>> secretary john kerry met with philip hammond and talked about some of the challenges facing our country. next we will hear from colin powell. later, a panel discussion on university elected officials and then a debate plan open house seat in new jersey's third district area. on the next "washington journal." a guess from "the wall street journal" on military strikes

against isis forces in iraq and syria. and how media coverage of presidential candidate gary hart and his alleged extramarital affair changed political reporting. also your calls and comments on national security issues in 2014. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern everyday on c-span. >> secretary of state john kerry that with british secretary philip hammond at the state department and spoke with reporters after the meeting. they took questions about the international response of the ebola outbreak, the russia ukraine conflict, and the military response to militants in syria and iraq. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everyone. i'm very privileged to be here

with foreign secretary philip hammond. here at the state department. i am even more privilege to work with him and perform a partnership that gives full gusto to the meaning of the special relationship that great britain and the united states share. so it is important to us to continue and i think as philip mentioned, they have probably met a times already in the course of a few weeks of his being on this job. and i think it shifted from the defense secretary. we share a lot in this effort and in the fight against eisel, the people have ardley bore this heavy burden and it's a pain felt heavily by both countries.

we have seen barbaric acts that have shocked the conscience of the world. but the response of both of our countries is not to wilt away but to fight. to push back against this barbarity. we are doing so. i want to thank the foreign secretary philip hammond for the commitment that the united kingdom has made to the international coalition that will degrade and feet isil over the next months and the period ahead. the royal air force is now conducting airstrikes on isil. the united kingdom and has provided some of the strongest humanitarian support in iraq, more than $76 million in food and shelter and medicine to save the lives of the people. the united states and the united kingdom are standing together as

we battle ebola in west africa. we are monitoring is particularly and we are very grateful for the way that great britain has wrapped up its efforts in sierra leone, including deploying a civil military task force and constructing more than 700 beds in an ebola treatment unit and providing essential supplies and personnel. president obama has made it crystal clear that ebola is an urgent and global crisis that demands an urgent and global response. the united states has intensified every aspect of our engagement which includes providing ebola treatment units and recruiting first responders and supplying a critical set of medical equipment. just 48 hours ago president

obama reconvened another strategy meeting at the white house to discuss where we are and where we need to get to and i would like to discuss that in a moment. in addition to that i have been in daily contact with roger shah and the usaid director and the deputy secretary of state, heather higginbotham and are ebola coordinator nancy powell to make sure that we are bringing all of our resources to this effort to rid and i'm here this morning to make an urgent plea to countries in the world to step up even further. while we are making progress, we are not where we can say that we need to be. and there is additional needs that have to be met in order for the global community to be able to properly respond to this challenge and to make sure that

we protect people in all of our countries. and there are specific needs and i would like to emphasize those needs by showing a few slides if i can. as you can see in the first slide, to my left we need more countries to move resources of specific kinds. it is not just a question of sending people although it is vital to send people. we need ebola treatment units and medevac capacity. mobile laboratory and staff. we need nonmedical support and telecommunications, generators and incinerators. public medications capacity, training and construction. we also need large assistance of health systems strengthening and cash that countries can contribute, food, other humanitarian efforts, and we need ways of getting that

equipment to people. all of these things are frankly urgent in order to be able to quickly move to contain the spread of ebola. we need airlines to continue to operate and we need to strengthen the medevac capacity. we need countries to continue more ebola treatment centers and others to send responders to join the effort and to make sure that the health care workers are properly trained and properly equipped and supported in order to prevent additional infections. as you can see in the next slide to my left ear, this gives you a sense of who has contributed in what they have contributed. the fact is that the united kingdom and the united states between them have contributed

$120 million to the united nations responds and there are also smaller countries that have stepped up to the point. some quite remarkably, some are contributing way above their per capita population compared to other countries. but the fact is that more countries can and must step up in order to make their contributions felt. this chart tells the story. they are not enough countries to make the difference to be able to deal with this crisis and we need more nations. every nation has the ability to do something. and next we will show, as you see, we have a shortfall of some $300 million. the united nations has identified $1 billion in urgent needs, which is reflected in the pie chart. the world and has put in 22%, the usa has been 11%, private or 10% and others, as you can see.

this being unfunded is a critical component to be able to meet this challenge and we need people to step up now. now is the time for action and not words. frankly there is not a moment to waste in this effort. foreign secretary philip hammond and i remain deeply committed on another issue and that is the question of europe which is whole and free and at peace. together with our partners of european union, the united states and the united kingdom are supporting ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the ukrainian government efforts to implement important democratic reforms. we agree on the need for russia to withdraw its forces immediately from the ukraine and to end its material support for separatist and two meet amendments under the cease-fire

which they have agreed to. as well as put in place the peace plan agreements. bush's actions over the past month have challenged the most basic principles of our international system. borders cannot and should not be redrawn at the barrel of a gun. and people have a right in their own country with in their sovereign borders to determine their own future. so together with the g-7, our european partners and are a layer and trent other allies, we are making it clear that we are prepared to do more to make sure this international order prevails and that with one voice we can prove that we mean what we say and we say what we mean. until finally i would like to mention that tomorrow morning foreign secretary hammond and i will travel to boston to focus on an issue that animates president obama and prime minister cameron -- both of them

who have also demanded our urgent attention and that is our shared responsibility confront climate change. i appreciate the foreign secretary personal leadership on this issue. we can conclude a new international agreement that is ambitious and effective and inclusive of all countries, particularly the largest greenhouse gas initiatives of which we are one. but we will also only get there in the end, even if one were to eliminate this, that will not do the job, we will only get there in the end if we make it clear that all countries must join in this effort and that inaction is not an option. mr. foreign secretary, i am delighted to welcome you here at this time of obvious significant global challenge and we greatly appreciate, as i have said, your

partnership and leadership and i look forward to working with you. thank you. sumac thank you very much, john. it's a great pleasure to be back here in washington in my new role as foreign secretary. when i came here the defense secretary, i was always clear that the u.s. is our most important military partner. the equally clear that the united states is our greatest foreign-policy ally and the range of issues that we have discussed today reflects how we work together on this huge range of issues in foreign affairs. that relationship is based on our shared history and our shared values and our long-standing cooperation on a range of global issues from the threat of extremism, promoting stability in countries such as libya and dealing with the

challenge to the established order in ukraine, addressing crises like ebola and promoting an ambitious free-trade agreement. as i want to begin, if i may, by paying tribute to secretary john kerry for his energy and reserve in dealing with some of the most challenging foreign-policy issues that the world has faced for a while. i have only been in this job for three months and as john has said, we have already met several times every week and we seem to be in a different city somewhere discussing these challenging issues that we are having to deal with. and so i have seen his commitment with inexhaustible in the csm which is the personification of u.s. leadership on these many leadership issues that we deal together with around the world. it comes today will in a pivotal

moment addressing the situation in iraq and syria and responding to the atrocities that are being committed. atrocities that have been visited in the uk and the u.s. and also being felt by ordinary muslim iraq and syria individuals every day of every week. it's clear that isil acquires a strong military response from the international community and that has to be combined with a clear diplomatic plan to support the new iraqi government and hampered isis and their resources and political strategy to combat the poisonous ideology and stop those trying to spread hatred across the region and beyond. we now have those elements in place and i am pleased that britain is playing a key role in

that response, leading efforts to cut the funding and a counter radicalization program and now raf combat jets contributing to the military response. britain will continue to work closely with coalition partners on further actions that we can face across the international community to ensure that we tackle isil not just through military action but through other actions which are essential to ensure our long-term success. and also as secretary john kerry has discussed, the situation in the ukraine has crucial importance of implement and 12-point peace plan. and it is a sovereign country, they are trying to make their decisions about their country's future and there can be no rush and the veto on the ukrainian

democracy. and president at your parish and go will meet to ensure stability within the country we have spent some time discussing about how we can work with international partners particularly in the european union to continue to support president petro poroshenko. and of course we spoke with the appalling situation in west africa where the spread of the virus is a real cause for concern. last week i chaired a conference in london on defeating ebola. and i said then that the disease is an unprecedented threat knows no borders and we have to get ahead of this. but if we get ahead of it and if we rise to the challenge, we can

contain it and we know how to do this. it is not obligated to do but it only requires a large focus of resources and efforts to deliver it. secretary john kerry and i have discussed the measures that we are leaving in liberia and that the uk is reading in sierra leone. we now need is a secretary has said, the wider international community to step up to the plate and to deliver that additional resource. but trained medical personnel to lead that effort on the ground and we all have to do more if we are going to prevent what is currently a crisis from becoming a catastrophe. the uk has committed over $200 million to the program in sierra leone and we have military and civilian teams on the ground and the construction program to deliver 700 ebola

treatments. i joined a cobra emergency meeting the this morning thinking it from the british embassy here and we decided at the meeting to deploy this with as the helicopters embarked to provide capabilities on the ground. we are conducting trials in sierra leone of a new model of the care unit, a primary care triage system for those with early-stage symptoms. and so it's also important that we remember that our national security is dependent upon our economic security. we cannot have a strong defense without a strong economy. we did this afternoon i will be holding a discussion at the atlantic council here in washington on the benefit of the

trans-atlantic trade and investment partnership between the united states and the eu. the uk remains committed to this ambitious field and will be a cheerleader for it within the european union. if we achieve it, it will create the largest free-trade zone in the world, bringing more jobs and more growth to both europe and the united states. as well as setting the standards for trade deals for many years to come, allowing us to establish our international standards as the standard for trade has occurred in the coming decades. tomorrow i look forward to our visit to massachusetts and the clean energy centers clean when energy tomorrow. we represent a strategic threat to global prosperity and to

global security. innovation and investment in clean energy technology must be at the heart of our response and can help us turn threats into an economic opportunity. the uk and the u.s. will work together to ensure that the world response to this threat before it's too late, including to the conclusion of an effective global climate deal through the end of next year. once again, gentlemen, i am delighted to be here and i thank you again for your leadership on these multiple challenges that we face and i look forward to working with you across all of these areas of activity to preserve and strengthen this very special relationship. i thank you. >> the first question will be from the moderator of cnn's. >> thank you, mr. secretary. has there been a decision now,

others suggested that you had larger strategic priorities than saving the than other cities and towns. soldiers of at the ready, this nato ally has not done really much to say this town inches from the border. what did you ask the prime minister to do in recent conversations? the president has said that unless you have to get rid of the shellmac, is this an excuse? are you deferring to turkey here? have you not been partnering with the kurds who have been battling them for a year and the foreign secretary, you spoke a lot about what you are doing for the coalition, particularly in iraq. and i'm wondering whether you see britain furthering that action into syria or is there a

kind of disagreement on whether the british to take part in air strikes and what the goals are in syria? thank you. >> thank you. well, we are deeply concerned about the people of kobani who are battling against isil terrorists. and indeed we have talked with those and i talk to them twice yesterday and the day before and we have conducted strikes both monday and tuesday and also now. and as horrific as it is for us to watch it in real time, what is happening here is also important to remember that you must step back and understand the strategic objective as well

as where we have begun over the last weeks. we are literally just coming out of the u.n. meeting at which we announced the coalition and we have just been deploying the first efforts to liberate, as you know, sanchar mountain and the siege on this and we are very successful in those efforts. iraqi forces within iraq are standing up and it had some successes over the course and general allen is literally on his first trip right now in the region. he will be going to turkey tomorrow is going to have long meetings through tomorrow and also friday in which we hope to determine exactly how turkey will enter this having resolved their hostage crisis.

and they recognize that. these things must be done in a thoughtful and careful way so everyone can understand who is doing white and what the implications are that they are doing it and where you go as a result. i am absolutely confident that tomorrow the discussions will take place directly with the ambassador and general allen and they are very much involved in directing those strikes now and doing what he can within the framework of the current structure. but this is a structure that is evolving on a daily basis and notwithstanding the crisis in kobani, the original targets of our efforts have been the command and control centers and

the infrastructure as well as trying to deprive isis of the overall ability to wage this throughout syria and in iraq. so i think that you will see over the next hours and days the fullness of that strategy involving and the decisions being made about the turks and others as to exactly what role they are going to play. >> following on from that you asked about the uk position and we were asked by the iraqi government to provide support in iraq and we attained parliamentary approval for that support and we are already in action. we absolutely have not ruled out playing a role in syria. but we will wire further parliamentary approval if we decide that that is the right thing for us to do. as secretary john kerry said, this is a coalition and there

are many different tasks to be carried out. with some division of labor here and specialization of roles. so we wait to see exactly how turkey will make its contribution to the coalition so the uk is still considering the right way for us to make a contribution and the way in which we can most usefully add value and extend our military permissions to operations in syria if we concluded is the right thing to do and we will ask the british parliament for approval of those decisions. >> the second question is from peter foster. >> thank you. my first question relates to kobani in syria. the french president has supported his call for a buffer zone. do you have any comment on that or what purpose it might serve. just to follow up on iraq and serious situation, the foreign

secretary indicated that britain would be receptive to an american request if there was a specific military role that we could play. so do you see a useful role they could play in syria, particularly where they could have a role in these closed urban environments. dc america and the role for britain in syria? >> this is very new territory and we are only in the first week or two of the coalition existence of operation. the idea of this is one that has been floated and we have to explore with other allies and partners how such this would

work. but i certainly don't want to rule it out at this stage. in terms of the uk's potential military contribution in syria, we would see this as a militarily useful role that we could play and the secretary may want to say something about that. but the question is where the military people and general allen will be in the lead on this. with a specific role and i'm sure that they will not be slow in a statement. >> in broad generic terms can great britain be useful two yes, in so many different ways. but as philip has said, a specific determination that has to be made with respect to a specific mission and the top

two, it's up to the general to make that when he does so with his counterparts and with the president in respect to the overall mission. and there's no question that we are very happy to have our friend and ally as part of this and there are all kinds of things that we can do together in this endeavor. >> the buffer zone, as philip said, it's been out there and it's worth examining and looking at closely. there are a million plus refugees who have crossed the border and another hundred 80,000 or so driven out from kobani. this should not be a problem that is rest upon turkey were jordan where they bear an incredible burden with respect to their society. if syrian citizens can return to

syria. and be protected in an area across the border, there is a lot that would commend that and at the same time you have to guarantee safety and guarantee that there wouldn't be this or other things would have happened. so thorough examination, all in favor of looking at this closely, that will clearly be one of the things that general allen will be having discussions on and subsequently we will have discussions on this over the next few days. >> thank you, everyone. >> thank you all. [inaudible conversations] >> secretary kerry talks about

ebola. the first person diagnosed died today. this and the dallas news. president obama spoke with state and local officials across the country via conference call. saying that as we saw in balance, we don't have a lot of margin for error. if we don't follow the protocols and procedures put in place, we are putting folks in the community at risk. thomas eric duncan died this morning at texas presbyterian hospital and was sent away with antibiotics. medical personnel said he arrived in liberia a few days earlier. the obama administration today discussed the majority of travel through southwest africa. former secretary of state colin powell discusses foreign policy

challenges in iraq and syria. he also spoke about it a lot. this event was hosted by the world affairs council. >> how about that. job wise, i have never heard this phrase, the voice of god, for, but i was glad to see it was not a woman. [laughter] i want to welcome you all here and say thank you for helping us and thank you for those personal words that you gave. if you would allow me, i joined the foreign service as a young officer and i can remember being given a job at one point to take a piece of paper and it was urgent and i was told to get this piece of paper over there.

i got up on the seventh floor and i ran down the court order towards the deputy secretary's office and finally someone stepped down and grab me by the arm and said, don't ever run in the scoreboard again. [laughter] and i can tell you that 25 years later when general powell gave me the opportunity, i ran down a quart or all the time. and i want to join in thanking the sponsors. my plan for today is to engage the journal and i in a conversation and there are certain number of things that were true at the state department, one with bad general powell needs no introduction and i would say that a long list of things that you read in your program, he is also a great teacher. what he taught us was you can do great things and still be a good

human being and that the people matter and that optimism is a force multiplier. those are lessons that i've taken with it a rest my life. i also want to say that i had the good fortune to watch a program. the director of the foreign institute here, i was struck by the reception the general powell was given at that event by people who recognize what he had done for the state department and the foreign service and the civil service and another we have here the two winners from the leadership awards and i thank you very much for being here with us. that came from general powell and i appreciate it very much. we will get to today's event, i am sure and we will take questions from the audience. i thought we might think about the larger questions of america

and also going forward not necessarily looking back. first i must ask this question. which was after four years at the state department when he went back to private life, i have asked this. >> the reason is simple because it is protocol. you never become a former general. [laughter] most people remembered me has from my military career and at the department of department of state summit he came in late in the afternoon and i said as long

as i'm here, it is mr. secretary and that is how we will operate for the next four years however long it is. >> there were a lot that came in and my legislative affairs guy was a marine and it looked like the pentagon had finally succeeded in its ultimate wish to take over the state department. but i think that we demonstrated to the department that we were here to do the best we could for the department and we were here to be partners. >> thank you very much. one of the things that always struck me in our conversations and in our writings and other things you have said is the importance that you gave to diplomacy and it's just sort of walk and walking around without

force. and so i've always felt strongly that you should try to prove negotiations due to this and anytime we can solve the problem that way and not use voice and satisfy her objectives, let's push for that. the voice always has to be available and in the corner and i don't think we need to advertise it. everyone knows what we can do and it's also part of my experience that when it does not achieve the political purpose, that we do it in a decisive manner and make sure that we understood what we are getting into and the political objective that we are trying to achieve and that we tried to bring the conflict to a resolution as quickly as we possibly could using decisive force and then get back to peacemaking and get back to diplomacy. >> you think that those linkages are well made today and as you

are in front of a group here that is interested in this, but is that a link to something that is well understood? >> i think the american people understand instinctively because it's commonsensical. it's not always the history of the united states in my experience, i have had a couple of operations that clearly were meeting that standard when we invaded panama in 1979, there was a particular reason to do it in the original plan was to remove general noriega. when the incident came to do that, i recommendation to secretary cheney supported was not just remove him but the entire defense force to start fresh and we had a president in hiding and we went in with the

28,000 to take out noriega but it did the trick and we have now seen multiple peaceful democratic elections take place in panama over the last 25 years and the same thing with desert storm. we were criticized at one point for why didn't you go to baghdad. supported by the congress, endorsed by the united nations and supported by almost everyone in the world was to kick the iraqis out of kuwait. clear mission, define precisely, president bush said we could use the force we felt was necessary for the mission and it was a mission where we were also to go. i was able to say to the president but i guarantee the outcome. we saw the iraqi army essentially trapped in the desert not voting and we knew how to go around them and we were going to make sure that we had a decisive amount or is.

you don't always get that set up and things can become much more difficult as they are now and we deal with situations in afghanistan and iraq and the new element of isil coming in and also having a very strong presence greeting from struck the region. it's a little bit harder will it solve all the problems and it's a little difficult to figure out how to apply force in a way that is supported by the american people and the support of our congress and we are trying to find a way through this. the president has decided that airpower is the weapon of choice for the moment and he has put together a coalition to do that and sooner or later if you want to prevail and apply decisive force, you have to go in on the

ground and the brown has to be a partisan the enemy has to know that you have lost and that forces you have to be iraqi army. and it includes the will to fight giving them the means to fight and also the diplomacy to try to bring together the different elements of iraqi society behind this effort to prevail and it can be well-equipped and well-trained because it doesn't believe in the government central to the war, you have a problem that's the principal thing that has to be fixed right now. we store the capability and make sure they have the will to fight from the political leadership of the authorities in baghdad. >> i'm also interested in another application of force and you have laid out your criteria thing about how to use the army and military force. how do you feel about the

decision to send troops and now dealing with ebola? >> dealing with the joint chiefs of staff, we have found issues like that that pop up frequently. arrive in los angeles, suddenly the army is called upon to do something about that, a hurricane in florida wiping out huge sections of south florida and the military is called upon to deal with that. so it's not out of the usual run of things that the military has to do. this one's a little different because it is in a faraway place and it's a disease that we really don't have a handle on yet. what's wonderful about our military says is that they are so adaptable and they are so successful at organizing the logistics and no one could move like we move logistically and move the forces around. so i don't think that this is an unreasonable mission as long as

they are working with health organizations from around the world and especially from the united nations. because we have to make sure his we send these young people over there that we are protecting them from the very disease that they are going over to help others stay away from and be removed from future harm and be put in isolation. that's going to take time and it's going to take a long while before this disease runs its course. but it is the kind of mission that comes along and it has nothing to do with using oars per se, it has nothing to do what political objective but it is a humanitarian objective and the same thing that we started to do when we left the bush 41 administration we stopped and stayed too long, we got caught up in another one of these lets make this a democracy and the

mission did not turn out the way we would hopefully now somalia is in a better place, but that is 20 years later. >> this morning when we were communicating a little bit, we noted very interesting special section today about energy. one of the things i know that interest me as well is the united states is having a revolution in energy and it's in a completely different place than it was 10 years ago or 15 years ago. and as this piece of paper talked about, not to become an energy power in this world again. so if you think about your time as secretary of state. the people that hold those jobs now when they say, mr. president, you have options to your immediate predecessors and have, how do you think it will affect our foreign policy imax. >> i think it will affect us very significantly and we will now become a major exporter of

the fossil-based energy and there are a lot of discussions taking place as to whether we should remove restrictions as to moving this out of the country. especially when we were going through the arab oil crisis and it's not really relevant. it needs to be we studied and i don't see why we shouldn't be supporting a commodity that we have a demand we can supply. a lot of debate about the xl pipeline and that whole project, all of that will be worked out because it is important for us that our northern neighbors including canada and mexico be seen as an energy exporter to the rest of the world. but we must be very careful that we don't think it's a weapon of some kind to use against our middle eastern friends. they will still be exporting and oil goes all around the world in different ways and we have to see it that way. the last thing i want to do to

see that we are using energy in a way that is not in the interest of our friends who have been with us for all of these years providing us oil. and the whole thing is going to change. i also think based upon other activities i'm involved in that while we are in him and our ability to use natural gas and oil and other dimensions, let's continue working on clean energy and let's continue to work on solar and wind and i'm part of a country club bloom energy, one can fit on this platform right now and he put natural gas on one end and electricity comes out the other end and there's absolutely no missions coming out and very little noise coming out, very clean energy and so we need to find ways to have clean energy. also they believe that nuclear power has a role to play in solving the energy problem. so when you're thinking about this, you also have to think

about all of these options and you also have to think about what is it going to do to the environment. don't talk about what's going on with the environment. at places like china need energy and they have to have it. so they are building coal-fired plants, nuclear, wind, using everything and one thing about this that will change our economy, our relations with other countries, the demand for energy is also increasingly rapid rate. china has 800 million people but have not yet benefited from the economic miracle that has been in china for the last four years and they want to know what is their turn and their turn will come when the chinese find new industries to put the men and as china develops new factories and continues to go through an industrial revolution, guess what they need to do that energy imax so we have to make sure

with the resources that we have and the opportunities that we have, where the demand is and how can we satisfy the demand in the quickest possible way. >> a segue to my next topic. this certainly my early memory at the time that we were dominated by china as you'll recall even better than i will. i was interested in where you got this tidbit or rebalance of asia was going on because here we are in a fight what is going on in the middle east and all of that is important. this time out there. i want to rebalance and also very importantly is your experience that tells you about how the united states has seen as credibly. >> i hate the term rebalance and reset. i have always objected to these

one-word clichés that are supposed to capture very sophisticated relationship between a couple of nations. my own experience with china goes back 42 years when i was a young lieutenant colonel in the white house fellow and i was allowed to travel in china for three weeks and one of the first american military officers allowed in china since the 19 benign revolution and it was right after the coastal revolution that i was there and saw these people. and i saw how desperate they were to get ahead and to join the world that was moving forward and i watched the last 40 years as china has come of them become the second-largest economy in the world with a totalitarian form of government and they haven't changed and they're not going to change that. for what i have tried to do his national security adviser and secretary of state has said, is to deal with the chinese respect this and it is not unreasonable.

and that includes what we have on paper. it's a great deal for everybody. china makes products, based on the products to wal-mart, wal-mart sends a lot of stuff back to china and then china loans us the money they just got from wal-mart. these guys are good. but that is the nature of the international economic system that we are in. so when you say you're going to pivot, it means you're turning toward something and it also means are turning away from something. so when we committed to asia, the chinese immediately saw this as pivoting towards us, coming towards us and all of our other friends said of. america doesn't care as much about us as they used to. so some of those don't seem to

be very useful. but i think what we need is a mature relationship. we have to speak with them candidly about human rights and speak with them candidly about hacking and other problems we have with them. and at the same time they need us and we need them in good and economic relationship that is also a good local relationship, even if we disagree with a lot of the policies. one of the things we have to learn in this new world is post-world is that not everyone is ready to follow our lead just because we asked them to or want them to what we might have been able to do in the cold war. we have to realize that most important thing we can do for foreign policy interest is to fix things that are wrong in the united states of america and work hard in our infrastructure and our education, to do something about a congress that is totally constipated, if i can use an odd term. it's getting nothing done and people are watching. people are saying, okay, is that

the democracy they keep telling us about imax or are they going to do more about the fact that we have more people in jail than any other nations on earth. what are they going to do about wonton among that has been pushing closer the last 12 years. not that these folks are good. but it turns out that the federal courts are putting more terrorists in jail than we ever got thrown in jail from guantánamo bay. and so there's a way around us that we try to make it a moral cause about our country to the rest of the world. so we truly have to focus on our economy and or education in our infrastructure and our economic base. we are coming out of a bad situation that began in 2008 economically and at the same time all of our fellow citizens are sharing in the recovery and that has to be a priority. everyone in the room is doing well. if i could take you one block

your control show you people that are not doing as well, we also have to make sure that we have a health care system that benefits everyone. i'm not supporting any particular health care system because i don't know enough about it. but i know that i've had nice socialized medicine for the last 56 years and works fine and i'm not suggesting everyone get military health care. but i'm saying with all the money that we spend on health care and the needs of our citizens, we should have universal health care for everyone and i would wish that our congress in due course would start to make whatever fixes they want and realize that we have people desperately in this, including 6 million children that are uninsured to get this kind of health care. sinnott drifting too far off the subject, i feel that there is a

lot that we can do with respect reassuring our allies and there's a lot we can do with fixing our own economy so we can be a light that shines before the rest of the world. i don't use terms like we are indispensable or we are number one. it means that somebody is in indispensable and they are lesser. so sometimes i think you have to speak with a little bit more humility. people know who we are and in our strength and our economic strength politicals things and i know our military strength. so we don't have to advertise it as strongly as we sometimes do. let your light shine before you before we slip into these references. >> you have been kind of kind enough to send information on that, it speaks exactly to these questions, diversity, who is the

next round of leaders in the united states. i think people would benefit from hearing about this. >> by the year 2040 or so, the next set of leaders [inaudible] and then the majority of those will be who we call minorities now. hispanic, asian americans, and african-americans. and so the passion in my life now, what i am doing in different schools and especially in my school, i graduated from city college in new york which is about a mile from where i was born and it's been amusing to have people say well, or chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, when did you graduate from west point. and -- and they couldn't have

gotten. so above my possibilities who aspire to get into west point. and they're like, did you go to this at a dell or other places and i'm like no, they went allow black folks go to the school. so i went to city college in new york and i got eight all of the education. and that became a career path going into the military because my academics and records and suggested i was going anywhere else. they finally decided to roll this into my grade point average, earning up to 2.0 and get me out of here. [laughter] and they did it with great fanfare, get him into the army and we will never see him again. [laughter] but now i'm back. [laughter] and when i left the state department and i sat down a few

weeks later, i knew that there was a small center that had been named after me and i went up there to see what was going on. i sat in the president conference room and they weren't all minority and most were immigrants and most were from somewhere else and they started telling me their stories and it was the american story repeated over and over again. these kids came from poor families, there were no legacy students in my school because none of their parents went to college we're going to go and educate the kids who are most in need and i said i am home again, back in harlem and after a few years school decided to -- the college decided to make a school of the college named after me

the colin powell school for civic and global leadership. i focus on leadership training and service so that what they study and their academic department is with a also do in the community as they perform service in these individuals are going to be leaders. what's so fascinating about them is they're not fooling around. they come from good families, they are poor, some of them have families and they are hungry and they come to school and we don't fool around. so i'm very proud of that as he gives me the chance not just to stay here in the president and talk about present issues that allows me to participate in the future. and i get asked all the time how are we doing. simone perez said to me that after the cold war was over, a great friend of us and we were

kind of talking about the situation in the post-soviet world and he said we lost all our enemies and now we have our problems. [laughter] well, we found some enemies. [laughter] we had to go find them as well. but what he is saying is that the world that you are looking at now is a world of lots of problems and when we step back, america is under no exit until that to the existence of the cold war. ..

>> >> i felt if we were going to be a team so the third thing that i did that caused a controversy is my staff

said one senior we bring in all the foreign services officers to hear what is going on. i said that the civil service day but there isn't one. then there will be one. tincal of foreign affairs state and bring everybody. why should we? people said nobody will show up than everybody showed up. the room was full. what timing and they said foreign service to do leadership training and just to create an environment where everybody trusted everybody else seeking equal to the success of foreign

policy. i used to talk to mark he was my undersecretary and we will only be here a few years. it will be continued with the trading with the department with the blending of the to and it will only work if we convince you this is the way to go. one of the greatest sources said if we go around from foreign service in civil service not a credit to the foreign service leaders

every major was a value system and it has continued. >> thank you very much. the questions from my midshipmen are forward-looking. they are a band -- about advancing technology how the united states of america and whether the military is ready and especially interesting we may be ready bayou ready to take on the challenges around the globe? but that is the last question. >>. >> with the commitment to the academy and the marine corps thank you.

[applause] >> i have police believe the armed forces of the united states needs balanced capability you cannot just plan on a major war of peacekeeping we need a balanced force to make sure the senior leadership of the armed forces has a careful assessment of what that requires then they have to go fight for it one of the most challenging things ever faced as chairman was sitting there with 2.1 million people and the russians have left the theater. i have 100 attack submarines but no more russian ships for them to attack.

how do you bring that down? and the four chiefs of service sat down and made a judgment how far down we should bring the armed forces to make sure we still have a terrific armed forces with the astonishing number i leaked that to a reporter one day and they are not happy with me. [laughter] anyway. [laughter] that is what we did. we took it down 25% bid in a way that was sensible that became of, but of course, just a few years afterwards say you have to come up with a plan that is achievable for prospective and if you don't come up with a plan from the pentagon then congress will

figure out how to do it. you have to give congress for your supporters to defend and make your opponent's attack your plan. right now we are in a.d. it landed sequestration is one of the dumbest financial fiscal think i have ever seen come out of the united states congress but there it is. there really will hurt the pentagon when it kicks in again this year hopefully congress will see in their wisdom to change that. it hurts the whole government not just the military. but we have a congress that seems incapable to do the compromising and planning and structuring that they are expected to do once they're elected to office. so i tell the young officers to be up there as it is your job to take care of the sailors and marines entrusted to your cater let

us worry about what the country will look like the start of your careers with those jong americans intrusted to your care. as a young lieutenant 60 years ago if you take those in germany guard between the two trees lt. col. when the russian army comes, you stop them. [laughter] no problem. but that was it. a very precise mission and they will do the same for the sailors and marines then it was 70,000 soldiers at the same place. and life was good. it was the same across the

iron curtain i knew the commander i knew them all. then it all went away it all went away. and never forget the day gorbachev looked at me across the table he was mad at me he with shouting and me as reagan's national security adviser then he called down his face got soft in his eyes set. bit ages said general you don't have to do anything. i thought i don't want to. [laughter] we have a good deal going your. why do i have to change? the whole world changed for me then i told my generals

and admirals it is over. fate will join nato. but what also happened that pressure cooker of containment kept the world pretty stable when that came off then all kinds of things came popping up and nobody expected. then technology expedited. we are in a wonderful world now with a cellular telephony, the internet has changed the world mostly for the better but there is some down sides as well. to the youngsters of the eye patch generation have to teach us how to use this icy what is coming next in silicon valley to show was

so many steps i don't know why i care. [laughter] but i am watching that. and also keeping it from infecting our society and that is my charge to you. technology the best ever made. [laughter] thank you. [applause] >> how do you feel? as we think about the word respect is that what you teach us general?

is it humility or sense of humor? servant leadership? now i will read your formal black. you have touched our lives as you have touched the world as you have touched said kids with america's promise. can we start with prayer? [applause] so general powell on behalf of the world affairs council of washington d.c. to the international affairs award is presented today to the honorable colin powell in recognition for upstanding service of the united states and distinguished copal diplomatic leadership on

october 8, 2014, washington d.c.. and it exemplifies that nobody more than general powell. [applause] one

[inaudible conversations] hello everyone. thanks for joining us today by an executive vice president of external affairs here at the center for american progress and i'm thrilled you're here with us today. whitman of all races make up 18-point 5% of the united states congress. women of color makeup and abysmal 4.5% of congress. these numbers exist in direct contradiction to the fact that women make up half of the population and are more likely to vote than the male counterparts. we will hear about the reflected democracy campaign's new research which shows the persistent

upward -- under representation of women and women of color throughout the country at all levels of government. over the summer the reflective democracy campaign finished to the unprecedented new database of 42,000 elected officials throughout the country this survey showed the great disparity engender race and ethnicity between our elected lawmakers in those whom they represent i would think donna hall with the reflective democracy campaign to bring their new research to share. [applause] at the center for american progress we believe growing diversity is an asset and it is strengthened when elected

officials actually reflect the constituencies they deserve. evidence suggests there is much to be gained from encouraging a greater number of women and women of color to run for office as well including the one we will discuss today continuing to suggest with more reflective lawmakers produce more aggressive policy of comes. a new starting point for unnecessary a discussion from the midterm election but for 2016 and beyond how can we understand the address in reverse the chronic underrepresentation of women and people of color in politics? here to address these issues is the keynote speaker donner at -- donna edwards

representing the fourth district and was sworn in june 2008 becoming the first african-american woman to represent maryland in congress. stunning and sparkling the first african-american woman to represent maryland in congress enjoying a diverse career with the national network to end domestic violence that was signed into law. since being sworn in with those accomplishments to improve the lives of working families around the country. the first act was to add maryland to ensure access to after-school used to go opprobriums to schools located in low-income areas.

congresswoman edwards held insurance companies accountable for unjustifiable rate increases also to extend research and development domestic manufacturing infrastructure spending to create jobs and growing the economy and also the first member of the house to introduce a of a constitutional amendment to overturn citizens united decision rica not be more honored to have her here today to share our perspective on this issue. please join me to welcome congressman john edwards. [applause] -- congresswoman donna edwards. >> i am so delighted to be here at my favorite organization. i cannot tell you what it means to make sure those

policy makers really have the right stuff to do that job. i cannot say enough about the women donors network i first came to know them many years ago with my time in philanthropy. including the of peter and then over the years i appreciate your of leadership. what a better time with that leadership development an effective democracy it is the same thing. and in fact, the story of what and means to have

reflected democracy. i was stunned as well. when i won the election in 2008 were the first african-american woman to represent maryland i denied it said that cannot possibly be true how could that be true in a state as the centerpiece for harriet tubman and sojourn nurturers that that could be possible i am the first african-american woman to represent merriment in congress? the we have to ask ourselves because increasingly around the world we come in on the low end to leadership that reflects our population of one to talk about what that means. i am on the political side their recruitment chair

during this cycle of the top tier candidates the majority of them were women it isn't an accident when you have women around the table hoping the conversation that you will come out but frankly it is not enough. it is true with this congress we have a majority of democrats in the house that is more representative than it has never been. to take a look at the aggregate of african-americans in congress and of lgbt that we are more of a majority minority with the house of representatives of the democratic side.

that is not the whole congress or congress that large but to have representatives any level to reflect the population in communities we serve it should not be an accident or a surprise that the act of congress was to add maryland to the after-school program because of my experience as a mom to put food on the table to make sure when my son went to school but on that experience along with to so many in my congressional district that led me to do that it is reflective democracy and it should not be a surprise as

the chair of the democratic women in the house and a co-chair of the bipartisan women's caucus equal pay for equal work for minimum wage to make sure we have at least one day of paid sick leave to focus on things like child-care to provide access quality affordable child care. we will talk about that because two-thirds of america's workers who work for minimum wage are women for women of color so makes a difference if that becomes a priority that is reflective democracy think about equal pay for equal work just yesterday 400 women largely african-american women to talk about equal pay for

equal work the overwhelming majority are not working any more and their retired most live on a small pension they were fortunate enough to receive almost exclusively on social security but what about the fact we have equal pay for equal work that is the front and center of the policy agenda? what that means is they into their retirement years losing hundreds of thousands of dollars of the end, unable to contribute to their own retirement because they did not make this same amount were the same education to reflect those experiences to contribute to the policy discussion i had an experience raising my son

i was really struggling the issues of paying the mortgage and child care some people said to me there were mostly males that city should not talk about those people don't want to hear about that then no one will want to vote for you. nothing could be farther from the truth and my ability to speak about my experiences as a single mom contributed to the conversation about why it is i should be elected those are the conversations that can come to the table with democratic representation that reflect our communities so why do i think ciao care is important? i was one of those moms paying $1 per minute every minute i was late on a fixed income it is more like $18 a

day if you are stuck in traffic. i had to what i already knew to have some standard child care and he ended up with meningitis and i almost lost him. but these issues why we engage public policy is exactly the idea of reflective democracy is all about. we cannot have this kind of democracy that all of us aspire to if our voices are not at the table. at 18-point 5% is not enough in congress of the united states to reflect the population of the majority of women who need to be serving in elected office. it is just not enough after 238 years from our country

not to have of a woman at the highest level as commander in chief. 238 years too long. to only have a very small percentage in the congress a we have to do better thinking about my african-american and sisters a small cohort but we bring a lot of different conversations even to the table with their african-american colleagues but it is not enough to say we can elect people of color into congress but it is time to elect women into congress. finally, to close by sharing this story of a little girl in her preteen years with

glasses and braces and nobody was to take pictures of us in middle school. i had one of those i looked at the leaders around us like barbara jordan and i thought i want to be like them. i've looked at my mom you worked so hard all her life to take care of sick children to grow them into responsible human beings and i marvel at that because i had enough challenges to grow one child. i think of my grandmother who struggled with she was forming with my grandfather and release struggle to put food on the table with the farm was not working she would clean houses. she never had more than a high-school education but one of the most brilliant one and you would never meet.

it is about time our political leadership reflected the legacy that we have in every single family in every single household across the country. , ending sarah had been meet today i hope i can sit in on the panel discussion and also for their research to have done with the direction that we take. the dealer got to finish won the election season going into another wherever we find ourselves it is time we're not just asking women to run but we support and get behind them when they do. and then to stand behind them when they lead. thank you very much.

[applause] >> afternoon. i have the privilege to serve as president in ceo of the benin donors network it is wonderful to have you here today it is a bit of a celebration and takes me back to the time when we first met us small delegation going to the country of chile elected the first time the first elected president in south america. may be a group of 15 of us that traveled there. she made it a campaign promise that half of her cabinet would be women when we went to see her she asked her cabinet to stand up it was remarkable for all of us to see all the women stand

up. this is a follow up to the question of how do we really get women and people of color into office? as i mentioned before i am the president and ceo of the women donors network of 200 members nationally we strive to make structural and strategic changes through catalytic can collaborative funding to working in partnership. who leads us? america was founded on the ideals of we were created equal to have a stake how the nation was governed. we may not always succeed as the history it is not enough women and citizens of all races have the right to vote

every american must have equal access to lead as well. today we're here to confirm with hard data the extent of a very serious problem that our elected officials did not truly represent the population they serve. in fact, research shows that white men maintain a powerful hold from the political representation at all levels. we have long been concerned women of color do not have of real voice we have heard this over and over again of all the work we engage. those of overlap race, gender, and class this concern is not limited to election officeholders but stems to the halls of

business to the arts and large and powerful on profits and foundations. we all agree there is a growing awareness and discourse than there used to be about these patterns in our society. the first we decided to start with the narrow focus on officeholders as a strategy to reflective democracy. today we're here to describe for the first time that we now have an open source database compiled demographic data including race and gender with 42,000 elected officials from the federal to the state to the county and large cities of 300,000 populations. what you will hear tells a story that will surprise you even more to suggest in order to have a real democracy that we cherished

we must work purposefully to remove structural barriers that prevent more women and people of color from leading in america. we cannot do this alone. we invite you to partner with us in the next two weeks we will release more data with the interactive tool to see how the state's bar with representation of women and people of color and we will also issue tool kits for taking action. in 2015 focused on working with partners with a pilot project for different solutions to results in a more reflective democracy. '01 to take a couple of seconds to a acknowledge people here today who really helped us to get us through to the stages where we are. first of all, the people at

cap for hosting us today. and working with us throughout 2013 helping us with our focus to provide overall structure of this reflected democracy where we could have done a data project if not for the great folks for wreckers university for women politics and our opinion research firm in a the communication project has partnered with us during that time and finally i would like to acknowledge jennifer to senior management does in house for us at wdn of the right to bring about our campaign

director who joined us in in january with the rich history to work in electoral politics and was the perfect person to take over and i am delighted to call you up. thank you. [applause] >> thanks. i am really lucky or maybe really of lucky to be the person who gets to present the results of the effort that was carried out by a large team of people who were here today who have been up all my getting fell website going. christ i appreciate your work. today i would like to do three things.

first to do the research revealed an offer would suggest and where we may go from here but to take a look at a short video we put together if i can operate this. >> have you ever wondered what does america look like? with the people we see in the media and to talk to every day 450 million of us live in the united states 51 percent are women 49 percent are men 63 percent are white. 37% for people of color the country is changing fast the people who represent us from city council to congress keeping up with that change

to relive an effective democracy? we did some research and here is what we found we studied 42,000 electorate officials from the cameral level of to congress the reflected america's population it should look like this but it actually looks like this. 71% are meant 90 percent are white 65 percent are white men that means they have twice as much power as women white americans have three times as much power as people of color and white men had eight times as much power. when 31 percent of the population controls 65 percent of elective offices it is not a surprise most people feel that democracy is broken but to learn more about our data visit us at to be the best

in how you think we to be a more reflective democracy. [applause] >> so just to recap looking at the county level to the national level engendered jews of office holders we found 90 percent white although only 63 percent of the population is white 70 percent are men compared 49% of the population. so this is what it would like it or truly reflective and this is what it actually the slight. white men who are 31 percent

of the population holds 65 percent of elective offices constituting the veto-proof minority in the political system we have all heard plenty of the democratic side of congress but want to take dead deeper look the when we started this research we held out hope we would discover gender balance officials at that level before the most part that hope did not become a reality with slightly lower rates than state legislatures and only 21 percent of the statewide offices and for people of color taken only be

described as dismal people of color of only 7 percent of statewide offices their representation is slightly better at 15% but still less than half of there share of the population. i spent a fair amount of time of gender and power and rarely choose to be optimistic person. [laughter] but in spite of all of that ever shocked by these numbers. a balance of power so start if we saw in another country we would conclude something was very wrong. with the political system it should apply no less than two marcel's. what is going on? what is part of the problem?

the first is in the nature of political office itself opponent say there is something about running for an holding political office that it cannot be held to the same standard for other occupations it is very unusual thing to do to attract people with a set of skills and interest we cannot really expect politicians to look like america. but it is worth noting other professions are just a specialized in a unique data reflected for office with professional baseball players can really be the case politics would be so

different? in second place is to the voters in this line of thinking people of color just cannot succeed because the bias is so strong. the research does not bear this out we know candidates succeed at the same rate as men and their research to candidates of color although slightly more complicated usually focused on specific ethnic groups because the overall sample size is so small but it points in the same direction they're just enough to show that bias in the voting booth is significant enough. the third place is the under represented people

themselves is there something about women and people of color that explains that? with those variations they tend to fall into two categories the first attributes the ambition gap. in general this line of argument holds women who you can run for office are that we just don't like the world of politics. the second line of argument shows the engagement gab people of color were women tend not to participate in politics they don't vote or participate in local political structure in this cause is under representation in elected office. bill size of the question

has been raised for some time so i will just draw our attention to keep points. first women have voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1986. second black women have turned out to vote at a higher rate than any other subgroup of the last national elections. there is work to to improve the registration of lack of participation of politics is certainly not the whole story. i would argue those of us who are greeted with skepticism with ambition gaps that women just don't like math or science where they would opt out of the top-level jobs should be similar a careful to read like on the political power. it is worth noting that

elected officeholders most resemble in terms of the racial and gender balance with that exclusion of people of color. not on the voters those are excluded from political office for effective democracy campaign is focused on the system itself with recruitment and advancement with the political parties landowners contribute to the lopsided numbers. added that composition from demographics over others with that civic institution

who has access to relationships and money and network to leverage a career? this to be no surprise the political system like so many others reproduces and reinforces hierarchy's to organizational copped it is creating a democracy that is far from reflective. but there is good news also coming from voters themselves at the same time we amass the database we undertook a of a comprehensive public opinion research project to understand to what extent americans first see this problem and whether or not

they care. as part of that multiphase research project resurveyed 800 voters nationwide by phone. every field three key findings. americans understand there is a problem with the demographics of the political leader a majority of the voters are concerned about the lack of women of people of color and perhaps even more most best describe the current representative is the old boys' club. however most think the best and the brightest is to the leaders should be. second but to do something about this problem a strong majority of voters support policies of people of color with younger voters even

among white men 66 percent is from people of color. it was the most surprising in a way it is a significant cause of the problem. in what women face a majority of voters with the systemic barriers and to recruit women of color so over and above whatever bias it mayor may not bring to the voting booth it may or may not to pursue elected

office americans recognize our system of recruitment and support is structured in a way that favors white men. we believe this is where we need to dedicate our efforts to change these numbers with the truly reflective democracy. to bring in a new level of transparency this is the first time to have a comprehensive baseline that means we can measure how fast we're making progress we make the data publicly available on our website and later this month we will release a national representation index that will rank states that the reflective leaders reflect their population with a foreword to advocates people of all kinds and we hope

using it to. a change. [applause] >> thank you for being here today. i know we have a lot to talk about new and to go over so i will introduce the panel branded is the campaign director for the democracy campaign at the wdn and was at the eeoc in her past life and led a drive among her fellow assistants at yale

university and in addition teaches on work culture and the economy at the university. gloria is the president of the grass-roots majority of national multi issue accreditation for the grass-roots champions of the state and local level she created the majority in 2001 under her leadership has no state offices also the racial justice campaign program to privatize the election of candidates of color prior to this the political director in 1996 through 2001 were she developed the first nationwide pro choice voter file and has worked on campaigns especially in the home state of minnesota.

our next guest is an associate professor of history director of african studies institute in connecticut it he wanted to be short on his bio so it is too interesting so i will keep going with the washington peace -- the "washington post" and the "daily beast" the author of will to all books one was a finalist with the book with the antidote to revolution in the struggle for civil rights and i have been asked to mention the twitter #who leads us. i will actually start with you gloria.

brenda l. they doubt a challenge for all of us with the critique of observation to change. i hope to talk first is there so dramatic but yet concrete the effects that we have to pay? >> so centuries of oppression in. [laughter] that might be the obvious reason for trout in all seriousness if you are a person of color there is a reality and the fact there is a ripple effect that plays into that data that is the fact i have a list of

reasons such a have access but it is a business that you win by coming out of the black. and to keep your people home and if i'm lucky i keep you off the ballot in the first place. that is the overall environment and that is how we succeed so we have a system of democracy the winner-take-all system and how it excludes people. so two-stage test system there is research that shows

they tend to be more positive campaign environment to have one man or one woman to put people on the ticket within evidence people of color don't do as well to push people of color out there is some evidence so we have seen this in a lot of localities the use this to elect people with people of color getting elected. we need to change who is in the systems who was in the

state party leadership? the caucus is the perfect example that make this a priority. >> you wrote so beautifully this summer what was going on after the shooting death of michael brown. so what way talk about today. the talk about the microcosm so how does that play out? >> thanks for inviting me. becoming apparent after

spending nine days since ferguson an august 1 thing that was immediately apparent was so much more than michael brown. but to be predictable to be necessary from the playoff game last night to those who talk about michael braun north protesting the likelihood of justice to go back to africa from the baseball stadium. but that connotation thinking of the allied air. eric is of a throwback to think the endear times last week the number of pounds in

small cities they are used as a propeller but we see this happening in lots of other places. to organize a their publicized with the off-year election or not. . .