.. >> next, "the communicators" with gordon smith, president and sea owe of the national association -- ceo of the national association of broadcasters. then former president george w.

bush and jill biden talk about programs to help veterans transition to civilian life. after that, victim compensation expert ken feinberg announces his proposals on how to compensate victims of crashes linked to defective gm ignition switches. >> now you can keep in touch with current events from the nation's capital using any phone anytime with c-span radio on audio now. call 202-626-8888 to hear congressional coverage and today's "washington journal"7! program. and every weekday, listen to a recap at 5 p.m. eastern on "washington today." you can also hear awed -- audio of the public affairs programs beginning sunday at noon eastern. call 202-626-8888. long instance or phone charges may apply. >> c-span, created by america's

cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. national association of broadcasters' president is and ceo gordon smith is our guest this week on "the communicators." senator smith, theç aereo senator smith, theç aereo decision came down byñ supreme court. what's your reaction? >> guest: well, i'm smiling, peter. i'm gratified that the supreme court stood by a principle which is as old as the constitution which is that copyright material has a value, and those who own a copyright should be free to negotiate for its value. and i think they came down on the right side of the law and history. >> host: in justice wryer's opinion -- breyer's opinion, he compared aereo quite a bit to a

cable company. is that -- >> guest: of course it is because you had broadcast tv, and then cable came along and then satellite. but what if satellite had said, you know, we're or different from cable, we have a slightly different technology, so with we going to take that and not consider ourselves to be in law which is called an nvpd, so we don't have to negotiate. but satellite didn't do that. and so why should aereo be able to come up with a different technology and say we don't have to negotiate for copyrighted material? we've said from are the beginning this isn't about being opposed to technology. there's still a technology there this aereo, and maybe there's a business model for it. but that doesn't mean you can evade the law to run a business. >> host: so what's, what's the business model that you could foresee? >> guest: well, they could do what cable and satellite does. they could deal with us on copyrighted material. so it's a technology that may

have a place in the market, with but they now have to obey the rules of the road that everyone else that's out there on the highway has to obey. >> host: so you could see the naw or broadcasters -- nab or broadcasters dealing with aereo as they d!uñ with cable compani? retransmission costs, nets. >> guest: look, my job is to advocate for laws and regulations that allow my members to stay in business. aereo was an existential threat to that, if not a direct threat to that. and i would, i would imagine that this does not go away and that there will be discussions with aereo and broadcasters, but that's beyond my, my responsibility, and i will leave that to the judgment of my members. >> host: well, joining our conversation is monty tayloe of "communications daily." >> mr. smith, aereo was pretty popular, does it suggest that

broad broadcasters should be trying to do something differently to capture that markmt or take those customersç na0q92[

as a u.s. senator is extremely difficult to do because it's essentially about picking winners and losers. and it's hard for congress to make those judgments. but that said, i believe we will be very cooperative and highly engaged in the development of an update of copyright law and already are. >> host: senator smith, i want to read from justice scalia's dissent. on remand, justice scalia writes, one of the first questions the lower courts will face is whether aereo's record function which allows subscribers to savee-c a program while it is airing and watch it later, infringes the network's public performance right. >> guest: yeah. i mean, that's certainly something yet for the courts to decide, and it will be remanded. but of what was upheld today -- but what was upheld today was the fundamental constitutional principle that you can't take

someone else's copyrighted intellectual property and resell it without dealing with the owner of that copyright. so however future cases develop, that principle was decisively established and settled by the supreme court today. >> if we could move to the incentive auction? is it going to be a success? are there enough broadcasters who are going to participate in that, do you think? >> guest: i can only speculate. i only know of about 70 stations that are saying that they want to participate. i think they need a lot more than that to have what would be regarded as a successful auction. but i would also want to say that one of the real motives behind the spectrum auction was the funding of the firstnet public safety network that chairman rockefeller wanted. and theçñ2ixç ÷ñ6-[zç

being held now, the fcc has said that will probably provide the money sufficient to fund that firstnet system. which is good. so the point is the fcc shouldn't be in a hurry to get this rushed through when the pressure is off financially to accomplish a public goal. what with we hope is that they will do it right and not just in a rush. and and our concerns are from the software modeling, this government's having difficulty when it comes to software. when we run their modeling, about half the viewership in this country, half the tv stations, rather, their coverage areas are significantly and adversely impacted. that's a real problem. because that disenfranchises an awful lot of people who can't afford a $200-a-month cable or satellite bill and who are

telecommunications through over the the air broadcasting. >> the commission response to that argument has said the software they want to use is the only one that can handle the calculations and that the software that nab favors isn't up to the job, is using outdated census data and is, you know, very old by most standards of software. if this is all that they can do, i mean, how can you ask them to use this older -- >> guest: we have no problem with them looking at census data. that's fine. >> uh-huh. >> guest: but sometimes new software, as hhs found out, doesn't exactly work east. so -- work either. so we want what works, and we don't want to lose in some cases half our coverage area, because that is not holding broadcasters harmless as the statute calls on them to do. >> you guys in tilings about that software have used the language that makes it seem like you might go to court over that, and you already are embroiled in some court challenges with the

fcc. would your members support a court challenge of that software, and is there a chance it could derail the whole process if it -- >> guest: i promise you, we will defend our coverage areas, and we will do it in court in and when that is necessary. >> host: do at&t and verizon have too much leeway this these upcoming auctions? >> guest: they're important participants. they have the big checkbooks. and, but with, you know, they have influence and, obviously, there's a tug between wanting to maximize the dollars to return to the federal treasury versus not trying to recreate ma bell which some would argue we're on the verge of doing. and, you know, competition if it's, needs to be there in the end, but those are decisions the fcc has to make. >> host: what's your impression so far of tom wheeler's fcc]cg

. >> guest: well, 20% is 60 million people, and who are those people? they tend to be overwhelmingly minority community members. they tend to be the elderly, the young techies and the economically disadvantaged. the question is, do they count too? and my answer, may sound like a democrat or a republican, i think they count. and i think localism is one of those endurable values that congress established in the beginning so that every community has access to broadcasting if they can't pay for it, they can get it for free to tell 'em what the news is, what the weather is, what the traffic is, what the sports scores were and especially in emergency circumstances whether it's a terrorist attack, a earthquake. all these other telecommunications devices tend to fall first but not broadcasting.

governor after governor has said in alabama and kansas and missouri thank heavens broadcasting stayed on because they saved human lives. >> host: but how local is it when a sinclair or a salem owns several stations across the country? >> guest: they have to do local news. sinclair owns stations in baltimore and seattle, washington, and in seattle they're not looking at baltimore news, they're looking at seattle. so that comes with the license that a broadcaster has. and there's no one else in pay tv or on the internet or in any ore form other than -- other form other than newspapers, radio and television are covering local issues and providing local information which is actually really important to being a civically involved and civically-minded member of the country. be -- so nobody does that except broadcasting, and that has a

durable value for the country. >> on that note, companies like sinclair, they're -- they were highly dependent on sharing arrangements to get things done. we've seen a lot of turn on that with deals being altered to account for the fcc's new rules, and you guys have taken the fcc to court on these. >> guest: yeah. >> what do you hope to accomplish by doing that? and what do you want to get out of that? what rule should be in place? >> well, frankly, first of all, they've changed the rules in the middle of the stream. deals that were already blessed are now somehow in violation. and, you know, it's not hard to note the irony with all these huge megamergers in cable and satellite and telephone that there seems to be no concern about that, but they're concerned about sharing arrangements in bangor or boise. i mean, you know, the differences of scale are incred l. why do -- incredible. why do they do it?

well, they have the right to do it to us, they don't have the right to do it to them. and i just simply note the irony. ÷ not where all the big action is occurring when, for example, cable has what's called interconnect. and they do lots of sharing of selling of ads and of negotiating. but that's somehow wrong for us and okay for them. >> your court challenges also involve the closing of the 2010 review, and i'm just wondering, the 2010 review, you know, it got to that point because they couldn't make a decision on it, the commission couldn't come out with anything. if you guys successfully get that part of it to come back, why would the 2014 review or a new 2010 review, why is that going to go differently than the previous one did? >> guest: we just think they have a statutory obligation. until they start making decision against us on ownership-related issues, they ought to at least do their part of the bargain which is live up to the statute and say, okay, what's changed

and what should change relative to ownership or sharing arrangements before they start saying broadcasters can't, it's okay for everybody to, everyone else to do so. >> when i went to the nab show, a lot of the talk there was that some of these policies are designed to make broadcasting uncomfortable and force people into the incentive auction. do you think that's still a prevailing belief in broadcasting, and do you agree with it? >> guest: i believe that's the prevailing view, is that there's a bias, a hostility towards broadcaster and an underappreciation about what benefit we confer to the american people. free to those who can't afford to pay for it. that said, that is the view of my members, and i would, i would hope that that would change. and we're doing everything we can to change it. >> host: but do you believe, do you agree with that? that that's the case? >> that it's designed to force you into the auction? >> guest: i would hope not. whether i believe it or not, i

guess i'm becoming more suspicious of that narrative all the time because i just see decision after decision coming down that is trying to complicate life for broadcasters when there's no one stepping up to do what broadcasters do to provide all this localism for free. there's no remacement. i mean -- replacement. think about what we do every the life of a broadcaster to go out into the eye of the storm to broadcast. the news people need to be safe or to get rescue or to get recovery. i don't, you know, when you look at cable, cnn doing that, i love cable, but you look up there in the cable, and they're taking a broadcast feed. because the local broadcaster's doing that and sharing that with a cable station. somehow sharing is wrong. i don't see that because i think what's essential is broadcasting survive because of the values it serves. and economies of scale are

necessary. but broadcasters have all these ownership restrictions that are not applied to others which i believe, ultimately, is borne out of a bias against us. >> host: gordon smith, the nab's opinion, your opinion op some of the mergers that are moving forward in the pay tv industry, comcast/time warner, at&t/directv. >> guest: i know my members are deeply concerned about it. again, because of our scale relative to their scale. and it's all about negotiating power and the ability to get fair value for their contempt. content. but it is a fact that our members are very, very concerned about it. >> host: what's your current relationship with the comcast -- >> guest: they're members. they own nbc. and i'm pleased to tell you at their highest levels nbc/comcast or comcast/nbc universal have

been with us on broadcasting issues. they have not been the problem in relationship to retransmission consent or these issues. they're been stand-up guys -- they've been stand-up guys. but that isn't necessarily to say that my other network members are really comfortable with this ever-growing network of cable that has tremendous market power, whereas theirs seems to have shackles on it. >> going back to the fcc, do you think that it's more politicized now than it has been? i notice there's a lot of party line decisions, and i'm wondering if you think there's more than there have been before? #(sjut of a role in there?laying >> guest: as to broadcasting? >> as to broadcasting, as to everything. >> guest: i'll tell you the irony i see in all of this, and i'm not here to be partisan because i know, having been the former republican head of the republican high-tech task force that we were really anxious to get the support of silicon

valley. the democrats, frankly, beat us to it and were better at it, and they are more, they seem to be very drawn to the wishes of google and microsoft and these great companies. but what i'm always amazed at, when you look at the demographics of a broadcast viewership, the democratic party. the it's, many of the minority community, the young techies, the economically-disadvantaged. and my plea to them is don't forget who brought you to the party. so broadcasting is important even as they look to silicon valley. look in the rearview mirror. and broadcasting's their friend. >> playing off of that, the commission had those critical information need studies that were designed to look at diversity in broadcasting, and they got canceled because of political pressure primarily. chairman wheeler said that they need to be replaced. how should they do that without encountering the same political

problems they did before? >> guest: on jsa? >> on critical information needs studies. >> guest: well, what that ran into was a regulator getting into the editorial rooms of broadcasters, and i think there was some real first amendment concerns about that approach. that said, i think the fcc's motives was not to infringe upon the first amendment, but to get the critical information they wanted to have. but it's, frankly, hard to do without trampling on the state getting into editorial decisions of newsrooms. >> they have a court order, i think, that requires them to gather some of that data? and there's congressional requirements too, i believe? how could they go about it to fulfill those that would be okay with your membership? >> guest: very difficult. i don't have an easy answer to that, and i know the support for that has substantially eroded when the first amendment implications

were considered. >> host: senator smith, i want to talk a little bit about the tech issue that you were talking about earlier. what's the future of the nab with the googles of the world, with silicon valley, with some of the different technologies that we're seeing for watching television, for getting video? and that includes aereo as well and their technology. >> guest: yeah. well, i would just simply say we welcome them, we love to do business them. that's not my call, not my members' call. but they wouldn't like us infringing on their copyrights. we simply ask that they respect ours and that we do business up front and in the open. >> does aereo go away at this point? >> guest: that's up to them. i mean, i've read barry diller's comments this morning that it was over, but it is a technology that if it can operate in compliance with constitutional

law, then fine, let's

is there more to do? of course. there's more opportunity. my members are great business people, and they're always looking for ways to increase viewership. >> does this also, the effort sort of flow into this -- >> guest: it does. >> is that proceeding quick enough? i know sinclair has said it wasn't for them. is that effort threatened by what sinclair's said? >> guest: no. in fact, i think sinclair's

actually right. we -- this'll be very technical for your viewers, but back in the early '90s there were two broadcasts called ofdm and there's atfc. and the rest of the world went ofdm, and america went atfc. and what we know now that was not clearly known then is that in the digital mobile world, standard. and it may well be that we'll need to go to another transition to a new standard. it's very complicated. i was on the senate commerce committee when we changed there analog to digital. but it is doable. and there's so many new, exciting technological things coming in broadcast television way beyond this hullty casting -- multicasting. if we get on the right standard, we can do mobile in many ways that penetrates buildings, so you can look at free tv on any device anywhere you are.

can't do that on our current standard. there's 4k ultrahigh definition, and then there's 8k which i've seen in tokyo, japan, at the nhk laboratories which is like 3-d without glasses. i mean, it is so incredible, but you need a better standard than we are on in atf. but the atfc.3 actually gives us what the ofdm standard provided. so i see a real opportunity in the future that people can stream it, or in the future they can just get it for free which, you know, free is better than a fee. >> host: speaking of the senate commerce committee, gore on the smith, they're currently working on stella. >> guest: yes. >> host: and there's some talk of some add-ons and not making it a clean bill. >> guest: yeah. we don't like that. let's be clear, stella has to be reauthorized every five years

to, in order for pay television, satellite specifically -- only satellite -- can get to stranded viewers. and we're fine with that. but what the pay tv community does is use the reauthorization which is already in their favor to damage broadcasting, to try and get extraneous things in there like government coming in and arbitrating or putting their thumb on the retransmission consent process. and we don't like that, and we resist that, and i'm optimistic that in the end stella will be clean or stella won't be reauthorized. so we're engaged, and i knowvx chairman rockefeller's got some different views that are hostile to cable and satellite and hostile to broadcasting. the house commerce committee after my congressman, congressman walden has already put out what i would call a good stella. not a clean stella, a dusty stella.

[laughter] chairman leahy, my friend in the senate, senate judiciary committee, has put out a clean stella with senator grassley. there's a long way to go in here, there are four committees of jurisdiction. one has acted, another's about to act. one is dusty, one is clean. one might be really problematic. in the end, this will likely be decided if at all in the lame duck that is surely to come. >> host: is telecommunications policy too often, in your view, legislated in stovepipe fashion? >> guest: yes, and that's the problem. i mean, this is how, you know, congress operates. it seems to be in slices, because doing big, comprehensive things i know from are a firsthand experience is extremely difficult. so the stovepipes are just the practical, logical outcome. but it also creates a real hodgepodge of policy that makes it kind of difficult for old

legacy industries and new entrants as well. >> host: monty tayloe, time for one more question. >> is there still hope for keeping the sports blackout rule intact? >> guest: i think so, but, i mean, first -- i hope your viewers understand that sports blackout sounds like a bad thing, but the fcc's rule actually just backstops what is contractual between the local television and the network and the, tradition, the nfl. it's designed to make sure that they can put fannies in seats and that the local television station is supported so is that people who have to, want to get it, need to get it for free can still get it over the television. there were only, i think, two blackouts this year. theñ6 nfl is working hard to ty

to redistribute the economics so that there aren't any. but on the other hand, what the sports blackout rule would do in isolation is allow a distance signal to be brought into a local area which totally cuts out that local community's commerce, you know? where do you sell your chevy when they're talking about chevys in los angeles and you happen to live in buffalo, new york? so that's the thing. we think that the local station should be supported. and we want people to view it, and we, we're working with the nfl, and they're working on it to preserve this the market way without the congress taking an approach which, ultimately, damages local television, local economies. and we don't think that's good. >> host: and finally, senator smith, i want to close again with justice breyer's opinion in

the aereo case, and this is his closing line. we remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. are there other cases out there? >> guest: i believe there's one before the ninth circuit court of appeals called aereo killer, and i think they kind of put a stay on that pending what the supreme court decided. there may be new things coming along, but what this decision does is really reenthrone the principle of copyright as it relates to telecommunications. >> host: there's new technologies coming every year. >> guest: all the time. >> host: so -- >> guest: and if they can operate lawfully, consistent with the constitution, we're all for it. >> host: gordon smith, president and ceo of the national association of broadcasters, monty tayloe with "communications daily." gentlemen, thank you. >> guest: thank you. ..

you can see that live at 10 a.m. eastern here on c-span2. >> booktv sat down with hillary clinton in little rock to discuss her newest book "hard choices." >> nobody expected the so-called arab spring and tell it was upon us. and we have to learn to be agile and ready for the unexpected

your while we tried to build the world that we want them especially for our children, enough for my future grandchild, but we've got to be aware of the fact that all these other countries, all the other billions of people, they are making hard choices every single day. we have to be ready for that because i am absolutely convinced that we have to continue to lead the world into the kind of future that we want. we can't sit on the sidelines. we can't retreat. we're going to have setbacks. we will have disappointments, but over time our story has become the dominant story. it represents the hopes and aspirations of people everywhere. that's what i want americans to understand. and the main reason why i wrote this book. i know there's a big debate going on about our role in the world and we have some real unfortunate consequences still

to deal with from prior decisions and the like, but we can't abdicate our responsibility, how we define it, how we execute it will be the stuff of political debate. but the world needs us. america matters to the world and just the world matters to america for our prosperity and our security and our democracy. >> hillary clinton spoke with us about her decision-making process, her perception of the united states around the globe and some of the decisions she had to make a secretary of state. the full interview airs on booktv saturday july 5 at 7 p.m. eastern and sunday july 6 at 9:15 a.m. eastern. >> now, former president george w. bush and jill biden speak at an event on helping veterans transition from military to civilian life. topics include unemployment, addiction, and the stigmas running mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress. the event also includes a panel

with former joint chiefs of staff chairman peter pace. this takes place at the george w. bush presidential center in dallas. this is an hour and 25 minutes. >> and good morning. thank you. good morning and welcome to the bush center. we are thrilled you're here. we are here this morning of course to examine the unique needs of our military service personnel and we can do to more effectively help them during their transition from active duty. and thank you all for being here. before i go any further i'd like to ask everyone in the audience who is totally serving or have served in the military to please stand so that we can recognize and thank you, thank you for volunteering to wear our country's uniform and to protect the freedoms that we cherish in america. please stand. [applause]

wow. thanks also to the family members. some of you played the role of caretaker when your loved one came home injured from battle, and we are grateful for your service and your sacrifice. so let's give the family members a round of applause as well. [applause] as you just saw in the opening video the bush institute through our military service initiative, president bush supports all our nation service members, especially those who did post-nine of the military service. it's a big year for our military service initiative. under the president leadership we are asking how we can best serve our veterans, so thank you or your leadership. looking around this room it's clear that we have a high-powered who's who group assembled here today and we're thrilled to have such participants on the panel. i know we'll all learn a lot. general pace, where are you?

thank you for being here this morning and for your leadership of our advisory committee. dr. biden, thank you for making the trip to warm, sunny taxes. we look forward to hearing from you. and thank you, colonel miguel howell, also seen innovativ in o for your leadership of this tremendous initiative. we are thrilled to have you continuing to serve us, colonel. i also want to recognize the good work of each of you here, the corporate nonprofit and government partners that we have here today. you have stepped up to meet the needs of our service members and our families and we and they are grateful. thank you to the companies and citizens who fund these organizations, they couldn't do it without you. our to organize and its osha of the bush center our leadership and freedom. because we are always in need of the first and at risk of losing the chance of the second. this audience certainly understands that better than anybody. you are here because you are leaders and because you have a deeply held commitment to freedom. at the bush center each of our

initiatives designed to help identify and develop leaders in the united states and abroad as we work on minty fronts. our education initiative is provide innovative ways to train school principals to leave their campuses and as rethink of how best to educate students during the particularly challenging years of middle school. our global health initiatives is helping to save the lives of those in africa by breeding -- bringing final health care. our human freedom works host visitors to most recently a chinese activist who is a blind advocate for farmers and the disabled, and the north korean political prison camp survivor. our women's initiative led by mrs. bush helped cultivate female leaders through a fellowship program in egypt and now tunisia, the afghan women's project, and a special partnership program with first ladies around the world to help advance education, health and economic opportunities for women and children worldwide.

and, finally, of course the reason we're here today, the goal of her military service initiative is to honor post-9/11 veterans by empowering them to live productive, fulfilling lives when they leave military service. and now it's my honor to introduce a man who's doing just that, justin constantine. lieutenant colonel justin constantine joined the united states marine corps after completing his second year of law school. while on active duty he served as judge advocate specializing in criminal law. as reservists in 2006 he was deployed to iraq and was hit by a sniper. after recovering from his injuries in 2070 worked with the is department of justice, the senate veterans' affairs committee, and the fbi. not long ago he began his own business as an inspirational speaker. justin participate in our warrior open golf tournament last september. that's how we got to know him, and you will recognize them from the video. justin, thank you for your service and for being such a

powerful example. thank you for your leadership and for being here today. justin. [applause] >> welcome it's truly an honor to be here on such an important day. as a wooded were in the post-9/11 veteran, the latest transition to the private sector during a tough economic times i think i'm a good representative of today's newest, greatest generation. today we're going to hear from a number of experts and thought leaders on issues all related to veterans transition. at the end of the day it truly does take a village. i hope you realize how complicated a successful transition actually can be and what an important role each of you place in it. after i was airlifted to a medical hospital, my wife stayed at the fisher house it was treated like royalty. a couple weeks later at the icu

in bethesda, the semper fi fund came to visit me. a week after that, the wounded warrior project came to visit me. i was getting surgery but elected t-shirt there for me on my bed which reminded me americans cared about my recovery. as an outpatient i learned to play golf, which is how i ended up your at the wounded warrior open which is a truly incredible expense for everyone who is involved. i developed the courage to open my own business after i talked to mike and attended the boot camp for disabled veterans at duke university but as you heard i have worked with a lot of corporations including a handful of blackstone companies, thankss to the likes of steve schwartzman and sandy aubin and mark troy. now i continue to get my counseling for post-traumatic stress which provides free and much needed health care, mental health care for post 9/11

veterans and their families all across this country. i'm proud to be part of the chamber of commerce is hiring our heroes initiative, the campaign which is developing great resources to all of our transitioning service members and to the das rehab program now pursuing advanced law degree. the list of programs has helped me as my transition goes on and on, and every veteran in this room has their own lives. i hope that by showing you my quick snapshot demonstrates that america has now truly stepped up to the challenges of supporting veterans in unprecedented manner. when you look at me i hope you see the millions of other post 9/11 veterans and their families. today's veterans don't need a handout but a hand up. all of your coordinated efforts are a critical part of our successful transition. some of us are facing very tough obstacles now but we all want to be productive members of

society. we all want to take care of our families, just like each one of you. and often when given the opportunity, we into being leaders in our community. the skills we bring to the workforce are unmatched, the toughest work environment imaginable. president bush is committed to the truth while he was in office and that hasn't changed since he left. i have seen his personal impact on a number of individual veterans, and it is nothing short of inspiring. today's issues need to be discussed because they are good for all of america. i'm incredibly proud to stand behind president bush and what he's doing today, and now equally proud to introduce you to the 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush. [applause] >> thank you.

justin, thank you for those kind remarks. you're a better speaker than you are a golfer. [laughter] laura and i are take be thankful that dr. jill biden came. thank you so much for being here. it means a lot that you have come. and i want to thank what you and the first lady did to help our veterans. [applause] >> give margaret a shout out, our president of the bush center. she was a fabless secretary of education. she's a great job here at the bush center. we thank you very much. i do want to say hello to peter pace, chairman of joint chiefs when i was president, first marine ever to do so. [laughter] looks like the last marine ever to do so. [laughter]

and miguel howe, awesome guy who is running our military service initiative. is a fabless team and want to thank you, come one, or your work to i want to thank our sponsors and supporters. it requires me to run these deals. we thank you very much for your generosity. we have the capacity to receive. proud to be with military service organizations, panelist, that the want to thank margaret raddatz for leading the discussion. a lot of people ask me join this much about being president. the answer is really no. [laughter] i miss people i served with. i miss air force one last night i mean, in eight years they never lost my baggage. [laughter] i do miss saluting the men and women who volunteered to defend our nation during war. many are coming home and are

preparing for new missions as civilians, and i intend to salute these men and women for the rest of my life. here at -- [applause] and through the military service initiative, the bush institute is going to help. we are focused and will be relentless in serving our vets. since 9/11, more than 2.5 million americans have worn the uniform. they face down our enemies, and in so doing showed the true confessions of a great nation. they are the 1% of america who kept 4909% safe. and we owe them and their families a deep debt of gratitude. our country can never really fully repay our vets, but we ought to try.

for more earliest days americans have resolved as abraham lincoln put it, to care for him who shall bear the battle and for his widow and orphan. wendy kopp to know congress met in 1776, one of its first pieces of legislation created tensions for the veterans of the revolutionary war, and since then our government has rightly made supporting our veterans a high priority. private citizens have also played an important role in supporting our vets, service organizations to college presidents who have redesigned their curriculum for returning warriors, the employers have taken a chance on a that looking to learn a new trade. as a world war ii generation demonstrates, veterans tend to take the skills and values they learned in the military and use them and doing constructive ways when they come home. veterans have been some of the country's most successful leaders. many in public service, some in

the oval office, including an 18 year-old kid who joined the military and he was 18, 41. unfortunately, -- [applause] unfortunate not every generation of veterans has enjoyed a warm welcome home. baby boomers remember what i am about to say here went americans in uniform returned from vietnam, many were shouted at and spit upon and were called names and they were shunned. no matter what you may think about that war, the treatment of our veterans then was shameful and wrong, and it should never be repeated. over the next five years more than a million american will complete their military service. and like those before them they'll face the challenges as they readjust to civilian life.

the bush center we believe that after everything they've done for us, we have a duty to help make their transition as successful as possible. we recognize that in helping our veterans we can unleash the potential of a generation of resourceful, determined and experienced leaders. and in so doing we will show the next generation of americans that military service is noble and worthwhile. and when you sacrifice for your fellow citizens, you'll find strong support when you come home. many organizations have taken up the cause. bush said as part of with military service organizations to honor and encourage veterans at sporting events. margaret talked about 100 mountain bike ride, some of the writers are with us. talked about the golf tournament. you just met the arnold palmer, the lawyer opening. [laughter] and those efforts are important but they really not enough.

they are not transformative enough, and so a goal of the military service initiatives is to help americans understand how they can support our veterans and empower them to succeed. support for our troops since 9/11 has been overwhelming, but until now we really haven't asked important questions, like you on these vets? and what do they need? and so together with the institute for veterans and military families at syracuse university, a fine university and a vital program, the bush institute has complete one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted of post-9/11 veterans. this spring will publish complete results so others can use this information to inform and to enhance their work on behalf of veterans, that here's a sneak preview. of the 2.5 million post-9/11 veterans, more than 2 million served in afghanistan or iraq.

the average bed and spent one out of every three years overseas. 17% of vets are women. 82% of the post-9/11 veterans said that they would recommend military service to someone considering signing up. and when asked if they were proud of their service, 94% said yes. here's one of the more troubling statistics. 84% of the veterans say that the american public has little awareness of the challenges facing them and their families. it turns out most americans agree, 71% of americans say they do not understand the problems facing our veterans. you might call this a civilian and military divide. one lesson is that the divide is exacerbated by public perceptions that the veteran is either a hero or to be pitied.

most veterans don't consider them as heroes but they can. they see themselves as america did took on a tough job and did it well. they don't want lavish celebrations are expressions of condolences. and while it never hurts to say thank you, that's not really the point. what most veterans want is to have their service understood and appreciated for what it is, a formative experience in their lives and a source of skills and values that prepare them to succeed in civilian life. in short, our veterans have defended the american people and now they want to experience the american dream. our study also shows that post-9/11 veterans face even higher rates of unemployment than their civilian counterparts, and that this is their top concern. especially intense for younger veterans get veterans with combat expand, veterans with

disabilities minority's and women. sadly, the costs of unemployment on not only financial. studies show that veterans without a steady job are more susceptible to other problems, like depression and addiction and homelessness and suicide. so another goal of the military service initiative is to help more veterans put their skills to work in rewarding civilian jobs. from our research we know one problem is that veterans and employers both have a hard time translating military experience. that's not surprising. i mean, you don't see many job postings that say, wanted to, experience hunting insurgents and terrorists, willing to risk life for coworkers. [laughter] or what's a veteran supposed to put down, my last office was a humvee? our study will employers understand what others have to offer and enable them to tailor their recruitment and hiring

efforts. we're going to send a broader message. hiring veterans is not only the right thing to do, it is a smart thing to do. i've employed a lot of people during my career, and i've learned that you can always teach skills. what matters most in an employee are qualities like character and values, work ethic and responsibility. and that's what our veterans bring. when a resume says united states military, that means you can count on the applicant to be loyal, have good leadership, teamwork skills, and discipline. and to an employer, that should mean a lot. across our country business are making wise choices to hire veterans. many companies have started programs to seek out and our veterans and military spouses. and we are proud here at the bush center to welcome some of the most innovative companies, 7-11, bank of america, disney,

ge, jcpenney, jpmorgan chase, potential, usaa, wal-mart, blackstone and liking to it is implores are leading the way but there's a long way to go before the employment gap is closed. part of our initiative we're going to learn from these companies efforts. we will share best practices and use our platform to spotlight programs that work. we will help more employers understand how they can improve their businesses by placing veterans and military spouses in meaningful careers. and i'm going to point the spotlight pick an audience today is ginger collins. i don't know where change is. are you here? thank you for coming. here's the thing about ginger. she started work at la quinta inns and sweets as a manager at the front desk in savannah, georgia. she's married to a guy named

curtis. he received orders for his third deployment. he leaves, she moved to irving, texas, -- a good choice of. [laughter] la quinta inns help her. when they couldn't find her a management job, they put her on the front desk near home. but what was important was they paid her as if she was a manager. she worked hard, she earned promotions. then the army moved curtis again, this time to this anecdoe she is now general manager at la quinta inns in san antonio, texas. in short, by showing flexibility and care for our military vets and their spouses, la quinta inns has retain a loyal and experienced manager, and showed great patriotism for america. we thank la quinta, and we're glad you're here, ginger. [applause] >> while some veterans are

richer into the workforce immediately, others need to update their skills. that's especially true for younger veterans and the military right after high school or a short stint in college. at the bush center we believe it's never to late to learn a new skill. just ask laura. problem is, years ago she didn't think she was marrying an oil painter. [laughter] our country has a proud tradition of welcoming veterans back to school, beginning with the g.i. bill of 1944. as president i was pleased to sign the law, into law the post-9/11 g.i. bill. our research shows that while many veterans are using their g.i. bill benefits to advance their education, too many are having a tough time making it to graduation. some schools, the dropout rate for veterans exceeds 50%. unlike many americans struggling to make it through college, the problem here is not money.

the problem is stating in. veterans account for about 3% of the higher education population, and many report feeling isolated from their classmates and/or professors. there are some great institutions that are doing good work in attracting veterans and making them feel at home. smu is one. syracuse, third shout out for syracuse in a brief period of time, is doing great work. and, of course, there's texas tech. by the way i've lost one political race in my life and those to the chancellor of texas tech. are you here, brother? too bad you're not here because you would've gotten good accolades for whipping me last night but most school ago not done enough to make their campuses welcoming and accommodating. major universities love to tout a diverse student body, and that's important. but it's hard to imagine a more valuable contribution to campus

diversity and a group of people who chose to spend their early years risking their lives for the country. so the military service initiative will work with leaders in higher education to promote innovative programs that recruit, retain, and graduate veterans. i'm pleased to introduce you to a veteran who went back to school, john raftery. as a marine he helped lead the charge to liberate baghdad in 2003. when he came home he used his g.i. bill benefits to get a degree in accounting. he took a job that didn't work. that's got to be hard to go from liberating baghdad to being an accountant. [laughter] so he went to syracuse university, entrepreneurship book camp for veterans with disabilities. it's a program that helped the colonel and helped a lot of others. using the skills you learned along with his accounting degree, john founded hatred contractors in waxahachie,

texas. inc. magazine recently ranked john's business as one of the fastest-growing either companies in america. john is not on providing for his family but some of its employees our fellow vets. what are you, john? are you here? john, thank you, welcome. glad you are here. [applause] ..

sometimes cite it as a reason for not hiring credits. so one of the missions of the military service initiative is to help end the false stigma surrounding posttraumatic stress and help veterans get the treatment they need. as most interests today will tell you, posttraumatic stress is not a disorder. posttraumatic stress, or pts, is an injury that can result from the experience of war. like other injuries, pts is treatable. military and medical communities have made great strides in developing effective ways to reduce and overcome pts. like depression, pts can be controlled through medication and therapy and other treatment. but like most serious injuries, it rarely goes away on its own.

those affected must get help. we're going to use our platform to make clear that veterans receiving treatment for posttraumatic stress are not damaged goods. they are not mentally shattered. they are people who got hurt that defending their country and are now overcoming wound. employers would not es hit at that to hire an employee getting treated for medical condition like diabetes and high blood pressure and they should not hesitate to hire veterans getting treated for posttraumatic stress. [applause] one of the leaders in this area is retired general pete scher littlely who it on our council and with us today. he made it his mission to define the science behind pts and. we'll work with programs like

pete's one mind and dallas's own center for brain health to address challenges caused by traumatic brain injury and wounds of war. we hope to eliminate pts as an barrier to employment and empower our veterans to reach their full potential. one veteran doing this is guy named dave smith. i got to know dave near amarillo with we road the 100 bike race. he is a team leader during two deployments to iraq. took part in heavy fighting and then he saw his friends suffering from wounds and death. when he came home he experienced severe posttraumatic stress. he had nightmares, had trouble maintaining relationships this is guy stands up in front after bunch of amarillo cowboys telling his story. he said one night he came home drunk and he pulled out a shotgun and looked right down

the barrel. fortunately he put the gun into another room, locked the closet, went and got therapy. last year he graduated from ucal berkeley with honors. interned at the new york stock exchange. i don't know why he did that. [laughter] he, he volunteered with team rubicon to deliver disaster relief. we invited him to join us today but he is in sawsly land. the guy from looking down a shotgun to traveling around 11 countries in 11 months to build bible schools, teach english, math, science, working in the fields to dig water wells. he is inspiration to our vets and should be to our fellow americans. he is living proof pts does not have to be a obstacle to a successful life. dave's story highlights one of the more uplifting aspects of

veterans returning home. many of those served in uniform devoted themselves to helping other vets and many have not worn the uniform are equally as passionate. according to our national research, more than 46,000 organizations have a mission at least partly related to serving veterans. it is a huge number and a great testament to our country's strong fort spore veterans but it can be overwhelming for newly returned veterans looking for help. and while these organizations have good intentions i suspect some deliver better results than others. so the bush institute is undertaking a project to help measure their effectiveness. we're going to look at data like numbers of veterans served and quality and consistency of outcomes produced. and help refine our analysis we'll conduct h conduct case studies on some of the most leading effective organizations. our goal really isn't to pit one

group of ngos against another. our goal is to prove effectiveness. our goal is to help our vets. and so we're going to share measures of effectiveness and to create a road map and apassessment tool. that all organizations can use to hold themselves to high every standards, to be able to match good intentions with booed results and we'll lay out this tool next fall at our next military service initiative summit. in sum, the goal of the military service initiative to empower veterans to make a smooth and successful transition to successful life. we'll do that by spreading information to reduce civilian military divide, by breaking down barriers and opening new opportunities for employment and by helping service organizations deliver better results for our vets. there is no doubt in my mind this generation of veterans is

just as good as any group of veterans before. there is no doubt in my mind it will be the leaders in the years to come for our nation. and there's no doubt in my mind as a result of their leadership america will continue to be the greatest country on the face of the earth. thank you for coming. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome colonel miguel haas, united states army retire, director of the military service initiative at the george w. bush institute. [applause] >> well, good morning. president bush has charged us with to empower veterans to make

a smooth and successful transition to civilian life. while some veterans and military families reintegrate seamlessly, others feel disconnected or isolated from the very people they served while in uniform. and many post-9/11 veterans and military families return home to face transition challenges that include employment, education, housing, health and wellness, family or unique women's veterans issues. and so the george w. bush institute seeks to bridge these gaps by uniting and empowering the work of communities, non-profits, businesses, academia, philanthropy, and individual citizens, empowering with presidential leadership, convening power and leading research and resources. and so our work is grounded in the research that the president mentioned. and this year our work will include those three new resources. the full research study that

will, in the spring that will cover the experiences, concerns and needs of the post-9/11 veteran and military family. we will perform that analysis on specific issues related to jobs for post-9/11 veterans to identify those specific barriers that keep veterans from getting jobs and identify how we close the post-9/11 employment gap and start those meaningful civilian careers. we'll create and release that tool this fall that will allow veteran and military serving non-profits to assess their effectiveness around help funders al line their resources to those organizations that are having impact and to provide information for veterans to help them assess which organizations to turn to for assistance. our research also informs today's summit, empowering our nation's warriors. a convening of distinguished leaders from across the private non-profit and public sectors at the national and local level, on the stage, in the audience, and those watching online.

coming together to examine how americans can more effectively support our transitioning warriors and their military families. and so our agenda includes a conversation, serving those who serve america, with two prominent national leaders, a distinguished veteran, and a distinguished business leader, who rose to the top of their professions and represent those who need human capital to flourish and a profession who is already leveraged that talent to insure our freedom and security. after a short break we'll hear from two distinguished panels. the first will address transition and reintegration issues for this generation of veterans and military families and set the conditions for how the private and non-profit sector can help. our second panel will address how the private and non-profit sectors can effectively support those transitioning warriors and their families from the perspective of communities, non-profits, business, education, and philanthropy.

we're extremely grateful that our conversation and panels will be not raid the by a very distinguished journalist and recognized expert with direct experience in the war zone and here at home with our warriors and their families, abc's senior foreign affairs correspondent, ms. martha raddatz, and will include a forum of questions from the audience. as we heard from president bush, our government has rightly made supporting our veterans a top priority. the department of defense, the department of veterans affairs, department of labor and others all of whom are represented in this room today make herculean efforts to support this population and the commitment of our government is also embodied in the leadership and work of joining forces out of the white house. as second lady, dr. jill biden works to bring attention to the sacrifices made by our military families. she is a military mom and so dr. biden also understands first-hand how difficult it can be to have a loved one deployed

overseas. her children's book, don't forget, god bless our troops, speaks directly to military family issues. through their joining forces initiative, first lady michelle obama and dr. jill biden have issued a national challenge to all americans, to take action and find ways to support and engage our military families in their own communities. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the second lady of the united states, dr. jill biden. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. it is wonderful to be here in dallas and it's my first time visiting this institute and it's truly beautiful. thank you, colonel howe for the

kind introduction and for all that you do for military families. our servicemen and women and most importantly for your service to our country. president and mrs. bush, thank you for your leadership and the vital discussion about how we can best empower our nation's post-9/11 veterans as a military mom. oh, post-9/11 veterans. as a military mom, that is something that is so close to my heart and you can probably tell i'm a military mom because of my cam mochas, although you -- camo, cast, although you might not have seen it because it is cam mow. general pace, thank you for being here. one of the best parts of my role as second lady is spending time with so many veterans and military families. as i travel chaos the country and the world i'm always inspired by the strength and

resilience of our military families. while the troops serving our nation may be only 1:00 percent of our population as the president said we want to make sure that 99% of americans are supporting them. our military families have done so much for our country and each of us can do something in return that's why nearly three years ago first lady michelle obama and i created joining forces to encourage all americans to support and honor our military families. since that time america has stepped up in the work places, our schools, and our communities and what we have seen has been truly inspireing. businesses are making it a priority to hire veterans and their spouses like the president said from mcdonald's where more than 50,000 veterans have been hired since launching

joining forces to, citibank to at&t, companies are answering our nation's call. just last week the first lady announced more than 100 companies in the construction industry have committed to hiring more than 100,000 of american veterans over next five years into high-paying, long-term careers. companies big and small are stepping up not just because it is patriotic thing to do but because it is the smart thing to do. they know our servicemen and women are some of the highest skilled, hardest working employees they will ever have. educators, are stepping up their efforts to help our military kids. there are military children in every school district in our country, and often teachers, counselors, and other students really have no idea that these children have a parent who sieve

soing in the -- serving in the military. that's why efforts like operation educate the educators are so important. it is the joining forces commitment signed by more than 100 colleges of education to train future teachers on the unique needs of military kids in schools. on average, and i'm sure most of you know this. military children attend six to nine different school systems. through each transition they have to leave their friends, adjust to a new school, and once again, try out for a new sports team. so that is why raise awareness about the internet compact for military children is so important. the compact helps ease of some of the many challenges military children face when transferring schools due to a parent's reassignment. including simple actions like

making sure parents have access to a copy of the student's records or giving the children a month, from the time of enrollment to get immunizations they need. this is about making sure our veterans return to campus communities like mine succeed. more than one million people have been able to use the post-9/11 gi benefits to further their education. as an educator, it is so important to me that we provide tools and resources our servicemembers and share families need in order to succeed on campus. but just as importantly, we all need to tell the story of what they bring to the classroom. i have seen it in my own classroom. veterans bring the same determination and focus to their studies that they did, that they brought to serving our country.

as, and i have seen, when i have met with student veterans during my visits to campuses over the past few months, we need to highlight whether working for our servicemembers on campus and make sure that all schools understand the tremendous value of our, that veterans bring to the classroom. also, our nation's doctors, nurses and social workers have stepped up to make sure that they are prepared to meet the unique needs of our returning servicemen and women. organizations representing nursing colleges, medical schools, and family physicians have all pledged their support to enhance the preparation of our nation's medical providers to support veterans and their families. while these efforts i have mentioned aren't always in the headlines, they are offering support in real and meaningful ways. our family experienced this

first-hand when my son, bowe, deployed to iraq for a year. that year was very tough and i certainly don't need to tell anybody in this audience what that feels like. it was tough for me and joe but it was especially tough on his wife hallly and their two small children. i learned how much it means when members of the community reach out to support a family with loved ones overseas. sometimes it's the littlest things that matter most, like a neighbor shoveling your driveway. a friend dropping off a warm meal, or your church putting your name in the bulletin and members of the church praying for your family. that is what joining forces is all about. commitments that might reach thousands of veterans to single acts of kindness to make all the difference to a military family. as we continue to wind down

these wars and more and more of our troops return home, many have served multiple deployments. i'm sure many of you have. dealing with wounds seen and unseen we will have and continue have much more work in the years to come. in my role as second lady there are some stories that stand out but there is one in particular that really i will never forget. in 2010 my husband joe and i visited iraq. we were visiting the troops on the fourth of july. while we were there a general told me a story that really i will never forget. he told me about the story of his 6-year-old daughter who was attending a christmas play and one of her classmates burst into tears and the teacher ran over, what's the matter, what's the matter? they were playing ava maria and

she said, that's the song that they played at my daddy's funeral. he died fighting in iraq. her teacher was unaware that she was a military child. so of course you know, that story is heart-breaking to anyone who hears it. it was also the moment for me as a teacher that crystallized what i knew that we had to do to insure a greater understanding of the military child experience. the morning after i heard that story i talked to my staff about how we had to find, what we had to do, we had to find a way to raise awareness, both inside and outside the classroom, about what military children experience. shortly after we returned home from iraq we began to work on what is known as operation

educate the educators, which as i mentioned earlier is the commitment made by teaching colleges to prepare future teachers. that type of effort is exactly what we were trying to do across every pillar of joining forces. because as more and more americans have a real understanding of what it means to serve, the more that they are ready to step up and do their part. we are also doing our best to reach out to military children, and also to the many caregivers who give so much love and support to our wounded soldiers. advances in our care for our wounded warriors have significantly impacted this generation returning home. in one of the books i teach in my classroom it's called, better he describes how there has been such a tremendous, remarkable drop in the number of deaths of

wounded soldiers. now there are entire surgical teams who travel in humvees, and i quote him, directly behind the troops right out on to the battlefield. their immediate trauma care is given before wounded soldiers make the long trip to landstuhl, germany or facilities like walter reed or brooke army medical center. these advanced in care also mean we have a new challenge and that is how to best help recovering warriors over a lifetime. this also means we are seeing a new type of caregiver, young spouses, siblings and parents caring for their loved ones which brings me to the story of two brothers, kyle and bret plets-k of roxford, michigan. kyle, an army specialist was injured during his first deployment to afghanistan,

sustaining multiple pelvis fractures an ankle injury and nerve damage to most of his right leg. when kyle first came to the white house in 2013 he was in a wheelchair. when he came to our home, the vice president's residence just a few months later he was walking. kyle will tell you that much of his progress is due to the fact that his older brother bret was able to help serve as his caregiver and bret will tell you that the reason he was able to help his brother, kyle, was because of the va's caregiver rule which was signed by president obama in 2011. the va caregiver rule provides training, counseling, supportive services and a sheriffing stipend to post-nine 11 veteran caregivers. because the va's caregiver rule bret's employer kept his job open so bret could fill this important role for his brother.

now bret is back in chicago at his job and kyle is doing great and they both credit the caregiver rule as critical to kyle's recovery. that example gives us the entire picture. government doing its part, business doing its part, and one person doing his or her part. that's what this is all about, americans stepping up to do their part. there is no greater priority that we as a country have than to fill what my husband joe calls, our nation's most sacred obligation, serving our returning troops and their families as well as they have served us. so for wounded warriors and their caregivers like kyle and bret, for the returning servicemen and women trying to complete their college education, or embark on a new

career, and most of all, for the families of those like the six-year-old girl that told you about whose loved ones are never coming home, there is so much that we can do as a country as americans, to support them. that's why all of you are here today. thank you for participating in this important discussion and for continuing to drive the conversation forward into real, meaningful action on behalf of our servicemen and women, our veterans, and our families. thank you, may god bless our troops and their families. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome martha raddatz, chief global affairs correspondent,

"abc news." [applause] general peter pace, united states marine corps retired. [applause] and steven schwarzman, chairman, ceo and cofounder of blackstone. [applause] >> hello, everyone. i'm so proud to be here. i know i'm announced as a reporter but when the subject is our veterans, i am not objective about service and sacrifice. so i am very pleased to be here but i do want to pick apart president bush's speech. i think he buried the lead, okay? did you notice he dropped the d from ptsd? thank you, president bush.

[applause] and that is a really great, great, great, first step to have a former president say it's not a disorder. that helps remove the stigma. i'm very honored to be with these two gentlemen today and i want you to just look here. they are representative of what can be done, what can be done to employ our veterans to help them make that transition. we have supply and we have demand. steve schwarzman employs one million people in blackstone. peter pace as former chairman of the joint chiefs, 2.5 million returning veterans, already and a million more to come and i want to start with you, general pace. who are these veterans, what do they have to offer? >> martha, thanks very much. first of all, thank you to you and steve for being here today. mr. president and mrs. bush and everyone here at the institute.

this is terrific, thank you. dr. biden, god bless you for what you're doing at the national level. for all of you here in the audience i know many, many of you and you are each of you are here because of your love for fellow countrymen for serving the country. thank you for being here. so who are these veterans we're trying to empower? first of all they're patriots. every single one of them. has enlisted or reenlisted multiple times since 9/11. they know and they knew what they were volunteering to do. they were volunteering to enter the armed forces of the united states while the nation was at war and they fully knew and expected that they would deploy to war. they're incredible patriots. they also know how to grow when they're planted. meaning they have their own personal desires but these are men and women who subordinate themselves to what the

organization needs. whatever you ask them to do they are going to do to the best of their ability. they're decision-makers. you know the admirals and generals plan the battles but the lieutenants and the captains, the lance corporals, corporals and sergeants they're the ones who make the decision on the fly that take the commander's intent and turn it into victory. you understand how that can translate in today's business environment. they have a great moral compass. you don't go into the ugliness of war and come out the other side without having taken a measure of yourself. and these men and women know what their left and right limits are so to speak with regard to their own moral compass and what they i will do in the military and what they will do in

business. they are certainly courageous, clearly the valor kind of courageous. equally important and as especially as they transition is the courage to speak their mind, to know who they are, to question authority when it should be questioned and to help the leaders understand how best to lead in the direction in which they should lead. they are very, very comfortable with uncertainty. that is what battle is about. they are men and women of incredible integrity. someone once said, if you have integrity, nothing else matters. if you don't have integrity, nothing else matters. these men and women have integrity.

they are team builders. they are team players and they are team builders and they are leaders of the first order. and, they know how to take care of their people. i don't care whether they're in business or in military service. all of us want to work for a caring leader. that is what these young men and women are, they are caring leaders. and it leads then to what i would call three imperatives for our nation. imperative number one is the moral and social imperative. yes, we should have a discussion about 1% defending the 99%, more important for where i think we're going and their future is how they fit into the social structure of the united states. they are the next best generation. they are the leaders of the future. they are the entrepreneurs, they are the ceos, they are the men

and women who our grandchildren and great grandchildren are going to look to for leadership and who are going to take this country on the path the president described which is to remain the best nation on the planet. there is a national security imperative, we have the world's finest armed forces. not just because we have incredible machines which we do but more importantly because we have incredible young men and women who volunteer to serve. it is the knowledge that their fellow countrymen respect what they do. it is the knowledge that when they do serve that all of you in this room and all who are watching on television right now are out there, ready to welcome them home and help them transition. that empowers them, that empowers our best and our brightest, to volunteer for

military service. and the last imperative is that of global competitiveness. and since i'm sitting next to an expert on global competitiveness i am going to stop and let him take it. >> he has done rather well with that. you i know set a goal at blackstone to hire 50,000 veterans. tell us your experience how that's going and what you have seen in these veterans including that transition and whether there's a difficulty in that transition. >> well this is an interesting program. i was at the white house when jill and michelle were talking and i have never seen two husbands fall in line faster. and it was a terrific introduction of the forces initiative and, you know, the passion that you have heard from her and from mrs. obama and actually from the president and

vice president it is really sincere and really important. my hats off to it. i would also like to say, before i answer your question, i would like to congratulations president bush, and, you know, we've known each other for 47 years even though we look like we're in our 30s and or at least they, we feel that way and it's terrific to see him with such a command presence and talking about such important things in a great way and be here with laura as well, and you know really a wonderful, wonderful facility doing great things. in the hiring of veterans, there is an interesting thing. and, we would not have got eninvolved with this program without the white house initiative because, you know, we like leading our own normal lives and i was at a business roundtable meeting a group of

largest corporations in the country and the first lady came out the problem you have, that you have really high unemployment for this group of people. and that you are having 20 suicides a day. and i was sitting there, just sort of listening to this, saying, what in the world is this? what's going on here? and you know, she asked like any good salesperson, i mean president bush was doing it, joe was doing it. can you people help us. we would like to get a commitment to hire veterans. i remember leaving the meeting, he, there were other people at the meeting and sitting in my car, doing my normal reading. i got to my apartment, didn't go up and i was making pretend i would be relaxed when i got at home and i kept thinking about this. usually in the business worldwer

do things with cooperation, not just one person rule. this one i decided to change the decision-making process. i was sitting in my car. i'm not very good technologically, so dick tate to some machine in my office and they send it around as a email. i said, you know what? dick tate ad note to the first lady and i said, you know what? we are going, we have a lot of people that work for us. i think just doing some numbers in my head. we could easily hire 50,000 people. so why shouldn't we do it? i sent the thing off. next work i told my partners, congratulations that we're going going to hire 50,000 vets.

i said this is the moral thing to do. these people to and do amazing things for the country. they come back, why shouldn't they be able to get jobs? as the president said, look at their qualifications. one of my friend was a sniper in vietnam and he was talking to me about what it was like coming back. he said, steve, i want to kill people full time, right? i mean that is not what i do. i just did it because i was in the military. i climbed up trees and shot bad guys. i don't want to be in s.w.a.t. teams. i want to be like just reenter society. so i said, look, we're just going to do it. and i got sandy og, sandy, put your hand up. sander did i is the head of our human resources group. we're not quite as accomplished, martha, as you said. we committed to this year ago, we had 740,000 employees. not a million. even in politics we can't round up like that.

and -- >> we just do that in tv. that is close enough to a million. >> that is tv rounding maybe. we sort of looked at it, okay, how do we organize ourselves? we have roughly around 80 separate companies comprising this large group with 120 billion in sales. so what we did, we used the white house people, by the way they are terrifically well-organized. do not underestimate this, the people at dod. the people at the department of labor. you know, they have got terrific person running this out of the white house. this is like really a real deal, okay? and so we sort of plugged into that. and, got our companies all together. and we have the military people and the dol people come up and basically talk to all the heads of our companies and say, okay, this is what we're doing and, you know, here's goals for each of our companies.

now, what we learned is that there's like real friction here, right? because, think about it. you get demobilized, you just are some random fort and they let you out, right? that is not necessarilily where the jobs are in these particular areas. and the people are not trained for, you know, i would call it, i guess i should say in this forum the civilian world? you know and so, first thing we encountered, what do we do here? right, how do we increase the probability of success? and so what we said to the to the forces that be, is look, we've got to have access to these people before they get dumped out into the real world,commercial world. now it is really, this is why i say this group of people who is working on this are really terrific. they have basically given us

access to military people a year before they're demobilized. that is like a amazingly good because you can help train them and match them. now we've gone back to the government and said look, why don't we use the g.i. bill to get in effect on the job apprenticeship and training to help these people even more? because when you come into a company and your skills are generalized, unless they happen to be specific. how do you know what the right fit is for anybody? i mean they are just like humans. they may be smart. they may be, have all the characteristics she said, but that doesn't mean they're going to fit. what you need is some kind of an internal rotation to see where that person work best. that is something that we're working on. so, what we've gotten just to address your point finally, is,

we committed for 50,000. it is over five years. we, in the first nine months, the commitments by the way are very specific. they're supposed to start january 1 of this year. we started as soon as we, you know, sort of sent the letter in and we've hired 10,000 people in nine months and so now our commitment starts. so we're almost a year ahead of time. and we've got three dallas companies that we own who are here today. michael store, la quinta, exeter and we brought in a little washington reinforcements from hilton. that is half of our 50,000 commitments just those four companies. and, i can tell you that the companies themselves are really enjoying this. it is helping to change culture. it is bringing in people who are

really terrific. >> let's talk about companies. ii want to open up to questions in just a minute, if you would both briefly before we talk about that, what are the issues we have to solve from your point of view on the transition, from your point of view, from the companies that are not doing this, from the people we want to reach out to say hire these veterans? if you would start, general pace. >> i think the biggest problem for everybody is, in one side of this wall you've got millions of veterans who want jobs. on the other side you have great companies that want to hire them. but understandably because of the privacy laws of the nation, we can not share databases from the military side to the corporate side and vice versa. now, some of that is going to change but a major, positive, event would be to be able to,

respecting the soldiers and sailor's privacy but be able for those who elect to, to have their names furnished to american corporations that want to hire them so we can do this you've got three million, i think the number is three million jobs in the united states right now that are vacant. but, what those jobs are, where they are, and individual who is are capable and have the capacity and want to fill them, there is no connective tissue there. if we find a way to deal with that nationally to allow for maintaining privacy and sharing information that the veteran desires to share i think we can go a long way toward things that steve can handle not 50,000 but 100,000 over time for folks that will do great for his business. again, this is not about veterans who are victims. this is not about veterans who are charity cases. this is about veterans who are national resources and if you

want to be selfish about it as a business leader why wouldn't you hire these incredible men rand women who are exactly the kind of folks that you want to hire? >> steve, biggest obstacle to you? >> i think some of this is just sort of sensitivity to how you do the match. dr. biden read out 12 companies that happen to be bigger. and construction company hiring 1,000 people for the company over a five-year period. there is no reason why, frankly every company of significant size in the country isn't doing this. i don't know they're not doing this. and if they were people who run these companies, you know,

contrary to what you may here or read in the press are nice people and they're well intentioned. and i think, a little door-to-door sales wouldn't be a bad thing. if you can get in and talk with these people, they will help you. there is actually no net cost of doing this other than a little inconvenience of focusing on something. because you're hiring people who really good. i think absent the technical stuff i was talking about mismatches and people in wrong locations, how do you get people who are let out in one state get to where the jobs are, you know, really are, which means another thing. i think we just need more people stepping up and i think frankly -- >> talking about it and a dialogue like we're having today and -- >> that is why this really makes a difference. if we're just talking to ourselves, you know, it is interesting. and, you know, important but,

you really got to be talking to the people who aren't in the church, right? >> we are here. but i do want, i do want to open it up for questions. we have about ten minutes for questions. if you will wait for the microphone. raise your hand first. and then state your name and your affiliation if you would, please. woman right here. want to wait for the microphone? unless you have a really loud voice. >> i'm pretty loud. >> okay. >> my name is judy -- [inaudible]. army widow and part owner and principle partner for a company that is moving their manufacturing from main mainland china back to the united states. we -- [applause] is thank you very much. it is the right thing to do. we manufacture golf products and when everything is said and done they're going to be very few golf products made in the usa.

but what we have found is very value ab, we go to the recruiters. i know everyone of my local recruiters in the houston area. i've gone to recruiting command and i have asked them to ask their recruiters to let me know when they know people are etsing. my biggest thing i think is a gap as an employer and as a veteran is that these young men and women need to continue to feel good the fact they made a decision to get out because they're very worried about what their future brings. >> that's, let's have general pace talk about that. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thanks for what you're doing, number one. number two, you hit on a very important fact which is there is uncertainty in, for the military families that are transitioning. they are proud of their service. they have made the decision to

return to corporate life, civilian life. but they're nervous. especially a young guy or gal who started out, maybe went to high school and enlisted and went into commissioned service but, you know, they're mid to late 20s. and they have served the nation incredibly well. they have all the skills i mentioned when i first started talking. but they never had the experience in civilian life, corporate life, corporate america. and makes you nervous. listen, i was nervous about at age 62 when i transitioned. >> probably more nervous. come on. >> so i get that but i really applaud what you're doing. i, wouldn't it be great though if pfc pace is coming out and he could say to the institution, look, i'm going to leave next year, six months from now. i want to go back to tee neck, new jersey, wherever and i'm interested in these things and

if that could be put into a database, where then the corporate world can go into that say, okay, we're looking for x number of people in new jersey to do these kinds of things of you see where i'm going. if we could break down the one major barrier between this enormous supply of very much talented people and need on part of the nation for very talented people to get linked together much more efficiently. >> that transition really starts early. that you really have to start that transition much earlier sound like. another question? over there. i think we will wait for the mic there, so you don't have to shout. >> thank you. my name is jim. i'm with the navy league. as a veteran and then a worker, manager in the defense industry, my observation is that even though the defense industry would very much wanted to hire veterans and we had veteran skills type jobs we have other type jobs and from an industry point of view my biggest problem as a manager there, or as a

division director was convincing my hr that in fact they recognize the skills of people coming in. and of course when you go out and do an advertisement and you're in a corporation hr is the people who control the entry. so my question is, how do we educate our hr people to recognize the skills that veterans bring and the underlying capabilities they have? i think they are not in this church. i believe they are somewhere else, thank you. >> i, by the way, i want to congratulate the lady who spoke previously. if i had a voice like yours, god knows what would have happened. and -- >> maybe would have had a million jobs, okay? >> you didn't need that mic. i think with the hr question, hr department the work for companies and they have a ceo.

and, they actually want to please the ceo. this may surprise you. and so, they basically do what they're told within the limits of human beings following orders who aren't in the military. and you can do this from the top. this is not a bubble upper. the ceo of the company has got to say, this is a priority. this is what we're doing. this is why we are doing this thing. you can loop in with the white house. it seems like a big, remote place but it's a small place. it is focused. you could have somebody come out and talk. you have to have a meeting. somebody has to be telling somebody on this concept. you just can't do it by yourself. it has to be from the top with coordination. you could use other companies as

references. we set up with our little orbit, with the hr people. we know the hr people. we have meetings sort of generally by function among our 80 companies. we have one meeting for ceo's. we have one meeting. this is not all the at same time during the year, for hr people. we have one for general counsels. where have we come to in america. but we need a separate meeting for general counsels. and, that, that, you know, this is like a subject. at that meeting. and if you organized that way, it will happen for you. if you're just a free-floating molecule, trying to make it happen, it is just too hard. so there is a support system, that, that, the white house has put in place and, if you see sandy later, he is a tall guy with white hair, those of us who are envious as we have less hair, that, you know, he can tell you how we're doing it.

and looping in and, it really works. really works. but you have to be part of the system. >> one more question. >> if i could just chime in. >> sure. >> you see that clock too. i live by that clock. >> this is one place though, where this forum can really have major impact, it is intent of not only this congress of ones in the fall and best follow to share best ideas and capture best ideas and publish them, so overtime would preferably just using your example, have a manuel perhaps, that is, aimed at, hr personnel and what it is about military people, so that the leader can say what i want done, but folks that make it happen, have some resource to go to. that is what the nsi initiative can help i think. >> right there. >> thank you. i'm cynthia gilman with the henry jackson foundation with

the advancement of military medicine. you spoken about the need to be able to break down barriers. to be able to connect data from dod to the va to the civilian side. so you mentioned that you're actually able to get in a year prior to separation. wondering how did you do that and what do we need to do to break those barriers down. >> great question. how did you do that. >> how did we do that? microphone for sand different so i stop talking generally and you actually learn something. so do you have a microphone we can use in the front? >> [inaudible] >> yeah. i think exactly what steve said about the different parts of the government. i mean we had the conversation with the dod, expressed the need and they were on it, it's done. anyone, anyone has access to it. and anything we're doing, we're

doing on behalf of everyone. we're not doing things just on gaffe of -- behalf of blackstone. >> they will hire him for the budget. >> are you -- >> no. >> do you have the name of the person that they coordinate with? , the white house or, at dod or? >> rich morales is here from the white house and he is running the program on behalf of the first lady. >> rich, why don't you stand up so people can see you. [applause] >> all further questions go right to rich morales. all right. >> the reason why it is important for him to stand up, i don't know why he doesn't like the visibility. you know, he's the coordination point. and he will get this stuff done. really. i mean, you know, the word is that government isn't efficient. i'm not going to take a position on that publicly but i would say, but i would say, in this area they're terrific and you

should really use them. what i would also say, as long as i'm sort of free forming up here, which is i guess what you're allowed to do in these things, is to make this sale to companies that can hire a lot of veterans. it's got to come from authority figures. it has got to come from the top as well. it would be hard for me to imagine president bush visiting some friend and talked this is clearly a major priority here because it should be. and talk to them and said, hey, you know, i'd like you to just meet with the people in this program and, you know, sort of see what you can do. that's, not pressure. it is just laying it out. i think, you know, he is a good salesman. he has gotten a lot of votes in his life and, he is totally persuasive, right? and he could do that.

and the same way, that the bidens and the obamas, if they actually met with people and as they have with people like us in a large group, if you do it in a smaller group when you're going to just someplace for a political event and go off and see one or two people, and just lay your case out for 15 minutes, i think the chance you will make sale is 50% and everyone of these big companies, they can do 50,000. and you start, you know, figuring out if you can make, you know 20 of those successful calls. you have got a million people hired. and i mean it is really pretty amazing. and, there is the capability, whether it is on the front row or others of us in the general community, to be able to help do that. so i, i'm quite optimistic about doing this. >> just, general pace, just

final quick thought and then we're going to take a break. >> thank you. to the men and women in this audience who are military members and family members. especially to those watching on the broadcast, thank you for your service to the nation. you have done us proud and you've kept us safe and free. would i say to you, as you look at transition and look at the uncertainty, embrace this like you would any other mission. take responsibility for the transition, your responsibility, you and your families, to transition your life to the life you want it to be. understand that there are many, many organizations, ready, willing and able to help you. and to those organizations here in the room, this is about being globally competitive. it is about using all the resources of the united states to remain the best nation on the planet to live and work. and we have in 2.5 million

post-9/11 veterans, who are already transitioned and one million about to transition over the next five years, we have incredible, national resource that we should empower, and take advantage of far good and their good. thanks. >> thanks very much. we'll be back. . .