some security difference as we well. >> host: david is in very indiana. you are with the you're with the sergeant of arms at the u.s. capitol. >> guest: >> caller: [inaudible] >> host: i think you are going in and out. we will get the tranquility from twitter to read how would you describe the communication between the different agencies involved in security here in washington and how would you say to improve its? >> guest: know it industry could handle any of these events so we are all partners to be federal and city agencies there is room for for improvement but at the command level and at the

tactical level, there's great communication. there's always a challenge when things are unfolding very quickly and we even see that in the canadian incident. we know that in these situations. so, i think the strategic communication is great. the tactical information exchanges have proven while and we are working jointly training. there is a lot of interoperability so there is a good place but there's always room for improvement. >> host: we appreciate your time this morning. >> i listened to that date campaign 2013. it was between carl and representative peter's end it's

just politics as usual but what we need is for the politicians to quit making decisions based on power money and votes and start working together at a higher level seeking the best decisions for the american people when there's any political events event both republicans and democrats that want to get involved should organize and start from the get-go learning to work together and at this event show their constituents and the american people that they can literally work together in a reasoned together at a higher level and on all the issues americans are concerned about and get the best decisions by your reasoning together instead of it being based on power, money and votes

we win and you lose. >> i'm calling to say thank you for airing this debate. i admit when i saw there were seven candidates on the stage, i thought there was going to be a circus but i'm glad i got over that and i watched. i was really impressed with some of the ideas that some of the candidates and the suggestions they made a particularly the gentleman that said an educated workforce is to the benefit of the country so we should be paying students to go to school, not charging them and putting them in debt for going to school. and i really like the candidates that reminded us senator jeffords will refuse to attend any debates that didn't include everybody on the ballot.

it's time that americans realize we don't have to choose between a democrat and republican. there are more than 100 political parties in this country and it's time we started looking at some of the others. thanks again for airing these debates. >> we are live this afternoon as the former into words and officers will talk about security, violence and iraq and syria on the threat of isis. the wilson center is the host of this event just getting underway >> the format of today is going to be a conversation and a very

interesting conversation. >> thank all of you for coming. it's an honor to be here with you. i've known you for a very long time and understanding the world that's critically important which means that the analysis of the way the world is is really important and it's a point of departure. in order to help the world we would the way we want it to be so i want to thank you for coming. you are one of the foremost and political and an expert in the national security. i want to apologize to all of you however also for willfully misrepresenting who was here today. for the next 30 minutes the gentleman to my left is the

outgoing or of israel. >> i can extend if you want. i'm the prime minister of israel. we are going to have a conversation between the current minister and the outgoing director. on the subject at hand to help the conversation that last and then we will go to your questions. first mr. director director i want to thank you for your service in the three to four years now that you provided a terrific advice i want to offer you an opportunity to speak honestly and directly about the court challenges now facing the

security. identify for me if you would the three most important challenges that i should be worrying about based on your experience and your honesty and clarity in these measures in presenting these recommendations so they'll be the first part of the conversation and then we will turn to your recommendations free from politics, your personal relationship with me and any other consideration >> first of all, the minister, it's been an honor to serve you and thank you for asking me to express myself.

our setup works in such a way that i've always expressed myself frankly and it's always remained in this room and i felt free to do that. so you're going to hear something more on the lines of the summary that we talked about in the past. but i would like to think that we always have this kind of a frank discussion. you asked me to talk about three issues. i'm going to divide its more or listen to three and three because in terms of what should keep you at work at night or when you wake up at eight sweat and three in the morning coming and i know this happens to you, are both the urgent and the

important. but in my thinking it is very helpful to try to separate the urgency. what is in the immediate security? first of all i would say you spoke about this just recently at the united nations and the threat means not only the nuclear issue and what will happen by november 24 and how will israel be able to live with that if we can and not only israel but our neighbor's house while but also the threat in an event, and here we are looking at hezbollah right across the border at iran and syria and

even iran and yemen which i think is an issue that i would commend to you and my successor to pay attention to. second, again urgent. the terrorist islamist threat whether it is hamas or hezbollah just sent us a reminder that they may be busy interior and iraq that they haven't forgotten us and also the iss threat because it reaches come it threatens to reach very close. to jordan's borders into lebanon and here and there as my colleague will confirm there are

some manifestations that support the citizens of israel. and third i would cite in terms of urgency maintaining the growing strategic cooperation that has emerged in the course of the last few years with egypt and jordan to a lesser extent saudi arabia and you mentioned in your un speech, and we made sure that they didn't object to that. we've heard no objections, but this is a key element. this is perhaps the only way of life that has emerged from our standpoint in the atmosphere of the air of spring -- arab spring

and these relationships have to be nurtured. and that means lobbying on behalf of. it means listening to what his needs are in trying to accommodate them even on the issues in jerusalem whereby the treaty he has a certain degree of jurisdiction. these relationships have to be nurtured and i am particularly concerned with the rise inside jordan of the pro- islamist threat not to say that he doesn't have his hands full of islamist but he seems to be much more in control and able to control the kind of things they can do but also the thread on the borders and others on the

jordanian and a serious border. so looking around the borders before the most urgent security issues on the agenda as i understand. >> let me ask you a few questions. what do your sources have to tell us on prospects for agreement by november 24? what are your own personal views as to whether or not the contents of the agreement extension, framework agreement from the breakdown, what do you think might be the most likely outcome? well as you know this is very much a political issue that involves the relationship with president obama, and i'm not sure how much i can end my two new. my own overall sense is that we are not looking at a crisis. november 25 will not present us with some insurmountable

sensational crisis that requires you to sit down and make immediate decisions. you may like it, you may not like it. we all may like it or not. we will probably not that there will be some continuation after that. so i would downplay the significance of the november 24 deadline based on what we know now and of course you have to factor in a lot of other things here that we don't have control over. for example the relations in the context of what happens in other friends like syria and lebanon or the potential for confrontation but this will not require a dramatic response. yes. >> can i ask you a specific

question you know that recently we've given permission for the first time. if you could create a frame of reference for me about how things are likely to play out, that is a factor that we are treating civilians and combatants that ask for the medical attention. does this suggest to you that the margin for our minister of jurisdiction over the goal is likely to continue? >> absolutely. unlike the situation since 1967, no one today can grab us by the collar and say this guy that is in authority wants to talk about

the framework of the israeli peace agreement. we don't know what's going to happen. conceivable ten years from now. if you allow the oil drilling for the first time since 67 this is not on the horizon. the more time goes by, the more likely it is that whatever emerges across the border in serious will not put them at the top of the agenda or anywhere near the top of the agenda because they are looking at mayhem in an event for many years to come. and as you know, in our intelligence community can't we set up new structures to look at and to try to identify who's who across the border and whether we can work with them or not.

so, our -- here i have to commend your approach to the chaos across the borders and the parties involved because we have managed to stay uninvolved and for them the situation that one that one-party point and says you're supporting the other party. he tried it for a while and you don't hear this anymore. they understand they are not involved. that they are not involved. so we are continuing to do the minimum, which is to look for people to talk to across the border, anybody who will keep a quiet border and will avoid a situation that we even have to think about possibly sending troops across the border to create some sort of a buffer zone between us and some ugly

nasty people. and here we are working closely with the jordanians and here i would say is one area we've been able to work fairly well with the americans as well. >> one final question before you move on to your important issues. to what degree have the mistakes of our american friends with respect to egypt and saudi arabia, egypt on pushing human rights as a determinative issue in the relationship and the saudi's and the determination to reach an agreement with the iranians generated a closer relations explicitly in the case of egypt and perhaps implicitly indicates that saudi arabia and the gulf? >> with egypt to a fairly high degree and here no one hides the fact that we lobby on behalf of

the administration in washington basically suggesting to the administration that it is mistaken focusing on the human rights violation and all of the alternatives for egypt are worse but only for the american interests before our interests for the saudi interests as well. and right now you are looking at an egypt with whom we are cooperating very closely in china and cooperating very closely regarding gaza. they are also very busy on the libyan friend. so this is an area that we can talk. even though it is rather interesting as you know. we all have an embassy in cairo. they don't want us to have an embassy. they -- israeli journalists still despite all of our efforts they can't get a visa.

it is a strange relationship which is why i go back to the need to cultivate. to be elected the u.s. involvement is to a lesser extent. after all if we have no border than we have no direct military cooperation with them. we have common interests regarding a -- not regarding the palestinian issue, broadly speaking and whereas when we work with egypt we work with a country that has a long-established diplomatic service and intelligence service, a lot of strength. my impression from our dealings is that they don't have that kind of strength and it isn't quite as easy.

>> under my prime minister should the relations between egypt are the best that they would be. >> militarily at the security level they are the best. if you want to go back to the agricultural experts, no. i don't know if we will ever get back there. and with all due respect, sir it is circumstances in the broader development in the middle east that brought this about. but we have played it right i daresay. >> moving to the important issues. >> this is a concern we share with the jordanians and the saudi's and many others in the middle east. and that is what to do about

american mistakes in the region. and what to do in the united states that is seeking to detach militarily and that the security level from the region and a number of geographics. it went into the fight based on what. >> domestic or gotten peace process but never had a chance to go anywhere and in the eyes of some actually contributed to the deterioration of the situation how do we deal with

this? it is now of course the return to the middle east. it's an open question whether this is an aberration short-term exception or general reversal of the sort a sort that is extremely difficult and i'm sure you know from your conversations with president obama to make sense of all of this not just for us but for our neighbors as well and we saw this in the recent war with gaza where the secretary of state in his vision of ending the war was sitting down with turkey and in a sense excluding the egyptians who from a geostrategic standpoint were the only party that could conceivably bring about an outcome that we could accept.

and we saw this in the peace process. this is one long-term area of concern and we have plenty of people to consult within the region. that's number one. second, and here i get back to our conflicts with our neighbors you can't call them a nonstate neighbor anymore. but as a long-term concern that again we share with many neighbors and people, europeans and others is how to fight and if not win at least to prevail in the asymmetric war with these nonstate neighbors who don't play by the rules.

and we saw a perfect example of that kind matter how much damage we inflicted there was somebody in the leadership that said no in order to achieve goals that they never achieved. and because they never achieved them, we have to assume that this cease-fire is temporary. when it will end, i don't know but when it does and we are back where we started. here i need to focus specifically on the asymmetric problem of the custom events. i'm sorry to say you don't have a viable strategy for dealing in general with the palestinians where your goals are two state solutions and we were all painfully aware this summer when all you talked about is quiet in return for quiet that you don't

have a strategy for dealing with hamas and gaza. he didn't have a viable strategy but it was somehow count the calories and not allow food and you correctly reverse this. starve them out economics, show them how badly. if this were an economic conflict and not a political one. ariel sharon had a plan to get out and turned over to the international community and all we got were rockets. so it's not an easy issue and i fully recognize that. but this is something we have to deal with in a more rational way we have to constantly sift through the strategies and we have to recognize that it isn't

a strategy and there are serious partners in the coalition. in the west bank and in jerusalem as well. this is a long-term problem. it's been with us for many years and i'm not suggesting the predecessors have better strategies necessary but this is something we have to come to grips with. >> i think those are the important issues that i would point to broadly speaking. >> i appreciate your honesty and clarity and i wish you tremendous success and since i plan to be around for quite a

long time i may continue to consult with you but i can assure you you don't have to worry about me. >> good to know. let me ask you, let's assume just for the sake of argument that on the three or four core issues that are really meaningful to the palestinians, territory, jerusalem and refugees i was prepared to go much further than any public information and much further than i expressed myself to john kerry. my question it may be more appropriate for the director. maybe i should have you posting here together. you think that given the nature of the palestinian national movement divisions between hamas and the regional environment, do you think that if i were

prepared to move towards a concept and agreement that mahmoud abbas, and i will concede to you the best partner that israelis have ever had, is he prepared and can he make the kind of decisions on these core issues that would satisfy my requirements? >> i would say we have to redefine the issue of little but because as you know, basically since he walked away in september of 2008 the end of the annapolis process he hasn't been interested in negotiating. and he's not interested in going to the un and getting recognition there. it's my sense that what he was signaling is that he understands

he cannot reach an end of conflict agreement with you or anybody else on the scene. not because you can't agree on borders, and if you are really prepared to be flexible in the capital in east jerusalem, not because you can't agree on this and he will be a willing partner on the security issues. i'm sure if of this because he understands how much in this crazy middle east how dependent he is as a strong neighbor. but because he can't agree on the refugee right of return issue and on that very hot issue that's in the news all day every day now, or to put it differently who owns the temple mount, and he knows it. my view is he knows it.

he doesn't believe he can negotiate these issues with you because you make the point which most of the israeli public was at may 12 why should we give up the west bank in return for something that is less than an end of conflict that leaves these narrative issues open and festering so she goes to the un. now the question you have to ask yourself and here we get back to the issue of a strategy for dealing with the palestinian initiative that leads israel a jewish and democrat state, you have to ask yourself what has to be the prime israeli interest in the deal with the palestinians? is it getting them to renounce their heart health positions on these narrative issues like the right of return and the temple mount or is it saving the jewish

and democratic states by getting out of the west bank with adequate security provisions. if it is the latter, i think it's possible perhaps in the international arena and perhaps also bilaterally to make progress on towards the end of conflict towards the two state solution, and leave these really heavy narrative issues some of which like the temple mount are 3000-years-old, leave them for the future, however long you intend to serve for your successor. ..

i come back to my important points. we can't be sure that the united states, in its current profile of downsizing its involvement in the middle east, would be prepared to make the effort, to make this happen. what i can tell you for sure is looking at the platform for his recent nine-month effort and i presume it will be the same platform he tries again, he doesn't see it this way. he is still coming into negotiate, or attempt to reach an agreement.

after 20 years of the oslo trial and error and failure, without having drawn conclusions from the failure, and so he comes in with the same oslo menu that failed at camp david in 2000, and the failed between almost -- [inaudible] i would be very happy if next time you sat him down and explained this to him. if you want to call me as a private citizen i be happy to try to do it. >> i am persuaded that after the midterms, sometime in 2015, that the secretary will, in fact, make another run. and this challenge what you just identified may be the greatest challenge that i face, and i may well call upon you for vice. thank you so much for your service. [applause] with plenty of time the remains we would like to go to

questions. please identify yourself. questions please. i think there is a mic coming around, yes. >> thank you. is this on? good. i'm david. i have two quick questions. first, yesterday in this building there was a session about global rise of anti-semitism, partly as a result of the gaza border i'm just wondering what israel can be doing to try to counter that. and the second question is a majority of refugees are not in the territories. they are in lebanon, jordan and whatever what might be looked in syria. where do they fit in and have it into a peaceful settlement squid sex to him to take these one by one? >> yes. >> i'm speaking of --

>> yossi alpher, yes. [laughter] >> you pointed to two important issues that i recognize, sticking on with the urgent and important, i didn't mention global anti-semitism was undoubtedly fueled by what happened in gaza and will undoubtedly be fueled by any new war with anybody. that's the way we are being looked at today. the are plenty of double standards but there's also plenty of confusion of the borderline between legitimate opposition to israel and its policies and anti-semitism. at the end of the day in terms of what we can do about it, okay, at the end of the day we have to recognize that three years from now will mark 50 years to the occupation of

millions of palestinians. and that's the way the world sees us and will continue to see us, whatever the justifications are, for war, for negotiation, for occupation, for whatever. longest occupation on earth, i think any international community. if we can't do something to mitigate that negative image, we are going to be very hard put to deal with his rising wave of anti-semitism, to the extent we can deal with it and there are elements here that are clearly not in our control. note that anti-semitism, which seems to be most rife in europe and certain university campuses is also, is also almost monopolistic among our arab neighbors. you want to buy a copy of the --

stop at the airport in amman. you don't have to go to the library. and certainly if you want to read the hamas charter for a really, a real treatment, okay? it's not going to go away. and to the extent that islam is rising it will arise without it without a doubt. this is part and parcel of the. the one area i would point you is that we can have an effective occupation. not easy but we should keep that in mind. three years from now the world -- everybody who doesn't like israel for any reason whatsoever is going to have a circus over 50 years of occupation. so get ready for that. refugees, look, in my view, and i'm hardly a hawk on the

israeli-palestinian issue. unra is a disaster. in concept, in concert. they have schools, clinics, to educate palestinians wherever they are. 5 million palestinians. but the concept is a disaster because the concept keeps the conflict alive were ever unrwa exists and wherever unrwa camps and perpetual refugees exists. i mean, i speak as -- i'm the son of a refugee, okay? my mother was a refugee 100 years ago in clean to vienna in world war i, -- in fleeing. imagine of years from now you will not -- not 5 million but six or seven or 8 million house the means third, fourth, fifth, sixth generation refugees.

do i have rights as a refugee? absolute nothing. they are the only ones who have rights as refugee. so this is a disaster. nobody is doing anything about it and it's one reason why the whole right of return issue is so totally intractable. abu mohsen, i don't know if you follow this a few years, a year or so ago was interviewed on israel channel two tv. and he said very magnanimously to the israeli public. he said i give up the right of return to spot where he was born in upper galilee. i give it up. wow. of but he said he gave up the right of return. the next day came the publication. of course, i don't speak for 5 million of the refuge is but a middleman and there's and i'm not going back and so and so forth. the more we try to come to terms and negotiate on this issue not on the number of refugees for my

return, as aaron has experience with dealing with 10,100,000, the clinton browner, so when so forth but on the palestinian demand that israel accept the right to the terms, which means accept that the state of israel is born of sin, and on this basis were going to build a healthy relationship, the close we've got to that the more it's obvious were nowhere near solving this issue. unrwa is not, but i don't know if it's the cause or the effect i don't the knesset prevents agreement or prevents an agreement to set this issue aside for a while. but it is a concept problematic and yet it same time our member going back to the six-day war in 67 when i was a lowly first lieutenant in idf intelligence and i remember we were all saying we can dismantle unrwa.

now we can get into those camps in gaza and the west bank and dismantle unrwa. we got into the camps and realized, wait a minute, we're going to take on this? we're going to take on these schools and these clinics and their multimillion dollar annual budget and so and so forth? no. they are fulfill a useful purpose under circumstances of conflict and no resolution of the issue. so it's very complex. it has to be addressed and it isn't. >> it's always good to have you here. welcome back. >> jane, we last met in -- at the dead sea. jordan. >> at one of those west conference is? i don't know. we have met a number of times. then therefore that. >> economic conferences. >> world economic conference is forum. okay. and you know, if you become the director, that's fine with me.

thought i would mention that. so i'm the daughter of a refugee, to come from nazi germany. he left in 1935 and was lucky to find a sponsor here. and you make a valid point that there are lots of kinds of refugees, not only palestinian refugees. but i want to talk about your comments about his role in the middle east. you said it was downsizing. item if present obama were here, i think he would not stay there. i think he would say he is, was or has been trying to end to very unpopular wars where we had strategies that were not successful, but not to downsize the role, change the role. and i think the intervention in the issue is a changed role. it is an attempt to confront a new challenge that is different

from prior efforts by tour groups, et cetera but anyway i just want to make that claim. you may just agree with the. but a big part of the action against isil has to include an effective counter narrative. not just kinetic action. we are saying that i can only go so far. and thus want to ask you about. you said that supporting egypt current government which is an authoritarian government probably more harsh than the mubarak government ever was is in israel's interest because of the things egypt is able to deliver. my question is, if the u.s. supports egypt's government and the transitioning of the countries too much tougher authoritarian, although secular rule, is there going to generate a counter narrative in the region that will be helpful to defeat the kind of threat that

isil is? and i would argue isil ultimately, even though you are staying out of it, could ultimately be a threat to you because it will cause your friends like jordan to fall. >> first of all i agree that isil is ultimately a threat to us even though it's interesting to note we are not at the top of their hit list. it's other sunnis, arab states, and they have made that point quite interesting that it made that point. let me begin with the intervention against -- to you have something to say here. in my eyes, and if i go back to the role you assigned a name and tried represent the official point of view but i think i'm speaking for most users who follow the matters closely. the u.s. intervention is very perplexing, okay?

president who backed down from intervening against assad in syria it is a public opinion, because he's risk-averse, two americans are beheaded, and any goes. -- in he goes. and kind of a dynamic but in my view is almost certain to involve boots on the ground. in order for anything to move. we are very, i'm very troubled by the administrations insistence on keeping iraq whole, okay? resisting kurdish independence, working with iran to prop up shiite, the shiite dominated central government in baghdad, trying, it wants to rejuvenate an army that the u.s. trains and

fail. completely failed him on as it you do it again it will somehow succeed this time. and all this facilitating iran's ongoing access to the levant via its friends in baghdad and damascus, and ultimately all the way to southern lebanon to hezbollah and to the shores of the mediterranean. leaving aside the nuclear issue, which you can't really do not just for the sake of argument, this is very perplexing. >> but obama would say he is not doing it. he would say that by supporting this new government in iraq, he's supporting a floral is government in we empowering the sunnis. that's what he would say. he would say the boots on the ground are not going to be moderate sunni boots because of the changed dynamic, and no, he's not working on it.

that's what -- [inaudible] exact scenario. you may recall that in july, prime minister netanyahu early in the war against hamas in the course of a speech, publicly welcomed kurdish independence. i don't know if any of you recall that statement. and a statement not solicited by the current, didn't make them happy, made them uncomfortable even though our alliance goes, good relationship goes back many decades. but i think what he was saying at the time was, if the u.s. insists that kurdistan not being debated because has to be part of a unified iraq, this is not good for israeli interests. because of the iran factor primarily. not just because would like to see an independent kurdistan.

and i assume he made this clear to obama in direct conversations. and we know that there are people like vice president biden who have talked about a more decentralized iraq come in from the israeli standpoint that makes more sense. so here you go back to president obama saying we don't have a strategy yet, which was a misbegotten a statement but a brave one because so many of us don't really have viable strategies. but my sense is there's still no viable strategies. there's still no clear understanding of what can be done, what has to be done and what the overall interests are, not just of israel but of some of our neighbors as well. so this is what leaves us uncomfortable in the deserts of iraq and syria. in many ways from the israeli

standpoint, decentralization, weakness, ongoing warfare, may make more sense than a strong iran backs syria. and who knows what, had iraq stayed stable under shiite rule where iran would've taken that. but i go back to my urgent issues. iran is at our borders with 1000 rockets. sorry, 100,000 rockets. we just went through a war with an enemy with only 10,000 rockets, and that took two months to figure out, okay? this is seriously preoccupying us. hamas doesn't move without iran and iran doesn't move with a look at the broad situation in iraq, syria, turkey, the whole can of worms, and it is a can of worms. and i fully sympathize with

anybody who can't quite figure out how to come up with a rational strategy from all of this, but you have to try hard harder. >> i'm sorry, just the last part of my question. supporting authoritarian governments in the region, which israel is now doing, especially egypt, is going to create a dynamic, and depression in young people who are deciding which side to be on that will reduce the threat or not? >> permit me on this issue, not to think. know, i'll tell you why. because on the one hand, we have admirably avoided anything in any way, shape, or form. nobody can accuse of of this from the beginning in tahrir square, and on to syria and so on and so forth. but we are small. we see ourselves surrounded by a growing collection of militant

islamists, and just to forgive us if we make short-term calculations as to what can keep peace and quiet. what can prevent this spilling over our borders. and we just saw with hamas that we didn't succeed, despite our cooperation with egypt. do i think that general sese is a good for arab youth? no. know, but permitting him to think about this because i'm not going to get involved anyway. and if the u.s. seeks to get involved, okay. i wish it success but all i can do is go to it and say look, you made things worse by pushing out mubarak. our nerdy. the saudi narrative. the jordanian narrative. you make things worse by pushing out no better. you made things worse by trying to get cozy with morsi. you make things worse by refusing to welcome sisi.

you haven't made things better. you have to at least reassess about, given the fact that yes, ultimately we all are going to have to come to terms with a political role for islam and with the huge youth demographic revolution in the middle east and the fact that it is totally unanswered by circumstances. >> yes. >> i want to ask about one of the urgent points that you talked about at the human and the takeover -- you mr. mack, and the takeover of basically the threat that iran poses now in that region which had effects on the west canal and the region. could you please tell us why it's so important for israel, what kind strategic attractiveness and what are you

doing about it? thank you. >> that's a great question. i'll try not to talk too long. i am the author of a forthcoming book, israel, a peripheral israel search for middle east allies which goes back to the israeli periphery doctrine of the '50s, '60s and '70s. win, this is one of the paradoxical aspects today, when among other things we were involved in supporting this ieds, then known as royalist, in yemen, were fighting against the republican, so-called republican revolution backed by nasser and the soviets. and we were recruited into this by the british, by remnants of the british from world war ii any deniable operation, which in my view was a most successful periphery operation because through 14 airdrops of weaponry,

who are then supported by the saudis, they were called shiites. iran wasn't around. we basically pinned down a third of the egyptian army and made it much easier to in the six-day war. that's our background. now, what was are interested in and what is it now? after all, to fly from israel to yemen and back without refueling, 14 hour flight. it's a long way, okay? our interest -- the fear then that nasser would take control, just as he tried to choke us at the straits of vermouth. sorry, the toronto straits. the sinai, this would be another choke point. so we invested quite a bit in

this. now the context is much broader because in saudi eyes these are the same iranians they see in bahrain, the same iranians they see in iraq and in syria. .ac them on a different front in yemen. in our eyes it's again broadly speaking the fear that iran will so much a grip there as part of its broader middle east deployment. i don't know if any israeli involvement, and it's largely a saudi problem but i would come if you like, commend to you yemen as what until now was a civil war, as a new front for both shiite sunni confrontation, but also arab iranian confrontation the iwc confrontation there but issue has a very series interest in

and one that coincides with the saudi interest. agonistes egyptian interest as well. >> thank you. yes? >> my name is steven shorter to think iran has a strategy in relation to israel? >> i believe the regime in iran has had a strategy, a strong anti-israel strategy since it came into existence. and yes, i mean, just listen to them. they openly seek -- it's not the destruction of israel, the different nuances -- nuances but is this the highest item under

strategic order of priorities? absolutely not. they seek to sway among their neighbors. they certainly seek to expand their influence in the use of shiites in various places in the middle east, not necessary in the israeli complex, bahrain, yemen, but we're totally on their agenda. and this explains to some extent the alliance with hezbollah in southern lebanon and the build up of what can only be termed quite impressive deterrent against israel but one that can just be used to address, address israel as well. has israel made mistakes with regard to iran? without a doubt. i would say our primary mistake since the revolution of 1979 has been what i call originally nostalgia. that is, you have prominent

israelis who somehow think if we just tweak say iran the right way, the regime will collapse, or the there are potentially pro-is really all that's there and some of the course of history can be reversed. i don't see that. i see this regime has been relatively stable, long lasting with a fairly clear sense of what its regional strategic priorities are. one of them is israel. they are not going to give this up easily. the question is how much, leaving aside the nuclear issue, what sort of resources we can and should devote to this in our overall list of security priorities. >> mqmcshane, thank you. please join me in thanking mqmcshane for an outstanding presentation. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> give you missed any of this discussion you can see it in its entirety later today on our website. go to c-span.org. coming up live, defense secretary chuck hagel and his south korean counterpart will hold a briefing at the pentagon

to discuss their meetings. live coverage starts at 4:15 p.m. these turn. this from the ottawa globe and mail website about yesterday's shooting. a picture of the canadian house of commons sergeant at arms an article that says in part and then who filled the gunman on parliament hill was given a standing ovation and house of commons today. sergeant at arms kevin vickers walk down the aisle of the comments to applause nothing to acknowledge the thank. he is credited along with other security officers with shooting a gunman outside the library of parliament. we have more now on the shooting yesterday from the swings "washington journal." >> want to turn to randall palmer, the ottawa bureau chief. for reuters in ottawa.ning good morning to you. >> guest: good morning to you are and what described thety t capital city that ottawa o residents are waking up tott ths

one after yesterday's shooting. >> guest: on the talk shows are expressing a lot of shocker i would say, looking at this scene from various vantage the t points and didn't see the shot everyone else was feeling as much people leaving the buildings when they were finally let out and heading south but things are back to normal to a certain extent. the parliament is going to open. house of commons is scheduled to open at 10:00. what we want to see is whether the sergeant-at-arms, kevin vickers who shot dead the gunman, will be joining what they call the speaker's parade, a ceremonial thing where you solemnly go through the hall of the house of commons on the way to the chamber and kevin vickers will be hailed as a hero if he joins this parade as he normally does.

>> for those unfamiliar with kevin vickers role on parliament hill. talk about the job of sergeant-at-arms. >> he's the head of security. overall head of security. former mountie, very impressive man. sits in the house of commons on the floor of the house of commons in sort of a ceremonial role but people will now be comforted to know he is there. he would have guarded the prime minister if he burst into the house of commons. the house was in exception when this shooting happened. >> a picture of him posted on twitter yesterday after he had been hailed for taking down the shooter in that attack. at this point in the investigation, what do we know about the shooter and the motivation that the shooter had for this attack? >> we don't know motivation. michael zehaf-bibeau is the shooter. born michael joseph hall. changed his name to a north

african name. libyan father and french canadian mother. he was in trouble with the law a number of times. a couple of years ago, he was in charge, checked with attempted bank robbery and uttering threats. he got one day in jail on top. 66 he had served. there's no firm indication, no indication from him as to his, whether islam was a motivating factor. but the u.s. officials are pointing this out to us that he is someone with a islamic background. >> how call are canadian officials being in making connection in canada role against the effort? >> prime minister harper was clear and said we were not

going to be deterred. the implication is particularly with the tack in quebec where a canadian soldier was run over by a man who did have linking or did have sympathies with isis. he had the isis symbol on his facebook page, harper said we're not going to be intimidated by this so the implication is there is an attempt at intimidation but of course we don't know. we don't know what mr. zehaf-bibeau's ultimate problem was. >> canada was on a heightened state of alert after that monday attack, correct? >> guest: yes. well, not precisely. tuesday after the monday attack, police announced they had raised the level of alertness to medium nationally. that apparently happened last week before the attack.

on parliament hill, the level was already at medium and, which to me was not very high. i mean, you can walk right up to the front door. parliament building with explosives and no one would stop you until you got to the front door and there's no big security at the front door. just a few guards checking your accreditation and from there, 100 feet to where the prime minister was. not like capitol hill and congress where first of all you have no chance of getting vehicles in. now they put the posts up here in parliament so the vehicles can't get in as easily as before and on capitol hill, the capitol building, the congress is so much -- the how was representatives and the chamber are so much further in so even if somebody did burst through the doors of thing congress or the

capital building, they wouldn't have the same ease of access to where congressmen were and you can, in the canadian system, the prime minister and his entire cabinet are all members of parliament. they're all in this. in this caucus meeting. and all very accessible. it's quite extraordinary. >> host: are there members of parliament calling for changes in ottawa in the wake of the incident? >> guest: yes, there are. i was hearing the mayor of ottawa saying we also don't want this to become a fortress and specifically cited like washington. they don't -- i mean, parliament hill itself is open to rallies and tourists and you know, you don't want to shut that off. also interesting the prime minister's office right across the street from parliament hill is right on

the sidewalk. you can -- you walk right by it. you can touch the building which you can't do with the white house. it's amazing open security. i reported in beirut in the 80s and where the u.s. embassy and the marine barracks that were blown up there and then i lived in bahrain and the u.s. embassy was set back half a mile from the parking lot so it's extraordinary for me to see this so close to the road. >> as you said, parliament expected to open at 10:00 today. what specific events are planned today or any changes that you heard about so far? >> guest: well they cancelled the testimony of the bank of canada president late last, late yesterday afternoon. thernoon. i don't know yet the schedule.at

i would imagine they're goinghee have speeches from the primers and the leaders of the opp start with, party toit the first part of course is ther speaker's parade. the speakers at a press release last my same we are planning toe open as usual, just to show that democracy will continue. on t the public is not allowed on thi hills today. got on that is one change. i just got on the hill 10 e minutes ago, just to test the security and show my past and that was fin fine.ed we are allowed in your those ofa journasts accredited and staffers and so e forth. >> host: randall palmer is the ottawa bureau chief. we appreciate you taking time with our viewers on c-span. >> guest: you're welcome. 10-q. >> turning to politics now and her coverage of campaign 2014 live tonight at 7 p.m. on c-span. will bring a debate.

>> i'm tom reed. i approved this message. martha robertson is extreme liberal agenda is already hurting us. robertson is refitting our public with natural gas. and when she didn't get her way her supporters sued to shut it down. robertson and her friends are willing to sacrifice our jobs to our community, raise our taxes and utility bills because of their radical ideas on global warming. that's why martha robertson extreme agenda is wrong for us. >> there are those who put country first, put communities first. tom reed potential fo first by voting for $200,000 in tax breaks for wealthy people like

himself. then tom reed voted to raise middle-class taxes on us by $2000. martha robertson will fight to cut middle-class taxes and to protect our jobs. it's time to put these people first again. >> i'm a martha robertson and i approved this message. >> i'm tom reed. i approved this message. >> we know by her words martha robertson is an extreme effect a liberal who support obamacare, higher taxes and nancy pelosi. her vote to double your property taxes and spend that money on for pay raises and $110,000 that the result tells the same extreme story. whether we take her word or her quotes, the story remains the same. martha robertson is an extreme liberal who was too radical for us. >> tom reed is attacking martha robertson with false negative tv ads but the facts have committed to the aarp says tom reed's blend quote removes the medicaid guarantee. it's about.

he voted to raise the retirement age for social security. another fact. why? to pay for his vote to give tax breaks to millionaires like himself. that's a sad fact. >> i will protect america's promise of retirement with dignity. that's a fact. >> and also tonight a debate in iowa's fourth congressional district were public and congressman steve king is facing democrat jim our. live coverage starts at 8 p.m. eastern also on c-span. >> we are following the new hampshire senate race were republican scott brown is attempting to unseat democrat jeanne shaheen. they held a debate two nights ago what you want anytime on our their website. here's a portion of what you will see. >> in some ways i approved and some things i don't approve last night. >> check on -- like those question we deal with as

policymakers that are not simple answers. yes and no. >> well, let me put it this way. you said you're the candidate or the citizens of new hampshire. scott brown often says i don't need to do, you vote with president obama 99% of the time. because obama's improve race are at an all time low in new hampshire, 38, 40%, how does your voting record sort of jive with serving the citizens of new hampshire? >> i work for new hampshire, and scott brown talks a lot about one survey, 99% of the time that i voted with the president, but the number i am proudest of are the 359 -- two and 59 people are networking at the prison because i was able to get the prison open a cassette into for two years. it's the 1200 people who were being foreclosed on in their homes who are office worked with to keep in their homes. it's the one of 20,000 veterans

who cannot take care close to home because of the legislation that senator ayotte and i got into the veterans reform bill. what we need is a senator who will work for new hampshire, who is going to make sure we address the concerns that hear from our constituents, will be willing to work with democrats, republicans and independents, anybody in washington who can help us get the job done for this state. >> senator brown? >> she just described me because i was the most bipartisan center in the united states senate. every server that's come out has to senator shaheen as being one of the most partisan senators your chance in fact voted with the president over 99% of the time. what does that mean to people in new hampshire? enemies she was the deciding vote for obamacare. she did go to guess every ability for us to keep our doctors, hospitals, care for sosa people loved and trusted as result deductibles are going up dramatically. costs are going up.

care and coverage is going down. she's also voted to put in place a system where we have more and more -- voting over party 90% of the time. that's part of the problem. we need to have an end to the gridlock. >> the two face off tonight in debate in concord. we will record that and show it to tomorrow night at eight eastern also on c-span. recent polls indicated a dead heat in that race. >> monday night the two candidates running for the mayor of washington, d.c. met to debate. muriel bowser these independent david catania and a member of the d.c. city council carol schwartz is when several times for mayor of the district of columbia. ♪ >> wusa presents campaign 2014, a final d.c. mayoral debate with moderator bruce johnson. they don't ♪ >> good evening, everybody and welcome to the historic.

winter for the final most important debate of the d.c. mayoral campaign. while a lot of your party decide on who you're going to vote for, you know there a lot of undecided people to air in the audience, watching us on the web, watching the broadcast. let's respect them. let's respect the candidates. now, opening statements also decided by lot. going first will be the democratic nominee for mayor, new york a. one minute for opening statement. bowser: thank you, bruce. and good evening, everybody. i am muriel bowser and i am running for mayor of my hometown. i am very proud of the progress that we've made together in this city but i'm also concerned that not everybody in our city is enjoying that progress. that's why as councilmember i thought for common sense solutions that help everyday

families all across the district of columbia, like kids ride free on metro bus which has allowed thousands of families to get to school. [applause] before kids ride free, families are paying $30 per month per child just to get to school. the school in the neighborhood has been closed one year. other schools will be closed the next. families have been able to keep money in their pockets and get the kids quality schools. i fought for saving d.c. health for foreclosure keep families in their homes and going to keep fighting for all eight awards in the district of columbia with your support. [applause] >> moderator: ms. schwartz. schwartz: good evening, everybody. i am carol schwartz, a former at-large never of the d.c. council. some of you may remember me from my 16 years on the council as well as my two terms on the board of education. and may also remember that i

lost five and half years ago my reelection for the council because i gave sick leave to workers. and i'm very proud of that, even though i have been threatened by some in the business community that they would come after me if i pushed ahead. i think it's important for people who have part-time jobs and who work to have some sick leave it at so if i had to do it all again and have taken his leave of absence because of it, because i lost my collection, i would do it all again. but i want to come back so i can continue doing things for people who need it. helping our vulnerable population, getting affordable housing, helping our homeless, giving drug treatment and uncle treatment to those who need it. thank you all very much. [applause] >> moderator: thank you very much. mr. katz. catania: thank you very much bruce babbitt thank everyone for being here and the organizers

for arranging this. we had a big decision to make him a couple of weeks now and that is who has the experience and the values and vision to lead our city? for the last 17 years i've been very privileged to be able to get up everyda every day and rus our city challenges. i'm also proud of some of things we been able to champion. for instance, during my chairmanship of the committee on health before the a for will correct we reduce our rate of uninsured two singles were in the country a five pointed% and three-point to for children we were able to cut our new hiv infections by 50% and our death by 69% and through real tenacious ever were able to invest $100 million to unite a medical center and say the foreclosure. for the last 30 or 21 much i chaired the committee on education and threw one and 50 conversations with school leaders within able to end social promotion coming the biggest investment in our city's history and at risk children and we are now on the road affixing special-education. i am running because the d.c. can do better. thank you. [applause]

>> moderator: thank you, mr. cat -- mr. cat. the order of responding to questions also decided by lot to the first question goes to carol schwartz. ms. schwartz, could you name the single biggest contribution you've made toward . schwartz: i think probably i would say this sick leave where people who need it have it. the department of the environment trying to clean up the river, which can negatively impact the neighborhood. i also in my private life, not just my public life, bruce, but in my private life i've been enormous amounts of volunteer work, including coming out here having been on the board of the metropolitan boys and girls club and having work of the senate after for all those years several decades ago. so i think both of my political

life and my community life i think toward eight as benefited from all those activities. i also come if you remember, chaired the committee that public works under it. we were able to do far better at trash pickup and were able to make dmv be better. unfortunately, it has fallen back since i don't chaired the committee anymore. i've always made lives better for everyone. >> moderator: ms. bowser, same question. your biggest single conservation. bowser: i would say what i've for some residents all across toward eight is the transit, the free transit for school children. as i mentioned in my opening it has made a real difference in everyday lives for families who were leaving their communities to go to school and have to pay to do so. so that's very important. i think i've also made a tremendous contribution of working with residents that is

around park southern. i can -- i'm sorry. [shouting] >> moderator: excuse me. please, please. we are early into this debate. please don't do that. you disrespect all of us when you do that. please continue. bowser: yes. as i started, i wanted to say that a problem was brought to me about violence in the community on metro bus that surrounded a community called partly overlook. i worked with all of the housing agencies to make sure that that building could be saved. it was actually most recently purchased by the housing authority and will be converted t200 units of affordable housin. >> moderator: mr. catania, same question to your single biggest contribution to ward eight. catania: do i -- thank you, mr. johnson. so years ago when it first became chairman of the committee on health, united medical center then greater southeast was boring pharmaceuticals from neighboring hospitals as well as

bandages. nurses routinely walked off the job for failure to be paid and the radio department had been burned out. it was operating as barely more than a clinic when i became chairman and i was but a fleeting the council's effort to invest over $100 million into that facility, a new exterior, new equipment, new radiology, new wound care, new dialysis, but most importantly the new united medical center partnership with children's national medical center which brought the pediatric er to that site that will see 40,000 children alone this year. i'm proud of the fact that while not perfect the hospital would've close but for our effort. garden is a it was a dandy or waste of money. i believe the people of this committee are entitled to think what it health care that i expect in my neighborhood and that's why i led the effort and i'm proud of it and that hospital is there with 1000 jobs because of it. [applause] >> moderator: okay. okay, now we have random

question. we will start at this end and work away. first question is to all three candidates. you are elected mayor, you get a call from marion barry and he is complaining about -- you take a call or to give it to a department head? catania: you can't not take a call from marion. that's just -- marion cannot be deferred. deferred. look, mary and antistatic store data. sometimes we love each other, sometimes we don't but i've got to tell you that no one can diminish mary is a legacy and marion's work. is this one minute? turn four that was really a one word answer. ms. schwartz, would you take the call? schwartz: of course i would take his call. in fact, i had the great privilege and i would understand exactly why, but marion before he went in for his kidney transplant operation i just got in on the council and i was out of town actually, i got a call from marion barry from hospital, howard university hospital and i

had a conversation -- triple that was a yes or no answer. thank you very much. schwartz: of course i would take his call. always have always will. bowser: yes, i would take his call. in fact, i took his call about five calls a day, talking about what's important to the residents of ward eight. [cheers and applause] >> moderator: okay. okay, we would like -- we will keep it on ms. bowser and work away down the we would like one minute responses because of the but has a lot to think about this. talking education reform. everybody says he or she is for education reform. specifics, please. you become mayor. what is the first thing you do to speed up reform? bowser: yes. i think we all are for education reform and we have to decide how fast this government is going to make quality and/or education investment a priority. we have worked very hard in school reform over the last seven years. we've made a lot of progress,

some of it very difficult and some decisions very difficult. now we see parents are choosing d.c. public schools again. we see our numbers growing and that's because they have confidence in leadership. and i think that we have to have continued leadership in our schools that's going to be strong for closing educational gaps. the biggest thing that i think that remains is making sure our middle schools are ready, that we're telling parents that will have great buildings, great leadership, great curriculum, and the pashtuns are going to be ready for high school and career when they graduate from high school. they will be prepared to go on to college or get great jobs so that they can affor afford the t live in the district of columbia. [applause] >> moderator: okay. again, ms. schwartz, one minute. and again, my question kind of specific but is there any one thing he would do that you have in mind that isn't being done now to speed up reform?

schwartz: listen, i've lifetime i'm working on education reform in my own children went nowhere but the d.c. public schools. one of the things that i've called for in my education plan, i hope you will look at it at carol for fishbowldc.com is a call to service we have a lot of retired educators not only in d.c. but throughout the metropolitan area. and i want to literally busted them in to go to our schools where there are a large number of high need students. they will give those children attention so they can get caught up very early ages. i also want wraparound services at those type of schools so that their parents can go in for adult education classes and evenings and on weekends. so i have very specific plans of how we tackle this terrible disparity that we have in the

test scores of our children to. >> moderator: thank you very much. mr. catania, specifics. a specific you do to speed up reform. catania: i will continue to build on the work of the committee started on education 18, 19 months ago. we into social promotion. we need to make certain the children are on grade level. expand the at risk weight. $80 million to continue to work a special education but the one thing we're missing is stability in our leadership and our schools. this is a perfect example. this school lost a terrific principle last year in dr. roberts. there's a system, else to the point there's a theater system that feeds the dose recover but what i'm saying. you have simon and kramer and beaulieu all in fun of each other but across the street from each other and every one of those leaders this year has changed. they lost an elementary school, they lost e-mails go and a loss to principle school leader. and less of the stability in leadership, our schools are going to but i would make that a

focus. >> moderator: [applause] >> moderator: mr. catania, follow-up question. talk about the absence of leadership. are you referring to the chancellor or talk about the mayor? catania: i don't think it's important to focus on playing. i think it's important realize we need stability at the top within a chance but when you stability in our schools so that reforms can matriculate and so reform can take root. when we're changing school leaders as we'r we do every yeae lose about 20% of our principles every year. we are not getting our schools a chance to actually get set up to succeed and that's a problem. [applause] >> moderator: ms. schwartz. schwartz: i also think we need some stability in our teaching staff, too. when they did the reform, when they did the reform they just throughout the baby with the bathwater. there were a lot of veteran teachers that were really good. and instead they brought in all these teach for america young people, all good, all good, but,

not they usually stay for two to three years, even if you look at the website of the teach for america, two to three years. we need teachers where one child will have them and their brother and the sister will have this good teacher, and we need to also get a core of veteran teachers and stop throwing out the baby with the bathwater. ..

let me ask you this, let me give you an example. on the other side but right now residents of crestwood can send their kids to wilson senior high school under the mayor's plan they would have to send their kids to roosevelt. anybody got a problem with that? bowser: it is in my ward that we are in ward eight let's talk about the impact on the boundaries of the ward eight neighborhoods, first. ' and what the boundaries on the table but do is to say to the families who are in ward 8 is there's going to be a line down the anacostia river and you are not in boundaries for anything across it. there are families right now in boundary for eastern high school. so, i will not support a plan

and i do not think the plan is ready if it exacerbates educational inequality. and the same is true for the neighborhood that you mentioned that i had the privilege of representing right now. drawing a line down the park is also not acceptable and it exacerbates educational inequality in our city. [applause] >> moderator: what is acceptable? schwartz: my kids went to the public schools because public schools because of the glorious diversity that is washington, d.c. for them to have that experience as well and now the things that are being proposed are going to integrate a school system. and i'm not going to allow brown v. board of education to go backwards on my watch, i can assure you. [applause]

catania: i appreciate the focus on ward 8 because i think that they are too often focus on one community that the redraw it has an immediate impact on this community. simply taking mode and elementary for instant away from johnson and moving it to kramer is going to cripple johnson. we know couple years ago there was an effort to close johnson. there are four elementary schools. noting is the largest. it's responsible for about 42 of the 100 incoming kids. moving to kramer is going to cripple johnson and it will be the predicate to the closing. the remaining schools are not enough and when people say do you support it there are parts of the program i do support and parts we have to look at. there is a domino effect with how this is being implemented as though it's not important to do it quickly. we waited 40 years. it's important to understand the decisions we make today are going to have a cascading domino

effect. [applause] >> moderator: they said it's a moot point especially when you talk about diversity because you don't have it. what do you do to make sure the children are also exposed to the diverse education? bowser: one of the things that is done through the boundary is that every school will have an out of boundary. elementary schools will be 10%. middle schools will be 15% in high school and secondary schools will be 20%. i actually would make those instead of ten, 15 and 20% i would make that 15, 20 and 25%. so that's how we can get the kind of diversity that i think we should all have. i mean, one of the reasons i think washington is so special now that we are such a boom town and people are being priced out

but to be able to not be able to not only have ever diversity with shared it diversity among each other and schools are at the appropriate place to do that. >> moderator: how do you bring about that? catania: that's one question that another is how do we make schools better? we talked about making the boundaries and what we really need to be talking about is how we set the schools have to succeed. anacostia high school is a perfect example. last year only 36% of the young man in the school graduate on time. and only 49% of the young women. when only 43% of our kids are graduating on time that is a state of emergency. diversity is very important. but what is also in part and is making sure the schools are absolutely resourced so they can meet the kids as we find them and we can have success. [applause] >> moderator: a lot of people believe there's a direct correlation between a lack of

diversity and status inequality of the kids i think it's important and i also think that in talking about the outer boundary a lot meant it's right in making sure that we protect the fair out of boundary a lot meant. it's also important that our schools, the school without walls and duke ellington are recruiting have those opportunities as well. it will have a specialty or application school. i think there've been a lot of discussions about specialty of patient schools east of the river where children from all over the city can apply and get in. we spend their time talking about proficiency and that all

of our children achieve proficiency. but they are learning and improving and supporting each other. they are fulfilling themselves into their their athletic and academic talents and that we are supporting children along the whole spectrum. [applause] >> moderator: let's move on to affordable housing. any candidate that's ever run for any office says he or she is for affordable housing. can each of you defined for us what you're talking about when you say affordable housing and what do you do to make sure that there's more of it and not less? schwartz: i've been gone for five and a half years as i stated earlier. and affordable housing has become less and less. the movement of the government has also become less and less. and so i think those that have

sat here in the fight and a half years that i've been gone should have been moving more aggressively on the area of affordable housing. and one of the things i want to do is bring back public housing. and if we can't give them to be part of it we will do it ourselves. and what we will do is we will make sure -- and i'm talking about with the affordable public housing is the 30% and below. so, we are talking about people that are practically at the poverty level. and we need to be able to give them decent housing. why is it important?

because we have a homelessness crisis that is crushing the city as i was walking through and i saw as many as 40 vacant units and they are single, double, triple apartment and there is no reason in the middle of the homelessness crisis we need a government with a sense of urgency. >> moderator: what do you mean by affordable housing? bowser: we no affordable housing the target is no person should spend more than 30% of their income on housing. they spend 30% on income housing which means they are house for. for so that is the definition of affordable housing i would do several things. the first thing i would do is commit to $100 million every

year. to make sure we are renovating our public housing this is the thing we have 8,000 units into just about every one of them needs investments. are we going to step up to plate as a local government and use some of our housing production trust fund to invest in that? i say yes. >> moderator: we would like to talk about the family shelter. the mayor came out with a plan that allows people to feel kind of vague what would you do and what would be the timetable for closing the dc general? like to start with you mr. catania. catania: catania: of the mayor established a one-year timetable. i don't know if that is doable. there are so many moving parts. but rather than worry about what

we are going to dc general next year we have to understand we have a problem this year as many as 840 families that are going to be seeking emergency services and as recently as this week we understand we only have accommodations for about 409. about half of the families that need emergency shelter this year this winter do not have it and we are behind. we have not budgeted for hotels this winter and we have quite a crisis on our hands so we need an emergency effort right now to begin finding the hotel accommodations and the budget capacity for this very winter. longer term than a year is right we need a longer-term strategy. we would have had a longer-term strategy that would have included the hebrew home but that was stopped by my colleague >> moderator: is bowser, one minute to respond. bowser: i'm glad my colleague

brought it up because i will tell you in my administration we will not repeat dc general with another big shelter that doesn't work. what we have learned is that large shelters are not suitable for families and raising children and we will not support it. i have led and have worked with the community new and old people who'd been there for five generations and people who've been there for five minutes. with the old hebrew home will become is a wonderful mixed income property where people were exiting homelessness can live and people who are teachers and firefighters and police officers will live and where we might even have the opportunity for people to buy their first home. that is my approach. >> moderator: ms. schwartz? schwartz: i think we have to look for good examples. the second straight shelter

which had its good days and bad days i can tell you i've been there visiting recently and i seem they have some exemplary services where they are really doing it right and so i think we have to look at those kind of examples. i do believe that dc general with its infospace in to discuss the six infestation we should look at the future for either renovating dc general would look for something comparable because i do beneath families who are homeless and hopefully this will only be temporary should be housed where they can have a total wraparound service and the children can have playgrounds and the mothers and parents can be of support to each other as they try to work their way out. >> moderator: i'm asking you

again to the specific. a lot of the building trade industry, a lot of it folks say the reason why people in this community and others aren't getting this job is because they don't have the skills. a two-part question do you agree with that and how do you make sure they have the skills so they can compete with suburban residents and others for the jobs that are here? schwartz: * with the education system survey of the reading so they have the reading and writing and basic skills to go anywhere. i think the vocational education programs that we've expanded within the schools are very important like the hospitality and high school, those kind of things are giving them a jump start. >> moderator: is there enough of that? schwartz: we can do more of that and we have to job training that is going to be specific to the jobs that are out there and

so i think that there's lots of areas. when i chaired the committee on government operations and workforce development we actually did the law and said if they didn't give us a 51% they were supposed to people that got contracts for the city would have to pay a huge fine and that worked but guess what they ended up in court and i hope we win. >> moderator: what do you do to make sure we put people to work lex bowser: the first thing we have to do is make sure we have real walls and enforcement and support for the ex- offenders and returning citizens in the district of columbia. we know that we have a high number of people that have served their time and have completed their debts to society and they are home and they want to be productive and we have made changes to the law that i think are going to be helpful but we also have to have the

support at the office and that's important. i think the government has a role to play in helping people gain the skills and be trained while they are working. i will create a department of general services academy in the district of columbia and what that academy will be focused on is how we train people for the jobs that dc government creates. those jobs include carpenters and people who cut the grass and people who paint the walls and that is what everybody here is focused on how to get people back to work. we can talk about affordable housing and that's important but the closest way to get to affordable housing is to get people into jobs with good wages. >> moderator: mr. catania how do you give get people the job-training? catania: this is an area that i am particularly sensitive about.

my own mother was in a situation very similar and i think many people find themselves themselves come she was orphaned at 16 and didn't finish the tenth grade to finding a job to raise a child by herself without a high school education is very tough. it was tough then and it's it's gotten no easier and unfortunately there are too many people in our city who for one reason or another have not finished high school and lack the skills. we have to get very aggressive about having engagement centers where people can come back to school where we can get them on a glide path so they can have the skills so they can actually support their families. we've done a couple of things, there's another and very proud of. i offered a bill that requires 35% of all of the hours on the dc government funded projects go to district residents and it created a demand for young people so much so that the market street project and the marquis hotel project this year 60% of the apprentices -- >> campaign 2014 the final dc

mayoral debate. you're watching wusa 9. welcome back to campaign 2014. the final dc mayoral debate. >> moderator: the attorney investigation into the corruption in the government. everybody buy into this investigation is ongoing and a lot of people wouldn't be surprised if the mayor is invited. i want each of you to comment on this investigation and how he has handled this investigation. is everybody okay with how he's handled this including the plea bargain? catania: the timing looks awfully suspicious. right before the primary. i might have a particular point of view about the whole campaign but i think the timing of the plea bargain with jeff thompson just a couple weeks before the primary it appeared as if the foam was placed on the scale and there's an impression there was an immediate action to be taken against the mayor and when i

didn't comment leaves many of us wondering whether or not it ever will and whether or not the mayor was unfairly treated. [applause] >> moderator: is schwartz? schwartz: i think that's the mayor was unfairly treated by my former colleagues on either side of me. immediately upon even being noticed of the shadow campaign, they both jumped out and said he should resign. i think you're innocent until proven guilty and here we are three and a half years later and the mayor hasn't even been indicted much less proven guilty so i think you all helped to get that ball rolling with our u.s. attorney and i think what he did before the primary that three weeks and one day before the primary was unconscionable to

act like he just had something to drop on the head and here we are, what is it, seven months later and nothing. so i think that he should either put up or shut up. [applause] bowser: the u.s. attorney as he is not accountable to district voters of columbia. that's one reason why it's so important that we fight harder and find new pathways tuesday that so that we can have prosecutors are accountable and answerable to us. this u.s. attorney has put a lot on the record and it is going to be up to him to follow the timeline to get to the facts. what's important to me is anybody that has done something wrong will be held accountable. [applause] the shorter the answer that

better. if voters decide to legalize marijuana and you try to delay this legislation will you enforce it immediately, what is your position? i will be voting for an initiative 71 and a sign it into law if the voters agree. >> moderator: is ms. schwartz? schwartz: i will be voting no on initiative 71. i voted for medicinal marijuana and blame for the expansion to different elements as for those who need it and i also worked with congress to try to get the bill from being stopped in congress so that we could implement it. i would have had i been on the council voted for the decriminalization of marijuana because i thought it was obnoxious and even worse that so many of our young black males are in jail because of it and not that young white people so i thought it was terribly unfair

so i would have voted that on this i'm going to vote no. we already have a lot of people in our community that need sobering up and i don't think that we need to add another drug that will make that even harder. what people do in their own home is up to them and i'm not going to judge what they do in their own home. >> moderator: power you going to vote on this and if elected how do you enforce it? catania: i intend to vote yes along with ms. bowser. prohibition has not worked. it's led to the violence that comes with it. i think marijuana should be regulated like alcohol and it should be licensed and taxed like alcohol. we need to protect children and make sure we can protect ourselves on the roads and make sure our public safety officials are not engaged in the practice.

but there is a good deal of common sense that comes with making sure that we can tax and regulate and use those revenues for good purposes. >> moderator: i think i know the answer to this by going to ask it anyway. if on november 4 to go to the polls and you can't vote for your self is there anybody up here that you to vote for? ms. schwartz: i'm going to vote for myself and if i wasn't on the ballot i would write my name in. [applause] >> moderator: ms. bowser: what she said. >> moderator: you would write your own name in? bowser: that's a good one.

>> moderator: a few specific questions. for the longest time when you came into office as a republican command we know why you left the republican party as a constitutional amendment as against same-sex marriage. this leads to my question. you are an independent now, you begin to become a democrat describe yourself as progressive on some issues more than ms. bowser: bowser but what is your republican background leaning do you still maintain? how much of you is still a wind with the republican party? catania: i do not recognize the party that i was raised in. it is completely different so to answer the question i do not identify at all with the existing republican party. [applause] >> moderator: same question. schwartz: the party that i

belonged to for many years is far too late for me to stay there but i do consider myself a fiscal conservative. i don't take more money from the taxpayers then i'm willing to put to good use. i hate waste fraud and abuse and so a fiscal conservative i am that when it comes to the social issues i've always categorize myself as a moderate to liberal and certainly i went down to one of the most liberal policies and that is getting sick leave to workers and i'm very proud that i did. a bowser: may i add i've never been a republican. [applause] i'm a democrat and proud of it and i want everybody to know i'm not a democrat by accident, i'm a democrat because i believe in the values that have made our city's strong. i've never gone to a republican convention to nominate george w. bush as the next president.

i never raised $50,000 for george w. bush to get a seat at the table. instead i went to denver to nominate a rock obama as the first african-american president and i even served as the electorate. i cast your vote and the electoral college to get barack obama elected. more than that, i am proud of my democratic rights and you should be, too and a very reasoned full impact of my opponents who make fun of it saying that democrats are puppets and that's just not right. i am respectful of their choice to be in the republican party and they should be respectable of hours. [applause] >> moderator: i had a question specifically for you. you've been identified and i think that you like to be a protége of the former mayor he

did very well and won every precinct you know the first time he ran but he didn't do very well at all in the last election here. how are you different entity you still consider him a political ally? bowser: i'm happy to answer that. let me start by this. my name is mary all bowser and i will run the bowser administration. adrian is a friend of mine and has been a supporter for every one of my campaigns and i've learned a lot how to get things done and how to be an impatient with the confidence and i learned how to set high expectations and hold people accountable. i also learned the lesson of the dramatic law and that lesson was never lose touch with people, always come out to the community and to check in even when we have difficult decisions come to into the community and hear what the issues are. let them know what might issues

are independent foreword. >> moderator: we have a couple questions. [inaudible] we would like to get to a couple questions from the social media. the first question to all three candidates with is the biggest professional mistake that you've made and what did you learn from it? mr. catania we will start with you. again the question from social media with the biggest professional is a is that you've made and what did you learn from it? catania: i think bowser: can we remind everybody there are young people in this audience and i hope that all of us adults can be respectful of the children who are trying to learn the democratic process. [applause]

if we can't respect each other with at least respect and be an example for these young people. [applause] [inaudible] >> moderator: do we want to continue? bowser: we want to continue. >> moderator: the question from the social media.

[audience shouting] maybe it was the question everybody got upset about. let's go to another question. if elected mayor what will you do to address gentrification in ward 8? catania: i think there is no stopping process. what we can do is a better job of setting up to succeed and compete. i think after 40 years i want to put some specifics out there we are in the middle of an average household income of $40,000. in the number three hits over 200,000. in this one there are 17.5% unemployment and an a number three is two and a half. only 12% of the adults have bachelors degrees and in ward number three