as a barrier to gambling operations. then in 2011 the office of legal council ruled that the wire act applied only to sports betting. the result a surge in online gambling. we're now concerned about the process which has made it easier with as many consequences of expanded online gambling. can you explain why and how the legal warning was made with no consultation with congress? >> the deputy attorney general sent a letter, i guess, that the wire act only covered sports betting. the olc looked at this matter and issue an opinion, i guess, in september of 2011. i'll be honest with you, i don't remember what the circumstances were that precipitated the examination by olc. >> can you find out and tell us? >> i mean i have something that i vaguely remember but i don't want to say something that is not consistent with what the

facts are. >> sure. >> i do remember that was an issue that was of note. there was a precipitating event that made olc examine that question and issue that opinion in september 2011 that then precipitated the letter that the deputy attorney general sent out. we can find out exactly what that event was and share that with you. >> to release something on a friday before christmas, you just know there's something wrong. and i was the author of the national commission on gambling a number of years ago, and there is a difference on the impact for destination gambling and convenience gambling. destination gambling, you're going to go out far away, you take so much and that's it. convenience gambling, around the corner -- the ultimate is to be able to go online in your bathrobe in your dorm at penn

state. so, you know, i'd like to find out -- and also senator graham introduced legislation to restore the wire act. will you provide the expertise to create that? >> we'll look at the statute. i frankly don't know what the administration's policy determination would be with regard to that question wu we'll certainly look at the statute and provide the technical assistance that will be required. >> if anybody on either side wants one last -- yes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. attorney general, you've been very outspoken about your concerns about the broader issues in the criminal justice system and in particular inequities which fall disproportionately on many minority communities.

we have the do you know rouse d distinction of some of the highest incoarse ration numbers in the world. it remay understand me of something church hill said, now that we're broke, we have to be smart. we feel that in california with our prison budgets bankrupting the state. when we step back and look at the justice system in the u.s. and our rate of incarceration, racial disparities, prisons are pouzing thousands of americans with substance abuse issues and mental illnesses, there has to be a better way. and i think the efforts you' made to change that way are going to be among the proudest achievements of your term as attorney general. i want to compliment you on the funding for the honest appropriate yagss and the

justice reinvestment. regrettably, my own state of california has not and i look forward to working with you on it. i wonder if there were any thoughts you wanted to share on the overall direction of the criminal justice system. >> i look forward to working with you and other members of the committee in that regard. think what we've tried to do on the crime initiative is to look at the world as it exists and look at the criminal justice system as it exists. and also examine what some states have done. very interesting experiments that have been done in states, in red states, texas, kansas, kentucky, whereby emphasizing prevention, emphasizing rehabilitati rehabilitation, emphasizing reentry programs, states are spending less on prisons. they're having a positive impact on their crime rates. so that -- it's something that i

think people don't necessarily equate. it is possible to spend less and keep people safer if you are smart in the way in which you structure your criminal justice efforts. that's what we're trying to do in the federal system, the program that i announced, i guess, last august. we have money in our budget requests to support these efforts. i'm actually optimistic that -- there's also legislation that's pending set up by senators durbin, senator lee, that we supportive of and hopefully will be passed by the senate and hopefully passed by the house so that we can institution allize some of the changes i've made with regard to how the justice department prosecutors are supposed to be conducting themselves. >> if the gentleman would yield for one comment. >> this is a very important effort that the committee supported. we just had a veteran in an

overheated cell in a prison somewhere in america, i can name the place but i'm not trying to den ingrate the location. i want to say that he would die in a cell 100-degree plus heat. we want to have more veterans courts, more drug courts. we won't to be more focused on this. i say that because my legislation would in part fund for justice rehabilitation programs using these settlements. i want to make that point. >> thanks, chairman, i dwreeld back to you. >> thank you. judge carter. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman, i'll try to make this a little short, any way. mr. attorney general, i'm going back to a subject matter we were just discussing but only briefly. my colleague raised the issue of immigration reform. my friend to my left here, mr.

diaz balart worked on what started as a gang of 20 and reduced to a gang of seven that met every week and worked on drafting a bill on immigration reform. so i think vi a fairly reasonable credential to say that i have worked hard to try to come up to a solution to immigration reform. give me -- and i want -- i've got more to say that this. how can i feel confident there are laws on the books today that would fix immigration reform but they're not being enforced? so how can i feel confident after five years of work and the battering we're going to take when we ultimately do immigration reform, that not maybe you as attorney general but the next attorney general -- now the president has said i will enforce the law as i want to enforce and i won't enforce the laws that i won't. how can i be sure that that work

is not going to be for nil. that's the real issue and the question being asked by people all around the country that are just simple folks that say look, don't tell me they're enforcing the law. don't tell me 60,000 kids come across the border and they're enforcing the law. i mean, why aren't they doing something about the parents that pay these coyotes to bring the children across the border. i had a girl walk up to me at south southwest in austin. he told he her story, picked up at 16 years in gat mall will. the cartel had her work her way across mexico. i didn't ask her how she worked her way across mexico. ultimately they had her working

in a hotel room which she thought was in mexico, they left me alone a minute and i went out the world and discovered that i'm in brownsville, texas. i'm now a college student. that's a 13-year-old girl, a child that we ought to be talking about here. and so the issue -- i'm for immigration reform and folks in my district know it and i deal with that issue. but i'm not for writing a bunch of laws that an individual could choose not to enforce or a group of individuals could choose not to enforce. i come from a world where the law is the law. if you need for prosecutors i'm willing to give them to you so you can enforce the law. if you need staff, i'm willing to give them to you because i believe the law should be enforced. and if that's what you need, please tell us.

the real question here, do we need to write into the law that those things you're just not capable of doing because you're overwhelmed by the caseload that you have, then maybe that it will automatically revert to the state and you will waive any priority that the federal government has so the state can go forward and prosecute the case. maybe that's a solution. maybe we ought to writing that into our immigration laws and drug laws. but at some point in time not enforcing the law becomes a crisis in a place where we say the rule of law is the glue that holds or society together. if you would like to comment on that, i'd appreciate it. >> that's what i was driving at. >> okay. all right. well again, i would, you know, take issue with the notion that we're not enforcing the law. but i would say that the administration obviously remains firmly committed to common sense

immigration reform and doing so in this year. our immigration system is in question, broken. there is a bill that was passed in the senate that talks about an earned path to citizenship, hold employers accountable, brings our immigration system into the 20th century. that's the path that e could follow. this is something that the department will certainly work with congress on. the administration really has called for and has been supportive of immigration reform. as i said, the bill that has passed the senate is, i think, an appropriate way to proceed. >> and i disagree on the senate bill as does most of the republican members of congress. there will be alternative bills drafted and ultimately we'll let the process do the way it's supposed to do under regular order and come up with a solution to this.

if that's the argument, then it's a bad bill and i'm not going to vote for it. >> judge, let me -- the gentleman would yield. what the president said he could support the senate bill but he would be willing to look at whatever the house would act on. the issue for the house, you say most member don't support the senate bill, we should have a vote on the floor. tights people's house. >> i support that. >> if you come out with what you might have, that might pass. >> and hang on. >> then we would be in regular order and get an actual bill. >> the year goes until december 31st of next year. you may see something yet. >> i'm going to walk the path with you. >> i think the problem with our side and many people in america is there's a lack of trust in the administration. >> some people don't think he was born in america but we still have to run the most important country in the world whether we agree with who got elected president.

>> i think -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> -- enforcement issues, there is. and i think, you know -- we should probably. >> yeah, we need to wrap up. >> it really goes to the hart of what's in the constitution duty of the president to take care of the laws that we've fatefully executed. >> all i'm saying is this administration has acted in a way that's consistent with the provision that you just read, i'm proud of what this administration has done. generally i'm proud of what the justice department has done specifically. we've acted consistent with our obligations. we've been fair. we have done things appropriately. where we've made mistakes we've had mitted them and tried to correct them. the notion that we are somehow been darrel lick is inconsistent with the facts. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

and again, interesting discussion but i think sometimes we don't take it into context of history then it becomes a circle of discussions and arguments. on the issue of minor sex trafficking, the subject of human trafficking and how we ca members of our society, our youngsters, we know one of the best opportunities for identifying intervening cases of domestic minor sex trafficking is when these victims of these youngsters appear in juvenile court. and just wondering whether the county, state and tribal judges would need training how to identify these victims when appropriate and place them in situations where they can be safe, rescued, and helped. and we're just wondering whether a any kind of training from your division and what the department is doing to ensure that the county state and tribal courts

are trained to recognize the child victims of sex trafficking so that these youngsters can gain access to the appropriate services and intervention and dependency courts as opposed to being treated as criminals in delinquency courts. i'm wondering what kind of training are you doing there, are you monitoring it and how much do you plan 0 focus on this? >> well, the determinations that are made are largely made by state courts, local courts. and so the justice department role in that is really supportive not necessarily of primary concern. we have done an awful lot with regard to tribal lands where we have spent huge amounts of time as well as dedicated specific resources to dealing with the issues that are unique to native lands to indian country. we also try to encourage

training of judges and of prosecutors who are involved in these matters. these are issues again that are largely the responsibility of our state and local counterparts and the role that we have to play is to support them, help train them as you indicate and there are requests in our budget for the training of judges and also making funds available to states that make requests of us for in a whole variety of contexts so that i think our budget would go, our grants budget in particular would put us in a good position if enacted to be of assistance in the way you have described. >> mr. honda is right though. i'm going to give you this video before you leave. there needs to be and i think we need a conference this year to bring everyone together because there's apprehension but it's what do you do when you find a young person in and you just

cannot allow that person back out. so he's exactly right. we have the joe gibbs home youth for tomorrow here. but i think he's exactly right. there are three legs of these stools. if you don't deal with the rehabilitation what do you do afterward, it really doesn't help that much. in closing, we're going to follow up with your staff. i'm sure mike's been writing down every promise you made. and you'll do the same thing to us. i appreciate your testimony. with that, the hearing issed adjourned. >> thank you.ed adjourned. >> thank you.d adjourned. >> thank you. adjourned. >> good morning, everyone.

welcome to brookings. thank you for coming to discuss afghanistan. we have ael o'hanlon, very distinguished group of american and afghan individuals and officials to talk with us -- former officials and continued scholars and experts on afghanistan to talk about the transitions underway. this upcoming saturday is afghanistan's presidential election. it will probably not be the clues of round, there will more likely than not be a runoff. one will ultimately get a majority in the late spring or even sooner. we will talk more about those

details in a second. we have -- see did from your left to right, former ambassador , career foreign service officer and ambassador also in bahrain and algeria. he and his father were both ambassadors to afghanistan, making them along with the adams the only father-son team to be ambassador to the same country. the depth of commitment by this family to this important country. to be very active in his interests in afghanistan. he and i were there recently on a research trip and he has been many times since being ambassador. general john allen was the commander of international security assistance force through last year at about this time. he retired a year ago today. we thank him and congratulate

him for his service. in february 2013 he passed the reins to general dunford. general allen continues to serve the country actively and supports the israeli-palestinian peace effort. he is a distinguished fellow at brookings. we are delighted to see him. the most of experienced commanders. make him one of the longest-serving and most experienced experts on the subject. he was also deputy commander at schedule command. he was a deputy commanding general for the marines in iraq. atwas a leading u.s. voice the pentagon on asia-pacific policy prior to that. thrill to have him here. i think he is still the only marine in history who was the

superintendent at annapolis. for the navy to trust their midshipmen to a marine tells you even more about general allen. cirillo to have him -- thrilled to have him. >> it was called the great experiment. is aneeb sharifi accomplished afghan who has been a journalist throughout his career. like one of the three presidential candidates, abdullah abdullah, he was trained as a medical doctor. inis also interested afghanistan's future. he has been an analyst for afghanistan awareness and analysis, the place he now works . we will talk about websites in a so you all can learn more from these distinguished gentlemen'.

he has also worked for the afghanistan research and evaluation unit uncovered afghanistan for a number of .edia outlets we would like to cover the elections and also everything that surrounds them and everything going on by way of transition and 2014. this is also the year when isaf with end its mission uncertainty at present over what will follow. that will be a key issue. security will be front and center thinking about the elections, the violence the taliban has been trying to employ to influence the coverage of election. also as we look forward and think about afghanistan's stability. everyone will be thinking about security. the more immediate question is to think about what is going on this week in afghanistan.

the first round of elections for president on saturday. there will also be elections at the prediction -- there will also be elections at the provincial level saturday. we will talk amongst ourselves amended to your questions and answers about halfway through. i would like to begin with ambassador ron nuemann, ambassador from 2005 2007 in afghanistan. war: book "the other winning and losing in afghanistan" is one of the best books i can recommend. i want to discuss how he sees the situation today. the stakes and american policy choices. >> thank you very much. been heavily involved in afghanistan for seven years. at least six of those, if not all seven, has been referred to as "the decisive year" in afghanistan. there is some truth in that.

it is a bit like a really orficult graduate program military training program where you have one test after another. if you fail, you are out. if you pass, you get to take another test. the elections are that kind of test for afghanistan. perhaps even more so than for us. if they fail it, it is difficult. if they succeed, they get another chance. we will be going down the line, we have military expertise and afghan expertise. i wanted to talk, since i am the about what the u.s. needs to think about in its own policy as we start off talking about afghanistan. electionhis will be an that is disputed. there will be a measure of fraud and certainly violence. if not between candidates,

certainly from the taliban. important to understand that we really have -- we the u.s. have two goals. they are related and interlocking but separate. one is an acceptable passage of power to a new president with a broadly recognized acceptability by afghans. reasonablyis a better election. the two are related. and conversations show that afghans care about the transparency of the election. they are excited, despite all the violence. i will do something that is very dangerous for diplomats -- i will make a prediction close enough to the event that anyone remember what you said. a pundit is someone who is frequently wrong but never uncertain.

[laughter] i am going to predict that the turnout is going to be heavy in the selection. election,in this notwithstanding the violence. afghans want it. they have a potential to react if they are denied a fair election. there will be a high level of tolerance for what you might call equal opportunity fraud. which i expect will take place all over the country by all the candidates and their backers. the second goal is progress in democracy. obviously, the two are related. i say the passage of power in a without is reasonable too much violence between , whiching parties

afghans except as a higher priority. if you have that, you go forward with building and you have a chance for more elections and more progress. dispute, you are just going down a road of chaos. because thehis difference is a difference of about how america relates to the early results. an academic distinction alone. one that controls policy. our firstelieve, fairly smoothis transfer of power, we should not be instantly reacting to all the cries and yells of fraud and misbehavior. they will immediately break out after the first vote. afghanistan -- afghan culture is also a shame culture, losing is a shame. even if you lost fairly you will

call a fraud because it retains your honor. that is on top of the actual fraud i expect to occur. fact is what we need to be doing is not putting ourselves in a corner and taking rapid positions on fraud. our initial effort ought to be push the afghans out in front, support the election machinery and the electoral bodies as long as they even partially deserve it. council afghan candidates to look to their longer-term interest in their country and not bet everything on winning or death. scenes without being responsible as the great superpower for the result, to encourage afghans to pull themselves together. this election is not going to be over after the first round. this election is going to be disputed. secondly, it is very unlikely

that one candidate makes 50% which is required. there will be two candidates in a runoff. the dispute between number two and number three is likely to take some months or weeks to work out. florida, except with kalashnikovs. [applause] --[laughter] this process will go on for a while and then you have a second round. it is you are not locked into an early view. you need to work with candidates. it could go on for five months or six months, violence is going to intensify with and as it does. the taliban have declared they are going to make every effort to sabotage the election and prevent it from happening. and to prevent it from being successful. we need to make up our mind of that. i am talking about security, that is someone else's job. >> you are good at it, i will

come back for that. thank you for a framing of that. before we talk to general allen, i will go to najib. tell us about what the election is shaping up to be, a little bit about the candidates if you wish or the media coverage -- the role of independent civil society in overseeing this. your confidence the process is going to be reasonably constructive and helpful to the future of the country. whatever we need to understand what has been going on in afghanistan and the choices afghans are poised to make saturday. >> thank you. good morning, i am glad to be here. let me start from here. talk about the general politics of elections in afghanistan. i will go into some details. thehe current elections,

first thing we have to keep in mind is that president karzai will play an integral role in success and failure of elections. he will also play an integral role in who will win the results of the elections. if he puts his weight behind a particular candidate. the second thing is that this election is not about a person. because we do not have an outright favorite. it is mainly about the teams. in afghanistan, evan the same -- in afghanistan, ethnicity plays a role in politics and elections. -- according to the constitution, we have a president and the president has two vice presidents. the first vice president, second vice president. the teams have shaped up in a

way that covers, to a large , the major ethnic groups. but because we have four major ethnic groups, every team cannot be complete it will leave out at least one. rolecity plays a prominent in the elections. continuing on the role of ethnicity, the votes of the three big ethnic groups -- hazaras --ajiks, and will be divided. many candidates represent the ethnic groups on different tickets. the only ethnic group that has is the best solidity

uzbeks. dr. ghani'sum is on ticket. we have 11 candidates that were in the vetting process by the electoral commission. only eightwe have candidates because three of them dropped out in favor of other candidates. one of them abandoned the elections. is toason they do this secure political concessions from the candidates who have the best chance of winning. and administrative

positions. we have these candidates that we expect to have more withdrawals. in the coming week in favor of the front runners. ,ainly, dr. zalmai rassoul believed to be a favorite candidate. i have got some other facts about the election. they are extremely striking. biggest election ,onitoring organization issued the glare the results of a survey they carried out a couple months ago. afghansurvey, 92% of support elections. 92% of afghans. only 5% are against the idea of

elections. public, the survey covers all parts of the country. 50% of them are women, 50% are men. have said they will take part in the elections. again, that is striking. in previous presidential elections the turnout was below 30%. around 29% or something. is -- another important fact , taliban attacks have intensified in afghanistan. with the intensification of th desire --s, people people's desire has increased to

vote and express themselves, mainly in opposition. mainstreamt that the media and social media have made this significant role in enhancing the civic role of afghan citizens. which is a huge change in afghanistan. have -- a going to of national observers. unfortunately, we will not have a lot of international observers because of security concerns. about 65,000 national observers across the country. among 6,775 voting centers 8ecause of security centers, 7 8

voting centers will not be operational. places where there is insecurity and observers cannot take part. -- there the parts voting stations that are the most vulnerable to fraud. this is the experience we had in 2009. for thatyou very much overview. as we get into a second round after we hear from general allen, we will talk more about the major candidates and what they stand for and who they are. i will make sure i mentioned their names. we have heard them in passing. we have former foreign minister rassoul, thought to be president preference. president karzai has avoided making any public endorsements so far. we have former foreign minister

the runner-up in the 2009 race to karzai. he also has a mixed tajik-p ashtun background. withlosest association afghanistan during the difficult years, he stayed in the area during the difficult years of the 1980's and 1990's, partially as a physician and partially as a leader in the northern alliance. and then we have dr. ashraf g and aa friend to many ndc former world bank economist. he has been finance minister in afghanistan and has helped in various advisory roles. he was also a candidate in 2009. he has done quite well in polling so far. we have these three candidates who look to be the strongest.

everyone will want to talk more about them. first, general allen, a lot to talk about with security. of the casual american consumer of news media is deteriorating security, especially with the tragic attacks of the last couple weeks. help us understand this in context. including the question of what the afghan security forces, what they are now doing in the country as we downsize. >> thanks a lot, great to be with you all this morning. i am a bit reflective, it is a retire. a day that i you can depart afghanistan but you can never leave afghanistan. there is not a day that goes by that i do not think about the wonderful afghans with whom i served and with whom i felt such great affection. of reflection today for me, i see a german uniform and audience. probably many folks from

diplomatic missions here to represent many of the 50 countries that served in that coalition. i just want to remind his audience as i remind every troops have0,000 served at the height of this war. they performed magnificently. seldom have we seen so large and so capable a field force do so much for the good of the country when it has such capacity for destruction. it is a great example of how one countries to come together with a common set of values, they can make a contribution in a difficult environment. for the u.s. and the coalition, we are exceptionally fortunate to have a fellow by the name of joe dunford commanding in afghanistan. it has been -- beyond his many personal and professional characteristics which recommend him for this very difficult job -- it has been a long time

since we have handed an american or nato commander a more challenging set of missions than joe dunford is attempting to undertake. with some significant success. there is a saying that the farther away from afghanistan you become, you are far more remote from the circumstances. when you get closer it looks better than from the distance. joe has done a magnificent job in handling what i would say are five major tasks right now. they could have been done in a resident's order at one point. tomorrow, we will be insi de 8 months remaining on the isaf mission. these are tasks he is executing concurrently. it requires leadership and skill in planning operationally and logistically. the first is to maintain the

very delicate advisory and support balance isaf the -- the isaf forces continue to have with the ansf, the afghan national security forces. the afghans are leaving most of the operations. while the last fighting season was the first fighting season where they have full operational control across the board, this will be the first fighting season with that kind of experience under their belt. equilibriumdelicate is advising and assisting as the afghans continue to move to the front and continue their operations in terms of securing the local population and also in dealing with the taliban is extraordinarily important. the second thing joe is doing, i am going down one through five. i want to make sure everyone understands that some of these occurring are

concurrently. as the pressures of the campaign continue to increase, the clock ticks down to december 2014, you can get a sense of the enormity of what we are undertaking and requiring of our military. ofntain equilibrium advising, assisting, and supporting. the second is the retrograde enterprise. over the last year, general dunford and his team have had to close down several hundred basis. we started with 800 when i took a man. bases in a closed long time. we closed 500 in the first year. we needed to get down to a platform of 10 bases to 12 basis by the end of this calendar year. when you have bases with as many as 30,000 people, bagram and kandahar, the two largest. is as muchse bases

an operational commitment to keep the logistics platform relevant to the campaign as it is simply closing the base itself. he is roger grading the excess is retrograde and the excess material that has been accumulating for over a decade. when i took control, we found we had 60,000 excess armored vehicles and 100,000 shipping containers will spare parts. he has been working to move that out of the theater as quickly as he can. the third part is sending home the troops and their organizational equipment. advise, assist, and support. the retrograde enterprise. the third area is a transfer of tasks. on any given day, the isdquarters of isaf undertaking several hundred different tasks in the execution and accomplishment of the mission of this campaign.

as time goes on and as isaf continues the process of moving towards the completion of its mission, those tasks will have to go somewhere. many will be completed and that will be the end of that. a number will transfer directly to the follow-on mission. at this point, nato's follow-on mission will be called operation resolute support. a number of the tasks will to higher headquarters in europe or central command. some of those tasks will go to civilian agencies, both on the u.s. side and within the coalition. some will transfer directly to the afghans. right now, as we transfer these tasks, we will have to be careful we do not overburdened the afghans at this critical as they continue to get their legs under them

operationally and militarily. the fourth task is providing support to the afghans who have the responsibility for the security of the election. this obviously is extraordinarily important. the planning that was done, the intent was that the afghan national security forces would have the lead for the security of the election. and the police close army providing outer court in support -- the army providing outer cordon support. trying to disrupt the elegant formations as much as they can. -- trying to disrupt the taliban formations as much as they can. you enter send the troubles we have had recently in kabul. have the attacks in kabul received a lot of attention, they did not have a widespread effect. they did achieve attention and

cause concerns about the security of the city. at the same time, those attacks -- what is not necessarily understood or receiving very much attention is the activities specifically targeted against the taliban to keep them off balance and disrupt their support areas. generale final task dunford is undertaking is the task associated with receiving the force that will be coming in, supposing that the bilateral security agreement will be signed. and employee that force to the end of his mission. then begin the resolute support on january 1, 2015. remember thist to activity is occurring in an environment where the taliban is on the attack. the taliban are right now heavily invested in both attempting to disrupt the

election, the preparations for the election, and appearing to have the kind of omnipotent across the country that can shake the confidence of the population. it is a really good point and an important point that the afghan people are extraordinarily proud of their police and military. themfghan people have seen fight a very hard fighting season in 2013. a lot of casualties and they gave as good as they took. there was some ground lost but much of that ground was recovered, only redoubled the determination that the selection is all about their future. me as i surprise to have watched this process unfold over the last year and i have been in touch with afghans that this election and the outcome and the peaceful transition of power from president karzai to whomever will follow is very

important to the average afghan. process is whole underway with the taliban attempting to disrupt it as much as they possibly can. it is worth reminding everyone that the afghan theater is 400 miles inland, this is a landlocked theater in which we have been conducting hostilities and combat operations now going on 13 years. for general dunford, his team, for our civilian to my partners and the interagency, the pressures are increasing every day to juggle the many different balls associated with security. equilibrium so we deliver the afghan national security forces to the point where we want them and we have mission.e of the isaf bringing the resolute support mission in. so we have a clear transition in the post by 14 period.

will talk more about the election and the candidates. coupleamplify and at a clicks sacked before going to run again. -- i will amplify and add a couple quick facts before going on to ron. more than 85% of all total arm strength in afghanistan is afghan. the nato coalition is down to below 50,000 troops. when general allen, he had 150,000 troops. he began downsizing, about 1/3 down. now we are down 2/3. more than 85% of fighting forces are now afghan. last year, they carried out 95% of all the operations. they either let them or carry them out themselves. this is an important point that is both sobering and tragic.

took 4000 700 fatalities. the afghan army and police. 2013, twiceies in the number we suffered through the war. i know we deeply regret the sacrifice of our own men and women. it is worth noting the afghans suffered 4700 fatalities last .ear it is those lives that have been lost. it shows that the taliban is still strong. five years ago, i would have predicted it would not have been this strong. i hoped and thought we would have been in a better place in terms of having weakened the taliban. the good news is they are still fighting. they have taken those casualties and held together. they have continued to be able to recruit and take the fight to the enemy. last point, they have

been able to continue to recruit . you had not imagined five years ago that the taliban would be strong, none of us could imagine could be this strong and able to conduct core level operations. this is a reason that the afghan people are so proud of the army. , you know all the candidates. i was honored to meet with several of them with you a couple weeks ago. could you please help us understand the choice that is now before the afghan better on voter on-- the afghan saturday. and what the choice might signify in terms of who the afghans would like to see replace president karzai after his 12 years in leadership. >> thank you. that is quite a big task.

i suppose one can drown people in detail without necessarily raising their understanding too much. that important to say there are no huge ideological big dramaticr differences. ais is not analogous to liberal and conservative campaign. what you have are personalities. you have a little more detail from saun then from others. but no necessarily assurance that the detail indicates where they would go. dr. abdullah -- the other thing to say, you have got three that look like they have a chance at being in the top two. you have got a couple behind them who are going to be important in making deals.

you are going to have a lot of politics in this election after the first round of the election as people pick sides. particularly some of the second string candidates like sayyaf. as some of those people coalesce around one candidate or another, that is also going to tip the balance. and then to make life really complicated, comparatively few vote on anns will individual preference basis. they will tend to vote on the basis of community leaders, tribal affiliations. there was scholarly work done a year or two ago. comparatively few people would agree with the idea that if they disagreed with their tribal leaders they should vote for their own preference.

that was not a majority view. then you had powerbrokers who deliver votes and not voters. you have the complexity. of the big three, dr. abdullah is seen largely as the northern-western tajik candidate. that is not completely true, he has support in the east and the south. he has negatives as well because of being seen as the non-p ashtun. there is a strong belief in pashtuns, they are at least the plurality of afghanistan. they believe they are the majority, but if i excepted all the figures i have been told the country would be at least as twice as large as it is. s think they ought

to roll. dr. abdullah's father is a pashtun but he is seen as a tajik candidate. ashraf ghani is very popular in the rwest. his selection of general dostum as vice president of canada has touched raw nerves in people who -- his selection of general rashid dostum as vice presidential candidate has touched raw nerves. ghani is known to have a fiery temper. dostum. people worry about putting the two worst tempers in afghanistan -- some people consider ashraf ghani a communist. this is a big issue in a country

that was dominated by a communist government. charge may or may not be fair, it exists. has big positives, he has touched off a lot of popular enthusiasm among younger people. he also has some big negatives. he is seen as a pashtun nationalist. for tajiks will not vote him for that reason. dr. rassoul is a member of the former ruling family of the king's generation. he is a pashtun, although he hardly speaks pashtun. he was a supporter of the cane. in many ways, he is the candidate of continuity -- most clearly seen as the candidate of continuity. that is both continuity for powerbrokers, drug lords, and criminals. it is also reassuring to afghans who are really tired of being

buffeted by massive social change. constant themey through the last 100 plus years of afghan history -- resistance to too rapid change. it cause the overthrow of two monarchs and was largely responsible for the early blowback against the domestic afghan communists. it was not about them being communists, it was about them changing too much. the sentiment of not wanting a lot of change is not just about criminality. rassoul is looked at by most as karzai's covert candidate. partially because one of out ofs brothers backed the race and now backs dr. rassoul. he is also seen as a weak personality. not quite tough enough to take on the problems of the country.

every one of the three has some negatives. i guess the person i would put , a formeris sayyaf islamic leader who has performed quite responsibly in the last 15 or 20 years in parliament. hands that might not be completely lily white. it will be interesting to see how these people shift. there will be a lot of dealmaking going on. there's already a lot of negotiating. there will be more, particularly after the first round. that is probably more than enough with which to saturate people for the moment. >> let me ask one quick follow-up. three, if i'm all hearing you right, are people we should keep an open mind about being able to work well with. the u.s. has no declared

candidate or preferred canada. i assume you recommend that we not officially or publicly support anyone and stay hopeful about being able to work with any of the three. >> absolutely, there is no reason for us to be against any of the three. they are all reasonable people. they are all people with whom, relations will be much better than they are with president karzai. we should not pick a candidate ticause he has a hubris notion of which we know, but we are clumsy about when we do those things. we should stay out. and will turn to najib general allen on the same question. whatever they want to say about candidates and elections. to you ande subsequent discussion about the issue of things like the bilateral security accord. planning for u.s.

forces. keep the focus now on the elections, the choices before afghans at the polls. najib, anything you want to add to what ron said? thing i wasone really struck by. the fact that was reflected in the survey by the biggest election monitoring organization in afghanistan. 80% of thethat public have declared that they will vote independently. consultations with their tribal leaders or elders or family. it was a bit striking. ethnic, tribal, and family have a big role to play in who to vote for for individuals.

other than that, i pretty much agree with what ambassador nuemann said. -- we haveere is these three candidates. dr. zalmai rassoul , and dr. ashraf ghani. has a potential to create a problem in the first and second rounds is the big margins between dr. zalmai rassoul and the two front runners. thetwo front-runners, margin of difference between them is almost by 1/3. is way lower than the two front running. the difference between dr. israf ghani and dr. abdullah one percent. >> 20 presenting, 19% --

>> 27% versus 8%. this is a fear a lot of people in afghanistan have. if zalmai rassoul is somehow hehed to the second round or becomes the candidate that gets the second highest number of that in the first round, will raise a lot of questions. the polls have constantly shown his low level of support. and it is highly likely the elections will go to a second round. considering the composition of the teams that we have. , there are some

accusations among pashtuns because he sided with dostum, considered to have war crimes -- to have committed a war crime atrocities. on his team, he managed to vastly increase his constituency. in the 2009 presidential elections, ashraf ghani managed of votes.around 3% this time, it is mainly because of dostum he has risen up. mainly because of dostum. nd dr. abdullah, as ambassador nuemann said, he has a lot of support among tajiks in the northern and western part of afghanistan. but because he was very -- a the latee confidant of

massoud, he is seen as a radical by a lot of pashtuns. though yesterday you had a campaign rally in kandahar. from all the candidates, he had the biggest turnout. which means that he has the biggest rally in kandahar. which is a bit surprising for everybody. to zalmai rassoul, he is considered a very weak person, not only him but the vice president he has.

his second vice president used to be a governor. it will help him to secure some votes of women. as entire team is seen as, we say in afghanistan, a just saying team. whatever karzai says. >> i just want to follow up on something general allen set. this is an excellent analysis. i went to tee up one issue. president karzai is still 70% popular in afghanistan. he is not 70% popular in washington, but he is 70% popular in afghanistan. i'm trying to think through this question ron and i were focusing on. what are rassoul's real

prospects? there is a certain undercurrent that if rassoul wins, it must mean something was fraudulent. i want to push back a little and ask you the following. isn't it possible that because afghans doi's guy, not mind that. he is a candidate of continuity and will not rock the boat too much. d, some might prefer stability. because he does not have the negatives of the other two, either dostum or a strong tajik association of dr. abdullah. ir all these reasons, and have seen some polls lately that put him closer to the front runners then you mentioned. he may actually be a viable candidate, even though much of the narrative suggests he could not be. disagree with the question, but i want to put it to a point.

what ise elections, equally important to the actual process is the perception of the public. people currently see him as a candidate, a team on the low margins. them being elevated to the level of dr. abdullah and ashraf ghani or even above them will raise serious questions. >> i would pause. that is very true of the educated elite and of kabul. is equally true across the south and east. it could be, i am not saying it is not. i think there will be questions. i would also point out that dr. abdullah and ashraf ghani are making an effort to say that if dr. rassoul gets into the second

round, it is automatically evidence of fraud. i think we as americans should not accept that which is a campaign ploy in advance. of note that not everyone is of this view. i was having breakfast with a a pretty liberal and educated audience. the were quite angry that election foundation had made a could notthat rassoul get in. there are divisions in views and then there are political agendas. >> i was going to come to that, actually. there are some justifications if he gets to that position. ve a significant number

of undecided voters. itany stage you could say was the undecided voters who finally decided to vote for zalmai rassoul. that is one issue. the other issue, to be honest, even now it is a huge frustration on the part of the afghan people. of certainty lack -- what is going to happen in their elections. we have expectations that there should not be fraud in the process should produce legitimate government. it will not be a serious question or concern among afghans. for the record, despite the fact that we desire transparency and clean processes.

elections have had a significant impact in the lack ife of average afghans. the business people have stopped investing in afghanistan because of these issues. they are not sure what is going to happen in the future. the uncertainty has caused a lot theoung people to flee country. saying afghanistan is not going to work. but we have a vibrant and huge community of young adults and civil society workers who are helping theged in process and ensuring that the process is clean and transparent. for example, one of the colleagues my

started last week was to prepare a resolution and get the signature of every single candidate. the mostution says -- common article is that if the independent international and national election monitoring organizations endorses the , i knowledge i will not challenge or dispute the outcome of the elections. politicaln's stability is very fragile. if any candidate disputes the result of the elections, it will obviously create problems. further instability. in general, what i would like to is, people in afghanistan under there is huge instability. it is a country that lacks

strong political institutions. the analogy i usually make is the country is a plane is being flown while it is being constructed. have strong political institutions. we do not have enough experience with regards to holding elections. the geography is extremely tough. security is extremely tough. the taliban and other insurgent toups will spare no efforts disrupt the elections. if we have a successful election that could reduce legitimacy it would be a huge blow to the taliban. they will show that a people of afghanistan said no to don and itse to go and vote -- would show that the people of afghanistan said no to them and chose to go vote.

that is why they will do everything from attacking to cards tog fake voting undermine the legitimacy of the elections. >> turning to general allen for impressions about the candidates. nothave worked with most if all of them. also, your sense of security thenthe saturday vote and the new fighting season as the snows melt in afghanistan and the taliban return. >> the taliban, as we just heard, have a great stake in ge ofg to portray the ima insecurity right now and to shake the confidence of the population in terms of the future of afghanistan. first, with regard to the candidates, i have worked mostly rassoul.af ghani and well, i alsodullah

know sayyaf well. for me, the security is not just about the election on the fifth. security is important with respect to the transition from the karzai administration to the next administration. ensuring we have a secure for thatto provide political transition. the first time there will have been a peaceful transition from one elected leader in afghanistan to another. theeful is in the eyes of beholder. in the context of a constitutional process that is recognizable, this is important. months withng respect to a runoff and with respect to the time necessary to the the government after runoff, we have some big political events >> right now, i think very

clearly and correctly there is enormous uncertainty about the future of afghanistan. one of the reasons for that uncertainty has been that we have been unable to announce a specific commitment in terms of the pursed .14. ost 2014 period. the idea is creating an upward spiral of professional capability. it is been essential. that would take the form of both in terms of the resources

necessary for that commitment, people of course and the equipment and funding, but also the time. that ensures that the post tony 14 mission is resourced in terms the amount of time necessary to truly give the afghan security forces what they need. again, the key point is if we are going to have an election or the afghans are in the lead for security, we will surprise -- provide support and special operations to destabilize the taliban's ability to disrupt this. there will be disruption. there will be areas where the taliban seeks to create the illusion of an unstable environment.

forcesch of the security are well advised and tactically mobile and they will have a reach we have not seen before in an election. it will not be perfect area there will be substantial disruption of. as we have heard, there is great enthusiasm to get out and vote. instead been heartened of being compromised. we will have the election. we will have a potential runoff. we will have the formation of the government. the will occur between accomplishment of the mission and the establishment of the post tony 14 -- 2014 mission. this will be put into place ultimately for an advisory.

with those major political transitions, it is essential in the first year after the election is to provide as much support as we can to the afghans. in the resource base and not just in the longevity of the mission, but a clear western enunciation of support to the afghan government and the a in sf. f.ans in the absence of that clarity, we have seen a digging in strategy. people will not support investment. people are unwilling to commit to a peace process. it is not just a hedging strategy in the countryside, it is in the cities and regionally. clarity, this kind of obvious and open enunciated

commitment is really important right now to give the afghan citizenry and elite and the region the sense that the west is going to be there for some. of time. we learned three lessons from the end of the soviet era. produced a military that was pretty since effective. -- effective. the intent had been that the soviets would remain for some. of time heading the mushu dean. the first thing to go were the advisers. even when they went, the afghan forces still acquitted themselves relatively well until the soviet union completely collapsed. that is when the resources and funded that were necessary when

away. the is when we saw first collapse. we and so the civil war emerge. the chaos that emerged was the general departure of the west and the instability that we created. those were lessons from which we studied significantly and made recommendations to influence the outcome of the end of this year and the post 2014. that is the taliban and narrative, that they will be abandoned. we will provide for the development of the security forces. we will accomplish that mission. right now, in the final throes will fly inion, it

the face of the taliban and .arrative which is abandonment as long as we are able to maintain the equilibrium of those five areas, i think we can provide the amount of time necessary and the stability necessary for that first peaceful transition from the selection and let it get up on its feet. we will permit that to be complete. >> klees wait for a microphone. we will take to questions at a time. questionke your specific and who you would like to begin the answer and we will start here in the front row. >> thank you very much. and iarrett mitchell

write the mitchell report. i want to question about the telegram. you have told us that it is clear that they will hope to be as disruptive as possible in the election process itself. the question i have goes beyond that. thatey make the assumption no matter how disruptive they therebe at some point, will be a new president and a new government? oh do they think they can model it enough that that does not happen? what would be the most likely post government formation strategy that the taliban could engage in that would help them achieve their destabilization and

reinjuring the government in afghanistan? >> let's go to the second question. >> thank you. said in your op-ed last we risk if we try to hold afghanistan to a swiss level standard in elections. you made an interesting argument effectivelyarzai tied the country together. affect how going to the election plays out? those are good questions.

government is going to have a tough operation. president, he is going to have to put together a government with a lot of very hungry supporters. none of the three leading candidates have such a strong base that they can push people aside and take other people. us af the three said to couple of weeks ago that they will have to reach out beyond their own coalition of supporters and put together a broader government in order for stability to take place. corruption, that doesn't tell you that you're going to have rapid change the matter who is elected and what they say now. to be putting in place a network of supporters

over whom they have loose control. they have to do a lot of balancing. it is not likely you will see a lot of balancing and keeping that balance by whacking people for direction at the same time. if the leader is more skillful, he might ask people over time. i don't think we should expect rapid change in government. all three know they have to have a better governance. with what tension they have to do. we don't know how that is going to work. in policy terms, it will be important that we are close to have that -- who that person is. we need to help them manage that difficult tension so that proves governance rather than standing miracles of american

we think should be immediately enacted. know't think any of us what to tell a man is thinking. their main issue is to discredit the new government. their approach has been hamid karzai is a foreign puppet. he has no legitimacy. we are legitimate. their goal is to maintain that situation. an election which has few adherents and a few people who vote and is badly contested by fraud. the more the next government is legitimated by the election and by how accept it, the more the

taliban is in a position of having a difficult discussion. i have no idea how they will come out on that discussion. there is long history of our growing out of a gun in afghanistan. it does not mean people will be instantly saying that is the rule people. >> i don't know what any particular taliban is thinking. they need to be disruptive. they don't believe they can stop the selection from being undertaken. they can't stop the government from being formed. in terms of the outcome of the election, an early endorsement and theandidate

formation of the government and a long-term commitment to afghanistan is essential. they been able to stay in the field and recruit based on the sense that the west was going to depart. they would ultimately be successful after our departure and the collapse of the corrupt government in kabul. the candidateho will be that is elected. signs the bsa, that would be a blow to the taliban. that president is intent on maintaining the relationship necessary not just for the ansf but to create a stable platform for the long term that is

necessary. it is important that that candidate right now be thinking about the first actions they will take to repair the damage that has been done with the rhetoric from the palace over the last several months. important things that could happen would be to sign the security agreement. that would be reciprocated by the unambiguous declaration of support by the west for that president and that government and afghanistan over the long term. doubled with the taliban narrative in trouble. we will see where that goes. agree with what the ambassador has said. i want to keep it simple. government after will weaken the

position of the taliban. it will damage their entire existence. it will prove that people want this system and want to vote their own leaders into office. create a huge trouble for the taliban. that, as long as the alabama remains hopeful for victory, they will not make peace. why would they make peace? a need for the treaty to be signed. there needs to be a strong and clear and consistent commitment from the international community. reduce the hope of the taliban for any potential victory.

the future government has to be a broad-based coalition government. again, what we need to do is we need to get peace and negotiations. from a position to make as, we have lot of concessions. considering the amount of , weifice that we have made can't afford to make concessions. i pray for a smooth transition. that, i ame achieved confident that afghanistan will

be on a path to long-term stability. two, allo to round endorsejor candidates this bilateral security agreement. american forces to remain in afghanistan after the mission is formally ended at the end of this year. that may seem like a technicality, it was the failure to get a similar arrangement with iraq that led to the departure of forces there in 2011.

abdullah abdullah may have the most specific agenda for political reform. he would also like to see reform in the senate. these are ideas if you listen to the agendas. it is hard to say how much those will translate into governance agendas. right there. one of the things we are concerned about is the lack of air force. they be able to compensate for the lack of their own air force? what kind of consequences will that have for their ability to fight?

that is my main question. which of the two leading candidates is best suited to power in afghanistan? >> was there another question? we will go over to the side. i am colonel joss urges. -- burgess. i served under general allen. >> that is why you are exhausted. >> i have had time to recover just a little bit. my question for ambassador what isregards

happening inside afghanistan. a is well-known that there is greek game environment that is being played out among regional powers. i am wondering how these relationships and what they are doing inside the country might impact the transitions that will take place and what we might be able to do to minimize those impacts? >> that is a great question about the air force. the build is not going to be complete until about 2016. we will continue to provide support up until the end of the mission. we will continue to provide advisory support to the emerging air force in the. of time.iod

your medevac question is a good one. we spent a great deal of time working hard to work with the ministry of public health and work with the ministry of defense and interior to optimize all the resources across the country. theexample, instead of helicopter medevac that we became there used to, we built the process. a large number of armored vehicles had been procured for the forces so someone who is medevac on the ground will find that his buddy is well-trained. theye point of wanting, have capacity for some care right on the spot. the medevac process begins by moving a casualty to an armored vehicle which will move it to a casually collection point.

we take advantage of the local clinics that will be improved or a field hospital that was purchased for the national army to be deployed when operations occur in the field at the core level. the point is, we are not pulling out our helicopters. we went to a great deal of trouble working with surgeons and the deputy minister of public health to optimize all of the resources necessary to take advantage of every capability we can short of the helicopter medevac. there will be fewer helicopters then you are used to seeing. we have more work to do on the air force. i think you are aware that we have a ground attack aircraft that is coming in through a series of contractual issues.

that aircraft is delayed. the intent was to use some of helicopters to up thatthose to be a gunship can take the place of that turboprop aircraft until it ultimately enters the air force. it is worth noting that right now the production of pilots in there aren't, enough pilots to fly every airplane. the process is to continue unabated. there are a lot of afghan pilots who are drying pay -- drawing pay. in the conversations i have had , holdingident karzai of the younger officers who are quite exceptionally well-qualified

pilots to get them into uniform and get them into training and the cockpit, that process is going to take a while. we have a gap. we will do whatever we can at this point to advise as best we can. >> i am glad to hear the information from general allen. not having the air force in places of the biggest complaints of the people in afghanistan, particularly the generals in the army and our president. i'm glad those activities are going on. centralization, none of the candidates are advocating for federalization. the only difference that we have

is in the agenda and platform of dr. abdulla. towants to change the system a parliamentary system. is the only big change in the platforms that we have. to get to your question, i think the equation and the region are changing. there is some acceptance that is coming into existence finally, after 13 years. i feel it is shaping up. in afghanistan is good for their countries. pakistan is coming to the i using violence

policy hurtseign themselves very likely. offer ifn has a lot to there is economic cooperation and economic integration. we have central asia with huge national resources. we have huge human resources. in between, we have afghanistan. what has happened with russia willhe ukraine, that affect their policy in the larger picture.

that further increases the need for the united states to have a presence in afghanistan. since the people of afghanistan have been badly hurt through out theyry by its neighbors, have proved that the entire region in a region where sentiment is being propagated by the government, afghanistan is the only country which proves to be an ally to the united states. don't want to talk about what the president is saying. it is not a good idea to give him much importance. the more important to give to his rhetoric, the more his objectives will be realized.

he is leaving. we should stay cool about it. afghanistan -- one other point i would like to make that i wanted to make earlier isut the future government even if you have disputes in the elections, everybody understands will try to disrupt, there will not be instability. any deadlock will benefit. that will benefit will be the taliban. all other groups -- it is a lose lose situation.

the only group that will take advantage of that is the taliban. that is why they will make attempts to create a coalition government. we put the real enemies of afghanistan on alert. many of you have been in enough sessions to greet with great suspicion anybody who opens by saying i don't have in to say on this but... view of the time i will try to make it brief. what you have right now is .verybody saying -- playing i hope we are correct. i hear more discussion in pakistan but not much change in the actual policy. that is destabilizing to afghanistan in the long term. in the long run, it is

destabilizing to pakistan. afghanistan needs a kind of regional neutrality where it is not partisan between pakistan and iran and india. when there iscome a government in afghanistan that a strong enough to maintain basic internal order. without that you have a contest for power which draws in foreign support. it is a long term vision but not a short-term practicality. i don't think there is a candidate who is looking to federalism. there is a lot of discussion of that. everybody understands that you have a system which is centralized on paper and in capable of carrying out the centralization with which it is vested.

the problem is that decentralization would be to decentralize to the warlords and powerbrokers who are the problem of the government already. there is no political mass ready to take up regional governance nor does tribalism have the same strength that it had 30 years ago before all the trouble. you see that in this election. there is an enormous split among groups. there is a discussion about the parliamentary system. it is very vague. and nobody explains what they have in mind. a parliamentary system without formed parties and discipline would mean even less stability than you have now. a prime minister dependent on

that parliament would have to renegotiate his mandate. he would have to repurchase his mandate on a virtually weekly basis. that is a recipe for disaster. might mean something akin to an appointed prime minister who could be dismissed by the president rather than by parliament. that is not really a parliamentary system. you have a kind of chief executive authority who is responsible for running the government who can become the lightning rod that you dispose of when he has encouraged too much displeasure. then you can start with somebody else. that is possible. it is a long way down the pike. thank you. wish the afghan people a successful election on saturday and please join me in thanking the panelists. [applause]

iding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president.

madam president, yesterday's hearing of the commerce committee subcommittee on consumer safety provided a powerful and important moment in our legislative process. and i want to thank my colleague, the chairman of the subcommittee, senator mccaskill, for enabling us to come together, as well as my other colleagues on both sides of the aisle, senators klobuchar and boxer and senator ayotte, for their very insightful and significant questions and comments on a challenge that should unite on both sides of the aisle. tragic events, death and life-changing injuries to unsuspecting drivers who were victims of a defective ignition

switch in automobiles manufactured by g.m. a car defect that should have been fixed disclosed and remedied before these deaths occurred. i want to thank the families of the victims of these directive cars for coming forward and being at that hearing yesterday and sharing their stories with me and others. they are doing a great public service through their courage and strength. i want to also thank mary bauer, the c.e.o. of g.m., as i said to her then and i'm going to repeat now, i admire her fortitude and her service in coming forward to face the questions of our committee and be the face of general motors and the issues

that confront us now in car safety. i admire her career at g.m., an engineer who has risen through the ranks, a second-generation employee at an iconic, great american manufacturing company. i've long admired that company and the products that it has produced that have enriched the lives of so many americans over the years. and my hope is that this hearing and this process will be a turning point for the company in facing these car safety challenges. i admire greatly also its dealers and employees. some of them have contacted me, especially connecticut dealers, telling me how they are reaching out proactively to the drivers

of these defective vehicles, asking them to bring them to their company so they can be repaired before they do further damage. this great company can reclaim its iconic brand and luster by breaking with its past. and mary bauer has the opportunity for this historic contribution. as i said to her yesterday, she may be surrounded by a phalanx of lawyers and public relations people who will advise her to be cautious, to be timid, to be reactive, but now is the time for her to seize the initiative and take three simple steps as a beginning. number one, establish a compensation fund for all who have suffered damage from this

defective ignition switch which caused cars to crash, some of them to burn. victims who have suffered injuries and dendle as well as economic damage. second to provide a warning, a clear, strong warning to drivers still behind the wheels of vehicles that still have this defective ignition swivment the cars are under recall but unrepaired. people are still driving them. many not knowing the full risk that they have undertaken by continuing to drive them. a strong warning to ground those vehicles until they are repaired is what's needed now. and, third, support our legislation. senator markey and i have offered that legislation that

would provide for better reporting by car companies, a stronger accountability system, and better disclosure through a database to consumers, so that they will know what the risks are before they take them and can make choices, informed choices, about what they drive and when. these steps are well-warranted by the past misconduct of genetically modifiedg.m.doing tg the trunnel, telling the truth to power and making sure that innocent consumers are protected against harms that may not be known to them. she has the opportunity to break with the past culture, a culture of deniability and of deception.

deception is what happened at g.m. these ignition switches were known to be defective as recallly as 2001, year after year there were reliable and material facts that indicated to g.m. you had to responsibility to fix these vehicles and yet you took no action to repair them, to recall them, to inform consumers. and the fix was not a major, costly one. $2 per vehicle, easily done. and yet in 2005-2006, g.m. made a business decision that the price was too hierks th high, ts too long, and it continued to provide those vehicles for sale