>> former state department official, john limbert and "new york times" reporter talk about developments in the country. mr. limbert was among the captives and the iranian hostage crisis. posted by the project of middle east democracy, this is an hour. >> i am going to give them more americans interview by necessity.

at the first premise i have is in this town it may be hard to accept the third session that they ran come you can go, thank you for coming on a friday before a long weekend, but i have often noted you could spend your life in this town going to victory in events here at brookings, aei, the wilson center. but in this town obsessed with iran, it may be hard to accept this, but the presidential election there is an iranian event. it's not about us. if we attempt to make it about us, what began, as we did in the 80s, we are going to mislead ourselves and tie ourselves in oz, a bad assumption and misguided decisions. so what would be my advice to

make good friends and colleagues in the government about the election? first, don't let the islamic republic make the election about this. it isn't about us. , shut up about it. don't say anything. if you must say something, say as little as possible. now i don't have to state the obvious, but i will. and that is that the election has one major beneficial effect in this town for the u.s. government and that is simply that ahmadinejad will no longer be president of iran.

as long as he was, this is not a personal attack or a personal insult, but the reality was that i saw those inside of my brief and somewhat unsuccessful tenure in the department of state dealing with iranian affairs. as long as he was, his statements on the holocaust come his statements about israel, his statements about and other matters made him toxic and too toxic for any american official to deal with. his love of the outrageous and divisive taken the liability even for some countrymen who attacked him. whatever came from him or anyone connected to him in this town was highly suspicious and

dangerous and was just considered unacceptable by nature. so what if anything should we do? well, first of all, if the iranian election is good enough, and what do i mean by good enough? by criteria should be about as good -- if it's about as good as the 2000 american presidential election, that would be about my standard of acceptability. if it is good enough, then all your president should send me a note of congratulations to the winner. and of course in that note, he has to choose his platitudes carefully. he should avoid, for example, phrases like odious regime for change her behavior or we look

forward to your admin support for terrorism. probably not helpful. platitudes are definitely the order of the day. now i've always been optimistic that the united states in a rambo someday break its estrangement. the estrangement has gone on for 34 years and in my view at least has not done anyone any good. but this break is unlikely to happen as the result of this or any other arabian presidential election. there was no break even after mohammed khatami's win in after the two sides did start to change the way they spoke to each other and they began to

talk about dialogue and roadmaps. in the end, the estrangement is really unique in our diplomatic history continued. what would make a difference? i would say it will calm with the weakening or maybe disappearance of his senior clerical elites that has held monopoly power in iran since 1979. the group was originally about 25 senior clerics. not age has taken -- time has taken its toll on the screw. my good friend who is here at carnegie says that this groups average age now is deceased.

[laughter] for some of them are still here and there's a lot port. many have departed and one has actually taken on the unlikely role of outsider. but the few that remain in the names are familiar. khomeini himself and of course mehdi karrubi as he's known around town grow on me. they continue to yield considerable power and so forth have shown little inclination to change either the foreign or domestic policies that have kept them in their palaces for 34 years. real change and change that will

matter to us will come not when one figurehead replaces another figurehead. it will calm when the men's club, this old man's club that is dominated power -- dominated offices for 34 years finally loses its grip and allows a creative, dynamic, well-educated population finally to express his thoughts. thank you. >> thanks very much to all of you. before i open up the floor to questions to the audience come either to follow up a couple questions myself. to begin with, there is a couple mentions that the outgoing president, ahmadinejad. i'd be interested in hearing thoughts. there have been a lot of, you know, ambassador limbert come

you mentioned the damage is often seen done inside iran. there's been a lot of discussion of sort of rifts between the supreme leader and clerics and ahmadinejad. i would be interested in hearing any thought on whether he's likely to play any role in the next three weeks. it is likely to make public statements that may influence the course of the election as it's coming. i would also be interested in hearing thoughts on the impact of developments elsewhere in the region or the arab world on what is happening now in iran. censoring us presidential election 2009 is a mention at the outset we've seen dramatic upgrade things that have intense consequences across the arab world. i'd be interested in hearing thoughts on the impact of changes in the arab world, on

both perceptions that the reading people, either on government regime hentai men's selection is as the government regime is tanking. so ambassador limbert, if the conservatives may be your thoughts are the three view you on most points. >> i will be very brief and i'd be very interested in hearing from our colleague -- from my colleagues. in the case of pregnant isn't -- president ahmadinejad, it's hard to say that his favorite candidate isn't running so far if he backs and. a lot of his appeal was based on some personal items that affect him. he's very flamboyant.

perhaps his final lands, his populism, his incorruptibility, which is a big issue in iranian politics has been for a very long time and the fact that he is not a cleric. i think a pretty effectively tapped into the anti-clerical strain, not anti-religious strain, but anti-clerical strain in iranian local culture. very effectively. most of the candidates coming out are not clerics. whereupon he is the only one. on the impacts of domestics elsewhere, obviously they do and everyone knows it and attempts to pretend otherwise are seen through immediately, very transparent. in the interest of brevity, i

would cite only a slogan, which i am told is very current in tehran after the failure of the green movement uprisings in 2009 and the success of the arab spring, particularly in tunisia. i believe the slogan is -- means tunisia could, karen could not. the lessons are there. whatever the outcome, quality of the outcome in the area spring, the fact of the matter is at least some of the air countries have overthrown entrenched unelected, corrupt systems that the iranians have so far not enabled to do.

>> it's true. it's true that the rate and people particularly 2009 were unsuccessful in ousting their oppressors and transitioning to democracy. but it's also true there were 4 million people in the streets of tehran and know whether arab city even came close to that, including cairo. is different political systems are derating machine is more than any government in the middle east and the fact that these other regimes in the arab world, egypt, tunisia, particularly egypt and tunisia were aligned with the united states, certainly helped very much in terms of the people power and ability to rise up against them. they were just far weaker regimes. iran watchers were very close to

iranian civil society, you know, what do mubarak had been on the reaction to what was on the street was childish compared to white khomeini managed to do. it's far more sophisticated also in that he watched tiananmen square. he watched with a shot it. he watched the unraveling of the soviet empire and he knew if he got to repress it into violent and over way, things would backfire on him. not that he wasn't prepared to do that. and when watching visually particularly after the bullets knew he was more than willing to kill to stay in power, but he didn't need to because the machine ever prescient is far more sophisticated.

at one point the incorruptibility ahmadinejad i have to disagree. just because somebody wears the same shirt every day doesn't mean he is incorruptible. missing populist leaders time and again her look like they are from the people and very down to the earth people. during ahmadinejad's time, his primary constituency had accumulated enormous wealth. these guys have been filling their pockets more than any other time during the public. one dynamic to keep in mind that might be interesting in terms of prospects for democratic change is stirring the khatami era, the price of oil was $15 a gallon in the supreme leader in fact i believe was seen khatami efforts as a way to appease the west and key people somewhat satiated,

satisfied at home. khomeini can't afford to do that anymore, but the price of oil is higher than the revenues have been enormous and the corruption has exceeded anybody's expectations primarily because of ahmadinejad. >> thank you. >> i'm going to start with the ahmadinejad factor. he said he's not going to get. he's threatened that he has access to a lot of states through its intelligence ministry and he's going to be a player. that might be the only flicker of hope that he might try to be a game changer. but as ambassador limbert said, i highly doubt he can do much. and i think that is why hominy

prefers because like ahmadinejad doesn't have a support base. whenever he wants to get rid of them, he can easily get rid of them. ahmadinejad doesn't even have a base amount numbers who have benefited from the oil revenue and many decisions. he's the one who has empowered them practically. but if he decides to mobilize people behind them on the street, i highly think it would be like even several thousand people who would demonstrate in his favor. most of his supporters are people in the rural areas who got handouts, violence and a fact according to government figures, these people have moved up from lower class up to where there is a very small minority of very poor people who they can all make situations improves mostly because of the oil money.

but i highly doubt ahmadinejad would be able to be a major player in the election. to go back to the question regarding the revolution in egypt and tunisia, i was surprised immediately after the fall of mubarak, irani and started comparing the revolution in egypt with the 1979 revolution. at first i thought they were being jealous. after all the egyptians did in less than a month with the iranians couldn't do after six months and a number of the iranians for greater were the ones who came up with all the sophisticated social networking tools that egyptians used. that discourse can to need even this day, like when the islamic weatherhead came to power, he started writing their project

inés. it's very much like the process because the islamists were more organized and so they had the ability to hijack a revolution. i totally agree. i think the situation is so different. one of the most telling examples was during the protest is a cartoon that came out and showed ahmadinejad khalid mubarak and ahmadinejad was telling mubarak how many times a day till you need to create your own besiege forest? iran had the oil money. the islamic republic does not need to get lost in the united states. so it has the money to buy equipment, to create its own force of besiege on the revolutionary guard. the besiege on the revolutionary guard are benefiting hugely. they don't want to see any

change. talk a lot of their way to suppress any pro-democracy protests. in addition to that, there are no alternatives to the islamic republic. iranians remember what happened in 1879. they remember the bloodshed afterwards and it's not that they like the islamic republic, but they are very much afraid of any kind of institutional breakdown, especially as long as they don't see another alternative. boost re: was the mandate that could bring some little change and they are happy to see some grassroots slow change rather than big institutional change, probably instability and then going through what they did 35 years ago. >> thanks very much. at this point i'd like to open up the floor to questions from the audience. we have a microphone that will

come around if you could please vapor the microphone and if you could briefly state her name and affiliation. we'll start right here in the front. >> good morning. my question is, what is the significance of the election for the nuclear negotiations, particularly if of that tag is the winner. >> take a few questions together. >> i am alex scott and from casting global. thank you are shedding light on such an opaque and difficult to understand political system. my question is in the wake of the rejection by the guardian council, which he read on the supreme leader and his group's power. one reading could be they were

so frightened by rafsanjani and that's the reason they got rid of or the other reason could be the supreme leader and perhaps the revolutionary guards are not meant go so strong they just don't care anymore about legitimacy are keeping other factions within the fold. thank you. >> right behind you. >> thomas but the elliott school. i was going to ask what role you think irani and governments throughout perception of the u.s. may or may not contribute to its human rights abuses. in other words, a u.s. man and never reform and democracy they are. >> okay. thanks. both take answers from these three questions and then we'll come back to the audience.

start, nazila, if you want to address -- maybe you can start with the second question on your reading of the supreme leader on the group around him and their power from what we've seen in the last few weeks. if you could start there. >> i think the supreme leader has learned his lesson from the 1997 presidential election. he allowed the elections to be a little bit afraid and then suddenly he lost for eight years and how to constantly consent politicians who wanted to open up and felt very threatened by it. since then, he's learned he's going to be in control. it is definitely going to pose a serious threat. he would have challenged it, the

legitimacy of rafsanjani's rule. but he think about it, this guy has not said for any popular elections in the last 35 years. the council rejected the candidates is appointed him. none of them have stood in any election and rafsanjani himself for several elections has lost in some. he's been elected as president and most recently was the top go-getter for the council of experts. so i don't think the supreme leader is going to allow anyone to answer at any other point to pose any serious threat. regarding the nuclear policy, unfortunately the irani and leadership is not going to compromise. he is not in a position to even start a dialogue over compromising with iran.

you just have to go to his website and look at his comments about the nuclear program. i think he is adamant to stay in the history and in the minds of the iranian people as a leader who nuclear capability and perhaps that would've raised every other thing about him. unless things really change, the only thing that might force him to change is a very lucrative proposal and i think this is where diplomacy can work. unfortunately in the recent talks in the negotiations since a few months ago there has been no proposal to give iranians a face-saving path. they have to be offered a good proposal so that they would come on a top iranian we want. and they have things to offer

society. this is what we have achieved. this is how much uranium would have been reached. we have this much stop pilot now we've defeated the enemy, which is the term khomeini constantly uses in his speeches. that the only thing that might force it to change his position. otherwise with the revolutionary guards surround him with other hard-liners who do not have any standing in the islamic republic in no way to put pressure but not that town. >> i think iranians have responded to pressure over human rights violation and that is where the american international community can put more pressure on the number of people in prison is just astonishing in the way these presidential elections are coming out in the statement recently was really

scary, very alarming. in 2005 you try to present himself as this modern technocrat. i remember his aides meeting with us at the foreign media were asking us not to mention that he had been one of the signatories of the letter to khomeini 97 -- sorry 99 when demonstrators were on the streets and he and several other commanders wrote his letter saying if he did get protesters off the street, they would intervene themselves in the bloodshed would be his responsibility. they didn't want him to mention that way. now he's coming down saying he was on the street, 99, 2003, 2009 and he gave the order to open fire on demonstrators. he can be bought is said and this is best opportunity to make an example of him for the rest of the revolutionary guard commanders. it's clear his intended audience

is not iranian voters. he's telling him that i'm or i will stand up for your rule. >> mariam, if you could continue on your comments on the perception that the united states and the impact on human rights conditions in iran. >> i couldn't agree more with nazila is highly effective and important morally and strategically for the united faith in the west to put the pressure on the iranian regime as far as human rights goes. it's always been effective. the regime has always backed down on particular political prisoners or freedoms once they see outside pressure. the idea that there is an american boogie man behind demand, behind aspirations for democracy is something the regime has used time and again

against his people. so whether or not there's any american backing for the aspirations of the iranian people for democracy, the reigning regime has constantly accused human rights act to this, human rights defenders, journalists, intellectual artist coming recessions, ordinary people of being american spies. so you're if you do, if you don't. so you better do it. do the right thing. be strategic about your comments. i'm talking about the white house. in meetings with democracy for human rights labor state department, they talk about under the bush administration people working right now on the state department talk about under the bush administration it was the white house making the statement in the white house that had press release and the

fact he needs to be released. can she was released because of that pressure. now we have this backing off. if we stay silent, it will be better. if we stay silent, somehow things will go in the right way. it doesn't happen that way. with other countries who say the same thing. dictators don't like the leaders of free countries call them and what they are doing. what's much more important is that i am not saying this. the people from insiders say now. their primaries vote and with barack hussein obama, you're either with them are with us. in other ways, we have on our website he say the same thing, constantly calling on leaders shun the free world to express solidarity with the human rights defenders, with the act of this, musicians. it's not like there's one or two people in prison.

you're an artist to go to prison. your university professor you go to prison. a reformist parliamentarian go to prison. if the united states as a speak out, who are we going to speak out for? where our values? >> thinks. if you could maybe begin with the question on impact on the outcome for nuclear negotiation. >> first of all i was noticing one thing here. in the handout it says 7456 lawyers come iranian lawyers sent a letter calling for disqualification of president rafsanjani. i don't go anyone who's opposed by that many lawyers can't be all bad i suppose. the nuclear ratio, i have a somewhat different position.

i certainly agree with what nazila said that this is not going to change the position, nor is it going to create an opening. my own view, which was not widely did within the administration when i was there was after 10 rounds of nuclear negotiations, this particular issue for all kinds of reasons, although it may be important, it may just write out be too hard to do, that it has become for both sides to dayton -- perhaps too laden with testosterone. both sides have painted themselves into rhetorical corners. the concessions they want come into your brain and cannot give. we can not give and maybe it's

time to perhaps put the issue aside not to forget about it, not that it's important, but look for other areas where the science can discover it's possible to say yes and the sky will not fall and nine if we can find other areas such as afghanistan, such as narcotics, persian gulf security, whatever else it is, then perhaps you can come back to the nuclear negotiations. if we keep thinking -- i don't see this election doing that. on the human rights issue, i could agree more. silence is certainly not the way to go. on the other hand, like everything else, what you say you have to be smart about what you say. you have to be careful about what you say because you have --

you can feed the islamic republic's propaganda machine, which says our human rights campaign is nothing more than what they call a soft overthrow campaign. and i would point as an example to the outrageous incident around town. most of you are familiar with it at the mek and how these people, this very strange organization has strong support from high level -- from senior i should say retired farmer american officials who would dress, for example, not a president and address these people so there was some democratic group. and i think most people in this room know what they are, if you like jonestown and the hum their brutish, they would be just your cup of tea.

in fact, being detested by most iranians. but the point is unconsidered statements come at people who maybe with good intentions think they are supporting human rights in iran and think they are supporting a besieged intelligentsia, which both of the other speakers referred to in criticizing a government that seems to declare war against us bloggers, it's women's rights that do this, ill considered statements do not help in supporting a group like that frankly is not helpful. >> the islamic republic propaganda machine doesn't need any feeding. it's got a constant supply of food within the regime.

whatever the united states government does will continue with their propaganda machine. it's not as though by staying silent were going to help them not have sham trials were not torture people or not allow women to go out and dress the way they want are not imprisoned the entire leadership or not call -- execute. the entire irani and his suffering. you can even call it issued-based repression. if the entire country. the united states by not speaking out, ambassador limbert is taking specific things that are boogiemen at the support for the mek and scaring the administration from doing the right thing. it's particularly because of these arguments the obama administration has stayed away from doing the right thing. again, i've know i've said it before. the human rights activists are

calling for this. anyone i can think of is prominent in iran, who is going to be the courageous is calling for the united states and governments are free countries to say look, it is best that should matter. and you've abandoned us. >> i think we are in violent agreement over this. >> we are. we are in disagreement about it. i do. >> we started in the back here. >> thank you all. very interesting presentation of viewpoints. this morning john kerry came out and said that regarding the way of the path of democracy in iran and am curious to hear your viewpoints on that particular statement. was that helpful or not? and to your point about the

human rights activists in iran that are imprisoned, totally agree with you they are the ones who want the international community to do more. the problem is they are not in a position of power. not even remotely in a position of power in it's really the reformists that could play that role. they are not calling for the u.s. to do anything. so i am wondering if the reformist establishment is closer to power would be more willing to speak to the national community a few ambassador limbert to change your perspective and say the u.s. is doing more. the mac thank you. center for international enterprise. i know you touched upon this hearing her briefly, but outside the dynamics of the supreme leadership and the presidency, there's the issue of wired gc,

the guardian. the fact that perhaps the supreme leader is beholden to them in their power and the fact that as nazila mentioned ali baba's coming out with a completely different image, trying to appeal to a certain fact, i want to hear your thoughts about the impact the supply is going to hop this election and how the candidates are trying to appeal to this project particularly cobalt and other factors. >> thanks. >> ganglia miller from search for common ground. ambassador limbert, you mentioned it will be very good news that ahmadinejad will not be president in a particular this'll be good news for the u.s. i was wondering what your thoughts are if said jalili were to become president because i know he has not generally been a

great negotiator with the u.s. in terms of the nuclear issue. >> olmos question here in the front. we will come back to you in the next round. >> thank you. coming back to the question that ambassador limbert raised, anything should we do, the united states do, my answer is don't do anything like 1953 in iran because the government currently in power in iran is the result of 1953 according to the steve mentions her book, and many famous authors, american

authors supporting the irani and struggle. according to your statement that you're talking to the leader of the free war to recognize the genuine democracy in iran, the leader of the free world is the middle east. who are their friends? iran, kuwait, jordan, these are the friends of the leaders of the free world. do they support the movements in bahrain but the democracy movement? no. my question for mariam is what really genuine opposition in iran should be depending on the united states or money from the cia or the real organization

think tanks like that or should we on their own fit. nazila, you mentioned twice in her speech at the democratic collection. in the first scenario that cheap, his home in he says okay, they are like that, this becomes the democratic collection for the election of the khatami. the constitution of the raines says first of all it can be the president first of all should be men. 50% of the people don't have rights to participate. second, it should be shiite. fourth, they should be sharif. fourth, they should be supported by the large consequence. where is the democratic movement

you call this election is a complete sham. the mac thank you. read responses from the three panelists and then we'll come back for a last round of questions. ambassador limbert. [inaudible] >> i haven't seen it. i haven't seen it and i didn't write it. i plead not guilty of that. so i am going to do my former state cop out and say i can't comment on some and it didn't be. the temptation to get into the details of other countries electoral processes is one i think we should resist and we should return to general principles, which is supporting democracy, supporting the right

of iranians like everyone else to be treated decently by their government. recently a senior government official referred to -- publicly refer to the regime there as odious. whatever we think. maybe she is speaking for what many of us think. choose our words carefully. finally, about the difference with mr. jalili, with negotiations go any better? would there be more progress? i'm not talking issues of substance in term of the contrast with president ahmadinejad. it was his style, his statements, the kinds of things that made the the effect that had here in washington within

our own there are perceived as people could not consider anything coming either from him personally or from anyone for others connected with them. hubris in lee considered too toxic, too difficult and no political figure, no leader could deal with that what another president, for example, change the position? probably not. i know mr. jalili since his 2009 meeting with then undersecretary l. burns in geneva haskin distantly refused to meet one-on-one with the american delegations in the p5 plus one meetings. my view is that it's a mistake.

it is shortsighted on their part, but the last i heard the islamic republic was not seeking my advice on that particular question. >> mariam, address this last question. >> yes, thank you for the question. if we are going to take democracy seriously and promoting democracy seriously and stand on principle come when a country has an election, it is the time to talk. you can't talk about three and fair elections. how else are you going to promote democracy? not that it's just that, but at least when they have election talk about how absolutely corrupt they are. 10 days ago we were in toronto for a conference at the canadian foreign minister put together with them on school at the university of toronto and the

canadian foreign minister and defense ministers gave rousing speeches to a group of iranian dissidents and the entire time, all i could think was this is absolutely wonderful. this is so incredibly powerful, useful, effective. if only other countries, primarily the united states could join, it could make all the difference. the canadian government should not be ahead of the united states government on these matters. the french government should not be ahead of us on what to do about mali and libya. this is the united states of america. we're supposed to lead on issues of freedom and democracy. >> nazila, anything to add? >> i'll just answer the last question. everything about her ran. our charms are relative.

on as a democratic election, i met at least people's votes are counted. after that the vote -- even the ballot were rigged. again regarding hall meetings interventionists that he would pretend democratic elections were allowed to run. i want to go back to the question about the revolutionary guards where i agree with ambassador limbert. the revolutionary guard has taken the place of the founding fathers of the revolution and that's where khamenei has done very well after he was appointed by supreme leader because he was a junior cleric. he was reluctant to work with the senior cleric and he started vanishing them inside lining them when he got rid of ayatollah ibd and broadband in

mid ranking cleric. since then, we see has gradually pushed the clerics aside and i very much sidelined now and we have more revolutionary guard, especially upstart ones such as ahmadinejad, jalili who are becoming more powerful people. i think that is how he is calculating. he can easily remove them without being challenged by a big support group. >> a couple more questions appear in the front. >> colin woodfin, aipac. my question is primarily for mariam memarsadeghi. you've talked eloquently about the need to talk about human rights in iran. is there anything the u.s. can do other than top? anything the u.s. can do?

any legislative agenda beyond condemning these problems? >> another question or two quickly. >> i have more comments rather than questions. my first comment about ambassador limbert, the collage the -- the home unique revolutionary guard fired all of them in the assembly are sure managed by home unique. hot mimi -- what about ahmadinejad we do not like. do you want someone for presidency means -- america.

they need not obey consulate. it is the kind of shame. ahmadinejad did it this time because even as candidates, the only person who talks about this is the relation between israel and iran extremely supported by ahmadinejad. and i think what we talk the u.s., it's not about good something to rant. it's about the common interests. it's basically a gift from ukrainian regime to pursue the common neutral interests. the kind of government managed by the world. even if they do not suffer their

values. it is the time to put all power, iranian demand to side with the many organized national unity against a random distinction and the government extreme pressure to give the election, not to be silent. this is not just supporting a specific candidate. and in general, if you do not want to talk about the election publicly, if you do not want to put the issues like if you want to kill people -- [inaudible] were killed, and fascinated by the in europe and european government closed their eyes. same regime.

timing is going that. they came -- [inaudible] and we do not know what's going to happen. >> thank you good one must question right here. >> this is a question for someone. don't you think u.s.a. support of human rights would add to the restriction in the country for the society. we have about 2400 people in jail now. did you think it would add to the restrictions on iranians, and my second question is, don't you think iran's human rights would complicate nuclear negotiations with iran? don't you think after the nuclear attack, maybe there's

opportunity to talk about her ran his human rights? thank you. >> if you would like to begin with that in the question on whether there's anything the u.s. can do to support human rights beyond talking about them in any final comments you have briefly. >> okay, thank you. these questions are related and that the first question here is what can the united states government do more specifically beyond talk, which is beyond topic. don't you think it's better not to do much and that it can also harm the nuclear negotiations? that is exactly a line of thought the regime wants people to think, but if you bring human rights issues to the table, you're not going to get anything on the nuclear front. we are not getting anything on the nuclear front. it's been how many years of the cat and mouse game? all the analysis here in unison

is doing archivists anything in the future. from another perspective to look at, the prospects of the negotiations are very good. in his other repressive regimes. the same arguments have been made that if you push on human rights are not going to get on the security issues. you're not going to get on whatever trade. has never been worked. it's never been true. i think while he was imprisoned, wrote about our biggest enemy is strategically, intellectually or the people who live in the west, who tried to convince their governments time and again not to speak out on human rights issues. those people are a bigger enemy than the people at home to repress us because the people at home who repress us know the truth. they know they are repressing a day note the western powers have

pressure, they won't do it again. if those governments don't put pressure on this government, somehow magically things will improve. they are the bigger problem. what can the united states do the united states congress authority done has proven extremely effective and hold individuals accountable. they are responsible for assassination good individuals that are responsible for crackdowns on assassination brought old-timers of the ball. hold people responsible for filtering the internet, who are in charge of the prisons. get down to the present model. get down to the interrogator level. use names, names, names as much as possible. i know what this administration is going to be almost

impossible. there's only three years left, but the u.s. congress can with parliaments of other free countries convened assemblies of free nations, parliaments of free nations to support a democratic iran. the canadians, canadian parliament, prime minister is ready and willing to do such a thing. we have partners that can assist in an assembly of free nations in support of a freer ran. i could say more. >> ambassador limbert, quickly, we have only a couple minutes left. >> very quickly. i actually agree in relation to the human rights complication is a wonderful saying is the common block. the nuclear negotiations by however you look at them are not

going anywhere. we talked about that earlier. no, the human rights issue is one we are obliged by our own values to work on. how we do it obviously is a very good question from our friend here. it's a very good question. i don't have a good answer. i would say we do it in a smart way. we do it in a careful way that we not do more damage to our friends, iranian friends and relatives to reiterate the point deserve much better than they have. >> any final words or thoughts quite >> i just want to agree over the human rights situation on how canadians have been doing such a

great job in one example of that committee can be followed to the arrest warrant has issued that arrest warrant. a lot of lawyers have said is not that many judges within the iranian judiciary who are willing to hand out jail terms the recent harsh sentences for activists. there's only five or six of them who are in the airport handing down those kinds of sentences. so make more cases. >> okay, thanks very much. it's been a very rich, interesting discussion. we hope to continue to examine the issue of how we can be supportive of democracy and human rights inciter rant. thanks all of you for coming. these join me in thanking our panelists. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> what has happened in the senate house notably for three consecutive years didn't even consider a budget resolution. i served on the budget committee for eight years. ..

>> they discuss the impact of automatic defense cuts under sequestering. the strike fighter program and operations in the asia pacific region. the briefing's an hour. >> well, good morning, everybody. [inaudible] state of the air force. i'd be remiss if i didn't mention today is likely

secretary's final press briefing before you step down june 21st. took the job of secretary in a difficult time working over the five years to leave the air force and better posture it to address future challenges. he's been at the helm leading the world's greatest air force in two wars, right at the nuclear crime, acquiredded a tanker, and established a program of records. he's been a champion of the airmen, familieses, met with spouses, support groups, and visited members around the globe, a humble servant for those of you who know him and see him in action. he's one of incredible dedication. he's a leader ensuring the air force is strong, ready, capable, and delivers wherever whenever the nation calls. mr. secretary, i publicly thank you for your service. folk, i want to go over the ire,

identify your name and affiliation, a question and a follow-up. we are scheduled for an hour here. we'll see how the questions go and go from there. the seg tear and chief have a comment, and after that, they'll go to questions. mr. secretary. >> okay, morning, thanks for being here. first i'd like to say words about oklahoma, and our thoughts and prayers are with the people of moore, oklahoma, and the surrounder area which is quite near tinker air force base as they cope with the aftermath of monday's devastating tornado. in the wake of this tragedy, we're also very proud of those who have come to the aid of their neighbors including the local first responders, of course, as well as airmen and sailors at tinker air force base and members of the oklahoma army and international guard, and many others. we thank them for their service,

continuing service, in this time of need, and in that community. general welsh and i have testified before congress on the air force budget proposal for fy13, certainly a dynamic environment, and we've reiterated concerns about the impact of sequestering on the fore structure, readiness, and modernization of the air force. the ill-effects of sequesteration already taking a toll on our air force. 12 combat coded squaw squadrons stopped flying, and important training has been canceled. weapon systems sustainment deductions reduce and create backlogs. the furlough hampers us further, impacting morale and reduce productivity throughout the air force. we've been consuming air force readiness for several years and

continue to focus resources that we have available to meet combat and commander requirements, but with the steep and late fy13 budget reductions brought on, the readiness hole we have been trying to dig out of just got deep r, and we are facing a readiness crisis from which it will take many months to recover. the modernization challenge facing our air force is pervasive. if unaddressed, it will seriously under mine our ability to accomplish the mission the nation asks us to undertake. last year in programming the air force share of the first 487 billion dollars in defense reductions in the budget control act, the cancellation or delay offed modernization earnization programs accounted for 65% of total air force reductions across. this year, each program was reduced by more than 7% in the

recent sequesterion. looking ahead, if there continues to be resistance to fore structure changes, reduce changes, and given current focus op trying to improve readiness, it's very likely that out year reductions in the budget control act would require further disproportional cuts to the modernization programs. as advanced technologies proliferate around the globe, cutbacks inned modernization earnization put at risk the air force capabilities the nation will need in the decades ahead. despite the concerns, we are aware who is significant remain on track including the fifth generation f-35 joint strike fighter, kc-46 tanker, and long range strike bomber. i particularly want to highlight an important milestone in the kc46 tanker program this week m

on wednesday, we announced the preferred and reasonable alternatives for the former training unit, and the first two operating basis. this was a disciplined and deliberate process that included a look that started with 54 bases, narrowed that down to fine, which yielded three good candidates and selections for the initial kc46 spacing. the final basing decisions are expected for the bases for the spring of 20 # 14. before turning to the chief, i'd like to take the opportunity to thank the chairman, the active duty guard, reserve, and personnel who are the living engine of the air force. i'm proud to serve with them. over the last decade, they served the country and operations around the globe, patrolledded the skies to

protect the homeland and responded to people, it performed magnificently. now the nation asks more. the budget choices faced in the extraordinary year forced painful decisions, and we'll continue to work with the dod research and congress to passion, a way forward remaining the world's best air force by whatever resources are provided. our air mep and nation deserve nothing less, so we look forward to your questions. general welsh? >> thanks. thank you, folks, for being here today. the devastation and human toll in oklahoma that the secretary mentioned is simply heart wrenching. our hearts and prayers out to everyone affected. the homes of 140 airmen were completely destroyed in the storm, and the homes of 196

others were at least partially damaged, so it's had a big impact on the air force family as well. two of the airmen lost a granddaughter and father. there's no words that can erase that suffering. we were all so very sorry for their loss. we're inspired by the resilience sigh in the fighting spirit of the people of moore and oklahoma. adds -- as usual, people serve with a commitment of their human fellow beingings. airman from the oklahoma national guard, both army and air national guard like firefighters, medical perpal, and volunteers on the front lines both search and recovery efforts and providing aid. air controls flown immediately after the storm to assist in the effort, and to all the great airmen, thank you for the service in the difficult period. they really do make all of us

proud. the boss mentioned this, but the air force understands that america's working through a debt and deficit problem. we got it. we're ready to accomplish our part of the solution. we just want to get to the bottom line or the new top line, budgets if you will in this case, and get on with preparing our air force to be the best in the world. here's the challenges we see it. operational requirements of really outpaced our resources over the last 10-15 years. air force readiness levels declined steadily since 2003, flying continuous combat, full spectrum training on the back burner to support the current fight, and trading readiness for modernization for the past several years. in the budget control agent, exposed management risk we accepted to do that, and now full sequestering has driven us over the cliff. that's where we sit today. sacrificing that readiness

negates advantages of air power this nation enjoins, and that's ad bad idea if you can a void it. we have to first recover before thinking what else is pock down the road. we have combat fighter squadrons flying reduced or not at all. we have delayed aircraft and engyps from entering into repair this year, and deferred over 50 nonemergency projects. sadly, we just asked a critical part of the family to take a 20% pay cut over the last 11 weeks of the fiscal year. the readiness continues to decline, and no-fly zone or policing operations, and response to violence reach a new crescendo. we're the best in the world, and the great airmen rely on experience and unmatched dedication to succeed in any operation asked to execute, but the skills have risk, and stagnant profigure sigh grows over time if we don't restore

someceps of budget normalcy, and that's what we hope for. we'll remember that modernization is not operational if we expect to be a viable air force in the future. we have to figure out how to make it happen maintaining a ready force along the way. that makes the current modernization niche fivetiving all the more than important. the it's a long over due capability, but the force desperately needs and important to emphasize this 2028 when the final kc46 is delivered, only about one-third of our then 65-year-old tanker fleet will have been recapitalized. the work is not over in 2028. there's much more that needs to be done if we want to keep the global in global vigilance, global reach, and power. the f-35 program on track over two years. sequester's impact on the money for the program likely impacts software development to some

degree, and they cut the production accounts cutting up to five f-35s this year. the f-35 is a vital capability that we believe the nation needs to stay ahead of adversary gains, and it provides the multirole capabilities that the environment of the future requires. the multiservice international nature of the program has huge gains in future combat and saves us a lot of money along the way just like the f-16 program p did with the benefits of the multinational fighter program, et cetera. twenty-two f-35s fly forming the backbone of the training fleet flying 112 so far, four f-35s deliveredded to an air force base for operational testing. we're excited that the program is on the road to success, and we're grateful partners are committed to the lightning as we are. the future of the united states of america is an air space and

cyberspice future. that's my opinion. in the years ahead, that's the most contested, most congested, and most competitive, both commercially and militarily. they are also where the united states air force happens to do our job. secretary donnelly and my job is to ensure america's air force is capable, credible, and responsive enough to meet national security objectives, and we work hard to ensure whatever resources received are used responsibly to achieve the best balance of foresight, modernization, and readiness. our nation demands the timely effective and precise delivery of the world's greatest air power by america's air force. thankfully, we're blessed with 690,000 fantastic men and women who provide just that. they amaze us every day, and it's really an honor to stand beside them. on their behalf, mr. secretary, entering the final month, i'd like to say thank you to you, your guidance for five years of

rock-solid leadership and perm mentorship learning more than i can begin to express in our time together the last nine months. i'd like to thank you for bringing your wonderful wife into our air force, she's been a joy to work with taking care of families since the day you walked in the door, just rocks. we'll miss her too. you're a great airman, mike donnelly, and we're all proud to have followed you. ladies and gentlemen, can we answer any questions for you? yes, sir, start here. >> thank you very much, from from india. the question is that first of all, what's going on with india and the u.s. as for the department, air force, concerned, any trainings going on or deals going op right now, finally, any comments on the chinese space missile, and chinese are going up and u.s.

budget goes down. most of the countries depend on the u.s. air force and all so what do you think is the future? >> i'll over we follow chinese military, and especially the air and space developments very carefully as well as other activities discussed in the cyber arena as well. no specific comments, but we do track it on a regular basis, maybe ask the chief to talk about the relationship with india, which is very important. >> the relationship between our air force is one of the real focus points for our commander. he and brown have become very closely attached and affiliated professionally. i hope to meet the chief here in the next two months traveling to the states on his next trip. we have exchanged letters.

i think the meeting has been arranged now to get a chance to meet and talk about the relationship. recently, we had to cancel a red flag exercise and the air force planned to participate in. we were sorry we didn't have to the roarses to exercise. we'll try to get india back into one as soon as we can because it's valuable, not just for them, but for us. we'll learn from the india air force. >> a follow-up, there's u.s. and india on f-35, is that still on, or what is the future of some of thed modernization forces, and also, if india is on the list of receiving u.s. arms? >> they made difference traces, but we'll get you after for the record. >> has india shown interest in the 35, and u.s. willing to

provide? >> i'll get you an answer for the record on that, thank you. >> general, when you talk about sequestering driven the air force over the cliff, is it your understanding that members of congress understand the gravity of that because so far there has not been reaction to the standing down of 17 squadrons. >> jeff, i think the members of congress are smart people understanding the impacts of this it's a difficult problem. we understand that. they are looking for solutions, doing the best we can to live with the resources we have, and i think the members of congress are looking for a solution so that the best defense can be provided for the night over time, and they'll come up with something. we'll get there. >> when you say we're over the cliff, are you saying the air force cannot execute all missions nation expects of it right now? >> no. what we focused on to this point

are missions we know about and committed to executing all of those. my concern is the unknown because we are funding the known and taking risks in the area of the unknown. new contingencies could be a problem for us, especially the longer this goes and the less training our people have compared to what we would normally require of them to be fully combat ready. >> congress is not in a hurry to effect the situation. going past september and sequestering continues, what the next steps in terms of flying down, force structure reductions, modernization cuts. >> looking right now, they'll have a comment about this i'm sure, too, but looking at every acquisition program we have, whether it's a new buy or an upgrade to an old system in determines which ones can we

afford to continue and which is the first to go up? we had a continuing problem, and we're looking at the reality of next year's expectations for deployment support, where can we support them, where is the biggest impact if we continue to have squadrons not flying at capable rates, going through that with the commanders inside services and joint chiefs to ensure everybody understands it. that plays out over the next couple months, and we'll see where we go. all are hoping for a budget solution that provides at least an ability to plan ahead, and then we mitigate major concerns. >> but as you probably know, the whole department is involved in an ongoing discussion in the strategic choices and management review to assist the potential impact of budget reductions at various levels including full

sequesteration including sequesteration continuing from 13-14. that's an ongoing discussion at the departmental level. we're not just looking at 14 but all the way for the next 10 year period, roughly 13 #-23, and i'll just offer that any way you slice it, the impacts are significant, and negative in just about every aspect of our military capability. forestructure impact, modernization, readiness impact, across the military, incoming united states air force. we are working through what that would look like in more detail, and specifically with respect to 14, the deputy secretary has focused on what we call the thin plans or financial plans, the execution plans for fiscal year 14 at levels potentially below the president's budget to

reflect the potential for sequestering, continuing from 13 into 14. >> what -- to give us an idea of what the danger is, what do you think would be most at risk? is that modernization programs shielding those so far, or would the readiness situation persist? >> the biggest concern is the readiness situation persists and we have we have to figure out a way forward to either start bigging out, create a ramp for improvement and perhaps not at the beginning of 13 or 14, but later in the year and into 15. the negative situation we're in this year comets into 14. no question. we know that already. if sequesteration hits 14, that could be extended through that

fiscal year, potentially. we want ways to mitigate that, but we're frankly not there yet, and we also, i think, speaking for the leadership, we want strategic decisions that inform how we approach resource planning and fore jr. structure planning in the next decade, but we don't have, except for the worst situation, if you will, in budget control act extending without change for the next decade, we don't have a solid set of top lines to work against, so just moving from month to month or from quarter to quarter is not the way to operate, and that was the chiefs, i think, reference to -- we need sound top lines to plan

for in the department with congress. >> mr. secretary, are the f22 deployed to korea in full eagle still there or returned to japan, and if they are still in korea, how long do you anticipate they will be there? >> chief, i'm not sure of the specifics. >> we'll have to double check that. i believe they are japan, but i'll get you an answer on that. >> yes, ma'am? >> with everything on the table for consideration and the so-called skimmer review, i wonder if you might address your responsibility for nuclear forces protected somewhat, as i understand it, just a full year from the harshest effects of sequesteration, but going forward, do you all have plan b so you can dust off the shelf when it comes to modernizing

both the bomber and ibcm lengths of the triadd so you don't eliminate the legs, but do modernization more cost effectively? >> well, i think the short answer is that the department and the nation's way forward in this still is dependent on national level decisions that the president planned to make next year. we content forestructure issues are not sorted through in terms of how to implement the new s.t.a.r.t. agreement until probably summer of 14, i think, was the guidance. i'll check the date for you, but with respect to how it impacts air force planning, i think it's a little bit more effect on the icbm side of the forestructure because on the bomber side, we already know that we're going r

going ahead with the long range strike bomber, that we're focused only capabilities, and nuclear capable to have a way forward on the bomber side that's independent from the nuclear decisions that are still pending. >> can you execute more cheaply? >> yes, there are ways to get to address different aspects of the nuclear enterprise, modernize it, how much, and what's the schedule? we have a lot of options for that. there are many programs involved, but i just offer a broader context here that what folks are focused on the sides of the nuclear enterprise and

the balance between air breathing, sea based, and land based forces, but all legs of the triad need modernization in some fashion. there's still an overhanging requirement to upgrate and modernize systems like command and control with them. >> either of you at the point where there's growing concern that a competitor may misjudge our ability to respond, should we need to because of the sequester cuts and budget uncertainty? >> i would offer it's very important as we undertake all of the very challenging fiscal issues confronting the nation and our military, that we

continue to engage with allies and partners around the world to collaborate on international security matters in various regions to continue to ensure effective partnerships to detour conflicts to get ahead of international security problems, and do that in a team based coalition approach, and each of our military and political partners has -- is in a different place with respect to their militaries, and they offer different capabilities, offer different real estate, in a different place for mod earnization, but we work with each as an independent partner and regional context to address the region. there's a common goal to detour

conflict where we can, and terrorist organizations operating various reasons as the president outlined yesterday in doing this with partners. very important to us. >> i would hope before someone made that calculation they think carefully about the risk associated with it because it's significant. the longer we go through this situation where readiness is greater, the opportunity for someone to make that. >> planning to require next generation fighters, and there's a fierce -- [inaudible]

find it a problem if they chose europe fighters as next generation fighter, and ally operations or exercise -- >> these are individual national decisions, and we continue to support south korea allies in their selection process providing data they need to make their decision, and as you mentioned, they are competing aircraft in that, more than one american platform involved in that, and our job is to just provide information that they need to make their decisions. they are strong partners and allyies, and they remain so in any situation going forward. >> amy butler, aviation week. i want to get more discussion

about the f35 going, if possible. we have it out now, and we've been told for a couple years now, since admiral said onx was something that the department needed to get its arms around, a big problem, and i know that each of the services did their excursions to look into how to contribute to a solution, but it does not refleblght fleck that, and the disa says it's the same costs per flying hour with normalizations of the f-16. how should we take that? does the department have its hands around the problem? what's the fixes to get costs down, and have a follow-up as well on where you guys are on ioc and whether or not you take the software. >> so just to start off, and i'm sure the chief would have comments as well. on the last question, we will

make an ioc notification to congress next week. we owe them a report by june 1st on track, cooter coordinated between the air force and knave ri, and so we're working through that, and a report will go to congress next week, i think, on time. the first question was there's no final answer on ons costs. we continue to work ons efficiencies in the program discussing ways to share and mitt kate costs, make smart choices between how we structure contracts and support between blue suit and contractor support. there are a lot of issues and

opportunities to continue to work the costs. i think it continues to be an issue that we look at and will continue to work for driving the costs down. >> okay. , well, i guess the disconnect, it seems, is that we continue to be told this, we, not just the media, but interthacial partners, those who want to buy the aircraft, but the official documentation does not reflect this, so what about this discussion? how is this not just rhetoric? >> well, it's ongoing discussion inside the department, and if as we have belter dated, that will be reflected in program stimes going forward. it's a matter of continuing discussion. we're always trying to drive down the costs where ce can, questions internally about the program how we do support and how we cost operations cost

going forward, there's no single number that locks in for the lifetime of the program. this is a 30-year program plus. numbers adjust as we get smart, as we continue to find efficient ways to operate. >> okay, realm, general welsh, can i get your input of it and the assessment of the f16 costs per flying hour, the 35? >> amy, i think what's been going on the last year, almost now, is trying to come to agreement on apples to apples comparison between the two numbers. this is worked hard by the program office, the lockheed office, a lot of people involved in the discussion, and we normalizedded to a couple numbers now, about $25,000 flying hour, and 32, roughly, for the f-35. that number may continue to adjust itself slightly deciding

what are in or out, but that gives us the idea now, that number's down from the original estimates, a good thing. we are also getting more and more practice call data based on the number of flying the airplane, and over time, that gives us a feel for the long term cost. not flying in fully operational mode yet, still in tests, starting the training program, and that has to mature like every program with cost sister support and sustainment, we don't know until we sustain it. some of the equipment is still developed, and once we get more on that over the next couple years, there's a better feel for what the airplane's going to cost. >> the air force recently delivered a report to congress saying that, you know, the cost difference between is what it was about, and now my understanding is that the air

force is 287 million to fit sensors, but there's a deal or oured a dealed to that for one tenth of the cost. is that something you consider. what's your thoughts on that? >> we have seen it. i don't recall it was what i describe as a complete over arian estimate for what the full cost would be, and there were operational implications from their proposal of using sensors, you know, bringing down u2s and using sensors off of them to put on the global operational implications there. i just offer this continues to be getting attention in the department, an issue on the hill. we recognize that, debated inside the department, and we continue to try to get the best fidelity and best understanding

of costs and oaring'sal comparisons between the platforms. >> even before current sequesteration and problems with the budget, people in the app lit call world, said the pivot to asia was an emperor with no clothes, rhetoric without reality. given the pressures in the budget, how does that affect your plans to rebalance, and. that, antiaccess denial is a problem not just in asia, but persian gulf. what's your assessment of current stealth jamming, antiradiation missiles, and do you need new technologies or tack tibs? >> the chief addressed the tactical capabilities. at the theater level, we, the

air force, sustain the forestructure and presence across the asia pacific that we have had for decades now, so aisle -- we'll get numbers here to clarify, but i'll try to remember some off the top of my head for the specific air force, between 46,000 airmen, between nine to 12 bases. we'll get you the numbers, tom. we continued to remain engaged in present forward in the asia pacific region. if you look at high value assets, the f-22, where it's deployed, it's time in the theater, about 60% of that capability is in and around the pacific theater at any given time. we have done routine theater

security packages up and down the pacific. we've talked about the regional basis, and this work continues. further, the department announced that the first location overseas for the f35 will be in the paycom area of responsibility. you know, we are focused on potential challenges in the number of theaters around the world, and the capabilities we're developing for contested environments apply in a lot of place thes in the world, in the middle east, in the gulf, potentially in asia, potentially in other areas as well, so we develop more effective capability across our air force that will also be of use in the asia pacific >> i think on the a

2-rbgs ad side, that means threat weapon systems get longer ranges capable, and we have to worry about that, as you said globally, it's not a pacific only problem, but what it does for us is look at the problem in terms of range. how do you extend ranges of things like sensors, of weapon systems, ect.. how do you become more interconnected so that you can plug into a network or system or a center, some system already in place, and that is what a2ad capabilities mean to us as an air force. we have to look at things like speed and stealth that you asked about how and they affect kill change. that's the business we're in, either disrupting kill change when -- whether we talk about that. real speed come -- compresses. stealth confusing it. they are good things, none stand

alone, but look what they do for us in the future as we modernize. the question is what the stealth means in 2035 or 2040, and how do we move in the direction of having capabilities in that regard. on the rebound, it points us towards developing capabilities that operate in that kind of environment, and it may, in the pacific, push us to develop new or strengthen existing partnerships because there are new and emerging partners available in the pacific and capabilities there to help develop and thins we can learn from the partners there, but it pushes us towards training we do for the activity in the middle east, a contested, congested environment, for example, something that we have to do to get back to full spectrum readiness. >> yes, sir. >> [inaudible]

afghanistan, air force, [audience boos] [inaudible] >> i'll let the chief provide a set up for this, that one of our important missions is to help train the afghan emerging afghan air force, and that is an active part of what the fair force is doing in afghanistan, and help deliver capabilities needed for the future. they are rebuilding an air force, so we'll be interested in development of new pilots and professional afghan air force to meet their needs going forward. they are coming up, the capability ramp, showing increasing capabilities the with the mi17 in particular, and we

hope to get the c130s in afghanistan soon and the las delivered next year as well. >> i think the -- i was in afghanistan months ago, talking with the chief the afghan air force, went to the training bases, and i think that our role will be to continue to train the air force as they develop into a force that stands alone to support their security apparatus. how long we stay and what numbers will be determined by the communedder of i certification af, the coalition leadership and u.s. leadership, and we'll be part of the solution. i'll tell you this. i was instruction by the talent level of the pilot force going through the training, and particularly the base, and there were a number of afghan members with a human experience and things like the mi17. there's one with over 17,000

hours, and it's not insignificant. most of the people who are trained now or in the afghan air force don't have a lot of expertise in running or managing an air force. it's the larger infrastructure manager that those things that most of them didn't do because they were younger when the air force operated in the past. they are trying to learn that now issue and those are things we can help them with over time. they have no problem flying airplanes and helicopters, they are good at it. >> yes, sir? >> just wanted to one, get a quick update on what the air force's participation has been in participation, understand it's gurnway, give us a snapshot of where things stand and what work needs to be done and i have a follow-up as well. >> just to clarify, review of

nuclear operations at large or -- >> of the incident resulted -- >> oh, the exercise? okay. yes. the issue was that it was the 17, and then two more -- we had 19 crew members at the air base who were not on full missile crew status, and they were in a retraining program. four of the 19 as of today reinstated. others progress well in the retraining program, but they have not completed it yet. the leadership is happy with how it's going so far. they are happy with the effort that the crews who are in the retraining process put into this. in the encouragement received by the rest of the missile crew force. the commander of global strike command has been involved in this from the very beginning. as has general kaler, the general of the strategic command. we spoke from the first day we heard about this, his inspector general connects to the global strike general. one that the collaboration led

to was global strike command wide exercise last week. they did notice inspections on all missile units, again, including the one, and just looked at them all one more time when no one expected them to arrive, and those inspections went well. by the way, the one also selected to go out and do an actual map-to-man three launch in the glory trip series out in california from vadenberg earlier, and i think @ the 22nd of may when that was conducted, and it went well. good news over the last couple weeks. good to see. >> quit follow-up. you mentioned continued resistance to situations like brack and other issues coming from congress. you're counterpart in the army, secretary, basically in terms of brack specifically state he has a number of basin facilities bleeding the service dry in materials of upkeep and maps. is the air force in that

situation, and do you see that pushback from the hill on brack issues, kind of contributing to the situation? >> well, we do have currently an impasse with congress on the way forward a for brack so that needs to be worked. we asked them, and we have 20% of our infrastructure that is access, and depending on changes to make, there's more excess capacity and probably a smaller air force and, therefore, excess capacity. we're working through the issues now. i would just offer that in this area, and in forestructure adjustments, compensation areas is, as i mentioned, in my remarks, are three very difficult and hot button issues if you will with congress right now. as we develop at the gnarl level

with congress, with the department of defense, other -- our national leadership, the way forward on the budget and what it means for the department of defense, we need a broader discussion with congress on the strategic choices we're going to have to make as a nation to make sure that we retain an effective and capable military, and for us, main tape our role as the best air force in the world over the next ten years so that we end up at 2023 a strong air force, and able to do the nation's business as called upon to do so. i don't think we have a con sen toc with congress, and we certainly -- on how to do that, and what the choices will be, but it will be very important for the department and the congress to have that conversation that is strategic level so that the services don't necessarily have to fight on

foot, on every single individual issue that will come up because if sequesteration does continue for the next decade, we have to take a trillion dollars out of the defense program over a ten-year period. we will face significant strategic decisions about the size of our military and what programs need to continue, the readiness that we'll need to maintain going forward, and we will have tough, tough decisions to make on the size of the force, modernization programs, compensation, base closures, all the things and very important that we have a strategic approach to this work. i think this is what the joint chiefs most want from the strategic level of the discussions in the department and, obviously, with the congress as they mark individual bills. they need -- we need, together, a strategic approach for how they approach challenges that

we're presenting to them. >> another quick follow-up. given that consensus and given highly partisan environment on the hill right now, do you think there's enough political room to reach that con consensus that yu are looking for to get past the tough issues? >> well, not yet, but what we need, i think, is the alternative to the budget control act, we're going to, you know, i think we're going to be able to see and describe for congress devastating impactses of having to proceed with the reductions over the next decade, that that work is ongoing, and the secretary will see that later in the weeks ahead, the months ahead, an i'm sure the congress is asking for this information, and i'm sure that

information is con conveyed and shared, but we need the budget agreement that sets the top line nurls, and that helps frame what the military needs to do to plan, and when we develop that plan, they need to buy into the strategy for how to implement it because if we have fights on these kinds of fundamental issues every single year, that is a recipe to hallow out the force. it's a balanced program that tries to save this kind of resource level, you get this size military, and then inside this size military, it's going to be ready to do these things. there has to be this much amount part of that for modernizing the

force, developing capabilities needed in the decade ahead in the decade after that, and so it's that approach we'll absolutely have to develop in concert with the congress, and if we fail to do that, we're running the risk of a hollow military. that's what will happen, every single year, we'll fight, and the individual issues will move hundreds of millions this way, that way, we'll stop this, we'll start something we didn't plan on, and we'll be blocked from making important changes that need to be made, and those things produce a hallow military. sir? >> talk about the department programming plus and impacts on the grounded combats and other aspects of air force readiness. >> our focus, i think, the air force piece is about $1.8 billion as -- yeah, 1.8, in the

reprogramming. we need these funds to address operational short falls for the remainder of the year. we would try to buy back some of the readiness of units that are flying in a basic military capability, but we want to take up to full combat readiness, and we would still have grounded units going forward. obviously, we do not have the resources to buy back furloughs, it's a difficult and challenging decision, but we got furloughs down to 11 days. the secretary would like to revisit that later in the fiscal year to sea if we can mitigate

that further if opportunities present, but the reprogramming is a big priority for the air force and department and asked for urgent congressional consideration. >> is ongoing work. we can try to get you something for the record here, but i think there is some we can provide, but we do continue to revisit on a month-to-month basis, there's a lot of focus on how to finnic fiscal year 13 over the next four or five months, intense focus on that, and then how it leads into 15, but all the services we're dealing with are severe short falls in the om accounts, and reprogramming does

not fix everything. we are focused. >> flying the rates and bring them back to full combat readiness. that's the first step. we're aggressively managing, literally, by squadron, day-to-day, as money is reprogrammed, made available, finding savings, anything to do to find money to put to readiness we're doing, and it adjusts up and down a little as we go, and not in the meaningful way unless money appears from somewhere. >> time for one more question. [inaudible] >> both of you said the price. is there a danger of that turning into the readiness prices, turning into a retention crisis or sort of a morale

crisis? what's that -- i mean, how does that worry you, a, and, b, specifically, about the civilians, it's furloughs this year, are you looking at, perhaps reductions in force next year? >> you know, i think i have confidence right now that our air mep know and understand that we're working through a very severe financial constraint for fiscal year 13. i think it would be of concern to all of us if the readiness challenges we have today continue into 14 or get worse in the future. there's a broad understanding that as the chief outlined, we're, you know, the nation faces fiscal challenges, dod will be part of the solutions, and get the nation's fiscal house in order. it is very important that our airmen and military members have

confidence, not just in the defense leadership, but the national leadership that they are working through these issues, and with -- the congress and president will settle on the resources that are going to be made available for the defense and the defense leadership will have the opportunity to make the right strategic decisions to shape militaries going forward with whether resources are made available. in the absence of that confidence, i think we would be worried about how these overall impacts might affect the morale of the airmen in the months ahead. if the -- if and as the economy improves in their opportunity for airmen to depart or other military members to lead, that becomes issues. we have specific issues like pilots where we anticipate shortages as airline, the

demography, if you will, of the airline pilot cohort changes, so we're concerned about the number of pilots that we have over the next several years. .. and that the nation has a stable way forward in planning for

defense. [inaudible] >> don't want to talk about those issues just at this point, but in terms of the need for a plan and the need for an agreement on budget, et cetera, and the personal world, you want as much time as possible to plan for those things. so our personnel managers are asking those questions. they would like to establish the correct ram for military manpower and civilian manpower. we can't quite get back to them yet. the more time we have for that purpose, the better. >> as indicated, this is probably my last scheduled press briefing. i just want to offer things for

those of you who have maintained such an enduring professional interest in the future of our air for us and our heirs and an international security establishment. what you do is extremely important to us into our military community to the national security community with large. we are going through challenging times, so we depend on you to help tell the story of what is going on in our military. the difficult choices we face and the rationale and the intention, the goal we are trying to achieve in the difficult choices that are being made. finally, i'll just take another opportunity to thank the men and women of the air force for this great opportunity. thanks.

>> martin dempsey talks about supporting members of fallen >> joint chiefs of staff chairman martin dempsey address families a month runs of old

soldiers at the assistance for survivors seminar. the event known as tabs rings together survivors and professionals in the grief and trauma filibusters as a 20 for seven resource for anyone who suffers the loss of a loved one who served in the armed forces. [applause] >> my name is bonnie carol and i have a hugger. [laughter] we come to this family because we have lost someone who served in the military, but far more

important than not, we are here today because we are bonded forever by our love for someone who served in the military. we wear a lot of pins. we've got different unit tends, but what we say here at taps is our pain is a photo button were no further broke in her. that is what brings us together. this is our family reunion. this is our tree house, our clubhouse. you are part of our family. we see that grief rewrites your address book and it's pretty special to have everybody in this room now forever in your address book. it's my great pleasure to introduce today the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey. i want to share a little bit about him.

he first came to taps speaking at a formal setting out our gala and it was such an honor to have him address our donors, sponsors, families, volunteers. when he was first after that wonderful speech that he gave, it was little justin steuben hoffer who knew how to present a military challenge coin. if any of you have been part of that, it's in the palm of your hands. justin was so proud because he knew in a challenge claim is presented of us were doing good. he said to general dempsey, you have done a good job. [laughter] and i think i was a great welcome to our family. general dempsey came to the camp and that's pretty daunting. this year we have 1200, mentors and staff gathered right next door. [applause]

it is absolutely awesome what happens over there, this magic that occurs and he is bravely taking questions from the kids. there is a little girl who had a very special thing to tell him. he leaned over to her, stayed there with the kids and she wanted him to know. she said my daddy is an angel. and that was very telling. this is what her kids are living within thinking about, that their daddy is a hero and an angel and doing good things still. the next day after this camp, the very first one general dancey was with that he saw the kids playing deck duck goose. he saw there were taps kids

instead can i join in? they got involved in a game of duck duck goose and that was incredible. this next photograph is her absolute favorite. last night [applause] this is your chairman of the joint chiefs of staff be loved by and loving back our taps family. general dempsey, thank you, mr. chairman. [applause] >> thanks very much. that's kind of the same reception i get when i go over to capitol hill actually.

[laughter] dede and i are honored to be here. when we built our calendar, we actually looked to see -- it has always been on memorial day weekend, though we always build it around this event because i find you to be an incredible inspirational group. we are just so thrilled to be here and says that we have to be here because of what it means. you are here because you suffered some incredible sadness and loss in your life and yet this event, and you'll see a finally date there's 300 or so. you are really cute, young lady. bonnie, you are, too. would you come out here with me? let me have her come up here. she wanted to get my picture a minute ago. here she comes. can you come over and say hi? is your name every? what do you want all those people to know, every?

do you want to say hi to them? >> high. >> let's give avery around of applause. [applause] you want to stay with me? you can either stay here or go back, set to you. but if you stay here come the election is back because nobody can see you. there you go. [laughter] she is welcome to stay. the conch or interest me with about a million points for men and women. i think i can handle this one. [laughter] although i bet she would give me a run for my money. watch your step. there we go. i do get to go over after i leave you and have some time to spend with your kids. every year i make it a point to take some famous song and added

it. at some point i'll probably get sued, but i want to take that chance because it's a great way to interact with the children over there. before you all, i just want to compliment you. i want to start by complementing bonnie and the team this organization so many years ago you have continued to grow again. it's one of those sad things that it has to grow, but it will continue to grow for a while. i sent nine letters of condolence to nine families who are reason members of your community. at some point when they're ready i'll join you. it's extraordinarily that they have someone who they can connect to the knows exactly what they went through and that's you. i really appreciate what bonnie and the team do. i appreciate the fact you are going to come not just to get something, but to get something and that is what makes this such

a powerful gathering of men and women and children. so on this day in history in 1844, samuel morris conducted the first live test of the telegraph. you probably know that or you should have from your education, but what she may not have known if he invented the telegraph because his wife had passed away and he hadn't received the news as quickly as he needed to in order to get back to beating her side. so i was his inspiration to develop the telegraph said people could not work more quickly. you are not working. in today's to knowledge economy you cannot work at the speed of the internet. getting together every year physically the way you do an indian to run at different events this taps runs is a powerful sent role. speaking of symbol, i listen to

the national anthem i don't know sometimes two, three times a day almost every day of the year. for some reason or another all of the events i attend, the national anthem is played, colors are posted and retired. i'd forgotten that it must be something extra area for you to listen to the national anthem. no one is that the experience of being handed a folded flag. you have that we don't know, those of us who haven't experienced that don't know really -- can't even conceive what it must be late. but national anthem and not slack on this day at this event is very much yours. that is your experience uniquely and i hope you think about it in those terms. you're the one the sacrifice we could play that nationally and in you are the ones who have sacrificed your loved one who are allowing us to legalize we

lead in on this from one of the weekend about these barbecues and parades across the country that is nationally and downplayed. people respectfully pay attention to it, but they don't know what it means the way you know what it needs. i want to tell you how proud i am of your loved ones, your children, bonnie, the taps organization and i promise you despite in washington these days and all of the uncertainty about the future of budget, headlines and good 24/7 is coming you can be sure you will remember what must import about our nation and that is the care for soldier, sailors, airmen, marines and their families are veterans and those who have lost their life in the service of their country

and their families. god bless you all and i hope you have a rich and good and even enjoyable weekend. you certainly deserve it. thanks very much. [applause] >> shortly after his remarks by general dempsey spoke with the children of the taps families during a q&a session and say a couple songs for them. [cheers and applause] >> a few loved it last year, you'll have to let it this year. you ready? were going to do two songs

eventually. one at the beginning and let the yen. the one at the beginning is the demographic that is shorter than three feet or so. if some of you fall into that category right now. and by the way, thanks mentors for being part of this extraordinary experience. [inaudible] you're not in here this next on the radio, but i come every year specifically to make sure they know about the bible. and the unicorn -- maybe there was a unicorn. you guys have to help me because you were here last year and my wife will help you and everybody else, you have to join in. and you mentors, that includes you. you might feel a little silly, but it going to be sillier.

so here we go. ♪ a long time ago, when the earth was great, there were more kinds of animals than you've ever seen. ♪ they run around free when the earth was being poured on the loveliest of all was the unicorn. ♪ well, there were great alligators. monkey back camels and chimpanzees. you >> the loveliest of all was the unicorn. ♪ well, the large banks have been and it gave them pain and he said stanback, i'm going to make it rain. hey brother now, i'll tell you what to do. build me a floating zoo. ♪ get some of the great alligators. some humpty back camels and chimpanzees. ♪

don't you forget that unicorn. well, noah was there to answer the call. he finished up the ark as the rain started to fall. he marched in the animals two by two. and he named them as they came through. ♪ hey lord, i've got your great alligators. humpty back camels and chimpanzees. à la fin to forlorn. i just can't find the unicorn. ♪ well, no one looked out to the fallen leg. those unicorns were hiding. laughing and splashing as the rain came pouring. all those silly, you know what. well, there were great alligators and longnecked beaks. humpty back camels enchant

pansies. there were cats and rats and i'll offend so forlorn. i still can't find no unicorns. ♪ this is the yen now. [laughter] is omar verse and it goes like this. i was almost going to say you don't have to go to church on sunday, but on he would her with me. the ark started drifting with the tide. the unicorn looked up from the rat then they cried. quit your whining. [laughter] and then the rain came down and sort of floated them away. ♪ and the moral of the story, and that's why we'll never see a unicorn to this very day.

but you'll see great alligators and longnecked beaks. to see humpty back camels and chimpanzees. you'll see cats and rats and à la sense as sure as you're born. the loveliest of all is the unicorn. ♪ the loveliest of all is the unicorn. [cheers and applause] [inaudible conversations] >> okay, before we get to some real advance here, by the way, let's give them a round of applause. [cheers and applause] it's become a tradition to take a few question.

so who is a question i want to as the chairman the joint chiefs of staff? nope, that was a false start. okay, here we go. okay, great. what's your question? [inaudible] >> that's a lot of people. [laughter] >> by the way, don't do very nervous. they just did this looking thing with their hands. ♪

[singing] >> all right, future "american idol." [cheers and applause] anybody else have a question? [inaudible conversations] >> i'd love to hear about it. go ahead.

>> my dad, he was in war once and he was in afghanistan two times. and then, he really likes to play games with me and my brother. and then my mom she was having a baby at my dad had to go back to the army and then he died. i don't know how he died, but he died at war. >> let's give this young in a round of applause. [cheers and applause]

>> can i get a picture? there's a young man over there. looks like superman came by. >> why did you join the army? >> why did i join the army? >> i join the army because i thought it stood for the right to bed it would allow me to be around people who knew that there was something more important in life than just making money and having a job, who might actually someday have to protect this country, which by the way is exactly why all of your moms and dads joined the army and some of them gave their lives for that. so that's a great question. thanks for asking.

yeah, go ahead. the >> my dad died. >> i know, but where is he now? >> god bless you and your family. who else? right next to you, use your microphone. ivo mac [singing]

[singing] >> let me ask you a question. whatever happened to kids being shy? who else? >> what is your favorite part about being a general? >> been able to interact with the young men and women who serve. it just keeps you so excited about this country when you see the quality of young people still willing to serve, even though they notice your loved ones have been killed protecting the country, they are still willing to do it.

the best part is meeting the men and women who choose to serve their country. >> what is your favorite hang about taps? >> my favorite thing about taps, first of all sub china's democratization because it allows you to come together. not just this week or weekend, but throughout the year. it allows people to share. grief doesn't always have to be sad. grief can sometimes actually make you feel better and i hope that is what happens this week. taps does a good job. [cheers and applause]

[inaudible] >> could you repeat that? >> did you ask the question of eye of an airplane? [inaudible] >> mates are you a little trick about being the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. when you go to a press conference, you answer the question you wish you were asked. i do have -- i do get to fly

around in air force aircraft as i travel around the world trying to make sure you get to know my counterparts. we've got time for one more and then i'm worried to sing another song unless you tell me not to. one more and then it's got to break. >> my dad got run over -- [inaudible] two people in the front, two people on the back. the two people in the back were safe. they tried to wake him up because they didn't know what happened. but the army men were in the back of that with this story

about would have been. >> that's terrific. i'm really sorry your dad was killed in a car accident and there's no way for me to make you feel any better. i think anybody in this room has had sat as. that's a really great story. let's give her a round of applause. [applause] what we are going to do now, every year i've taken some popular song. this particular year we selected this drive by by train. this is for the upper echelon of that demographic in the room. the vertically challenged may be. a mobile do is put the words to the chorus out there. what i've done is i've taken the words and turn them into something for you. so when you hear the words, this

is not the usual words for this song. some of them are close, but the message here that this event, this day, this event is not a drive-by in terms of our relationship with you. our relationship with you goes through the whole year. it's not a drive by. we don't want you to come here once a year and forget about each other. so listen to the words of the song. and i've got downrange to back me up in case i fail. [applause] ♪ on the other side of this that is true, ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] >> let's hear it for downrange.

and let's hear it for the taps kids. [cheers and applause] have a great weekend. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> on thursday, a fema spokesman gave the crew a brief description of train and the building into a state office for other agencies in oklahoma city. it will serve as an administrative center to process disaster relief claims for people affected by monday's tornado. officials say more than 3000 people have registered claims so far we've been. >> while we are setting up here at the crossroads in oklahoma city, what we set up here is a joint field office and the joint field office means that the met, the state of oklahoma and other

federal agencies in a partnership set up an office in a disaster area that serves as an administrative office for that disaster. we started a couple days ago working on this empty building as part of the process we come in, clean it. maybe brooks and sheet rock, drywall, run communication of electric lines, check out the air-conditioning and that sort of thing and work out the workspace where people are going to come and work. it's not a place for people to come to register for assistance. this is where the assistance gets the process. the survivors register for assistance with feedback. their application is in a joint field office is part of the operation. another part of the operation is the hazard mitigation people here. we try to figure out ways to help the folks reduce or

eliminate the effects of the disaster from teaching disaster. normally we are here until we are no longer needed. i have worked in joint field offices for five or six months. i've known of others that have been a mike after hurricanes or earthquakes for two, three, four years. by that time they transition what we call a long-term recovery office.

this is an hour and 35 minute. >> good afternoon. in the interest of time since a vote will be called at 3:40, senator collins and i are going to forgo the opening statements and so we will get right in with your testimony. we will insert our statements in the record. and let me first of all introduce you all be fuller -- let me get -- we are going to

hear from margaret woerner. ms. woerner, dr. woerner is a medicare beneficiary herself and she has volunteered at the medicare rights center in new york city for the past eight years and in this capacity, she has listened to other beneficiaries in their families and provided them with information on a wide variety of issues. being a volunteer and a beneficiary, dr. woerner has a unique perspective on medicare part d. jack hoadley, dr. hoadley is a

research professor at the health policy institute at georgetown. recently, dr. hoadley has studied various aspects of medicare part d, including the spending trends in use of formularies. dr. hoadley was also recently appointed to a three-year term as a member of the medicare payment advisory commission. and richard smith, executive vice president for policy and research at pharmaceutical research and manufacturers association. mr. smith has worked extensively in health care. and robert romasco, he is the president of aarp.

and so, this is a distinguished and all. and because senator wyden i said we are going to forgo the opening statements since we have a though coming out then we look at right with the witnesses. so dr. woerner, we will start off with you. your full statement will be placed in the record. and if you all could give us about a five summary, we'd appreciate it. thank you so much. i hammack >> and i've been a hotline volunteer for the past eight years at the medicare rights center in new york city. the medicare rights center is a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure access to affordable health care for older adults and people with disabilities. as a volunteer, i provide information and counseling to

medicare part d beneficiaries and their family members on a variety of issues. this work is deeply gratifying because i could help people solve very real life problems. i have seen a positive and that that access to prescription drug coverage under the part d benefit has had for so many older adults and people with disabilities. yet while these addresses are undeniable, many barriers to accessing needed medications still exist. i believe that the part d benefit can be made even stronger by addressing these issues. i speak to countless beneficiaries who go to the

pharmacy to fill out prescriptions only to find that their part d plan refuses to cover the medication. when this happens, most beneficiaries leave the pharmacy empty-handed and without answers. upon calling the plan, they are given any number of reasons for the denial. for example, the plan wants them to try a less expensive drug first. the drug is not on the plan's formulary or the drug is being taken for an off label indications. yet before a beneficiary can even begin to appeal to have the drug covered, i must counsel that most requests are written coverage determination from her plan and include a letter of support from her doctor.

many of the people i speak to have not received instructions from their plan on how to do this. callers often express frustration at the need to jump through so many hoops. because of these hoops, some will try to pay for their prescriptions out-of-pocket. others will simply go without their medication because they can't afford it. i hope the 75-year-old woman living in florida who received a denial notice from her part d plan, stating that they would not authorize a drug for rheumatoid arthritis without additional medical information. once she had previously been living in ohio, the same plan covers the same drug. so she was quite confused and upset as to why they would not fill this prescription this

time. she left the pharmacy without her medicine and it took four weeks for her to get prescription coverage. in the meantime, she had to suffer through the pain and inflammation caused by her arthritis. the large number of plans available and the frequent plan changes from year to year make it nearly impossible for many of our callers to make the right decision about enrolling in a new part d plan for keeping their existing plan. i have found that from my own out-of-pocket costs for the same coverage for the same medication can vary greatly from plan to plan. i speak to many beneficiaries who has time to understand their coverage before they enroll, only to find out after they've

enrolled at their medication is subject to numerous restrictions are that their costs are much higher than they can afford. to get the most out of your coverage, you must know the differences between preferred brand-name drugs versus nonpreferred brand-name drugs versus preferred generic drugs versus nonpreferred generic drugs versus specialty drugs. you must know how to obtain your drugs from preferred network pharmacies versus nonpreferred and network pharmacies versus mail order pharmacies. and of course you must know whether your drugs are subject to any restrictions. part d has done many good things

for older adults and people with disabilities, but there is much more that can be done to improve the program. thank you for the opportunity to testify about i experience helping people with medicare part d. >> thank you, dr. woerner. we are looking forward to some questions as we dig into this issue of the medicare prescription drug benefit. dr. hoadley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i do appreciate this opportunity to talk about my aunt going research work on the record over the 10 years since the law was passed and the occasion for this hearing. part d really marked several fast on transfers and medicare. it was the first drug coverage for medicare beneficiaries, something not included in the original program. the first personally available through private plans are not part of the fee-for-service

system. but first i medicare provide direct assistance to low-income beneficiaries not relying on medicaid to provide that assistance. an initial benefit structure where the gap in coverage also known as the doughnut hole. as a look at the record over the time since it started, there are important successes, but ongoing issues and concerns and i want to mention a few of each. first the successes. the cost of cost of part b is than 30% lower than the initial budget projection. that's something we don't often get to talk about. this is not so much a result of competition as some of our youth, but really the program has been able to take advantage of the lower spending trend of prescription drugs over this period of time and increased use of generic drugs as many popular drugs people take have gone a formulary and become available as generics. enrollment has been somewhat of a factor although no one wanted the ones we should be happy

with. the second success is enrollees have had reduced out-of-pocket spending to increase access to needed drugs in the research record is supportive of designing. third, congress has taken steps to fix the most important design flow, the doughnut hole i referred to earlier and is scheduled to be phased out by 2020 and his people are not running as much today into the problems of having to stop their drugs than they hit the doughnut hole as they did before and once it's a style, that issue of really have gone away. fourth, the program start back in 2006 despite a lot of initial concerns really went relatively smoothly and while there were glitches along the way in which is to continue, medicaid during the initial rollout problems were fixed and resolved and we ended up with people enrolled in the program. issues that remain although congress and cms had made

important adjustments, there's still room for improvement. i want to highlight for areas. first, per day is complex and confusing to many beneficiaries as you just are heard discussed today. despite some important efforts to streamline the program, there's still too many plans a two difference is hard for to understand. people regulate the report that it's a confusing benefit. people don't always pick the plan basket not and furthermore they don't always look at alternative plans during the open enrollment. that may save them money and put them in a better situation. second, not every medicare beneficiary has drug coverage. it appears the best available data that 10%, one in 10 beneficiaries does not have adequate drug coverage, does not have party or some equivalent coverage better. we don't fully understand who the people are in mice have been. if something would need to redouble efforts to make sure everybody who needs to benefit

has access to it again said. third, there's some important issues are many but the lower subsidy program. it's been a powerful program in a big help to people who get the subsidy. of the people who apply in their own and automatically get the subsidy through medicaid, only 40% have done so and got low-income subsidies. more than half are not enrolled in the subsidy and not getting extra help are entitled to. furthermore, those at the subsidy generated message planes on a fairly regular basis in order to gain the benefits of subsidies, for example to keeping with no premium charge. right now in a 1.6 million beneficiaries are paying a premium to stay enrolled in part d, some of you don't have to do if they were to switch to one of the eligible plans. even the fact is switching to

other plants and cms does reassign quite a few people each year is existing coverage is disruptive or they run into formulary issues that used to be covered in the sort of thing. there's a problem both ways. again, very things he can do to address these things. fourth, although the cost has been below projections, spending trends in the future could have cost pressures. the way the patent expiration is responsible for keeping spending down this following mappings who balk get the advantage in the future and new drugs on the market are expensive, drugs, and a high price tag. import therapies and beneficiaries gain access to those drugs, but they're going to be expensive than our policy levers available everywhere for more availability of follow-on biologics and steps taken in that direction or the potential to use the party rebate the chairman and others on the committee have supported and

management by plans to make sure there's appropriate use of those drugs. i can add some of the points dr. woerner talked about the appeals process. we can point to clear successes, but it's critical we not rest on the record of success and address the outstanding issues. as one last point and let me observe the experience in launching the program they offer valuable lessons to the launch of the insurance exchanges and i'd be glad to talk more about that in response to questions. >> dr. hoadley, thank you for the value of your research. mr. smith. >> mr. chairman or ranking member collins, good afternoon. medicare part d has been highly successful. i will come to a few points where we believe improvements can be made in some of the select with the points they've made. overall, it has been highly

successful. nine in 10 seniors have drug coverage. 94% are satisfied with coverage as reported by medpac. program cost of 45% as we worked with the cbo data in average monthly premiums remain at about $30 from 2011 through 2013 are half the original forecast. medicines play a central role in fighting disease, especially seniors coming at the modest part of health spending. part he accounted for only 10% of medicare costs in 2012. in addition, growth in spending has undergone a sharp and sustained slowdown in recent years. in each of the last two years, cbo has reduced its 10 year forecast by over $100 billion. party is responsible for much of the overall slowdown in medicare spending. further, cms has spending per person will grow 1.8% in 2013 and market wait for the five years at the lowest prescription

drug spending growth have occurred since perdue began in 12,006. one reason for slow growth in drug costs as a prescription drug lifecycle in which companies develop medicines which later become generics. here i have a slight disagreement with my co-panelists. i believe the market works to obtain maximum savings from the lifecycle. four out of five prescriptions are now filled with generics in the system is unique to medicines. it contains costs and allows resources to be reallocated from older to newer treatments. due to the lifecycle between 2006 and 2010, the average cost per day in 10 commonly used classes of medicines dropped for $1.50 to 1 dollar. medicines reduce other costs. n-november cbo announced to a credit policies that increase use of an offense on other services. in making the change, cbo cited research finding part d reduce nondrug medical costs for

beneficiaries who previously had no limited coverage by an average of $1200. the sql or $2 million in savings in 2007 a new research suggests even greater potential. for instance, increased adherence with medicines for congestion parkville could save medicare $22 billion in the coming decade. parties competitive structure is a large part of the reason for his success. the these organizations by drugs on behalf of tens of lots of people in the commercial during use they are specialized expertise to negotiate discounts to lower premiums than beneficiary cautionary. likewise, beneficiaries have an incentive pay plan to blow premiums and i'd be glad to come back and address that question. some suggest why savings could come through government negotiation. we disagree.

as of the robust price negotiations by private plans are developed in the program, cbo consistently found giving the authority to negotiate would have a negligible effect on federal spending unless the secretary impose the restrictions on access to medicine. somehow i've impose medicaid price controls by beneficiaries. it would simply be part the status quo is not accurate. the policy would provide millions of people never eligible to drug coverage. second, part d extended to 11 million people who didn't have them. it also increased generic use with the cost containment spread throughout the market. third, major policy changes since 26. bio pharma sector pay for higher medicaid rebate, three to the

trust fund and 50% discounts in the coverage gap. analysts estimate it caused over $100 billion over 10 years. analysts including the former cbo director and chief actuary mandated rebates as leading to higher premiums, fewer choices and are restricted formularies and part d. researchers have found the price controls would discourage r&d investment in medicines at a great cost to private health and cbo noted the perky rebates could discourage investment in medicine mostly used by seniors. the u.s. leads the world in drug development in the biopharmaceutical is one of the most r&d intensive in the economy accounting for 20% of all business in the united states. in addition to improving the defense, r&d is widely recognized as striking economic growth. i'll conclude by noting any program, improvements could be made. not all eligible individuals are enrolled. seniors could be encouraged and

supported to make good choices and there could be improvements in medication therapy management however, program improvement should not undermine the hallmarks of success is. continued innovation is challenging. there's a lot more to be done. can better target treatment, alzheimer's will cost medicare and medicaid $300 billion annually by 2030. none of us want that to happen. hope for the future lies with continued innovation and i appreciate your invitation to testify. >> thank you, mr. smith and congratulations on your industry developing extraordinarily wondrous new drugs. and this will continue. mr. romasco. >> chairman nelson, ranking member collins, senator warren. my name is brought romasco, member of aarp board of

directors and i proudly service aarp's president. on behalf of aarp is more than 37 million members can we thank you for holding this hearing on the medicare part d prescription drug program. as we approach the 10th anniversary of medicaid modernization act, part d is helping millions of medicare beneficiaries afford the prescription drugs they need. ..