optimized mix of performance-based and prescriptive requirements that provide the framework for a licensee to develop a security program for risks significant materials with measure specifically tailored to its facility. compliance with the rule was required for nrc licensees by march 19, 2014. agreement states to licensees need to fulfill compatible requirements by march 2016. the nrc efforts in material security have not ended with the publication and implementation of a radioactive source security rule. the nrc will continue to assess its programs to ensure that they promote the secure use and management of radioactive sources. this concludes my remarks concludes my remark senator and i will be happy to respond to any questions you may have raised the captain thanks so much. david trimble of the gao. nice to see you and thanks for joining us.

>> my testimony discusses the challenges federal agencies face in securing radiological sources in the united states and the steps agencies are taking to improve security. a potential vulnerability of radiological sources was highlighted last december when a truck in mexico caring cobalt 60 source buy high-risk source was stolen. in a report being issued today we examine two types of industrial radiological sources may mobile and stationary. we found loath posted 30 challenges even following security controls. iaea officials have said the transportation of high-risk sources is the most honorable part of the nuclear and radiological supply chain. energy requirements to ensure security for these mobile sources provide a general framework that is to be implemented by the licensing. will intercede orders to security sources they do not explain how to do this by for example specifying the

robustness that must be used or alarms installed and trucks. while all 15 industrial radiography companies revisited the security requirements we found great variation in the security measures employed for some companies using only the most basic of locks to secure high resources. the risk to these mobile sources is underscored i've incidence of theft after nrc institute increase controls for high resources in 20053 addition to these vets were to these best way to buy two instances where an unauthorized individual claiming to be state inspectors approach the crew while in the field. among these individuals wearing a jacket with the logo of the state. this person gain access to the truck saw detailed information about the source and left with two accomplices only after the crew made calls to confirm is a dandy. regarding stationary sources these typically involve aerospace manufacturing plant storage warehouses and panoramic or radiators to sterilize the

pier while all of the 33 facilities met nrc's general security requirements and facility still appear to have vulnerabilities. nine facilities had executed skylights one facility had an exterior rolltop door that was unattended and the wall of the cage inside where the radiography cameras were store did not go to the ceiling. another facility had in the radiator on wheels near a loading dock secured with a simple padlock. in addition to these potential vulnerabilities we found some facilities secure their high-risk forces -- sources to not have to comply with increased security requirements. licensees of both mobile and stationary sources also face challenges in determining which employees are suitable for trustworthiness and reliability certification which is required by nrc before and employees given unescorted access to radiological sources. the certification is intended to mitigate the risk of an insider threat which mms is stated as

the primary threat to facilities with high-risk radiological sources. under nrc security control is left to the license to the licensee decide whether to grant employees unescorted access. about half of the 33 licensees we have visited say they face challenges in making these determinations and seven stated they had granted certification to individuals with criminal convictions giving them unescorted access to high resources. zero in one example that even should have been convicted multiple times of assault forgery failure to appear in court driving while intoxicated driving with a suspended license and twice for terroristic threats. notably the two convictions for terrorist address were not included in the background information provided by nrc to a licensee. according to nacy this person was not convicted of threats against united states but making violent verbal threats against two individuals.

a report examined the steps agencies are taking to better secure industrial radiological sources and mms a has a program to install enhanced security and mms say in dhs have projects to track mobile sources if lost or stolen. addition of at the time of the review and rc is securing a best practices guide. our report includes the tnr process to examine the record. gap that exempts some facilities from being -- thank you and i'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> david thank you so much. i think we have a couple of photos here and i would ask if i could mr. trimble for you to respond to a couple of questions. i think your plate included -- a report included a number of individuals that were special interest and we have taken three of those and put them on these

large charts. i'm going to present each of these 32 in sequence and i want to ask you to describe the photo and the security concern it represents. here's the first one. what is this a photo of? >> this is one of the sites we visited. this is a warehouse storing radiography cameras. the potential security vulnerability in identified with this is the large door is obviously left open and unattended. >> all right and what is inside that might be of interest? >> these are the radiography cameras that we have the earlier picture of. a warehouse would be the central location where these cameras would be stored when they're not out in the field. >> could it be two or three or maybe a couple dozen? >> there could be any number of cameras located inside and in this case they would be in a storage room behind a lock in

because they were in a locked container they were meeting requirements notwithstanding the open door and the unintended -- unattended nature that door. >> any idea how many of those handheld devices would be required by someone who knew how to handle nuclear materials? >> i would defer to my colleagues at the table here but i believe one would be sufficient. >> okay. let's look at the next photo. please. what do we have here? >> this is inside one of the storage warehouses or those radiography cameras but as you can see here while there is a cage lock on the door to door in the wall next to it don't don't

go all the way to the ceiling so it's a rather imperfect barrier. now again inside if they are the cameras were locked container and that is how notwithstanding the vulnerability there give me sir requirements of the nrc. >> janet napolitano used to be the secretary of homeland security and you will recall and i remember sitting here at the table talking to her about orders security and we were talking about building along the mexican border with the u.s. fences and walls and she says something to the effect of five build the 20 foot fence someone will come along with a the 25-foot ladder. it reminds me again of that. we have maybe one more photo that has been enlarged. maybe you can tell us about that photo.

and what do we have here? >> this is a picture of a skylight and nine locations we visited we had unsecured -- we identified unsecured skylights at the facility. these facilities ranged from warehouses storing radiography cameras to scientific research facilities to large panoramic your radiator so there are quite a range of facilities that have these vulnerabilities. notably i believe in the nn sa program where they go in on a voluntary basis and beef up security skylights is one of the areas in which they were targeted in terms of closing for securing the skylight. speaking you tell us the building where the skylight exists, where the devices we are

talking about here where they locked up and secured? >> they are still meeting the nrc requirements because they would still be in a locked container inside the facility but the skylight from our view is that potential vulnerability because it provides another way of getting inside the building to gain access to that container. >> as we all know there are locked containers and locked containers and some are not very secure and others are quite secure. can you comment on that please? >> we saw that most pointedly with looking at the tracks and the radiographers traveling with their mobile sources. some of these trucks were secured with simple padlocks. some had high security locks and inside the dark rooms were these cameras would be stored sometimes the people would just have an army surplus container with the cable securing it to the truck which provides the second lock required under the

requirements. some took the mission much more seriously and reinforced steel containers and bolted down and done much more jobs secured those containers so a great variability is what we observed in the field. >> let me me ask her of the panels to react to what we have seen entomb what mr. trimble said. any other thoughts before i ask a different question? >> i would just say this is the first i've seen of these pictures. i've been made aware of issues that the gao has found within a report. being an organization that always strives to continually improve we have a new security room which i mentioned. we will look at that rule and see if there are things we need to beef up that we as a regulatory body we put

regulations in place that our risk informed and performance-based and we do not tip we have a one rule fits all that we leave it to the licensees. it's their responsibility to take requirements and put their program into a place and ensure that they are compliant with the regulations. we do provide with rules guidance that will instruct licensees on how they can construct and operate the program in a manner that will comply with the regulatory requirements. we leave it to the licensees to put their program in place to document a written security plan i have to understand the security zone on some of these pictures to understand completely all the details. i wanted to provide that short

perspective. >> is this an honor system that is in place that is itself a leasing compliance? >> no we also inspect these facilities and where we have compliance problems where they do not comply with their regulatory requirements we have enforcement programs that can issue violations civil penalties orders that will modify or revoke their license if necessary so we have a very robust enforcement programs and like i say we inspect these facilities on a periodicity battlelines with the potential danger that might befall a member of the public if they were exposed. and their inspection program is quite robust. i'm a former inspector myself. it's about a year program. it has formal classes that have to be taken and passed

successfully. there are many on-the-job type companies as you perform these inspection activities. and finally you are qualified as an inspector through an award so it's a rigorous program and only inspectors can perform these reviews of licensees. >> did you say the regulation had been updated recently? >> yes. >> give us a flavor for how it has changed. see what we did was i had mentioned in the 2005 timeframe we had done an assessment since 9/11 and looked at what things we needed to make regulatory requirements and what we typically do is we will issue orders that modifies their license and has them perform

certain activities. we will take longer to go through the rulemaking process which is a two to three year process that involves outreach to stakeholders and members of the public to help us in that rulemaking endeavor. so that process to place and we issued that regulation in march of this year. it involves as you have heard a background check to ensure that individuals that are allowed to have access by themselves that they are trustworthy and reliable. the licensee performs that review and makes the determination as to whether the individual meets trustworthy and reliable. we also have issued, which my colleague indicated, we issued a guidance document of best practices for performing these types of reviews so the

individuals that is responsible from a can that call has guidance on what to look for. the other thing it requires a is liaison in with local law enforcement so that you have a plan that if in the course of their acquired detecting and assessing and responding to the potential theft of a source you have to lay out a plan with local law enforcement so they can respond. they are required to inform the nrc. they call the local law enforcement first and they are required to call us as soon as they are done with that silly get early notification so we get outreach to our federal partners to ensure this lost or stolen source has actually been absconded with.

>> can you give us some idea how often these reports to the police and to the nrc come in to these that are believed to be stolen and? >> i would say several a month. and the vast majority of those, all but in the last since 2005 2005 -- i'm sorry ,-com,-com ma 2010, 11, 12 and 13 there has been no category 1 source lost or stolen. for category 2 sources. >> remind me what category one is supposed to category to please read. >> the iaea has seen the tenet code of conduct identifies category 1 sources as it's not

safely manage or secured securely protected would likely caused permanent injury to a person otherwise in contact with them for more than a few minutes. it would probably be fatal to be close to unshielded material for close to an hour. these are very strong sources that tend to be cobalt 60 and category 2 is one step down from that where if you're in close contract within an hour or two there would be serious injury and possibly a fatality. see i would assume category 1 devices at the level of risk would be higher and requirement for securing the device would be greater in maybe even inspections would occur more often. give us some idea how often inspections would occur? >> annually for a category 1

source. >> and for the other categories? >> theories. some are eight period of two or every three years depending on the strength of the material and its potential to harm members of the public. i will say also for category 1 sources part 37 the new rule requires that any time the source is removed from the storage container it sets off an alarm so that's a new requirement in part 37. >> is set for category 1 device is? >> yes. >> let me ask our panelists, would you comment on the rule that was just described? what you are encouraged by or concerned about please david? >> in a report or site visits were assessing the current rules.

part 37 didn't kick in until this year and it won't rule out for states until 2016. what i would highlight however it is many the problems were identified in a report i don't leave would be addressed. for example the issue of co-location for some sites are able to not be subject to the security requirements because they are separately stored and therefore they are not hit the threshold that require enhanced security. i do not believe that his address. some of specificity we have talked about in terms of types of locks for category 2 sources i don't believe this address and then the issue of trustworthiness and reliability certifications in the process by which that is done i do not believe his address. the decision is still being left to the licensee. there is no process or criteria which would disqualify someone from being given such a certification and there's no process by which to say for

example say you have the conviction or a red flag that would trigger greater nrc involvement. >> dr. gowadia would you react to what mr. trimble just said to? >> i would like to take perhaps one of his points just very briefly and what of mr. mr. satorius' point which is coordination and an area where we can play a special role along with nrc and dhs. reaching out to enforcement can often be very complicated. there are many different layers. you might need in a tribal area. it might be a university campus with its own security police. it could be in an environment where you have local county and state police cell part of what we do collaboratively to go

above and beyond the actual rule is to organized daily exercises that involve all components of the community. these exercises really help bring together the different elements of the community that would be involved in response to any kind of incident and so far the cooperation with our colleagues at the department of energy could you conjure terrorism and counter bluff ration we have run well over 100 of these exercises all over the united states and communities. >> how often? see several a year usually but we have found that the feedback from this kind of exercise is extremely positive but if you were to try to regulate that sort of exercise are not sure

exactly how you could do it. this is one of the steps by looking together at how we can collaborative way improve the security posture we have come up with some approaches like this that i think we feel are very positive contributions to the overall security. >> speaking for the nuclear tesu the collaboration is very critical because it trusted works in these exercises and all the work we do in our trilateral meetings and government coordination council etc. they help us build an ability to get the early indicator, the early warning so that the law enforcement assets with the detection capabilities can respond and help find the lost or stolen sources so he certainly said board the regulatory work at the nrc and

additional work that administrator harrington just mentioned because it definitely enables our and of the vision spectrum the detection to find and locate these. >> how did the safeguards that have been described how do they compare with safeguards in place in other countries around the world where there are radiography cameras or other devices? even medical radioactive material. how does our work compare with that of other countries? >> this really is a global challenge. it is a thing to the credit of the countries involved in the nuclear security summit process that they really have brought radiological security to the floor since the 2012 so made when it was added to the list of active targets for collaboration like i mentioned in my testimony

at the 24 teams summit united states in 22 other countries made a commitment that by the time of the 2016 summit we would have taken steps to secure all category 1 sources so that now is on our collective plates in the united states to deliver that to the 2016 summit and we will work collaboratively with other countries. but i would venture to say that the photographs that we saw here today could reasonably represent the similar challenges within the international community. in fact i was at a conference in southern africa earlier this year -- you know very rich in natural resources in the countries are extremely worried about the dirty bomb threat because of the

number of sources a lack of regulation, lack of secure procedures, lack of a strong independent regulator to provide a framework and so we will work with those countries collaboratively to try to help them improve their profile. >> okay. when i was governor of delaware we were very much involved in the national governors association which had clearinghouse for good ideas. i remember many cabinet meetings residing over the cabinet when we discussed the particular challenge in our state saying to my cabinet some other states have faced this challenge it may have a gated out. they are the gold standard and the national governors association is a clearinghouse for good ideas. we have the ability to find out

what other states addressed satisfactorily for the contact or an how to get in touch with them and it was very helpful in many instances. do we have that kind of capability with maybe looking, i don't know if we look from state to state but not from state to state to see best practices in this regard and maybe from country to country who has the best practices. could you all speak to that please? >> i can start. i will speak from an agreement state perspective where we have 37 states within the united states that have signed an agreement. the governor signed an agreement with the chairman of the nrc where they want to take over the responsibilities for the safety and security of certain radioactive sources. we have a process that we review their programs and ensure that

it has the right staffing and the right training. >> excuse me. why would the state wants to take over that responsibility? >> many reasons. the principle one that i hear is that we charged these for licensing and doing a regulatory activities at a 90% fee recoverable agency and so we charged fees. they oftentimes can do it for less money so it's kind of a service to their constituents where they are able to provide those industrial users or medical users the use of the sources safely and compliant with the requirements. at less cost to their citizens. >> others on the issue of compliance and best practices whether inside this country are outside this country country please. >> you mentions senator akaka before and i had the honor to

testify before him several years ago. he was truly a leader in this area and worked very hard. >> what do you suppose inspired him? what do you suppose inspired him? >> i'm not sure. i would ask my team. she worked very closely with the senator and with the state of hawaii to bring them into full compliance with all regulations and as far as i know they were the first state to do that. >> okay. can you step a little closer to the microphone please and just take a moment and we will let you escape to your seat. say your name please. >> my name is -- and i work for

nsa domestic program. it really opelousas. >> can you spell that for me please? >> it's joanne with an i. the senator was truly a visionary and cared about a lot of post-september 11 threats and there were a lot of indicators in the early days post-september 11 and intellectually had talked to other congressman and senators on this issue and requested the gao look into the area and i think with the gao's audits which were somewhat painful on federal programs but i think in the end raise the visibility of some of the vulnerabilities we have both statistically and internationally. ..

>> thank you. thank you very much. >> i would just add that previously there has been work done in this area. reelected the issue and how they're handling it in france. they had some innovative ideas be really have not looked up the cross organizational sharing and

specs, but we have done some work. >> i guess it would be understandable that if other nations have these devices that of radioactive materials in them , whether they are mobile stationery and if other countries do not secure them well and those materials were obtained they could be used for that purpose is in those countries are may be anywhere. what do we have to reduce the likelihood that if another country did not secure the radioactive material well, what assurances do we have with the way that we protect our own borders and ports of entry that we would be able to detect or

intercept any of that material coming in? >> thank you for that question. n at t h as we believe in a multifaceted, layered approach to our security. this begins overseas. in my office, a domestic nuclear detection we work closely with the international atomic energy agency said that we can promote it best practices across the globe. all member states have access but exercising, training, awareness, and we are beginning to teach courses. that is our first out reached. we also work with partner nations to encourage them to have layered approaches. i guess as i go through my answer you will see be building

layer after layer after layer so that we can make the nuclear terrorism the harder undertaking we use information to those of our overseas scanning efforts and collaborate with our intelligence community partners so that we can get early indicators. at the borders we have robust capabilities, almost one of the% of container cargo is tent -- scan date at seaports. one under% of vehicular traffic is some can't. we have well-trained law enforcement officers and customs and border protection and united states coast guard. every boarding party carries detection equipment. all of them covering general aviation flights are met by

customs and border protection officers who have the right equipment. these are just some of the examples. of course, your continued support, we will continue to make right investment and appropriately balance capabilities to build strength after a strike at our borders. >> that is encouraging. so we are grateful for the work that is being done. i would like to say everything that i do i know that i can do better. the road to improvement is always under construction. give us examples of what we are doing better today and may be mentioned a couple of areas where we can do better still. for you and others as well. >> i will start. one of the things that we do better today is in for the

efforts based upon been more realistic look and risk. but office is responsible for coordinating the global nuclear detection architecture. these fiscally constrained to use require a balance of resources. we are now analyzing risk informed schemes, building better feeds so that our mobile agile architecture can be better responsive, more responsive to a credible threat. that is simply we are doing better. i could not agree with you more. no matter what we're doing we can do something better. with the adversary being adapted we must continue to grow. you heard the administrator talk about exercising. illicit nuclear materials are not something in law enforcement

officers seize on a day-to-day basis. we must practice and keep our skills up to speed. we do that with some of our exercise, field exercises where we use sources to expose our officers today is that they do not see on a normal basis. these are some of the activities , integrated exercising. and our communications coordination function always can be better. >> anyone else? >> the global nuclear detection architecture. there was a white house review last year. within the context of that review some very specific areas for programs that we run at the department of energy were

identified as necessary to fill gaps. for example, our second line of defense program works carefully and closely with vhs. we install radiological detection devices and ports where they're is a lot of outdoor and cargo traffic to the united states. we try to catch things before they even are headed to the united states. we are particularly interested in nuclear material. radiological sources are also a big concern. a large number do do it, through the system, identified, isolated, and handled appropriately. internationally, since 2004, and we just celebrated the 10-year anniversary, we have done an

enormous amount of work internationally to both secure sources, identified this position of wears, work with countries to develop best practices to work on an international code of conduct for the security of radiological sources. this is an extremely active area of programming and one where we will continue to be extremely active. one of our biggest accomplishments was first identifying and then retiring the radiological thermoelectric generators used by russia to power lighthouses in remote locations. these were massive sources, and one of them could have been used for many, many dirty bombs. that was a huge accomplishment

over multiple years, but we have similar kinds of work going on across the global for the last decade. >> i would just add that one of the things that we are doing better to do the three were not doing in the past has to do with source rule making. there are six focus areas that make this in more effective rule that includes background checks including fbi fingerprinting to help insure the individuals are allowed and. controlling person no access, significant sources being stored , documenting security programs that lay out how licensees will save kirk the sources court netting with low will law enforcement to have a

plan in place and coordinating and tracking radioactive source shipments such that if they become lost their is a matter to be able to find a. >> i think the international efforts we discussed today in terms of protecting the country highlight in an indirect way the importance of the issues we burn up in our report. as those pathways become more difficult to navigate with the easiest path as domestic. why try to bring something in from overseas if you can go to the local hospital where house? this underscores the importance of the -- making sure the nrc requirements for domestic medical and industrial users that are robust and weaknesses we identified are points that i

would island. looking of the definition of co locutions of an all all ruble facilities are subject to regulation, improving how we do background checks, giving better guidance, examining whether we should be playing a bigger role providing more specific guidance to companies and licensees who are not security professionals with commercial corporation and is doing a business and may have health and science background. they need more help. >> let's go back. category one or category two? >> category to. they have a source that needs to be replenished fairly often.

>> every year or two? >> about every three months. >> that is fairly often. all right. are we aware of any effort to actually mount an attack using a dirty bomb in this country or another country? much like and boston are we have the effort to unfortunately used pressure cookers to hurt and killed had been a lot of people, we have seen the use of poison. we have actually did this reduces of technology. to we have any documentation where this was to actually try it, baby failed to be aborted? >> i do not. there is the general threat that

we make every effort to safeguard against. i am not sure of my colleagues are aware of any attempts to produce a dirty ball. >> if you want to follow up with a classified briefing on the topic we can go into that in more detail. >> do enough. i will ask it follow-on question if it is not appropriate to answer in this space, just say so. all kinds of things including help to build weapons. pressure cooker bonds and, i presume, dirty bonds. given the access to that kind of

information why do you suppose the one shift to my knowledge has been successful and maybe it is because of the security measures the we're talking about maybe it is because that is true in of the country's. maybe it is not as easy as it sounds. i -- maybe people just decided that it is too dangerous. heard or name of the people. less damaging to the perpetrator . although a lot of them don't seem to care. why? why do you suppose we have not seen it attempted more? >> i will jump into start the conversation. i think the effort, they deserve

credit for what they have done to try to secure the sources. a fig where the conversation is going to buy is there more that we can do? it only takes one. >> quickly. i believe some of the efforts we have taken a certainly one of the drivers. when native art to get our hands on. >> i echo a lot of what you have said. >> thank you.

>> our support the statement about taking this up and a different environment. >> fair enough. >> are there any mechanisms to review decisions made by licensees to back. >> we would be able to inspect it and our next scheduled inspection activity. that is when we review the decision making. >> one understand and control board is being reviewed, the actual decision is left to the licensee. they are not allowed to have an

excess. >> is that satisfactory to back. >> i would respectfully differ to regulatory colleagues and support and advocate whom. >> fifth to you ticket would be helpful that the licensee kid a second opinion from the respective state regarded the trustworthiness of individual? >> senator, do not think that it would. we expect our licensees to perform these activities could give them guidance so that they can follow and repeat the right

decisions, but i would send it is not within our purview to be consultants. we review what has been done in making a decision. >> in any of your regulations allow licensees prevented from gaining access to back. >> they do not. >> okay. maybe one more question. one for ms. harrington on security enhancement. the national nuclear security of ministration global production initiative voluntary security

enhancements how many security enhancements as the national but clear security of ministration put into place for of of industrial and construction facilities? >> i don't i'll if these numbers break out the industrial facilities. according to our analysis there are approximately 3,000 buildings in the united states contending high risk radiological sources. of that number we have already worked in 650 buildings providing our security a great program and intends to complete another 45 when.

so that is a reasonable accomplishment but only gets us up to 700 out of 3,000. we have also recovered -- >> what about the other 2300. >> those are in and out-year plans. with the budget environment as a this we have had to extend the target date for completion farther than originally thought would be possible. the other part of this is the disposition breath away which is often a challenge because you either have to find a secure storage facility for long-term storage or some other way to safely dispose.

this will licensee's responsibility to do that unless the source that they have has no clear disposition pathway in which case we can step in and assist. >> if you had something to head feel free to do so briefly. >> these are enhancements. we believe compliance provides adequate protection of the public. i need to correct one statement i made earlier. about all category one sources are inspected on a yearly basis the inspection is based on the safety and robustness of the

device. and some are scheduled for periodic inspections. >> let me just say, our job in this committee is to do oversight. we have the responsibility of oversight. we also have broader responsibility for the federal government. other committees, some of them taken seriously if others did not. one community such as this, it is hard to exercise meritorious oversight. little bit too much to handle.

one of the things that we can do is ask them to look at particular issues. what are we doing wrong? what are others doing better a subject of today's hearing is something that will always be the subject for a hearing or for speculation. an attack of this nature. you never know. what we can do to try to make sure that we're doing everything to help win the best and prepare for the worst. i have encouraged.

but i certainly don't want to hear what someone did not do something about this threat of the dirty pall, to protect against it. want us to be able to say we work toward in order to protect our people and our kutcher from the threat of this nature. everything i do i know that i can do better. our goal is perfection. probably hard to reach, but as a good goal. i will conclude by saying how much we appreciate not just your behavior and preparing for the hearing and the answer my questions but the work did you do for our country.

thank you for your service to our nation. the hearing record will remain open for 15 days for the submission of statements. again, our thanks to each of you . thank you so much. [inaudible conversations] >> tonight on c-span2 the look at trade between the u.s. and mexico and a senate hearing on child attrition programs

followed by a hearing on securing radioactive waste. >> when i started covering congress you had people like senator russell, howard baker, people who were giants in their own way. a couple of those cars cut themselves into trouble, but overall these were people who were intelligent, do how to craft legislation, do a deal. there was politics, but at the end of the day it became together and made decisions were the good of the country. today you just don't see that anymore. the quality shephard has

diminished. there are still great people and a should not belied. but i think they are of a minority. increasingly people are driven by politics and other cell survival. i take the hardest work that they do is raising money. making speeches and positioning themselves to get reelected. >> leaving washington d.c. behind. find out why. >> the new book includes huffington post senior military correspondent. >> so big drives them to this idea that service, so many

people i no served and war. the intensity of the experience. the intensity of the relationships that they have with their combat but this course of strong and so pure and true that they look bark of those plans. and so i always asked the what do you wish this had never happened. a fig there is something else that goes on. going through a near-death experience some house seems to give them so much strength and courage shift and optimism that the think it is one of the reasons they would do it again. >> read more of our conversation

from public affairs boat available for father's day gift at your favorite parks over. >> over $500 billion of grooves out trade with mexico affects the u.s. economy. >> ladies and gentlemen, sorry to yell in your ear.

i will not. i refuse. i have just brought that kind of person. hate to interrupt your conversations. at the lunch hour it is a reunion. the dynamic presentation. as you can see, we had a conversation about infrastructure. we suffer through some of the challenges. we do not have enough space to accommodate all of those people. help us with our fund-raising and give us money. thank you so much you have to get that out there. i have very pleased to be able to introduce to you the speaker,

in a very dear friend, a woman who is much loved on both sides of the border, a name which everyone recognizes and always win over utah are about roberto you get the same response, a big smile develops on their faces. it is testament. i will read her biography very quickly sworn in as assistant secretary of state on march march 30th 2012 previously acting assistant secretary server is principal deputy assistant secretary from december 2010 to total of in addition to these rules roberto has been -- had a long term

interests in north america covering candid in nafta issues and the bureau. accord bigger for cuban affairs. fascinating to talk about. at what point do we include cuba in the discussion of north america. for those of you, was that it wedding recently. at least 30 people. they all think and talk like. it is extraordinary. at any rate, they are incredibly talented. ladies and gentlemen, please

welcome wilbur jacobson. a back. >> thank you. that was great. the thought i could eat the rest that could take the rest of the afternoon. it is very long, but it is really a pleasure to be back at the wilson center. i have never been in this room, and alan . as lovely as it is to look get to with it is not the easiest to see all of you. our apologized. i will try and speak to the road without looking like travel following it to as much. it is particularly nice to be

here because it is a reunion of sorts with so many people that are no fish caught from troops to the border, so much of the work that we have done together to work, border infrastructure, issues call sorts of did with the exception of the court said this robe when i started working on mexican issues. there are more than i would like to a bit. i am delighted to be here and to talk to this conference. one other caveat i will make is that it is with some trepidation that i address you because one of the next blessings about moving up into the position that i got low over two years ago is the from having worked on things

for about two years along with friends and other parts of north america and al have everything from canada to argentina and go good to spend nearly as much time as i would like focusing on the relationship and the border. i warn you in advance the some of the questions you asked i will have the answers to. it is not that there are not answers. i just would have today, and i apologize advance. our will skip these. he and many of our congressional participants on the hill vote. that is good news. i will fake duncan and the mexico institute and the border trade alliance and so much of

the work that they do every day as well as mexico to buy everything that has come together which reflects what we all wanted to up the border and to see move forward. i know that we have congress people from mexico and are proud that we have the kind of participation today and the interest that is reflected. what that reflects this not just an abiding interest that so many of you have had, our region that i have always felt does not like mexico city or washington but very much its own region. it reflects a growing recognition by folks are some of the border of the importance of the region to rest of us.

to all of the rest of loss of the united states and mexico and beyond the north america and the westerners your. in those statistics far better than i, but our will roll off a couple of good because i find that particularly impressive. we sell more to mexico and brazil, russia, india, and turn a combined. it is not a statistic that most americans realize. we sell more than one-and-a-half billion in trade daily supporting millions and jobs there is no other by national

economic relationship more important than our border region our governments, our two governments recognize the importance of this and are committed and have renewed that commitment to making it stronger , easier to get across for facilitating trade in trouble and the strength of the security corporation that we have. i think you can see that in some renewed partnerships, energy and partnerships that have taken place. let me talk about a couple and we can talk more about what your interests is as we have time. the high-level economic dialogue has gotten a lot of attention. it was announced when the president went to mexico, and it

was an important part of what the president discussed as rebalancing. i actually call it palin said because what there was was a sense that while the relationship was still taking place, the public face of that relationship was all too often focused entirely on security and therefore what we need to do together was bring the economic and commercial side of the relationship back into public view and make sure that we were giving it as much attention as we possibly could. high-level economic our lord was launched to focus on competitiveness and connectivity , to foster economic growth, productivity, of jupiter or shift at the focus on partner

in. and so the hled hazmat when the vice-president went to mexico and will be beating again. i am optimistic. focusing in this fall. there are a particular areas that i think are relevant to the border. the mexico u.s. entrepreneurship and innovation council this was during cross border on to the door should. i know this you have seen the meetings that have taken place and the border region, but that has launched to border regional economic development strategies, and that is critically important the master plans are being developed. the launching of these new economic strategy is are designed to make sure that we continue to focus on technology,

innovation knobs an entrepreneur should as engines of growth. in april the united states and mexico agreed to connect to the mexican small-business development center with similar u.s. centers so that we can make sure the small business owners and entrepreneurs in both countries have the resources of the need to be able to talk to each other, get advice from its other and tap into it shows that work to do the exporting of the need. one of the reasons that is so critical is what the president watched the small business network of the americas in 2012 mexico was one of the areas in which the small business development centers to golf. there are more small business development centers located in mexico than any other country and the western hemisphere. we'll know the small businesses are the engines of growth and in particular job creation.

those small businesses in general to not export. even in the united states less than 2 percent of small businesses export. when small businesses think about exporting the first step that they're going to take is most likely going to be with neighbors. it is more comfortable. it is going to be either with canada or mexico and that is what the small business development centers can help our small business entrepreneurs to. take that first step toward exporting which really can make him take a big step in their own businesses beyond just their local communities. we completed five of six border master plans to talk about infrastructure development, and the last one is on track for completion. we have.

exchanges on traffic and freight modeling to coordinate by national strategic free plans. tourism officials formed a working group to collaborate dated joint marketing and opportunities and promote entrusted traveler programs. you all know better than any health critical of this. as our presidents have agreed, to make sure we can merger trusted traveler programs to the greatest extent possible all throughout north america making it easier for our trusted travelers to travel freely throughout the north american continent. we talk in lot as part of the high-level economic dialogue and will continue to talk aggressively about education. this is a passion of mine in a job that i think this mexican government serve with shares. it is central to your vision of a competitive border.

the workforce that we need for the global environment and the tour to first century has to have different skills than my generation did, and it does not yet necessarily. president obama launched by 100,000 strong in 2011 to increase the flow of university -level exchange students into the united states and latin america. this program was modeled on the 100,000 strong program in china which was open to bring a hundred thousand u.s. tons to china. it was not necessary to create a to-work program because we had no trouble attracting more than a hundred thousand chinese students to the united states. between the united states and the caribbean we only have about not because the students total. about 60,000 from the region to

the u.s. and 40,000 the of the way. the numbers from mexico to the united states right now and the numbers from the u.s. to mexico are artificially low. they are not what they should be based upon our population, parks and the combat and the quality of our educational institution. and so we have to help get those numbers of. the exchanges in themselves will not make the difference in creating the work force we all need, but they help us demonstrate the with their global workforce and distorted first century looks like is what i'd like to call global larders, people who have had experience and more than one culture, people who speak more than one language, people can operate in the multinational environment whether they are doing so and government, the private sector, the ngo world can academia.

we will all have to be able to operate in the debarment. they're is a huge amount that we can do with mexico and happily with their ministers and came into power there was a desire to move aggressively on education. the mexican gulf went has sought to create by national structures that really go further that the program to do text together with the devastates be able to expand educational opportunities between our two countries and in particular to expand the research and innovation opportunities with the national labs, technology, incubators so that we could do more to develop the workforce and these two countries.

i know that you understand exactly why that is important. the university of texas at el paso host to the working group to explore the specific potential of the border region in increase in the bilateral collaboration. i think this is a particular area where the border will be able to help us and show us have this kind of interaction in exchanges educational potential is possible. on infrastructure i will speak briefly because you'll have a conversation about it and probably no so much more than i do. i do think that one of the things i hear when we talk at meetings like this over and over is that government perhaps still does not get it in don't understand as well as we should. the infrastructure deficit that we have of the border.

all of the efforts that we have been undertaking to make the border more competitive will not mean much if people and vehicles at goods cannot get across the border. obviously the studies that we have looked at have shown that border traffic congestion and delays cost the u.s. and mexican economies an additional estimated $7 billion in growth output at more than 62,000 jobs. we cannot afford that. it 2010 we launched a 21st century border management initiative and the dollar edged our shared interest in creating a border that can promote competitiveness and rapid movement of goods and people will take more effort by all of us.

we have made progress on infrastructure at the border coordinating a number of the ports of entry project and many of those are moving forward creating a huge headache in the interim chief. obviously the busiest border crossing in the world is undergoing a three phase major renovation which will be an enormous boon to the region. we are beginning phase three. put a cross border facility which i think is a unique project. the u.s. side is nearly

there's a focus on the border and making sure that we never see security and efficiency as zero some but as things that have got to be working together to end of and a more efficient and secure border that reinforce each other in a positive light. i think that we are in a position right now where the relationship has moved ahead very well and where the security situation as tough and as difficult as it is for the mexican government and the mexican people, you have seen significant victories against barry sr. leaders in mexico in recent months. obviously the detention being the most heralded in the paper, but significant targets, many numbers of them have been

detained. i do think that this is the result of years and a renewed commitment to the guns of law enforcement cooperation that goes on every day in particular at the border between professionals on both sides. we are grateful for our partners and the way that we work together on the. phenomenon just as our economic and commercial relationships are intertwined and by national for better or worse criminal activities are transnational. none of us can confront the below which is recognized on both sides of the border as well this is a relationship that is going extremely well. obviously have not spoken specifically to the reforms that have been undertaken, but we have seen some extraordinary

movement on what some of : 20 years of reforms, things that we think will have very positive impacts on the economic relationship with the united states. so we are very, very excited about the relationship and positive about the relationship and believe that that will, as always, be reflected and initiated at the border itself. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you so much. >> i am only taking the easy questions. sponsoring this launch. these guys are the ones to foot the bill for it.

[applause] >> well you are thinking of questions, i have one here. so often it has been a negative conversation about mexico. it held positive and constructive. the number of people who actually now come out -- >> that is an amazing. i'd to give testimony on the house side which can sometimes be the thing i am most afraid of . this is house foreign affairs committee. it was a full committee hearing, and i have never in my career had 33 or 34 members show up before hearing. not all at once because that would have scared me, but there were a lot of them there for much of the time. certainly, as you all know, not

all from the border. it was amazing because not everyone was interested. not every question was all positive, but it was terrific. yes. that is a really good point. >> thank you for your talk. what is your opinion with the oval is the border communities with the new age list? it came out in the federal register that we send comments. important to have good voices, but we are still trying to find out what it means and the best way of communicating what is happening to my level economic dialogue, the local cross border issues. >> it is a good question, and i think that the most important thing is to make sure that

washington is understanding or aware of -- famous for the law of unintended consequences, for taking decisions which are not intended to hurt parties on the ground or have affects and local communities but to or are intended to have x benefit but have white effect on people. making things more efficient, reducing paperwork, moving to electronic forms, whatever, you know, it might be that we are trying to make more efficient, the effect on the local community or alley border infrastructure project may be affected a local community is far too often invisible to many of us here. ..

>> >> i have seen common interest on the northern and southern border. it is not the same i am truly well aware of that but there are some things that

border communities on the northern and southern border i hear echoes. if community organization in both places could occasionally worked together on things you would be powerful indeed because the number of representatives would basically win but i don't know if the congressman would agree with me on this but i have yet to see southern border caucus people on the hill work that effectively with the northern border congress people because this is part of the system if you get a little more money from the northern border retakes with from the southern border instead of saying we have some of the same issues, as

border folks we should beat down the people in the middle. [laughter] i wonder if some of that could not be done some economies of scale. i don't know. that is the way you have to continue to get our attention in defense like this are important to bring his ability to issue. what some are the most pressing problems we go back with something we have not heard before. that is both good and bad. but that is the point.

and then not paying attention to the environmental issue. >> i am glad you have the approach which has waged a legal aid to the bilateral analysis. >> they would be so proud we channeled him here. >> he will be glad to hear that with his share of mexican students from the universities here in the u.s.. there is the second doctorate but that is beside the point. [laughter] the project and has been installed for whatever reason?

by way of the bilateral effort with that telecommunications. [laughter] >> i hope it doesn't take my death to do something. [laughter] i am not sure i have seen it that project i really want to move ahead stalled. i have a huge commitment to the education stuff and i am a little bit worried honestly by forces outside our control. i am a little bit concerned. i do think this is changing that my concern has been the

security perception it is clear it has inhibited u.s. students from going to new mexico and in some cases physically prohibited them the coz they stop doing their exchange programs. i think that is changing with the perception there are plenty of places in mexico where they can go to study. the state department tried to do its part by insuring the information sheet and the traveler advisory were more specific than anything we would normally put out where violence has been a problem and where it is not. we don't normally do that and it was controversial but we felt it was important enough that people did not

have the misimpression of the whole. but i also think, and i know this from my own it teenage kids and their cohorts that i work on these issues every day i hope i have a little bit better understanding than the front pages of the newspapers. i hope. but if you don't if that is your perception then for a while you were not going to send your kids to the place for all you saw were pictures of the of morning after the latest attack. so wide to sink the changing public focus on the full range of things going on in mexico has been very, very good for both the bilateral

relationship and mexico and the potential to send students back to mexico. because there is so much more going on. when you talk to parents of students about going to coasta rica you have an interesting conversation how great coaster wreaking is as if nobody understood the geography of central america. that is not to disparage the customer because it is a wonderful place but there are problems that affect the entire isthmus' not just the northern triangle. this is an important ability what is the reality of mexico that is what the administration wanted to do.

and we have helped with our partners to a better job to convey what is real. my hope is we can now advance on the educational side that i also hope i am not sure of the structural impediments but if we continue to have the same socio-economic groups whose parents and grandparents came here who can afford it if they are the same kids that keep coming and i have not succeeded and you will want to be there. which have to broaden the pool for those who never thought they could come here with all due respect to your successful daughter but not coming to stanford but community colleges and technical school and because they will learn how to operate machinery in a production plant.

that is really what i am trying to officiants. that is a far freer working with miami-dade colleges and that is hard because those kids may be older older, families, jobs, they are not coming during they're junior year to spain but maybe one month if i guarantee a job at the other and/or the private sector does. that is what we're talking about how to lie expand that pool to the kid to have not had that opportunity before in the united states and overseas. i am not sure what is stopping we by and still having trouble. [laughter] >> let me give you my personal thank you but i will turn it over. >> as i was listening faq for attending this beautiful

chat just now were ago she said she did the haag -- did not come prepared ladd is questionable but i think it reached the message in the semicircle room and i cannot express how lucky we are. for mexico for which to express how good partners we are to listen to your speech about security interview listening to your speech about education that is nothing less emotional because then you don't see medical doctors or lawyers

but from time to time they use see quite often from mexico then you can see that and see it is a waste of economic resources. so that is exactly what we have to focus on. made to organize the university because they asked for that university. they look for the subjects to be taught to house aerospace business. the more i hear you, the more i am convinced it needs

to be pertinent and that linkage between boys or girls as opposed to the big ones is not necessary for the industry other bias we will continue to have people better ashley of satisfied if their lives from what they think they know from the industry. so i am very happy. i thank you for coming for the job we have to do. you have graciously supported us partner with mexico to do things together to show the world we can become of power plays so once again thank you they q4

coming to the of wonderful location. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> one of the things they don't always recognize during the war of 1812 didn't end through 1815 and it was about the america reestablishing its independence against the british. this was the second american revolution and this fight is the object for francis scott key were he penned the words that became the national anthem. >> with in 1995 the flag was made to look restored but whether it was moved into the new exhibition space there was a deliberate decision not to do that began.

we wanted the flag to become a metaphor for the country in the message is the survival of the country and the flag not trying to make it look pretty but with the history

[inaudible conversations]ç >> good morning we will come to order raised are pleased you arenñ here today welcoming everyone into the first hearing as we begin the processçd to reauthorize child and nutrition programs they could not come at a more critical time. today more than 68 million children in this country don't have enough to eat at the same time childhood obesity rates have tripled over the last 30 years. something is wrong with this pitcher.

the trend is not just a threat to the health of america's young people but to the future of national security and we will talk about that today. u.s. military has depended on the streets, mccurry jeb young americans the world series -- to be fighting force of leaders recognize this historically when they asked congress for help to have responded. near the end of world war ii coming before congress to explain malnutrition and under free were to blame for recruits rejected for service in the armed forces. in response, congress launched the national school lunch program calling it of measure of national security. today, our military leaders have a similar request and

it is this a request you will hear from pediatricians and school teachers and parents. task we protect and strengthen school nutrition programs to strengthen the nation's military preparedness and improve the long-term health of the next generation of americans. this as even more urgency today because roughly 27 percent of americans between the ages of 17 and 24 are overweight and cannot serve in the military and those new recruits to failed exams rose by 70 percent. childhood obesity weaken the nation's financial security as well the nation spends about $40 billion per year

to treat obesity and preventable wait related diseases but for $0.14 we can give them an apple. $14 billion or $0.14? an ounce of prevention is worth 1 pound of cure. these are the critical types of investments to save billions down the road with a high a cost associated to prevent preventable diseases and in the classroom it could spur a lifetime of achievement made no those to achieve a healthy breakfast tab of better math score in the less likely to be absent from class a healthy lunch

can form the foundation for a lifetime of good health. so they can focus on what is important and ultimately to be successful id future years. while it is easy to think of the six month budget or the annual appropriation it is about the big picture. the key components of child attrition is important to remember that it is also about wellness policies women infant children programs and school efforts and day care and reducing hunker for children after school and the summer months. it is important investing in our children's teachers know how else that only about the

cost of a neil but to invest in the nation's future long-term economic strains and educational success and the health and happy life of our families. we have a great panel of witnesses today to discuss the big picture to invest in the health of our children. a ranking member is not able to be with us but if either of my colleagues want to make a brief comment we are happy otherwise we will go to the witnesses. >> can i introduce one. >> you may proceed. >> trading in pediatric say and in medicine is the attendee position and at university of rochester medical center. part of the health and

children's working group and has been a resource of children's house. the research focuses on children and a pc by the kidnap cardiovascular risk and is the jiggle part of the obesity collaborative that set up the national model for treatment and is among the 10 teams chosen which is aimed at curbing a collaborate in the u.s. it and completed the of residency and the chief residents didn't new york and with that metabolic complications he has received honors it has sped

recognized by the american heart association in 2011 and currently serves on the anti-honker task force we welcome him to the senate agriculture committee today. >> thank you for your advocacy and leadership those who are strong advocates and we look forward to working with you in partnership as we proceed to authorize in the coming year. to proceed with other witnesses eliot pleased to introduce our first witness a retired four-star general whose serves on the executive's advisory council. military evaders for the nonprofit national security organization committed to

strengthening future generations through smart policy throughout the military career with staff positions overseas and in 22 major commands as the air force director of operations during the first goal for the of principled deputy assistant for acquisition and commander of united states air force in europe we welcome you. the second witness is president of the national pta that is a senior operations analyst with the general dynamics and georgia a retired lieutenant colonel and the last aside with the communications agency.

he earned the bronze star medal for exceptional performance in combat operations during operation and iraqi freedom and as the pta leader the military background has allowed him to volunteers throughout the country and the world that serious states and we are pleased to have you with us. let me now turn to yolanda of principle of francis scott key middle school in maryland and educator for 21 gears of the earth science and chemistry teacher and also taught at bethesda chevy chase high school at silver spring international

middle school before coming principal was of the elementary school in has spent several years in the montgomery county public school system to participate in a national school lunch and breakfast program to provide meals the participates in under medication reprogram this including after-school snacks and summer meals. we're so pleased to have you there with your experience and expertise i would remind you we're asking for five minutes we are happy to except whatever you a bite to give us in writing as well. >> first of all, thanks for

holding this hearing and for including me hire appreciate the opportunity to you get a for respective it may seem odd the retired general officer would be here to talk about childhood nutrition but as pointed out the national school lunch program was established in 1946 have large measure to the experience of world war ii of those who were not qualified for military service, about 40% were now nourished so congress took action to establish the school lunch program to have a great effect on recruits who defend the nation. unfortunate these 70 years later it is a problem for

our military but the pendulum has swung and now we have too many children and recruits better overweight and unfit to perform the service that we require. 75% of europe americans today are unfit for military service and that is a tragic figure. as pointed out about 20 for seven - - 27% are too fat to meet the demands of service and with the educational requirements have a criminal background that disqualifies. just to put a number on this for the six years 2006 through 2011 and beyond bin and women were denied at a

rate of 62,000 during that period because they were overweight or obese. that would be about 30 air force combat wings it is an astounding figure and one that demands action. 1,201st term ulysses' are discharged every year and of course, the military has to go out and train the replacement. i don't know how this is the $0.14 apple theory but $90 million per year that we spend. . .

and they examined how obesity effects are military and highlights the need for standards in our school lunch program and went to fat to fight was in 2010 are children were consuming way too many junk food calories, the equivalent of 2 billion candy bars a