question time. we also invite your participation via twitter using the hashtag pmq. proud to question time members are finishing up other business. now live to the floor of the british house of commons. is my stand in for primus or david cameron, is deputy prime ministers nick clegg. ..

could i ask the minister what would the consequences for government in patients languishing on long waiting list in wales were given haier services delivered by the coalition nhs in england? >> mr. speaker, i was as my honourable friend knows i was in wales last week and the deficiencies of the holt service under labour guidance in wales was a under constant discussion. >> while searching for a d-14 form to return tax i did a search on google and copycat website came up offering service that is cost money. what efforts are being made by it government to try to deal with copycat websites that are ripping people off? >> mr. speaker, my honourable friend in the in dtms had a meeting with google and others last week to address exactly

this issue and we're taking urgent steps with google and with the advertising standards authority to address it. it is a real concern. he is right to raise it and we're on the case. >> order. questions to the prime minister. naomi long. >> question number one, mr. speaker. >> mr. speaker, i've been ask to reply on my right honourable friend the prime minister who is visiting israel in the occupied palestinian territory. i'm sure the whole house which will to wish to join me paying tribute adam morally from 32 engineer regiments who tragically died in cam bastion in march. our deepest sympathies are with them at this time. mr. speaker on a happier note i think the house would like to join my if the first paralympic gold medal winner and kelly gallaher and her teammate won gold and silver medals at the

sochi games. i send congratulations to her and other competitors n additions to my duties i will have further such meetings later today. >> naomi long. >> thank you, mr. speaker. if i could add my sympathy as and thoughts and prayers to the family. my congratulations to kelly gallagher from northern ireland of course. one of the first -- mr. speaker, given rising racism and xenophobia in including racist attacks in my home state of south africa what more can government do to insure the public debate such as e.u. membership on immigration are more balanced and celebrate the huge positive contribution to both the social, cultural and economic life of the u.k., particularly in the run-up to the european election? >> mr. speaker, of course i agree with her. straight away the balance explaining to the public we are running a tough but firm immigration system where it needs to be tough and firm but

also hope want to come here to make a contribution and pay their taxes and contribute to our way of life. i was deeply saddened and shocked to hear about the incidents of what happened to members of the polish an chinese community in her constituency and even more so of what's happened to her colleague anna lowe who i understand is the first member of chinese descent in any legislature in europe is being subject to terrible abuse by bullies and racists. i rang her a few weeks ago to express my own support for what she is doing to stand up against that terrible treatment. >> sir alan beeks. >> mr. speaker, 700-pound tax cut, preschool meals and pupil people yum will improve the opportunities and lives of many of my constituents even those these ideas were not entirely welcome to some among our coalition's party. will you welcome the fact that

coalition government and compromises with it can deliver sound policy? >> yes. i strongly, i strongly, i strongly agree with him, especially on those policies. one of them as he will know is in the papers this morning because of the inexplicable views of unknown and highly opinionated ex-party advisor to the come serve tiff party about preschool meals. preschool meals when they are delivered for those in school in september will save families money, will improve the health of children and will improve educational outcomes. instead of denigrating that policy we should be celebrating it. >> erica harmon. >> i would like to join the deputy prime minister to pay tribute to adam morally from 32 engineer regiments. we honor his bravery and service but above all send our deepest condolences to his families and

friends who mourn him. i join the deputy prime minister too congratulating our paralympic medal winners and wish them the best of luck in the games. the deputy prime minister said local people should have more control over their health services. can he explain to the house and the public why last night he voted against that? >> actually, we voted for measures which would insure there is local consultation, that people are -- well i have to say i'm intrigued by her line of inquiry given their record in the nhs. we don't need to go any further than what is happening in wales where they haven't met their targets since 2009. it was that party opposite when in government entered succession of sweet deals -- sweetheart deals, covert privatization of large parts of our nhs. i don't don't think after the

support and revelation that is happened under labour they have much to stand on. >> even prepared to justify what he voted on last night because the truth is that the health secretary broke the law which gave local people a say and decided to change the law and the lib dems could have set in and stopped it. oh, no, here is what they did instead. first they said they were against the change. then they put down an amendment. then they sold out to the tories and the tories got their way again. is there any logic to how the lib dems vote other than self-interests? >> mr. speaker, this from a party that spent a quarter of a billion pound, 250 million-pound, on sweetheart deals for the private sector which led to operations and procedures which didn't help a single patient. a party which now rants and

rails against competition in the nhs but actually introduced it. a party which suffers from collective amnesia about the terrible suffering of the patients in other parts of the nhs. mismanaged by them. >> harriet harman. >> they are under threat and want to say people will remember what the deputy prime minister said in the house today. at their spring conference last week, lib dem ministers were falling over themselves to denounce government policies and even their own departmental colleagues. describing them variously as unfair, absurd and hated. yet they keep supporting them. take the bedroom tax. his own party president said the bedroom tax is wrong, unnecessary and causing misery but they voted for it. now they say they want to abolish it. are they for the bedroom tax or

against it? which is it? >> mr. speaker, there are 1.7 million people on the housing waiting list in the country, in our country and are 1.5 million spare bedrooms. that is a problem we inherited like so many problems from them. on this side of the house we're trying to sort out the mess that they created. if they're incapable of taking any responsibility or expressing any apology for the mess they have created, why should we take any of their questions seriously at all? >> harriet harman. >> therefore, only labour will scrap the bedroom tax. the lib dems chief secretary to the treasurer passing the top rate of tax would be cloud cuckoo land. if the lib dems were against this tax cut, why did they vote for it? >> mr. speaker, guess what the

top-rated tax was under labour? anybody? anybody? anybody? four gps for 13 years. now she is complaining five p higher. if she will honestly suggest and make consistency of virtue, how about this, mr. speaker. this week the labour party has been talking about the need to give young people jobs opportunity. last week they tabled an amendment to the deregulation bill which will tell half a million young apprentices, level two apprentices that they're no longer apprentices. worse than that they issued a report a few months ago that says hundreds of thousands of youngsters on level two apprentices are get this, dead weight. what a kick in the teeth for the young people we should be helping on to apprenticeship. >> harriet harman. >> we'll have a bunch of bonus tax for new jobs because,

because, you, youth unemployment has doubled. >> right honorable learned lady, when both principles been at dispatch box there has been far too much noise. people ought to be able to hear the questions and hear the answers. whether members respect each other they ought to respect the public. harriet harman. >> long-term youth unemployment has doubled under his government and with so many people struggling to make ends meet and many even driften to relying on food banks, it is an absolute disgrace that the lib dems voted through a tax cut for the richest. mr. speaker, on sunday the deputy prime minister shared with us everything he loves about britain. he loves his cup of tea. he loves the shipping forecast and loves flip-flops. not so much footwear for the deputy prime minister i think but certainly a way of life.

with his, with his -- [inaudible] with his, broken promises and posturing doesn't he realize that he might love britain but britain does not love him back. >> mr. speaker, the punch line was a long time in the delivery and it wasn't really worth waiting for. i know she doesn't like to get, i know she doesn't want the facts to get in the way of a preprepared joke. how about this, youth unemployment is lower now than the week we started. in her last year in office one million more people in relative poverty than there now. half a million more children in relative poverty than there now. 150,000 more people unemployed than there are now. 125,000 people are unemployed. they're the party of four dp. and party of private sector

deals for in nhs they're the party now against apprenticeship. >> harriet harman. >> mr. speaker, what showed is that he is siding with the tories and is totally out of touch. what whatever was said last weekend, no one is going to be fooled by the lib dems phony rowws with the tories when week in, week out they're justifying them and -- with the tories. they're used to talk about two parties coming together in the national interests. now there are two parties bound together by mutual terror of the electorate. >> mr. speaker, however she wishes to characterize things, she has a record which she needs to defend. of boom and bust. of sucking up to the -- >> order, order. the deputy prime minister's response must be heard. the right honorable -- >> record of increase in relatively poverty, increased

unemployment, increase in youth unemployment and bequeathing to this generation the country's worst peacetime deficit ever. is that really a record that she is proud of? as ever, we're clearing up the mess that she left behind. >> brendan george. >> mr. speaker, the government's response to the recent storm damage to help fishermen and restore the link is very much appreciated but the severe damage the vital lifeline transport link to the facility is largely gone unnoticed which is not something local authorities can entirely resolve on their own. will the deputy prime minister ensure a delegation from my constituency can meet the appropriate ministers and officials so we can seek the support necessary in order to find a long-term resilient solution to this problem? >> mr. speaker, i visited his constituency to see for myself

and hear for myself the damage done to many communities by the terrible, the terrible flood and the extreme weather in recent times and i know how long he has been campaigning on this issue. i will insure that meeting does take place with the relative minister in government. >> mr. robertson. >> mr. speaker, surely also right to extend condolences to the family and friend of bob crow and the secretary of state for defense has issued a ministerial correction where he corrects the falsehood that there was no measurable change in the radiation discharge at hms vulcan near dunry. does the deputy prime minister agree the ministry of defense should be fully answerable to the scottish environmental protection agency. >> of course i would like to also expressing my condolences to the family and friends of bob crow. whether you agreed with him, someone with always forthright views and worked tirelessly for

what he believed in and the people he represented. on the issue of dunray i think the ministry of defense thought to be open as possible. it is very important all of us work together in order to insure that the nuclear deterrent is managed and maintained safely and that is exactly what everyone is seeking to do. >> mr. speaker, we now know that the leader of the opposition is opposed to an e.u. referendum and won't deliver one. the deputy prime minister is opposed to an e.u. referendum and won't deliver one. the leader of the u.k. id party wants a e.u. referendum but can't deliver one. the prime minister wants a eu referendum and will deliver it by 2017. would the stand-in prime minister tell the house which of the party leaders trust the british people and is a real

democrat? >> as ever a pleasure i'm glad to see fans on the other side of the house now. mr. bone, since he mentioned my right honourable friend the prime minister. we voted together on this very issue and he said, i quote, my clear view it is when this parliament proposes to give up powers there should be referendum, that is guaranty we've written into law. it is important that we establish clear rules for the use of referendums in parliamentary democracy. rule one, line one, giving up powers that belong to the british people you ask them first. i entirely agree. that is the government's position then and that's what we legislated on and that remains my view. >> mr. speaker, a recent survey recommended that 67% of hard-working people working in the private industry will not be getting a raise this year. how does that square with the fat cats in the city and bankers

getting a big bonuses? >> mr. speaker, the richest in society are paying more in every year of this parliament that they did under any year under labour. it was his party that let bankers run amok. it was his party, the party of fred goodwin when on cocktail charm offensive to suck up to the bankers in the first place and they wiped out so much value of the british economy, amounts to 3,000 pounds lost to every household in the united kingdom. is that a record he is proud of? >> does the deputy prime minister accept that the measures that have been announced so far have had no impact on president putin and russian government who are refusing to negotiate with the ukrainian government and continue to strengthen their hold on crimea. will the government now press the targeted economic sanctions against senior members of the russian government and their supporters in order to reinforce

the message that the annexation of crimea is unacceptable and it is wholly in breach of international law? >> mr. speaker, i'm sure my right honourable friend speaks for most, everybody on the side of the house when he says that we should to seek to do everything both deter the russians from making the situation any worse but also deescalate. that is why it is terribly important we work together with our american allies and with countries across the european union to use the collective clout of the european union, political and economic clout to set out as we have done, a ratchet of sanctions which can be and will be deployed if deescalation does not happen, starting, i should stress this, starting i hope very soon with russian agreements to enter into a contact group so that direct talks can start between kiev and moscow. >> mr. kevin brennan. >> thank you, mr. speaker. on his party's recent defeat by

the bus pass elvis, electorate message to him paraphrase words of a song bit original elvis, you ain't nothing but a lapdog? >> mr. speaker, mr. speaker, at least, at least, at least we're not the lapdog of the bankers which is what labour was in office. at least we didn't, at least we didn't crash the british economy. at least we didn't cost every household 3,000 ponds. at least we didn't preside over increase in relative poverty. at least we didn't preside over increase in youth unemployment. we are creating a stronger economy and fairer society that his party failed to do. >> deputy prime minister will be encouraged that the economy is growing faster than expected, showing the value of this government's long-term economic plan. does he share my satisfaction

that it is being achieved through a resurgence in manufacturing with companies like as automotive installations in my constituency. we're investing in a new 65,000 square foot factory in rugby. >> i strongly agree with him. by stick to the plan, despite all the overtures from the members opposite to abandon it we have provided stability and growth to the british economy that otherwise would not have taken place. in the automotive sector we've seen spectacular success. there is now a vehicle rolling off the british production line every 20 seconds. we are producing more cars than we ever have done before. of course the party opposite presided over declining manufacturing three times as great as what happened in the 1980s. >> lillian greenwood. >> thank you, mr. speaker. my constituents elect ad new labour counsel. will the deputy prime minister think it was his party's support

for the bedroom tax, trebling of tuition fees, cuts to the poorest families or bee temporarily of the nhs which led them to put him ahead of liberal democrat? >> they, putting bus pass elvis aside for a minute which, which i admit was a novel experience for us as no doubt was for the people of clifton, i just wondering, did the labour candidate admit how much they cost every household in clifton 3,000 pounds? did they admit the fact they allowed the bankers to run amok in 2008? did they admit to the fact that they were the party that crashed the british economy? did anyone on the doorstep apologize to the people of clifton for the labour party did to this country? >> jeffrey brown. >> -- very special place because

of planning yet in the last year this is threatened because of the number of applications for new houses amounting to thousands. localism seems to have gone out of the window and they are simply not being protected. what can my right honourable friend do to help resolve this. >> i know my right honourable friend feels strongly about and there are strong planning protections in place. outstanding natural beauty which is this country's most important treasures as he rightly said. it makes clear giving great weight to areas of standing natural beauty which have high levels of protection we announced last week you might be interested to know areas of natural beauty and natural parks will be excluded new legislation allowing agricultural buildings converted to housing without the need for planning applications. >> thank you, mr. speaker. can the deputy prime minister confirm if the independent review body on house service staff pay recommends an

increase, the government will accept that advice, or will they freeze the pay of some of the lowest earners in the nhs yet for another year? >> what most people want is, is, we will make, we will make the announcement shortly about our views on the pay review body recommendations. but what you want is to protect what is now the highest number of nurses employed in nhs since the nhs was founded. and we need to make sure the nhs continues tome ploy more rather than fewer critical staff employed under labour to insure patients get the best possible treatment under nhs. >> on monday, south korean newspapers said that north korea was due to execute 33 people having contact with a christian ministry. given a quarter of a million people in north korean prison

camps will the prime minister encourage the bbc world service to use existing transmitters to broadcast in more north koreans now that they have more access to radio. >> mr. speaker, he raises a very important issue and as you know, our embassy in pyongyang continues to engage critically with the north korean regime and tries to ensure there are many opportunities for dialogue as possible, including information coming into the country. the bbc world service is of course operation editorially and managerially independent. at end of last year they decided following a review they couldn't continue to offer effective and affordable korean language service that. of course is a matter for the bbc world service itself. >> mr. speaker, victoria ligetts died after gps missed several chances to spot her cancer. but she and 20,000 other patient

the there who are desperately trying to get an appointment are also victims only of the deputy prime minister's shameless, spineless capitulation to the tories on the nhs. >> mr. speaker, as i pointed out earlier, he might not know this but it was his party that wasted quarter of a billion pound of taxpayers money on sweetheart deals in the private sector to undermined the nhs on tariffs the nhs could not meet on operation that is weren't delivered. while he is asking the question, why can't he tell the house why he tabled the amendment just last week to tell 500,000, 500,000 youngsters that they can no longer be called apprentices? we stand up for fairness. we stand up for stronger nhs he doesn't. >> mr. david -- >> mr. speaker, has the deputy prime minister read the testimony of in western mail, a victim of the lake power-run in wales? sympathy with those suffering on

longer waiting lists and less access to drugs and give them the opportunity to access firefar higher services delivered by this coalition government for nhs patients in england? >> mr. speaker, i was appalled, i'm sure everybody would be a appalled the experience of the right honorable gentleman's constituents in wales. the nhs there run by labour, 33% of patients wait more than eight weeks to access diagnostic -- in england only just over 1% of patients wait longer than six weeks for the same. the comparison speaks for itself. >> thank you, mr. speaker. this week marks three years since the bloodshed began in syria. more than 1/2 million people have fled the country and the dead can no longer even be counted. we must all bear responsibility for our shameful failure to

intervene but they are, they are supposed to be the ones running the country. what renewed government will his government make to end the slaughter before all hope fails? >> mr. speaker, he knows my own views. i felt there was a case for intervention at the time when we voted in this and of course his party voted against it but if he now wants to speak with his own party leadership on that matter he is more than welcome to do so. i agree with him humanitarian catastrophe there is on unimaginable scale. we must do everything we can to help. i think i'm right our human loom there is now the largest this country has ever delivered and why also the home secretary and others in government are now administering in conjunction with the united nations a new program where we allow the most destitute and desperate refugees some refuge in this country as well. >> greg whitaker. >> mr. speaker, during the recent floods the prime minister rightly announced grants of 5,000 pounds for those flooded

to put into -- in their homes. you can imagine the disappointment then of people from the thousand homes in the valley who were flooded only 18 months prior who got no such support. will the deputy prime minister agree to look at this policy with the prime minister to see whether same grants can be made available to those that were flooded as well? >> of course i will do so and as someone who witnessed the terrible flooding in my own constituency some years ago, flooding can hit different parts of the country in different ways as we adapt to this new, very difficult reality we must make sure we build up resilience in all parts of the country and provide assistance as fully and consistently we can across the country as well. >> mr. speaker, the honorable member for westmoreland agrees with me that the hated bedroom tax is causing misery to those affected. does the deputy prime minister agree with the president of his party or his friend the prime

minister? >> mr. speaker, i think everybody thinks that we need to deal with this mismatch between large numbers people on the housing waiting list, something her party never did anything to address in 13 years and the fact that there are large numbers of spare bedrooms not being used. her government free sided over the change which we are now delivering in the social rental sector in the private rental sector. she need to explain why they want to support the change in one part of the housing system and not the other. >> the football club made history by becoming the u.k.'s largest 100% community buyout. today many clubs, much loved clubs face uncertain future due to lack of financial transparency, opaque football authority rules, structure that promotes irresponsibility in business and if you happen to be a woman's team, doesn't promote sporting excellence. does he agree with me we need to learn the lessons from

portsmouth, the select committee's reports and work this report directs and act to protect the interests of clubs, their fans and ultimately the national game? >> i certainly agree with her and football fans across the country do that this is really important issue. we can't have big money hollow out the game that everybody loves. i know this is something that the, my right honourable friend, secretary of state for culture, media and sports is looking at on an ongoing basis. i would strongly urger had to take up the issue with her. certainly something we need to keep a close eye on, so sports clubs large and small thrive in our country. >> ian lucas. >> there are reports that the department of pension is proposing stopping paying benefits into the post-office card account. does the deputy prime minister support that policy? >> i don't think that is true and, i will certainly of course confirm it with him but that is not something that i'm aware of.

>> thank you, mr. speaker. last thursday, 16-year-old man collapsed in the school pe lesson. one of the reasons he is still alive bus the excellent school already had defibrillator. they ordered two more. what steps is the right honourable friend prepared to more schools have defibrillators and will he recommend the excellent work of the foundation leading way on this issue? >> i'm sure many honorable members across the house also come across this issue in schools and sporting clubs and other recreational facilities in their own constituencies. there are great organizations, she mentioned one of them, which are promoting the need to make these available and we should certainly work with these campaign groups to raise the profile of this important issue. >> >>-showing aing average nursery cost is higher than the average mortgage and health care costs

have risen five types faster than wages since the election. given that we are expecting his long-awaited tax-free child care scheme to be announced very soon, can i ask him, what discussions he has had about relationship of this scheme with universal credit and the -- it creates and what assessment he made of this scheme and its impact on price inflation? >> mr. speaker, she raises a very important issue. as it happens child care costs are finally starting to come down in england. they continued to go up with labour in wales. we must do all we can, we must do all we can to help parents and families with these costs. that's why we're delivering 15 hours of free child care to all three and four-year-olds in the country, and preschool support and for first time ever to two-year-olds in the most deprived families. but you're right, she is right, of course we need to do more. we'll announce shortly the details of tax-free child care offer which will benefit many,

many families with these very high costs across the country. >> order. >> here on c-span2 we'll now leave the british house of commons as members move on to other business. you've been watching prime minister's question time aired live wednesdays at 7:00 a.m. eastern when parliament is in session. a reminder you can see this week's session again sunday nights at 9:00 eastern and pacific on c-span. for more information go to c-span.org and click on series to view every program we've aired from the british house of commons since october of 1989. we invite your comments about prime minister's questions via twitter using hashtag, pmqs. >> cia director john brennan yesterday addressed accusation that is cia agents illegally tampered with computers used by senate staffers investigating the cia's detention and

interrogation tactics. andrea mitchell of nbc news asked him about the senate's investigation in an interview at the council on foreign relations. this is an hour. >> good morning. i'm andrea mitchell from nbc news and msnbc and my honor to introduce the director of intelligence, john brennan. after a career at cia went to the white house as the president's top terror advisor and was confirmed to be the director of central intelligence. john brennan will have some opening remarks about his first year at cia as director. and then we will have a conversation and then we'll open it up to you in the audience and to some of our, cfr members who are sending questions in online. so thank you all very much. director brennan.

>> thank you very much, andrea and good morning everyone. i see some of you notice i'm walking in here with a cain. although the director of the cia job is dangerous, it was engagement with a patch of black ice a few weeks ago that led to a fracture of my hip. that is why i have the cane here. he it is a pleasure to be back at the council on foreign relations. as i look out in the audience see so many familiar faces i like to thank richard haass for letting me speak to this distinguished group and andrea mitchell to lend insight to our discussion this morning. just over a year ago i had the privilege placing my hand on the very first printed copy of the constitution, a drafts edited and annotated personally by george washington himself is one of the most treasured items held in the national archives. with my hand on that document, vice president biden swore me in at the director of the central intelligence agency. i chose to take my oath on that precious piece of history as a

clear affirmation of what the constitution means to all of us at the agency. we have no higher duty than to uphold and defend the rule of law as we strive ever day to protect our fellow citizens. like some things involving cia though people read never fair just intentions to take my oath on early draft the constitution that did not contain the bill of rights, our constitution's first 10 amendments. so at the risk of disappointing any conspiracy theorists who might be here today let me assure all of you, i along with my cia colleagues firmly believe in and honor not only the constitution but bill of rights as well as all subsequent amendments to our constitution. i just happen to be guilty of being an ardent admire earlier of george washington and historical foundations of this very great country. my first career at cia began in 1980. so when i returned to the agency last march i was already well acquainted with its people and its mission. having spent previous four years

at the white house i also had the benefit experiencing first-hand the enormous challenges confronting our policymakers as they deal with myriad challenges our nation faces in the 21st century. as a result of the tremendous opportunities i was given over more than 30 years working on national security issues i could see the agency from outside as well inside our headquarters in langley, virginia. i could see how the agency's work informs policy making, shapes our intelligence and security relationships with countries around the world and working with other departments and agencies in the u.s. government, helps keep our country safe from harm. and although i had planned to retire from government service at the conclusion of president obama's first term in office i was humbled by the opportunity to lead the agency i was part of for a quarter century and hopefully to play a role in ensuring that the cia's future is even more accomplished than its storied past. so thank you for being here with me this morning. i would like to offer a few

brief comments before i address the many questions that i know are on your mind. first of all, being cia director means that i have a front row seat to the dynamic and often times dangerous world stage. while i was at the white house i often spoke publicly about the terrorist challenges we face as a nation. after a year as cia director i unfortunately remain convinced that the u.s. government and the american people will be dealing with terrorism in one form or another for many years to come. as too many individuals and groups remain inclined to use violence for political, idealogical or purported religious reasons. and despite rampant rumors that the cia is getting out of the counterterrorism business nothing could be further from the truth. cia's global mission, our intelligence collection and analytic and covert action authorities an capabilities as well as our extensive liaison relationships with intelligence and security services worldwide will keep cia on the front lines of our counterterrorism efforts

for many year to come. at the same time, i fully expect cia's role to evolve as the capabilities and political will of our overseas partners continue to grow in the coming years. building the capacity and enhancing the knowledge and empowering the operations of our partners will be key to mitigating terrorist threats the world collectively faces in the decade ahead. similarly, the intelligence mission on the cyber front will evolve as well as sovereign adversaries criminal networks, terrorist organizations and hacktivists explore new ways to do our country and our people harm via the digital domain, our planet's new and relatively uncharted frontier. much of what makes cyber so challenging that technology is changing so rapidly and society alongwith it. in many respects the world is transforming before our eyes as more and more human activity migrates to that cyber digital domain and more and more of our

daily lives depend on that domain for social interactions, financial transactions, commerce, trade, communications, education, information, entertainment, and the list goes on and on. but the fact remains that many technological and scientific advances have proved throughout history to be double-edged swords. the power of dynamite that can move mountains and pave the way for road networks, tunnels and bridges also can bring destruction and death in the wrong hands. irony of alfred nobel's two lasting legacies, invention of dynamite and peace prize is edges after sword of technological advancement. today websites and smartphones that enable syrians to organize themselves against assad's regime and though show the world the brutality of that regime help apguide and other groups communicate and carry out terrorist attacks. recent events brought into stark

relief, the national, indeed the international debate about the appropriate role of government and specifically intelligence and law enforcement agencies in this new cyber frontier that is clearly full of wonder an opportunity but also fraught with great risk. in the years since my return to cia technological advances and their profound implications for both the agency i lead and the world we study have been very much on my mind. if i had the opportunity to start my career all over again i believe i would start out as a data scientist or engineer in cia's directorate of science and technology. like any other information base and technology enabled profession intelligence is undergoing a profound transformation and the women and men of our science and technology directorate are tackling some of the most fascinating issues head on. for example, we are looking at how we can protect the identities, activities and missions of our clandestine officers. these are the officers who operate internationally on a daily basis, yet increasingly

have digital footprints from birth. we are also looking at how we appropriately leverage the seemingly infinite amount of publicly available and not so publicly available information so that we can detect the threats to our national security and to the american people while staying true to those cherished principles of liberty, freedom and privacy upon which our great country was founded. as someone who bears at least partial responsibility to keep my fellow americans safe these are the challenges and the questions that truly hurt my head. now as challenging as counterterrorism and operating in the cyber domain are they are but two of the many issues that cia and the rest of the intelligence community have to follow. since returning to government in 2009 the number of issues of major significance to u.s. national security interests demanding constant attention from both policymakers and intelligence officers is staggering. the political turmoil and up heaval attendant to the

so-called arab spring has fundamentally changed political and social landscapes in tunisia, libya, egypt and yemen. the tremendous loss of life, humanitarian disaster and destruction of some of the world's most beautiful ancient cities in syria is nothing short of a modern day catastrophe. the political dynamics underway in iraq, iran, afghanistan, north korea, venezuela, south sudan, central african republic among others reflect internal tensions, economic stress, sectarian conflicts and global ambitions. russian and chinese strategic pursuits in both their near and far abroad demand the constant attention and vigilance of our national security experts. ukraine provide a real-life example why it is so important to preserve our intelligence capability to stay on top of the world's events in their totality rather than just a few key issues. over the past several months the cia and its intelligence community partners have closely followed events in ukraine,

keeping policymakers informed of unfolding developments on the ground. scenarios, for escalating tensions and options available to ukrainian, russian and other world leaders. now i know that many of you would like the cia to predict the future such as will crimea secede and be part of russia and will russian forces move into eastern ukraine? the plain truth with virtually all events around the globe, future events including in ukraine are shaped by numerous variables and yet to happen developments as well as leadership considerations and decisions. while we do not have a crystal ball it is our responsibility to identify those variables an considerations and point the key drivers that will ultimately determine future events. let me conclude by offering a few final words about cia as a learning organization. we were born in 194as the cold war was just getting underway. over the past 67 years we had the great fortune to play a role

keeping this country great and its people safe. and while we are exceptionally proud of the work we do we have not been a perfect organization. far from it. we have made mistakes. more than a few. and we have tried mightily to learn from them and to take corrective actions, whenever ard wherever appropriate it is no secret that many of the things that the agency has done over the years, things that it was asked to do, that it was directed to do, that it alone had the authority and responsibility to do remain subjects of intense scrutiny, debate and controversy. the rendition, detention and interrogation program, the rdi program, of nearly a decade ago is a case in point. now there have been many things written and many things said including i understand this morning about the program. some fact and some pure fix and these remarks have addressed the cia's views and actions related to the senate select committee's

report on the rdi program. so i want to take this opportunity to say two things. first, my cia colleagues and i believe strongly in the necessity of effective, strong, and bipartisan congressional oversight. we are a far better organization because of congressional oversight. and as long as i am director of cia i will do whatever i can to be responsive to the elected representatives of the american people. our congressional overseers ask us the tough questions, hold our feet to the fire and work every day to insure american taxpayer dollars are being spent effectively and efficiently to keep our country strong. most important, they work to insure that the cia and other tell pens organizations -- intelligence okayizations are carrying out responsibilities faith fullingly in full accordance with the law. i don't always agree with them and we frequently have what i would call spirited and even sporty discussions but i believe we're fulfilling our respective

executive brain much and legislative branch responsibilities. second, the cia has more than enough current challenges on its plate which is why far more than any other institution of government the cia wants to put the rendition, interrogation chapter of its history behind it. the agency's detention facilities have long been closed. president obama officially end the program five years ago by which time the cia had already ceased its interrogation activities. over the past decade there have been numerous internal and external reviews of the program and the cia has taken steps to address shortcomings, problems and and performance deficiencies evident in those reviews. now the senate committee conducted extensive review of that program, a review the cia devoted considerable resources in supporting over the last several years. cia has tried to work as collaboratively as possible with the committee on its report. we will continue to do so and i have talked extensively to chairman feinstein and vice

chairman chambliss about the report and the way forward. cia agrees with many of the findings in the report and we disagree with others. we have acknowledged and learned from the program's shortcomings and we have taken corrective measures to prevent such mistakes from happening again but we also owe it to the women and men who faithfully did their duty executing this program, to make sure any historical record of it is a balance and accurate one. we have worked closely with the committee to resolve outstanding issues an we look forward to working with the committee should it submit any portion of its report to us for classification review. even as we have learned from the past we must also be able to put the past hyped us to devote full attention to the challenges ahead of us. i arrived at cia in 1980 flesh out of graduate school and was sworn in as a gs-9 officer, never ever, believing in my wildest dreams one day i would have the honor and privilege of leading corage just, dedicated and exceptionally talented women

and men of cia. now as cia director i go to the main lobby of headquarters in langley once a month to administer the oath of office to our newest employees. i'm always struck by the quality of these women and men. many speak several languages. many had successful careers in the private sector and want to give something back to their country. for all of them this moment is the cull min nation of years of hard work and see enthusiasm in their eyes, they look focused, confident and eager to make a difference. as i watch them raise their right hands i feel an extraordinary sense of obligation to these officers. they have chosen a profession that is filled with great rewards but also steep challenges an sometimes grave danger and it is my job to prepare them for it. from day one i want them to understand they are joining more than an organization. they also are joining a tradition of service and sacrifice unlike any other in government. for this reason, i always administer the oath of office in front of our memorial wall.

there are 100 -- 107 stars on that wall. each one representing an agency hero who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our nation. and i emphasize that we all have responsibility to remember the officers and the sacrifices represented by those stars and to carry on their work in a way that would make them proud. i'm sharing this with you because it underscores a defining trait of cia our profound commitment to the nation we serve. for more than six decades the women and men of cia devoted themselves to protecting our nation and advancing american interests around the globe. their contributions often go unrecognized but let there be no doubt cia officers are essential to the strength and security of our republic. thank you, and i very much look forward to taking your questions >> thank you all very much. [applause] thank you, director. we're going to have a conversation here, then

obviously bring the audience n. first of all, the topic of the morning which you have addressed here. you said that you want to get the interrogation, the detention, past practices behind you but senator feinstein today went to the floor. she said she did this reluctantly. that she has been dealing with you privately, trying to resolve this since january and only went public today because of events, because of the referral from the inspector general of the cia to justice because a lawyer in cia had referred a crimes report separately, accusing the senate of going improperly into cia computers. her claim in the scathing speech frankly was that the cia had hacked into the senate intelligence committee staff computers to thwart an investigation by the committee into those past practices. she also alleges that the panetta era report was very similar to the senate's

conclusions about those past practices but that you who were involved in that era in the program itself and the cia currently was trying to thwart the full review of the harshness of those detention interrogation practices. can you respond to that. >> yes. well, first of all we are not in any way shape, or form trying to thwart this report's progression or release. as i said in my remarks we want this behind us. we know the committee has invested a lot of time, money and effort into this report and i know they're determined to put it forward. we have engaged with them extensively over the last year. we had officers sit down with them, go over their report and point out where we believe there are fact wall errors or errors in judgments or assessments. we're not trying at all to prevent its release. as far as the allegations of you know, cia hacking into senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth. we wouldn't do that.

i have mean that's, that is just beyond the, scope of reason in terms of what we do. >> she says that there are potentially illegal and unconstitutional breaches by cia. >> well there are appropriate authorities right now both inside of cia as well as outside of cia -- >> justice department. >> are looking at what cia officers as well as the staff members did and i defer to them to determine whether there was any violation of law or principle and i referred the matter myself to the cia inspector general to make sure that he was able to look honestly and objective at what cia did there. when the facts come out on this i think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous, sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong. >> you said in your confirmmation hearing you wanted to restore the trust between cia and the overseers in the senate. this is a pretty major gulf.

if it is proved that, that the cia did do this, would you feel that you had to step down? >> i, i am confident that the authorities will review this appropriately and i will deal with the facts as uncovered in the appropriate manner. i would just encourage some members of the senate to take their time to make sure that they don't overstate what they claim and what they probably believe to be the truth. these are some complicated matters. we have worked with the committee over the course of many years. this review done by the committee was done at a facility where cia had responsibility to make sure that they had the computer where with all in order to carry out their responsibilities. if there was any inappropriate actions that were taken related to that review either by cia or by the ssci staff i will be the

first one to say that we need to get to the bottom of this, if i did something wrong i will go to the president and i will explain to him exactly what i did and what the findings were and he is the one who can ask me to stay or to go. >> malaysia air and the investigation, a lot of people have been shocked that two years after passports were stolen and reported stolen that people using stolen passports, whether or not there was a terror link could still board airlines. what flaw is still in the system post-9/11 all these years that permits stolen passports to be used so commonly around the world? >> when you think about number of people that get on a plane somewhere in the world on daily basis the numbers are probably in the hundred of thousands, since 9/11 there has been tremendous stride made in sharing as much information as possible not only in threat information but individuals trying to carry out attacks to include stolen passports. so i know that the malaysian

authorities are looking very careful what went wrong if the individuals got on the plane with the stolen passports and why they were not aware of it. all of us have to make sure we're doing everything possible. it is close to now 13 years since 9/11. i think the memories and tragedies of 9/11 have receded in minds of many people and this is not the time to relax. we know there are terrorist groups still determined to air carry out attacks especially against aircraft. >> has there been chatter that would indicate any terror link in this mystery? >> i think there is lot of speculation. some are not con corroborated at you will. we're looking at looking at it very carefully. cia and are working with fbi and tsa and others. our malaysian counterparts are doing everything they can to put together the pieces this. is a mystery still very disturbing and until we find out where the aircraft is we might have opportunity to some do some

forensic analysis that will lead us in the right direction. >> you're not ruling out it could be some sort of terror? >> no, not at all. >> what is the state of al qaeda in malaysia? in the '90s we knew they were very active. there were in fact airplane plots thwarted by our own intelligence and other plots as well. is al qaeda still active as a cell in malaysia? >> al qaeda had its sort of birth in the afghan-pak area before 9/11 earlier in sudan and south asia and spread and metastasized threw the years. it is found throughout after from and southeast asia. there are a number of areas in southeast asia where al key tried to develop contacts and cells and put in place the infrastructure whether for fund-raising activities or logistics support or facilitation. there has never been sort after place in the globe where al qaeda says they were not going to sort of you know, seek some type of presence.

southeast asia is an area where al qaeda has had a historical presence, in bali and others in the aftermath of 9/11 but even more recently. >> going back over all of the chatter before this incident at the counterterrorism center you have not found anything to indicate there was any warning of a an incident that was about to happen before this incident in the air. >> not in malaysia. >> want to ask you about ukraine and the charge by some in congress there was a massive intelligence failure. we know what senator mccain has said. there is subsequently some indication that the cia got this one right and others in the intelligence community and pentagon did not. was there disagreement about the analysis what vladmir putin's intentions were? >> well under the dni's leadership i think the community has done a very good job to insure the different components of intelligence community are able to work collaboratively together but identify different types of analyses and interpretation of the events. i'm proud of the work that ca as

well as other members of the intelligence committee did on ukraine. our responsibility is really identify what are the options available, what are the likely scenarios based on as i mentioned in my remarks those variables and considerations. you know a lot of times with world leaders will make decisions based on what is happening on the ground or how, what international reaction. i think that is very true right now when you look at putin and ukrainian leaders. . .

that might be subject to some type of sort of sectarian sort of violence, so i think he's laid a sort of public predicate for possible moves. we also see the building up of the forces in crimea as well as things that have happened along the border. has he made the decision? i guess only to knows if he is made the final decision. but what we try to do is identify what would be the reasons and how he might make those moves. what are the factors that he will take into account and what other costs that he's willing to incur if he decides to move across the border. >> and according to some reporting, including stephen myers reporting in "the new york times," and other corroborating reporting, there has been a small group of former kgb colleagues from the '70s and 80s from the leningrad days,

of pollutants who are his key advisers, that he's not counseled with his foreign minister, his economic advisers, his national security council. does that track with what you are seeing as well? >> i think putin like many world leaders rely on individuals that he is gained trust in over the course of many years and whose views he respects. they're still intelligence officers from the '80s and '90s that i still work with. it's not of keeping given that somebody puts background and intelligence pedigree would be looking to those individuals. >> so much to talk about. i know our audience has a lot of questions. if you at all ration and and then identify yourself and your affiliations, wait for the microphone of course, and also keep the questions as short as possible so that all of our colleagues can have a lot of time. >> thanks. barbara slavin from the atlantic council and all monitor.com. i'd like to journey to syria.

what is your sense of how long bashar al-assad will remain in power? do you feel he is much stronger now than he was a year or two ago? his forces, how strong are they? can he sustain himself in power in a small part of syria? and also easy to talk about the consequences of allowing al-qaeda to remain in force in syria, and is afraid they are, thank you. >> i believe that aside probably feels more confident as result of some developments on the battlefield over the last year. i think initially the forces were sort of struck very hard by the insurgency and by the opposition. syria is a real army. it's been trained and equipped and outfitted a russians for decades. and so i mean, this is a large conventional military force with tremendous firepower. i think the opposition deserves a fair amount of credit for staying in again and bloodying

the assad military machine as much as it has. as we look along the western part of syria them that backbone the runs along damascus, i think he has tried to protect those urban centers and tried to reclaim some of the ground that these laws. the fighting within the opposition has certainly not help those forces that are trying to unseat assad. and then to get into the second part of the question, the fact that al-qaeda, not just al-qaeda's element but the islamic element but the islamic state of iraq and lavon, which is sort of al-qaeda in iraq has migrated over. clearly they are quite proficient fighters and respect to suicide bombing to engage in a lot of attacks against their fellow syrian opposition. so in many respects a thought has been to stand back and watch that fighting. but the tragedy that has been

put up on the syrian by the assad regime, the barrel bombs, the chemical weapons, the slaughter, as i said, 150,000 deaths so far in this fight. i mean, i remember being in aleppo years ago and i see now the pictures of the level, humanitarian disaster, 9 million people that are displaced both internally and in the region. it really is a tragedy, and assad has become a magnet for a lot of those extremists and terrorists who have migrated into syria to you syria not just as a place to carry out their version of their violent jihad, but also potentially to use as a supreme court outside of syria which is very, very concerning and which has been the focus of a lot of my engagements with my foreign counterparts over the last year. >> good morning.

tom rice and with u.s. news and world report. i'd like to follow-up on some talk about intelligence gaps. edward snowden yesterday said that he has accused the innocent mass surveillance of distracting from been pointed credible threats. do you think from where you sit that there's been any intelligence gaps, in the nsa or the cia on how they could conduct monitoring or spying better? >> well, anybody who violates their oath in terms of protecting sensitive classified information really has done a great disservice not just to the country, but also split the american people at arm. nsa, cia, and others are looking at what it is that we need to do to mitigate whatever types of gaps that we might now face as result of disclosures publicly. so we're trying to stay ahead of the challenge.

both in the humint and sigint, as was other fronts, working very closely with our intelligence partners. >> this lady in a white jacket, please. >> thank you. less than two weeks from now, there's going to be the nuclear security summit in the netherlands where 53 countries and 40 plus heads of government will gather in this accelerated effort to prevent nuclear terrorism. i wanted to get your assessment of what you think about that effort as one of these variables for diminishing risk, considering that as a result of that effort the ukraine isn't an even bigger disaster in terms of having weapons usable material available, because of a commitment they made to get rid

of that and it was cleaned up in 2012. so considering those dynamic, how do you think about? >> i once was a policy maker of the white house and i participated in some of those nuclear summits, and i found an invaluable as for as identifying various initiatives that can really help to minimize the potential calamitous effects of proliferation. and as you point out what happened after the the dissolution of the soviet union in ukraine i think really did help to minimize what could be a much more serious and dangerous situation in ukraine right now. from the intelligence community standpoint, what we try to do is to make sure we're able to keep things up -- teachings up to the policymakers in terms of what are those additional initiatives that presidents and prime is can agree on. what are those materials that are still available are what are the precautions and actions that should be taken to make sure that they're going to be the

appropriate security measures taken when any type of nuclear material is transported or any type of nuclear reactors are sort abroad online. so there's been i think a very, very strong relationship between the intelligence community and policymakers. this is globally, too, because what we do before the nuclear summit is to work with our counterparts overseas, close partners who identify what we believe are the priority issues that the nuclear summit attendees will need to agree on. >> we have a ukraine related question also from elizabeth pond in berlin. from the analysis you've seen, t. think it might be possible to prevent a repetition of the russian takeover of crimea in eastern ukraine? >> russia had quite an extensive military presence already in crimea based on the black sea treaty of 1997 that allowed them to have a certain number of military naval personnel as well as equipment and vessels of their as part of its black sea fleet work.

clearly, the actions that it's taken over the past several weeks have far exceeded and have violated the terms of that understanding as to whether military personnel are doing in the streets of crimea now. is it possible, does russia have the capability to move into eastern ukraine? absolutely they do, but it think what president putin and others are doing right now is trying to determine exactly what they believe a need to do, as well as what they're willing to do in light of such international condemnation of the russian moves, whether or not they need to move into ukraine proper in order to protect their interests. the events in the coming week or two in terms of referendums in crimea and whether or not they will decide to try to secede and whether or not russia will sort of accepted into the russian republic is to be seen. i do think we're at a very delicate and dynamic time. this is why the president obama,

secretary kerry and others are engaging on a constant basis with world leaders to try to escalate tensions to make sure that russia's interests can be fully understood and addressed, but at the same time ukraine's territorial integrity and the future of the training people can be decided by the ukrainia ukrainians. >> the ukraine acting government has by all accounts been remarkably restrained, despite a lot of provocation in crimea and elsewhere, in fact. do you think that if this referendum goes forward and if there were moves into larger ukraine, eastern europe rain, that the ukrainian government, their military could resist taking action? >> i agree that the ukraine government has been remarkably and thankfully restraint in its actions. what we need to avoid is provocations on either side that could lead to confrontation, bloodshed, or whatever. so i think we're really hoping that colmer heads are going to

prevail in moscow, in kiev, in crimea and other areas so that this can be work at diplomatically and peacefully. so provocation is something we need to make sure that we try to avoid. >> we have a question over here. sorry. could you bring the microphone up? thank you. >> hi. i'm from george mason university. one of the applications of the arab spring is a devolution of what we used to call al-qaeda to local interest. and that's not necessarily a good thing. there's a lot of civil war, sectarianism. the way we frame the kind of concept going on in the region is quite complex. so my question is, we tend to use the shorthand with respect to al-qaeda calling every group that has a salafist agenda al-qaeda. doesn't that undercut our own interests? what exactly is al-qaeda?

and aren't there violent solipsistic groups, many of them go back hundreds of years that are not al-qaeda -- salafist. >> you are absolutely right. there's al-qaeda core, bin laden and it's a weary. and those that around the core of al-qaeda in south asia. there are those groups like al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula better clarity affiliated, the head of al-qaeda in the reagan peninsula is the number two al-qaeda core in al-qaeda central. there are other elements like al-nusra that is in serious that is taking their orders directions from al-qaeda core. that may have an ideological affinity with sort of al-qaeda, but have not sworn, did not follow the direction and guidance, pursue a salafist sort of agenda. it's a loose confederation of groups. as you point out, as you know, al-qaeda has metastasize which makes it all the more

challenging because a lot of these groups and local agendas but also are being exploited by al-qaeda core for more sort of violent global jihadists purposes. so the islamic extremism and terrorism, the salafi, takfiri sort of dimension have some political implications clearly. a number of countries in the air spring are doing with that, but the violence that his attendance to a number of these groups is very, very challenging and that's why i pointed out the building of the capacities and capability our partners really is going to be the key to success here. week, cia, we the u.s. government can't do everything around the world on the characters in front. we have to rely on those partners and we're trying to build up their capabilities so they can deal with these problems. >> gym with oppenheimer. as we all know, the cold war was a war of ideas. it was basically a war of ideas

as i said and i lived in a communist country during the part of the time. i would maintain, correct me if i'm wrong, there were also anywhere of ideas right now. off an islamist with violence with 90% of americans think it's automatically violent but having -- i knew islam -- [inaudible] so anywhere, is anyway to bring that crucial information sort of more to the table that i think most of us have experienced? >> when you say the cold war was the war of ideas, al-qaeda is almost an ideology of ideas. ideals give birth to actions. and too often actions give birth to repressive policies, authoritarian actions on the part of many countries that have the communist ideology and it was its oppression and repression of individuals. same thing with al-qaeda. they have a perverse and very

corrupt interpretation of the koran. one of the things i'm struck with when i traveled with the middle east and in the with leaders, these are individuals who are koran expels themselves and their the most annoyed at how al-qaeda has hijacked the religion and how they really distorted the teachings of mohammed for violent purposes. quite unfortunately though, that ideology, that agenda al-qaeda has gained resonance and falling in many parts of the world. it said a lot of times by political repression, by economic disenfranchisement, by lack of education and ignorance. so there are a number of phenomena right now that i think are fueling the fires of this ideology. and it's unsettling throughout the entire middle east in south asia. it is something that's nascent inflation governments having to come to grips with the role of these extremes organizations in a political system to what is the role? are they going to try to pursue

legitimate participation in the political system but yet the ultimate designs of not having a pluralistic society, but having a sort of one concept society which is, you know, takfiri ism and its extremist again and trepidation of islam. these are challenges that will be facing over the next decade but think we do need to separate out, too often people tend to put in one basket of everybody of one color or persuasion. >> right here and then here up front. >> hi. i'm celeste ford or i'm ceo of star solution from a system engineering company that supports your organization, as well as others. i'd like to shift gears a little bit because i know a lot of the work we do protects our nation and the rights of individuals. it seems like the facts osha one thing and the pr shows another thing. and is this something you can do about that? or a plan of attack to me to

leverage on the good that really is done versus the pr that you get? >> thank you for the question. i made a deliberate decision my first year that i was going to not come out and give speeches. and i have now decided to come out. i was down at the university of oklahoma two weeks ago. i find that the narrative after publicly is one-sided and misrepresent and mischaracterize is what the intelligence community professional do on a daily basis. i find too often that in washington were partisan politics tend to drive commentary, that there are comments that are made are done for partisan purposes, which is very unfortunate because i think national security is too important to allow it to be used by the partisan politicians. i also find that the media will cease that soundbite, that little bit. i could speak for an hour and if i sort of any witness before this one will snippet that's taken out of context will make the nightly news.

andrea's editors and overseas will make sure they do that to put it out. it really is an uphill battle and that's why think in foreign audiences like this who recognize that the intelligence business is a difficult one, but it's also a critically important one. we need to get this right. this country has gone through so much over its history. we need to keep it strong, we need to keep it safe, and the world is a challenging place. so the cia plays a very important role and i am going to go out more and more. i'm not going to go out and start trashing sort of other people. i think we have to proceed on this as responsible adults and responsible mashes good professionals, and that's what i'm determined to do. >> i don't want to lay off on any editors or producers because i take responsibly for anything that we put in my name on any broadcast. >> i'll be watching tonight last night. >> i think you might. let me ask about those security glitches because one of the things that came out after

edward snowden is investigation that's not adjusted for investigation into the firm has been doing the majority of security classes for contractors and government employees, showing that in many cases they were not doing the appropriate follow-on, that this private company was failing to do the second calls back, and they did this note was cleared, not clear that it took place in his case. >> yes. and there are so many parts of our national security establishment that need to make sure that they're doing the best were taken every day, because the jim nash is good is only as strong as the weakest link. maybe it's a company that is responsibly for doing this security background investigation of an individual that you signed off on things and doesn't do. or the kiev professionals better to make sure that the technical obstacles are in place that will prevent somebody from scraping and downloading information that they shouldn't, in fact, have access to. i think it's a collective responsibility.

when you think of hundreds of thousands, millions of people have some form of security clearance, that's a tremendous, tremendous systems in jenin challenge that has the technical aspects to the also personal security requirements. this is a big government, you know, and it's very, very unfortunate that somebody like an edward snowden we decide on their own to do what they did. that is just, i find, reprehensible. the people are putting their lives on the line every day for this country overseas in some very, very dangerous places are really just so disheartened that somebody would take such reckless action. yes, privacy, civil liberties, individual freedoms need to be respected. we in the intelligence community are trying to get this right. believe me we're trying to get this right and it really is challenging. some the loss have not kept up in fact with changes in the private sector. look at what the private sector is doing with our data, in terms

of making it available for other companies, whatever. president obama has made it clear to us, we have another patient to keep the country safe. at the same time with an obligation to uphold this country's laws and to do it consistent with what this country is founded upon. >> and you do that without the mass collection of metadata? >> there are a lot of challenges as the digital domain has changed. you ask five people were metadata means, probably three or four of them are going to be off the mark the metadata itself is changing. content, bulk data collection, these are things that really challenge the mind as how are you going to ensure that if there is a terrorist in this country and he's determined to do harm with a conventional explosive or a biological or chemical weapon, how are you going to be able to operate at the speed of light so that if you get intelligence you find out where that person is? as i said, memories of 9/11 i

think received in the smoldering ashes on the manhattan landsca landscape. >> ambassador cutler. >> walt cutler, former foreign service. i just wanted to ask you about a country you know well, saudi arabia, which over the decades has been one of our closest allies out there. recently, you've seen, we've all seen all kinds of media reports about strains in our relationship, serious strains relating to iran, syria, even to egypt. the president is going back to saudi arabia. people forget, i think, that one of his, i think his first visit ever when he was president to an arab country was saudi arabia, before he made his famous cairo speech. are these passing clouds or is this something more fundamental that we are facing with our

relationship? >> the united states and saudi arabia truly share a strategic partnership that goes way, way back, to avoid the uss quincy when franklin delano roosevelt and king abdullah sees met together sort of at the end of world war ii. there was a lot of things in the press about differences of view between ourselves a saudi raid on a variety of regional issues. there's no doubt that we have differences over the course of the years. i think a lot has been made about some anonymous comments that come out about the u.s.-saudi tension. i have spent over five years working partly under your leadership, have visited saudi arabia dozens of times and i could say that that partnership goes well beyond my intelligence portfolio, in the economic and the trade and the security and the diplomatic front. president obama is going out to saudi arabia to underscore just how important that relationship is. he stays in very close touch

with king abdullah and other members of the saudi government. and so this is something that yes, there are may be differences of view, but what we are committed to do is ensure that we have a very robust and private dialogue about those issues, ranging from iran to egypt to iraq to syria and others. i feel as though that relationship right now with saudi arabia is on very, very strong and solid ground and we are able to move together. >> first there and then we will move over. [inaudible] the president and the white house have talked about the need for greater transparency in national security matters, but with the exception of disclosures forced upon the administration by mr. snowden, has there been that greater transparency? or is the crack down on leaks that we've seen, the failure to get out the so-called torture report over all these years, does that indicate that there's really been no change in the degree of transparency in this

administration? >> i think there has been tremendous progress made. when you take a look at all the things that are put under the freedom of information act, the amount of resources that are dedicated to ensuring that we are able to address those requests on a timely basis is significant. i think just a number of the speeches and addresses and public hearings that have been made over the years, i think we're trying to be as desperate as possible. but let's face it. you have an intelligence business that really does require many times to have secrecy, because otherwise, i mean, people are putting their lives at risk worldwide. you have to make sure that you're balancing the transparency and secrecy, and this president certainly is determined to ensure that we tried to optimize both. i'm trying to do that as well. as i said in my remarks, if the senate committee submits this report they have to say a for classification review, which they haven't done yet, it's not as though we are holding a bag. we have worked within. we've got over it showing them

what we agree with and disagree with. it's up to them to decide whether or not they want to put out publicly or not. are the things i disagree with? absolutely there are. i think they missed a lot of important point. but it's their prerogative. i'm not going to stand in the way. however, i will protect sources and methods in terms of commits investment that this country is made in some of the very sensitive clutch -- sensitive collection systems that help keep this country safe. rendered to seize your, we're able to address these issues. when i was at the white house i gave a number speeches on characters them and talked about predators and drones and remotely-piloted aircraft trying to underscore exactly what other criteria that we use as a government and don't take those actions. but this is a delicate business. some people who feel as though they can just again, recklessly put things out, they don't understand the implications of how they can be put very center programs and lives at risk.

>> thanks very much, drank 11 with cnn. i would if i could ask you about the of the land, well, see disputes going on right now in east china sea between china and japan, particularly as it relates to ukraine. china and a difficult position, sanctity of borders but it has this of the battle going on. how close are they watching our reaction to how we handle the situation with ukraine and russia. is it your assessment that they could be peeled off of the traditional alliance with russia on the ukraine issue? just as a follow-up because this is new information. there's information out of the transponder was turned off on this malaysian airlines flight and it continued to fly, made the turn after the transponder was turned off. if that information give you any more indication or just suspicion that it was an act of terror? >> as far as, does one big power watch how sort developments in another sort of big power sort

of see your affected their equities? we all look at that in terms of how to act. in the south china sea area, what china has done with these air defens defense identificatin zone's and how they butt up against the sovereignty and equities of the other countries in the region, i think we are certainly watching that closely. we have engaged with our partners out there as was with the chinese. what we don't want to do is to have an unfortunate sort of incident that would lead to an escalating sort of cycle of, you know, tension. we don't want to do that. so are the chinese what's -- are the chinese watching what's happening in ukraine? they probably are. you look at things happening worldwide and see how it affects their interest. on the issue of the transponder, there are a number of very curious anomalies about all of this, and still image at this point. did it turn around? with individuals with a stolen passport in any way involved?

what about the transponder? why did it sort of disappear from the radar? there are a lot of unknowns at this point. which leads to a sort of rampant speculation about what the reasons and the causes of this are, but i think at this point we have to again be patient and wait and let the authorities continue to investigate. >> we believe the last moment of this discussion to go live to the u.s. senate. senators beginning today with an hour of general speeches before starting a series of votes on nominations. live coverage of the senate. arr, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, you are the way, the truth, and the life. shine your light upon our senators' pathway, keeping them from straying from your will.

lord, keep them from sluggish thinking or ambiguous expression or coldness of heart, or weakness of will. as they experience your constancy, enable them to see your higher wisdom, which is a lamp for their feet and a light for their path. continue to guide them until they see you more clearly, follow you more nearly, and love you more dearly each day. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting

the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., march 12, 2014. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable edward markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president, i move to calendar number 309. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. motion to proceed to calendar number 309, s. 1086, a bill to reauthorize and improve the child care and development block grant act of 1990 and for other

purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader we'll be in a period of morning business until 10:30. the republicans will control the first half. the majority the final half. following that morning business, the senate will proceed to executive session at 10:30. there will be up to six roll call votes on confirmation of several executive nominations. upon disposition of the nomination of sarah raskin to be deputy secretary of treasury the senate will start consideration of s. 1086. there are two bills at the desk due for second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 2110, a bill to amend titles 18 and 19 of the social security act, and so forth and for other purposes. h.r. 4152, an act to provide for the cost of loan guarantees for ukraine. mr. reid: i would object to

anything at this time referring to these two matters. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bills will be placed upon the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president, i've just been advised by the floor staff that the information i was given is wrong. the democrats have the first half-hour, the majority, and the republicans the second half. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, in our great country we think of a college education is the key to unlock our children's success. but for many families in this country as they struggle to afford child care leaving no money whatsoever for higher education. in 2011 in most states a year of day care for an infant is more expensive than a year of tuition at a public university. let me repeat that, mr. president.

in america almost every place a year of day care is more expensive than a year of tuition in a public university. so it's no wonder middle-class families are struggling with sticker shock, and for many low-income families child care is simply out of reach. for millions of families in the united states, child care is their single largest household expense at about $15,000 a year. in an economy where most families have two working parents child care isn't a luxury. it is a necessity. that's why the first president bush signed the child care development block grant into law in 1990. he did this to ensure working families have access to quality affordable child care. i think chairman harkin and senators burr, mikulski and alexander with their diligent bipartisan work to reauthorize this measure. the program serves more than 1.5 million, including more than 7,300 in nevada, making access

to affordable high-quality care possible. so, mr. president, the program serves only a fraction of the need. we should be doing more to guarantee every parent who wants to work can afford to act with supervision for their child regardless of income so kids have a safe place to learn. this bipartisan measure is an investment in america's mothers, 65% of whom work outside the home. yet women earn less and are less likely to go back to work after having children than men in part because of safe affordable day care. this program is helping millions of parents, especially mothers, get back to work to help support their families. in the two decades since this important program was last authorized, we've learned a great deal about the importance of early childhood education and high-quality child care. this bipartisan measure builds on that knowledge, updates health and safety standards for child-care centers and requires providers to undergo comprehensive background checks.

but this reauthorization is only the first step. i look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the larger effort to broaden access to quality early childhood education. mr. president, we're going to take this bill up later today. as i've said here before, and i'll just say again so everyone understands this, this is a bipartisan bill. and i hope the managers of this bill do everything they can to move this as expeditiously through this body. but we're going to finish the bill. we'll not finish it this week. i prefer finishing this bill. i hope we can do that. on another topic, and i'm going to ask this statement appear at a separate place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: this other topic, mr. president, this whole year my state will celebrate the 150th anniversary of its path to statehood. october 31, 1864. next week while i'll be visiting

my family and constituents they'll celebrate the date congress passed and signed paving the way for nevada to become our 36th state. at that time congress was in a rush to welcome nevada into the union. it was during the civil war. it was raging the --. the only other state admitted during the war was west virginia in 1863. congress didn't want to wait until the next session to admit another state. a new state could swing the election in lincoln's favor and provide crucial votes for the 13th amendment which abolished slavery. nevadans already rejected one proposed state constitution so there was no time to waste. on march 21, 1864 in the waning hours of the 38th congress a law was passed allowing nevada to enter the union whenever voters finally passed and president lincoln approved a state constitution. it wasn't a normal course of business, but this wasn't a normal course with the civil war

going on. typically congress would get the final word on admission of a new state to the union, but this, as i've indicated, was certainly not normal times. even today we acknowledge nevada's unique path to statehood on our flag with the words battle borne. this year we'll celebrate nevada's 150th birthday from my hometown of searchlight and all places in between, nevada, mr. president, is a very large state, the seventh largest in the country. it's a unique state. more mountains than anyplace other than alaska. we have 314 separate mountain ranges. we have a mountain 14,000 feet high. we have 32 mountains over 11,000 feet high. we have wide-ranging land. we've got some of the coldest places in the nation. we have some of the hottest

places in the nation. we have all kinds of wildlife. theodore roosevelt created an antelope range. it's large, sparsely populated. we have not only the antelope, we've got desert bighorn sheep. we have in nevada, we have mountain goats. we have almost three million acres of wilderness. it is a beautiful state, more than the bright lights of vegas, tahoe and reno, even though we're very proud of sharing the stewardship of lake tahoe with the state of california, as mark twain said the fairest place in all the earth. we will mark the second constitutional convention the day nevada finally approved its constitution and the day, halloween, october 31, lincoln proclaimed nevada statehood. the anniversary of admission to the union provides an opportunity to study nevada's history but also that is the

birthday of my young brother. it's easy to remember, admission day, halloween and my brother's birthday, they all occur the same day. but it's also, mr. president, a chance to reflect on nevada's unique pioneer spirit, a spirit that continues to make our state very special. would the chair announce the business of the day? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 10:30 a.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each and with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees with the majority controlling the first half. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland.

mr. cardin: i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, shortly, we're going to be voting on some nominees. i want to thank all the nominees and their families for their willingness to serve the public. this is a sacrifice. people who are giving up other opportunities in order to serve their country. and it's not just the individual who accepts these positions of public service. it's a family matter. i applaud them all for their service to our country. i would like to speak particularly about the last vote we will have in this series, and that is the confirmation of sara bloom as are kin as deputy -- raskin as deputy secretary of the treasury. i know sara personally. she is a marylander and we're very proud of the fact that she is a marylander. if she is confirmed, she will be the highest ranking woman in the history of the treasury, and i'm very proud of that accomplishment. she has been very active in

maryland and at an international level. for the past several years, sarah served as the federal reserve board of covers. her deep financial and regulatory knowledge and sound judgment made her an essential asset during her tenure there. as the presiding officer knows, this has been a very turbulent time in regards to the economy of our nation. during this great economic unease, her dedication to strong consumer protections have been especially valuable. and even before joining the board of governors, sarah was no stranger to successfully navigating the choppy economic waters. in 2007, she was appointed commissioner of financial regulations in the state of maryland, so i have had the chance to observe her and her dedication and her effectiveness at the state level and also at the national level. at the state, she significantly improved consumer protections and supported banks through the many challenges of the financial crisis. that is where i first got to see

her work firsthand and her thoughtfulness and how dedicated she was and her ability, mr. president, to bring people together, people of different persuasions together, different stakeholders in our financial community and to chart a course that we could have a positive result, not only for the financial institutions but for consumers and for our economy. sarah is also part of a family of government service. her husband jamie is a member of the maryland state senate and has an excellent record of public service in his own right, so this is a family that has given much to public service. we need people in the administration like sarah bloom raskin, her background, her education and her job training all serve to make her particularly well suited to be the deputy secretary. i for one am thankful to sarah and her family that she is willing to serve in an extreme challenging position. this is not going to be an easy position, obviously, deputy secretary of the treasury.

it gives me great confidence to know that sarah will be handling the many responsibilities demanded of the deputy secretary, and it gives me great pride that a fellow marylander may continue to be among the financial leaders that guide our economy towards future growth and stability. mr. president, i urge my colleagues to support her confirmation. we are indeed fortunate to have a person of her skillings willing to serve as the deputy secretary of the treasury. with that, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: i ask to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you,

mr. president. i got a chance to meet david weiss, a 22-year-old student at georgetown university, about a week ago. david's story, unfortunately, although it may sound exceptional, is not. he was just about to celebrate his 19th birthday two days before in 2010 when he was diagnosed with thyroid and lymphatic cancer, a devastating diagnosis that came just as he was preparing to start college. as most of his classmates were enjoying the first days of their freshman year at georgetown university, david was dealing with a rigorous course of treatment for his disease that left him tired, left him confused and left him anxious about his future. now, david had an ace up his sleeve and that was the fact that he had insurance, but he only has it so long as he's covered as a student. he came to the united states capitol last week to testify in favor and in support of the

affordable care act because he knows that with the passage of this bill, his diagnosis will not be a death sentence, that he will be able to get the coverage that he needs and that he will be able to pursue his dreams when he graduates rather than have his life decisions dictated by his illness, having to choose a job simply because it provides health care or having to be locked in a career simply because he can't afford going without cancer -- going without insurance to cover his cancer. david's story can be repeated hundreds of thousands of times all across this country. young people in their teens and their 20's and in their 30's who thought they were invincible, who got knocked down off their feet by a devastating disease like cancer, and who desperately need health care insurance at the time of that illness in order to stay and get back up onto their feet. and so some of the best news

that has come over the past several months as the enrollment has started to ramp up on the affordable care act has been the number of young people that have signed up. we have seen 31% of all of the people who have signed up for insurance exchanges all across this country be 34 years or under, and there is a real signal that young people are recognizing that although they may feel like they are going to live forever, that they desperately need insurance just like everyone else. so, mr. president, that's why i was so glad to see president obama yesterday go on the show "two ferns" to talk about the importance of young people signing up. now, we all know about the "two ferns" effect. previously unknown stars