we need to do for the american people and if the american people. >> on the border patrol in canada they beyond the border

agreement included the pilot project for the pre-clearance on a cargo and the canadian side. when will the pilot project be awarded and will it be a major border crossings like buffalo considered? >> let me tell you the clearance is, where the preclearance is is basically doing the whole customs process abroad, and we have that in several locations around the world is an important tool we can use and it is expensive, so we can do it everywhere but in certain places we can and we will be getting more preclearance locations in 2012. in the canada i think that we are moving toward that preclearance. on the issue with the peace bridge is one that is associated with that, but that is something that we are working on very card with the authorities. >> we seem to continually hear

the next great threat will come in the form of a pandemic or other health related biological crisis yet can you explain how the dhs will coordinate with other branches in terms of such a catastrophic event? >> christa what is devotee to make sure that you wash your hands carefully. [laughter] don't forget to read one of the first disasters i managed as the secretary was each one in one pandemic and remember at the beginning of that, we didn't know what kind was it to be. was it going to be all of 1980 team, very gently or was it not coming and it took a few weeks to get the sort it out to sea with the mortality rate relief would be. in the course of that coordination we learned a lot of things. one of the things we learned is that if all of the kind of security emergency response community out of across the country is not necessarily linked up as tightly as it needs to be with the public health community. so we continue to work with hhs

and other partners to bring those more tightly together. the work as well on diagnostics. that is i think going to be the key area for us. many people don't know what we actually have a science and technology director within the department. we run some very important laboratories including the laboratory at the island which looks at large animals on other things diseases and vaccines for those and we are working with others across the country. the international aspect of this is key if there is to be a pandemic it will buy a major the international, and so working with our partners across the globe we have a unified effort there. suffice it to say i think lessons learned from each one in one there were some and there always are after an event. not only have we learned from

them we know deploy them with exercise them across the federal government and across the administration so that we will be even better able to respond should there be another pandemic. >> sometimes more than one federal agency response to an even or catastrophe and collects duplicate sets of m. formation and evidence. what is being done to coordinate a response and agencies and local responders? >> i responded this is from a criminal scene. it sounds like it is. well, normally the first responder to most is going to be your local police. they are the front line on most things criminal. but on things that cross over into the federal government, we work very closely with the justice department and with the fbi particularly on the joint terrorism task forces. that is the fbi criminal investigative side of terrorism and next to the fbi i think we

have the highest number of agents assigned to those, so there are times when it seems there are duplications redundancies' but i think for the greater use of task forces and things like the jttf deal being worked on the ground and on the field. >> most americans and the businesses they work for ignore basic preparedness recommendations. why is that and how can you encourage preparedness planning? >> well, i based it on some of the media strategies some of you all might be familiar with because it is constant messaging, and every year and at the beginning of hurricane season we are pushing that being prepared and have your ready bag and your plan where you will reunite the family if you are divided and that sort of thing,

and yet we still find from surveys and the light that the majority of people really don't have those things together. one of the ways we are dealing with that quite frankly is doing more education in the schools themselves, educating young people because not only will the hopefully urge their parents to be prepared also as they grow into adults themselves hopefully they will have inculcated those values. we are always looking for new ways to press that mr. jam also new ways to deliver the message. one of the things we have been doing at fema is much greater use of the social media. why is that? that's because that is the way a lot of people receive the information now and we need to get information packaged in a form that comes to people in the way that they receive it, so we will continue to press the message and work in our schools and continue to use social media

and other devices and continue to convey the message that if people would take the time to prepare and think through the mother's a major disaster catastrophe we can focus our efforts, our equipment and resources on those who are totally disabled from helping themselves. it's been a good thing to the public the most visible phase of the dhs is "if you see something, say something" campaign. we see it all the way from wal-mart to the national hockey league. do you think folks are getting the message and are the acting on it as they should? >> actually "if you see something, say something" campaign this is our campaign that really reflects the shared responsibility of security and how everybody can be situational the aware and if they see something say something is an easy to remember device. paired with that, we have a training program for law enforcement around the country

called sar come suspicious activity reporting which is a protocol for how you get information and analyze it and then share it with us so we can share it back to the country. that is the way to directly involve local law enforcement in our efforts. see something say something started with the metropolitan transit authority in new york. it's now spread across the country and you see it on buses and here on the metro, see it on amtrak, a major sporting events. they all have adopted see something say something, and it now hopefully has developed a momentum of its own and it's just a very straightforward way for people to just be aware, just be aware and we have had some very significant cases where because somebody saw something and said something we have been able to prevent death or serious injury to others. >> there is a fear in the muslim communities after the news of alleged spy is and what they

call the unmentioned profiling. do you find that is a problem and what are you doing about that? >> my view and realize i come to this from a prosecution point of view i think where i've been a u.s. attorney and an attorney general and my view is that profiling is not effective law enforcement because it isn't necessarily intelligence to amend and it diverts resources away from things that are more effective and so i think within hours of and the department of justice and other elements of the federal government that are involved in law enforcement keeps sending that message that profiling is not the thing to do and provides the training and supervision the helps guide us and our efforts to those proposing the greatest risk and we have matters on which we spend a lot of time and we really try to think through, we

have our own civil rights and civil liberties department. they felt this thing through our privacy office has helped us think this through and our own work with the muslim community and other faith based peters has helped us think through how best to maintain safety and security without resorting to profiling. >> use it the every day traveler doesn't pose the same threat yet how do you determine that if you are not using profiling what are you basing it on? >> i'm not going to tell you all of it. [laughter] but for example, we may have information that leads us to believe certain travel routes are problematic, and we can see that from a person's troubled history. we may have information that we

are looking not for all people but from a particular country, but for certain males who may have trouble here and here and are the ages of 20 to 50, and we can be looking for that. so it's really taking the intelligence information derived from around the world and analyzing it and putting it into a format that gives us something to look for that as i said in my talk really confines the size of the haystack. >> do you think that terrorists will try to review the prescreening function and how can you prevent that? >> one of the reasons -- that is a question of that unless someone asked, and because we did a lot of pressure why don't you just turn this stuff on and why do you do what you're doing anyway, and the plain fact of the matter is that in today's revolving for the environment aviation remains a target and it is so critical to the global

economy not to mention potential loss of life should one of these potential attacks succeed when we moved a risk based strategy we don't treat every passenger like it's important we do it carefully that we pilot things and we just finished the pilot and now we can move it across the rest of the country to really think we have it in seven airports now, just added minneapolis and l.a.x.. we will be adding others over the course of the calendar year. but we go slowly so that we make sure that security values are not lost in their rush to have something that most travelers will find very easy to use. we have to get the balance right. >> what information gathering technologies for cargo does the federal government find the most dependable, the sid or other technology?

>> it depends what kind of cargo we are talking about. i think that we will see over the course of the next year as we keep working on the global supply chain strategy internationally we will with the world customs organization and the international maritime organization, the international civil aviation organization be able to read some common standards about cargo and information related to cargo about how manifest are prepared and early in the shipping process they are provided, and the information rather than any of the sensor device, that information sharing will probably be the most useful thing we have in the near term. there may be at some point technology developed that will allow us immediately to wave a wand and and other standard slot and the absence of that we do some of those things, we do some kinds of checks that are very good but that information sharing part again as i said

earlier that information sharing part made more robust gives us the best way to mitigate threat. semidey think other countries can help you and having them cooperate together to cut down on some of that? >> actually, one of the things that surprised me when i took over at the dhs i am only the third secretary, and i have got to build with tom ridge and michael chertoff today and they did the work on getting this huge department of and running, but we continue to evil and mature and one of the themes that really has evolved and mature over the last years as the international region of the department. we have people now and 75 plus countries that can clear the third largest international footprint of any federal agency. i spend a lot of my time on international work and what i

spend my time on is exactly what the question is about which is forming these international partnerships that allow us to do things like screaming as far away from our physical borders as possible. that maximizes our ability to prevent something from actually getting into the country or someone getting into the country that we don't want to. so over the course of the next year, yes, we will be working very extensively on global supply chain security with a number of countries partnering with some and we have pilots going on with some of our allies on code screening of things a whole preclearance issue that i described for you is really an international partnership. the nations of the will have an interest in making sure that people remain safe and the global economy can truly moved safely and securely taking advantage of that kind of joint interest is kind of that sweet

spot where trade and security intersect. >> can you elaborate more on how to guard the thousands of miles of coastline and borders that are guarded? >> well, the border, let me say the southwest border it's a combination of manpower, record manpower, technology, nouri and for off-the-shelf technology store of the border patrol agents can put right to work and infrastructure, and i think now one of our infrastructure challenges is improving the actual physical land ports themselves because we can shut down the land between the ports but the ports themselves which is where you see the cargo needs to get through and so forth, that's where the major improvements are often required, so when you talk about that is

designed to help secure the border even as we get the legal travel and trade going through. the northern border, same way different strategy. it's a lot. it's bigger and much more sparsely populated. the weather obviously is a little different. so we have to use different strategies up there but it's the same kind of thing perhaps greater use of a real methods as well using the soft border and then in terms of the pacific and the atlantic and when i see the visit and the atlantic i also leaned on the caribbean and the like the coast guard is the lead, the existed since the 18th century. they are charged with protecting our nation's coast lines, protecting our waterways. they work a lot with state and local officials who are actively in the communities that have large ports and the like, but they are charged with making sure that the maritime environment remains safe. ..

but this is basically a very robust and specific information sharing agreement that allows us to monitor and track the shipments of the kind of chemicals used in the manufacture of ieds and to make sure that stec commerce moves and some of these are chemicals used in agriculture for example. they have legitimate uses as well as illegitimate uses of being able to separate those out and making sure that we ship -- getting the right amount is

properly described is what as what this information sharing agreement and how it works and the way these agreements can work even better now is their ability to connect data with so much more robust than it was 10 years ago or indeed even three years ago. ability to unite different kinds of databases so we can make the kinds of queries necessary to say hey look we want to know whether this particular chemical is moving and wear. >> do you believe your shares responsibility with mexico in the war against crime due to america is the number one provider of guns to the mexican cartels? >> well i think, i think the issue with mexico is they are our close neighbor. they are our number two or three trading partner. there are thousands and thousands of jobs in the united states that relate to our travel and commerce with mexico. they have been engaged in a

valiant battle against cartels particularly in northern mexico. the cartels that manufacture narcotics that get shipped north into the united states, some into canada. we have one of -- wanted to partner with them and share with them in any way that we can our efforts because there is a joint interest and make sure that battle that they are fighting is a successful one. so we are going to continue to do that. obviously i think the question is referring to things like fast and furious. i think everyone has acknowledged the mistakes, serious mistakes were made there in the key question is making sure those mistakes from my standpoint are never again repeated. >> earlier you mentioned the nation's current immigration laws are outdated and in need of revisions. what is your number one party to change and how would you change

it? >> i can't limit it to just one thing. i think it's really, when you work in this area time and again i will go to meetings with you no businesses and they are coming up to me and saying they can't get visas for the workers they need. i will go to meetings with the agriculture community and they can get people to help them harvest crops. they are leading acres in a cursive cropland -- i will go to meetings with communities and hear about families that have been torn apart. i think if you had to pick in this whole area one segment would be young people brought here, usually small children, brought here by adults. they have been raised here. they may never -- they may not speak the language of their country of origin and they have gone to schools in the united

states. they have done well because they played by the rules and as they reach adulthood, they come into contact with immigration and all of a sudden they are in line for deportation or removal. these are the so-called d.r.e.a.m. act kids and if you have to take just one element out of the whole universe of immigration that needs to be fixed, should be fixed and came very close to being fixed by the congress last year it would be that category. >> what is your vision for dhs or the national security programs to remain on schedule with budget reductions that are coming? >> well, i think every element of the federal government has an obligation to find ways to do what we have to do or efficiently in a more cost effective manner. we have been looking for these ways for three years and we have

done through what we call our process efficiency review, but it's everything. you know it's cutting down expenses related to procurement. is doing certain things with i.t. to cut the cost of that. it's eliminating subscriptions to unnecessary periodicals, not any of those representative here. [laughter] it's just a whole host of thing after thing after thing and as we find them we are getting a lot of good ideas from our own employees. we have solicited them. where we doing things in their need to be done and as we do that we are finding that we can get leaner and meaner and we will keep trying within some of the strictures that we have and the department said we must accomplish but we will keep trying to be as lean as we can be given the fact that we probably have one of the most

confiscated set of issues of any department. >> we have students from georgetown university and one of them asked a question, as a woman in national politics do you think your gender has given you a unique respective and what advice would you give to a woman seeking to our -- enter government service? >> you ron. [laughter] i mean you know, one of the things that i found, first of all i think public service is a great calling. you can do wonderful things in a public service career and a public service career can take many different forms. but as someone who has been in elected office, one of the things i encourage particularly young women to do and young women, everybody to do is look, running and holding elective office this is a grand privilege. it's serious business, but it is

something that also has a certain amount of joy to it the process of meeting the people and working the people you are going to represent. so i wouldn't you know i'm fairly to oneself say that you are not going to consider running in your own life. everybody in this country has the ability to do that and you ought to consider it. it is a wonderful experience with its ups and its downs but truly rewarding. >> we are almost out of town but before i asked the last question we have a couple of housekeeping matters to take care of. first off i would like to remind you about her upcoming luncheon speakers. vittori 21st we have deanne -- danica patrick nascar driver is she discusses her career preparation for the indianapolis 500. on march 14 we have former representatives patrick kennedy and jim ramstad will be discussing the mental health parity act and on april 4 we

have doctored deepak chopra founder of the chopra foundation and the chairman of the chopra center for well-being and second i would like to present our guests with a traditional mug. >> oh boy. thank you very much. [applause] >> i have one last question. you talk about being, all of the should be prepared and i would like to know what you have in your red-tagged? >> i have the king of ready bags. i have you know a set of clothes, first aid equipment extra batteries, extra chargers, couple of good books and the phone number and e-mail address of everybody i'm going to have to be in touch with if i ever have to use that ready bag. all of you all should have a ready bag as well. alright, thank you.

[applause] >> i want to thank all of you for coming out today. i would like to thank the national press club staff including the library broadcast center for organizing today's event and finally here's a reminder that you can find out more information about the national press club on our web site and if you would like to get a copy of today's program please checkout check out our web site at www.press.org and again i would like to thank you very much. we are adjourned. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

you are going to find more and more people who recognize the massive opportunities for exchange and trade. fine president one of the things i will do in my first 100 days is to begin an economic initiative of drawing latin american businesses and american businesses closer together. this is a massive opportunity not of charity but of opportunity. will help lift both parts of the world. >> this is about building a new grand coalition of americans to come together because they want to create a country where we are unleashing the spirit of the american people and rebuild the country that we love. that is what 2012 is all about. [inaudible conversations]

today in the senate members voted to proceed with a measure that would bar members of congress and their aides from trading stocks using nonpublic information that they acquired through official amendments. the debate was 1di5 minutes. our >> mr. president the lifeblood of our democratic government ise the contract between the peoplee and their elected representatives. the contract that must be basedd on trust. elected officials will act for the good of our nation and in the interest of their constituents and not for personal gain. thank you. to ensure that we maintain that trust, our nation has laws and our congress has rules.learhe

they establish clearly the responsibilities of government officials, members of congress and their staff and provide for the enforcement of violations. the legislation before us is in a way preventative maintenance to protect that trust. it is a tightening up of our legal and ethical guidelines as part of what must be a constant effort to usher in the insures of our nation and our constituents come first.membs our constituents must havestaffs confidence that members of congress and p our staffs will c use our positions for personal financial benefit.be n now there should be no doubt that regardless of our position on this stock acted as a violation of trust and our constituents place in us a violation of the securities law and a violation of congressional ethics rules.

members employees engage to insiderhe trading.on not the use of information not available to the public to make investment decisions. insider trading is and will remain prohibited from members of this body who seek private profit through their public responsibilities do matter what he fate of this bill. the questions have been raised about insider trading by membero ofn congress. the legislation before us today is designed to ensure that those questions are answered. it removes any doubt insider aga trading by members or employees of congress is against the lawir and against congressional rules. it's important to remove thatn doubt because any appearance oft a breach in trust in congress and our constituents is sofe corrosive toct honest, open and effective government.rity and after december the homelandeld security governmental affairs committee held extensive discussions on the need to preserve that trust including a1

very productive hearing on december 1. december, the committee held a markup and approved a stock trading on congressional knowledge act or the stock acts. i want to commend theirmeer chairman, senator, lieberman ad a ranking member senator collins, for their leadership and of many members of the committee, democratic and republican, who made contributions to that t process. two things became clear duringur our hearings and our mark-ups. the first is that there wasemov consensus that we should remove anyty uncertainty about the prohibition against insidere sed trading. the second, excuse me, the second thing that c became clear was that there was a significant bipartisan desire to avoid any unintended consequences as we sought to remove any l uncertainty. we reported out the legislation because of widespread agreement on t our goals that there remain

concerns about theul means and t was understood we would attempt to address those concerns before this bill came to the floor.d sa so a number of us have worked in the weeks sense to that our goals and our means are in concert. the revised legislation which will be before us meet that objective.it it should remove any uncertainty over the prohibition on insider trading and avoid unintended harmful consequences that concerns some of us. i pointed to provisions that i believe are important in achieving those goals.can the first reassures the american people there arerr no barriers prosecuting members and employees of congress for insider trading. it does so through language establishing that members and employees of congress have aa duty arising from a relationship of trust and confidence" with the congress, the government and most importantly with the american people.

establishing such a dual removes any doubt as to whether any prohibitions applied to congress. it is also important to the bill's language makes clear that in offering this new language it does not in any way prevent enforcement of the anti-insider trading provisions contained in current law., m again i'm confident that others current law members of congresss and our staffs are prohibited from insider trading.s this bill will ensure that the current prohibition is unambiguous and thereby strength. the second i major provision of the legislation instructs the legislative committeesar of both chambers to issue clear guidance to members of staff on the prohibition and profiting from inside information. this guidance will clarify the r existing rules that existing rules in both chambers relative to gifts and conflicts of interest also prohibit the use of nonpublic information gained

in the conduct of official duties for private profit. u find --nr finally one of their provision unrelated to insider trading but nonetheless an important step forward in terms of gaining the confidence of our constituents. o as one of the originators of th, lobbying disclosure act of 1995 i am well aware of the value of transparencytr in government.naa the buildup force improves congressional transparency in by requiring the personal financiac disclosure filings required of members and certain staff are made available electronically to the public. i want toat commend senator begh and tester for offering a measure thatna improves that transparent governance. mr. president importantly pass this legislation, that we clarify strengthen our rules and our laws and hence any uncertainty about insider trading by members of congress and i hope we can promptly passes legislation.embe again i commend our chairman and ranking member and all the members of our committee for the

work they have put into this bill. is >> you morning business is nowe close. under the previous order the senate will resume t consideratn of the motion to proceed to s.r. s. 2038 which the clerk will now report. >> motion to proceed tfoll tpr consideration ofoh s. 2038 a big to prohibit members of congress and using nonpublic information derived from their division ford personal benefit and further purposes. is the end of the previous o orr the time until 5:30 p.m. will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designee is. >> mr. president?se >> the senator fromr connectic. >> i take of thank the take of the chair and first i would like to ask unanimous consent that presidential management follow detailed tour homeland securitye committee be granted thehe privileges of the floor for the duration of the debate on thisof 2038.ebern: >> without objection. >> thanks mr. president. i wouldte like to begin the debe

and i do so with of both the distinguished ranking member senator collins and senator brown of massachusetts whose original legislation along with senatord gillibrand's forms the basis of this proposal that comes out of ourtt committee. mr. president i'm going to go back to the beginning with president washington his farewell address seems to take more relevant as time goes by20 though obviouslyye it's more thn years old now. dr washington said in a farewell address and i quote, a virtuals or morality is a necessary spring of popular government and we cannot look with indifference at anything that shakes the foundation and while continuing his metaphor drives the spring. i think we have to s say in the long and proud course of american history since then and the very fewhe times where thisi

brings of trust and popular government had been more dry than they are in i our time. i'm grateful that my colleague senator mccain is not on the geo floor now because when we get to the subject he usually says and when you look at the publicongr opinion polls on congress the numbersnu of people who have a favorable impression of this tt body are so low that we are down to c close relatives and paid staff.af usually when i'm with them i add i'm not so sure about all the p paid staff but in anavy case, we have an opportunity here with this piece of legislation to take a small step forward towarg rebuilding public trust inf congress and if i can, to tho restoring those necessarymentth

springs of popular government, the trust of the people in us.s this goes back just to early an winter, book appeared by an author named peter schweizer who was then interviewed on 60chwier minutes and made allegationshat that some members of congress and their staffs have used gai information gained onon their js to enrich themselves with timely investments particularly in the stock market. those allegations says washington might certainly have tried to springs of trust we should have let the american people even more than they are ready are so mr. president today i'm proud to rise to bring before the senate the stock act which stands for stop trading on congressional knowledge acts of 2012. this piece of legislation puts in a lot of language and reporting requirements that i'll make clear to the t american people that we understand being

a member of congress means that we have a responsibility to the public, a public trust, and thaa any member of congress or staff member here who violates that trust will be punished. this bill was reported as anhe original bill in the committee of homeland security affairs onh december 13, with a bipartisan vote of 7-2. and advancing this bill as i have said, senator collins of mh work closely with senators spood gillibrand and brown both of whom sponsored t versions of the stock act and senator levin whoe worked closely with us on the substitute amendment i to the building for today. i on to thank the mall for thei contributions onle this piece oo legislation and i also want to t thank the senate majority leade, leader, senator s reid, for makg sure, for deciding that this important piece of legislation is one of f the first items that

we are taking up in congress this year.rading mr. president the specific rules might be insider trading in illegal or found in a large body of securities and exchange commission regulatory activities pursuant to section 10b of the securities and exchange act of 1934, and court decisions interpretingho those at 70s.earg homeland security committee held a hearing on this in decemberit and the securities and exchangeh commission actually filed a statement with us for the indic record, indicating its believe, declarin ig its belief that currently there is authority and the law to investigate and prosecute congressional insider trading cases. the chief enforcement officer of the fcc said and i quote, trading by congressional members ofr their staff is not exempt

from the federal securities laws, including the insider trader prohibitions and quote but other witnesses of that arev including georgetown university law professor and columbia law professor john coffee told us wi that while the fcc might be technically right in their opinion there was ambiguity inau the law and they couldn't be sure how the court would rule if there was a a challenge to the fcc's authority to bring inber f insider trading case against a member of congress or a staff member. that is because as the professors explained, a person may be found to have violated insider trading laws only if he or she breaks a fiduciary duty, duty of trust and confidence go go to somebody's typically to the shareholders of the company or the source of nonpublic information. they argue it's possible the

judge might decide members of congress to not have a fiduciary duty and the way in which itic e normallyre interpreted to anyone with respect to the nonpublicve information that we received while carrying out our duties. now i mustus say that i find it hard to see it that way. it seems to be self-evident thab public office is a public trust and members of congress have a duty to the institution ofa congress but of course to the government as a whole and ultimately most important to tho american people, not to useur information gained during our time in congress and unavailablk to the public to make investments for personal profit. but the fact is that there areho some very experienced and tha intelligent legal experts whot't told us today that they couldrt not validate, could not certify their judgment to see it exactly that way and that is really thet

purpose, the first purposehi of thisoc stock act, to clarify the ambiguity and securities laws bf explicitly c stating that membes of congress and our staff have a duty of trust to the institution of congress, to the united states government and to the american people. a duty that members of congresst violate and portray nonpublic information gained by virtue of our publicli position. the bill also requires the ethics committees of both houses of congress to issue guidance to clarify that members and staff may not use non-public information derived from ourss o positions and their positions in congress to make a private profit. besides these changes, this is different and important. are committing decided that the stock act should require members of congress and their staffs to

bar public reports on ourf purchases or sale of stocks, o bonds, commodities futures or other financial transactions exceeding $1000 in value within 30 days of the transaction. right now as the president knows these trades are reported want to year in our and our annual financial disclosure statement so this proposal would change that to within 30 days of the trade. r more timely, reporting of this kind will allow not just the sec but the public to assess whether there is anything suspicious or wrong about the timing of the i trade and conduct here in the senate. that kind of transparency will be an additional deterrent to ethical or illegal behavior. the bill also contains another important provision offereded in

committee by senators john castro and mark begich that wili require the financial disclosure forms filed by members and staff to be filed electronically, and perhaps even more significantly therefore be, available on line for public review. the fact is our reports are now available for public review but you haveve got to go to the offe of the secretary of the senate and ask for copies of t them. to .. available to the public online, and this proposal will make sure that that happens. mr. president, those are the three major provisions of the proposal as i see it: to establish a clear fiduciary

duty under the insider trading laws so that it is clear that members of congress and our staffs are covered by them; secondly, to require disclosure of trades in excess of $1,000 within 30 days; and, third, that those trades and our annual financial report will be electronically filed and, therefore, available online. therefore, available online. as we begin this second session of congress, we begin with so much distrust of our federal government that i think passing the stock act could really have a positive effect on how we're being perceived, and particularly if, as i hope, we will pass it on a bipartisan basis. the stock act was passed out of our committee in exactly that way. it has the support of members and leaders, i believe, of both parties in the house, and president obama and senate has promised to sign it as soon as

it comes to his desk. so, let me end by quoting from our first president. this time from his inaugural address where he set the ideal for the new government that our country would health said, and i quote the foundations of our national policy will be laid the pure principles of private morality and the preeminence of free government will be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world, end quote. this proposal will say to our disappointed, our skeptical, our troubled constituents, that we understand and accept washington's wisdom. i thank the chair, and at this time i yield to my dear friend, the distinguished ranking member of our committee, senator

collins. >> thank you, mr. president. i am pleased to join the chairman of our committee, senator lieberman, and the sponsor of this bill, senator scott brown, today in urging our colleagues to begin consideration of what is known as the stock act. this legislation is based on a bill that was first introduced in the senate by senator scott brown, and a sim already one introduced by senator gillibrand. puts in place intended to ensure that members of congress do not profit from trading on insider information. as a cosponsor of senator brown's bill, i want to comment him for his leadership in this area. i also want to recognize

chairman leashman for moving this important bill forward in such an expeditious manner. mr. president, press reports on "60 minutes" and elsewhere have raised questions about whether lawmakeres have been exempt, either legally or practically, from the reach of the laws prohibiting insider trading. at a time when polls show record low public confidence in congress, there is a strong desire on our part to address the concerns that underpin the public's skin -- scentty simple and ensure the american people we're putting their interests ahead of our own. the stock act its intended to affirm that members of congress are not exempt from laws prohibiting insider trading.

well, several of the witnesses who appeared before our committee hearing on this bill testified that there is no legal exemption for members of congress, confusion and uncertainty nevertheless persist. for example, on the eve of our marketup, "the wall street journal" published an op-ed by a yale law professor, who wrote that, quote, the securities and exchange commission has determined that insider trading laws do not apply to members of congress or their staff. end quote. this, however, is directly contradicted by the statements submitted to the committee by the sec's enforcement director who said, quote, there's no reason that trading by members of congress or their staff

members should be considered exempt from the federal security laws, including trading prohibitions, end e end question. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the sec statement and "the wall street journal" article be entered into the record at the conclusion of my comments. >> without ox. >> mr. president, to me this illustrates the confusion over this issue. so i'm pleased that the committee not only reported senator brown's bill but unanimously adopted an amendment i offered with chairman lieberman that states clearly that members and their staff are not exempt from insider trading laws. for me this unambiguous statement can likely be trace back to the nature of the insider trading laws. as our committee has learned,

our nation's insider trading laws are not generally speaking, based on statutes passed by congress but, rather, on court precedence. as one of our witnesses, the law professor from indiana university, pointed out during our hearing, congress has never enacted a federal securities statute that explicitly prohibits anyone from insider trading. that explicit statutory ban on insider trading is entirely absent in u.s. securities laws. rather, mr. president, the sec pursues insider trading cases under the general antifraud provisions of the federals security laws, most commonly section 10b of the securities

and exchange act, and. third, for what constitutes insider trading has largely been determined by the courts, including the supreme court, on a case-by-case basis. under the case law, two different types or theories of insider trading violations have developed. one, where the defendant is a classic corporate insider, using nonpublic information to trade on the company's stock, and a second, where the defendant has misappropriated insider -- inside information in violation of the duty owed to the source of the information, such as a lawyer who trades on advance notice of a business transaction. both types of cases, however,

share common elements. there must be a breach of a duty, such as the traditional fiduciary duty, or a duty of trust and confidence. the breach must involve material information, which is the type of information a reasonable investor would consider important in making a decision to buy or sell stock. the information must be nonpublic, and the defendant must receive a personal benefit which the supreme court has said may include not only financial gain but also reputational benefits. the supreme court has held enough section 10b, the chargeable conduct must involve a deceptive device or contrivans used in connection with the

purchase or sale of securities, and in criminal prosecutions for insider trading under rule 10b5, the government must prove that a person willfully violated the provision with culpable intent. all -- although the witnesses that came before the committee generally agreed that congress enjoys no exemption from insider trading laws, they also stressed the need to clarify the relevant duty that applies to members. the board's reported by the committee in language refined by senator levin, addressed this issue by affirming the duties arising from the relationship of trust and confidence already owed by members and their staff to the congress, the united states government, and the

citizens we serve. at our markup we clarified that this does not create a new fiduciary duty in the traditional sense but, rather, recognizes or affirms our existing duty. as reported, the bill also have amended the congressional accountability act to prohibit members and staff from using nonpublic information gained through the performance of their official duties for personal benefit. this proposed prohibition, however, was not limited to the trading context or otherwise tethered to financial transactions. because it was not anchored in financial transactions, i expressed some concerns about the potential breath of this

term and the potential for unintended consequences. these concerns were echoed by several members of the committee during our consideration of the bill. here, of course, following the markup, we continued to refine the bill while adhering to the fundamental principle that members of congress should be subject to the same insider trading laws as other americans. i believe we have come up with a solution that addresses the potential problem that really troubles all of us. and that is public officials using public office for private gain. we need, however, to make sure that in doing so, we do not inhibit our ability to gather information so that we can serve our constituents to the best of our ability. the proposed substitute offered

by senator reid, senator brown, senator lieberman, reflects the work of our committee members as well as other bill sponsors. it would require the senate ethics committee and the house committee on standards of official conduct to issue guidance from the relevant rules of each chamber, clarifying that members and staff may not use nonpublic information derived from their positions in congress to make a personal profit. this would cover insider trading matters, as well as land deals and other financial transactions where nonpublic information could be wrongly converted into a private gain. like the report bill, the

substitute includes straightforward statement making sure that members and their staff are clear they are not -- they are -- the student applies the same framework, the clarification of the prohibition against using nonpublic information for private profit and the affirmation of the existing duty that we have to the employees of the executive and judicial branches as well as the legislative branch. and like the reported bill, the substitute includes earlier deadlines for financial reporting requirements and greater transparency for financial disclosure statements, as the chairman mentioned, by requiring that they be available

online and in a searchable format. mr. president, i believe that we need to reensure a skeptical public that we understand that elective office is the place for public service, not private gain. that it is an honor and a trust that we have been given by the people that we represent. underscoring that important message is clearly the intent of this bill, and that is why i support it. i urge my colleagues to vote yes, in both cloture and i now yield the floor to the senate to the sponsor of the bill, senator brown. thank you, mr. president. >> mr. president. >> senator from massachusetts. >> thank you, mr. president. i want to thank obviously ranking member collins and

chairman lieberman for really doing something very unusual around here, which is to get something out in a very short period of time. something that comes up being filed by senator gillibrand, her bill, and my bill, and then you both working together to move it forward for hearing, and then that hearing going very well, and coming out so quickly is unheard of, and i want to thank you for that. i want to thank leader reid for bringing the bill to the floor, and we worked together to draft a bipartisan version of the stock act. an act that passed homeland security by an overwhelming margin and that's appropriate because this is -- it isn't a partisan or idealologial issue. it's about cleaning up washington. abraham lincoln spoke of fighting to preserve government

of the people, by the people, and for the people. i think if the approval ratings are any indication, northwestern people have lost faith that we are living up to lincoln's ideals and we need to do it better. we have lost faith that congress works for them. they believe too many members of congress have come to washington to make themselves rich or do other things instead of taking care of the people's business. and that congress only steps in to bail out the people with the most money or the most lobbying power and that's not right. the bill before us today, we can take a small step to re-establishing the trust between the american people and congress. if we pass the stock act this week, it will seasons strong and unified message to the american people that congress is not, does not consider itself above the law. we can start to finally address that deficit of trust that the president referenced in his

"state of the union" address. members of congress must live by the same rules that govern every other american citizen. as you recall from the "60 minutes" investigation only two months ago we learn that members of congress, their staff, and other federal employees, may be using material nonpublic information for their personal gain. either through stock trade, real estate deals or other financial activity. everyone agrees this should be illegal, or it already is as referenced by the ranking member. somehow despite all of the evidence, despite all of the evidence, there has over in been a single member of congress or congressional staffer charged with insider trading. i have to admit, like you and many others, i was shocked by the report. i think we all were. as a result i filed my version of the stock act, which would prohibit members and employees of congress from using material nonpublic information for their

personal benefit. when homeland security and governmental affairs committee held a hearing on the state of insider trading and the laws, it applies to congress. one thing was very, very clear. although is a ranking member collinses said the sec theoretically has the ability to prosecute members, there's been no precedent for it. in the state of law at this point is very, very unsettled. to remove any and all doubt we need act and act now in addition to clarifying that insider trading is indeed a criminal offense, we're increasing the transparency of members' trading activity to make sure our investment decisions are out there for everyone to see, plain as day, at president ronald reagan liked to say, trust but verify. in conclusion, i want to say that senator coburn has a phrase i think is very accurate in this context. he talked about the contracts and earmarks in washington,

spending that ends up in the hands of those people he calls, and i quote, well-heeled and well-connected. in my opinion no one is more well-connected with more access to a wide range of privileged nonpublic information, than members of congress, their friends, employees, or family members. at a time when our economy is struggling and the average american family has to make hard economic choices, congressional members and staff should not be lining their pockets on insider information. serving our country is a privilege. one that i chairish very, very much. i believe that we must level the playing field and show the american people that the united states congress does not consider i was to be above the laws. that we expect everyone else across the country to obey. it's time to listen to our constituents and remember every seat in this room anytime's seat. thank you, mr. president, and i

yield the floor. >> senator from new york. >> thank you very much to my colleague from massachusetts for his strong advocacy on this important issue. i want to recognize our chairman, lieberman, and ranking member collins, for their leadership and their advocacy and their work in getting this out of commitey so quickly. i urge all of my colleagues to vote yes for cloture on this bipartisan to ensure clearly and unal ambiguous lie that all members of congress and their employees play the exact same rules as northwestern people. the american people have the right to know that the lawmakers' only interest is what is betts nor country, not their only financial interest. members of congress, their families and staff, shouldn't be able to gain personal profit from information they have access to but everyday middle class americans don't.

it's simply not right. nobody should be above the rules. i introduced the bipartisan bill in the senate with 28 of our colleagues frog both sides of the aisle to close this loop high school. this is similar to legs introduced in the house of representatives. i want to thank them for their long-standing advocacy and dedication to this important cause. i want to again thank chairman lieberman, ranking member collins and all of the committee members for their work in acting swiftly to move this common-sense bill to the floor for a vote. i want to thank leader reid for his leadership in moving this body forward for this important debate, for it's a bill that the american people deserve. our bill which has received the support of seven good government groups, covered two important principles. first, members of congress, their families and staff, should

be barred from buying or selling securities on the basis of knowledge gained through their congressional service for use the knowledge to tip off anyone else. the sec and the cftc must be empowered to investigate cases and provide additional teeth. such acts should also be in violation of congress' own rules to make it clear that the activity is inappropriate. and second, members should be required to disclose transactions within 30 days to make this information available online for their constituents to see, providing dramatically improved oversight and accountability from the current annual hard copy reporting. i am pleased that the final product that passed bipartisan support out of the committee is a strong bill with teeth, and includes measures such as ensuring members of congress

cannot tip off others with nonpublic information and assured trading information would be a violation of congress' own ethics rules. some critics have said this bill is unnecessary and already covered under current statute. i have spoken with experts in the past, and they strongly disagree. we must make it unambiguous that this kind of behavior is illegal. as my home state newspaper, the buffalo news, noted, the stock act will ensure that it's the people's business being attended to. president obama said in his state of the union, send him the bill and he will sign it right away. we should not delay. it's time to act. i urge my colleagues to vote yes tonight for cloture so we can pass this bill without delay. let's take this step to begin rebuilding the trust necessary in congress. thank you.

>> mr. president. >> senator from montana. >> mr. president, first i would ask nance consent that a fellow in my office be given privileges on the floor for today? >> without objection. >> mr. president, a ban of insider trading by members of congress and their staffs. insider trading is illegal for everyone in america and there's no doubt about that. but when it on comes to information that the folks in congress learn about the general public rules, it's unclear on the cruel that's unacceptable. folks in congress have advance knowledge of which bills and issues congress will consider. they know how those bills will affect basic services, and often the legislation we pass impacts how well a company does on the stock market. good men and women work for congress and i have the deepest respect for my colleagues. i would say all come to the senate with good intentions, carry out their daily responsibles without thinking

about using information that they learned for personal financial gain. and that's why banning insider trading should be an easy move. the fact that members of congress and their staffs are allowed to buy and sell stocks based on privileged information is incredible to me. congress has historically low approval ratings from the american people. they believe many in congress don't represent them. and have forgotten what it means to be a normal american. most folks assume that congressmen and senators already can't trade stocks based on information they get in their jobs, but it turns out this may not be true, and that's just one more example why northwestern people have lost faith in this institution. as elect officials it's our duty to regain the trust of the american people. we have an obligation to be as transparent and accountable as possible. when i was first a member of congress to post my public schedule online for over e

everybody to see. my constituents can see who i meet with and which hearings i ataken. now we can add transparency and accountable to the american people, to know we're work only their behalf without considering personal financial gains. this bill includes a provision to ensure that the annual financial disclosure forms filed by members of congress are available electronically. as with most transparency. it means the american public that the ability to look at our records. there's no reason we can't do it right away disclosure in a file in the complex is not transparency. putting the files online in a searchable format is. in a time of partisanship, this is an opportunity for both sides to work on bail we sorely need.

not a democratic or republican angle on this. every official should make sure the rules we're held for con consistent and transparent and in line with the rest of the nation. in fact this is a nonpartisan bill. this bill covers each section of the political spectrum. it's a straightforward bill that is long overdue and the stock act will be a step towards ensuring that when people run for congress or come to work for congress, they're doing so because they want to work on behalf of the american people and not for their own personal benefit. i call on my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to vote yes on the act so we can start restoring faith in congress. with that i yield the floor. >> senator from massachusetts. >> i failed to just reference --

hopeful i could have math thannal hoop participate in the legislative process on the floor. >> without objection. >> senator from connecticut. >> i was going to reserve the right to object on senator brown's motion because the afor mention mr. hoops got his start on capitol hill in my office and i was looking for an opportunity say that. mr. president, we have 20 minutes until the vote on a motion occurs, and obviously we're all here together, senator collins, senator brown, senator jillly -- jillly bland, voting for cloture to take themer up. it would be a rate of light, warm light, if we passed this measure, this cloture, overwhelmingly, and then we can go on to debate it. some people may have amendments,

i presume they will that they want to offer. i hope that in considering amendments that our colleagues will focus on the problem that stimulated this legislation, that led to us bring it -- led senator brown and senator gillibrand to introduce and is our committee pass it out on a bipartisan vote, which was a concern that members of the congress and our staffs are not covered by insider trading laws. this legislation makes clear we are covered by insider trading laws and, therefore, can be investigated and prosecuted for violation of those laws, both by the sec and the justice department, but we have also asked the ethics commitees of both houses of congress to issue interpretive guidance, making clear that insider trading is also a violation of the ethics

rules of both chambers. so i'm sure there are lot of different things that members of congress, including ourselves on our committee who worked on this bill, might have in mind to also correct problems that exist perhaps to also try to help to rebuild public confidence in the institution of congress. i appeal to our colleagues not to do so in a way that will make it more difficult or, at worst, impossible to fix the wrong, the problem that motivated this legislation, which is the fear that members of congress and our staff are not covered by insider trading laws. i pledge -- and talk to senator collins about this -- people, members have other ideas. please introduce them as

legislation. the extent they're forwarded to our committee, we'll give them hearings and due consideration and try to approach them thoughtfully and as -- and then follow the wildlife the -- follow the will of the majority of the committee. so let's not try to make this measure so sweet or so good it can't pass. i say now colleagues a very unusual met afor came to mind. i go dr. seuss, and this is one of my favorite dr. seuss books. thidwick the moose. and through the pages of the book, other animals in the forest want to lodge in his enormous antlers, and he welcomes them until finally it's

too much there, and his antlers fall off and all fall to the ground. we don't want this wonderful bill, which does accomplish some important things to be so loaded up it falls by the wayside like thidwick's antler. and does not pass. so, i urge my colleagues to join us in a spirited debate, but let's exercise the kind of restraint on a bipartisan basis that well allow us to have a significant bipartisan, good government accomplishment here at the beginning of this session of congress. i listen to a conversation a while ago when somebody was asked, why is the public opinion of congress so bad? and the answer somebody gave was that, it's because congress has been so bad. this has not been a time in the history of this great

institution that i think any of us feel good about, and this is an opportunity to do something real that we cannot only feel good about but our constituents can feel good about. i yield to the senator from massachusetts. >> i concur, and i have always felt one good deed begets another good deed and so on and soing for. this is a measure that the american people are clamoring for. we need to re-establish the trust with the american people and this is the first step in doing that very thing. i want to once again thank the chairman for rev fencing something i failed to reference as well. we need to make sure -- and i would encourage my colleagues on my side of the aisle and my friends on the other side of the aisle -- to keep all amendments germane, make sure we move for

cloture, get cloture, and then have a free and fair and spirited debate on the issues that concern them. but don't get sidetracked to the point that the bill gets killed or pulled. that would be a travesty and a mistake so i'm going to urge my colleague, if they have a concern, let's air it out and then have a vote and move forward. you know, i love hearing your stories. that's why i'm reading your book. all right? and because of your college your history and the way you can reading thises back and forth elm that's a good analogy. i have concerns, as we reference many times, there may be forced beyond us that want to make sure this doesn't come out of this chamber and go next door and be signed by the president. i'm not one of them. i want to make sure you and you and many other members and cosponsors want to make sure that this bill comes out in a good and fair form, and we're here for a very specific reason

to address a very specific issue that affects people, quite frankly, in a manner i never thought was possible. there are other concerns -- i commend the chairman for publicly stating, let's bring them up in a separate matter and separate bill and address them. if there are other things we missed, because i have a fear, and i hope i'm wrong, that by making it as you referenced, too perfect or too sweet, it could fail, and i don't want to see that. i want to make sure we have a very razor sharp bill, laser sharp bill, that addresses a very specific issue, and if we do it together and work in that true bipartisan -- we have an opportunity right now, right now in this moment in our history of this country, to do something special. i was sent here to do the people's business and i do it each and every day and work across party lines each and every day with go people and good democrats like you and

others, and i take that role very, very seriously. we have an opportunity right now to send a very powerful message that the person people are yearning for. they want us to do well. they want us to be good. better than we have been representing ourselves to be right now. so i'm encouraging also just a reference and take at it step further. my colleagues should do the same thing. put our party differences aside. put the inner party's differences aside, push this thing through in a respectful, responsible manner, that will make the american people say, wow, okay, a good first step. what's next, congress? going to do the poster -- postal bill? i hope that's the next thing up. we need to work in a truly bipartisan manner. once again, who is sneer senator lieberman, sneer -- senator

collins and me. we're trying to save the post office. that's the next thing. and what's next after that? we need to address orifice school financial issues and come out of this recession in a leaner, meaner manner to be able to compete on a global basis and stop putting -- start putting te american people's interests first instead of everybody elses. so i usually get trouble when i go off like this but i think it's critically important to let the american people know that one good deed begets another good deed and another good deed, and this is a chance to do just that, and thank you, and i yield the floor. >> thank you, senator. i appreciate your commentses. >> senator from connecticut. >> thank you, chair. mr. president, i'm pleased to report i just received notice that within the hour, the administration put out a statement of the administration

policy, strongly endorsing this legislation as 2038, and appreciate that very much. it's a very strong statement of support for the principles and exactly the kinds of things that senator collins, and others have been saying here, so as the president said in his state of the union speech, this bill -- if we can get this bill to his desk, he'll sign it as soon as he possibly can. >> is there no one else who wishes to speak at this sometime i would suggest the absence of a quorum. >> the senate voted 93-2 to move forward on the bill that would bar congressional insider trading. amendments to the bill are expected this week.

by 2016, the world's leading economy will be a communist dictatorship. that's in five year's time. if the imf is right, this guy you elect next november will be the last president of the united states to preside over the world's leading economy. >> columnist and author mark styn has published nine books. he writes the happy warrior column for the national review and is a frequent guest hose on rush limbaugh's radio show, and on sunday, your chance to call, e-mail and tweet with your questions, live at noon eastern on book tv on c-span2. >> now a symposium on national security issues that includes thecry director, retired general david petraeus, and charles wilson, the head of nasa.

this is a two-hour event. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. that was a great good morning. you're in for a real treat. to start off this national security symposium, play a patriotic interlude, if give you the united states marine band. [applause] ♪

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[applause] >> how about the president. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the presentation of the colors and remain standing for the national anthem. march on the colors. ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> retire the colors. ♪

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♪ [applause] >> please remain standing for invocation led by roas national chaplain, major vince cummings. >> general, good morning. thank you for coming.

>> join with me as we open our symposium. shall we pray? allmighting god, we are here and as we gather as a family, a fraternity of citizen warriors, our bodies stand united in serving the beloved nation which you have bestowed upon, the united states of america. as reservists and citizen warriors, we serve authority three times removed. country, community, family. but most of all, we serve you. collectively pursuing the highest ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. blessed creator, pour out your holy unction on the gathering, renew the selfless relationships

that bind us together, and most importantly, allow us to hear and discern the wisdom from our distinguished keynote speakers here today. we ask your help in comforting the fellow soldiers and their families. and finally, motivate all of us to continuously grow in you as we strive continuously to be the leaders as serve serb very vanities of our republic. in your holy name we pray.

>> please be seated. >> welcome to washington, dc. for the next three days, you're in for an exciting national security symposium and reserve officer association convention. fasten your seatbelts and direct your attention the monitors on the side. [inaudible conversations]

our challenges are great and our will is greater. [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> there's no way we can go forward except together. it does require, however, our best effort and our ability to believe in ourselves.

>> if we succeed, it will not be because of what we have. but it will be because of what we are. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [applause] >> got your heart pumping? that was a reminder, please silence your cell phones and any other electronic devices, and also because we're a forward-looking electronically capable organization, for those of you who are tweeting this conference, please use the hash tag roa. to kick things off, i'd like to introduce to you our national

president, air force reserve colonel walker williams. [applause] ...

contributed to the advancement of the program and a subject of some. it is an exceptional honor for me to introduce the first speaker and this year's new expedition to the men that man hall of fame. our speaker has been referred to as the premier military men of our age. he has distinguished himself with his leadership, the dollar, creativity and diplomacy. in the area of scholarship his master's and doctorate from the woodrow wilson school of public and international affairs at princeton university and his leadership of the combined arms center where he led the development of the current counter insurgency manual reflect the marvelous intelligence and insight he brings to bear on any issue. his integrity is unimpeachable. through his over 47 years of military service remarkably the director petraeus has had six

commands, five as the combat command. he did this in bosnia, he did it with the 101st air assault division in iraq, as he is hurt us the commander of the national force-iraq leading the surge, he served as the centcom commander and finally as the dual headed commander of the international security assistance force commander of the u.s. forces afghanistan. our guest speaker's name is often mentioned in the same sentence with most of our leaders of the past. general's washington democrat, macarthur and eisenhower. but contributions to state in the development of the doctrine development of leaders and his leadership in the battlefield most recently president obama has called upon him to serve as the director of the central intelligence agency. ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to induct a longtime support of the reserve

forces into the minuteman hall of fame. please join me in welcoming the director david petraeus. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> thanks very much. good morning to the wall and thinks for a warm welcome. it's great to be with you all this morning and part of your 2012 national security symposium at the 86 on the i know it and

it's great to be with so many to might serve in the past decade in particular. just a lot of curiosity, how many here have been deployed since 9/11 if i can see a show of hands. how many have been deployed more than once since 9/11? how many more than twice? do any of you have three years or more in deployment just out of curiosity? right here. how many do you have with you, fellows? three years or more deployed since 9/11, peery and we will see how quickly we can respond otherwise we will do a photo. come up here. [applause] [applause]

[applause] those are the individuals and the others in here and so many more that you've represented and served with who have naturally made that video a true video and brought to life that statement when the nation needed you you responded to the call. thanks for the kind introduction , overly kind. i must say that the response to

such generous words typically has to be the note that i wish my dearly departed friends had been there to hear them. my father would have enjoyed them, might-year-old mother might have actually believed them. [laughter] i'm truly humbled by the award i received today and i will have more to say about that but before doing so i do want to thank colonel williams and general davis and salute them and all of your leadership for the years of military service. these two alone account for well over half a century in the uniform for our country and i want to salute as well their tremendous leadership of the reserve officers association. indeed i salute leave them with the rest of the leadership for recognizing citizens and soldiers who advanced the cause of the nation's security and very much embody the qualities of service and leadership fix applied by one of the association's key founders and the would-be of course the

general john black. it is as i mentioned a pleasure to see in the audience so many with whom i served in the battlefield over the past decade. an honor to be with this unique group and its mix of former and current reservists, members of the rotc. i hope you are getting credit for this for class. they will of course lead the next generation of the reservists and i salute all of you for your selfless dedication and service to the country to the i also thank the association for taking on the interest in my household particular interest in ensuring an number of programs for the military programs are well supported. does some of you may know my wife holly is an assistant rector of the consumer financial protection bureau, and she is helping lead the fight against financial ripoffs that target our troopers and their families. [applause]

i will note that that was an applause. [applause] to her that this. but as all of you know, bullets and on etds make no distinction downrange between those of the research and active components of the military and neither do the predatory lenders. so all the and i are very pleased that you are pushing this issue and she asks that i convey a well done to you on that. speaking of the reservists up front i want to share with you a story from a recently declassified operation that took place in the pacific ocean area, in operation for the press has been unreported until today. during this particular operation, one of our best reserve units was the plate in a sensitive mission on a desert island where they had to hire local inhabitants of the scouts and translators. it turned out, however, the locals were cannibals so the commander and his civilian life as an expert in the foreign languages and dealing with

different cultures and whose membership was current -- [laughter] no small point for the front row here. made a point of speaking to them before the contract was finalized with. you're part of our team now he told them. we will pay you well for your service and allow you to eat any of our rations. but these, he said, don't eat any of our troopers. well, they responded reassuringly and promised not to eat any of the internet soldiers and they shook hands with the commander and went to work. everything was going smoothly until about four weeks later when the commander called them together for a meeting. you are all working hard, he said, and i am very pleased with your performance. however on of our sergeants has disappeared. do any of you know what happened to him? they all shook their heads and professed to have no idea of the missing sergeant's whereabouts.

after the commander left, however, the leader of the canellos turned to the others and asked sternly which one of you idiots eight the surgeon? the canellos on their heads until finally one of them put his hand in the air and said i did. you fool, he shouted. for four weeks we've been eating lieutenants, captains and even majors and no one noticed anything. [laughter] [applause] and then you had to go and eat a sergeant. [laughter] now when i was in uniform i used to note i didn't say anything about eating journals. i assure their absence would have been noted instantly by their aid. [laughter] thanks for laughing. you know the deal. when you reach my station of

life or only as good as the material they give you. well, it is again an enormous honor to receive the minuteman hall of fame award. in truth i of received a few words in recent years but it is rare to be inducted into the hall of fame. noting of course the time line between fame and infamy and unclad that at least for today i have avoided achieving the latter. i would quickly add however that i go with this honor to the men and women in uniform with whom i was privileged to serve along with the cia officers and diplomats who served shoulder to shoulder with our troupers all in helping to safeguard our nation and particularly of course over the course of the last decade. thanks to the exceptional skill and selfless of valor of those who answer the country's call, active duty and reserve components uniformed and civilian we achieved hard-fought

progress iraq. we arrested and reversed the taliban momentum in many areas of afghanistan and we achieve success in other fronts in the war against al qaeda and its affiliate's. none of this was easy. we often used to say in fact it is all part all the time. but it was done. and it is again on behalf of those i have been privileged to serve since 9/11 that i accept this award today. as i thought about my remarks today i thought i might share some of the especially memorable moments over the past decade in particular image i have the honor of soldiering along side reserve officers' and those they have led. the reserve components have played an absolutely essentials rolph kurson iraq and continue to do so in afghanistan and in

fact and many other locations in my old areas of responsibility and elsewhere around the world. indeed in those countries without our citizen soldiers our armed forces simply could not fully carry of america's global commitments to keep our nation secure. four years ago almost to the day it was on the 18th of january i had the great privilege on the 100th anniversary of the u.s. army reserve to reenlist 100 reservists to reply was the commander in iraq at the time and was a true honor to use the occasion to thank all of our great citizen soldiers for their contributions particularly as we were still engaged in the so-called surge in iraq. i was joined for the occasion by the commander of the army reserve agreed lieutenant general the minute man hall of famer himself who observed that

those fine men and women were part of the most professional, most competent, best trained, most dedicated research force we have ever had. i certainly agree with his assessment and then and i still do very much today. indeed the success of the surge in iraq was doing no small part to the impressive skills and character of the reserve components whose personnel played a critical role at a critical moment in the campaign. many in this room today and thousands and thousands more in your organization or part of that critical endeavor. indeed, not just part of it, but leaders. els was noted during the introduction during my final years in uniform i had the privilege of holding six straight general officer commands, five of which were in combat and by repeatedly salles reservists in all branches of

the military bring the civilian skills to the flight. that combination has of course been particularly affected and particularly important in the complex environments we have been facing in the past decade. as all of your no in addition to the traditional dance of the battlefield, iraq and afghanistan often require the troopers to be more than just warriors, to be diplomats, builders, trainers, advisers, service providers, economic developers and mediators to maine and believe to name just a few of their role. citizen soldiers have performed these diverse tasks in particular an impressive fashion and in so doing they've demonstrated the unique image, the unique quality that the the reservists bring to every military endeavor. indeed, far from playing is a part of royal to the active component elements the reserve components of been in trouble when the execution of each of

our missions. one especially notable case with which i'm very familiar is from 2004 when a was clear that we needed to form and train the new iraqi army and iraqi police forces and to do so quickly. no small task in light of the challenges in iraq at that time and the fact that those elements had been disestablished less than a year earlier. some of you may recall i have only been home a brief period of time after commanding the 101st airborne division in the first year in iraq. when i was asked to return to lead the effort to train and equip the iraqi security forces this was a particularly daunting tasks. one that we occasionally described as attempting to build the world's largest aircraft while in flight while it is being designed and shot at and

we have to develop our own organization which we named the multinational secure a transition command iraq manstci for short. [laughter] return to the 98 division institutional training and it's more than 3,000 reservists based in the northeastern united states. and as we work to establish this in the fall of 2004, we were augmented by somewhere close to 0,000 members of the 98 headquarters and to advise and mentor the units of three iraqi combat division and a number of other elements. one of the advantages of having the 98 do the work is that previously aware effort had been staffed by individual personnel

from the various u.s. services and units with different rotation policies. we didn't have continuity to put it mildly. building an army from scratch required gaining the trust of the iraqi sand and mentoring and coaching them on how to conduct actual operations. the reservists deal with training others combined with fi and interrupt the opportunity to form personal connections made a considerable difference. now for many of our reservists it was the first time they had been activated. for most the first overseas assignment but they quickly drew on their experience channing american soldiers and rose to the challenge of working with soldiers from different cultures, different religious sects that different degrees of literacy. the members of the 98 end of the quickly to the java and steadily improve the training and equipping programs on which subsequent reserve divisions and

active component would build. they can be justly proud of their accomplishments else can those who follow them and just out of curiosity are there any from the 98 or the follow on units who helped with the training mission in iraq? thanks to you for what you did in a very non-standard and challenging environment mission and for what was accomplished. in another case early last year in afghanistan, the corporal reservist from wisconsin and engineer by trade came off with a truly life-saving solution to reduce the ability of the television to place explosives in drainage under their roadbeds. the heart to political and made of steel bars that fit a variety of lebling depressed but not the ali etds. they spent more than 50 hours of his own time cutting and welding

to perfect his prototype and he even wrote a field manual how to install let. it was an immediate success. the units of the great 101st airborne division quickly adopted the device placing more than 30 through kandahar province alone as soon as it was available. the device since spread to other units throughout afghanistan and they are to this day building similar devices in a variety of shapes. the corporal is returned home to his wife and daughter, but he can be very proud he made a lasting difference and prevented untold numbers of deaths and injuries through this initiative and expertise. in truth the selfless hero was some of the nation's citizens soldiers inspires all of us. each reservists makes a difference. collectively they are doing the

hard work that our country requires as the video made clear and we owe them and their families and communities at home our deepest gratitude to read another reservist i remember particularly well as the master sergeant juanita whose courage and selfless service i had the privilege of recognizing by awarding her a medal at the truman foundation in 2006. the mother of three in the u.s. army reserve serve the nation for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles and transportations and personal units. she was gravely wounded. in the second deployment to iraq in early 2004, when an improvised explosive device blasted into her humvee. seeing the bomb a split-second before it went off she jumped across the vehicle to try to pull the dunder down and inside. he was okay.

however, she sustained injuries including shrapnel throughout her body, the loss of part of her right arm and a femur broken in three places. master sergeant ligon's recovery was truly inspirational as she endured countless surgery's, four hours of therapy each day and the pain that accompanied her efforts to regain the use of her right hand. she was finally able to stand for the first time just before thanksgiving this year after being wounded. and despite all of her challenges, despite the injuries and pain she was described by one who knew her at walter reed as the most upbeat person i know mr. sargent milligan defines a selfless dedication of our citizens soldiers. in other come twice answered the call to the military duty

leaving behind family conference and communities. in truth, she is not just a member of what tom brokaw termed the new greatest generation. she exemplifies it and she is a leader in that. her service especially the character of her service has been truly as regional. a reserve components have in short clearly distinguished themselves in a variety of combat support roles in the decade since 9/11. some 385,000 members of the reserve components in fact served in iraq or afghanistan during that time in over 30,000 continue to serve on the deployment in those theaters contributing their valuable skills experience and expertise india since 1990 the reserve component members from the

various branches of the military have mobilized and deployed in support of every american military operation including not just combat operations but peacekeeping and humanitarian missions as well. in fact reserve component elements continue to serve in more than 70 countries, demonstrating that our citizens soldiers are not only as a strategic reserve but a key component of our operational forces. in fact, some military roles central to the nation's defense are conducted solely by reserve units. tasks such as weather reconnaissance biological detection companies comes a vaulters command from railway units are among them and there are many others. now we have all heard about the military realignment under way, and i'm confident that our reserves components will be recognized for the high value

they bring to the overall structure. indeed there's never been a greater need for the skills they uniquely provide as the u.s. marine corps, but recently stated for example because the battalion is even more instructive to the effective than a regular battalion. noting that the reservists bring the debt to the skill set the of the war fighting that can be leveraged in the endeavors we are currently engaged. these capabilities include firsthand experience in law enforcement, various trades, medical care, agriculture, a community leadership and business skills all of which can at times be more effective than traditional weaponry. security corroboration's task another imperative in the years ahead are also often ideally suited for the reserve units.

we should note that those increasingly important tasks are of a broad scope and high school level that allow much of them to be conducted prior to the mobilization shortening the total lack of time and lengthening the time that the unit can be deployed. i am sure such factors were carefully considered in the budget in the reserve components in the years ahead. before i conclude i want to thank you again for honoring me with this award and note again i accept it only as much as i am able to do so on behalf of the soldiers and civilians i was privileged to leave over the past decade and whose hard work and selfless dedication served the nation so well.

this award testifies to their sacrifices, to your sacrifices and to those of their families and loved ones. it is in truth their award far more than it is mine. i would add further than receiving this on a i feel very privileged to join the company of those who have received it before including for example the admiral, general stultz and general pace. beyond that of those in the most important salute the members of your organization and all of those that you and your fellow members lead and serving causes larger themself. individuals who have taken their place in a long line of patriots that extends back to those found at our great republic. president george washington, the epitome of a citizen soldier once captured eloquently the feeling of those who serve the

nation. i was, he reflected, summoned by my country whose voice i can never hear but with generation and love. and so it has been my great privilege this morning to accept the honor of being inducted into the hall of fame on behalf of all of those who likewise have been summoned by the country whose voice we can never hear but with generation and love as well. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. [applause] i just want to say to general petraeus, director, that it

sounds like a cliche but it's honestly not. we are honored that he would take the time to be here today and thank you so much for your remarks we wish you the best. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> there's more to come. we have fantastic speakers to come. before we get down to business of reflected tichenor met to recognize a few people in the audience and in the interest of time going to not ask you to stand, but we do want to recognize you. seated up front here is the

national presidents and the redcoats. in addition to the task -- [applause] in addition i like to think the executive committee for their hard work and dedication and support of our association. we thank all of our department presidents and national council members who are here in attendance and we also have the president of the lead and the past presidents and current leadership and we especially appreciate the reserve chief serving today and some of them i think are with us. i would like to thank the industry stars and exhibit terse and other distinguished guests who are here this morning. finally i would like to ask all of our future leaders participating in the jr. office professional development seminar program to please stand and be recognized.

what you'll stand please. [applause] thank you so much for being here today. almost three months ago ra had the foresight to hire an innovative businessman and marinas our executive tractor. the general director churn davis has a long history with the united states marine corps serving for 38 years and the positions ranging from the infantry lieutenant to the major general and the loranne corps public affairs of the pentagon from 2001 to 2003. there he led the development of the en betting program or front line journalist in afghanistan and iraq conflict. i know you remember when it started. after they commanded the u.s. marine corps forces europe and africa from 2005 to 2007 tv and

in the marine corps mobilization command until their retirement in 2008. general davis also has eight years previous experience as executive director and president of the american strategic also a membership based infantry. please try me in welcoming our exciting an executive director, ladies and gentlemen, drew days -- davis. [applause] >> thank you for the introduction. first, all of these sessions on this point forward we would like to have as interaction with all of you and on your seats you see cards we invite you to the lot with your questions for each of the speakers. we have our stuff collect those cards and does the speaker has

done with the prepared remarks we will deliver your questions on your behalf to each speaker. the first of whom when the of the minister of nasa, the honorable charles who told us to be very brief but i'm not going to be. he said all he wanted in his introduction was that he was married to jackie and have three grandchildren. he's a graduate of the united states naval academy, commissioned as the lieutenant in the marine corps, completed his training in 1970 and became a naval aviator. he flew more than 100 combat missions north and south vietnam and cambodia and received the distinguished flying cross and transitioned to become a tough pilot until the selection as an astronaut candidate in 1980. becoming an astronaut he traveled to the orbit four times

aboard the space shuttle between 1986 and 1994 commanding two of the missions the flights and put the deployment of the hubble space telescope and the first joint u.s.-russian shuttle mission which featured a cosmonaut as a member of the crew. he came back down to earth and returned to the marine corps who after 1997 served as the commanding general of the third wing from 2000 to 2002 and retired in 2003. he was inducted into the u.s. astronaut hall of fame in 2006. just by way of giving in measure of this great american patriot marine astronaut and now at an

illustrator than u.s. representative now florida senator bill nelson was aboard the 1986 shuttle flight and is now the chairman of the subcommittee on space and he said i trusted charlie but my life and would do so again. also a former space correspondent wrote he happens to be a great guy he doesn't have the right stuff he knows his stuff to visit my pleasure to introduce the next speaker, the honorable charles chiarelli panther bolden. [applause] thank you very much. it's an honor for me to be here and i can't thank you enough. general petraeus to say introductions like that my

mother and father are also looking down on us today and i can tell you they are gloating. especially my mother who does believe that and probably help you write it somehow. i would like to recognize an old schoolmate who is a member of the organization and is a another south carolinian who has done an incredibly well. i want to thank who've been the host i want to acknowledge the presence of mrs. davis, margaret davis because of all the special work she does with the marine corps scholarship foundation and other programs that take care of our military kids and families. so margaret, thanks for coming out. [applause] are they do have to say is an honor for me to share the podium this morning with such distinguished company as general petraeus and mr. o'hanlon, and i

feel somewhat out of place, but hopefully by the time i finish making my remarks you will understand why i think it is appropriate that i be here because people don't think of national security when you hear the term nasa but hopefully in my remarks i will have an opportunity to help you understand the critical role that we play. when i embarked on my military career, and he to say that nearly 50 years ago -- that sounds like a long time, but it's not. it really isn't. not in today's life. it's just a brief period of time. but as a young kid fresh out of high school in columbia south carolina i had no idea where my path would lead me. if i were to grade myself on the achievement of goals established by myself for me when i drove it from high school little kids all the time i would get an f

because i've done nothing i plan to do when i graduated from the johnson high school other than go to the united states naval academy. that is something i dedicated myself to from seventh grade and on and i struggled to get there but i finally got there and then as i left high school and softer line i said there are two things i know and they were both negatives, two things i knew i wouldn't do. i wouldn't fly your place because i was inherently dangerous. [laughter] and under no circumstances because the marine corps purpose is to produce officers for the navy and marine corps. under no circumstances will become a marine because every marine i knew was stupid and that's what i felt at that time. [laughter] i was going to go to the naval academy serve my mandatory five years in the navy and probably sail on a ship or something, get out, but to graduate school in dern electrical engineering and make money. never got there. i would have to give myself and f getting to the goals i set for

myself. i did go to the naval academy because i wanted to follow the footsteps of my father and my uncles. men who served in distinction in world war ii when they had to fight for the right to defend this nation. i'm proud to say that my son also followed me into the marine corps and is now a lieutenant colonel stationed here the pentagon and is in f18 backseat spanish officer doing all kinds of great things. my military career opened windows like could have never dreamed possible when i was a student in segregated south carolina, trying to live up to the ideals of my parents to get a good education and pursue my dreams. like me many of our astronauts have come from the military. precisely for the skills and values the military helped us develop. while we are civil space agencies, nasa, dod and the national security apparatus share many of the same technologies.

we share many of the same enabling systems, we share a common industrial base, we have similar facility needs and we have similar work force needs. we have many differences the the key to cooperation is to work together to overcome challenges that focus on activities that benefit both organizations and i will say if you go through the ranks of our employees many of them are your fellow reservists and many of them have had to leave the workforce for a. of time to serve in iraq and afghanistan and other places around the country and are always proud to talk about one of my favorite members twice dr. kathy sullivan who was unable oceanographer meteorologist first american woman to walk in space on and on and on and on, so the reserve organization in our military is truly the backbone of everything that we do.

nasa has been utilized support for missions of which commercial capability wasn't available such as the casino mission that required the performance of the air force titan. our partnership in the development and use of expendable launch vehicle is helping sustain the industrial base necessary to ensure dod has access to the space it needs. at the same time we are encouraging and facilitating the development of domestic commercial providers. we have a longstanding practice of sharing facilities. as some of you knew a member of the centers are located with the bases. the relationships between the langley research center and airspace on the research center and edwards air force base, the kennedy space center in cape canaveral air force station or all very strong with nasa and dod organizations sharing fasuba

these contracts and flight operations support. border displaced flight center east of d.c. not for from here has a global network of satellite communications facilities. it shares resources with dod and for reaching places like antarctica. it also operates a joint center for the development validation of the space whether models and instruments in cooperation with the air force and others. we recognize the space weather information is vital to the military commanders in the space scientists planning an anomaly resolution. finally, the ecclestone network has a site in fort irwin california to the does most of you know, we've recently retired our flagship program the space shuttle after 30 spectacular years in the flight and 135 missions that's more flights by

far than any of the human space flight program. through its triumphs and tragedies it gave the nation many firsts. the first was in june of 1982 and in december 1982. nasa is proud to have provided space access to about 270 secondary payloads most on the shuttle back or in the cargo bay. the shuttle also launched an indication satellites that helped make the whole world more secure and helped to establish a deep space communications network. satisfying the increased reliance on today's high bandwidth systems from the space communications continue to be a pretty and the same systems fulfill a critical need of communications roles in the international space station

program. future investments in the conditions is a priority for both the dod and nasa. the technological what fans as promised by the communications systems show great potential. the dod are collaborating and as quickly as possible to meet the needs of both agencies with respect to the shuttle it was time for us to get out of the business of owning the infrastructure to reach low earth orbit. when the industry was rapidly developing the capabilities to do just that. as we had access to the industry nasa can focus on the bigger picture horizon and do those things that no one else can do right now. we are turning to the development of the transportation systems and space grant necessary for them to explore begun to work for but such as a zero ryan and the space launch system. we are also pursuing the development of the technology such as in space propulsion and

assembly, space habitats, closed life-support and many others will be critical to getting humans to an asteroid and mars as president obama has challenged us to do. right now is true that we are dependent on the russians to get the crews to the international space station but our industry partners are meeting milestones and making steady progress towards getting the crew and cargo to space so that we only have to rely on this for an outsourcing for a shorter period of time as possible. when the decision was made to retire back in 2004, we always knew there would be a gap in our space flight capability. in a few months however the orbital sciences word -- the capsules respectively, respectfully to the international space station something that is being done on a commercial basis for the very

first time. this follows the successful launch or that and recovery of a space capsule at the end of 2010 but also see in their dream chaser vehicle in colorado. the new shepard vehicle but would fly experiments into the sub orbital space. the new horizontal facility in virginia the with support medium clause mission capabilities with orbital as its first customer as part of the man appointed regional spaceport. boeing will be processing its transport system and what was formerly the processing facility at kennedy. i visited lockheed martin in denver and have seen firsthand their work on zero ryan. the modules for the deep space exploration, so yes, it all feels very real to me and more

commercial companies developing a viable options to the low earth orbit makes us more secure as a nation. even as we facilitate industries creation of the brand new job-creating sector of the economy, we are focusing on the capabilities for those big missions to the american launch capability is going to be better than ever. we are upgrading the kennedy space center in florida and making it more flexible so that can accommodate a wide range of users and we can win back some of the business we have lost overseas. kennedy is going to launch the system when our new heavy lift rocket to carry humans to deep space. at the space center in mississippi we're test firing components of the rocket now repurchasing the engines to give a leg up on testing and making the most of the work force and infrastructure we already possess to bring this massive project to reality in the coming decades.

we envision an ample bubble rocket capable of multiple types of missions and varying sizes of payload so other users will benefit if the cost will be far less for all. president obama has given a vision of a capital m to focus on the big picture of exploration and the crucial research and development will be required to move beyond the lower target. he's charged us with carrying out the inspiring mission is the only nasa can do which will take us further than we've been. ultimately the human mission to mars. ever since we got the road map for the form of the authorization act of 2010, we've been moving towards the mission of tomorrow and the capabilities we will need to visit the places with of the cutting edge science missions and develop the next generation of the systems from which we will all benefit. the president is asking us to harness the american spirit of innovation, the drive to solve

problems and create capabilities is so embedded in our story and has led us to the moon come to great observatories and humans living and working in space. probably indefinitely. we strive to see innovation. and to facilitate the kind of environment where the space robots like the general motors developed humanoids robots to provide new technologies for the robot systems that create a humanlike presence and space through the presence control systems. they are currently on board the iiss of its first robotic remember and it's during normal tasks that used to be done by astronauts like running the vacuum cleaner and doing other kinds of things. it's easy to forget all of the dollars we spent to get to spent right here on earth. that may seem obvious that when you're talking about space

hurtling millions of miles away into the solar system or for under the miles above like the space telescope we must remember its people who design and operate them. people are currently or betting on the iiss 247 and they've done so for more than 11 years now. without interruption and for those years there has always been at least one member on the iiss crew. many of the technologies we develop to explore have big impact to quality-of-life across the globe. one of the most tangible ways we impact people's lives on a daily basis is and aeronautics. the first 80 in nasa. nasa continues to lay the foundation for the future by exploring ways to manage your traffic, build more fuel-efficient environmentally friendly airlines and ensure

aviation standing records. u.s. companies are well-positioned to build on discoveries and knowledge resulting from the research. turning them into commercial products. improving the quality-of-life for everyone, providing new high quality engineering and manufacturing job opportunities and the labeling the united states to remain competitive in the global economy. we are interested in the aircraft of the future, too. through our challenge for instance we recently awarded a prize to the u.s. aid for its electric plaine demonstration. nasa supported the development of the next generation air transportation system or next-gen in partnership with the dod come homeland security and federal aviation administration for the joint planning development office. secure of burke center operations are the key emphasis which will be much more scalable

and flexible than today's system. this means improved network communications among the people and machines aircraft and computers involved in the transportation system. our autonomy will also play a much greater role especially the use of unmanned aircraft systems. there's an increasing need to fly them in the national airspace system to perform missions of the vital importance to national security and defense. emergency management and science and to enable the commercial law applications. nasa is working with the same partners, n'digo de come de hs and fa to operate issues for easier access today to the aerospace public use missions. for the longer term we are evaluating the technologies and concepts needed to integrate

speed into generating data for the regulators to support the development of the stringent u.s. air worthiness as the certification standards. we just completed the development with other members. this road map highlighted the joint partnerships ongoing activities and coordination and is helping to set the course for the needed future investments across the community. the longer-term research will further enable the dod and dhs to operate in the national airspace for national security missions and enhance the technology available in the marketplace. another significant way that nasa contributes to the national security is through its partnership with the defense department and other space agency's are around the world to track the diprete and monitor space whether such as solar flares.

knowing what is in space and what's going on as critical to the dod as it migrates more high-value capabilities to space. the ability to monitor systems and understand potential threats to the systems is a growing area of concern to the national security committee. nasa's experience with both ground and space systems has the potential to assist them in this growing mission area. nasa investments and improved sensors, higher resolution, broader area coverage and finer coverage or some of the activities that have potential effects. our orbital debris office of the johnson space center in houston has been working for 40 years to ensure a that we are safe in space and on the ground. nasa is playing a leading role in this for the entire government. the u.s. strategic command trucks about 22,000 major pieces of space debris and updates

their status every eight hours in relation to the space station. but nasa is aware of smaller pieces of debris. some of the articles only we can see with our telescopes and other equipment and only we can characterize their environment and potential impact. because most collision several years ago shows that space is not as big as we once thought. the number of objects that space is growing and we need to improve our catalog and tracking ability to read so far, we have been doing a pretty good job with of the enormous quantity of the the, but it's not just risk to the iiss. we also had to avoidance maneuvers with some of our observation satellites and last year one of the satellites in orbit as well. given that these contribute to the health and well-being from continuity of the the to the rapid information about the

natural disasters that most definitely qualifies as national security. when i first launched to space the cold war was in its waning years but must first generation of the program was defined by that paradigm. i'm proud to say i commanded the first mission with a russian cosmonaut possession special this crewmember. that mission stands among many milestones in the space diplomacy and was a precursor to the crowning achievement of the international cooperation of all the time the construction and operation of the international space station by 16 nations dillinger treating the potential for space to unite us as a world something more important today than ever. if everyone could see the world from space, how it is one planet without political borders,

circassian and its unity perhaps there will be less conflict. while working on greater access to space we are pursuing a path of missions and projects that demand cooperation against the agency's at home and among the nations. because any missions to mars or a similar venture is 20 the expertise, the passion and the resources of more than one nation. i'm the eternal optimist when also a realist. we need to remain the leader in space exploration and the capability we are developing for those missions the commercial access to space all of this will only strengthen our position as the bold space exploration leader. it is a community without growth and jobs his continuous. as president obama said in a state of the union address we are going to have to create an america built to last. there is no doubt nasa creates

good jobs, held since player the next generation of science and technology leaders and gives students hands-on access to missions, spacecraft and robotic design and many other experiences they can't get anywhere else. we've also placed a high priority on hiring veterans when they returned from service. nasa is a natural fit for them. they've been flying vehicles, controlling the uav, managing and repairing satellites, and analyzing data already. they know a lot about the nation's security needs, and we need their skills to help us reach new heights in the decades to come. we want them to translate what they've already done on the front lines of combat and military service to the front lines of creating a bright future for the nation's space program. the technological benefits from the expense of 21st century exploration program will be

considerable. but that exploration program also has a human face. it is all of you here today as well as the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives to expand human potential. it's those who correctly dedicate their lives and their passion to keeping a safe and make life better through space. they are the new restaurant plus we just graduated this past november who will be the first to climb above the commercial rockets and perhaps the first to set foot on mars. they are my granddaughter's and the students to whom i spoke last week at morgan state university who were passionate about science, technology, space and aviation. they want to make the world a better place. it's up to us to pave the way for them and keep their dreams alive. i am optimistic about thir